A Sad Rush to Judgment

[UPDATE, added August 26, 2007: Something I meant to include in this post originally was a mention of my initial reaction to this tragedy, which was a rush to judgment. But as I read and heard more details, I felt very wrong about that. A good lesson for me in this is to always get my facts straight before forming an opinion.]

In conversations I've had by email, telephone, and face-to-face today, people have described Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby as a great person. A competent, caring educator. An accomplished musician who played piano at her church. A loving mother.

While I've never met Nesselroad-Slaby, those who've told me these things about her are all people for whom I have the deepest respect.

Nonetheless, the assistant principal of Glen Este Middle School here in our community, Nesselroad-Slaby has been villified over the past few days on local message boards, radio call-in shows, and at the proverbial workplace water coolers.

On Thursday, Cecilia Slaby, her two year old daughter, died in the Glen Este parking lot. It happened as she sat, strapped into her car seat in her mother's car. Cecilia may have been there for eight hours, as her mother did her job. With temperatures rising to 100-degrees here in the Cincinnati area that day, it's no wonder that Cecilia died. It's a horrible tragedy!

In fact, "accident" is exactly how our Clermont County prosecutor, Don White, a man who is tough on crime, has described the tragedy. He has indicated that while some charge may be filed, he has little thought that either parent intentionally caused the death of their child. Both Nesselroad-Slaby and her husband have been cooperative with authorities and teachers and school administrators on the scene when Cecilia was found describe a mother who was clearly distraught, hysterical with grief.

Over the past few days, local media reports have taught our community that about thirty such deaths occur in the US every year. Often, they happen in the households of busy two-income families where a sleeping child may be in the car seat of a parent who thinks it's not their "day" to take the little one to child care. Prelimimary indications are that that's what happened with Cecilia.

But some in our community are skeptical, others downright hostile, certain that Cecilia was murdered.

I suppose that, to some extent, the suspicions are understandable. Less than a half-mile from the Glen Este parking lot where Cecilia died, foster child Marcus Feisel lost his life.* Marcus, readers of this blog will remember, was wrapped in duct tape and thrown into a closet by his foster parents and their live-in lover. While the three spent several days in Kentucky at a family reunion, Marcus died. Two of the conspirators took his body and incinerated it, while a third told police and the media that the child had gone missing in a local park. Hundreds of community volunteers joined law enforcement officials in searching for Marcus. When the story of what really happened came out, all of us in the community wanted justice to be served. We also developed an acute sensitivity to the vulnerability of children.

With the memory of Marcus so fresh, particularly for those of us who live in the West Clermont Local School District where these events have happened, some skepticism about the circumstances of Cecilia Slaby's death was bound to surface.

But others refuse to even entertain the idea she was the victim of a terrible accident. "I think the parents did it on purpose," one co-worker told a friend of mine on Friday. I'm told that the West Clermont board offices were flooded with telephone calls from people who have already charged, convicted, and hanged Cecilia's parents.

I suspect that some of these reactions stem from something other than a desire to protect children. Among some people, guilty-until-proven-innocent seems to be the prevailing attitude. Their hearts are cold with sin.

I believe that a relationship with Jesus Christ, based on grace and not legalism, changes the way we think about our lives and the world. Our sin inclines us to violate God's command to not bear false witness which, as explained in Martin Luther's Small Catechism calls us also to "put the most charitable construction" on the actions of our neighbors. Jesus Christ, Who died for sinners--that's the whole human race--helps us to be more charitable and less judgmental.

I highly doubt that Cecilia Slaby was the victim of murder. If her parents had wanted to take the little one's life, they could have hatched a more resourceful plot, one that would draw attention away from themselves. Simply leaving Cecilia in her mother's parked car at her place of work is an unlikely way for two intelligent people wanting to get away with murder to go about it.

It looks like an accident to me and that those who are crucifying Cecilia's parents are not just jumping to conclusions, but assassinating their characters. Cecilia's death makes me sad. So does the rush to judgment some are making.

*Marcus Feisel died five-hundred yards from where I live. Our two children attended Glen Este Middle School, but years before Nesselroad-Slaby began working there.

Update on South Korean Christian Hostages in Afghanistan

Bruce Armstrong has it. Please pray for the release of the remaining nineteen hostages, who went to Afghanistan to help rebuild that country.

Why Do the Innocent Suffer?

[This is a slightly updated version of a column I first wrote back in 2003. Consider it a condensed version of this series. I hope you find this column helpful.]

Why do bad things happen to innocent people?

Like almost everyone, I guess, I have seen really good people, believing people, and children, subjected to crushing difficulties, afflicted by illness, or taken far too early by death. Maybe you’re one of those good or believing people or children who have been hit by undeserved suffering or grief. You may be inclined to wonder, “Where is God now? Why am I left to fend for myself in the face of this overwhelming pain?”

I’m not sure that I have any answers. But I do have a few responses.

My first response is that you’re not alone.

When God came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, He underwent suffering. The New Testament book of Hebrews describes Jesus as humanity’s “high priest,” the bridge between God and us. Through Jesus, we have access to God’s help, even in tough times. Hebrews assures us that in Jesus, “we don’t have a high priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

When we’re knocked down by suffering, the God we meet in Jesus Christ “gets it.” God understands our pain. And He promises to be with those who see Him as their Lord “to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

The second thing I want to tell you is to ignore those who try to say that every bad thing that happens to you is your fault. It isn’t!

There are times when bad things do happen to us as the result of our bad decisions. There are also times when God, as a loving Father, disciplines us, thwarting us when we rebel against His will. But don’t let anyone tell you that the loving God of the universe is waiting to wallop you with a cosmic sledge hammer for every mistake you make. God is no monster!

Jesus’ followers—disciples—once pointed a blind man out to Jesus and asked, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus said neither the guy’s parents or he were guilty of a sin that caused his blindness. Instead, Jesus said that God allowed the man to be blind so that God’s glory could be seen in the man. Jesus proceeded to give the man sight. (John 9)

Sometimes, God allows us to keep suffering even after we’ve prayed. But in these circumstances, it's likely that God’s motive is the same as Jesus’ motive for healing the blind man: to let us see Him at work in our lives. One of Jesus’ followers in Bible times was a man named Paul. We don’t know exactly what it was, but Paul said that he suffered from what he called a “thorn in the flesh.” In the New Testament, he says that he asked God to remove it three times. God refused. As Paul explains it, “...[God] told me, ‘My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.’” (Second Corinthians 12:1-10)

God makes our suffering count for something when we go through it with Jesus Christ: He teaches how we can rely on Him and He shows His goodness and power to others through us. On this latter point, it’s been my observation that often, as Paul sensed God telling him of Paul's suffering, it’s in those who suffer with Jesus that we most clearly see the presence and power of God.

Only heaven can be described as “paradise” (Luke 23:43). That’s the ultimate destination of all who follow Jesus Christ. This temporary home we call earth and the life we live here will never be a paradise free of suffering. But it is a place where we can know God intimately, experience fulfillment, love and encourage each other, and go through every high and low with God beside us.

Suffering may never make sense. But God’s love is always there for us.

Flip...Flop...

Flip?

Rick Moore thinks that Mitt Romney has changed his position on abortion in yet another way. If that perception takes hold among Rick's fellow conservatives, Romney's efforts to cultivate conservatives will come to grief.

He writes:

The fact that Romney has articulated several different positions on abortion tells me he really has no core belief in this issue, but is making statements based on what he thinks the listener wants to hear, and that's a problem. If you know what you believe it should be that hard to articulate it each and every time consistently.

All that aside, abortion is still an issue about which the president has very little control. He can't ban it or institute it. He can control funding to a small degree and can veto or sign legislation that comes his way. And I still believe that is is wrong to make this the one factor upon which someone makes their voting decision. We should be more worried about the things the president can control and not so much about the things he can't.

In the final analysis, my guess is that the perception of Mr. Romney as a flip-flopper is a far bigger threat to his candidacy than his Mormon religion. Most Christians, for example, even most evangelical Christians, are willing to vote for a Mormon for President so long as they believe the candidate will refrain from using the presidency to impose his or her faith on others. But if changes in political positions appear to be based on positioning and expedience, candidates will be universally villified.

I'm inclined to agree with Romney's handlers that the less they say about his religion the better. (Although, since Romney's campaign was the first to bring up the "Mormon issue," it may be hard for him to button up on the matter now.) But he probably needs to preemptively take on the "flip-flop" perceptions sooner, rather than later.

Whether Rick is right in saying that Romney's recently articulated position is another flip on the abortion issue, I don't know. But I do think that he's right in saying that the President has little direct control over abortion.

"This is the summer of our mourning."

See here.

Please Pray for Northern Ohio

Flooding is happening in or threatening much of northern Ohio. Please pray for safety for everyone in the rain-deluged areas.

We lived in northwestern Ohio and have a real love for the area and its people.

The Power to Hope

"The Christian faith makes it possible for us nobly to accept that which cannot be changed, to meet disappointments and sorrow with an inner poise, and to absorb the most intense pain without abandoning our sense of hope, for we know, as Paul testified, in life or death, in Spain or in Rome, that 'all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.'" [Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]

See also here.

"Built on a Rock, the Church shall stand..."

"even when steeples are falling."

Take a listen.

Pray for Jamaica

See here.

One of the organizations which I'm sure will be doing relief work there is Lutheran World Relief. You can make donations or find ways you can provide material aid or volunteer here. (There, you can also find info on how to help earthquake victims in Peru.)

Hope for Workaholics (Christians and Work, Part 3)

[This message was shared during worship with Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio on August 19, 2007. If you live in or are visiting the Cincinnati area, feel free to worship with us. We have Sunday worship at 10:00AM. Starting September 8, we'll resume our Saturday worship schedule. The Saturday service, which won't happen on September 29, incorporates the opportunity to informally discuss the Biblical texts and the life issues they address.]

Luke 10:28-32
The story’s told of a couple who had decided if they had children, that only one of the parents would continue to work outside the home. The other would stay at home with the kids. In this particular family, the man kept his 9 to 5 (or 9 to 6, 9 to 7, 9 to 8) gig and the woman took primary responsibility for child-rearing and household management.

One day, the guy comes home to find total mayhem. “The kids were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud and muck. There were empty food boxes and wrappers all around. As he proceeded into the house, he found an even bigger mess — dishes on the counter, dog food spilled on the floor, a broken glass under the table, and a small pile of sand by the back door. The family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing, and a lamp had been knocked over.

"He headed up the stairs, stepping over toys, to look for his wife. He was becoming worried that she may be ill, or that something had happened to her. He found her in the bedroom, still in bed with her pajamas on, reading a book. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went."

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?” She again smiled and answered, “You know every day when you come home from work and ask me what I did today?” “Yes.” She answered, “Well, today I didn’t do it!”

I tell that story for a reason. You see, when some of you heard the incident involving Jesus and two of His friends, the sisters Mary and Martha, being read to you from the Bible, a little voice inside your head said, “Oh, boy, here Daniels goes again. He’s going to talk about how great it was for Mary to sit on her blessed assurance and how faithless it was for Martha to scurry around working like a madwoman while Jesus was teaching at their house.” But that’s not what I’m going to say.

At least, that’s not all I’m going to say.

I am going to say that sometimes we all feel like that stay-at-home mom did. Or like Martha did when Jesus came to visit her brother Lazarus, her sister Mary and her. Both felt that their hard work was unappreciated or underappreciated.

And there may have been times when Martha’s beef with Mary was completely warranted. When you look at another place in the New Testament where Martha and Mary figure, John, chapter 11, and you see that Martha is a person of action. Mary is more of a contemplative. Sometimes action is needed more than contemplation or rest. But not on the day our Bible lesson recounts.

If you’ve derived any kernel of Biblical truth from the first two installments of this series on Christians and Work, I hope that it would be that work is a good thing. God made us to do work. It’s part of what makes us human. It’s a way that we can worship and honor God.

Think of work as being like a fine piece of furniture, say that dining room set you scrimped and saved to buy. Now, when the delivery people arrive with it, you wouldn’t take them out the back door to the deck, where it could be exposed to the sun and the rain and all the elements, and say, “Just set it here.” That would be a complete misuse, an abuse, of a finely crafted piece meant to last for generations.

Work has its place. The work of hospitality that Martha thought she was doing, has its place. But there comes a point when work is misused and abused.

Martha had the opportunity to hear Jesus’ liberating word for repentant sinners, the Good News that we are freed from sin not by our efforts or good deeds, but solely by our trusting surrender to the Savior Who dies and rises for us.

But Martha was too busy acting important, being the linchpin who held civilization together, to pay attention to Jesus. Martha, at least in this instance, was being a workaholic. She exemplifies the lifestyle of workaholism, which always stems from a combination of personal insecurity, or a desire to be noticed, or the fear of insignificance, or idol worship, whether the idol is self, money, or power. Workaholism is never from God. And its effects can be devastating.

Some of you have heard me tell the true story of a business executive who had achieved great financial success. There was just one problem: He never saw his wife and kids. He never made his children’s school events. He only took “working vacations.” Finally, unable to take the life they were leading, his wife issued an ultimatum, “Get your workaholic lifestyle under control or I’m leaving and taking the kids with me. A divorce will only confirm the reality of our situation because right now, we're not really married. We just share a house....sometimes.”

At first, the exec was dumbfounded. He thought his wife was being ungrateful. Here he had provided every material thing anyone could want and she was talking about divorce!

But his wife stood firm. The next morning, he astounded his family by calling his office, clearing his calendar and telling them that he was taking the day off. He took the kids to school and spent the day talking with his wife.

At the end of the day, he came to an astounding decision. He would leave his job and use their savings to buy a little marina in northern Michigan. “We’ll work and play together,” he declared. “There’ll be no pressures or deadlines.”

Wife and kids were happy and within weeks, they’d made their move. But it didn’t take long for the old workaholic ways to re-emerge. The guy expanded the marina, added a restaurant, and built time share condos. He was at it from dawn to beyond dusk. One night, he returned home to an empty house. There was a brief note from his wife. This time, she would divorce him.

A few months later, an old acquaintance visited the guy at his empire by the lake. The exec took him for a spin in his boat. The acquaintance looked at all the exec's holdings that set on the shore and said, “When you look at all that, you must feel very proud.” “Frankly,” the executive said, “when I look at it, it makes me sick to my stomach.” Within days, he died of a massive heart attack. He was in his mid-forties.

Once workaholism has a person in its grips, it becomes a monster that needs constant feeding. It kills people’s relationships with God and others. It eventually kills the person never freed from it. It kills them spiritually and then it kills them physically.

So, can we be free of workaholism, free of work as an addiction?

I think that if we go back to that incident in Bethany again, we can find Jesus’ prescription for workaholism.

Remember what happened? Martha is busily serving. The workaholic executive who worked too many hours and did way more than was necessary for doing an excellent job, was resentful of his wife’s criticism. Martha is just like him. Doing way more than excellent hospitality demands, she resents her sister’s decision to sit and listen to the Lord. Seeing herself as a martyr and a model of good citizenship, Martha runs to Jesus and, in effect, upbraids Him for His insenstivity.

“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”

Jesus responds, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Workaholism is all about choices. Hard work and a commitment to excellence are good choices. But work to prove our self-worth or to call attention to ourselves are very bad choices. Martha was making a bad choice. Mary was choosing the Savior Jesus, a gift that could never be taken from her!

The child of God, the person who has turned from sin and believes in Jesus Christ, will want to work hard at the right times for the right reasons.

And this same child of God knows that she or he has nothing to prove to God or to the world. God has already given His approval to their lives.

They know that it’s okay to relax, that it’s even okay to sometimes says, “No” when the church asks them to take on a job.

Children of God relish the realities...

• that they are of central importance to God;
• that God created this world for them to enjoy; and
• that to prevent them from experiencing eternal separation from God, the rightful punishment for our sin, God became human, died for us, and rose to give us eternity with God. You are worthy. God says so. The shed blood of Jesus on the cross says so!
  

For those who struggle with workaholism, that comes as wonderful news!

God’s antidote to the combination of self-hatred, self-worship, the need to be in control, and personal insecurity that expresses itself in workaholism, is embodied by Jesus.

Jesus brings us what the Bible calls grace, God’s charitable acceptance of repentant sinners offered to us through Christ.

The New Testament tells us, “by the free gift of Jesus Christ...” we are set free. With nothing left to prove, the follower of Christ is set free to move toward being who God made us to be. We're liberated by the realization that we aren't human doings, but human beings.

And there’s another freedom that God gives to us.

I read once about a fellow who had a strange habit. On Monday mornings, as a good friend was just sitting down at his desk for a new work week, he made a phone call. When his friend answered, the guy dispensed with small talk. All he said was, “This is God. You have the freedom to fail. I’ll still love you if you do.” Then he hung up.

When we belong to Jesus Christ, we have the freedom to fail. We have the freedom to do our best, fall flat on our faces, and know that we still have value. And know that if God gives us tomorrow, we can try again. We have the freedom to fail because God never fails to love us, stand by us, or bring the people and support we need to keep on keepin’ on whatever life brings.

God never fails to love you. Today, I challenge you to believe that, to latch onto Jesus Christ, and know, success or failure, God will never let go of you.

[The story about the messy house and yard are from HomileticsOnline.com. The true story of the Michigan business executive is one I heard Bill Hybels tell more than twenty years ago.]

Will Private Firms Pave Bridge to Infrastructure Future?

The collapse of the I35 bridge in Minnesota seems to have gotten Americans' paying attention to the country's infrastructure needs. But, according to this article on CNN money, tapped-out federal, state, and local governments face $495-billion price tage just to fix the country's bridges. To repair rail lines and ports, the same article suggests, may cost $1.6-trillion!

Given the need and the cash-strapped status of government agencies, some are suggesting contracting with private firms to do the repair work and run our highways:

America, the land of the free, has been more hostile to free-market infrastructure than the rest of the world. In Europe, Australia, Canada and emerging markets such as Brazil, the private sector has jumped in to build new roads, bridges, tunnels and airports.

Private groups usually make an upfront payment, manage the assets and get toll revenue under leases that span 75 years or more.

In the U.S., the federal government provides much funding for repairs and new projects. When Uncle Sam is tapped out, state and local governments turn to the bond market.

With government debt soaring, though, public interest groups have pushed another option -- gas-tax hikes. Critics charge privately run toll roads could gouge consumers.

Political battles lay ahead, but supporters of private funding say more deals will be struck.

Intriguing.

Back in the 1800s, Henry Clay's Whig Party advocated "internal improvements," by which they meant the construction of roads, canals, and railroad, what we call infrastructure. While Clay never became President and the Whigs died, only to morph into the Republican Party, the development and maintenance of infrastructure has been seen as a function of the government for the past two-plus centuries. (The young Illinois Whig politician, Abraham Lincoln, later the first Republican President, always ran on a platform that included "internal improvements" as a key plank.)

While Republicans, the party most closely associated with the market-driven economy, have sometimes resisted "big government" programs such as those initiated by Democratic Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, they have seldom objected to government outlays for infrastructure. It was a Republican President, Dwight Eisenhower, for example, who initiated the Interstate Highway System.

There's an argument to be made that in the initation of new services or technologies--from postal delivery to space exploration and infrastructure, the government has a unique responsibility. But, this argument continues, after establishing the feasibility of such projects, the government may be ill-suited to bring vast improvements or cost effectiveness to them.

Some form of private-public partnership may be the wave of the future when it comes to America's infrastructure. It is ironic that Europe, far more comfortable with big government policies, has gotten free enterprise so extensively involved in the construction and operation of highways, bridges, airports, and ports, while America's infrastructure is almost exclusively the purview of government entities.

As long as the memory of the I-35 tragedy remains in people's minds, the discussion of infrastructure needs and how to meet them will likely increase in the future. (So too will some of the widely-questioned strategies and decisions of the Army Corps of Engineers when it comes to New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, and the Mississippi River.)

So Sad

Please pray for the comfort, encouragement, and well being of the survivors.

An Important Event Coming in the Cincinnati Area

[Click on image to enlarge]

Watch What God Does!

[For the past eleven years, I've written a column that appears in the Community Press newspapers in Clermont County. This piece is the column version of this blog post.]

Four months ago, the lay leadership of Friendship Lutheran Church and I, watched as a combination of alarming trends threatened not just our church's capacity to do ministry, but its very existence.

One factor was complacency. After a twelve year struggle to get into a building, it was only natural for us to take a deep breath when we finally moved into a new facility nearly four years ago. But we seemed to slip into relax mode.

The first result of our complacency was decreasing and sporadic worship attendance.

That, in turn, resulted in lowered and sporadic offerings.

That threatened our ability to do the ministries of community service for which Friendship is probably best known.

It also threatened to make it hard for us to keep up with our church mortgage payments.

It would have been easy for our leaders to wring their hands and do Chicken Little impressions.

But these are people of faith, people who believe that they belong to the God of all creation. They really believe that with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). So, our leaders challenged us in four ways.

First, they asked that the congregation daily prayer for the well-being of the church.

They asked that our members make regular worship attendance a priority, cancelling the summer slump.

They challenged members to invite their non-churchgoing friends to activities of the congregation.

Finally, we were asked to increase our giving, considering the tithe, the Biblically-honored practice of giving the first 10% of one's income to God's causes in the world.

The result?

We've seen remarkable answers to our prayers. Ever since this focused praying began, we have seen first-time worship visitors every single Sunday, unprecedented in Friendship's history. Many of those folks have returned for second visits.

In addition, our attendance has increased, something churches rarely see in the summer months.

So too has our giving. Offerings in the months of May, June, and July wiped out the operating deficit that accrued in January through April. We still need to be diligent in our giving. But progress has been made.

Why has this happened? In 538 BC, the Babylonian king, Cyrus, allowed God’s people, the Jews, who had been slaves in Babylong for more than forty years, to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the temple. It was an exciting time!

But the returnees soon became discouraged, intimidated by the enormity of the obstacles they faced.

They also were comfortable in their new homes in the Judean homeland.

Complacency and fear caused them to completely stop working on the temple.

This was unacceptable to the prophet Haggai. Prompted by God, he told the governor, the high priest, and the people to take heart, to rely on God, and to get to work rebuilding the temple (Haggai 2:1-9).

Soon, praying and working for God's cause, the temple was rebuilt.

The God Who helped ancient Israel is still in the business of helping those who trust in Him. We've seen that in our congregation.

And how about you in your personal life? Are you fearful or self-satisfied, afraid to tackle the next mountain God asks you to climb? Prayerfully rely on God and then work, knowing that God is with you. And as you pray and work, don't be afraid, knowing that God is with you.

Then, watch what God does!

[Mark Daniels is the pastor of Friendship Lutheran Church.]

Got a Mountain? Enlist God's Help and Climb!

Four months ago, the lay leadership of Friendship Lutheran Church and I, watched as a combination of alarming trends threatened not just our church's capacity to do ministry, but its very existence.

One factor was complacency. Complacency seemed to set in after we started worshiping in a new building nearly four years ago. After twelve-and-a-half years in an elementary school gymnasium and the prayer and struggle that had gone into getting into a building, it was only natural for us to take a deep breath. But we seemed to do more than that, slipping into relax mode. We took our building and one another for granted. We forgot that every church and every Christian is called to reach out to others with the Good News of life changed eternally good through Christ's death and resurrection.

The first result of our complacency was decreasing and sporadic worship attendance.

That, in turn, resulted in lowered and sporadic offerings.

That threatened our ability to do the ministries of community service for which Friendship is probably best known--our involvement with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Clermont County, CASA for Clermont Kids!, Habitat for Humanity, and so on.

It also threatened to make it impossible for us to keep up with our church mortgage payments.

It would have been easy for our leaders to wring their hands and do Chicken Little impressions.

But these are people of faith, people who believe that they belong to the God of all creation.

They also know well the history of our congregation. From the beginning, even officials of our own denomination thought it would be impossible for a Lutheran church to take off here in Clermont County. When, back in July, 1990, I asked a denominational official for his advice on whether I should take the call to start Friendship, he betrayed this pessimistic assessment when he said, "Well, even if it goes belly up, it won't hurt your career."

I didn't care about my career. I cared about letting people know how much God loved them.

That same passion motivated our leadership to challenge the people of Friendship in four ways.

They asked that, first, that the congregation daily prayer for the health and well-being of the church.

Second, they asked that our members make regular worship attendance a priority, even in the summer months when all Christians seem to want to "take a vacation from church."

They challenged members to invite their non-churchgoing friends to activities of the congregation.

And finally, members were asked to increase their giving, considering the tithe, the Biblically-honored practice of giving the first 10% of one's income to God's causes in the world.

The result?

We've seen remarkable answers to our prayers. (And not just our own. Starting in June, I enlisted prayer help from thousands of people, including the prayer team at our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America headquarters in Chicago; subscribers to ShoutLife, a sort of Christian MySpace; and the prayer groups of several other churches.) Ever since all this praying began, we have seen first-time worship visitors every single Sunday, unprecedented in Friendship's history. Many of those folks have returned for second visits.

In addition, our attendance has increased, something churches rarely see in the summer months.

So too has our giving. Offerings in the months of May, June, and July wiped out the operating deficit that accrued in January through April.

Why has this happened? In 586 BC, the Babylonian army swept into Israel, the homeland of God's chosen people, the ancient Jews, destroying the temple, God's house, in Jerusalem. Many Israelites were sent to Babylon, where they lived as slaves to their conquerors and where they wondered if their God was still Lord of the universe. In 538 BC, the Babylonian king, Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the temple.

But the returnees soon became discouraged. They were also intimidated by the enormity of the obstacles they faced. They also were comfortable in their new homes in the Judean homeland. Complacency and fear caused them to completely stop working on the temple.

This was unacceptable to the prophet Haggai. Prompted by God, he asked the people, "Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house [God's temple] lies in ruins?" (Haggai 1:4).

He also shared God's counsel for the governor, Zarubbabel, the high priest, Jehozadak, and all the people:

Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear." (Haggai 2:4-5)

Soon, praying and working for God's cause, the temple was rebuilt.

The God Who helped ancient Israel is still in the business of helping those who trust in Him. We've seen that in our congregation.

And how about you in your personal life? Are you fearful or self-satisfied, afraid to tackle the next mountain God asks you to climb? This happens to all of us.

But the cure is always the same: Prayerfully rely on God and then work, knowing that God is with you and as you pray and work, don't be afraid, knowing that God is with you.

Then, watch what God does!

Preachers and Politics

[I write a column for the Community Press newspapers. This is the column version of this post.]

A new book recounts incidents from evangelist Billy Graham's experience as pastor to U.S. Presidents and their families.

The book reveals that Graham has done more than provide spiritual counsel to the eleven presidents he's known. He's offered political and policy counsel.

When the depths of Richard Nixon's unethical conduct came out, Graham was shocked into a new stance toward politics and politicians. Graham resolved to always provide pastoral counsel and care to those White House families who sought him out, but not to be a policy advisor or presidential cheerleader. "We [preachers] have to stand in the middle," Graham declared in 1981, "to preach to all the people, right and left."

Like Billy Graham, I'm a political junkie. Three years ago, in what I think was a mistake for me as a pastor, I ran for the State House of Representatives myself. I'm glad that I lost. Had I been elected, I might have forfeited my ability to reach out "to all the people, right and left..."

I encourage Christians to be involved in the political process. But it's almost never the job of a pastor or of the Church to express political opinions. I don't know what God thinks about the War in Iraq, immigration reform, or health care. I don't know any preacher who does.

A big part of my job as a preacher is to echo Jesus' call, recorded in the New Testament book of Mark, "Repent, and believe in the good news" (Mark 1:15). Jesus summarized that Good News in His famous words to Nicodemus, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16).

If I mix my political preferences in with my proclamation about Jesus, it confuses people about the true content of God's message for us and, most dangerously, may unnecessarily alienate some people from Christ. Jesus' call for human beings to admit that God is bigger than them and to then surrender to God alienates some people anyway. The preacher who adds a political requirement to having a relationship with God changes the Good News and becomes no better than a peddler of cults.

Graham's example suggests that preachers should stick to preaching the Good News. It also suggests that preachers pastorally befriend politicians.

I try to do that. A few months ago, I had lunch with a Clermont County pol who has become a friend. Before we ate, I prayed. I thanked God for our food and our time together and then I asked God to bless and guide my friend in his important work. After we'd said, "Amen," I saw him dabbing his eyes. "I just can't get used to it," he said. "I'm always so moved and humbled when people pray for me. Thank you."

Praying for politicians of both parties is one of the best things anyone can do. After all, politicians are people too. Through prayer, preachers and others can ask God to offer leaders His counsel. And they need God's counsel far more than they need ours!

Preachers and Politics: Billy Graham as a Case Study

A recent issue of TIME magazine excerpts a book that looks at evangelist Billy Graham's relationships with eleven US Presidents--from Harry Truman to George W. Bush.

But it does more than recount incidents from Graham's experience as presidential pastor.

Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, one of the collection of one-time White House occupants who Graham knows best, told the authors that Graham is also a "political junkie." "He loved elections because he knew that you had to tell a story, you had to connect with people--all the things we talk about in politics," she says.

The President to whom Graham, a lifelong registered Democrat, was personally closest was Lyndon Johnson. As Graham recounts in his autobiography, his counsel often went way beyond the spiritual. Graham offered LBJ advice on the President's War on Poverty program and in fact, seriously weighed an offer to leave his evangelistic ministry to become Johnson's anti-poverty czar.

Graham is probably most well-known for his relationship with Richard Nixon, to whom he imparted advice and to whom he sometimes gave a prominent place at his crusades.

"But," Gibbs and Duffy write, "on the heels of Graham's crushing experience with the Nixon Administration, the evangelist recalibrated his relationship with the White House and kept his distance."

As some evangelical Christians started what became known as the Moral Majority or the Religious Right, Graham said:

Evangelicals can't be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle, to preach to all the people, right and left. I haven't been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future.

I identify with Billy Graham. I'm a political junkie and I've likened the excitement I feel on election nights to what I felt as a kid on Christmas Eve. I was a Social Studies major and to this day, I love reading biographies and histories recounting the political leadership and maneuvering of pols. I keep up with current events. In a former life, I ran a congressional campaign and worked for the State House of Representatives in Columbus.

Three years ago, I made what I recently have described as one of my biggest mistakes as a pastor. Concerned about public school funding in Ohio, I ran for the State House of Representatives myself. The congregation I serve as pastor was okay with my making the bid. I'm sure that I could have juggled my schedule to have continued full time as a pastor and still served in the House.

But, in all honesty, I'm glad that I finished fourth in a five-way primary contest. Had I been elected, I might well have forfeited my ability to fulfill my call as a preacher of Jesus Christ's Gospel. As Graham puts it, we preachers are to reach out "to all the people, right and left." And everywhere else on the political spectrum.

I encourage Christians to be involved in the political process. To inform themselves about issues and candidates. To pray about what's right. To get involved in political campaigns. To vote.

But it's almost never the job of a pastor or of the Church as an institution to express a political preference.

What does God think about the War in Iraq? Or immigration reform? Or US terrorism policy? Or capital gains taxes? I don't know for sure and I don't know anyone else who does.

My job as a preacher is to invite people to turn from sin and follow Jesus. If I mix my political preferences in with my proclamation, it confuses people about the true content of God's message for us and, most dangerously, may unnecessarily alienate some people from Christ. Preachers who do politics make people feel excluded from Christ.

Some people will feel alienated from Christ and His Gospel anyway. The Gospel we preachers share isn't all happy talk. "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die," Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote. The "old Adam" and the "old Eve," our inborn sinful selves whose prime impulse is to look out for ourselves, others be damned, must die.

A big part of following Jesus thus entails living in what Martin Luther called "daily repentance and renewal," bringing the old self and our sins to God, asking for cleansing, and the power to live this day in love for God and love for others.

All of this entails surrender, something that any audience a preacher might address will find difficult to swallow anyway. The preacher who then adds things to her or his proclamation, things like, "Oh yeah, to be right with God, you also have to vote this way or support this candidate," is adding an unnecessary obstacle to people having a relationship with God. They're diluting and changing the Gospel message they were called to proclaim. In that sense, they become no better than your friendly neighborhood peddler of cults.

Preachers should not, except in the most extreme circumstances, express political preferences. We have bigger fish to catch. Our focus should be to act as mouthpieces for Jesus' call that we die to sin, so that we can rise to live with God forever.

But there will be times when, in the political realm, the conflict between complete evil and good is so clear that a preacher will have to speak out. That was what happened to Bonhoeffer in Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler's hatred was so obvious, so contrary to Christ's Gospel of love, that it was clear that every Christian preacher and leader should oppose it.

Few found the courage to do so. Bonhoeffer did. He joined a plot to overthrow Hitler and in the waning days of World War Two, after an extensive period of imprisonment, was executed.

Only those of the most extreme politics would suggest that we have faced a Hitler in US politics in recent years. I remember hearing a "Christian preacher" during the 1996 election cycle, saying that if Bill Clinton were re-elected to the presidency, it would be the last free election we ever had in America. We've had several since.

And today, people concerned about the expansive interpretation of executive power followed by the Bush Administration, compare the current president to Hitler. But it appears that our elective process is continuing to unfold and that, if the polls are credible, the 2008 presidential election race is the Democrats to lose.

Christians in this country and people in the country at large don't need to hear about the political preferences of preachers. Inquiring minds could care less.

What they really need to know from us is..

that God is for them when life doesn't make sense,
that God wants to help them make the most of their lives,
that God can forgive the sins that cause them shame, and
that they can be made new.

They need to know that God wants to be with them now and forever.

Like Graham, I haven't always followed my own advice, although I've never expressed a political opinion from the pulpit. (Not that I know of, anyway.)

But that won't prevent me from befriending politicians, either. Whether the general public knows it or not, politicians are people too.

There's one local pol with whom I have regular contact. A few months ago, we had lunch together. I asked him if he'd like to pray before we dug into our Chipotle burritos. He said yes. I thanked God for our food and our time together and then I asked God to bless and guide my friend in his important work.

After we'd said, "Amen," I looked across the table and saw that his eyes glistened with tears. As he dabbed his eyes with his napkin he said, "I just can't get used to it. I'm always so moved and humbled when people pray for me. Thank you."

And when all is said and done, praying for politicians of both parties is one of the best things we can do for them, for our flocks, for our country, and for the world. Through prayer, we can ask God to go to leaders and counsel them. As the great Frank Laubach wrote years ago, "We can do more for the world with prayer than if we were to walk into Whitehall, London, or the Kremlin in Moscow, and tell those men [sic] what to do---far more! If they listened to our suggestions, we would probably be more or less wrong [emphasis mine]. But what God tells them, when they listen to Him, must be right. It is infinitely better for world leaders to listen to God than for them to listen to us."

Preachers would do well to emulate the course that has been Billy Graham's since the humiliation he experienced on learning that Richard Nixon, the President he most publicly embraced, had been so decidedly un-Christian in the conduct of his presidency. He's befriended pols and he's prayed for them. But he's decoded to act only as their pastor and preacher, not their counselor, confidante, or advocate.

Gibbs and Duffy conclude their TIME magazine excerpt:

Graham recalled these [presidential] friendships with the humility that comes with experience. "As I look back, I feel even more unqualified--to think I sat there and talked to the President of the United States," he said. "I can only explain that God was planning it in some ways, but I didn't understand it." He doesn't expect to make it back to the White House anytime soon, but he watches out for its occupant the best way he knows how. He does daily devotions, and whoever sits in the Oval Office will always have a place in his prayers.

[Also see here.]

[THANKS TO: Article 6 Blog for linking to this post. Written by John Schroeder, also of Blogotional, the piece also takes a prominent fundamentalist theologian to task for his views on these matters.]

The Overlooked 'Only Love Remains'...

(a truly beautiful and interesting ballad...I love the bridge) and a short presentation of 'A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On.'

'Lonely Road'

One of my all time favorite Macca rockers, Lonely Road, for your Sunday night entertainment.

Happy with Work (Christians and Work, Part 2)

[This message was shared during the worship celebration of Friendship Lutheran Church, Amelia, Ohio, on August 12, 2007. If you live in or are visiting the Cincinnati area, feel free to worship with us on an upcoming Sunday morning. Worship celebrations start at 10:00AM.]

Psalm 139:13-18
Titus 3:9-11
Recently, a man spoke enthusiastically with me about his work. “You love your job, don’t you?” I asked him. “I do,” he said. “And I’m good at it.” He blushed after he said that and began to stammer an embarrassed explanation.

I stopped him. I knew that he wasn't an egomaniac. Nor was he a workaholic, someone who derived all his identity and self-worth from the job. He’s healthy and balanced. And, like most people who do their jobs well, he’s someone who's happy with his work.

The Old Testament tells us that finding enjoyment in our work is a blessing from God. It’s a blessing I think that God wants all of us to enjoy, though the realities of this fallen world often get in the way of that happening in our daily paying gigs.

And sometimes, our jobs pay the bills, making it possible for us to pursue our most important work elsewhere. I think of a woman Ann and I know. She has an advanced professional degree. She’s competent in her field. But after her children were raised, she decided to take a part-time entry level job. It allows her to continue to contribute to the household income. More importantly though, it gives her the freedom to do what she feels is really her life’s work: serving as the volunteer minister to the elderly at her church.

That woman, every bit as much as the man who told me that he was good at his job is happy with her work.

What does it take for us to be happy with our work, whether it entails working sixty or more hours a week at a high-level position or forty to fifty at a minimum wage position?

There are no doubt many reasons. But I want to suggest four basic elements derived from the Bible that go into being happy with work. I’ll speak of three today.

The first element, I think, is obvious. People who enjoy their work usually have jobs composed of using their God-given talents.

In Psalm 139, David tells God, “it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made...My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance...” God has made all of us according to specific blueprints and it's true what I've often told my Catechism students through the years, "God doesn't make junk!"

When we perform work that uses the unique design God imprints on us, it’s likely to make us happy!

And because our whole lives are meant to offer praise to God, finding and performing work that matches our personalities and passions is also one way we can offer our lives in worship to the God we know in Jesus Christ.

During our recent vacation to Virginia, in addition to visiting with family, we saw several important historical sites, among them Appomatox Court House, where Grant surrendered to Lee and the moving National D-Day Memorial in Bedford.

There were several helpful, informative staff and volunteers at Appomatox Court House. But we were a little disappointed by the less than informative people stationed in the home of Wilmer McLean, the actual site where Grant and Lee met in 1865.

What a contrast they were to the enthusiastic sixty-something man who took us around the D-Day Memorial! With detail and passion, he spoke of the significance of each part of the place, as well as of the plans for a theater there using money donated by Steven Spielberg.

The difference between those in the McLean home and the man at the D-Day Memorial? The first two people were just doing jobs. The man at the D-Day Memorial was doing something for which he was made! His passion shone through!

Not all of us have the luxury of finding work that matches our innermost beings. That’s a sad fact in our sinful, fallen world.

• Single moms, for example, often simply have to take what work they can find in order to support their families.
• Family obligations can force people to stay on jobs they dislike because of needed insurance benefits.
• Some people are denied the work for which they’re made because of discrimination, be it based on race, gender, or age.

These are tragic facts and one of the things we need to do as Christians is encourage one another in the face of such realities. When we get together before and after worship each week, our discussions should be about more than the weather or the Reds. We should offer one another support. We should listen to one another and offer to pray for one another. The old Wesleyan Christian custom involved believers asking each other, "How is it with your soul?"

We Christians also need to be among the first to speak out against discrimination in society, against anything that prevents people from using their God-given gifts and abilities!

But, I also believe that since God takes such great care in designing each one of us, it’s very important that we pay attention to what our talents and passions are. They may lead us to our life’s work.

In the neighborhood in which I grew up was a little boy who often gathered all the spare chairs, stuffed animals, and little sisters he could round up at home and then play “church,” complete with a sermon. That should have taught me what my life’s work was to be, but it took years for me to find out that my God-given passion was also my vocation.

Element number one in job happiness is working at what you’re made for. But there’s a second element that helps us to be happy with our work.

A survey was once done among the supervisors of engineers. Engineering would be a total mystery to me. It involves numbers and intractable mathematics. It's quantifiable. You would think that being a successful engineer would only about getting the numbers right. But when these supervisors were asked to identify the reasons they'd dismissed engineers from their jobs in the preceding five years, something like 80% of the fired engineers weren't fired because they were incompetent. They were fired for an inability to work with others.

That doesn’t mean that engineers are a bad lot. It means that no matter what our fields, we have to work with people.

Good relationships with those with whom we work is another thing that makes us happy with our work.

Of course, everybody has some run-ins with the people with whom they work. The Bible seems to teach that conflict with others, even those we love--especially those we love--is an inevitable part of life. In the New Testament book of Ephesians, we're told, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger...” The Bible is telling us, “Be honest about your emotions. Work out your differences with others.”

In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus discusses how Christians are to resolve difference. We’ve incorporated this process into the constitution of Friendship Church. But you can apply Jesus’ principles for conflict resolution to your families and to your places of work, too.

The process is simple:

• When you have a problem with someone, go to them first.
• Don’t gossip about it.
• Explain how you feel to the person with whom you have a problem.
• Listen to the other person.
• Work together toward a common solution.
  
• Most importantly, submit the whole situation to God in prayer. God should be the third member of every relationship we have. This is true even if the other person doesn't believe in God. You can invite God into any circumstance, a partner Who's with you all the time.
  

Usually, that will do the trick. You’ll achieve reconciliation that allows you to enjoy your job. But if not, the two of you need to go to your supervisor for adjudication and resolution.

Putting Jesus’ method for conflict resolution into effect isn’t always easy, though. It can be uncomfortable.

In my former parish, I made a stupid mistake--allowing a burn barrel fire to spill out of the barrel and onto the neighboring softball field. I was able to quickly put out the fire. But the softball field was black and I felt awful about it. I got word though that one of my church members was telling people that I had blamed the children of the congregation for the fire. I was upset. Especially because I’d had such good rapport with this man before. I was angry. So, I picked up my phone and called the man and asked him if he’d said this about the incident. “Yes.” “Why?” I asked him. “You know me better than that. You know I wouldn’t blame someone else for something I did.” “I know, Pastor,” he said. “Sometimes I’m a gossip. I’m sorry.” From that day forward, that man and I were good friends. The New Testament tells us, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

Of course, not all of our efforts to be on good terms with those with whom we work will be successful. Not everybody wants to live peaceably. In our second lesson for today, Paul writes to a young pastor Titus that if some folks are consistent troublemakers in the church, he needs to quit hanging out with them.

We may reach an analogous place in our work lives. Co-workers or supervisors may make our work lives unbearable. We may have to ask to be switched to a different department. We may have to quit our jobs and find other employment. I believe that if we’ve made efforts at reconciliation and accommodation, God will help us find new places of work where we can be happy.

Work at what you’re good at. Seek to maintain positive personal relationships on the job. There’s another element that the Bible mentions that relates to job happiness.

My best man’s father was forced to quit high school and enter the work force at age seventeen when his own father died under tragic circumstances. This could have led Stan to spend his work life as one of those resentful workers who wait for five o’clock each day so that they can wait for age sixty five so that they can spend retirement waiting for Golden Corral to open.

But that isn’t what happened. Instead, he rose to an important position in one of Columbus’ largest banks. He was always enthusiastic and in fact, loved his job and his co-workers so much, that he stayed beyond the usual retirement age. He’s seventy-eight years old now and recently had a cancer scare. But he can still bench press 250-pounds! The last time I saw him, he grabbed my friend by the scruff of the neck and said, “I love my boy!” Then, he grabbed me and added, “I love both my boys!”

The third element for job happiness is having the right attitude, a commitment to doing your best every day, and then doing it.

I love the wisdom from God that King Solomon put down in the Old Testament, “Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest.”

Want to be happy with your work?

• Do what God built you to do.
• Work on maintaining positive relations with others.
• Work on maintaining positive relations with others. Throw yourself into your work with a good attitude.
  

Next week, we’ll talk about a fourth element of job happiness, when we tackle the subject of “Hope for the Workaholic.”

Brief Look at This Sunday's Bible Lessons

[During worship celebrations of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church, Amelia, Ohio, we're coming to the middle of a three-part series called Christians and Work. My message for this installment of the series will be built around two passages of the Bible: Psalm 139:13-18 and Titus 3:9-11. To help folks prepare for worship and hopefully, be helpful to other readers of Better Living, here are a few comments on the two passages. By the way, if you live in or are visiting the Cincinnati area, feel free to worship with us. Sunday worship starts at 10:00AM]

Psalm 139:13-18
13For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

17How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.

A Few Comments...
1. The Psalms are often referred to as the Old Testament hymn book. This book contains 150 songs, most of them obviously designed for use in worship. One of the things that stands out about the psalms is their remarkable honesty. Whether for individuals or groups of people, they give voice to the entire spectrum of human experience, from great joy to grief. Included too are pslams that express anger with God and mystification in the face of tragedy.

The psalms thus encourage the sort of honesty that goes into good relationships. Honesty about our feelings with God are especially important. That fact plays an important part in this psalm.

2. Most of the psalms, like this one, is attributed to David who, in addition to being an accomplished soldier and shepherd, was evidently no mean musician.

3. Because the psalms do run through the gamut of human experience and especially, human experience with God, different types or genres of psalms can be identified. Biblical scholar Claus Westermann names several:

Community Psalm of Lament
Community Psalm of Narrative Praise
Individual Psalm of Lament
Individual Psalm of Narrative Praise
Psalm of Descriptive Praise or Hymn
Creation Psalms
Liturgical Psalms
Royal Psalms [dealing with the place of kings in God's rule]
Enthronement Psalms [used when Israel's new kings were installed]
Wisdom Psalms
Psalm 119 [its own category]

Other Biblical scholars identify categories differently from Westermann. But his list gives a good feel for the range of topics addressed by the psalms.

4. Psalm 139 (see the whole thing here) is, in Westermann's reckoning, a "Psalm of Descriptive Praise or Hymn." Others in this category include Psalms 8, 29, 33, 100, 111, 145-150, and more. Portions of other psalms share the characteristics of psalms in these categories as well. According to Westermann:

The psalm of descriptive praise or hymn (Hebrew: tehillah) is a uniquely liturgical song, the song of a congregation gathered for worship...Psalms of this sort, hymns, were often accompanied by instrumental music of various types...In fact songs of praise which celebrate God are one of the most important sources of music the world over...

5. One of the most beautiful aspects of this psalm is how the speaker sees himself/herself connected to the great God of the universe who sees and understands everything about us.

Titus 3:9-11
9But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10After a first and second admonition, have nothing more to do with anyone who causes divisions, 11since you know that such a person is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned.

A few comments...
1. While some modern scholars dispute whether the first-century evangelist and preacher Paul wrote this letter. But it has traditionally been attributed to him. The text, of course, claims to be from Paul, although in fairness to those who claim he isn't the author, it was thought perfectly legitimate for those who were taught by a great rabbi or who were trained in his school of thought to write in the teacher's name.

2. Titus, a Gentile Christian who worked with Paul, is mentioned in Galatians 2:1-3. (Paul's authorship of Galatians is undisputed.) Titus was overseeing church on the island of Crete. Like the other "pastoral epistles," which include First and Second Timothy and this book, Paul is giving advice, admonishment, and tips to young pastors.

3. Our lesson comes near the end of the letter. Here, Paul is giving advice to Titus on how to handle things when people wander into spiritual errors. But the words have implications for how we handle disputes in other contexts.

From the Mike Huckabee Campaign

As you know, I don't do endorsements around here. I don't think that God favors one party over another and as a Pastor, I don't want to contribute to notions that He does.

But I note with interest that as the 2008 presidential race unfolds, Governor Mike Huckabee is making extensive use of the Internet. Frequent, personable emails arrive in my email inbox regularly.

I just received one such email from the Huckabee campaign, linking to a number of recent Huckabee appearances on the web:

1. Newt Gingrich thinks that Governor Huckabee will catch on.

2. Don McDowell from the popular Iowa blog Cyclone Conservatives had this to say about Governor Huckabee.

3. Governor Huckabee was interviewed by MSNBC yesterday. You can find the video here.

4. The Weekly Standard has a great article this week titled "The Other Man from Hope."

5. Ed Morrissey from the popular conservative blog Captains Quarters has great post about Governor Huckabee and a recent interview he conducted with the Governor.

6. Mike Allen from the Politico has great coverage of the Sunday debate in an article titled "They Like Mike."

756*

Kev McNerney of The Musings of Kev, someone who, like me, loves the game of baseball, greeted Barry Bonds' record-smashing 756th. career homerun with something less than enthusiasm. "Meh," says Kevin.

I responded to his interesting post:

While someone of Barry Bonds' baseball lineage might be expected to have a deeper respect for the game than to artificially pump up his body and steal the home run record from Hank Aaron, I blame the powers in Major League Baseball more than I do Bonds.

For too many years, MLB had an ambiguous policy regarding steroid use and then enforced it in a shamefully weak manner. It gave players signed primarily for their capacity to hit baseballs out of ballparks an unspoken incentive to use steroids. It cheapened the game's record books and, in its way, defamed players like Aaron.

Hopefully, the new steroid policy will be as bold and emphatic a line in the sand as MLB's laudable and appropriate policies on gambling.

Hopefully too, no one will take Bonds' "record" too seriously. No matter what Barry Bonds said last night, it is tainted and would be even if his inflated skull--something that can't be achieved through workout and diet regimens--didn't serve as Exhibit A that he used steroids.

For people who love the game, there was little to celebrate last night. But again, I blame MLB more than I do Bonds for the sorrow and shame that came to the National Pastime in San Francisco last evening.

"How do we Christian leaders respond to the huge age wave? Close our eyes? Panic?"

The always thoughtful Gary Sweeten has some important things for everyone, especially Christian leaders, to ponder about the greying of America.

Gary's bottom line:

[W]e need to join with others to creatively look at options and alternatives to a boring retirement or an exhausting new career.

"Prayer is all that is left to us now"

Bruce Armstrong has a complete round-up of the latest information on the South Korean Christians being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Please pray!

By the Way, Why Are We So Hard on the Famous?

Here's an oldie.

The Dems Debated...Again

The 2008 Democratic presidential aspirants met in debate for what seems like the fifty-seventh time tonight. (And this is just 2007!)

The event, held at Chicago's Soldier Field, was co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO.

If you didn't see it, here's my take on it.

As has been the case with every previous Dem gathering of this long campaign season, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware overall demonstrated a superior knowledge of the issues and a capacity to communicate.

Biden also demonstrated his old "foot in mouth" tendency when, in response to the widow of a West Virginian miner, after expressing condolences and giving a perfunctory response to her question about improving mining safety, quickly launched into discussion of a previous foreign policy question. In doing so, Biden came across as insensitive.

Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut bruised Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, taking Mr. Obama to task for his apparent willingness to disregard Pakistan's sovereignty in going after al-Qaeda. Acknowledging that Pakistan's President Musharraf is "no Thomas Jefferson," Dodd nonetheless painted Obama as reckless. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York agreed with Dodd.

Speaking of Clinton, she turned in another safe performance, one that won't hurt her ever-growing support among Democrats nationwide.

As usual, Obama seemed stiff and ill at ease in the debate format. His lack of seasoning in international affairs was once more apparent. To me, it's a tragedy that Obama didn't resist the siren call of a 2008 bid for the presidency. In the unforgiving atmosphere of post-1972 presidential politics, when you only get one real shot at the White House, it's unlikely that a guy who could have one day made a credible bid for the presidency will get a second chance.

Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio seemed to really win the Labor crowd over, especially with his opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he said that he would rescind, and the World Trade Organization.

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson seemed almost to fade from view tonight. This is especially surprising when it comes to Edwards, the presumed favorite among Union households. Biden went after Edwards, who had presented himself as the only Dem with superior credentials from Labor's viewpoint, with a withering attack and a ringing defense of his own Union street cred.

There was a lot of pandering in this event. For all the standard issue inveighing against special interests that come from candidates of both parties, they all still play up to interest groups and the members of such groups encourage the candidates in doing so.

None of what I've said has anything to do with who I will or won't vote for. I don't do endorsements.

"I hope she can find what will satisfy her soul"

That's Pastor Jeff, in a thoughtful piece on Britney Spears, which might as readily have been written of Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, and a host of showbiz types who've scaled Celebrity Heights only to melt down.

Also, delving into the Better Living time capsule, you might be interested in this column on the effects of fame on the famous, a piece triggered by Michael Jackson's appearance in his pajamas in a California court room.

Non-Conformity

That's the topic of this interesting response to something I wrote, from John Schroeder.

I think that John's right and in his discussion of "Christian" discomfort with non-conformity (and attempts to squelch it), shows us that much of what today passes for "Christian" political activism is actually a subtle form of atheism, a lack of confidence that the God-appointed means of grace--things like the Bible, worship, verbalizing our faith, and serving others in Jesus' Name--are insufficient for introducing and encouraging faith in Jesus Christ.

Prayers Needed

See here.

Resentment and Forgiveness

From my friend, Pastor Glen VanderKloot of Faith Lutheran Church, Springfield, Illinois, these thoughts:

Strength of character means the ability to overcome resentment against others, to hide hurt feelings, and to forgive quickly.

+++++++++
Scripture
Proverbs 27:3 (New Living Translation)

A stone is heavy and sand is weighty,
but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

Prayer:
Lord, strengthen my character so that I can interact with people more like you do. Amen

"I was writing songs that nobody cared about"

"When I recorded them, then they cared about 'em. They bought 'em. That's how you become an independent producer."

The speaker is composer/producer/singer Lee Hazlewood, dead at 78.

His words and career should give hope to anyone who has known the frustration of awaiting approval from life's gatekeepers. Hazleword recorded and self-published songs no reputable publisher wanted to publish.

A lot of bloggers today are doing something similar. They're hazlewooding, forgetting the gatekeepers and putting their words, pictures, thoughts, and, in some instances, music, out there.

Before the Lights Go Out

The Financial Times reports:

Much of America’s ageing infrastructure needs replacing. One vital industry in need of sprucing up is electricity. Cambridge Energy Research Associates reckons the sector needs $900bn of investment over the next 15 years – in effect, more than replacing the net $750bn worth of plant already in place. The only thing worse than having to spend that amount would be not spending it. Overall, spare generation capacity could drop below 15 per cent of peak demand – the minimum usually required to avoid blackouts – by 2009. Two-year electricity futures have risen by two-thirds since 2004.

Why We Work (Christians and Work, Part 1)

[This message was shared with the people of Friendship Lutheran Church, Amelia, Ohio, during the Sunday morning worship celebration on August 5, 2007. If you live in or are visiting in the Cincinnati area in the near future, you're welcome to join us for worship.]

Genesis 2:4b-9, 15
Second Thessalonians 3:6-10

Our son Philip was nine years old when we attended my Dad’s retirement party some sixteen years ago. On the way home, he asked me, “Dad, why do we work?”

There are days when we probably all ask that question. I'm convinced that knowing the answer to it can make a difference in our lives.

Some of you have heard me tell the story of two men cutting stone in the middle of a busy city. A passerby asked one man, “What are you doing?” Disgustedly, the worker said, “Look for yourself; I’m cutting stone.” Well, the passerby could see that much! So, he approached the second worker and asked the same question: “What are you doing?” This worker got a gleam in his eye: “I’m helping to build a cathedral!”

The two men were doing the exact same work. But the first one saw it only as his job. Something to be done with. A task disconnected from the world or any life purpose.

To the second man, cutting stones was a thing of dignity and fulfillment. Part of a greater, common cause.

Polling data consistently indicates that when it comes to their jobs, most people feel more like the first worker than the second. Speaking personally, as a second-career pastor, I can say that I’ve had lots of jobs I didn’t much care for. Most of them made me feel like the first stonecutter. I couldn’t see the point. They were drudgery.

But I’ve also been blessed with other work in my life, mainly that of husband, father, pastor, and community volunteer. In each of these jobs, of course, there are mundane tasks to be done. (As someone once said, "The grass may be greener on the other side, but it still needs to be mowed.")

Yet in these jobs, I feel that God allows me to play my part in building something wonderful in those whose lives I touch.

Not everybody would derive the same kind of fulfillment from my work that I do. “How can you stand dealing with people’s hurts and hospitalizations?” people ask me. To them, the work of a pastor would be draining. For me, it’s energizing.

God has wired each of us differently. And, I’m convinced that one of the most important searches that you and I can undertake in our lives is finding the vocations that make us feel like the second stonecutter.

So, I’ve come to believe that one of the reasons why we work is that God planned things that way. God gives us work to do--as employees, family members, and citizens of our communities.

In our first lesson, part of the Bible’s second account of creation in the book of Genesis, we’re told that God created the first human being and then planted a lush green garden for the man to enjoy. The Bible tells us, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.”

God never meant for the man to sit around and watch the garden grow! God’s intention was always for him--and for all of us--to work. God wants us to all be part of something bigger. God gives each of us our own stones to cut so that we can care for, build, and renew the world He gives us.

This brings us to a second reason why we work. It's this: When we work, we most reflect the presence of the image of God within us. The Bible tells us that we human beings were created in the image of God. There are many implications to that statement, but one of them becomes clear when you scan the opening verses of the Bible as it talks about God. You’ll find phrases like, “God created...God separated...God named...God made.”

You see, God works. God creates. God builds.

And one look at the beautiful world in which you and I live demonstrates that God cuts no corners. There’s something intrinsic to being children of God that impels us to work.

This is something that a young artisan in Florence knew five centuries ago. One day, the Duke of Florence came upon this man and watched, as, with great care, he fit a box together. “What will the box be used for?” the duke asked. “Flowers will be put in it, sir” the artisan replied. “Then it will be filled with dirt. Why take such pains to make each joint and surface perfect?” The young man said simply, “I love perfect things!” The duke could hardly contain his contempt. “”It’s wasted effort,” he said. “No one will see its perfection.” Without a trace of arrogance, the young man said, “I will, sir. Do you think that when He was a carpenter in Nazareth that our Lord Jesus made anything less well than He could?” That duke thought that the young artisan was arrogant. But Michelangelo Buonarroti’s relentless commitment to do work worthy of the God Who made him and all of us is something we appreciate to this day!

So, we work because God has made us for it. And when we work, we reflect God’s image in us. But there’s a third reason that we work. Pastor Steve Goodier tells the true story of an elderly man considered by his townspeople to be both wise and thrifty. “When he died,” Goodier says, “everyone expected the authorities to find money stashed everywhere in his home. [But a]ll they found were a few gallon cans filled with coins. It turned out that he had used most of his money to help put needy young students through college. And the coins filled his pockets as he
walked down the streets of the business districts looking for parking meters that had expired. When he found one, he would drop in a coin. One of his neighbors commented, ‘That explains why he looked so happy and contented!’”

Here was a man who worked in his own special way even after he retired. He knew that another reason we work is to experience the joy that goes with serving others, that goes with being someone others can depend on.

The first-century preacher Paul know about this, too. In our second lesson, he chastises the members of the church in the Greek city of Thessalonica. He recalls that while he was with them, teaching them about Christ, he kept at his trade as a tentmaker. Paul felt that by working, he was keeping his end of the bargain as a member of the Christian community. In his work, he let others depend on him, just as each of us is called to do as part of our families, our communities, and our church. I like the homely way in which King Solomon reminds us of how each of us depends on one another in the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes: “If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.” We work because God has constructed the world in such a way that we all need each other to do our jobs well. Others are depending on us.

Now there’s a fourth reason for working which, I think, may only make sense to those who are followers of Christ.

In his fine book, Christians in the Marketplace, Pastor Bill Hybels tells the story of a young man his father hired to work in his wholesale produce business one summer. He was a student at West Point and rumor had it, a Christian. As Hybels tells it, many of his dad’s other employees were “rough...hard-drinking, hard-fighting, women-chasing men” who “relished the opportunity to make sport of a nice, clean-cut, all-American...” kid. They wanted to make this young man’s summer miserable.

But they didn’t. Instead, “David, the all-American boy, turned the company upside down.” On his very first day, he befriended some vagrants out behind the company warehouse. He gave them his lunch. Soon, he was doing Bible studies for them. Before the end of the summer, in his quiet, loving way, David had become a valued friend and counselor to some of the most hardened employees of the Hybels company.

I like what Hybels says after recounting this incident. “The shame of the marketplace is that so often it centers on nothing but business. There aren’t enough Davids in the workforce.”

Our daily work isn’t just about keeping the house clean, meeting deadlines, making money, or keeping the boss off our backs, although those can all be worthy goals. And no one should ever use their faith in Christ as an excuse for shirking their duties. (We all have known Christians at work about whom it could be said, "They're so heavenly-minded that they're no earthly good!")

But for the Christian, the key questions as we do our work boil down to a few:
Am I giving God glory?
Am I giving 100% every day?
Am I showing consideration--(another way of asking, Am I giving love) to my employer, my coworkers, my customers, or others I serve?

Many are the days when, I’m ashamed to say, I honestly have to say, “No” to questions like those...
“No, I haven’t been a good husband. I’ve been surly and selfish.”
“No, I haven’t been a good father. I’ve been impatient.”
“No, I haven’t been a good pastor. That sermon could have been much better.”
It’s then that I turn to God in repentance and ask for the power to recommit myself to giving Him all the glory in all that I do.

Why do we work?

• Because God wants us to work; it’s part of being human.
• Because when we work, the presence of God’s image in us is visible.
• Because when we work, we experience the joy of serving others.
• And because when we work, we glorify God.
  

In another one of his New Testament letters, the apostle Paul encouraged a group of first-century slaves who were Christians to work for others with all their hearts, “as though you were working for the Lord and not for others...For Christ is the real Master you serve.”*

We Christians work because when all is said and done, we really work for the One Who loves and works for us every moment of every day.

We work because Jesus Christ, the One Who went to the cross and rose from the tomb for us, loves us and nothing is so important to the Christian than to give back to the God Who gives us everything.

UNNECESSARY, BUT OH SO INTERESTING FOOTNOTE...

[*In his intriguing book, The Victory of Reason, which shows how the Christian tradition in the West fostered the development of rationality, science, and commerce, Baylor University professor Rodney Stark speaks of how central Christianity was to the virtual eradication of slavery in the tenth century. It played a similar role when slavery reappeared in Britain and the United States.

It did so even though slavery existed in Biblical times and was referred to in the Bible, Stark says, because only Christianity, among the world religions, insists on an almighty personal God with a future orientation.

Theology in the Christian tradition became not a matter of interpreting static laws, but of understanding a supremely loving Deity Who has a personality. Conjecture regarding varying pathways is possible in Christian theology in ways it isn't in various religious systems.

With its focus on the future, Christianity allows for a future that can change, that's neither a mere recitation of ancient cycles or a grim march toward inevitable deterioration.

Christians therefore believe that there are new truths to be discovered in God's Word which, because it's inspired by God, its original authors may not even have considered. In the same way that husbands and wives learn new things about one another as their relationships progress, Christ's Bride, the Church, may come to new understandings of God as the Spirit reveals more about God's Word. This is exactly what happened when the Church came to see that the institution of slavery, which the first Christians took for granted, must be abolished.

So, when Paul writes to slaves about their conduct with their masters, he isn't, as some claim, justifying slavery. He's giving instructions for faithful and shrewd living. Paul may not have been enlivened to all the implications of the Gospel which he rightly described as true freedom.

Who knows what new truths about Himself and His Word God may show to His Church in the future?]