Friday, February 22, 2008

Hole-ly Living

First published in The Daily Sentinel, Friday, Feb. 22, 2008


Meet Craig. He’s got a good job that earns a decent income. He has a lovely wife and two kids – one boy and one girl. Their home is cozy without feeling cramped. His truck is relatively new and has no mechanical problems. He has an active social life – good friends who know how to have a good time without getting into trouble.

From the outside, Craig’s life looks pretty nice. But on the inside, Craig is hurting. Although he loves his wife, he doesn’t really know how to demonstrate it to her. He often feels isolated, even when he’s with his friends. While he enjoys his kids, he doesn’t really know them. His job doesn’t satisfy him; it only pays the bills. In short, Craig is missing something, but he doesn’t know what it is.

Sports seem like a good way to fill the void, so Craig plays softball in the spring and summer, racquetball and basketball in the fall and winter. He lifts weights twice a week. His body lost the flabbiness it had accumulated since high school, and he looks really good in the mirror. But he still feels something missing. There is no joy in sports.

Craig likes the outdoors, so he fishes and hunts, goes camping and hiking. Sometimes he takes the family along; sometimes he goes with his friends, sometimes alone. But as much as he enjoys it while he’s doing it, the emptiness remains.

Craig’s tried just about everything he can think of to fill that void. He’s run up the credit cards buying stuff that looked good in the store, but didn’t do much for him when he got it home. And the worst part is that Craig feels like no one else recognizes his emptiness.

Does Craig’s story sound familiar? It does to me. Change a few details, and Craig’s story could be my story. His story could be yours. Craig is facing a dilemma that rings true for so many of us today, but this dilemma is as old as the Bible.

“I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that proved to be meaningless. 'Laughter,’ I said, ‘is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?' I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well--the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

Those words are attributed to Solomon, king over Israel during its most glorious days in history, from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. Solomon, with all he had going for him, still felt empty. As he said, “everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

So how can we be filled? Is there hope for Solomon and Craig … me … and you?

“Every person has a ‘God-sized hole’ inside.” I don’t know who first said that, but I agree. Craig’s emptiness, Solomon’s emptiness, yours and mine … this is the proof of that God-sized hole. And the only thing that can fill a God-sized hole is GOD!

E. Stanley Jones, a Methodist missionary to India in the mid-20th century, wrote about how the “God-sized hole” in us is filled – in Christ: “The phrase ‘in Christ’ is the ultimate phrase in the Christian faith, for it locates us in a person – the Divine person – and it locates us in Him here and now. It brings us to the ultimate relationship – ‘IN.’ Obviously this ‘in’ brings us nearer than ‘near Christ,’ ‘following Christ,’ ‘believing in Christ,’ or even ‘committed to Christ.’ You cannot go further or deeper than ‘in.’”

Jesus Christ: the great hole-filler! I pray that Craig will fill himself in Christ. And I pray that for you, too.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Attitude Adjustments May Be Necessary

First published in The Daily Sentinel, Friday, February 15, 2008

Sometimes, when one is compelled to participate in an activity, there is a built-in resistance to everything that comes with participating. The kid in school who is compelled to run laps for physical education class is less likely to run with enthusiasm that the kid who volunteers to run the 400-meter race at a track meet. This “rebellion” doesn’t go away when we grow up.

I spent the first part of this week away at a mandatory retreat for certain United Methodist pastors. I am one of 80-something pastors in The United Methodist Church’s West Ohio Conference who are in the “supervised years” process. We are pastors who have finished our seminary education, but have not yet completed at least three years in ministry following graduation. There are certain things we MUST do in order to be ordained.

I admit to being less than enthusiastic about driving four hours to northwestern Ohio (especially in the face of predicted snowstorms) to sit in training sessions for two days around stuff I think I already know. In short, I had an “attitude problem.”

The topic of the retreat was spiritual formation – how to become more in tune with God. In the back of my mind, I was tempted to think: Preachers don’t need that, do they? After all, they spend every waking moment (and a few sleeping ones) thinking and doing things for God, right? I know all about the importance of prayer – we pray every Sunday in church. And reading the Bible? Who’re you kidding? The pastor has to read the Bible every week so that he has something to preach about!

Spiritual formation? Who needs it!?

Guess what?? Pastors need it desperately! They get so busy doing God’s work, that they can quickly forget that it is GOD’S WORK and not their own. And trying to do everything out of their own strength can lead them into traps of weakness. Spiritual formation keeps the pastor on the path towards holiness – that perpetual pursuit of perfection that I wrote about last week.

And spiritual formation is for more than just pastors. Everyone needs to be spiritually formed! No matter what job you have, what stage of life you are in, or how deep you think you are religiously, there is room for growth. Pastors need to practice spiritual disciplines as an example to their congregations, and congregations need to practice them as examples to the community as a whole. This retreat reminded me of that.

My attitude at the beginning of the retreat needed an adjustment – from thinking mostly about myself to thinking mostly about God. I continue to be amazed how much better my attitude towards everything can be when I stay focused on God! And I came away from the retreat convinced that I need to be more diligent in practicing spiritual disciplines, so that my attitude doesn’t require so much abrupt adjusting.

So what are the habits that can help our attitudes to stay in the right adjustment? First is practicing self-awareness. Learning to recognize and identify your feelings and attitudes. John Wesley asked a classic question: How is it with your soul? If we don’t know the state of our souls – lonely, sad, satisfied, ecstatic, pleased, troubled, rested, joyful, angry – then we cannot change when we need to change.

Look at the Psalms for examples of soul-awareness. Take Psalm 42, for example:

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food

day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. I say to God my Rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?’ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

The writer of this Psalm is clearly going through some troubled times, and he (or she) is aware of how those troubles’ affect his relationship with God. The psalmist is willing to question God: “Why have you forgotten me?” after being taunted by those around him with “where is your God?” But even in the questions, he is finding God. “Soul, put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him.”

Did you see the attitude adjustment that took place in the midst of the psalm? The writer recognized the state of his troubled soul and brought it to God. How about you? Can you identify what your attitudes are today? How is it with YOUR soul?

During this season of Lent, take the time to ask yourself this question. Don’t be afraid of it, because no matter what state your soul may experience, God is big enough to adjust it for the better. I know, because He certainly did it for me! Anybody up for a 400-meter dash?

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Perpetual Pursuit of Perfection

First published in The Daily Sentinel, Friday, February 8, 2008

Last Sunday’s Super Bowl was a thriller – and a welcome change from the way it’s been most years. The game was actually more fun to watch than the commercials! Who would have expected such a defensive game when the most prolific offense in National Football League history was on the field? I didn’t publicly predict a final score, but I anticipated something along the lines of a Patriots win: 42-17.

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots were poised to complete a perfect season – something only one other NFL team in the modern era has ever managed to do. The 1972 Miami Dolphins went 17-0 en route to their Super Bowl VII victory. Technically, the Patriots had already won more games without losing than the Dolphins. They were 18-0 going into Super Bowl XLII. But since the NFL expanded from a 14-game regular season schedule to 16 games, it takes more effort to pursue perfection.

The New York Giants, on the other hand, were a team with nothing to lose. Tom Coughlin’s team was already a “Cinderella” story, finishing their regular season 10-6 before going on the road and winning throughout the playoffs. They even knocked off my own beloved Dallas Cowboys and “Miracle-man” Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers to earn the trip to Phoenix, Arizona to face the NFL’s “real giants.” The opinion in most places where such things were debated was that the Giants didn’t stand a chance.

But when the game started, someone forgot to tell the Giants they couldn’t hold the Patriots. Their defense refused to sit back and allow Tom Brady to rip them apart. Instead, Brady was spending more time dodging Giants than finding Patriots downfield. And after hearing how poor little Eli Manning had only a token of the quarterbacking talent of older brother Peyton, the younger Manning proved that sometimes only a token of great talent is needed to make great plays when the game is on the line. End result: Giants 17 (glad I got that part right), Patriots 14.

The perpetual pursuit of perfection must start again next year. And the ’72 Dolphins celebrated their uniqueness in football history yet again.

I love when sports lends themselves to religious analogy. Jesus used analogies in parables – stories using everyday activities and events - to explain things with heavenly significance. Football is often a parable for us today. And I can see several religious themes weaving through the Super Bowl XLII story, but I want to focus only on one: the perpetual pursuit of perfection.

In Matthew 5:48, during his “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus said: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That’s not a suggestion, that’s an instruction. Jesus is making a bold statement about God’s expectations of our behavior while on this earth. Perfection is something that every Christ-follower should perpetually pursue. But it’s an idea that’s difficult to accept – then and now.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in 18th century England, wrote a sermon called “Christian Perfection” that formed the core of the most distinctive and controversial of all Methodist Christian ideas. Wesley tried to explain what he meant by “Christian perfection,” both telling what it was NOT as well as what it WAS. It was NOT perfection in knowledge – to be free of ignorance. It was NOT perfection in action, as to be free of error. And it was NOT a perfection of health, as to be free of infirmities. Finally it was NOT a perfection of attitude, to be free from temptation. In all these things, Christians were still prone to failure.

Rather, Wesley preached that Christian perfection WAS about no longer willfully and habitually committing sin – either by action or inaction. Wesley held firmly to the promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” For Wesley, this meant that a Christian could resist temptation through God’s help and should no longer commit willful sins!

One of the most interesting post-game quotes I read was from Patriots’ defensive tackle Vince Wilfork: “Going 18-1, a lot of people look at it as a great year,” he said. “We accomplished a lot, but at the end of the day, I'd rather be 10-6 with a Super Bowl ring than 18-1 without one. To me, 18-1 doesn't mean anything. You play this game for one reason and one reason only, and that's to get to the Super Bowl and win it. We came up short.”

The ultimate goal in pro football is winning the Super Bowl, and as good as they were, the Patriots still fell short. The ultimate goal in life should be achieving that goal Jesus set for us: be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. But striving for perfection in our own ways and under our own strength is impossible. The Apostle Paul said it best: “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) The only hope for perfection is to cooperate with GOD’S ways and rely on HIS strength. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12-14: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

You and I are still in the middle of our “Super Bowl.” And just as the Patriots will start over again next season by not dwelling on last Sunday, you and I should be like Paul and forget what held us back in the past, and press on in God’s strength – perpetually pursuing perfection the way Wesley helped us understand it: by choosing not to submit to temptation and taking on the attitude of Jesus.

The ’72 Dolphins were the only NFL team to complete a perfect season. But the next year, they didn’t even make the playoffs. Jesus was the only human to ever complete a perfect life. But we have access to something the Dolphins did not – God’s desire for us to be perfect in God’s definition of perfection. In the game of life, we must keep on keeping on. See you at the game!!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Feeling SAD? Get Some Light!

First published in The Daily Sentinel, Friday, February 1, 2008

The rush of Christmas is behind us (whew!), and summer seems so far away. In the bleak midwinter, it is easy to get the bad-weather blues. In recent years, scientists have even developed a name for it: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Sad, indeed!
Scientists tell us that the cure for SAD is light; we just don’t get enough of it during the shortened winter days for some people’s brains to produce the specific chemical that wards off depression (or to shut off the production of another hormone that can cause depression). Interestingly, women get SAD over men by a 3-to-1 ratio. But no matter your gender, I have a word of advice: if you’re feeling SAD, get into the Light!
Call it a stretch, but I think this resonates with the Christian experience. The Gospel of John opens with the image of Jesus as the Light: “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Life can be extremely SAD (Sinful And Doubtful) – especially without Jesus Christ. But He – the Light – is a cure for our SADness, if only we could understand and accept it.
It seems to me that much of the time, we only want a little Light – not too much, because our eyes start to squint and sometimes the Light hurts our eyes. I especially have a hard time turning on the light in the bathroom first thing in the morning. Let me just us the nightlight, that’s enough…
Actually, no it is not. I remember once reaching into the bathtub to turn on the shower. The nightlight didn’t reveal anything, but the moment I turned on the water, a cat shrieked and jumped out of the bathtub. I nearly jumped out of my skin!
Spiritually speaking, we are often only half-awake. We don’t want too much Light – just a little will do. But when the cats of disaster appear out of nowhere, we are not ready. Going to church once a week for an hour for worship is not enough Light to get you through the SAD times. And if you participate in church less than that, you are still walking in total darkness!
The only way to get enough Light to cure your SAD is to truly commit yourself to the Light! Be involved in an ongoing relationship with Jesus and with other Christians. Join a Sunday school class and/or weekday Bible study. Get involved in an outreach program that helps others. Begin afterschool tutoring, hospital and/or nursing home visitations – anything that brings your attention off of yourself and on to others.
When people tell me that their lives are spiritually empty, I ask them what they’re doing about it. Are they taking time for personal prayer and Bible devotions? Are they sharing love and kindness towards others? Are they active beyond the boundaries of occasional Sunday morning worship? If they’re not, then of course their lives are empty. The paradox of Christian living is that the more you give, the more you receive. Show Light and you see Light!
It is tempting to think that our pastors are the ones paid to do ministry on behalf of their churches. But that is not Jesus’ model. When we read his “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:19, it doesn’t say “go and pay someone to make disciples…” Instead, Jesus says “go and make disciples… and surely I am with you always.” Pastors are ordinary people tasked with the extraordinary responsibility to get EVERYONE involved in disciple-making. And that means YOU!
Know what the difference is between a spiritually alive church and a spiritually dead church? LIGHT!! The alive church has opened themselves up to share more Light by reflecting more Light and therefore experiencing more Light. For Christmas, I gave my family custom t-shirts. On the front, there’s a picture of the moon and a caption: “Be the Moon.” On the back of the shirt is an incredibly colorful icon of Jesus that looks like stained glass. Its caption: “Reflect the Son.”
There is only one way to stop being SAD, and that’s to have Light! My friends: Be the Moon; reflect the Son!!