A fork in the road

Yogi Berra is credited with saying "when you come to a fork in the road, take it." We experience a lot of "forks in the road" in our lives. I have friends who I think, when I'm weak and judgmental, always choose the difficult path. I face palm and silently cry out "really!" I saw a Facebook picture the other day that said something along the lines of: When you suggest that I always take the difficult path you assume that I see a choice.

This really made me think! I mean, really, how many of us go out of the way to make our lives more difficult? If we thought there was a better way wouldn't we, by all laws of nature, choose it. Instead of pointing fingers, gossiping, face palming, and calling people names shouldn't we reach out with love and help them realize that there are other paths?

Is there someone in your life who you think is making poor choices? What are you doing to help them see that there is a choice and not just a straight, uphill path?

American Christianity X

I watched "American History X" last night. Yes, it is an old movie, and yes, I've seen it before (and yes, it is filled with swearing and violence). About 2/3rds of the way through I got a sick feeling in my gut (no, it wasn't during the shower rape scene). I got the feeling that sometimes and in some places  Christianity in America (that is all I can speak for) isn't much different than white supremacy groups in America. Both groups take injured or impressionable people and teach them to hate. Both groups are your friend as long as you think and act like them. Both groups ostracize you when you start asking questions and maybe even dare to change your thinking. Maybe it is a stretch or leap that I'm making, but I couldn't help seeing the parallels.

How have we taken love, manna, and mercy for all and turned it on its head so that we have a war over who has the rightful claim to what belongs to all??? My thought for this week is that I would try and win friends rather than trying to win arguments.

Retreat

As a pastor, if I could make those in my congregation do one thing, it wouldn't be read the Bible. It wouldn't be attend Sunday school. It wouldn't be give more money or time. If I could make them do one thing it would be to take a guided retreat. A guided retreat brings the individual into the divine presence in a extraordinary way--it forces a person to acknowledge God in their life and reflect upon it. Sadly, most pastors don't even go on directed retreats. They may claim to, but what they call a retreat more closely resembles a business meeting or a "Christian" vacation. Many will claim to be too busy for such an event--I claim hogwash! We're not too busy, we just choose not to make it a priority. Perhaps we may even be frightened by what may come to the surface during such a time. Perhaps we just don't know how to go about it. And for that reason I've provided 2 links to my favorite retreat centers to help us discover what I believe is the most transformational thing we can do.

sustainable faith

weber retreat center

LGBTQ

Yesterday I realized the word "LOVE" has been on one side of our church sign that sits out by the side of the road for over a month. I like to change the sign at least once a month with either a word or brief phrase that says something about our community of faith. I thought about putting

LQBTQ

You Are Welcome

You are Loved

on the sign. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I began to wonder what others would think. My biggest concern is that people would think I was trying to make some type of political statement. That is not the case, what I want to make is a love statement. I genuinely want everyone to feel welcomed and loved in our community of faith. I want everyone to know that there is a safe place for them to go when the boogeymen of life is after them. I want everyone to experience the same peace that often embraces me. But what about the bigots? What about the misogynist? What about people who only like people who are like them? Do they all get their names on the sign for a month? Perhaps putting the words on the sign isn't the way to go, after all I don't remember Jesus having a sign ministry. No, Jesus lived it. And I suspect as a community of faith, if we want to bring shalom to a hurting world, then we must live it as well.

I like Jesus but I hate Christians

Catherine, Richard and I went out for a nice dinner; it was too hot to cook. At the table next to us was a young couple enjoying a nice, romantic dinner together. About half way through their meal a young woman showed up and sat with them. She was a friend of the female's and made it clear she wasn't eating or drinking, just hanging out. Over the next 15 minutes she made an abundant of things clear to everyone in the dinning room--even Catherine said she was really loud! One of the things she made clear was that she liked Jesus, but hated Christians.

I have an oxymoron alarm and it went off at full blast! Now I get the whole follower of Jesus (read: dissociate with the term "Christian") movement, hell, I even subscribe to it! But how can you say you like Jesus, but hate other people who say they like him? What do you like about him? Do you like that he hated, oops, I mean showed compassion and love to the dregs of his society? Do you like that he hated the, er, I mean showed patience to those who weren't getting his message of love? Do you like that he hated the Ph...wait, I mean that he took time out of his busy schedule to show kindness and consideration to the Pharisees? For the love of God, maybe you just liked his long hair and beard.

What came dangerously close to happening was me "liking" Jesus and hating people who claimed to like Jesus and hate Christians. I was on the precipice of committing the same offense as her! I can't say I really showed her love, but in my heart I wondered who or what had wounded her so much to cause her to make such a statement. What person claimed to follow Jesus and "judged" her right into hating Christians? Whoever it was, I have to remember, I am also called to love.

Loving everyone with a reckless abandon is hard, tough work! Yes, it is work! But that is what Jesus calls us to do, to love even those who hate us without even knowing us.

Get your pass stamped!

I listened to a sermon this past week and the preacher literally said "it doesn't matter how bad your life is now, heaven awaits you!"

Maybe I'm a jerk, but this rubbed me the wrong way. I cannot recall Jesus saying: "your life stinks, but your saved now so just wait it out." Jesus never said, "it sucks to be blind (lame, crippled, demon possessed, etc...) but don't worry because you'll be in heaven for all eternity and this time of suckatude is like a grain of sand on the beach of eternity."

Jesus healed and called for a better life now! "Go and sin no more", not so you'll get to heaven, but so your life will stop sucking. Sin causes strife. Sin causes drama. Sin not only hurts us, but others around us. That is no way to live.

When we focus on simply getting our ticket stamped "heaven" we miss out on the abundant life that God wants for us right here and right now. We miss out on some awesome relationships because we have tunnel vision. We miss out on the glory all around us. We miss out...