Archive for December, 2006

Most Children Are Not Paragons

Published
by
Mike
on December 16, 2006
in family
. 26 Comments

From Garrison Keillor:

“I love reading Christmas newsletters in which the writer bursts the bonds of modesty and comes forth with one gilt-edged paragraph after another: ‘Tara was top scorer on the Lady Cougars soccer team and won the lead role in the college production of Antigone, which by the way they are performing in the original Greek. Her essay on chaos theory as an investment strategy will be in the next issue of Fortune magazine, the same week she’ll appear as a model in Vogue. How she does what she does and still makes Phi Beta Kappa is a wonderment to us all. And, yes, she is still volunteering at the homeless shelter.’ . . .

“This is rough on us whose children are not paragons. Most chlidren aren’t. A great many teenage children go through periods when they loathe you and go around slamming doors and playing pschotic music and saying things like ‘I wish I had never been born,’ which is a red-hot needle stuck under your fingernail. One must be very selective, writing about them for the annual newsletter: ‘Sean is becoming very much his own person and is unafraid to express himself. He is a lively presence in our family and his love of music is a thing to behold.’

“I come from Minnesota, where it’s considered shameful to be shameless, where modesty is always in fashion, where self-promotion is looked at askance. Give us a gold trophy and we will have it bronzed so you won’t think that we think we’re special. There are no Donald Trumps in Minnesota: We strangled them all in their cribs. A football player who likes to do his special dance after scoring a touchdown is something of a freak.”

Here’s What I Get

Published
by
Mike
on December 15, 2006
in General
. 71 Comments

1. I don’t get most church television advertising. Who’s the market? People of other churches? Nonchristians? (”Honey, I just saw this church that said they’re friendly and have fun. I know we don’t believe, but why don’t we try it out?”) Lapsed Christians?

2. I don’t get walking around in Target or HEB or 7/11 with a Bluetooth earphone. They look goofy. And I don’t like seeing the number of people lined up in the restrooms at the airport who never even pause in their phone conversations.

3. I don’t get the “boys only club” mentality of many churches. A couple times Paul put restrictions on women because of the culture. If we planted a church in Kabul, we’d want to be mindful of that culture, too. (Remember when the CNN reporter was told that if she wouldn’t wear a burka they’d bring her home and send someone else? She suddenly got enlightened about the appropriateness of a burka in Afghanistan.) But here in America — where women share in all levels of society? What must people think — that they’ve entered the “preserve 1954 society”? Church is transformed when we hear the voices of daughters, wives, grandmothers, sisters. In baptism we’ve said that your voice doesn’t get excluded just because of your skin color (a mistake we’ve now admitted) or because of your gender (a mistake we’re still waiting to admit).

4. I don’t get the fascination with dispensational premillennialism. There are some genuinely good things “out there” with which we should be interested. This is not one of them. (I know, put up or shut up. I’ll write more later.)

5. I don’t get Aggie fever. Could that be because I was a baby on the UT campus, from which both of my parents graduated? Apparently my first words were “hook ‘em horns.”

6. I don’t get why so many rich white kids like gangsta music. Driving from the country club to the suburban home listening to obscene music about the difficulties of poor urban life. (So . . . is this how our parents felt about CCR, Steppenwolf, and the Stones?)

7. I don’t get Michael Richards and his vomiting of racial slurs at a comedy club. There’s even a Seinfeld episode where he helps Jerry understand that handling hecklers at a comedy club is part of the business.

I DO get:

1. Dr. Phil. I’m not usually a pop shrink fan. But the constant asking of “How’s that been working for you?” just makes sense. (Truthfully, I’ve only seen him a couple times. But both of those times and in a piece he wrote he kept asking this good question.)

2. Old hymns. Please, let’s don’t make it an either/or. Bring in the new. Keep the best of the old. Don’t you still feel the majesty when you sing “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” or the peace when you sing “Be With Me, Lord”? Sure, give me almost everything Chris Tomlin puts out. But don’t let go of “O Sacred Head,” “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” and “It Is Well With My Soul.”

3. John Madden. You either do or don’t. I do. Bam!!

4. New little league rules for pitching. Finally, it’s going to be harder, thanks to the mandatory pitch count, for coaches to ruin the arms of kids.

5. The value of a great teacher. Not a value measured in dollars, apparently. But you can change the world — one challenging child at a time.

6. The dad dying of hypothermia as he was hiking for help while his family waited in the car. As it turns out, he’d have been saved if he’d stayed with them. But I still get it. Whatever you thought you could do to give your family a chance to survive.

7. Grandparenting. I’ve always thought grandparents were a little over the line. I’ve, ummm, reframed my thinking on this one.

Sandhill Crane Fajitas

Published
by
Mike
on December 14, 2006
in General, guacamole and sports
. 40 Comments

This week I’m telling that slightly lesser known Christmas story in Revelation 12. What, after all, is Christmas without a dragon?

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Someone made the comment yesterday that he’s afraid many are trading one form of fundamentalism for another. I agree! The problem is a fundamental problem with fundamentalism itself.

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I’ve said this before here: but how do you single parents do it? How do you work, manage the house, run the car pool, shuttle between band practices and ball games, make it to church, and still get a Christmas tree up? How do you make the money last to the end of the month? How do you endure when you’re lonely?

Seriously. Hats off to the single parents. But even more than that — how can we make your life easier? How can we help you endure? How can we assist with your children? What encouragement do you need in your spiritual journey (on those rare moments when you can even pause to think about it!)?

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What do you get for that person who already has everything? My little pals, the Moore boys (whose parents were part of the Jinja mission team we love), had these thoughts a couple years ago. Shot right there in a Target store.

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I’ve been dove and quail hunting the past couple years, but it’s been three years since I’ve been able to go sandhill crane hunting — until this week when a buddy and I went out. (Thanks, JW!) I got my limit, which is three. It’s thrilling to be lying on the ground, listening to the songs of the coyotes, watching the ducks, and then anticipating the flocks of cranes. We probably saw 500.

And what do you DO with a sandhill crane, you ask? Answer: fajitas. Sandhill crane fajitas. If you think the meat is a bit strong, then you slap on a double amount of guacamole.

These are big birds . . .

Beth Moore’s Daniel Series

Published
by
Mike
on December 13, 2006
in General
. 77 Comments

Yesterday:

1. Taught one of our Ladies’ Bible Classes — the one that has been going through Beth Moore’s series on Daniel. I told them my talk was entitled, “Daniel, Apocalyptic, the Millennium, Hanukkah, and Why No Minister in His Right Mind Would Get Between A Bunch of Women and Beth Moore.” I told them that the very few times I’ve heard Beth Moore I’ve loved her stuff. She is a faithful sister in Christ — and a powerful teacher and preacher of the good news. Then I went on to paint a picture of Daniel that I’m guessing, based on what I’d heard, is quite a bit different. (More on that later, perhaps.) That doesn’t change one bit, however, my appreciate for the way Beth Moore has led people back to a careful study of scripture.

2. Went to the 8th grade band concert. Is this really the same group we listened to a couple years ago? There was no, well, screeching. It wasn’t painful. It was, rather, quite good. It reminds me of how important patient training is — for playing instruments as well as for spiritual formation.

3. Attended the Christmas party for the elementary school where Diane teaches. Met a few new people and got to be with some friends we’ve been blessed to know since moving to Abilene.

4. Ripped the video of Chris’s baptism and put it on his iPod. Mission accomplished. (One more picture — of people gathering around Chris for prayer following the baptism.)

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First Jobs

Published
by
Mike
on December 12, 2006
in General
. 28 Comments

At our staff retreat last Friday, one of the ministers asked us to play a game to try to get to know each other better. She passed out cards that asked questions (this game had a name, but I didn’t catch it: “Life ????”) — questions that we would answer as our turn came around.

My first one asked about a historic place you’d like to visit, and one you have visited that you’ll never forget. Since I have never been to the Holy Land, that was my answer to the first part. But not just Jerusalem. I’d like to walk around the Sea of Galilee. I’d like to see the mountains, the valleys, and the rivers that Jesus knew. I’d also like to see Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, and Patmos.

It came around to another of our ministers, Joe. His question was, What’s the first job you ever had and how much did you make?

I quickly thought back to my first jobs:

mowing lawns
bailing hay
cleaning the newspaper offices
inserting newspapers
delivering newspapers

My newspaper route was a steady income of about $40/month. I was wealthy, in other words.

But I snapped back to reality as Joe said, “Well, my first job when I was a teenager was delivering drugs. I made $1400/week.”

Ok. Not all of us had the same childhood.

Made me so thankful that God had rescued this dear brother . . . and that in other ways he has rescued me and the rest of us.

Baptism Pictures

Published
by
Mike
on December 11, 2006
in faith and family
. 21 Comments

Chris 1

Chris 1

A Night We’ll Always Remember

Published
by
Mike
on December 11, 2006
in faith and family
. 34 Comments

The last words I heard last night before falling asleep were these: “Dad, I want you to put my baptism on my ipod.”

July 25, 1996 and December 10, 2006 are days Diane and I will always remember. Those are the days we baptized our boys. Both were about fourteen-and-a-half when we baptized them.

Chris had planned last night carefully. After Steven Curtis Chapman’s song “Dive,” the DVD clip “I Believe” (Igniter #3), a scripture reading (Colossians 3:12-17), and a prayer, three letters were read to him (this part he didn’t know about): one from Josh Ross, one from Jenna, and one from Matt. They were the kind of letters that bless you all the way to your bones.

Then Diane spoke wonderful words to him, encouraging him to trust in the Lord with all his heart, leaning not on his own understanding (Prov. 3).

I told him that his journey of faith has been more like the opening of a flower than the sting of a bee. Many conversions are like the sting: they happen suddenly and you know exactly when. Most of the passages about conversion in the New Testament echo that language because people were turning from darkness to light, from paganism to Christianity. But that language doesn’t entirely fit his experience. He has been a person a faith from the very beginning. We’d seen his character forged in the midst of challenges: his sister died when he was two, he almost died in a wreck a decade later; he lost a first cousin, and then he lost a friend (in the accident). God has been forming him into a person of incredible kindness and compassion toward all people.

So for Chris, the darkness-to-light language doesn’t really fit. He’s been on a journey — a journey for which baptism is an important marker. It is a stake in the ground for him to declare, “This isn’t just my mother’s faith . . . or my father’s faith . . . or my brother’s faith. This is what I believe.” It is an acceptance of the challenge of Colossians 3:17: that whatever he does in word or deed, he’s to do it all in the name of the Lord. It is a public acceptance and welcoming of the mission of Christ.

Then we baptized him in front of some of the important people in his life. (I’ll add a picture later.) Some of those there are on his basketball team at Lincoln. Some are friends he’s known since they were in the nursery together at Highland. Others are people who’ve been teachers, coaches, almost-parents, covenant group members, etc.

So last night he told me he wants it on his ipod. He wants me to rip the DVD onto my Powerbook and then put it on his iPod. (Yes, he has the nicest one in the family — a video iPod. There really isn’t much video on there. Highlights of Texas’s national championship. A few other things. Now his baptism.)

After the baptism, we went to the gym for pizza, soda, cookies, and balls flying everywhere.

That’s a night to remember.

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This from my friend, Mark Moore:

I’m about to help you out here with an amazing idea for your Christmas shopping. You know that nagging problem of what to get for the person who has everything? Well, this should solve that one. I bet they don’t have their very own tree in Uganda. Click on the link below and you can buy one, get a cool Christmas card you can plant (yes, a card you can plant when you are done) and it will grow flowers (no kidding) and you get an ornament that will have a number on it marking the GPS coordinates of your tree in Uganda. (Better click on the link below if you want it to make sense.) The Kibo Group is a non-profit that I run along with a friend named Clint Davis. You can read about Kibo at our website www.kibogroup.org. We make no money off this, (Kibo has no salaries for stateside employees)…the money goes to plant trees. Check it out… its a pretty unique gift idea and it really can make the world better.
Merry Christmas!

Harding and Christianity Today

Published
by
Mike
on December 7, 2006
in General
. 75 Comments

Some wonderful parodies of the Mac/PC commercials here.

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Congrats to my alma mater.

I just picked up my newest copy of Christianity Today, the leading evangelical magazine, and there was a large ad from Harding in there.

I love the statement that makes, welcoming people from Baptist Churches, charismatic churches, Lutheran churches, community churches, etc.–all Christianity Today readers–to Harding’s community. I’m proud to see my alma mater openly embracing and affirming this core Restoration value (”Christians only, but not the only Christians”). I receive this as good news.

For some this ad may be surprising, but not for me. I know the spirit of many people there who are teachers, administrators, and staff — so many who don’t believe that our tribe is THE tribe. And they realize that the future of some of “our” colleges depends on recruitment beyond the borders of Churches of Christ. So . . . good move. (It’s also possible that this isn’t the first ad there and that it’s just the first one I’ve seen.)

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Another semester has ended. Well, it’s ended for me. I’ve taught my last class. For the students there is that one last issue of the final exam. No big deal.

What a privilege it is to get to tell 18/19 year olds about Jesus — his life and his teaching. That’s what life is about, isn’t it? For those of us who believe this “metanarrative” (that the overarching story of life is about how God had come in Jesus Christ and is seeking through him and the power of the Holy Spirit to save and heal this world), this the core.

Speaking of Harding . . . the older I get and the more I teach this class, the more I appreciate that I was at Harding while Jim Woodroof and Terry Smith were at the College Church. I can still hear Jim preaching from John’s gospel. I can still see the worn out pages from Terry’s NIV around the gospel of Mark.

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(Bonus study aid for any of my students reading: In that last hour before the final when you’re cramming, put your notes down, pick up your Bible, and read Matthew 5-7 again slowly, slowly.)

Christmas Stories I like

Published
by
Mike
on December 6, 2006
in Highland, Salt and Light and missional
. 41 Comments

Here are the kind of Christmas stories I like:

First, a boy at our church just had his twelfth birthday. He told his family that he wanted every — EVERY — present given to him to be donated to Highland’s Christmas Store ministry. So every present that was brought to his party was placed in a larger box — a box that was then brought to the church to be part of this ministry.

I don’t remember doing that when I was twelve.

Second, a mentally handicapped woman at our church — to be honest, she’s mentally handicapped but spiritually advanced! — handed a couple envelopes with money to one of our ministers, telling her that they were for the Christmas Store to help those who are poor. “They’re just pennies,” she said. “That’s all I have right now. But I think God does a good job of using pennies.”

I’m her preacher. And she’s teaching me about discipleship.

Third, I watched in amazement again as about 500 of our neighbors came for the Christmas Blessing. The children of our neighborhood did such a wonderful job in the Christmas pageant. Then everyone gathered in the gym for a meal. Here are a couple pictures of the pageant:

Xmas06_1.jpg

Xmas06_2.jpg

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Rarely do I think to check the “recent visitors map” at stat counter. But I just did that and saw that of the last 25 visitors, there was one from Brazil, one from Tanzania, two from Europe, and two from SE Asia. So welcome to those of you who are far, far from Abilene. May God fill you with his joy and his presence!

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Note to HCC members:

We can still use volunteers to wrap and to greet for the Christmas Store hours this Thursday (3:00 - 7:00), Friday (1:00 - 7:00), and Saturday (10:00 - 2:00). This will take place at Christian Ministries of Abilene (our downtown outreach center on Walnut). Call Joe Almanza at Highland if you can help.

A Cappella Music

Published
by
Mike
on December 5, 2006
in Church of Christ
. 149 Comments

A few observations from most discussions about a cappella singing:

First: Most people I know who want to preserve it aren’t trying to make their case in terms of “it’s God’s way.” Some do. One of our Christian college presidents — not the one where I teach! — once told me that he thought the use of instrumental music would send someone to hell. (Just when you thought no one really, really, really believed that . . . . “Yes, I know you served the poor, you lived an exemplary life of compassion, justice, and worship — but you used a piano in worship . . . .”) Most are talking about the strengths of the tradition — a tradition that is preserved by several tribes. See, for example, this conference being held next summer at Pepperdine.

Second: Why did we have to have a central focus of identity (a cappella music) that is so difficult to spell? Not a capella . . . or a cappela . . . but a cappella.

Third: Most people I know who express an interest in having instrumental music are not wanting to lose the a cappella tradition. It’s not an either/or. I seriously doubt that the Richland Hills Church will give up their a cappella heritage completely.

Fourth: As I said in the comments yesterday, just because something is a matter of opinion doesn’t mean it isn’t important how a church discusses and processes the issue. That’s what Paul is doing in 1 Corinthians 8-10. The topic is food sacrificed to idols: eat it or don’t eat it? Well, it’s a matter of indifference. Sure, go ahead and eat it. But that’s not all Paul has to say about it. For the way they approach the seemingly insignificant topic (at least insignificant from our historical distance) says a lot about how they are living out the gospel in community.

Fifth: The next generation has Christian music on their ipods. They go to Christian concerts. Rarely do they listen to a cappella radio stations. And they won’t buy the old arguments (from the few who are still making them). In many cases, it isn’t that they haven’t HEARD the arguments; it’s that they see how vacuous those arguments are.

Sixth: Those who yesterday pointed out that we should not obsess on this are right. We must discuss it in Christian ways — but we must not let such discussions detour us from joining God in his work in this world. (That’s what I love about RH. This is a church that is reaching out all over Tarrant County and the world. When our church discussed the ministry of women, some on the outside thought that had become our main topic. Hardly. It was almost a sidebar as we were making serious transitions to participate with God in what he was already doing in our neighborhood.)

Seventh: Just got to say it. The a cappella tradition is nothing to be ashamed of. The only thing to be ashamed of is the exclusivism and judgmentalism with which many defended it. I still find great joy in adding my voice to a chorus of voices of brothers and sisters in Christ. I love instrumental worship, but so often I find my head aching from the guitars and drums that are deafening and I realize I can’t hear anyone singing — except the faint sound of everyone singing unison. Nearly every time we have Christian speakers from other tribes come to the Zoe conference, they stop to mention how the four-part harmony they hear is such a powerful symbol of the unity-within-diversity of the gospel. (Admittedly, not all singing services sound like the Zoe conferences. But you get the point.) When I sing I remember that God is the audience, not me; and I remember that my job is to add my part — to participate with a grateful heart. Not saying that doesn’t happen in other settings; I just love that as a strength of my own heritage.

Eighth: Autonomous. Remember that word? Godly leaders making prayerful decisions. No brotherhood pope (unless we’ve elected Randy Harris to the post).

Ninth: The body of Christ is so wonderfully diverse. So much larger than any little groups. Celebrate the diversity of those who follow Christ!