My Trip to Israel

What’s the good word? On Tuesday I leave with 21 people for a pilgrimage to Israel. This is more than a trip. This is more than a vacation. This is a journey, a pilgrimage. I have been spending the last month putting a bible study together for the trip. Each night, for those wishing, we will be visiting the stories in Scripture that match where we were that day. I expect nothing less but to see these stories that I have learned about, read about, and preached about seen in a different light. My hope is those going will as well. I can’t believe that after all these years of reading about Nazareth, they went to Bethlehem, and all these other places, that I will finally be able to get to see them. There’s an old says, “Seeing is believing”, well that isn’t what our faith is about, however, there’s something about seeing for us. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe he existed and was here on this earth, but I don’t have to see him to believe that. Yet, there will be something about seeing the land where he walked, there will be something about sailing on the sea that he sailed on, there will be something about walking on the very places he walked that will make it something more for me. At least, that is what I am expecting.

I will be able to blog while there, I think! I have looked at some of the hotels we will be staying at and they do offer free Wi-Fi. If not, hopefully I can find an internet cafe somewhere. I hope to blog about some of the experiences and keep you posted. If that doesn’t happen, I will most certainly blog about it upon my return. And that’s the good word for today.

Worship

What’s the good word? This past weekend our synod assembly focused on Worship. What actually is worship? Worship comes from the word meaning, worth ship. In other words something that shows worth. When we come together for worship, we come to show God’s worth in our lives. By name alone worship has every thing to do with God, and nothing to do with us. Yet, for many, worship is about what “they” get out of it. “What can worship do for me?” I have longed tried to get away from using the term worship service, because it seems to have taken on a connotation of a service done to us, rather than a service done for God. If you think about it, it makes sense. When a service is performed for us, we pay for that service. If a worship service is about us, and is about a service done to us, then does the offering take on a meaning of “payment” rather than a return of blessing? Perhaps. And perhaps then our view of worship needs to change.

For some, they go to church out of a sense of obligation. But think about that for a minute, is that what God wants? If we go out of a sense of obligation, is that bringing worth to God? Suppose for example I went out and got my wife some flowers and gave them to her. She got them and then asked, “Why did you get me flowers?” “I’m your husband, I’m supposed to,” I respond. Doesn’t make the flowers look to appealing does it? Or what if I said that they were on sale, or they were cheap, or it wasn’t  a big deal, or I figured you needed them? Does she even want them anymore? NO! And why? Because she wants my heart. If I am not giving to her with my heart, my actions don’t mean a thing. Does God feel like this with us and our worship sometimes? Look, we can sing all the right songs, recite all the right prayers, but if it is just going through the motions, what’s the point? The Book of Isaiah says: “These people, they honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves, why do we do what we do? To keep the God happy? So that we don’t feel guilty?

When we come to God with our hearts, we show God his worth, which is what worship is about. And that’s the good word for today.

Golf and God

What’s the good word? So, on Friday I got to play in the Lutherhill golf tournament. I play golf, but I don’t PLAY golf. I love being out there more than anything, and not only that, in a way golf teaches me about life and about my faith. Three things that I have learned from the game of golf in relation to my life and my faith life.

YOU ONLY GET ONE SHOT- If anything golf has taught me that this is my only shot in life. Yes, in golf you can get do-overs, and Lord knows God gives us do-0vers (forgiveness) each day. But as far as life goes, this is my one and only shot to get it right. Not only that, but as I have taught through my messages on Sunday mornings, WE are God’s only plan. God doesn’t have a plan B, we are God’s only plan. Let’s make sure it’s a good shot!

PLAY IT WHERE IT IS- In golf you have to play it where you ball lands. I guess it’s that way in life as well. We don’t always have control over what life gives us, most of the time, due to the choices we make, we do have control. But like the game of golf, it’s up to us to decide how we are going to play what we are given. We can choose to look on the bad side of things and grumble about where our ball is, or we can choose to look at it as an opportunity. How will you play it?

COMMUNITY- We played in a four man scramble, and I realized- this game is better when played with others. God created us to be in community, and as a community of faith we play together. Not only that, like in a scramble, we help one another move forward in life and in our faith. I love the collegiality of our ministerium. I know that I can count on some of my fellow pastors when I have a question or a situation I need help with. It’s all what Rick Warren gets at in his book “Better Together”. (Side note- thank goodness for my teammates the other day. Together we were better than if it had just been me!)

And that’s the good word for today!

 

Take The Road

What’s the good word? This past Sunday in the church we celebrated Palm/Passion Sunday. Well, not at my church. We celebrated Palm Sunday. I don’t exactly know when it was that we started to read not only the palm Sunday story but also the Passion narrative the same day. Seems a little schizophrenic to me for one, but also it doesn’t allow us to take the journey through Holy Week. I recently received a mailing from a local church here in Houston, no not Joel, and it asked me to join them in one of…ready for it?….24 Easter Worships that would start on THURSDAY!!! No Holy week, no Good Friday, just STRAIGHT TO EASTER! It really is important for us to take Holy Week as it is. But for some reason we don’t like to go to the messy places that Holy Week takes us. We don’t like to go to the upper room and see Jesus wash the disciples feet. Perhaps it is because we know what it means for us- that not only are our feet washed, but that Jesus calls us to wash others’ feet. We don’t like to go to the staged and ridiculous trial that will take place that night. We don’t like to see Peter deny Jesus. Perhaps it is because we too do the same in our lives. Not that we deny “knowing” Jesus, but deny Jesus a part of our lives. We don’t like to go to the cross. A path that is littered with mockery, spit, beatings, and pain. Perhaps it is because we know that when Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me,” we know he’s talking about making sacrifices. YIKES! We don’t like to see Jesus hanging on the cross, bleeding, dying, gasping for his last breath. I admit, it’s hard for me to watch this part in any movie, let alone “The Passion of the Christ”. Perhaps it is because we feel a tinge of guilt that someone, much less God, would do this FOR US! But for all intents, taking this journey IS GOOD FOR US!

Martin Luther talked about being theologians of the cross. According to Luther, the theologian of the cross preaches what seems foolish to the world (1 Cor. 1:18). In particular, the theologian of the cross preaches that (1) humans can in no way earn righteousness, (2) humans cannot add to or increase the righteousness of the cross, and (3) any righteousness given to humanity comes from outside of us (extra nos).For the theologian of the cross, it is only from the self-revelation of God that people can learn about God and their relation to God—and the most perfect self-revelation of God is God’s Word become flesh, Jesus the Christ. Thus, even if an action appears good, still Christ died on the cross for human sins and sinfulness, so the action is not as good as it appears.

In reference to the theology of the cross Gerhard Forde explains, “A theology of the cross is not sentimentalism. To be sure, it speaks much about suffering. A theologian of the cross, Luther says, looks at all things through suffering and the cross. It is also certainly true that in Christ God enters into our suffering and death. But in a theology of the cross it is soon apparent that we cannot ignore the fact that suffering comes about because we are at odds with God and are trying to rush headlong into some sort of cozy identification with him.”

I believe there is no way we can skip to the good stuff this week. I believe we are being called to be theologians of the cross. To take in the goodness of what we may perceive as bad and, pardon the deep theological word here, “yucky”. It’s in the “yucky-ness” that we find love. A love that we can’t explain, but that comes to us free and without conditions. And that’s the good word for today!

Do The Impossible

What’s the Good Word? I don’t often do this, because I know I have readers who read both this blog and my leadership blog, Leadership In Ministry. But I think it goes beyond leadership and decided to share that post here on The Good Word.

Not too long ago, I stood in front of our congregation and told them that we could double the size of our congregation in one week. It was quiet. People kind of had that “Yeah, right,” smile on their face. There were even some that looked around at others to see what their reaction was. What? Had I said something I shouldn’t have said? Was it an impossible task? Not really. All that had to happen was, each one of them bring one person to worship the following week. That’s all that needed to happen. Not raise a million dollars for a new construction project in one week, not get a major speaker in, not throw a festival. None of those things. Each one had to bring one person with them. It really isn’t impossible to think we could grow our ministries in a week like that. In The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, time and time again it says that “God added to their number daily.” One day it would be three thousand, the next two thousand. Why do we, as people of faith, always doubt the impossible?

When interviewed for Walter Isaacson’s book on the life of Steve Jobs, one woman was speaking of what it was like to work with Steve Jobs, and she said the following: “You did the impossible because you didn’t realize it was impossible.” As leaders in God’s church, shouldn’t that be our approach? Should we have that same attitude and value in our congregations? I mean, let’s face it, we serve a God whose Son said, “Through me all things are possible.” Do we truly believe that? We say it, but do we practice it? My friend and colleague Chris Markert recently wrote on his blog post Celebrating Leadership that we do a lot of talking but not a lot of acting in the church. I think this is one area where that is true. Do the impossible because you don’t realize it’s impossible! And that’s the good word for today.

The New Equation

What’s the good word? Remember the story in Exodus when the Israelites were complaining about not having enough food to eat? I just read a take on this story that I had never heard or thought of before. So the quail are falling, right? Once the quail stopped falling the Israelites go out and start gathering. Each one gathered no less than “ten homers”. I know, weird name. Now if each one gathered 10 homers and you multiplied that by say around 600,000 men (approximately how many were out there in the desert) that equals 6 million homers. Now a homer equates to roughly 200 liters, and assuming these quail were average size that means it rained somewhere in the neighborhood of 105 million quail. Yep, that’s right, 105 million! I think God has a GREAT sense of humor. “Fine you want quail, how about them quail!” Love it! Remember, that this is an answer to Moses’ prayer to God on behalf of the Israelites. Again, if we go to God in prayer, boldly God will provide. I’ve been told before that when God enters the equation, His output always exceeds our input. So true! So, work like it depends on us, and pray like it depends on God! What’s going on in your prayer life? Is it cloudy with a chance of quail in your forecast? And that’s the good word for today!

Special thanks to Mark Batterson for that new take for me on the quail story from Exodus!

Lent is Crazy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s the good word? I came across this article on Lent, and while difficult to read, I do have to say that I agree with some of what is written. Have we really dumbed down the meaning of sacrifice? Is giving up TV or chocolate, REALLY a sacrifice? Read the following article, and let me know your thoughts. Happy Lent! I hope it’s a good journey for you and your faith. And that’s the good word for today.

 

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/features/28361-why-practicing-lent-is-crazy