Prayer: A Meeting with God

I hated meetings.

I thought they were a waste of time. In my mind, they kept me from getting things done. Meetings were an opportunity for everyone to come in talk about things that were easily solved, and then send me away with more work to do.

But things have changed.

I'm now in a place where I have to call meetings. They are how I get things done. Meetings are a chance for everyone to get on the same page, and for us to delegate out the tasks for the shared mission.

The main turning point for me was a training we received from the Table Group. They used the principles from Patrick Lencioni's The Advantage to outline the principles we need to follow to be a healthy team. They also gave us some practical tools to help improve our meetings.

Then, recently, I was reading a Times article that explained how to run an effective meeting. Then it hit me. I use the phrase "Meet with God" or "Meet with Jesus" to describe my prayer time. But just like I didn't like meetings, I didn't always like to pray. My meetings were ineffective. I dreaded those times for the same reasons I hated meetings before - because they were bad meetings.

With a bit of common sense, here are the principles that drive effective meetings: Review the Invite List, Reserve a Place, Set the Agenda, Start and End on Time, and Delegate Action Items.

A tool called The Hour That Changes the World has really helped me clarify these aspects in prayer. They have helped me meet with God. This tool breaks down an hour (or 30 minutes in my case) into different acts of prayer.

Review the Invite List
Through Praise and Worship and Waiting on the Lord, I have realized that I really am meeting with God when I am praying. The attendees are God and Lance.

In addition, it has helped me recognize that there are others who can participate. Even as my kids are around, this has helped me not see them as interruptions to my meeting with God, but this gives me a way to invite them in.

Yesterday, I was in the Listening part where I ask God what he would like for me to do today. Titus was in the sandbox, so I asked him. He said, "God wants me to pray." So at dinner, we had Titus pray for the meal. It was a beautiful demonstration of how God can meet with us and speak to all who are present.

Reserve a Place
Outlook reminds me to set a place for a meeting, because chaos and confusion breaks out if you don't set a place to meet. The same is true with God. Even though he is omnipresent - we are not. We need a place that is set aside for meeting with him.

My porch has become a wonderful place to meet with him early in the morning.

Set the Agenda
This has been the biggest change. The Hour that Changes the World has really set an agenda for my time in prayer. I have used other methods before, but I have never set a time to it. This agenda helps keep me on track and really does engage different parts of my spirit.

Praise and Worship and Thanksgiving help lift my heart to the Lord. Confession cleans my spirit as I receive forgiveness. Intercession and Petition allow me to unload the burden on my heart to the Lord.

Each day I have come to the Father through this, I have found that I am hearing more from him, and able to share what is on my mind without getting lost in the topics. What works well in business meetings, seems to work well in meeting with the Lord.

Start and End on Time
Timing is key. Starting on time is really important for my day.

Additionally putting times to each of the topics helps keep me focused, and keeps me from chasing too many rabbit holes. I use a timer called Seconds to set up the intervals so that it reminds me what is next.

Sometimes, I repeat a segment in case I need more time. But for the most part, I stick to the 2.5 minutes for each and spend 30 minutes in prayer.

Delegate Action Items
Meetings are successful if the team knows what to do next, and does it. Prayer is the same. As I give my heart to the Lord, and meet with him, there are things that I need to do.

The time to Listen has really helped solidify my To Do List for the day, and helped me see these as things God is calling me to do - not just good ideas I had.

I recommend trying this out for an hour or 30 minutes. I bet you will have more effective meetings with the Lord.

Turning a cheek or a blind eye?: Christian response to suffering

In the modern age, we discussed how a loving God could allow suffering. In our postmodern age, it seems we have begun to ask how people God loves cause so much suffering.

Christians have a precious hope that gives light in dark sufferings. This claim, however, causes great offense when those who have this hope express such dark judgments of others seeking refuge from their sufferings.

In this week's Sunday edition of the New York Times, these two ideas came head to head. One that explains the Christian response to suffering, and another one that points out the great shortcomings of evangelical Christians. In his article After Great Pain, Where is God?, Peter Wehner explains how Christians maintain hope and faith in the midst of times of great suffering. Even in times as troubling as losing a 13-year old who battled brain disease to suicide. He reminds us how Jesus wrestled with doubt in the moments prior to his crucifixion. He points out that simple answers are not easily found, and that the hope we have is buried under complex questions and explanations.

Mr. Wehner's main points center on the reassurance of Christian community and the fundamental doctrine that the sufferings endured on Earth play into eternal realities in heaven. He gently points out that these reassurances are often shared at times and in ways that seem to minimize suffering rather than validating it. It seems that this can be done in a way to have the opposite affect than what was intended.

These have been true for me. The blessing of Christian community is wonderful. In our tight Memphis house church group, we have been through difficult moments together. As organizations we founded were ripped apart because of fundamental disagreements, we still broke bread together, prayed together, and looked to one another for help. Also, the meaning that comes from a life with purpose is ultimately the most reassuring. Our great fear is the fear of being irrelevant, meaningless, and full of vanity. The promises of the Bible that God has a plan and purpose for my life, as well as the lives of others, gives me strength to embrace difficulties with a renewed sense of confidence.

While intriguing, the Christian's claim to hope in the midst of troubles is not in itself offensive. I doubt that many outsiders to the Christian faith, hold Christians in contempt who claim to have a way to cope with their pain through faith. Instead, it seems that Christians' dogmatic and unempathetic retort to those in suffering is such an obvious paradox that it causes many to cry afoul.

In an interview for the New York Times Magazine, Reza Aslan explains how he hopes to end bigotry through a new show - "Believer". He walks through his own faith journey and the diverse exploration of his wife and children. At the end of the interview, he nails Christians to the cross of the suffering of others. Reflecting on his past and current Christian response to Trump politics, Mr. Aslan offers the following:

Because of your conversion to and departure from evangelical Christianity, do you have any insight into why so many evangelicals voted for Trump? The generous way of putting it is that Trump basically said to this group, “Vote for me, and I’ll get rid of abortion,” and so they did. A lot of those evangelical voters are one-issue voters. But let’s be clear: It’s not the case that 81 percent of evangelicals voted for Trump; it’s 81 percent of white evangelicals who voted for Trump. A recent poll just came out that showed that while support for a Muslim travel ban diminished in almost every single group in America since 2016, it has actually risen among white evangelicals. So let’s just call a spade a spade: You can love Jesus and still be a racist.

Mr. Aslan clearly focuses on a demographic that pollsters would classify me as - white, evangelical, and Christian. The statistics say that my demographic group was 81% for a Trump presidency. This same group has increased its support of travel bans for Muslims in the last 12 months. I am embarrassed. I am embarrassed to be white. I am embarrassed to be an evangelical Christian.

These humiliating statistics are what expose the contrast. That on the one hand a group of believers laid hold of precious promises of hope and reassurance in their troubles, but then seem to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. White evangelical Christians in particular, preach a gospel that tells the world they have hope beyond the grave. But for their Muslim neighbor, there is not only an absence of reassurance, but outright inhospitality toward those fleeing for their lives from war-torn countries and oppression.

The last statement is the most alarming, "You can love Jesus and still be a racist." Mr. Aslan is justified in stating this for good reason. Those who answered these questions are likely self-identified as evangelical Christians and are probably not embarrassed of their comments. However, I do take issue with the statement. I have three objections: misdirection, identity, and love.

Misdirection. Mr. Aslan briefly mentions the issue of abortion as the core issue for this voting bloc, and then proceeds to correctly chastise them for racist sentiments. As we point out this racist behavior, we wave our hands past the 59 million lives aborted since 1973. 59 million. The focus of this voting bloc's inhospitable behavior towards Muslims cries of the same "straining a gnat to swallow a camel" accusation lodged against many religious people in Jesus' day. Both are really important, but let's not lose sight of all the problems as we pull the speck out of our brother's eye.

Identity. White Evangelical Christians are identified by the color of their skin and self-identification as to whether or not they are evangelical. Mr. Aslan then gives them honor of claiming that they love Jesus. Though I'm sure many of these same respondents would vote a 10 out of 10 on the phrase "I love Jesus", this is not the measure that Jesus gave. Jesus explicitly taught that there will be many who claim to "know" or "love" him, but would deny him by the way they lived. In Matthew 25, he relays a stark parable about separating the sheep and goats. Apparently all of these represent those who would be in this voting bloc. The sheep, however, were the ones who cared for their neighbor, greeted the foreigner, fed the hungry, visited the sick, and embraced the prisoner. The goats failed to do so not knowing how Jesus identified with the "least of these". The problem is that the people claim to love Jesus but do not show it in their actions.

In the book of Titus, Paul points out that there are people who claim to know God, but deny him by the way they live. Though it is of very little consolation from my little soap box, I want to make crystal clear that those who openly express disgust towards, animosity against, and hatred of those who are different than them speak for themselves and not for the Risen Christ.

Love. Finally, the issue with the statement is either they don't LOVE, or they don't love JESUS, or they are not STILL a racist. Jesus taught that if you loved him you would obey his commands. He made it very clear that we are commanded to love God and love our neighbor. So the contradiction of action, must mean that the claim to love Jesus isn't true. If the love is true, then it is not of the same Jesus of the Bible.

It's the last one that gets me and brings the words of Mr. Wehner to bear. The reality is that someone cannot STILL be a racist. The great Christian hope is that though we were once bigots, slanderers, racists, and murderers we can find real forgiveness. Not just for the white man, but for the brown, red, blue, green, and yellow man. Also for the woman, child, trans, or any other gender identity. God is love. He welcomes all. Unlike the rest of us who send others into danger for our benefit, He actually entered into danger for our benefit.

As I reflect on all of this, I want to offer a humble apology. I am sorry. I am sorry to all of the moms who have gone through a very difficult decision to abort their child and have found only animosity and condemnation in the Church. I am sorry to each refugee family fleeing for the lives, enduring years in a camp, passing every test, and having their hope of a better life crushed by the executive order of one man. I am sorry for those who are suffering and have only heard empty reassurances of a life to come. I am sorry that no one acknowledged your grief and sat with you in it. I am sorry for the times that Christians have not welcomed you into the same love and hope that is intended to bring life and joy.

Thanks to both Mr. Wehner and Mr. Aslan for sharing your thoughts. These are very helpful for me, and help expose in me the times I fail to live up to the claims of the Gospel. Also, thanks to the New York Times and to my mother-in-law who keeps our subscription current so we can have conversations about these very topics.

31

31

Two cold hard digits on the screen

haunt my heart my mind goes numb.

How can stolen lives be counted

and simply listed 31?

A yellow stat - as if to hide

a man, a dad, a mom or son

whom God so loved (and parents too)

now buried 'neath a 31.

Hanging teddies now bear witness

to blade or knife or car or gun

that took Noah, Charles, and Marquis

all together 31.

In Raleigh, Frayser, Hickory Hill

The Heights, Orange Mound, Binghampton

South Memphis, Midtown and Downtown

together lost our 31.

"My brother's keeper?" asked the ghost

of Cain. He walks my street at dawn

as the blood of Abel calls from the ground

to join these precious 31.

O God, my neighbors and my friends

are slain in streets under moon and sun.

Stretch out your hand to stop this war

and keep the number 31.

These black lives matter, I say, "NO MORE!"

We won't part with 34.

Honestly, I couldn't bear to see

The body count at 33.

Memphis, this is my call to you

Don't let the number be 32.

I Want to Be a Christian

Over the Christmas holiday, Leah and I spent some time with her family in Baltimore. One evening, Nancy (my mother-in-law) leaned over to me and shared Nicholas Kristof's article Am I a Christian, Tim Keller? 

This was a big moment for us - to be openly and calmly discussing things of faith and Christianity. It was great. I really enjoyed our conversation about the article, and some of the comments as well. Nancy had great questions about the uniqueness of the suffering of Jesus, the necessity of believing in the Virgin Birth, the nature of doubt in faith, and whether you had to believe everything or if there were parts that you could choose and leave others behind.

I don't pretend to have all of the answers to her questions, or to others. However, it occurred to me that these are really insightful questions. For many people, these questions are the concerns that have been on their mind, but they have either been unwilling or afraid to ask them. In some cases, they may have been told they couldn't ask them, or that the asking already expresses doubt and disqualifies them.

What struck me as I reflected on Nancy's questions and the comments of so many others on the article, was the number of people who sincerely desire to be a part of the Christian faith. When I read the questions about the details of believing, doubting, and specific questions, I hear and unspoken desire to be connected to the Church. I may be hearing things people aren't saying, but for the first time, I think I began to hear the true desire to belong from people that are wrestling with real questions about their faith.

One of the most powerful moments of the article, for me, was the question and answer about the role of doubt in the Christian faith:

Can I ask: Do you ever have doubts? Do most people of faith struggle at times over these kinds of questions?

Yes and yes. In the Bible, the Book of Jude (Chapter 1, verse 22) tells Christians to “be merciful to those who doubt.” We should not encourage people to simply stifle all doubts. Doubts force us to think things out and re-examine our reasons, and that can, in the end, lead to stronger faith.

I think it is very helpful for us to acknowledge the truth about where are hearts are as we reflect on our faith.

In order to continue to process this article, and the questions raised, I am going to take some time to develop my thoughts around the following questions:

• Why is the suffering of Jesus so unique or special when millions of others have endured such terrible suffering over the millennia of human history up to the present (Eben Spinoza's comment)?
• What is the nature of the Christian faith? Where is the boundary of those who are in and those who are out (Pastor Keller's response)?
• Who needs to believe (general response to comments/questions posed)

I'm glad to tackle others if anyone has comments or questions they want to add after reading the article.

The People Groan - But We Rejoice

When righteous people increase, the people [of God] rejoice, but when a wicked person rules, everybody groans. Proverbs 20:2

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Thank you, God, for the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. 

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It has helped me have deeper conversations with my neighbors, friends, and colleagues.

It has helped redirect my hope.

It has shed light on concerns of other Americans that I did not know existed.

It has helped clarify the true nature of our fellow Americans' attitude toward the rest of the world.

It has created an opportunity for the church to stand up for what she believes in regardless of political affiliation.

It is serving as a deeper call for every individual to get involved, and do something to ensure that the systems change.

It has helped me appreciate and respect previous Presidents.

It has caused me to pray more regularly and with more clarity and vigor for our country and for our leaders.

It has shown me my role to be a leader where I am, instead of hoping for someone else to lead me and others.

It has caused me to remember that there is no law against the fruit of the spirit.

It has caused me to be thankful for the checks and balances of power.

It has made me thankful for a peaceful transition of government.

It has made me thankful for the freedom of speech, that citizens of this country can question, refute, and challenge those in power.

It has given me more opportunities to encourage other believers in a real and tangible way as they process the results of the election and the additional decisions.

It has brought the plight of refugees to the forefront of conversation and consideration in the public eye.

It has emboldened me to live by the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control), because against these things there is no law.

It will give an opportunity for Christian people to stand up in defense of their Muslim neighbors.

It will provoke more debate about the life of unborn children and the plight that faces women in crisis pregnancies.

It has made me look to God to ask what his purposes and plans are, and how he will use these things to bless those He loves and cares for.

It has caused my mother-in-law to have resolve to run for school board.

It will provoke many more people to take up the mantle of social justice for their neighbors, friends, and family.

It will provide a window in time for politicians to reveal their character as politically savvy or full of integrity.

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As I reflect on these things, I want my thanksgiving to be genuine. I want to believe that I would give thanks for these things regardless of who was elected. I want to believe that God will use this to bring His Kingdom here on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Sometimes I'm Afraid

I feel silly writing a blog.

I fear that people see it and think that I think I have something important to say. I do think I have something important to say. I like the way I frame things. It seems to me that other people appreciate it when I speak up about topics. But then I hear a voice asking me, "Why are your thoughts better than any others?"

I'm afraid that people will read my writing and think what I watching coach potatoes claim they can do a better job than professional athletes on the television.

In a world inundated with individuals "sharing" their every moment with the world, I wonder if there is any worth in submitting my thoughts to the same sea of personal disclosure.

I fear being too open. That somehow someone I work with will read what I've written and it might offend them.

I fear sharing thoughts about my personality, my inner thoughts, and my family, because someone I don't know might read them and learn something about me I don't want them to know.

I'm afraid that even if my sentences are coherent that my posts will too scattered to make sense - going from Gospel applications to social commentary to programming success to team building insights.

I'm afraid that I have something of a platform to share what God has done and risk not providing a balance to different thoughts represented on the internet.

I'm afraid that if I don't write some of my thoughts down they will never become clear.

I'm afraid that I won't have an outlet to practice writing and lose the discipline of expressing my thoughts clearly and concisely.

I'm afraid of losing a creative expression for poetry, metaphor, and turn of phrase. That email will become my only written expression that boils down to leaving co-workers electronic sticky notes.

I feel silly not writing a blog.

Practicing the Presence of God

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23-24

Immanuel. God with us. What a name!

At age 2, Titus love to play. He loves to look at rocket ship pictures, play with puzzles, and drive Thomas the Train. Whenever he goes into another room to play, he looks back and says, "Tome, Daddy. Tome." He will try his mother, sister, and anyone else he can find to "tome and play" with him. His desire is for us to be with him - to be present. While melting my heart, Titus helps me understand better our deepest heart desire.

A few weeks ago Angela Hanor shared at our Broad devotional that she was reflecting on the Advent in the three tenses - past, present, and future. She explained how we often reflect on the past coming of Christ and even look forward to the future coming. It was new to her, and new to me, to reflect on the present coming of Christ.

For the past, we remember the mystery and intrigue of angels appearing to Mary and Jospeh. We reenact the shepherds humble call. We tell our children about the inn that was full and the manager that became fit for the Infant King. We imagine the hope that the people of Israel had for the promised savior, and the joy that was shared even at that humble birth. We proclaim the peace that is offered through the love of the Father. In Advent, we remember when Jesus came.

For the future, we remind ourselves of the promises that Jesus has to return and to gather his church together. Like the Jewish people of old, we hope for the return of our promised Messiah. We anticipate the joy of his triumph over evil, and walk in peace assured of his victory. We look forward to the ultimate expression of love as we live and worship in His presence. In Advent, we look forward to when Jesus will come again.

But God is the God of all time - Past, Future, and Present. He is not only the God who was and will be. He is the God who is. His very name communicates that He is in the present; Yahweh - I AM THAT I AM. And yet, in most of my meditations on Advent, I have relegated him to be the I AM THAT I WAS or the I AM THAT I WILL BE. The Eternal God is always in the now. He is always present.

Just like Titus, we have a deep desire for God to be present with us. We long for Him to be with us and to enjoy his presence. This is what makes the promise of the Great Commission so special, "And lo, I am with you even to the end of the age."

Even as I read that promise, I have to admit that I do not always feel like that promise is true. As I was reflecting on this, I was reminded of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. In "Practicing the Presence", a collection of his letters to those asking these same questions, Brother Lawrence outlines the simplicity of this spiritual discipline. As a cook in a monastery, Brother Lawrence found that he could fellowship with God and experience his presence by doing two things - continuing the conversation and making the end of action the Love of God.

First, Brother Lawrence worked diligently continue the conversation with the Lord. This phrasing is especially helpful for me. Even after the initial prayer of the day or devotional time or hymn, he would work to listen to the Lord and respond in his heart and with his mouth to continue the conversation with the Lord. As Paul commanded, we are to pray continually.
As I asked others about reasons why we don't pray continually we thought of a few different reasons, why we can't do what Brother Lawrence spoke of:

1. Not being able to multi-task
2. Knowing that we are spending our time the best way and not wanting to invite the Lord there
3. Not having enough time to pray AND to do the tasks we have to do
4. Afraid that the Lord would call us to asceticism and tell us to give up everything

When we mentioned these and explored them further, we realized that the deeper issue under these is that there is a subtle lack of trust. We don't really trust that the Lord is good, that He is a good Father, and that He desires good for us. We are afraid that what he wants for us is not what we would want for ourselves. We think that the tasks that we have chosen are more important than asking what the Lord would even have us do. As this came out, I realized that I have held my to-do list very close, and need to continue the conversation with the Lord about what I commit to do.

Practically, continuing the conversation is simply conversing with the Lord with all the details of what is going on. As I rake the leaves, I talk to the Lord about tending his creation. As I hear about a coworkers personal issues, I hear the Lord speak a word to me about her that I choose to share. It seems so natural, and yet is a discipline for many of us. Trusting that it is the Lord's kindness that leads us to repentance helps free up my heart to let him in to speak to me about anything and everything I'm doing.

Second, Brother Lawrence intentionally looked at every action that he did and worked to make the purpose of it all the Love of God. His ultimate goal was to make sure that even if he was picking up straw in a field that it was done as an expression of love to the Lord. This second discipline in practicing the presence of God is one of intentionality and reflection. Love hopes all things and presses us to find the Lord in the simplicity of obedience in the day to day reality of life.

So, through these two disciplines there is a way to practice the presence of God and experience the wonder of Jesus' precious promise. In addition, the Advent in the Present happens through the Body of Christ here and now. Paul makes it clear that we as the church are the Body of Christ. Even more clearly, In Colossians 1, Paul said, "the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." The hope of glory is that Christ is in us. This means that the present Advent of Christ is us! We, the church, are Christ for the world now. He came physcially in the past, and will return bodily in the future. However, during this in-between time, we are to be his body, and Christ in us is the demonstration to the rest of the world of God's love through Christ.

Through all of this, I am encouraged that Jesus IS come. He is the I AM that I AM. He has promised to be present with us to the end of the age and we can experience this through continual conversation and intentionally seeking to love him in every action. And WE are the present coming of Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory.

Amazing.

Vulnerability in the Workplace

Every morning at every one of our clinics we start the day with prayer. Some places are more faithful and Spirit-led than others. Some mornings are more full of the faithful than others. Over the past 2.5 years I have found that we are generally not very good at prayer and that we quickly lose a sense of desperately needing God to intervene in our lives and move on our behalf.

Much of this is exacerbated by the fact that we don't really know one another. It's funny. We're a Christian organization, so we should have more connection and love for one another than most places. On the other hand, we are a business, and so for some reason we have to work really hard to maintain that sense of unity, brotherly love, and Christian witness.

As we begin to push more for unity in our workplace through prayer, I began to worry about people being vulnerable with one another in the work environment. I think I was afraid on other people's behalf that they would get burned by what they share, or that in the end something might happen that would cause them to regret the things they shared in prayer.

In response, in here are a few reasons I am using to convince myself to encourage vulnerability in our in our morning prayer to spur on deeper trust, true unity, and the bond of love.

1. Vulnerability builds trust. We are our around our co-workers more than any other people during our week. We need to trust one another and that comes with exposing who we really are.

2. As members of the body of Christ, we are called to build one another up for the good works that God has prepared for us. We need to know each other and know one another's weaknesses in order to build each other up.

3. The up shot is the wonder of 1 Corinthians 13 and the power of love. The risk is getting burned. The up side outweighs the risk. C. S. Lewis said it much better, when he pointed out:

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

4. If it is in fact our weaknesses that reveal the strength of God, and we desire to make God look good, then we will willing reveal our weaknesses to make God look great.

5. Conversely, in our strength and smugness we are very efficient atheists (this is a borrowed term, I can remember to whom it belongs). Therefore, to combat our lack of faith in God's power and strength, we must reveal our weaknesses to one another.

6. 2 Chronicles 30:12 has a neat story about how God granted the unity of the people of Judah to carry out the kings commands, according to God's will. In our work place we are carrying out the commands of our bosses which should be according to the will of God. So our exposure of our short comings should be an act of faith that God will use it to grant us unity in our mission together.

7. John 17:23 records Jesus saying that our unity is what will let the world know that we are Christians. In order to achieve unity, we must know one another.

8. In Ephesians 4:3 Paul admonishes us to make every effort to maintain unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Vulnerability helps us maintain unity. It is disarming and endearing.

9. We often have the wrong impressions. Proverbs 18:17 says that the first to present a case seems right until the neighbor comes to cross examine. The truth of the matter is that in our work places, we make our own first judgment about people based on an interaction, and never offer up a chance for cross examination to change our opinions. Vulnerability will help us think better of one another.

So, I am resolved to continue to encourage my co-workers to begin to trust one another, open up, and be vulnerable that we might show our love for one another.

 

A Missional Life - Takeaways

Just this last week, Christ Community took a bus load of folks to the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, KY. We met with thousands of other God-centered, Gospel-driven, Global-minded students, physicians, and mobilizers. It was a great time.

The Christian Medical and Dental Association has always played a leading role in mobilizing students and professionals to take up the call of Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. With years of experience responding to the same questions offered up by willing but weak disciples, the CMDA decided to formulate responses to the most common questions in the form of a short book distributed at this conference - A Missional Life.

In my travels from Louisville to Denver I was able to read through the articles, and had the following takeaways. They are a mixture of questions, suggestions, and remarks:

1. What about now? Are you open to the continual teaching of God's spirit? Is his word still alive to correct, inspire, and train you in righteousness?

2. Living for the glory of God instead of aiming to correct the failures of previous well-intentioned believers allows you to build on the good they did instead of reinventing the wheel.

3. Ministry and leadership are primarily about communicating your value of others. You value people when you need them. This applies to our ministry to the poor.

4. Since pride is the symptom of poverty for those who are materially rich, flippant and cheap praise like "You're so rich!" or "You're so knowledgeable." is the equivalent of Christmas turkeys to the materially poor.

5. Read Let Justice Roll Down by John Perkins.

6. Mentoring is not simply pouring into someone else. Mentoring is pouring yourself out for someone else.

7. "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I might remember. Involve me and I will learn." Benjamin Franklin

8. In mentoring be willing to bring close to the relationship at the right time (both from the disciple and mentor perspective).

9. Rick Donlon's title is that It Start Locally meaning that all missions starts with your focus on what is around you. He's right. However, I would strengthen the phrase and say, "All mission is local". Though you travel land and sea to get to a new place, once there, it is local. It's what's around you. Therefore, we must understand that missions is always here not there.

10. The reason those faithful with little are faithful with much is because once you have more it seems little in light of the much you can now see.

11. With regard to material things and financial frugality, missionaries use things up, wear things out, make things do, or do without.

12. Don't assume what is trending is beneficial. Do your homework and go with what works. Ask your people and listen to them. They are the experts on how they receive our efforts.

How Far is Memphis from Arkansas....in Dominoes?

Two thousand four hundred and twenty. That's right, 2,420 dominoes will get you from the shores of Arkansas to the Bluff of Memphis, TN. Sort of.

The number is 2,420 equals 55 times 44. That means 44 sets of double nine dominoes (55 in each set). Using program written to use image processing and mathematical optimization, we determined the optimal way to use the dark black of the blank tiles and the bright white of the 9's to best portray an image of the Memphis Bridge.

The idea was inspired from the cover a Mathematics Monthly that featured artwork by Robert Bosch whose website is www.dominoartwork.com.

Students from Collegiate School of Memphis, sponsored by Mr. Chris Purdy, helped assemble the image along with one of a cougar for the school. The funds for the project were supplied by an UpLift Grant from Regions Bank.

 

The Memphis Bridge is on display at the Given Garden on the corner of Holmes and Given. Come by and get your picture taken next to the bridge!

Lance Luttrell

It's In the Air

Jesus Te Ama. 我爱你. I love you.

I find it interesting that those of us travelling on short-term missions trips (of which I did several) usually learn an interesting mix of phrases. We start of with, "Hello". Then if we get comfortable we master the necessary, "Thank you", "Where is the bathroom", and "I'm sorry." But those of us feeling very confident in our linguistic mastery and pious for our mission will graduate quickly to "I love you."

God's love is something we should certainly learn to say in any language that someone can understand. It's worth translating. It's worth being shouted from a mountain top. However, it's so interesting that we would want to say something like that so soon. I mean, we're only going to be there for a week. Can we really love someone in that amount of time? 

My point is that I think we misunderstand the depth of love. I think we share it flippantly at times, and find it overused. We say things like "I guess I've got to love him, but man! I just can't stand when he does that." Or better yet, "Yeah, I think I love my neighbors. I mean, I wave at them when I drive by..." Or even, "I love you Lord, and I lift my voice..."

So what does it mean to love? I'm about a month late on this one, but I guess that'll have to do. What does it mean to really love someone or something? Can we grow in our love? Can we stop loving? Is it a feeling or an action?

If you're reading this, I am sure that you (just like me) have heard how love is more than a feeling (thanks, Boston). Many have explained to me how love is more about choosing to give yourself to someone. After all, God so loved the world that He gave His only son. As true as that is, it is still abstract to me. I have found Paul much more helpful as he instructed his young, newly-appointed pastor Timothy.

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul starts out by reminding Timothy that he needs to stay put to straighten out some guys as far as what concerns true doctrine and what is fitting to be used to instruct the people. The purpose of this, he says, is love. What is so profound about this to me, is not that the purpose of correct doctrines, or staying put to correct such doctrines, is love. No. What stands out to me is the map that follows of how we get to love.

⁵ The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (coloring mine).

Paul is saying here that love comes from three things: a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Obviously, where something comes from tells a lot about the thing itself. The fact that I'm from Mississippi and Arkansas usually leads people to believe that I speak slowly and have calloused feet from walking around without shoes. Where love comes from hints at some attributes that it might have.

First, love comes from a pure heart. As I imagined the people that I flippantly said I loved, this piece of love struck me the most. A pure heart. If I am to love someone I have to have a pure heart in love toward them. I am sure this means many things, but one of them is this: If you want to love someone (or make your words come true) then you have to actually want to love them. You see, you can have a pure heart toward someone if you are only "loving" them in order to tell someone else about how God is moving in your life or what marvelous things He is doing through you. You can't love someone if you are trying to get something else from them. You have to have a pure heart.

Secondly, love comes from a good conscience. I'm not sure if this what Paul meant, but in my mind a good conscience is a clear one. It could also mean one that works correctly, and directs you toward God, but let me focus on it being clear. In order to love someone, you must have a clear conscience before them. That's exactly what went wrong in the garden. Love for God was dispelled because our consciences weren't clear any more. We were trying to hide something. In order for us to grow in love for someone we now actually want to love, we must confess our sin. We must confess how we were only pretending to love them in order to look neighborly. We must at least confess it to the Lord, and have him absolve us from our sin. Love demands a clear conscience.

Lastly, love comes from a sincere faith. Now, here's where it all comes together. We can love only if we have good intentions (a pure heart), and confess where we've gone wrong (a good conscience), but that's not enough. To have only started along the way, and recognized that you've gotten off track, is not enough to love someone. You must have a sincere faith. But a faith in what? A faith that the other person will receive you? Maybe. Sincerity in expression your mistakes? Possibly.

What I think is hidden here is an allusion to the mystery of godliness that Paul talks about in Chapter 3 - that God was manifested in the flesh. You see, true love requires a sincere faith that there is one who has come with true love to give himself on your behalf. There is one who has come to make up for your good intentions gone awry. There is one who has enabled you to not only intend to love someone, and see that you've gone astray, but He has come and sent his spirit to enable you to actually love them as He has loved you.

So love is more than a feeling. It starts with a feeling and some good intentions (a pure heart). But we quickly see that we don't measure up, and need to confess our shortcomings (a good conscience). And praise the Living God, who came to love us, and now only requires our faith to be accepted.

The Good Work of Healthcare

When the Bible speaks of its own role as preparing the Man of God for every good work, what do you think it means by every? All good work would be included, right? Ok, then. What do you think it means by the word good? Well, after creating each day, God spoke of his own creation as good. And famously, Jesus directed any assessment of being good to God alone. So, it seems "goodness" has something to do with "Godness". Now God is not only in the business of saving people, He is also in the business of creating people. He cultivates gardens just as much as He cultivates the human heart. God is a God of the ordinary as much as the miraculous. In fact, we might contend by sheer percentage of time spent on each that God is actually much more a God of the ordinary than the miraculous.

Nevertheless, my point (admittedly borrowed from Tim Keller in his book Every Good Endeavor) is simply that each one of us has work that has value in as much as it reflects the character of God. Work outside of ministry can be good work. In addition, however, we each face distinct roadblocks and troubles in our own disciplines that need to be addressed. Because I work in healthcare, and am around doctors all the time, I found the following passage to be very relevant. I will be posting more about the thoughts from this book, but this is a potent start.

The Gospel and Medicine
To let the gospel of Jesus shape how we work means to heed the influence of both the psychological idols within our hearts as well as the sociological idols in our culture and profession. For an example of this I will turn to the field of medicine. Some years ago I did an informal survey of several Christians in the medical profession. I asked them, "What are the factors inherent in the practice of medicine today that make it difficult to work as a Christian in this field? What are the main temptations and tests?" I was surprised, instructed, and helped by the answers I received.

One of the main problems mentioned was a deeply personal one - the great temptation to lose sight of your identity in your profession. The British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones was previously a successful physician in London. In one of his lectures to medical students and doctors, he said candidly, "there are many whom I have had the privilege of meeting whose tombstones might well bear the grim epitaph...'born a man, died a doctor'! The greatest danger which confronts the [medical professional] is that he may become lost in his profession...this is the special temptation of the doctor..." Another British doctor added:


...the temptation [is] for medicine to take over your life and rule your life as an enslaving power. It's a subtle one because...there is a kind of moral ego massage because you are giving so much - hours, responsibility, stress - to do so much good in other people's lives. There's a lot of self-justifying power in that kind of idolatry. It's much easier to feel morally superior as a doctor than as a stockbroker...There is also, in some people, the need to be needed and the power buzz you get from having influence...

Those in the helping professions (and that includes pastoral ministry as well as medicine) are tempted to feel superior because our work is so noble and so draining. And although medical professional pour themselves out in long, stressful hours and literally save lives, they meet plenty of ungrateful, unreasonable, and stubborn people who repay their hard work with venom and lawsuits. This can lead to a correlative spiritual peril. One doctor wrote:
It is easy to become extremely cynical about people and emotionally hardened to life. You see so much of the messy stuff of life and death that you feel your essential defense mechanism is to become emotionally detached and keep a distance in order to maintain your sanity.

Several doctors told me that only the gospel enabled them to see the traits of pride, cynicism, and detachment that were creeping into their characters. One said, "In the early days of a medical career you can work such enormous hours that your prayer life just dries up. That is deadly. Only if Jesus stays real to the heart can you be consistently joyful enough in him to avoid making medicine your whole self-worth, and then becoming hardened when you meet so much ingratitude."


My survey also revealed pressures on doctors that came from the culture. One woman I corresponded with pointed me to an article in The New England Journal of Medicine titled "God at the Bedside." The author was a doctor who often found that patients' spiritual beliefs and practice were very much a factor in their health issues, but "in the modern era, religion and science are understood as sharply divided, the two occupying very different domains." He wrote that he often found that patients' guilt and fears were factors in their illness and also that their faith in God was part of how they healed, but he felt completely unprepared by his training to address any of these realities. "Doctors," he wrote, "understandably are leery of moving outside the strictly clinical and venturing in the spiritual realm."


Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes the same point in one of his lectures to medical professionals. Lloyd-Jones was on staff at Saint Bart's in London under the famous chief of staff Lord Horder in the late 1920s. At one point the junior physician was asked by Lord Horder to rearrange and reclassify his case history records. He created a new filing system, arranging the cases not by name, but by diagnosis and treatment. As Lloyd-Jones did this task he was astonished that Horder's diagnostic notes in well over half the cases included comments such as "works far too hard," "drinks too much," "unhappy in home and marriage." At one point he spent the weekend with Lord Horder and took the opportunity to ask him about what he had seen in the case files. Horder responded that the reckoned only about a third of the problems that are brought to a physician are strictly medical - the rest are due to or aggravated by anxiety and stress, poor life choices, and unrealistic goals and beliefs about themselves. Severe cases, of course, could be sent to the psychiatrist, but most of the time that wasn't appropriate. So, Horder concluded, a doctor should basically mind his or her own business. Lloyd-Jones said that after he heard that response:


...we argued for the whole of the weekend! My contention was that we should be treating [the whole of the person's life]. "Ah," said Horder, "that is where you are wrong! If these people like to pay us our fees for more or less doing nothing, then let them do so. We can then concentrate on the 35 percent or so of real medicine." But my contention was that to treat other people [taking into account their whole life] was "real medicine" also. All of them were really sick. They certainly were not well! They have gone to the doctor - perhaps more than one - in quest of help.


Lloyd-Jones was not proposing that physicians were by themselves competent to do this, but rather that together with other counselors and helping professionals they needed to address the whole person. People have a spiritual nature, a moral nature, and a social nature, and if any of these are violated by unwise or wrong beliefs, behaviors, and choices, there can be interlocking physical and emotional breakdown. And even patients whose original illness was caused by strictly physical factors eventually need much more than mere medicine to recuperate and heal.


That conversation took place in 1927, but two trends have only exacerbated the situation that Horder and Lloyd-Jones were addressing. First, there has been an enormous increase in specialization, so that no single helping professional ever seems to have the luxury of looking at the whole person. Just as important is the growth in influence of a view that has been called "evolutionary social constructivism," which believes that "all aspects of every level of reality [have] a single evolutionary explanation." In effect the very concept of the whole person is vanishing. Our consciousness and emotion, our choices and desires, our goals and joys are increasingly seen to be the results of our genetic hardwiring. The old idea of a person consisting of body, mind, and spirit is gone - now there is only a body that has mental, emotional, and spiritual neurology. In addition to this reductionistic understanding of human nature, the increasing economic and legal pressures on doctors and hospitals are likely to push medical professionals more cautiously to "mind their own business" when it comes to treating the whole person.


Because they understating the effects of both creation and fall on the human person, Christians in the medical profession can resist the narrowing implications of this view. The Christian view of human nature is rich and multifaceted. God created and will resurrect our bodies - and so they are important! If God himself is to redeem our bodies (Romans 8:23) then he is the Great Physician, and the medical vocation could not be loftier. Bot God does not care only about bodies; he created and redeems our souls as well. SO Christian physicians will always bear the totality of the human person in mind. Their faith gives them the resources to muster the humility and the ingenuity necessary to see patients as more than just bodies.

Becoming A Perfect Man - Easier Said Than Done

James talks a lot about talking. The Proverbs also talk a lot about talking and even about talking a lot.

This last week, a friend of mine and I were memorizing James 3:2 - We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault at what he says, he is a perfect man able to keep his whole body in check.

Like most people, my first thought was, "I know! If I could just keep a reign on what I said, I would be much better off!" We know the truth that controlling what we say is a very difficult task to master. Even when we think we are doing well, just wait ten minutes until the crowd changes and you say exactly what you were vowing you wouldn't say. We all do it.

But after a while, I got to thinking about this verse some more, and I started weaseling my way through it. I began to think, well, if all you have to do is never be at fault at what you say, then I guess my thought life is of no regard. Of course, I reasoned, if you think about good things, good things are bound to come out. But the self-justification wasn't aimed at how to improve, it was aimed at how to get by. I was thinking to myself, well if I think these terrible things, but then always say the right thing, then maybe I'm a perfect man. Maybe it's as easy as just saying it, and you don't have to do anything about it.

But then the words of Jesus come ringing in. In Matthew 12:34, Jesus reminds us that from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. You see the words that come out of my mouth are truly a reflection of what is really inside my heart. And the truly sobering fact is that though I'm thinking I'm saying the right things, the truth of the matter is that my words sound just as self-justifying as they truly are in my heart. Love does not hide, nor does it cover over insincerity.

There is hope, however. There is one who though he was curse, he held his tongue. He only spoke what he heard the Father say. His words are truth and life. Jesus the Word of God has come to dwell in us to not only make us innocent before the law, but perfect - men and women able to keep our whole body in check.

Afraid to Worship

A friend of mine and I have been regularly listening to sermons from Fellowship Memphis via the extremely convenient app.

[A quick side note: I was listening to one of these sermons while building my back fence in the snow this weekend. I think the sermon was downloading and stopped for a while when I was too far from the wifi connection of my house. Several minutes went by with nothing, and I forgot I even had the earbuds in. Then, as I was putting up one of the last slats, somebody started talking to me. Startled, I looked around, through the fence, behind me. I ducked and look up, there was no one! Oh yeah, it's Brian Loritz. He is talking to me on the sermon. Right.]

This week I was challenged to think about Courageous Discipleship. One of the main points here is the relationship between fear and worship. I know that I have often been told that there is connection between fear and worship. Pastors will say that when the Bible says "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" they tell me it means something like reverence or respect. The same way you fear your Father.

I'm sure that's true, but I heard it in a little bit different way this time around. What I heard was, "You worship what you fear." It struck me, because I can see how it's true. I can see how our respect is given to those things which we consider powerful. I suggest this revision, though, "Your fears reveal what you worship."

Take the fear of the dark. The fear of the dark happens because you are unsure of what will happen to you. It reveals that you value, that you worship, your own life. You are afraid to die or to be injured. It's a perfectly natural fear - but Jesus has even conquered this idol for us. He has conquered death.

Or take a concern or worry about what others think of you. It may be that you worship them, or at least their opinion of you. Your fears about what they may say indicate that you respect their opinion. You worship their words over the words that proceed from the very mouth of God.

Or take my fear. My fear that I will not succeed in the roles in which I operate. This betrays that I value success. I value winning. I also value and worship my own abilities and am afraid to let God come in, use His strength and show Himself off to be great.

May we be afraid of the Lord. May we fear the Lord, and allow that to lead us to worship Him. What will He think? What will He do if I do this? What will He say of me?

Awaken the Poor

I have often thought myself to be a disciplined man. I grew up under a strongly self-disciplined father who could and would lose weight on command, lower his blood pressure when needed, and reign in his diet like it was his job. Speaking of jobs, he is the hardest worker I know and is diligent with every moment.

So, when I came to passages in Proverbs about sluggards, I usually kept reading until I found something about the wise man or working man or disciplined man. But not today. The Lord had a different message in store.

Psalm 24:30 – 34

I went past the field of a sluggard,

    past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

thorns had come up everywhere,

    the ground was covered with weeds,

    and the stone wall was in ruins.

I applied my heart to what I observed

    and learned a lesson from what I saw:

A little sleep, a little slumber,

    a little folding of the hands to rest—

and poverty will come on you like a thief

and scarcity like an armed man.

Immediately when I started reading this, houses in my neighborhood started flashing through my mind as if I were driving past them. I could see the thorns that have grown up around the house. I can see the ground covered with weeds. One house in four in my neighborhood are overcome with weeds, thorns, and are boarded up. I’ve seen brick walls torn down, windows shattered, and trees lying on roofs unattended.

But what follows, is maybe not what you expected. I don’t look at those things and then condemn the owners for their negligence and sluggishness. Instead, it struck me for the first time that poverty is a tool of the enemy that is waiting to strike. Those that slumber for a moment, who fail in their vigilance for a second will fall to poverty in a moment.

The answer, at least from this passage, seems to be a wake-up call. A literal call to wake up the poor. Awake! Awake! Arise my neighbors! Arise and sleep no more. No longer let the silent weeds grow up around us. Don’t ignore the broken windows. Awaken us, O God. Awaken us to see the devastation that has taken place, and put us in the vigilant place of prayer and action. Come and awaken our sleepy eyes. Let us see the Dawn of Your Justice rise in our neighborhood.

3 Tough Messages

The proverbs are rich with turns of phrase and rhyming of ideas. Often I look for threads of a theme between the proverbs in the same chapter, but often find that it is limited to only a few verses in a small neighborhood of one another.

There are a few themes, however, that run the course of Proverbs, and are worth taking to heart. The clearest theme, probably, is the idea that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The respectful reverence of the one who created us puts us in our place and its only in that place that we can begin to grasp wisdom. The next might be to get wisdom because it is of great value. We hear lady wisdom calling out to us, and are admonished over and over again to get wisdom and not sell it.

In addition to the clear themes about wisdom, there is one that is as pervasive, but less obvious. It is the theme of faith. Faith is what is required, I think, to demonstrate true wisdom. Or maybe, it's that true wisdom really is an expression of faith. After all, wisdom is an application of knowledge, and often times it's simply an expression of confidence that the same thing that happened in the past will happen again. That's faith. Certainly our faith can carry us to things that we haven't seen before, but so does wisdom. Wisdom tells you that if your dad was right about 90% of what you have experienced, you can probably trust him for another 10% of things, or at least 5%.

In Proverbs 19, there are three people whom we are told to respond to in different ways. Each of these requires faith. We are met with a poor man, our son, and a hot-tempered man.

In verse 17 we are told, "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done." We meet the poor man. The thing about poor men is that they are needy. They need something from us. Usually money, or food, or a job. But the interesting thing here, is that if we give to the poor, we can trust that we are lending to the LORD. In other words, we are believing that the LORD will repay us for what we gave, and that with interest! It requires faith to be kind to the poor.

In verse 18, we find our son. Here we are admonished, "Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death." We have someone for whom we are responsible for training, not doing what they are supposed to. A difficult conversation is coming. Possibly even punishment. We are smart creatures, and we know that if we have to administer discipline we probably won't be liked very much. Nevertheless, this verse says that if we don't discipline we are letting him carry on toward his death. We didn't warn him that his disobedience will lead to his destruction. So, by adding faith to this verse, we convince ourselves that having tough conversations early, and being willing to enforce discipline will bring hope to our sons.

Lastly, in verse 19, we meet the hot-tempered man. The sage tells us, "A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty; if you rescue him, you will have to do it again." I don't exactly remember this story, but it's written in the footnotes of my Bible. When we were on our honeymoon, we saw this drunk at the airport. He was throwing trash on the ground, and shoving items around that were bumping into people. He of course had no idea what a scene he was making. You could feel everyone around him was annoyed and bothered by his actions. His friend with him, though, was kindly apologizing for each incident. Then when it was time to fill out the customs forms and get everything prepared the friend was filling it out for him. But one thing was certain, this wasn't the first time, and it wasn't going to be the last. Faith here, requires that we believe that in rescuing a hot-tempered man does him no good. Sometimes we really have to discern that some need to feel the consequences of their actions that they may change. Cecil, a co-worker of mine, put it like this, "Hunger pains are some of the world's strongest motivators. Feeding people can be the worst thing you can do for some people."

Cecil's point is that if you continue to provide relief to people that can change and work, then you are keeping them from developing the skills they need to be independent. Paul the Apostle said practically the same thing. The tough part here is between these three verses. We must be discerning for verses 18 and 19, and yet kind in verse 17. May God grant us the faith to discern the correct course of action, and yet be kind to all along the way.