I was listening to a podcast (a new form of “broadcasting” a radio program is to record it and post it to the internet as an MP3 that people can listen to on their MP3 players – like the iPod – hence the name… podcast!) the other day and a phrase caught my attention. The speaker was a former pastor who has stepped away from “the paid ministry” and is now feeling more free, and more helpful to people than ever before. He spoke of his new paradigm in life saying:

“It’s no longer practice… no longer pretend. It’s real!”

My head nodded emphatically in agreement.

For a while now I have noticed that the whole world of Christianity as I know it has some level of “pretend”. It is in a way, imaginary. We have so closely united our life with Jesus and all of the things we call “church”, that to leave behind any of the practices of christianity is to leave behind some piece of Christ himself. From Sunday school to Sunday potlucks, from Wednesday night prayer meetings to Sunday morning worship, from singing in the choir to going on a short-term mission trip… even down to individual practices of praying before meals or having morning quiet time. None of those things by themselves are bad in any way. When they become the heartbeat of our relationship with God… moreover, when they replace our relationship with him, then we have a term I heard recently… “Churchianity”. The religion of the church.

The church is not a bad thing. The church, as it was designed by God is us, the believers – his bride. Jesus loves the church. But the church as we define it could be any number of things. Could be one of the four buildings at the intersection less than a 1/4 mile from our house. It could be the state registered non-profit organization that owns and meets in those buildings. It could be the hour that folks meet together on Sunday mornings. (“Come on Mertle! We’re going to be late for church!”)

But with our focus so long on the structure for the masses (read the previous blog) we have created an entire world unto itself. The world of the church. The world of pretend. There are customs and behaviors indigenous to this place. The natives seem to know them, and occasionally, there are seminars to explain such customs… but often, they are simply learned through time. Newcomers slowly pick up the new behaviors and make them their own. As with any culture, there is also a native tongue. Travelers can understand most of what is spoken, but many terms are unfamiliar. The banter seems quite familiar to the natives, however. There is an unspoken dress code, a sense that some things are not to be done at some times. Very much like any other group of people, we have created a culture unto itself.

I think that’s too bad. I think that is what the speaker was referring to. We create this world in which we can do and say and think all the right things, and live out a well-performed Christianity. Life was not meant to be lived in a bubble. “Hide it under a bushel — NO! I’m gonna let it shine!” That’s supposed to mean (in the world of pretend) that we wear Jesus t-shirts and always say “Praise the Lord!” and, “Hallelujah!” That’s not what it means! Jesus is saying you have the light. The Light of The World is in us! Why would we coup him up in this building, or at these meetings, or only with other Lamps? Live life! Let the light shine before all men that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven!

I want to know my neighbors. I want people to see in me not someone who is a faithful attendee of Christian meetings, I want them to see a life filled with hope… and Light. A caring neighbor who listens, and is available, not running to the next planned gathering, or rehearsal for said gathering. I want to know the folks I see in the grocery store, and have some connection with them, there at that moment or from previous connectings. I want to be available as Jesus was available.

Some years ago, I really felt like all that mattered in my life was telling people about the reality of God. It is in our little slogan on our website, our business cards, all our basic gear… even our trailer. It says, “Real Life. Real God.” Nothing has been more important to me than sharing the truth that God is real and his part of every bit of our lives. And so I gave up my pursuits of a career in journalism, to follow a leading from God and give my entire life and doings to him. That has led me down some incredible paths. I can’t wait to see what is next! All of my life has been and still is completely for him.

But perhaps my focus has been on the wrong thing. I have poured my life into doing things for him… working on staff with a couple different churches, planning all sorts of events to share this life God is sharing with me…. and so on. But perhaps I have just been feeding the world of pretend? Helping people to confine their Light to the refueling station of “the church”. Perhaps.

Can you tell I am sorting through some things at the moment? I don’t want you to go away from this post feeling at all negative or mad. If you are…. just forget everything I said. 🙂 This is definitely something God and I are dealing with in me. If it sparks something in you, as the phrase at the top did in me… shoot me an e-mail.

Wherever you are in your journey with him… be there. Don’t get your light from other Lamps. Live in the Light of THE Light. Let him live in you, and teach you, and lead you. He is our source. Not the church. Not any pastor. Not any teacher. HE is the Light. HE wants a relationship with YOU. Really.

Really.

Last night we were leading worship at a local church and had a great time! The band were all good friends, and good musicians. The songs were fun. The mood was pretty light. The room was full of people we love. It was great!

After our song set, we went out around back to sneak in and listen to the message, stopping in the lobby along the way for dinner of course. 🙂 That is always a hit-or-miss kind of thing, so we did get delayed a bit as we conversed with the various folks in the lobby over food and a leisurely stroll back to the main meeting room.

Once we finally made it, we caught up with the speaker in the middle of his message, and as always, it was great! Packed full of truth from scriptures, and good insights into those. A major theme of the portion we were able to hear was that God is so for us… the infinite God of the universe… is not only for us, but he is with us. The fact that such a being would think of us at all, let alone favorably, is a life-changing truth. A truth that God has taught me over the past several years, and that I try and share with every opportunity I have.

What struck me about all of this is that in the middle of a setting that burdens my heart greatly (the polished presentation of all these things)… in the middle of that, there was deep life changing truth. There always is. Though I am saddened often with how much effort we put into the actual presentation of the knowledge of God… at its core, there is life giving hope… an exhortation to drink deeply of the daily life with our Creator… who no longer calls us servants, but calls us friends.

So what I realized last night again (I touched on this in a blog long ago and far away) was that we just have this thing with efficiency. We figure this stuff is so good, we want to reach as many as possible. And so, with all our might, we plan and organize, and schedule and rehearse, and build and build and build these elaborate structures (edifices and programs) to attract as many as possible. We encourage all who attend to invite more people. We plan various outreach events to draw even more people. We tailor the events (including worship services) to be “accessible” to everyone, especially those who might just be “kicking the tires, checking under the hood” of this whole “church” thing. We work so hard to reach the masses, so as to tell as many people as possible in as little time as possible.

It’s not all about the first moment of hearing and understanding the truth. The structures go deeper than that. The goal is to get people connected on a regular basis. To disseminate truth through the vehicle of large group gatherings. Giving the most people the best chance to hear what God is saying to them.

All seems to make sense. Even as I type it, I think, “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?” But last night, I heard a line or had a thought or something that reminded me that Jesus did not try hard to build a structure from within which he could reach the most people. He did not primarily hold public gatherings where he could speak to the most people at once. Jesus’ plan seemed to revolve around close friendships. Make disciples he told us. I have been told that a disciple is one who learns whatever they are learning, and then in turn they “learn” that to someone else. 🙂

Where I think we have missed a nugget of greatness intended for us by God is in this sharing of Kingdom things with our closest friends. This ownership by each member of God’s kingdom of the truth – the life-changing truth that we have experienced and that we know. Not by passing along a sermon tape (or CD, or even MP3 as the case may be…), or even by bringing someone to a large group gathering. Just by sharing life over a cup of coffee. Over a lunch meeting. At the park while your kids play. On an afternoon walk. In the comfort of your homes. Out at a bowling alley. At the local McDonald’s®. Not only do we miss the joy of those situations when we pour all of our effort into the structures for the masses… I think we even limit our effectiveness? I don’t like to use that word, but perhaps it’s true? Might God be able to work more mightily through 3 friends who care about each other, who in turn each have 3 other friends, who each have 3 other friends, who each have 3 other friends… on down the line till each person has a vital connection with someone vitally connected to the Life Giver?

Perhaps.

I wish that we would not focus on the end result so much. On the apparent successes of mass production. While good does come of it, I think we are missing the most important piece of being friends with God… sharing that friendship with his other friends. Directly. Not like watching a movie together, where we sit in the same row next to each other, as we learn about God. But directly sharing our lives, the daily learnings from God, the struggles, the successes, the hum drum and the magnificent.

That is the goal of our structures, but to me at least seems to be missing as so much of our life and energy is poured into feeding the structure. Making it bigger and better so as to reach more people.

Just some thoughts from this wandering head… 🙂 I welcome your comments.

I almost NEVER read these, and certainly never pass these e-mail forwards on… but, I decided to today, and I thought I would post this here for all of you who for some strange reason persist in your blind obedience to Bill Gates and his products…

🙂

---

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for

the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would

have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason.

You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the

windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive – but would

run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights

would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock

you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine

off.

---

Very nice! Thanks, Laura! 🙂

We joined another group of Christians this morning for singing and learning together. The morning went pretty much as usual, but as we were plugging along, I noticed something again, nothing earth shattering, but I just wanted to write it down here.

The sermon today dealt with our mission. The title was “Owning The Mission”. In general, the point was that our main mission, our purpose, as Christians and as the church is evangelism. That is what God most wants for us to do. She told lots of great stories and Scriptures that helped support that point.

And all the while, I was building my argument against it! I was thinking, “The MAIN thing he wants from us it to Love God and Love People… Jesus said it!” You may know that I have been thinking a lot recently about how we can live out our relationship with God more than just in the things we do, but in a way how we think. Our worldview. Just being a Christian instead of doing Christian things. So, with all of that background, I was ready to refute this, “Evangelize-Or-Suffer-Guilt” message with all sorts of Scriptures of my own.

As my brilliant argument was coming together, I had a thought. “Wait,” I thought, “Perhaps it is just that God wants to use her in this way (and even the people He has put in her path of influence)… and he is wanting to use me in another way – in the relational, loving sorta way. PERHAPS… these are two aspects of the same thing?”

I had to smile. I mean, I know that. God has made us all unique. Each of us has been specially created to be who He made us to be. To affect those around us in the way he has designed. The apostle Paul was a gung-ho missionary dude. Heading out to every nook and cranny, looking for opportunities to help people. James, Jesus’ brother was no less visible in the early days of the church, but remained in Jerusalem. Other we hear less from, but they were no less important, or certainly no less “Christian”. Perhaps God was using each of them in different ways?

See, I think in the end, the mission really ISN’T about what we do. It’s about knowing and loving and being known and being loved by our Father. I am willing to admit that I am skewed toward the way God has made me. But I also believe we are easily swayed toward the notion that we have to DO something. When in fact, the best stuff happens when we are not even trying. God can use us most it seems when we are spending our energy getting to know him, and working on the things he is doing in our lives… and the others around us get the benefit of seeing a life being changed on the inside by a loving Father. Sometimes God uses our words, more often (I think) he uses our lives, our actions.

So, for a moment today, God reminded me how silly I am. 🙂 Instead of fighting for truth, I need to love the diversity of God’s people and celebrate the many ways He works through His body.

We all do.

Ohhh well.

While they’re still up… thought I would celebrate a bit…

🙂

Halftime… up by 5.

Scoreboard

Just as an addition to the previous post… we’re having a lot of fun watching the Spartans win!!!

ESPN.com – NCB/NCAATOURNEY05 – Katz: Why Michigan State will win

Does that mean I love “this world” too much? 🙂

(AND, if they lose, is that God’s way of telling me??)

HA HA! 🙂

1 John 2:15-16

Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.

Over the past few days, these verses have been brought to mind – not directly, save perhaps on one occasion. Things I have heard made me remember them, or things I was thinking about led me back to them.

Those are good Christian verses, aren’t they?! Hate the world! It’s only bad!! A real Christian doesn’t like anything about the world. And from reading those verses, I would have to agree. That is what is says.

But my paradox meter was red-lighting again.

PARADOX!!! PARADOX!!! WARNING!!! DOESN’T MATCH PREVIOUS INFORMATION!!! PARADOX!!!!

One of the phrases from Jesus’ lips that I have most latched on to in life is “I came to give them life, and life to the full.” (John 10:10 – NIV, I believe) I love that Jesus wants us to live here and now to the fullest. He made it. He called it good. Life here is meant to be enjoyed, and God is meant to be worshipped through it and in it. Not apart from it.

So I do. I love life. I am a very optimistic person. Life is full of joy! Let me show you…

I love to cook!

I love to eat!

I love to play video games with my boys!

I love board games!

I love movies!

I love books!

I love to make web pages!

I love Apple Computers!!! (but, who doesn’t?) 🙂

I love going for walks in Palmyra.

I love Palmyra!

I love our house!

I love driving for long times! (Really… I do!)

I love Star Trek!

I am currently a fan of Quantum Leap, The Incredible Hulk, and the old Fat Albert cartoons.

I love DVDs!!! Special Features!!! Need I say more???

I love pizza, ice cream, candy, and other stuff that’s bad for me.

I love fresh fruit and veggies and salads and cheese and other good stuff for me.

I love playing basketball with my friends.

I love making lists of things I love!

Obviously, I could keep going. Is that bad? Am I wrong? Do I love the world, and so the love of the Father is not in me? I hope not.

So, we come to my paradox. There are moments when I see my love of “this world” stealing time from me and my Father. And I know that stuff can definitely get in the way. And there are other times that I think he made this world to be enjoyed. Does that mean anything that we have ever made is bad? Only the stuff he made is good? (Like, walks through the woods, eating great food, etc…) Not sure yet.

When we use the word lust, it immediately conjures up bad stuff in our minds, right? Usually associated with sexual perversion in some way. But here John uses it in a few different ways. The “lust for physical pleasure” perhaps meaning sexual, and even more – like good food, even working out for your “physical pleasure”? The “lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions.” Seems to me to refer to materialism. Loving our stuff. He then says, “These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world.” ALL of them? Which ones? Everything?

I completely understand that our joy in life – the life to the full – has absolutely nothing to do with our possessions. We can still have a completely full life without our stuff. Jesus said, “Don’t treasure your stuff here… treasure the things of heaven… eternal things” But does that really mean we are to find no joy in our stuff? It’s only evil?

Paul says, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.” I believe, as with everything in life, there is somehow a balance to be struck. Where that is, I am uncertain. But I do not think that God wants us to run and hide from TV shows. Nor does he wants us to never play a video game again. Perhaps he does for you, but that sort of blanket rule-making has led to some pretty nasty legalistic fights. “Don’t play cards! Don’t dance! Don’t wear make-up! Don’t wear shorts!”

(Sidenote 2: Did you know that when my wife first matriculated at our Bible college, she was not allowed to wear shorts. Shorts were not allowed. Really. Seriously.)

We make up rules, so we can avoid the evils of “this world”. All rooted in verses like the ones from 1 John. But perhaps the truth is in the balance. Jesus was accused of loving the world too much – being a drunk and a glutton. But he also said (as the Word of God through John) that we should not love this world.

Please show me Father how I can know you more through this paradox. Let me see your beauty, your greatness, in this apparent dichotomy. Let me live more fully as I understand you more.

OK, so… the other day while I was driving home I turned on the radio and LIVE on the local AM radio station was the play-by-play from various points on the globe of the last moments of the Pope’s life. Really! I am not kidding.

I know you have seen it too. On TV, everywhere, we are literally watching moment by moment as this man loses his consciousness here with us.

Isn’t that kinda weird??? Should we really be sending out news crews to be “on location” for the final announcement? Is there something particularly special here? He is a man, and men die. He never claimed he wouldn’t, did he? Do we do that with other people? Even the most famous among us? Not usually. At least there is some peace from the press in the final moments.

I think the modern press gets bored. They have too much time to air too little information. So… a live play-by-play.

“Well, the latest report is that his breathing is getting more shallow, and his kidneys have begun to fail. Back to you, Bob.”

“The Pontiff continues to worsen with each passing moment. He remains lucid, recognizing people in the room, continuing to bless them.”

(Sidenote: This man is a blessing machine!! He is well on his way out and he’s still doling out his blessings!)

It just struck me as odd, and in a strange sort of way devaluing his life. In their attempt to honor, I think some lines of respect for privacy and decency may have been crossed.

But, that’s just my opinion.

It’s over now. He died.

Our son Alex is just plain fun. This photo came up on my rotating desktop photos this morning, and it just made me smile big. You can’t see the rest of the photo, but he’s on a tiny little swing ride (that’s what those chains are…) where he was spun around for maybe 2 minutes at best. AND HE LOVED IT! Look at that face! Sheer joy. Unadulterated pleasure.

The joy of life. Most everything is FUN to Alex. (Except those foods Dad makes him eat…) You can see it in his face, hear it in his voice, and it’s just contagious to be around. I am smiling a big happy smile as I type these words.

I hope he keeps it. I hope his Father has placed in him an insatiable joy for living the life he was created to live. Everything will not always be fun for him, people will fail him, and put him down. He will fail.

But I pray that smile remains. The joy from deep within. Loving life to its fullest, rooted in the love his father, and his Father have for him.

And many others will know the same joy through him.