How I met your Savior

A New Year

2012-01-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s that time of year. The time to look back on the New Year’sresolutions you made a few short days ago, and see how many of them you’vekept. It’s an annual ritual, is itnot? In fact, it is the breaking of theNew Year’s resolutions that seems to get more attention than the resolutionsthemselves. There’s almost a perverseglee in the fact that it is a rare occurrence when someone is able to keeptheir resolution all the way through February.

So, I wanted to go a slightly different way with this ritualand instead, encourage you to try again. If you’ve fallen short of a resolution, or didn’t even make one becauseyou feel they’re just impossible to keep, try it. And if/when you fall short try it again. To whatever daunting resolution may liebefore, with whatever negative history you may have with it, give it a chance,give it your all, and give it your best. Especially if you’ve already been unable to keep at it this year. Consider this your permission to try new, witha clean slate.

The word we use in the church for this is Grace, and it’s awonderful and powerful word. Grace meansforgiveness. Grace means hope. Grace means, when you fall short, when youmiss the mark, you are still loved. Itis the central theme of the Christian faith – Grace, and it is one we need tohear every year. You see, the wholereason Jesus came into this world was because people like you and me keptfailing. We kept falling short ofperfect, we kept messing up on our goals, our resolutions, on everything. And so Jesus came to give all of us grace. To say, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be forgiven.

It’s a powerful message to hear, and one that we desperatelyneed to hear again and again. So, inyour life, I encourage you to know and hear grace. If that’s related to something like a NewYears resolution, then fantastic. Don’tbeat yourself up about failing, know grace instead. Know that there’s nothing stopping you fromtrying again. And perhaps that will leadto something far greater. Perhapsknowing grace in something as small as a New Years resolution will help youknow that Jesus offers a grace far greater, and far more life changing to youevery single day. No matter where youare in life, no matter how short you think you’ve come, there is grace andforgiveness for you. With good newslike that, can anything be so bad? Andwith that, I hope you all have a very, Happy New Year!

Bill Walles

Wants and Needs

2011-11-08T10:57:00.001-08:00

It’s been a little while since thepassing of Steve Jobs, and the cultural impact of his work is still beingdiscussed and lauded. I’ll have toadmit, I’m one of those who think his impact on our modern society has beenabout as big as anybody’s. I’m typingthis article from my MacBook, and will send it off using my iPhone. But those two things are just indicative ofsomething that, whether you loved Jobs’ inventions or not, sure dominates a bigpart of our world: The new essentials.

We seem to live in a time wherethere are more and more essential things that we need in life. I suppose we’ve always needed a fewessentials in life, no matter the era. But, without knowing what it was really like,of course, I imagine the list of essentials was smaller in previous times. Food, clothing, ad shelter, seems to havebeen pushed aside by a list that now includes: Cars, cell phones, TV’s,computers, not to mention a whole list of non-electronic “essentials”.

And there’s the rub. We see so many things as essential in ourlife today. Be it a vacation, or sportstickets, or the latest iGadget, most of us have become accustomed to seeingwhat should probably be considered luxuries as essentials. We can’t work without the internet, andeverything hooked up to it. We can’trelax without getting far out of town, and all the toys we need to bring withus. That’s one of the things that hasbeen so hard about this economic downturn over the last several years. We’ve all had to cut back, we’ve all had todo with less. But, if we’re beinghonest, it’s been harder because we’ve really felt like we’ve had to cut backon the thing we need, not just the things we want.

So, debating the merits of seeing“wants” as “needs” is probably an idea for another day. But what really got me thinking was, in atime where our list of essentials has grown and grown, I wonder if we’ve decideto lose one thing off that list – Jesus. One of the things meant to mark Christians in a positive way, was thatwe are to live life everyday with Jesus. That not a day should go by where we don’t acknowledge our fulldependence on Him. Again, this may bedifferent than how Christians are often seen and known, but I wish that wouldchange back to this. If you’re a Jesusfollower, what’s on your list of essentials to make it through the day? And would anybody around you be able to guessthat Jesus is on that list? If not,maybe it’s time to make a change, for the better.

Don’t go to church, Be the Church

Bill Walles

"Family" church

2011-09-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking about the good, and bad, of thinking about church as a family. I saw another church book talking about this dynamic, and immediately called to mind a struggle I see far too often. Maybe that doesn't strike you as an issue, but as the head (Father, ha, get it) of a Church it's something I've really struggled with. Because I have a great family. And I think of family as incredibly positive thing. If I'm going to call something family-friendly, or use family as an adjective to describe something, it's going to conjure up great images for me. Unless it's used to talk about a church. In which case I kind of cringe.
Why? Well, really because of only one thing. The only way you can join a family is by getting married into it, or by being born/adopted into it. Right? That's the reality. To truly be family, that's how we see it. Sure, occasionally you feel part of a family without one of those two connections. But how often do those connections last? Does that family feel really stay? I've been very close to a number of families over the years, but the ones I call my family are still my born/adopted/married clan. Which is fine, I don't mind that all. But what does that mean when we call our church a family?
It's a great question, and one I'd be curious as to your thoughts on as well. After all, I've been at a lot of churches that felt like a family. And, therefore, they were equally both great, and frustrating. Because if you were part of the "family" you felt welcome and included and like you were home. But I've talked to too many people that came to a church that was a "family" and they never felt welcome. They never felt like they belonged. And most stopped trying to join it after too short a time. The family was too hard to join, and so they never did. And who knows if they ever risked trying to join another family.
So, the church felt great to those who already belonged. But it wasn't so great for those outside of the family. What to do? Do you try to keep the family feel at your church and just make sure that everyone feels welcome? Do you not worry about church feeling like a family, and worry more about it feeling like a church? Tough questions, and ones I don't know the answers too. But, it sure got me thinking this week.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Pet Peeve

2011-08-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

Alright, I know it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but I just saw one of my pet peeves. On Facebook, no less. Shocking, I know, who would ever be annoyed by something they see on the internet? But anyway, it was a little ad that bugged me. Now, I don't mind the Facebook ads. If you've seen "The Social Network" I definitely side with Eduardo on this one, and not Sean. But this ad got to me. Clearly reading my likes and posts etc. the ad was "Get to know Christ - Become a Pastor".
Now, I'm all for both of those things. I really do want people to get to know Christ. I'm starting a new church because I really, really want to reach people who don't already know Christ. And, I'm a big fan of becoming a Pastor. My Dad was a Pastor, My Father-in-law was a Pastor. I'm a Pastor. I hope at least one of my kids becomes a Pastor (any bets on who you think it will be?) But it really bugs me when those two things are linked as such. Get to know Christ by becoming a Pastor? Honestly, I would caution against that.
Because being a Pastor is awesome, it's fulfilling, and it's wonderful - most days :). But it is a job. And what I've found is that a lot of people, particularly new Christians, get really saddened/turned off by the "job" aspect of being a Pastor. It's not all Spiritual. And, again, I'm at a good place with that. I actually love the job aspect of ministry. God made jobs, He thinks they're important, and so I would think this job is even more important than most. But it's still hard. Business decisions are sometimes just that. Conflict over mission and direction happen. Staff choices need to be made. Ministry is a Business, and the Pastor is usually the lead for that Business. And it often takes pretty mature Christians to be able to see the Spiritual forest thru the business trees on that one. I wish that weren't always the case, but the longer I've been around this (most of my life, I suppose) the more I see it.
So, get to know Christ. I think that's a great thing. And, if you ever feel called to be a Pastor, I'd love to talk to you about that. But don't think that the one should directly lead to the other. There are lots of great ways to get to know Jesus. Becoming a Pastor to do it may not be the best way.
But when it's the right thing for you. . . It doesn't get any better :)

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Praying for Politicians

2011-08-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know about you guys, but I have been crabby lately. I try to be a well informed guy, watch the news, read up on things in the world, etc. But the dealing with our national debt and debt-limit crisis has been really tough to watch. I know I've yelled at the TV a lot, and I've agreed with Jon Stewart a lot. And, in general I've been breaking one of my personal rules. And that's to simply pray for my politicians. If you're a Christian, I'd be curious as to where you stand on the issue of prayer for politicians. For me, I try to practice what I preach, and this is to simply pray for all my elected officials. And not to pray to change their mind, not to pray that they might agree with me more. But simply to pray for their health, their safety, and their work.
I know most of us have pretty tough jobs, tougher than most on the outside would realize. But being a politician today is really tough. And, perhaps I'm naive, but I really believe that the vast majority of politicians get into the "biz" in order to serve others. However now, perhaps more than ever, that's a tall request. It seems that as soon as you get into office at least half of your constituency immediately is angry that you're there. Not just disappointed, but angry. And the half that isn't angry (yet) wants to see you fix all the things that were done wrong by the previous guy/gal or they'll get angry. In the meantime, you have to immediately begin raising a ridiculous amount of money if you ever want a chance of being elected to your position again.
And in the midst of this, there's a huge pool of Christians throwing out to God a whole host of prayers about you. And I want to include myself in that mix. But, because of the nature of their jobs, and I think because of the nature of mine, I hope my prayer is heartfelt and simple. I want to offer a prayer of care, love, and kindness. No agenda, no politics. Just prayer. And, part of my hope is that if I'm doing this in my prayer life, I might be a little more gracious and loving in my day-to-day life and thoughts and conversations about said politicians. That's where I've been failing lately. My words about some politicians recently has not matched how I want to pray for those politicians. Granted, these have been extraordinary times in the political world, but really, isn't it always an extraordinary time? Isn't there always a crisis? Isn't there always a time to choose kindness and civility in our words and in our prayers?
Anyway, as I'm writing this it's likely that our current political crisis is nearly over. And in the aftermath, we'll talk about winners and losers, and who we'll never vote for again. And, if you're a Christian, I hope you lift your leaders up in prayer. Not with an agenda, not with malice, or with an attitude. Just because some men and women spent a great deal of time at one of the hardest jobs in our world today. And they need our prayer for it.

Don't go to church, Be the Church
Bill

Stop

2011-07-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great conversation at Hope the other day on what it means to Stop. And we used the "example" of a Stop Sign. Actually, I should put the Stop Sign in quotes, since most of us seem to take that particular road sign with at least a little bit of latitude. The California Stop seems to be the norm doesn't it? We rarely stop at stop signs. We slow down, we're cautious, we look for others, sure. But to stop? To add the extra 5 seconds to our drive time by coming to a full and complete stop? Very few of us do that with great consistency (myself included :) )
So what does this say about us? Perhaps not much. Perhaps it's just a bad habit that many of us find ourselves in. Or perhaps it says loads about our inability to stop in our life.
We're like Sharks, needing to always move forward in order to survive. The thought of stopping and doing nothing, even for a few seconds is horrid to our world of multi-tasking addicts. We have so much to do, we have so many places to be, we can't stop. Not at home, not on the road, not ever, it seems.
Which, the more I think about it, is really a statement about our trust in God. To stop means that we think we can stop. That we can stop for a moment and the world will keep on spinning. To stop means that things can happen without us. Without our energy, without our presence. To stop means that we don't have to be doing it all - all the time. To stop means God might be more in control of things than we are. And most of us don't really believe that. Not deep down. Not in our hearts. No, again most of us (myself still included :) ) believe that we keep our world spinning, that we are responsible for keeping things going. We believe that if we stop everything around us will come crashing down. God isn't really in control. That's just something we say, but don't really believe.

All that just because we don't stop at Stop signs? Yeah, I think maybe so. Please feel free to tell me if you think I'm wrong, but I would challenge you to ask the question, when was the last time you stopped? When was the last time you trusted God to be in charge, and didn't try to do it all yourself? The answer to that may be more telling than you realize.

Bill
Don't go to church, Be the Church.

The Mariners and Church

2011-07-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

So, with the "Second Half" of the Mariners season starting today I've been curious hearing the thoughts/consternations of fans and bloggers about the Mariners season so far. It's been pretty interesting, in my opinion, to hear people this year. I think especially in light of the last few years.
Of particular note has been how people have compared this year to 2009 and how they feel about that squad in hindsight. It's funny. In 2009 Ken Griffey Jr. was back, the Mariners exceeded expectations and everyone loved them. No, they didn't make the playoffs, but we had winning baseball in Seattle and that was fun enough for most.
However, after that season we crashed and burned big time in 2010. Why? Most analysts say it was because the Mariners of 2009 were "old" and couldn't sustain their winning ways long term. They weren't built to last into the future, just have a good time in the present. Yeah it was fun while it lasted, but we should have seen it wouldn't last very long at all.
Which is what we're hearing is different about this team. They are, supposedly, a similar but different team to the 09 squad. They're exceeding expectations, winning a few games. But this winning will be sustainable. It's being built for the future. Everything this year is supposed to help this team be even better next year. Ackley, Pineda, Smoak, Hernandez. They're all looking forward as much as to today.
Well, we'll see.

But it got me thinking about churches.

As we're starting a new church here in Lake Stevens, it's easy to look at a number of churches around us and wonder, can we see the same patterns with them? I see a lot of churches that have great histories, but sketchy presents, and pretty dismal futures in terms of continuing to reach new believers for Christ.
I see a number of churches with strong presents, but I wonder what their futures will be? Are they built to sustain, and grow, and reach new believers in the future, or will they turn inward and begin a slow decline in the years to come?

And, to be honest, I don't think I'm a talented enough "scout" to know which churches will thrive in the future years, and which ones will stagnate. I've got my guesses, and those guesses definitely color how we're building "Hope" here in Lake Stevens. But will my guesses be right? I suppose time will tell with us as well.

In the meantime, enjoy the Mariners these next few months. They are more fun to watch then they've been in a long time. And if you're looking for a church that is interested in being an effective place to share Christ with a world that desperately needs Him this year and the years to come, check us out at Hope. We plan on being in this game for a long, long time.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

A New Hope!

2011-05-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, have you done something epic in your life? Something worth making a movie out of? That's been the question challenging me for the last several months, thanks in part to a great book I read, and in part to a lot of things on my mind lately. As I shared in my last post, I really do feel that the story of our family bringing Sage (our youngest daughter) into our family is a pretty spectacular story. And if that's the greatest story that I'm a part of, I'm good with that. But I've been feeling like God is calling me and my family into a new thing that may just become an even bigger story. We're going to start a church!
Yeah, I know, we just moved to a new church. Shepherd of the Valley is a great church, and I believe it has a number of great years ahead of it. But I no longer believe that I'm supposed to be part of that future. I believe God wants Sarah and me and our family to do something we've always thought He wanted us to do: Start a new church.
So, we're going to do just that. We'll be starting a Covenant church in Lake Stevens, WA beginning this Fall. Actually, we'll start doing some meeting and planning and worshipping this Summer. It is incredibly exciting. And terrifying. And thrilling. And nerve-wracking. In short, it's got all those things that help make a good story.
So, if you're in the Lake Stevens area, we'd love to chat with you about this. I really believe this world needs more good churches, and we aim to be exactly that. A good church, interested in making an impact in our community, because, more than anything, we believe a relationship with Jesus Christ changes lives.
It's going to be an adventure. And our whole family gets to do it together. Join us. Pray for us. Come watch this story unfold. With God as the director, I really think it could be something amazing.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill Walles

My Movie

2011-04-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned last time, this book, "A Million miles in a Thousand years" has really got me thinking about my life. Am I living a life worth writing about? Am I living a life worth making a movie out of? Boy, I'd have to say most days, not really. I sit in front of my computer a lot. I check facebook more than I should. I read great stories written by other authors, and watch shows and movies put on by other people. But, as for doing something truly epic and worthy with my life? Meh.
Now, that's not to say I've never done anything epic or note-worthy. I've had some colossal failures in my life, you could easily write a tragedy or two from some of those. There's even a few "I shall overcome" moments worth writing about, but those happened back when I was 10 and 11, and I'm not sure I've done anything as impressive lately.
My biggest accomplishment I would say, with true joy actually, is my family. I love my family. I have an amazing wife, and 4 fantastic kids. All of them are talented, and kind, and they all love Jesus (my greatest joy of all.) And, actually, it is the story in how we came to have our fourth child that I figured would be the greatest story I would have told in my life.
For those of you who don't know, Sarah and I were blessed to adopt our last child, Sage, from China about 2 years ago. And she is amazing! We have been so blessed by her addition to our family, I truly cannot remember what life was like without her. But, when I think about it, it was a pretty big story. Maybe not a story worth making a movie out of for some, but I would go see it.
You see, this was a story that we did together as a family. Sarah and I felt called for a long time to adopt, and just seemed to keep having kids the old fashioned way so we never got around to it. But, after our third child, we decided that if there was going to be a fourth Walles' kid we were going to adopt.
And when we felt God push us to be more serious about that, we talked about it together and with our kids. Because this would be a big deal for all of us. Adoption is awesome! And one of the reasons it's a blessing is that you can plan on certain things as a family. You can really talk about the reality of what adopting might mean. And for us, as we began to feel called to adopt a girl with special needs, it was such a blessing that we could talk about that as a family. We talked it through with the other kids - what it would mean to be gone from them for 2 weeks, only to return with a little girl who would need a great deal of special care and medical help for who knew how long. It was going to be a fair amount of work. Sage was going to need a lot of unconditional love, and the sacrifice that everyone in the family was going to have to make was something we got to talk about and prepare for. It was such a unique opportunity that you don't always get when adding a child to your family.
Now, to be fair, it wasn't always easy when we brought Sage home. All our preparations and conversations still didn't ward off some hard days, and even harder nights. But now, as we look back over the last 2 years, and see how Sage is healthy, and happy, and unconditionally loved, I know without a doubt it was all worth it. It was an amazing story, one I never tire of telling. All the main characters played a great role, our other kids, Sarah, Sage herself. Our family is complete, it's exactly as God intended it to be, and the fact that we got to play a part in this story is humbling.
And, again, in many ways I would be just fine if this were the greatest story of my life. If bringing Sage into our family is the highlight of my life story, I'm good with that, because it's one of my favorite stories ever. But I'm beginning to think God has one more great and exciting story for our family as well.
What is your greatest story? What is it in your life that you think, "Yeah, that'd be worth making a movie out of." Give thanks for that story. And then ask yourself, does God have another story in mind for you as well. My next post will be what I think that next one is for us. I'd love to hear about yours as well.
Happy Easter!

And, don't forget,
Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

A Million Miles

2011-04-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow this blog you know I tend to take a break during the Winter months and then pick up again as we head towards Summer. It would appear this year was no different. Part of my intent is to connect with people as they're off on vacations and such, which tends to happen more in Spring and Summer, but I appreciate the opportunity to engage at any time as well. And, I thought this was a great subject to start that back up.
I recently finished a book by Donald Miller called, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." Now, I continue to hear sad statistics about how adults in America read, on average, only the ingredients of a box of cereal in any given year. I'm hoping that's not true, and there are still a number of avid readers out there. And, even if you're not, I really recommend this book.
It's a memoir by a guy who got pretty famous when he wrote his first memoir, "Blue Like Jazz". It was a quirky little book with this guy's take on life and faith that seemed to connect with a lot of people After that he wrote a few more books, and life was "pretty good". Then, a couple of movie guys came around and asked to make a movie about Don, basically crating a fictional story out of Blue Like Jazz. And so Don agrees, and works with these two guys to create a movie about the fictional 'Don' with help by the real "Don'. Kind of meta, I know.
But here's the kicker. In this process, Don really comes to see that he's not living a life worth making a movie out of! Don's life isn't bad, but it's not movie material. That's why they have to invent a fictional Don whose life has greater highs and lows, because that's what all of us are looking for when it comes to a movie or a great story. And it causes Don to ask himself (the real Don, that is), can we choose to live our lives so that they are Movie-worthy? Can we choose to live a great story?
It is a great question that drives the rest of the book, and has really driven me lately as well. My next couple of posts will be on this idea. Looking at my life, would it be worth making a movie out of it? Some things I've done, yeah maybe. And I hope that's true for all of us. But am I really living a life that's a great story? Every day? Now that's a tough question.
I think our little family did something great in the last couple of years, and that will be my next blog post. And then, I think we're going to attempt something great in the next few years of our lives as well. I'll talk about that one next.
But, in the meantime, read this book. "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." It's fantastic, and hopefully challenges you as much as it did me. Is your life a great story? Are the choices you make defining? Would anybody see a movie about your life? Now that's a challenge worth answering.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Matthew's Genealogy

2010-12-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

If you've been at Shepherd of the Valley over the last several weeks, you've heard me talk about the great stories we read from Matthew's genealogy. If you're not familiar with this, go ahead and get your Bible open to Matthew chapter 1. This is the first book in the New Testament, and in the first chapter we get a story that most readers (let's be honest) usually skim at best. It's the record of historical genealogy from Abraham leading up to Jesus.
Now, in church we talked about why Matthew would do a such a thing. From a theological standpoint, this line of ancestry shows that Jesus comes from the line of King David and before that even, from Abraham. So, Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies we see in the Old Testament about being the Messiah, the Savior. In order to be the Messiah, Jesus' heritage matters, and so Matthew makes that case.
We also talked about, however, the spiritual side of this genealogy. I stole a line from another great preacher that Matthew wrote this genealogy, and included all the names that he did, because they are "The point of the story." The people listed in this ancestry were sinners and outsiders, just like Matthew was himself. They prove the point of why Jesus came - that He came for sinners and outsiders. He came to offer grace and forgiveness and wholeness to all. That's a pretty cool message.
But Matthew's genealogy offers a couple of tough questions for the serious student. One - it's different from the genealogy written in Luke 3. How can that be? And two, possibly of greater concern, if Joseph wasn't Jesus' "real" dad, then why does his ancestry matter? Shouldn't the genealogy trace Jesus' heritage through Mary, since she at least is related to Jesus by blood?
Two good questions. And, I'm not sure if you'll find the answers satisfactory. There are many possible answers as to why the two genealogies are different. One answer says that the genealogies follow different lines back to David, certainly very possible in such a tight-knit and inter-married community. Some say that Luke does trace the lineage back through Mary, hence the difference and an answer to both questions. Most scholars actually don't find evidence for either of these possible answers, but that doesn't mean you can't find truth in them.
As to Joseph not being Jesus' "real" father, I'll admit my perspective on that has changed a bit now that I'm an adoptive dad myself. Because that's what Joseph is with Jesus, he's His adoptive dad. And just as I would defy anyone to tell me that I'm not Sage's "real" dad I bet Joseph felt just as fiercely paternal towards Jesus. Blood doesn't make you someones parent, Love does. Something I think God understands fully as He uses adoptive language throughout the Bible in terms of how He sees us - His adoptive children. Since God looks at us that way, what a perfect image for Joseph and Jesus.
But, again, if you're a strict student of things, I don't know that any of these answers truly satisfy. Which bring us to our last point. The thing is - the early Christian church apparently wasn't bothered by this at all. After all, they could all read just as well as us. They saw the same Gospels that we read today, they saw the same issues. And we have no record of the early church struggling with these issues. Our two big questions didn't appear to make their list of things to worry about. It's hard for us, we want so much certitude from the Bible that, honestly, the Bible isn't all that interested in providing. I guess that's why they call it Faith.
For Matthew, the point of the genealogy is much more important than any problems with it being "right" or "wrong". Matthew knew where Jesus came from, and why He came. That's what mattered. And the challenge to us is, are we able to see that as well?

Don't go to church, Be the Church!

Bill

Lightsabers and Wands

2010-11-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

So, I had the chance to watch Harry Potter 7 over the long week. It was a snowy week here in Washington and I had to get out and do something with the boys. Or, at least, that's what I told Sarah. And Harry Potter was an excellent choice.
If you're looking for a movie review, here's a bit of one. I thought the movie was brilliant. I think David Yates, the Director of the movies since HP 5 is by far the best director yet. Each Director did well with what they were given, but David Yates has stopped just turning out "Good Harry Potter" movies and is turning out Good Movies. These last three movies remind more of the Lord of the Rings trilogy from that standpoint. A fantastic combination of source material, great cast, and excellent production. And I can't believe we have to wait until July to see part 2!
A couple of notes along with that. Is this a movie for kids? Yeah, if your kid has read the book they're not going to see too much that will bother them more. The visual of Nagini is pretty creepy. And the scene of Hermione getting tortured was actually fairly disturbing. But, again, J.K. Rowling did such a good job with those moments in the book I would say if your child has read those scenes, they can probably see those moments.
But the bigger, philosophical question many Christian families ask is: should their kids watch this movie? Much has been made about the magic/Witchcraft connection of Harry Potter and the Bible's clear prohibition about dabbling with that type of stuff.
As a parent, I certainly don't want to argue that a kid has to see Harry Potter. Yeah, they're really well written books, and well done movies, but there are lots of good books and good movies I don't need to let my kids read and see because I disagree with their content (No child should be subjected to Grease 2 as an example. Wow, what a stink bomb of a movie. Oh, and the morals are questionable too :) )
But, as a Christian parent let me be clear that I've let my kids read the Harry Potter series, we own the movies, and I've read and watched all of them myself. My thoughts on this comes from a couple of things.
First, I don't discount the Bible, but I see a big distinction between Magic and Witchcraft being part of a story and actually trying it myself. When I watch movies about the Mafia it doesn't mean I'm going to change my name to Fat Tony and start conducting my business in the basement of a bar. I am able to separate the two things, and I want to teach my kids they can do the same.
And, on a related note, my kids are exposed to magic all over the place. There's magic in the above mentioned Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and in the Narnia books. And, if you've ever watched Star Wars just trade the Lightsabers for Wands, and call The Force "magic" and you'll see it's really no different from Harry Potter on that issue.
Do I ban all such magic related pop culture from my house? My response is no. When I watch and read Narnia, or LOTR, or Star Wars, or Harry Potter I see the same things. I see good triumph over evil. I see heroic sacrifice. I see friends laying down their lives for others. I often see great, relatable Christian ideas - whether that was the authors intent or not. That's just how I'm wired. I see Jesus everywhere. And I think He's pretty glad about that.
So, I want to instill the same gift in my kids. If something is truly irredeemable (I'm looking at you G-Force. Super hero rodents. Really?) I see no need to support it. But much of pop culture can be seen in a variety of ways. I choose to err on the side of Grace. And fun.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

A Christian response to an unjust government

2010-11-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

So, I've heard some positive feedback on my sermon from this week. If you haven't listened to it yet, you can find it at http://www.svlccommunity.org/ I spoke about Politics, and in particular about how we as Christians are Biblically called to engage in politics. I won't recap the whole sermon here, but I got one question from a number of people afterwards that I thought would be good to address in this format.
I argued that, Biblically, Christians are called to "support" our government. You see this a number of times in Paul's writings and I believe in many of Jesus' actions as well. But the question that was raised was, "What then do we do with an unjust government." What are Christians supposed to do in Germany under Hitler?
It's a great question. And one I don't think I have all the answers to. But, I did a little thinking and some research and I have a few ideas.
One, the truth of it is, Paul and Jesus lived under governments that were pretty unjust as well. They probably didn't have it as bad as life in Nazi Germany, but they were much worse off than life in most First World governments in our day today. So, for Paul to say to that Government leaders were put there by God, is a pretty bold step in his day. That shouldn't be discounted.
However, we also shouldn't discount that Paul almost certainly believed that Jesus was coming back very soon. In most of his writings it's very clear that Paul believes Jesus' return to be imminent. That colors much of his commentary on life style choices. It colors his thinking on marriage, and I think it colors his thinking about governments. Why worry too much about an unjust government when Jesus is coming to bring a new Heaven and a New Earth and all this be wiped away anyway?
But, as we have seen 2000 years later, although Jesus' return is imminent, God's time frame and our time frame don't seem to be similar. So, we still wait for Jesus. We still wait in a broken world where governments can be bad, and sometimes truly evil (again, the image of Nazi Germany comes to mind.) As Christians, do we just wait for Jesus to come back, or do we step into unjust situations and do something to combat that? Do we take a page from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the great Lutheran leaders, and plot to kill Hitler because he is that evil? Good questions.
Again, I'm drawn to the Bible for answers, and here I'm afraid it's a little less clear. And it requires much humble thought on our part. To begin, let's look at a specific example with Jesus. Many are familiar with Jesus encounter with the crowd and the woman caught in adultery. In that instance, Jesus challenges the crowd who is seeking "justice" (blood, really) "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." And after all of the woman's accusers walk away He sends the woman away forgiven, with the command to not sin again. For me, this provides a great example of Jesus' response to an unjust situation. The woman, although guilty, was being treated without justice. By Jewish law, the man she was with should have been brought along with her for accusal. The whole scene reeked of a set-up, and flew in the face of Jesus' message of forgiveness and grace for all, regardless of sin. So, instead of letting the unjust action slide, Jesus stepped in, and acted. He did so in a very unique way, but He acted to subvert the unjust action no matter how you look at it.
Paul does something similar in his letter to Philemon. This is a story about Philemon, a slave owner, and his runaway slave Onesimus. Paul has come into relationship with Onesimus, and has discovered that he knows Philemon quite well. In fact, Paul brought Philemon to faith. So, Paul takes the radical step and sends Onesimus back to Philemon and urges/commands Philemon to forgive Onesimus and treat his as an equal in Christ. Paul sees slavery as unjust, and knows that if Onesimus is caught as a runaway slave he'll be killed. But instead of hiding Onesimus, Paul sends him back to his "owner" and says you can't hurt him, you can't punish him, you have to treat him as Christ treats you. Paul steps into an unjust situation and challenges it.
So, what do we learn. Well, my reading is that Paul and Jesus chose not to try and change the un-justices of the world, but they did stand up to the unjust actions before them. They did what they could when they could, and expected others to do the same. So, yes they didn't fight the unjust governments under which they served. In their wisdom, that wasn't where they thought they should spend the majority of their time (this was spent on bringing the Gospel to the World.) But, they didn't ignore it either.
So, that seems like our calling, to do what we can when we can. Sometimes that means individual action. A modern example might be to stand up to bullying in our schools when we see it, a real problem right now. But yes, sometimes that needs to be done on a large scale. To stop Hitler, or Stalin, you couldn't do that one encounter at a time. It needed to be done with millions working together, forcefully. On this, Reinhold Niebuhr did some great work arguing for Christian Realism, in direct contrast to those Christians arguing for a pacifist reaction to the Nazi's. Niebuhr argued that in this clear case, pacifism was not the Christian response at all, direct action was needed. It's not always easy to see when that is, but when it is clear, then our Christian response should be equally clear.
So, a few thoughts on a difficult idea. I'd love to hear your thoughts or further questions if this gets you thinking as well. Have a great week, and as always. . .

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

116 - 3

2010-11-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed a decent gap between my last post and this one. That's because I try to maintain the blog a little more during the summer months, as a way of checking in on things when so many of us are out and about. But, I'll try to do a few new pieces throughout the Fall and Winter as well just to keep you all intereted :)
And this weekend, what better way to spark your interest than 116 - 3. I knew it was a bad weekend for Washington Football, but until a friend posted that on his Facebook status I didn't realize just how bad it was. The Huskies, Cougars, and Seahawks all lost this past weekend by a combined score of 116 - 3!
Seriously.
What do you do with that?
First off, I've got to say that as a guy who never played a lick of "real" football, I certainly hand it to our guys for going out there and playing week in and week out - taking a physical punishing I can only imagine. 300 pound linemen don't try and hit me when I play Tennis or go Sowboarding you know.
But, as an interested observer, it's hard to not to question what's going on with the players and the coaches. I guess, I think we just start to to all become experts in something that we spend that much time watching. Or at the very least, something that we're invested in. And, let's face it, there are a lot of Americans invested in Football. I'm willing to bet (I hope I'm wrong, but this is still my hunch) that more Americans watched Football on Saturday and Sunday this weekend than went to church. They probably spent more on Footbal related stuff too. Now, that's an investment.
So, after 3 good old fashioned poundings, what do you do?
I"m thinking that we need to remember, that it's just a game. Yes, it's an industry that is responsible for Billions of dollars. Yes it's their jobs, and our work ethic means we should all strive for our best every day in whatever we do. But, it's still just a game. So, three of my favorite teams lost their games this last weekend. It was frustrating. It was annoying. But, did anything bad really happen? No lives were lost, no wars were started. And, after it was all said and done: I played with my kids, went trick-or-treating, played Crazy Eights with Princess cards with my daughter. Those were the things that mattered to me this weekend. Those memories will last a lot longer than the bad football ones, as well they should.
So, I hope you had a great weekend. I hope your favorite team won a game somewhere. But, I hope you also were reminded this weekend of what matters in your life. And what really doesn't. Who knows, you may get the chance to remember it again next weekend. After all, the Huskies are playing the Ducks!

Don't go to church, Be the Church!

Bill

A perfect game for one

2010-10-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

So, Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter yesterday. Only the second such gem in MLB post season history. He was one walk away from pitching a perfect game, and being the only guy to have two such games in the same year. In a year when we had a whole lot of bad baseball to watch around Seattle, it was pretty amazing to read about, and see such a wonderful display of baseball might.
From one guy, at least.
It's funny. Maybe it's because I'm a Mariners fan, but as excited as I was for Roy Halladay, I couldn't help but think that his no-hit game means that at least 9 guys on the other team "failed" all game long. Their job was to go up and score some runs. Heck, the way Halladay was pitching, I think most of Cincinnati would have been fine even just getting a few hits. But, no dice. No hits. No runs. Nothing.
So, we celebrate Halladay, and we should. But what does that mean for the other guys who barely got wood on the ball? Do we fire them? Ship them down to the minors? Nope. They'll all be back at it at the next game, having put their colossally bad night behind them.

We can learn a lot from baseball. When we fail in our lives we beat ourselves up, we blame others, we get depressed. Most Baseball hitters fail 7 out of 10 times for their whole career. Yesterday, an entire team failed at their jobs. But they're back at it today, none the worse for wear. Kudos to Roy Halladay for a thing of beauty. And Kudos to the Cincinnati Reds for a lesson we all need to remember. We're can't be perfect. We learn from our mistakes. And tomorrow is another day to do better.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

A Fascinating Conversation

2010-09-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

So, I know I've posted a lot of videos lately but, really, does that surprise anybody that knows me. The one for today is fascinating conversation between three of the more well-known Christian leaders particularly on the west coast. The background is that Francis Chan left what, from all outside appearances, is a very successful ministry in order to play a big role in small, community needs based ministry. These three are friends and clearly have more insight into the situation than I do. So, I don't offer this as a way of saying I think I agree with on e guy more than another. But, it's a beautiful snapshot into the heart of a Christian who feels compelled to do something radical in order to follow Jesus, and the friends who lovingly challenge his decision. I hope you find it interesting as well.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

http://www.outofur.com/archives/2010/09/ur_video_why_di.html

A Vision of Students Today

2010-09-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

on Book Burning and Mosque building

2010-09-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

So, I've been struggling over the issues that have made the news over the last few days, and whether or not it was at all relevant or necessary for me to add any comment on the happenings. The two biggest struggles for me have been the issues surrounding the potential construction of an Islamic Center (or mosque, I'll admit I'm not interested in debating the specifics of that point.) near Ground Zero, and the "Pastor" (and I do use the term loosely) who plans on burning Korans on the anniversary of 9/11. As I've heard, and seen, and read more about these two stories two old quotes keep coming to the fore for me.

The first is my favorite line from Jurassic Park: "You guys were so interested in whether or not you could, you never stopped to think about whether or not you should." That seems like a very relevant question in both instances for me. I'm no legal expert, but it would appear to me that both the building and the book-burning can be done. But the much bigger question is should they be done. That's a different conversation, and one I'm not hearing as much in the rhetoric.

The other quote is one I can't attribute, because I don't remember where I first heard it: Not every act of stupidity demands a response. I really like this quote. It's pretty loaded, aggressive even, and I'm not saying that either of these two acts are 'stupid'. It's just that it seems in our 24-hour news cycle world, stuff that probably wouldn't get any publicity 10 years ago becomes BIG NEWS, because a news vacuum abhors a void. But really, just because a guy wants publicity, does that mean we have to give it to him? There are a lot of idiots in the world. Do they all require our response?

Still, as evidence by this post, I came to the conclusion that I at least wanted to add something. It's not that I think my opinion will necessarily change the outcome of either event coming to be. But I thought it might be worth a challenge to those of you who read this to see if you've thought something similar, or are looking for a healthy venue to share your own thoughts and struggles.

My first thought, is that I have much more to say to the "Pastor" than I do to those considering building the Islamic Center/Mosque. I have an opinion on the Center/Mosque, I'm sure most of us do. But, and here's part of my struggle, it's something being done and planned by people outside of my influence and background. I'm not a Muslim, and I cannot imagine what the thinking is behind this proposed building. So, I don't know that my opinion is going to be a helpful addition to this conversation.

As to the "Pastor", I feel differently. Because this guy is claiming to be a Christian Pastor, that's something that hits very close to home for me. This is my area, and if someone in that zone is going off the rails, I feel much more of a duty to speak to it. As I see time and again in scripture, Jesus was always hardest on the "insiders." He really went after the flaws and hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Why? Well, at least one reason is because He was one of them. He spoke their language, He lived in their world, and at some level they were a reflection of Him. This "Pastor" in Florida is a reflection of all Christian Pastors, and I find his actions unacceptable to stand without a reasonable challenge. And just to be clear, I can't imagine there being anything positive from this book-burning. On simply one point alone this is so frustrating: If you're a Christian, ask yourself how this guys actions make us look to the Non-Christians we're supposed to be evangelizing. Isn't he simply fulfilling every negative stereotype Non-Christians already have of us: Angry, Judgmental, Intolerant, etc. (By the way, that's exactly what I overheard at lunch the other day. It made me cringe.)

Does that mean I ignore the Center/Mosque and only speak to the Book-burning? I don't really know. Again, regardless I'm not sure my thoughts will change any outcome. But, just because it might not do much doesn't mean I should also say nothing.

Hmm, well I don't know that I solved anything, but I think I feel better for having written. If you've been looking for a healthy format to share some thoughts please do so here. Good, honest responses are always welcome. Even disagreeing opinions, as long we do so without being disagreeable to each other. In the end, I'm drawn to hope that all of us might take the words I use to end this blog as a response to all this as well:

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

A Mega Niche?

2010-09-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

So, after a brief but necessary break to celebrate 9-02-10 day, I wanted to bring back the idea of Mega churches vs. Niche Church and what that means. Again, this comes from my latest look at the Emmys, which showed a whole lot of rewards for those programs that appeal to a very specific, and usually small audience, as opposed to the wide spread winners we've seen in years past (although, I will say, it's been a while.) Is it time for churches to do the same? Should the appeal to a broad "market" be abandoned as churches hone down to a narrow target?
To be fully honest, I think 10 years ago I would have had a definitive answer for you on this. Now that I'm older, and possibly wiser, I'm not really sure. I've seen both sides do it, and do it well. I've been fortunate to be around, and even work at, what would be described as a Mega-Church, able to reach a lot of different people across a lot of different ways. It was fun, and I think very effective at sharing Jesus to a variety of different people.
And, I've been around smaller churches that have intentionally chosen to narrow their focus in order to share Jesus effectively with a specific range of people. And, I would say objectively that seem to have been pretty effective as well.
I couple that with what I've seen a little too much of: Small to Mid-size churches who try to be all things to all people, and in so doing do a rather average job of that. Yes, we reach some people for Christ, but it always feels like we could be more effective if we were either larger, or more focused.
So, what to do? Help our churches grow bigger? I'd be okay with that. It would mean we're doing something right. I'm not one of those who thinks big churches are inherently bad (and believe me, there are plenty of people who think that.) If all the churches in one area grew bigger it would mean they're not stealing "sheep" but they're really reaching the unchurched which is our main purpose anyway. That's a pretty good outcome in my book.
But somehow, I don't know that we can pull that off. God could make it happen, sure, that's not the issue. It's just, we seem to get in the way. We're unable to do that when it all comes down to it. So, is the Niche way of thinking a better way? What would it look like if a community had 10 different churches all focused on different things? One church did Small groups really well, and another did Children's Programs really well. One church focused on International missions, and another Mission closer to home. As I write that, I'm not sure that works either. It seems like people with our varied passions and desires would get frustrated by having such narrowly defined churches. I think I might even get frustrated by that.
But again, I'm pretty quick to say that I really don't know. And, as so many churches continue to simply spin their wheels and not reach anybody new for Jesus, is it worth a big bold risk if there's a big, potential upside?
Lots of questions today, and not many answers. But I hope it gets you thinking. It's done that for me.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Happy 90210 Day

2010-09-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Well, as today is 9-02-10, it's a perfect time to take a break from my previous post and remember one of the "best" shows from 90's, Bevery Hills 90210. Seriously, I will freely admit that this show was one of my guilty pleasures. I took fashion cues from Brandon and Dylan. I had a crush on Kelly, and sometimes Brenda. The plots are ridiculous in retrospect, but at the time, I was drawn in. And, in my defense, I really think the acting level of Jason Priestly and Luke Perry is way better than people gave them credit for. The rest of the cast. . . well let's just remember them fondly. How about you? Got a favorite 90210 episode? Got a different guilty pleasure you'll fess up to?

My favorite ep. - The one where Brandon was elected to be the College President. Because I didn't see that ending coming.

My favorite season - The second College season, where Tiffani Thiesen was brought on to replace Shannen Doherty.

My favorite outfit - Dylan or Brandon wearing a suit jacket and plain white T underneath. I tried so hard to pull that off.

Now just try and get that theme song out of your head.

Bill

The Emmys

2010-08-30T15:52:00.001-07:00

So, last night I didn't watch a single minute of something I used to watch "religiously": The Emmys.

Those of you that know me know I'm an entertainment kind of guy. I love Movies, TV, Books, Music. I'll watch stuff because I want to, or because I think they're culturally relevant, or because I want to stay hip to what's up (and by using the word hip there I realize I'm proving that I"m not :) ) So I used to love the Emmys. I loved the awards, the skits, the presenters, and I loved to see who won. But this year, I just had no interest whatsoever.

What's changed? Well, me a little bit of course. I'm older, have 4 kids, and way less time on my hands. Last night was my second oldest's birthday, and hanging out with him was much more important than watching any TV show. But, honestly, it was something else as well.

Being the entertainment geek that I am, I knew all the nominees for the awards last night, and some of them got me really excited. All the nominations for 'Lost' were fabulous and well deserved. The noms for 'Modern Family', 'Big Bang Theory', and 'How I met your Mother' (hey, that's a good name for a blog) were very welcome. But most of the nominees and the anticipated winners were for shows I never watch, and truly aren't interested in. I've watched 'Mad Men', 'Breaking Bad', 'Glee', and the other nominees a few times, sure. They're fine shows, I don't disagree with the quality of the acting or writing. But, as shows, they don't interest me. Really at all. And, as their ratings show, I'm not alone.

As I talked about a few weeks back, the era of a 'Cosby Show' where 30 million plus people watch every week is over, but to have a show win an Emmy with only 3.5 million viewers is a big shift. This type of niche programming has taken over television. And by the Emmys rewarding and honoring shows watched by dwindling numbers, they are rewarding that type of programming. Is that good for television? I suppose only time will tell.

All this highlights a particular struggle for modern churches as well. There are a few churches in every area that are now considered mega-churches. They are usually 1000+ for attendance, and they offer a whole host of programs and ministries for everyone they touch. But, these churches are few and far between. Much more common are the "smaller" churches, 150-300 for attendance, who feel the need to compete (if you'll pardon the word) with the big guys. But you can't. They don't have the money, staff, or resources to do what the mega-churches are doing.

So, should they try niche ministry? Should a smaller church become the "Mad Men" of Ministry? It's an intriguing question, one to which I don't know that I have the right answer. But I think I'll explore it over the next few days.

In the meantime, enjoy your last few days of Summer, wherever you might be. And don't spend all of it watching television. There's nothing good on anyway :)

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Spider Webs

2010-08-24T11:23:00.001-07:00

So, I've spent a little bit of time this morning observing a Spider build a massive web outside my office window. Honestly, on a beautiful sunny day, it's hard to not just stare outside when you live in Washington, so don't begrudge me my wandering gaze too much. And it caused me to think about a couple of things.

First off, as much as I hate spiders inside, outside their webs can really be a work of art. Boy, was God clever when He made this creation around that a Spider can be an artist.

But webs generally bring up a different image for me than beauty. When I run into a spider web outside they drive me crazy. Because they're so thin nearly invisible, but once you hit them, they stick to you. They stick to you and you can't seem to brush them away. Know what I mean? Once you've got the invisible wisp of silk somewhere on your skin you can rub and brush all you want, but it seems to be impossible to get off. A huge annoyance.

And a great metaphor. How many times in our life do we bump up against things that just stick to us. A bad commute that ruins our morning. A rough encounter with a co-worker that sends us grumbling on to lunch. A fight with our spouse or kid that casts a drag on our evening. It's amazing how these little things stick with us. So many of us are simply unable to apologize, or to forgive, and move on. We let these invisible strands stick to us and distract and "bug" us for far too long.

Just like Spider Webs, this kind of stuff drives me crazy. I'd love to be the mature one that can easily brush these things away, but it's just so hard. Still, today, I'm inspired. I'm inspired by the beauty of the Spider web outside my window, to try and do a little better job this week of not letting things stick to me. Unless it's a real spider web I walk into. I still can't handle that.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Just for laughs

2010-08-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Hot enough for you?

2010-08-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

What's your comfort zone?

On the issue of heat, I think Washingtonians are wimps. I can say that only because I am one, but I'm trying very hard to not be a wimp this year. Here's the deal. Most of us seem to complain at the rain and cold we have far too often, but then any time the sun comes out and it gets really hot around here (you know, like 80 or something) we complain about that too.

I think most of us would be pretty content if we could control the outside temperature much like we control the inside. And if we were to do that, we'd rarely move it outside of our comfort zone.

Do you remember those old thermostats? They actually had a range written on most of them that said, "Comfort zone." It was the range of temperature that most of us like to keep things in our house or room: not too hot, and not too cool. And honestly, it kind of makes me laugh to think about it.

Because, other than a few times and places, we can't do it. We can't control the temperature of our outside world to be only in our comfort zone. And our comfort zone is usually pretty different from other people around us so even if we were comfortable we'd be making other people uncomfortable. But we still complain about it, and still wish for personal comfort.

I preached on this not too long ago, but when you think about that from a Christian standpoint, it should strike us as even more foolish. You can, at great cost, control your comfort zone in your own house. You really can't control it outside in God's creation, however. And if you call yourself a follower of Christ, you definitely cannot control it at all. Because following Jesus is not meant to be comfortable. Look at the lives of any one of the Disciples from the Bible and you will not see lives of comfort. They were lives of great highs, and deep lows. They were lives of excitement and fun, terror and fear. They were lives on the edge of chaos, not comfort. But, at the end of everything, none of them would have had it any other way. That's the way life is supposed to be. So, this week, I hope the weather pushes you outside of your comfort zone. Because I hope it reminds you that that's where Jesus calls us to live. It's not easy. But following Jesus rarely is. Enjoy the sun. And the Son!

Don't go to church, Be the Church!

Bill

VBSurf

2010-08-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

So, we're in the midst of our Vacation Bible Surf week here at SVLC. It's always a fun time and this year has proven to be no different. I know because so many people are working hard in their specific area, that not everyone gets to see all the things that I'm able to each week. So I wanted to share a bit of a story about why I love how we do things around here. At the end of each day I quickly run out to the parking lot so I can wave to everybody as they leave for the day. I see it as good face time for me with both kids and parents. And, when it's sunny, who wants to be inside anyway? But, yesterday something kept happening that drove home the joy of our VBSurf program. At least a dozen kids ran up to me on their way out yesterday and they gave me a big hug. Honestly, I didn't even know most of them. But every single one was super excited about the day, and after getting an awesome hug I asked all of them, "Are you excited to come back tomorrow?" The response, every time, was "Yes!" We've got all kinds of kids excited to come to our church campus in the middle of Summer. If that's not the Hand of God, I don't know what is. Thanks everybody for all your hard work. It's making an impact.

Don't go to church, Be the Church

Bill

Vacation

2010-07-24T09:52:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

I'm off on vacation for a few weeks. I'll post some new thoughts when I return. Enjoy the sun. And the Son!

Bill

Church Changers

2010-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

So, there are game changers every where we go in life. We see them a lot in entertainment. But do we see them in our workplaces? Do we see them in our churches? Some are pretty obvious. Email was a total game changer for work and social interaction. Texting has done the same thing. What's next for your workplace?

In a church setting this is a harder one to define. There are some pretty obvious game changers in our history. Martin Luther and the Reformation stands out. But you could easily put the Pentecostal movement begun in Azusa and the Vatican II document from the Catholic church in the same category. All three of those events affected churches all over the world, they changed how we are/become churches.

Some of you have heard me argue that I think one of the more recent examples of this is Willow Creek in Chicago. Not so much in how they became a mega-church, but in the Willow Creek Association they helped form. That has really put the era of "denominations" on notice, and will produce great lasting change for how churches relate and work together for years to come.

The thing about each of these church game changers, is that, eventually, every church had to change because of them. It always hasn't been willingly. In fact, sometimes the change is to compete against the change movement coming their way (you see this particularly with the Pentecostal movement of the early 1900's.) But, no church can ignore game changers forever. They eventually have to respond.

I bring this up, because I think we're in a time where a lot of different people are seeing a lot of different game changers in the church world. We get pushed to react to all kinds of events because they are touted as being the next big game changer and it demands our response and attention. In my career alone I've seen game changers touted like: The end of Denominations, the Alpha movement, The Social Justice Gospel emphasis, A return to liturgy, Contemporary Christian Music, House churches, Emergent churches, Online churches, Mega churches, and more all get mentioned as the next thing that will restore/destroy church as we know it.

Perhaps in no other field than the church are we both so fearful of game changers, and willing to see them everywhere we look.

So, what do we do with that? I certainly don't know. But I would preach caution. I would guess most things don't end up becoming the game changers we think that they will. And if we trust the Holy Spirit, and are listening to Him, He will direct us to the ones we need to see, and help us determine how we can transform accordingly. There are game changers happening for our church right now, I do believe that. But I also believe God will show us how to change for His glory and His gain if we ask Him.

Don't go to Church, Be the Church.

Bill

More Game Changers

2010-07-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

So, if not Television, have you considered my friend: the Movies?

We're talking about game changers here, things that impacted their area so greatly, that the "game" has been played differently ever since. In Movies there are a number of classics that still fit the bill. "Citizen Kane" is still probably the greatest example. It absolutely transformed how people made movies in a way that most modern movie-goers rarely realize. But, there are many others. "Psycho" was a huge game changer, if for no other reason, than that Hitchcock killed the "lead" in the first 1/3 of the movie. Nobody did that! It was revolutionary. "Star Wars" changed movies for better, and worse, by becoming a global phenomenon.

The latest, and most obvious example, is "Avatar". After it came out it was loved by many and dismissed by others. I heard often that it was a pretty picture, but with no substance. Well, to each his own, but it would be foolish to not see "Avatar" as the game changer that I think it will be. James Cameron went all in on the art of 3-D movie making, and he showed what was possible if you did it intentionally, artistically, and not just for lame effects. Much like Color movies ended the era of Black and White, "Avatar" throws down the gauntlet to modern 2-D movies and says, "Yeah, but can you do this?" Will it affect all movies to come in the future? It remains to be seen. But it's very possible all of us are in the middle of a game change for movies, like it or not.

Anybody see where this is going in relation to the Church, yet?

Don't go to Church, Be the Church

Bill

Game Changers

2010-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this image a lot lately. A Game changer. Something that comes along, and just profoundly affects things so much that it affects how the "game" is played from then on out. It's often hard to see a Game changer for what it is at the time. It's usually only after years have passed that we're able to see with hindsight just how affecting a particular event/thing/moment can be. But they happen, probably more often than we realize.

So, I thought I'd talk about a few, and see if we can get a little feedback in the process. Most of these will start out not having much to do with the church, but that's where this is leading so follow me until we get there, won't you?

Those of you who know me well know I've got a love of entertainment, so I had a hard time deciding between Movies or TV to begin with. But, I'm choosing TV, because I'm hoping to see a game changing movie in the next day or so.

Anyway, TV gamechangers: Think about how MTV has completely transformed how music is packaged and "sold" in the world. Think about how ESPN has completely changed how whole sports are played. Basketball is a lesser sport for me year after year, and I think ESPN shares a great deal of the blame for that. Guys play to be on a highlight reel, they don't play to win. As networks I can't think of two greater examples that have changed the "games" they market to than those.

As to TV shows, "Hill Street Blues" is still probably the biggest game changer affecting television drama today. Nobody, and I mean nobody, was doing multi-arc, large cast television before Hill Street Blues went on the air. Nobody moved between workplace and home life like they did. Every drama on television today pulls from HSB more than we often realize. And for Comedies, I've got to say "Who's the Boss." No, I'm kidding. For comedies I think the game changer that influences the game more than any other was NBC's Thursday night comedy night starting with "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties" o' so many years ago. That night dominated television for years, and as much as every quirky comedy today claims they're happy with their niche audience, everybody secretly wants the universal acclaim that Bill Cosby and Michael J Fox had for that run.

So, what do you think? Am I on to something here? Do you see TV game changers that I've missed? Art you interested in where this continues to go from here?

Don't go to Church, Be the Church

Bill

Failure is Success

2010-07-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

This is one of those things that no one likes to hear when it's happening, but I'm absolutely convinced it's true.

We learn much more from our failures than we do from our successes. Would you agree? I think about the many times I've failed at something, and my learning curve from those times is much, much higher than in the times when I got every thing right. That was true in all of my relationships. I'm a much better husband today because of my abysmal track record at being a boyfriend (thank to all my Ex's by the way :) ) I'm a better Pastor because of my mistakes made at other churches (Thanks to all my former parishoners.) I just think we see the truth of this across the board in our lives.

So, why do we celebrate success and hide from failure? If it's about learning, and growing and improving, and all that, is success really something to celebrate?

I mean, it is, of course. But, I worry that we celebrate our successes at the expense of 'celebrating' our failures too. If we're going to lift up the one, I'm thinking we should lift up the other as well. And, since we all fail (quite often for some of us) wouldn't it be nice to see that in a better light?

Just a random Tuesday thought.

Don't go to Church, Be the Church!

Bill

Sun or Son

2010-07-07T14:40:00.001-07:00

Which is stronger: the Sun or the The Son?

In Washington we crave the Sun most of the year. We get a little exctied when we see it. We make plans for what to do when it's around. Its mere presence can alter the course of our whole day, or even our weekend, when we want to spend time with it. None of this is bad of course, but for me it raises a question:

Do we act the same way about the Son?

Epic

2010-06-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

So, today two amazing things have happened. The U.S. won their World Cup soccer match with a thrilling goal in the 91st minute. And then, half a world away in England, two tennis players played a match that lasted 10 hours (and still isn't even done yet.) Two epic sports events on the same day. One matters a whole lot to an entire nation. One probably matters most to those of us who love and play Tennis (although playing Wimbledon-level tennis for 10 hours is mind-boggling.) For both events, however, I come back to the same image: Don't give up.

In the World Cup match, the U.S. team wouldn't give up. After bad calls, and near misses, they never hung their heads, they never gave up. When the game moved into bonus time, 4 minutes to go before the end of their quest was over, they still didn't give up. And those Tennis players? Forget about it. It would have been so easy for one of the players to drop a game after, say, 7 hours of tennis. But neither did. They just would not give up.

Where does that strength come from? Where do you see that kind of resolve? From our Creator. The original "Don't give up", guy. No matter how many times we fall away from Him, no matter how many ways we seem to run far from Him, God just doesn't give up on us. He's always loving, always pursuing, always coming for us, until we're right where we're supposed to be, in His grip. Congrats to U.S. Soccer. Congrats to Isner and Mahut. And thanks be to God, for never, ever giving up on us.

Don't go to Church, Be the Church

Bill

Swagger Wagon

2010-06-17T12:57:00.001-07:00

For any Dad, or Mom, who's out there driving something slightly less than their dream car, this video is for you. Check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

Happy Father's Week!

Bill

Dads and Quail

2010-06-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

So, there's been a family of quail that have lived outside of my office for the better part of the last year. Not being a hunter, I don't really know that much about quail, but seeing this family nearly every week for months, I've observed something about their behavior. The dad of the family is very, very protective of his wife and kids.

As a group they'll wander through the grass, all hunting for food. Except Dad. More often than not he hops up onto the BBQ in the middle of our grassy area and he looks for danger. When he's not up in the "high ground" he's down among the family, running from front to back, always checking for predators, always keeping his guard up so that everyone else can have lunch with a sense of peace. I see him every now and then grab a bug, or worm while he's on the job, but he never lets down his guard while the family is out in the open.

I admit, I'm humbled by this bird. What a roel model to being a caring and protective dad. Sacrificing of himself to make sure that his family is okay. I hope that if someone were to observe me from afar they might see a similar committment to my family, but would they? This week, I'm inspired to try and be more like this father quail I see. And, I'm more committed than ever to not go hunting :)

Don't go to Church, be the Church

Bill

Father's Week

2010-06-14T11:34:00.001-07:00

Leading up to Father's day, I thought I'd take advantage of the situation and focus on Dad's for a bit. I'm biased on this, of course. I trying hard to be a good Dad for my own kids, and I've got some great role models to follow as well. Sarah's Dad, my Father-in-law, was a wonderful man, and we miss him terribly 7 years after his Homecoming with Jesus. We always say he's up in Heaven, patiently having some Ice Cream waiting for the rest of us to join him someday. And, of course, my own Dad has been an incredible role model and influence on my life. He's so encouraging, and really just a big cheerleader for me and my family, I'm very thankful to be able to call him whenever I need him.
But, all of us earthly Dads have one more model as well. Our Father in heaven, who actually is perfect in ways that the rest of us can only strive to be. That can be intimidating, but it should also be encouraging. We were made in His image, after all. So, if we're striving to be like him, we're doing something right. So, for all the Dads out there, and for anybody who's got a Dad, I encourage you to check back in this week as we celebrate the Dads here in this world, and the greatest Dad of all as well.

Don't go to church, Be the church

Bill

Sun then Rain then Sun then Rain then. . .

2010-06-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

First off, I'm thinking we might actually get Sun for Maple Valley Days. Now wouldn't that be something! I don't want to jinx it, but it would be kinda fabulous.

And, on a somewhat related note, it's on days like this that we can be thankful Jesus is here today, and tomorrow. He's here in the great days, and here in the dark days. He's here no matter the weather, no matter the circumstances of life. Lots of stuff changes in our life, most of it well outside of our control. But Jesus loving us and forgiving us, that's one thing we can't change or control that is very, very good. Have a great Wednesday.

Don't go to Church, Be the Church

Bill

Story

2010-06-06T17:07:00.001-07:00

So today, for the Sermon, I was emphasizing the wonderful gift that the Gospels are because they're more than "just" History but they're Story. What I mean is, in a time and place when stories really resonate with people, what a blessing that the Gospels fit that genre. You see, I love the Lord of the Rings books, and the Harry Potter books, and Watership Down is one of my favorite books of all time. Those stories strike me, they change me even. They affect how I see courage, and brotherhood, and Faith. Are those stories true? Not factually, of course, they're fiction. But what they say is really true to me.
The Gospels work on a similar level, only better. Because those stories also change me and affect me. When I read them for the "facts" I find that pretty interesting. But when I just read them, as stories, that's when they really come alive. And, in the case of the Bible stories, they really are true, factually as well as subjectively. What a gift. I hope you get a chance to read one of your favorite Bible stories this week. And enjoy it as a story. Who knows how it might change you.

Don't go to church, Be the church!

Bill

2010-05-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

Absolutely loved this video. It's hilarious and profound at the same time. I hope the link works, cause it's too good to miss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

Let me know if it worked.

Don't go to church, Be the church!

You know you're from Washington when. . .

2010-05-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

You're going to an Elementary School track meet in the rain. I hope to see some of you other Parents out there as well! Perhaps we can huddle together for warmth.

Jimmy Kimmel

2010-05-26T09:07:00.001-07:00

So, on the JKL episode after Lost, Jimmy started off by saying: So in my religions, Christianity being one of them, they see life as a Test.
Here's the deal. Most of the modern media has no idea what Christians really believe or think. For someone to have the impression that as Christians we believe life is a test to be "passed" is so missing the point. But, how do we respond?
I feel like often we respond in anger, or frustration, or just dismiss the media as wrong and move on. But we can't. The modern American Media is portraying Christianity inaccurately. They portray us as mean-spirited, judgmental, and often put statements or beliefs in our mouth which are nowhere accurate or true.
In my opinion, the bestway to change that is to live out an authentic Christian lifestyle that is different than this perception. As Christians we need to be seen as bringing joy to dark places. We need to be seen as welcoming and gracious. We need to articulate our core beliefs, and not worry so much about the minor stuff. If we can do that right, people will notice. They'll notice because we won't be acting like we're portrayed to be. And when we're noticed, people are drawn to find out more about the one who we live for, which is the whole point in the first place.
I really hope Jimmy Kimmel has a solid Christian somewhere in his life who politely corrected his statement about life being a test. But, more importantly, I hope that Christian lives life in such a way to make Jimmy really watch, and wonder. That his pre-conceptions are challenged. And that he comes to want to know more about the real Jesus in whom we have faith and belief. Who are the Jimmy's in your life?

Don't go to church, Be the church.

Bill Walles

Lost!

2010-05-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who watched the show, and watched the series finale, what did you think? I consider myself a pretty true Lost fan. I didn't love season 3, but then who did until they pulled that flash-forward? Regardless, the end finally came, the show really is over, and it provided a number of answers, some heart-felt reunions, and left a lot of questions still hanging.
Personally, I kind of loved the first 90 minutes of the finale, and then started to like the last hour less and less as it went along. As a Christian I had to chuckle at the "One Mountain many paths" silliness at the "church" at the end. And the Titanic ending was kind of a cop-out for me. But, with the expectations laid on this show, I think they did alright simply by not setting off riots from fans all over the world, so there you go.
One thing I had been thinking about that I wanted to pass on. It's been funny to hear people react to the Jacob vs. Man in Black dynamic the past several weeks. As it became clear Jacob was, at some level, a god of the Island, the arbitrariness of his actions really bothered people. They wanted rules that "god" had to follow. They wanted fairness. And yet, Jacob seemed to make his own rules, and do what was right in his eyes, his eyes having a much bigger scope and picture than anyone else.
It made me think that, on that issue, the writers were doing a better of painting some Christian themes than they might have even realized. How many people do you know that are frustrated and angry with God? They're mad at His seemingly arbitrary nature, how He doesn't always play by the rules. Good things happen to bad people. Bad things happen to good ones. Life isn't fair, and the real God should always be fair (at least, what we think fair should be.) I thought it was funny. Many of the complaints thrown around about Jacob in the show, could be made about the one true God in heaven. And, they might have the same sting, if not for one thing: Jesus.
The thing about Jesus is that He's not arbitrary, He is infinitely fair. Jesus came and died for everybody. His forgiveness is available to all who ask. He loves everyone. Jesus changes everything. God doesn't have to explain Himself to us, His view of our lives is greater than our own. The inconsistencies and unfairness that surrounds us don't need to be explained away by Him. Because He asks us to focus on something greater. He asks us to believe that the frustrations of this world are temporary. That this world is not our home. And instead of wasting so much time trying to make sense out of this world, we should give thanks and praise for the Kingdom to come through His Son and through His sacrifice.
Lost was a bold and stimulating show. I'm not sure we've had anything like it before on television. And if you didn't get all your questions answered I understand how that can be frustrating. But, to quote the Princess Bride, Get used to dissapointment. We aren't promised the answers to all our questions in this life. We're only promised a life to come, where the answer probably don't matter to us nearly as much as we think.

Happy Monday,

Pastor Bill

Winter Break

2010-03-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

In the interest of full disclosure, I figured I would only do the blog over the Summer. Hence the long break. But, for those of you interested, it will be back in just a few months. See you then!

Sports

2009-10-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

I have both picked on, and held in awe, our American fascination with sports in my last couple of sermons. Anyway, that got me thinking about our sports teams here in Washington right now. Maybe I'm just a homer, but with the Mariners out of the playoffs I have no interest in the Baseball playoffs. I won't watch the NBA (r.i.p. Sonics!). The Hawks have more supporters than they probably need already. I guess I'm just a college guy right now. I'm loving the Huskies football and basketball teams right now. Truth be told, since I went to PLU, I even like WSU (they're just a little harder to watch right now is all.) Funny how sports can engender passion and loyalty for no real reason other than your address is in the same state. But, still, Go huskies!

See you in church,

Pastor Bill

Snow!

2009-10-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

So, my friend called from Omaha on Saturday morning to tell me that they had 5 inches of snow fall in Omaha that morning. And I laughed and thought, I'm glad I live here. And then, I just heard reports that we have snow on the passes here in Washington! I guess snowboarding season is coming early. Always a bright side.

My favorite meeting

2009-10-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well, this past weekend, after finishing up my morning church duties, I flew to Minneapolis for my favorite meeting of the year. It's where I am fortunate enough to be able to give away money, as scholarships, to help with the schooling for men and women who want to serve as Christian missionaries. Again, in brief, I get to give money to people who want to serve as Missionaries. How cool is that!
It's all done in honor of my Father-in-law and Mother-in-law, Maynard and Nancy Nelson. When Maynard passed away several years ago, a number of his friends and family wanted to honor his passion for evangelism and sharing the Gospel throughout the world. So, some great thinkers came up with this idea, to create an Endowment fund that would provide money for Scholarships for years to come. The fund was in place before Maynard passed away, so he was able to see what we had come up with, and was deeply touched. Nancy, who is still with us, also serves as part of the committee, and it's such a blessing that she can see the fruit of these efforts firsthand.
We seem to be in a lot of meetings in our world. Work, school, what have you, there seems to be no issue that a meeting can't be called to discuss it. But this meeting, it's my favorite every year.

We'll see you in church,

Pastor Bill

Sunday Weather

2009-09-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

As it appears it's going to be another fabulous week, it reminded me of something we Pastors talk about with church: The perfect Sunday weather. You see, if it's too nice on Sunday morning, people wake up and decide not to come to church. The decide on a picnic, or a bike ride, or a BBQ instead. But, if they wake up and it's too cold, snowy, or rainy, then they also decide not to come to church. They just roll over in bed and worship at St. Mattress for the morning. So, perfect Sunday weather seems to be cool, but not cold. Cloudy, but not rainy (except over all the golf courses.) And, the Seahawks and the Sounders need to play the late game as well. :) Fortunately, in Washington state, we seem to have an abundance of this so-called perfect weather. Still, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not!

We'll see you at church (depending on the weather of course!)

PB

When will the Blog return

2009-09-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend this last week. Energy at church was high, lots of familiar faces (notice I didn't say old faces) and a lot of new ones as well. In Minnesota we would have called last week: 'Jesus comes back from the lake' weekend. Out in the midwest it seems everybody has a cabin, and so all Summer long people are off at the lake and don't seem to come to church much. We'll have to come up with a similar idea for us Western Washington types. Jesus climbs down the mountain? Jesus gets in out of the rain? Suggestions please.
Anyway, it was a great week. And we look forward to seeing you all again on Sunday!

Pastor Bill

Sage's Surgery

2009-08-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Just a quick note. For those of you who have been following our adoption story, you know that our daughter Sage had an eye issue that required surgery. Well, today we did that, and she came through with flying colors. She was an incredible champ for the whole thing. The surgery took around one and a half hours, and the Doctor removed her right eye and replaced it with a new, fake one. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals, or detailing what happens in them, so that's about all you're going to get from me. If you want the whole story, you can talk to my wife :). But, the end result is that Sage is doing great, she's home, and she's well on the road to recovery. Thanks for all your prayers for this day. We'll see you soon.

Bill

The Calm before the Storm

2009-08-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

So, VBS is done! What a great success. What a wonderful time to tell kids about the love of Jesus. But, did I mention that it's done? We had a great time, really, and all the hard work from so many volunteers was really worth it. With that I'm taking a relaxing day before Sunday and then I get a nice two week vacation. We won't be going anywhere. Instead we'll actually have our daughter's eye surgery, and move into a new house on the agenda. Not much of a "vacation" but it will be good to get it all done. In the meantime, I might actually update the blog on my vacation, but not about work related stuff. Sorry, if you want to read my review on "District 9" or hear about my latest hernia from moving too many boxes, log on! And before all that, we'll see you on Sunday!

A Big Gap

2009-08-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

So sorry I've been gone for so long! This has been a very busy summer. Much busier than normal in the church I would say. Still, I'm just making excuses. If any of you are still reading this, I apologize for being quite tardy in a new post. I thought I'd get a brief one out today. We're right in the middle of Vacation Bible Surf here at church and it's going very well. We have almost 120 kids! What a blessing. We had a great story come out of Bible Study yesterday. One of our leaders asked his small group of kids what they had learned about Jesus today. And the child responded that he knew, even with everything else he learned about Jesus, "He still dies at the end. I saw the movie." Out of the mouth of babes, right! Well, to put a theological spin on it, Thank God that Jesus dies on our behalf. And Thank God that He rises again! Have a great day.

Pastor Bill

Original Sin

2009-07-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, on Sunday I alluded to a big idea: Original Sin. My C-minus explanation of that was that we are all sinners, so we all need God's forgiveness. But the idea of Original Sin has a lot of baggage, both good and bad, that people have struggled with. Original Sin gets wrapped up in to why many in the church feel we need to baptize infants very early on, because they "need" baptism for their sins if something should happen to them. I remember one Mom whose child was born far too early, and wasn't going to live more than a few days, asking me about Baptism for her daughter. She said, "I can't figure out what my child has done wrong, how she could have sinned at all. But I'd like you to baptize her just the same." It was a very real and heartbreaking question, and a few days after that baptism we did a heart wrenching memorial service for this little tiny gift of God.
On a different note, There were many who associated the idea of Original Sin with sex. The C-minus description to this goes something like: Since we are all born into sin, and since little children can't sin on their own, then it is sex itself which is sinful and thus we are all born out of a sinful act. Personally I think this says more about the Western civilizations problems with understanding appropriate sex as a gift from God, but this definitely played a big role in the churches view on sex for many years.
So, what's the real idea? What's Original Sin really all about? Well Martin Luther and many others wrote a lot about the idea and debated it quite heavily at the time of the Reformation. The general idea was that ever since Adam sinned, every single person born since has been born "corrupted" We are born sinners. This isn't to blame Adam for all our woes, because if any of us were given the same choice as He and Eve we'd do the same. And the real root of this sin, is that we are born without an inherent fear and love of God. We are born believing like Adam, that we can be God. That is our Original corrupted nature, no longer realising that we are God's handiwork first and foremost.
So, the point for the reformers is that, a 2 day old baby may not show off that attitude, or that nature, but he will. We are born that way, and it cannot be undone except by Christ alone. In fact, in all of the literature I read on Original Sin I'll admit the only thing that really stuck with me is that the whole point of recognizing we struggle with Original Sin is that it drives us to Jesus. By admitting we are sinners, totally and thoroughly, we also admit we need someone to love us and save us. We need Jesus. And that's something I'm happy to focus on.
So, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the whole Original Sin idea, but let's always couch it in a bigger picture. We may just be debating semantics. And that can be fun and worthwhile as long as we don't forget the bigger picture. We are all sinners. And we all need Jesus. Praise God that He came for all of us!

Pastor Bill

This Sunday

2009-07-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

Not that this should be the deciding factor or anything, but church does have Air Conditioning! :) See you all on Sunday, eh?

The "Holy Spirit"

2009-06-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who weren't at the 10:30 service on Sunday, you missed the coolest thing ever. We had a real live bird in the Sanctuary. It wasn't planned, that way, but how can you argue with live animals, right? About 3 or 4 minutes into my sermon I saw a bird lift up into the air in the back of the Sanctuary. It was so surprising I stopped and said something (don't even know what) which caused much confusion for the congregation because they were all looking at me, and didn't see the bird at the back of the church. Until the bird flew to the front of the church and then everyone did a collective "ooh, aah.". It was a riot. Well, then the bird got obviously scared and went to the big windows on the west side of the sanctuary and smacked right into them. So, it turned around and flew right at the windows on the east side of the sanctuary and smacked into those. At this point the poor little bird was stunned and barely flapping it's wings. So, Trisha (Bird-Whisperer) came up to it, carefully picked the bird up and carried it to the side door and let it go. It was crazy. No one will remember my sermon from yesterday, but everyone will remember that bird. What a Sunday. Bet you can't wait to see what happens next week!

Pastor Bill

DC/LA

2009-06-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that our Youth Group kids start the conference in LA. They've been down, enjoying the sun, having some fun, but now the real fun begins. Send a prayer their way would ya?

Ephesians

2009-06-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

So, if you were in church this last weekend you heard me introduce our book of the Summer: Ephesians. And, you heard me make the case that I believe Paul is the actual author of Ephesians, an opinion not held by all Christian scholars. So, what's the deal?
First, let me say that those who doubt the authorship of Ephesians and other letters attributed to Paul in the New Testament are still usually Christian. It is possible to disagree on this, and other issues regarding the Bible, and still see each other as Christian. Sometimes the views are too divergent, but simple authorship over books I don't feel is one of them. After all, God is the author of it all, so the earthly author doesn't matter quite as much.
However, with all of that said, I do think Paul is the author. Why is the question even raised? For some good reasons actually. Many early manuscripts we have of this letter don't even include the words "in Ephesus" in verse 1 of chapter 1. This actually plays to my belief that this was a circuit letter, meant to be read by various churches. But wait, there's more.
The big reason people doubt this letter (and a few others) to be actual Paul is in the differences. When you compare the phrases, and even the Greek language, used in Ephesians with that in Romans, or 1 Corinthians, or Philippians (books just about everybody agrees were written by Paul) there are subtle differences. Paul emphasizes words or phrases in some letters that he doesn't emphasize in Ephesians. And then, again, there is the lack of personal references in Ephesians, which can seem unusual for a place he spent so much time in.
So, what do you think? I've got some ideas, but I'd thought I'd start with all of you. Got any opinions on Ephesians, and why it may sound a little different from other letters? Does it matter to you if Paul is the actual author, or rather it was a Christian Disciple influenced by Paul who wrote this many years later? The floor is yours.

Pastor Bill

Extra Prayers

2009-06-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

So, this has been on my mind a fair amount lately. School's almost out. Yeah! But then again, yikes! See, the thing about kids home all summer is that the prayer level needs to ratchet up a few notches. Parents, especially stay-at-home moms, need a lot more prayers for patience and peace. Kids need a lot of prayers for protection. And, my biggest concern is often our 11-15 year old crowd. That's a tough time to have a lot of time on your hands. You're too old to just be a kid, but you're not old enough to have a job and a license. So, you end up with lots of opportunity and potential to do dumb and dangerous things. Yeah, I'm speaking from experience here. so, if you get a chance today, so a few extra prayers as the kids start coming home. We could all use it :)

A tale of two Funerals

2009-06-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted anything. It's been kind of a tough week for a variety of reasons. Two of those reasons are that I had the honor of participating in a funeral last Wednesday, as well as one again today. Last week I officiated at a funeral for a wonderful, dear lady that I had got to know in my role as Pastor for the last few years. She was over 90 years old, had a wonderful family, and believed strongly in Jesus. I think most of us wouldn't mind going out that way.
Today I had the chance to speak at the funeral of a good friend of mine, Jerry. Jerry was just over 40 and is survived by his wonderful bride and 3 amazing, young kids. And Jerry also believed strongly in Jesus.
Being a Pastor I've helped in a lot of funerals, and it is always a humbling honor to do so. But the one for Jerry today was pretty hard. I was his pastor for a long time, but really I was more his friend. And his is the kind of story where it's easy to get mad at God at how unfair life can be sometimes.
But Jerry just wouldn't allow that. Jerry loved Jesus too much. His concern wasn't on squeezing out a few more years here, because he knew that he has and eternity with Jesus in heaven. And although he has to wait for his wife and kids to join him, it will be in the blink of an eye before they're all reunited as a family. They trust and hope in that promise, and so do I. It's what allowed Jerry to live his life to the full, even though it wasn't nearly long enough (in my opinion).
So, today I am reminded that our lives in this place are varied, and wonderful, and they are hard and difficult. There is joy and there is sorrow. But whatever comes, however many years we have, we are reminded that this world is not our home. My two friends Lilllian and Jerry are two of the newest residents of our true home that awaits us in heaven. I'm sure they're having a wonderful time already. And I too will have to wait patiently until I get to see them both again. But I will praise Jesus for that promise offered to me, and to you.

Pastor Bill

No reason, just because

2009-05-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHWxtURGECo

They're more like guidelines really

2009-05-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Who can name that movie?

Anyway, coming out of the sermon this last week, I wanted to get you thinking about the rules, guidelines, commandments, laws (whatever you want to call them) we find in the Bible. As I mentioned, there are over 600 laws in the Old Testament alone. What are we, as Christians 2000 years later, supposed to think about that?
Well, a couple of things to get you started in the process. One, there are a number of laws that can no longer be physically followed. Things like worship at the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed in 70 a.d., it doesn't exist, so many laws regarding that can't be done. This is just one example, but many laws really "can't" be done in our day to day, so that's a challenge.
Also, there are two particular parts of the New Testament story that should affect our thinking on the OT laws. One, is where Christ says Himself: I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5:17). The implication of this is that Jesus sees the law of God as good, not something to be done away with. Also, much of the laws, particularly in terms of sacrifices for sin, are fulfilled in Jesus' death and resurrection. Because of His death, no other sacrifice (in that way) is ever needed. This is Good News in so many senses of the word.
However, even removing the laws on sacrifice and the "physically-unable-to-perform" laws from the books, there are others. What to do with those? Do we follow them, or throw them out?
There are many Christians who look to a story in Acts as their guide on this. In Acts 15 you see one of the first Church councils dealing with one of the first church conflicts. There are new believers to the faith, and they aren't circumcised. And, oddly enough, they don't really want to get circumcised. So, by disobeying this direct rule from God, are they ultimately part of the believers or not?
After much discussion and prayer it is decided that all believers are saved by Grace, not by what we do. However, they ask the new believers to follow the long held rules on staying away from other gods, and to follow the rules concerning sexuality. So, based on that interpretation, those OT rules in regards to false gods, and the boundaries of sexuality should be maintained for Non-Jewish believers.
Apart from that it should be noted that anything Jesus' commands or speaks to directly, we as Christians consider as valid, true, and a guide on the way life should be lived.
So, don't know if that stirs more questions, or clears everything up. But I hope it gets you thinking just the same. I'm off to the Isle of Tortuga. Catch you on the flip-flop.

Bill

BBQ

2009-05-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Don't forget, if you're around this weekend, to come to church! Just cause it's a holiday weekend, don't think everything is closed. We're still gathering in worship. What a great place to be, any day really. Also, come hungry, since we'll be trying our BBQ after both services. I'm looking forward to it, and looking forward to seeing all of you there.

Bill

Keeping the Sabbath

2009-05-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

If you heard my sermon yesterday, you know I picked a little bit on the Pharisees, in particular their trying to maintain the Sabbath. I didn't have enough time to fully explore that idea yesterday, so I wanted to flesh out a few things here for those that are interested.
The keeping of the Sabbath is an idea most of us have some knowledge of, even if we don't know how to do it exactly. It starts in Genesis 2 where God sets aside the last day of Creation for rest. And, as God does, so are we asked to do. One day a week we shouldn't "work", we should rest and rejoice in the wonder of God's creation. This idea continues in the 10 Commandments, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. But, like I said yesterday, what did that mean? You see a few times in Scripture some definition of what we should or should not do on our day of rest. For instance, Nehemiah 13 is where we get justification for most of the "blue laws" that say you cannot buy or sell anything on the Sabbath day.
But, for the Pharisees it wasn't enough. Scripture says we shouldn't carry a heavy burden on the Sabbath, but it didn't say how much that burden could be. So, they actually tried to determine how much weight you could carry before you were working. It might seem crazy to us, but I think their heart was in the right place. Anyway, all of this leads up to our story.
Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees are so enraged they plot to kill Jesus. Why? And why does Jesus say you could rescue an animal from a well on the Sabbath? Why not heal a man?
The answer is found in this question: Was it necessary? The Pharisees did believe that in case of an emergency you should save someone's life on the Sabbath, even if that required "work". Apparently this even applied to livestock. They said better to profane one Sabbath, and allow countless more to be celebrated. But what Jesus did was different.
He willfully flaunted His work on the Sabbath when it wasn't "necessary." Jesus could have performed His miracle on the following day. The man had been suffering for so long, but he wasn't dying. So, there was no need to heal him on the Sabbath day. It wasn't necessary, in their opinion. Jesus' disregard for their careful logic clearly drove them over the edge as their reaction shows. But it also shows what Jesus was about.
From a logical persepctive, the Pharisees were right. This man didn't "need" his hand healed that day. It could have waited. But that's not Jesus' perspective. He had a chance to change a man's life forever. His life, not just his hand but his whole life, was able to be restored by one word from Jesus. And that new life was not going to wait. Not another day, not another hour. It was going to start immediately. And whatever barrier might have been in place to prevent it was of no consequence to Jesus. New life was coming to another child of God. Who would ever want to wait for that to happen?!
So, there you have it. A bit more than what we did yesterday. Hope it helps, or at least provides a few more answers for you. And maybe even some questions as well.

Enjoy the Sun, and the Son :)

Bill

Adoption update

2009-05-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who haven't had a chance to see it yet, my wife keeps a spectacular blog about our family, and more specifically our journey through adoption. She had a very special post yesterday and I wanted to link that here for those of you who want to check it out.

http://becomingwalles6.blogspot.com/

Have a great day!

The story of Job

2009-05-13T11:25:00.001-07:00

In our Wednesday morning Bible Study we've been looking at Job for the last several weeks, and it's such a great story to read again. For those of you who haven't spent much time there, Job is probably the main story in the Bible that deals with the question: Why does God allow suffering? Or even better: Why do bad things happen to good people? If you've ever had that question yourself, and I think all of us have, Job gives some interesting answers. Actually, Job doesn't, God Himself does in the final 4 chapters. Now, they aren't necessarily the answers we're looking for, but they are His answers so you know they're good. It's a similar idea to what the book, The Shack, tries to do with some success as well. It's a pretty universal struggle, and it's one of those things that keeps a lot of people we all know at arm's length from God's love and forgiveness. I'm not going to try and paraphrase God's own words, but the next time you ask one of those questions, consider my friend Job. And perhaps read the last couple of chapters for yourself.
If you've got any specific questions that come from this idea I'd be happy to try and answer them in the comments section. Hope you're all having a great day!

Happy Limerick Day

2009-05-12T11:02:00.001-07:00

Well, I don't know if it was the promise of the 8X10 glossy, or my witty repartee, but either way we've got at least double digits checking in with the blog right now. Thanks for coming on board. Although, I have to say I didn't necessarily think this through. For instance, one of my best friends from High School is now reading this, so I'm wondering if I can block him from posting any comments :). Also, some of the guys who have gone with me to Whistler are on here, which can't bode well either. But my favorite has to be Matt who is on here but apparently in RSS mode. Matt sends out Tweets of what he's doing at work and it's honestly like he's speaking in tongues. Now, I think we need more of that in church (remember, if it's in the Bible it's Lutheran) but Matt definitely needs a translator. His computer speak is well beyond me. So, instead of asking him what RSS mode is I've come up with my own ideas. Retired Secret Service. or maybe, Randomly Sized Sausages. Either way, Matt I'm glad you're here.

Not much more to add than that, so far. But as the title of this post suggests, it's National Limerick Day. So, feel free to post a comment in classical Limerick format if you'd like.

A Day Off

2009-05-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you at church yesterday, you know I had something of a day off. Several months ago, I really felt God nudging me that it would be nice to have an actual Mom give the sermon on Mother's Day. I don't know if anyone else thinks that's a big deal or not, but it seemed like a good idea to me. So, Dana seemed like the right person to ask, and I'd said she did a spectacular job when all was said and done. On a somewhat related note, the timing might have felt a bit funny, since I had just taken several weeks "off" for our trip to China. But, I'm still really glad Dana was our preacher yesterday. She provided an insight into scripture that was very interesting. And on a day when we celebrate the strength and gifts of Moms, it was wonderful to see a Mom share some gifts she probably doesn't get to pull out too often in her daily life. Besides, you guys hear me enough the rest of the year, don't ya? It was a good day.
After that, I tried to give Sarah the day off by cooking and stuff at home. It all turned out okay, but there was a moment when I was trying to set the table, grill the burgers, and heat up the French Fries, and I thought my head was going to explode. I don't know how ya'll (meaning the ladies in the group) do it. I'm glad I only have to cook once a year.
Right, honey?

2009-05-07T10:43:00.001-07:00

So, I'm still reflecting on what a great Sunday we had this last week. I love Connfirmation. I love the youth getting a chance to really take ownership of their faith. And I love what a tight-knit class we had this year. They were all a lot of fun. I don't keep in contact with many of the friends who were in my Confirmation class, but I still think of them as some of the best friends I've ever had. I hope you had that same experience. I hope you didn't wear the same glasses I wore to my Confirmation, however. Sally Jessie Raphael had nothing on me. Oh well. To have lived through the 80's is an accomplishment in and of itself. Here's a much better picture, of a much better looking group of young people (and one slightly older guy.)

Greetings and Salutations

2009-05-06T15:02:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

So, I've decided to join the blogosphere. I admit it's with a little fear and trepidation as there seem to be a fair number of really great blogs already out there (my wife's being one of them) and way too many lame ones. I really don't want to be in the second category. But I thought this might be a great way of keeping up with a lot of you, particularly over the summer months when we seem to scatter to the four winds. Some times I'll write about Church stuff. Sometimes it may be more personal thoughts. Sometimes it'll just be a random movie review. But I hope that it's always at least a little bit entertaining. And in all of it, I hope we model the kind of conversation and life that points towards the Savior of the world. Jesus is such an amazing guy. He's absolutely changed my life. If you haven't really had the chance to get to know Him yourself, I truly hope and pray that you do. And that this little blog might encourage you in that journey as well.

Btw, do you know which Movie influenced this Blog Title? Bonus points if fyou can name the two lead actors.