Road Tested

My wife and I just bought a new car.  Well, new to us, at least.  That was some of the debate, in fact, during the whole “joyous” car buying process: Should we buy new or used?  There are advantages to both, of course, and as this isn’t a car-advice column I won’t get into that side of things too much.  So, for me, I admit that perhaps the biggest non-quantifiable factor I kept coming back to was, “How would the car do on long road trip?” 

Perhaps this is some erroneous thinking on my part, but I’m always worried about how my car will do on the ‘long trip’.  My thinking is that if a car breaks down close to home, I’ll be okay.  Sure, I’ll get frustrated, I’ll reach for my wallet, but in the end I know I will be fine.  After all, around home I have friends or family that can help me out.  Perhaps give me a ride, or loan me a car if I need it.  I have the mechanic that I know and trust to go to first, before I need to go anywhere else.  Around home, I have the resources I trust to get me through whatever my car problem might be.

            But on the road, well, that’s another issue entirely.  If my car breaks down when I’m far from home, suddenly I’m much more nervous.  I don’t have the family or friends to rely on, at least not in the same way.  I can’t ask too many people to drive hundreds of miles just for a lift.  And as for that trusted mechanic, he’s a ridiculously expensive tow-truck trip away.  I’m in trouble out on the road, which really is my big fear.  Again, right or not, this was my thinking, and it helped make my car buying decision.

            Since then, I’ve been thinking.  This feels to me more and more akin to how I feel about my faith as well.  Do you ever feel the same way?  My faith doesn’t worry me in the normal, day-to-day routines of my life.  When I go about a regular day: school, work, home, there is nothing that makes me think, “Oh, I hope my faith will hold up to all of this.”  I’m ready for everything, or at least so I think.  And if something were to put a bump into my path: I get a project at work that is a little more than I can handle.  Some stress at home affects my relationship with my kids.  In those times I know I have the resources around me to call on for help.  Family and friends, a local church perhaps, they’re all quickly at my disposal for just such a fix and overhaul.

However, it’s when I get out of my routine, when I go on the hard, long trips in my life that suddenly I begin to wonder if my faith will hold up.  When my road ahead suddenly has a long-term medical issue that is far beyond routine, I question if my faith is strong enough to hold up, and not break down along the way.  Or maybe I hit what I think is just a little financial pothole, only it turns out to be something much worse.  It’s a job loss that now means I’m on a long, scary road that I haven’t been on before and with no exit in sight.  Those routine check-ups I should have been doing, but have been skipping, suddenly worry me.  Time in prayer, growing closer in my walk with God, those things that would really give me assurance on my now tough road ahead.  Now I’m asking, “Did I do it enough to know that my faith is strong and ready?”  Is my faith read for a long hard trip, one that I might not even known I was about to take?

            These are the tough questions we should ask when it comes to our faith, but I feel that we rarely do.  Which is so ironic.  When you think about how much thought and energy I went into just to buy a car, shouldn’t I put the same energy and foresight into something far more necessary and important to my everyday life?

            How is your faith?  Ready for the long haul?  Ready to be road-tested?  And, if not, what can you do to be prepared for your next road trip?  It may be time for a tune-up.  Sure it will take time, but better now than after you’re already stranded on the road!

Don't go to church, Be the Church!

Bill Walles

Why I Love the Church

           Heard this one before?  “I love Jesus, but I just don’t like His Church.”  Or maybe this one: “Dear Jesus, save me from your followers.”  Now, I have to admit that second one is kind of clever, albeit awfully troubling.  It is also emblematic of an increasingly trendy idea, and one that I hear expressed more and more all the time.  There seems to be a great number of people who say they love Jesus, who think that what He said and what He stood for were great.  However, when it comes to the Church that claims His name so many years later, they want nothing to do with it.

Now, to be fair, I can appreciate where this comes from.  Let’s not kid ourselves, the church has done a number of things over the years that have been pretty unlovable (the Crusades come to mind.)  But it’s not just our past that’s the problem.  As nearly anyone with a news feed on their Facebook page can tell you, as a global church we still do a few too many things that are awfully unlovable today.  Hence the trend, and what has become one of the greatest challenges to face modern Christians.

So I’m here to say that, in spite of our past mistakes as a church, I want to buck the trend.  More than that, I want to boldly come out against it and say that I still love the church.  I realize that I may be in the minority on this.  I think even amongst those who would still call themselves Christians there’s less of a desire to admit you’re part of a church community, let alone claim a real love for it.  But not me.  I love the church.  In fact, in a weird sort of way, I think it is the flaws of the church that help remind me why I love it.

One of the biggest mistakes a church can make is when they start acting like a Cathedral for the Saints when nothing could be further from the truth.  The church has always been at its best when we remembered what we had originally been called to be: A hospital for sinners.  When you read the Bible and look at who Jesus called to be part of his original group of followers, the “original church,” they were all sinners.  People whose résumés were littered mistakes.  Résumés that didn’t improve all that much even after following Jesus, since they continued to make mistake after mistake.  But that was the point.  Perfect people didn’t need Jesus.  Only the ones with flaws and faults.  The ones who made mistakes and knew it.  People like the original followers.  People like me.

That’s my church, and why I love it.  It’s also why I hope people who want nothing to do with the church give it a second chance.  Maybe even a third, and a fourth after that.  Because no church will ever be perfect. In fact, the best ones will usually be far from it.  But if you’re looking for a welcoming group of imperfect people, the church is a perfect place for you.  As it turns out, Jesus designed it that way from the beginning.

Don't go to church, Be the Church! 

A New Year

Well, it’s that time of year.  The time to look back on the New Year’s resolutions you made a few short days ago, and see how many of them you’ve kept.  It’s an annual ritual, is it not?  In fact, it is the breaking of the New Year’s resolutions that seems to get more attention than the resolutions themselves.  There’s almost a perverse glee in the fact that it is a rare occurrence when someone is able to keep their resolution all the way through February.

So, I wanted to go a slightly different way with this ritual and instead, encourage you to try again.  If you’ve fallen short of a resolution, or didn’t even make one because you feel they’re just impossible to keep, try it.  And if/when you fall short try it again.  To whatever daunting resolution may lie before, 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, with a clean slate.

The word we use in the church for this is Grace, and it’s a wonderful and powerful word.  Grace means forgiveness.  Grace means hope.  Grace means, when you fall short, when you miss the mark, you are still loved.  It is the central theme of the Christian faith – Grace, and it is one we need to hear every year.  You see, the whole reason Jesus came into this world was because people like you and me kept failing.  We kept falling short of perfect, 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 desperately need to hear again and again.  So, in your life, I encourage you to know and hear grace.  If that’s related to something like a New Years resolution, then fantastic.  Don’t beat yourself up about failing, know grace instead.  Know that there’s nothing stopping you from trying again.  And perhaps that will lead to something far greater.  Perhaps knowing grace in something as small as a New Years resolution will help you know that Jesus offers a grace far greater, and far more life changing to you every single day.  No matter where you are in life, no matter how short you think you’ve come, there is grace and forgiveness for you.   With good news like that, can anything be so bad?  And with that, I hope you all have a very, Happy New Year!

Bill Walles

Wants and Needs

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

We seem to live in a time where there are more and more essential things that we need in life.  I suppose we’ve always needed a few essentials 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 have been 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 our life today.  Be it a vacation, or sports tickets, or the latest iGadget, most of us have become accustomed to seeing what should probably be considered luxuries as essentials.  We can’t work without the internet, and everything hooked up to it.  We can’t relax without getting far out of town, and all the toys we need to bring with us.  That’s one of the things that has been so hard about this economic downturn over the last several years.  We’ve all had to cut back, we’ve all had to do with less.  But, if we’re being honest, it’s been harder because we’ve really felt like we’ve had to cut back on 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 a time where our list of essentials has grown and grown, I wonder if we’ve decide to lose one thing off that list – Jesus.  One of the things meant to mark Christians in a positive way, was that we are to live life everyday with Jesus.  That not a day should go by where we don’t acknowledge our full dependence on Him.  Again, this may be different than how Christians are often seen and known, but I wish that would change back to this.  If you’re a Jesus follower, what’s on your list of essentials to make it through the day?  And would anybody around you be able to guess that 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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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