Loving, Learning, and Leading

Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you. Deuteronomy 32:7 I have been visiting the Massillon, Ohio cemetary yearly for as long as I can remember.  Each year, as a child, we would see the Memorial day parade and continue to follow the parade as it ended in at the cemetary.  Later, as I grew older, we would ride our bikes to the parade (that was several miles away), and finally, as I went away to college, medical school, etc, I would drive back and visit yearly.   My mother was an incredibly loving but wonderfully intense person.  She had certain things that she deeply cared about.  Some of it was quirky, like making sure that we had a black eyed pea in our wallets at new year (sign that you would have money all year round).  However, one of the things that she literally mourned was the idea that when she passed that her gravesite would never be atten...

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. I Samuel 3:19 I used to love the sound of the school teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons.  All you could hear was the teacher saying "wawa wawa wawa" in different tones and pitches.  It was a tribute to the authority figures in our life that continually speak to us, but their actual words have lost their vitality and potency.  I think Charles Schultz may have been alluding to something much greater.  In the 1960's through the 80's, many of the authoritative institutions were viewed with suspicion rather than honor.  The government, the church, and even our cultural icons were viewed as possible agents of propaganda, rather than providers of community and traditional wisdom. Yesterday, I flew from Baltimore, Maryland back to Rochester (and man, my arms are tired!).  During that flight, I watched as the Flight Attendents gave the safety instructions.  As th...

"You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." Luke 12:40 As many know, Harold Camping, the founder of a Christian Radio broadcasting network, predicted that yesterday, Jesus would rapture away his church.  He published this fact far and wide through radio, TV, USA Today, and various social networks.  We can confirm that Mr. Camping was again, wrong in his prediction.  It was not the first time that Mr. Camping errored, as he had made a similar prediction years ago, which he attributed to a mathematical error.  The fact that so many self-identifed Christians believed his predictions and sold property and quite jobs is not startling, but sad.  Even more discouraging is the fact that some of Mr. Camping's adherents still believe even though his prophecies are not true ( see article on yahoo ). Looking at the hoopla surrounding this event calls to attention the following: 1. Many self-identified Christians a...

Don't act nervous! Why? Because Dogs can smell fear! Urban legend . Buster, my dog This morning, like hundreds before it, I got up before the sun had fully risen and was met by Buster, our dog.  Buster is a 4 and 1/2 yr old Basenji and German Shepherd mix.  Usually he greets me or my wife Amelia in the hallway and stretches before coming downstairs and going out in the back yard to relieve himself and get a lay of the land.  This morning was different.  Buster was already up and anxious.  Instead of his calm stretching there was a nervous pacing up and down the hallway.  Now, Buster is typically afraid of storms but the sky was relatively calm at the time.  When I got downstairs, instead of slowly ambling to the door, he cautiously went to the door and assumed a croaching position.  When I opened the door, he shot out of the door, and began his traditional Basenji Yodel mixed with a growl I had never heard before.  Buster is usually v...

"Generation after generation stands in awe of your work" Psalm 145:4 from the Message Bible I have the privilege of working with a variety of young adults each week. As a pastor and coordinator of a teen clinic, I have been taking time to prayerfully watch, and to learn.  I guess because I am getting older (or as I prefer to say, more mature), I naturally think of legacy and the imprint that my own generation has left upon the Earth.  The best way of understanding the legacy of a generation is to look at the character and callings of its children. Young adults today face a bewildering assortment of challenges and struggles today.  Much of their struggles today are inherited from my generation, although the same goes for many of the privileges that they enjoy as well.  Every generation will shape the next. I wanted to briefly describe a few specific challenges that young adults face that will define their legacy, as I feel that many are unaware...

"When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." (Jesus' own family's reaction to his teachings) Mark 3:21 The key to understanding the life and teachings of Jesus is to understand that he was extremist radical, bent on altering every aspect of culture and society.  As you read that last statement, you may be thinking that I am describing the newest "Terrorist of the moment", but I am describing the mission of Jesus of Nazareth. He was an extremist. His ethic of love as a response to the real world problems of violence, abuse, oppression, pain and suffering appears at the far end of our reality.  His insistance on love, even in the face of incredible discrimination, humiliation, and dehumanization is, in fact, an extremist position.  Historically, the Church has attempted to make him more of a centrist.  We desire a tamer, more politically palatable Jesus.  That Jesus is sellable and acceptab...

"A highly effective way of ensuring the perpetuation of a racialized system is simply to deny its existence" From "Divided By Faith" by Emerson and Smith . Great leaders confront reality. They have a distinct vision for the future but an uncanny ability to understand the reality of the present.  Martin Luther King Jr. was able to "have a dream" while prophetically speaking to the reality of the pervasive racism of America at that time.  Leadership mobilizes towards a clearly defined target while simultaneously revealing the inadequacies of the present.  In fact, there is no need for an alternative or preferred vision if there is nothing wrong with the present conditions. In America, we have incredible disparities among different ethnicities.  Whether it is education, health, wealth creation, social mobility, or access to leadership roles, ethnic minorities generally fair significantly worse.  Sociologists Michael Emerson and Christian Smith noted in the...

"So he asked of me something that was impossible to grant" Simon Wiesenthal, a Jewish concentration camp prisoner in response to being asked to forgive a Nazi soldier. Simon Wiesenthal's classic story "The Sunflower" tells of Simon's horrific experiences as a prisoner in Germany's concentration camps during World War II.  During his brutal stay, he is forced into the hospital room of a dying Nazi soldier who insists on confessing his crimes towards Jewish people in detail and asks for forgiveness from Simon.  The soldier had not actually harmed Simon, but along with the continued dehumanization of Jewish people in Germany at the time, recalled a particularly gruesome crime that he actively participated in where entire families were burned and shot. After enduring inhumane, and graphically devastating abuse on a daily basis, Simon was forced to hear the details of the crimes and then heard the pleas to please forgive him.  Simon chose to simply never ...

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." Luke 7:23 (ESV) Jesus himself said that before he returned to the world, there would be many "False Christs" (Mt 24:23-24).  His instructions were to his disciples of the future to be aware of the temptation to put your trust in something or someone other than the authentic Jesus.  I have often read these instructions as the need to be aware of people crazy enough to claim to be Jesus or Jesus-like.  However, I believe that Jesus' caution is much more subtle and the temptation is more  insidious than I imagined. I have come to recognize that the chief representative of the "false Christs" is not a person at all.  It is an image that has been created by self-identified Christians that appears to be like the authentic Jesus, but will some significant differences.  I have chosen to name this image "Small Jesus".  Small Jesus is worshipped around the world and in many worship communities, and f...