The Newest New Year Resolution

So even though we are only halfway through the 1^st month of the New Year many people are already lamenting over the resolutions began and already kissed goodbye.  In our new high tech digital age where everything and everyone is only a click away, a new type of resolution is making the rounds: The Digital Diet.  It may be hard to believe but some are realizing the need to slow down the pace of their social connections (yes, myself included).  Not sure if you merit a digital time out?  If any of the below describes you, perhaps you need a moment or two on the digital scale to reflect -

1.  You list your Klout score at the top of your resume

2.  Your children think your Facebook timeline is their ancestry tree…because you told them that

3.  You think your # of Twitter followers equates to votes at the polls if you ran in an election

4.  You are one of a few who know that “pinterest” is not a misspelled word

5.  You keep trying to root your office desk phone

6.  Your bill collectors no longer call you, they invite you to join them in Google+ hangouts…and you always do

7.  You no longer read books, you just scan them looking for the tweetable parts

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,900 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 48 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

7 Christmas Blind Date Tips

This year, literally thousands of people will be heading out on blind dates on December 24th and 25th.  These are the people that will be visiting your local places of worship for the 1st time.  As with any 1st date they’ll be bringing their preconceived notions, bad experiences and history of heart break (although this time it will be with church and religion) with them when they walk in the doors.  You don’t have to be the pastor or a ministry leader to help make their first date with you and your worship community a good one.

1.  Take the time to say hello.  You have no idea how far just a simple hello from someone not wearing a greeter tag goes (and if possible, do it before the scheduled greeting time).

2.  Engage them in conversation.  If time allows, talk to them.  If they took the time to show up you can take the time to talk to them.

3.  Invite them to sit with you or ask if you can sit with them.  You’re not trying to make them uncomfortable, but you are trying to make them feel welcome.

4.  Watch for warning signs.  Don’t be too pushy; if they give any signs you are moving too fast be ok in backing off.

5.  Don’t shuush them!  If this is their 1st time they may have questions, be ok with giving answers.  It should be ok to quietly answer questions in your local worship community (if not then re-read, or read the books of Acts and Hebrews to fully understand what it means to be the Church).

6.  Introduce them to others.  Feel free to introduce them to others, but don’t make a big show of it…you’re not showing them off.

7.  Invite them into your life.  After all that, surely you can invite them out for coffee or find another opportunity to connect with them.  The next contact they receive should not be a letter, call, or email from the pastor or greeting team.  It should be from you, or someone you introduced them to inviting them to hang out, have coffee, or do life.

Bonus tip: Feel free to wish them a Merry Christmas.  I mean seriously, they came on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day…I don’t think they’ll be offended.

 

Spoiler Alert: The Grinch Didn’t Steal Christmas

This is the time of the year where some people celebrate Christmas and others divide over it.  You’ve probably come across some people who have determined that celebrating Christmas and all the traditions that go along with it are not biblical.  They say if you are a Christ follower then you are blaspheming the name of God by celebrating this pagan holiday (their words not mine).  They would be right except…

It is biblical to celebrate the birth of Christ.  There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament telling the Israelites and humanity to look forward to that day.  Jesus even said there were Old Testament people who would have “rejoiced” to see His day.  And at the birth of Jesus, not only did the shepherds celebrate, rejoice,  and share the good news, so did a portion of the angelic host of heaven.  All that is in the Bible so it is biblical to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

The birth of Jesus Christ may or may not be on the 25^th of December, but does that matter?  Is it possible that God caused a warm spell specifically to cause shepherds to head out and be a witness to the single most miraculous event in history?  Possible but not a big deal if it wasn’t.  The early church was already looking for a day and a way to celebrate the birth of Christ before the 25^th was established.  Early church leaders such as Hippolytus and Alexandria were in favor of it while others, like Origen, felt it should be separated from the way birthdays of false Gods or heads of state were celebrated.  One theologian in 320 AD stated “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of Him who made it.”

The traditions of gift giving, having parties, bringing greenery into the homes, charity, yule logs, and festivals of food were associated with other cultural celebrations: Roman Saturnalia, Roman New Year, birth of the unconquered sun celebration, birthday of Mithras – a Persian deity.  However, in the book of Acts the Apostle Paul travels to Athens.  He tells the community there that the worship they are directing towards gods of stone and metal that do not talk nor exist should be directed toward the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that did exist and created all things.  In the same way, the early church redeemed the traditions mentioned above and informed the community at that time to direct their worship, via those traditions, away from Roman and Persian gods that did not exist towards a God that did exist and appeared before humanity as Jesus Christ.

If we forget why we are celebrating and what we are celebrating then the Grinch has succeeded in stealing our Christmas.

Thanks for More Than Just Giving

A few years back I can remember losing my job along with so many others in the dot.com crash.  I was sitting in a coffee shop with a good friend who kept reminding me of how faithful God was and how with all my talk about trusting God I knew I could trust God to see me through this.  At that time I can remember thinking and saying “Dude, shut up! I don’t need to hear that right now…I need to find a job and pay mortgage, and keep my car from getting repo’d.” Yea, I was the epitome of hypocrisy.

Although my car did end up getting repo’d God did see me through that time.  A while later I sat with that same friend after he lost his job reminding him of our conversation and letting him know the same God that saw me through would see him through as well.

So believe me, I mean it with all my heart with every fiber of my being that I am truly thankful for a God that loves me despite the pain, rejection, and anguish I have given Him. I’m thankful that He doesn’t remember all my sins but removes them.  I’m thankful that He doesn’t just stay with me through the storm but once I’m out reminds me that I can be with others when they are going through a stormy time.

It may sound like just a cheesy churchy saying but I am truly thankful for more than I can list.  Feel free to share what you are thankful for in the comments and share what you are thankful for with your friends and family and the people you do life with everyday.

What I Should Have Said…

Have you ever had one of those conversations where you look back and think it would have been so cool if I would have responded with…?  I remember one, and I wish it went something like…

Person: So how big is your church?

Me: Huge, thousands upon thousands; ten thousand times ten thousand.

Person: Which denomination is it?

Me: It’s not really a denomination.  It was started as a movement to reveal God to the world and it’s still going.

Person: Oh, is it one of those new age religions by one of those new popular guys who wrote a best selling book?

Me: No, it’s had the same leader since it started, and He wrote THE best selling book of all time.

Person: Really? How long has it been around?

Me: Pretty long, about two thousand years.

Person: Seriously? So what time do you guys meet on Sundays?

Me: We don’t just meet on Sundays.  We meet every day in homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, communities, gyms, in public and in hiding in places all over the globe.  We meet anywhere and everywhere that we can share and show the love of Jesus Christ through our lives, our joys, our troubles and our tragedies.  We celebrate God every day in every way.

Person: Really? So what’s it called?

Me: The Church.

Not the traditional church, not the contemporary church, not the liberal church, not the conservative church, not the black church, the white church, the Asian or Hispanic church, not the missional church, not the Gen-X church, not the post-modern church, not the evangelical church, not the pre-trib, mid-trib, or post trib church, not the Calvinism or Arminianism church, not the multi-site church, not the mega church.

Just simply the Church…God started it and it’s still going!

This Will Scare You!

These days many people are engaging in heated conversations regarding two specific topics: first, elections (which includes but is not limited to the state of the nation, jobs, healthcare, going green, etc…) and second, should Christians engage in Halloween activities (my blog, my thoughts).  I’ll leave the political conversations for another blog.

I have no intention of answering this question; in fact I hope I raise more questions such as – if as a Christ follower you do or do not participate in Halloween activities is it because:

-Of your understanding of what Halloween used to represent?

-Of your understanding of what Halloween does represent?

-Of what your church, or pastor, or culture has communicated to you about what you should do?

-of what God has communicated to you about what you should do?

Unknown-Known Books of the Bible

It amazes me that usually whenever someone finds out what I do for a living they immediately bring up their favorite Bible verse or favorite book of the Bible.  What is more amazing is that sometimes they reference verses or books of the Bible that don’t even exist.  So, in typical Big-Phat fashion, I compiled a list of some unknown-known books of the Bible; you know, those books that people know are in the Bible but are not known as being in the Bible:

1.  The Book of 2^nd Opinions – This is the book that everyone references when giving their opinion, backed By God of course, to show how they are right.

1. The Book of Faults – This is the book people are referring to when they quote the Bible to show you how it is all your fault.

1. The Cook Book – This is the book in the Bible people reference when trying to prove the Bible is all about a vengeful mean God who wants nothing more than to destroy everyone and have them burn forever.

1. The Handy Book – This is what the Bible is referred to as when used solely to set drinks on and to hold up knick knacks around the house.

1. The Good Book – No one is 100% sure when people began referring to the Bible as the Good Book, but everyone is pretty sure that at one time in this country the stuff in the Bible was considered good by most.

There’s No Place Like Home

There are many times in my reading of the Bible that I come to those dreaded passages with long lists of names.  Those lists are scattered throughout Genesis and especially the book of 1^st Chronicles as well as in other places.  It took a while before I realized that those lists are there because the writers wanted the readers to know how important those people were.  In the 2^nd book written by Samuel there is a list of what the author calls the mighty men.  These are the men that the author wanted the reader to take special note of, including why they are listed.  Their exploits are listed right along with their names.  I wonder if these men deserved recognition because they were the ones responsible for defending the homeland of the people of Israel.

This upcoming 9/11 weekend will bring about very difficult and painful memories across our nation.  In churches and houses of worship, in community centers, government and civic ceremonies around our country we will be mourning again, the loss of thousands of lives.  But let’s not just focus on the tragic events of that day.  Let us also pay honor to the brave men and women who didn’t just lose their lives, but willingly sacrificed them to help save others.  Let’s also pay respect to all those who continue to protect and guard our way of life so that we can stay safe at home.  Let’s write their names and their exploits on our hearts for eternity.

No political speeches or rallies this weekend to point out what went wrong or what could have been done; let’s just come together as a nation and be there to honor the memories and to support the families of those who were there for us.

More What If…

These are more of those What If type of questions that just pop into my head from time to time (and yes, I know they probably pop into yours as well).  As I read more and more (mostly comic books and not at all ashamed) and watch our culture become more and more engrossed in TV I am noticing and picking up on more of the catch phrases that are defining our culture.  You know, like years ago Arnold had a hit with “I’ll be bach” (spelled how it sounds).  He later tried to recreate it with “hasta la vista baby” which didn’t do so well.  Being a pastor I kind of wonder how would God respond to some of these catch phrases?

Gordon Ramsey: Shut it down!      

God: I will, soon.

 

Paris Hilton: That’s Hot!

God: You have no idea.

 

The Borg: Resistance is futile!

God: Ditto!

 

Regis Philbin: Is that your final answer?

God: Yep, I’ve given you a lifeline.

 

Reality TV Show Competitions: You are safe!

God: Guess again!

 

Tony Stark: I am Iron Man

God: Yea, but you’re no Batman!