Preference vs. Reverence

I think one of the greatest challenges that the local church faces today is getting over herself. Maybe I shouldn’t say “today” because the church seems to have had this difficulty ever since it formalized (i.e. became an institution) which was a long time ago.
Problems inside the church have been a continual distraction for her.

I can remember when my church was going through a large building program. There was a group of people appointed called “The Decorating Committee.” You wouldn’t believe what they went through – trying to get along while they tried to choose carpeting – all while people less than five miles down the road didn’t have enough to eat.

I think worship wars are another great example. Even though I refuse to call that hour when we gather to celebrate Christ “worship” (we can talk about that later), the problems that occur when you change a person’s Sunday morning service are amazing.

We must be careful that we do not confuse preference with reverence. I vividly remember a Christmas Eve about 5 years ago when the teens participated in our services, and they did a little something unusual. I loved it – probably because all I could see was young people giving their whole selves to the work of the church – but OH the flack I got after that night. One woman in particular called what they did “irreverent” for Christmas Eve.

That woman may not have liked what she saw, but irreverent is a stretch. If you explore worship throughout history – and I mean BIBLICAL examples of how people celebrated God – you may be amazed. The very first “worship” experience in Scripture was led by a woman and involved DANCING and TAMBOURINES. Now you may have stood by the side of the recently parted Red Sea shaking your head disapprovingly if you had been there, but your personal preference doesn’t mean that God didn’t like the noise.

There are biblical references to drama and music and dancing and prayer and eating and a wide variety of instruments – all included in the gathering of believers. And, as much as I love the organ, there is not one single verse that insists every church have one and use it at all times. The exact same is true for guitars.

No touching

My cousin forwarded this ESPN story to me, and I read it with amazement. Basically, a softball coach did a really small, but perfectly legal, thing. You should read it so that I can make my far out and leaping analogy to the church. Go ahead – read it – then come back.

The point is too clear to pick it apart any further, right? This article perfectly explains my phrase, "I'd rather be righteous than right." Perhaps we, the church, should consider a little rule breaking ourselves?

Most Wanted

On Saturday morning, I got up at 5:15 am to start the laundry. Here’s the thing – the day before I had asked my kids to clean up their rooms, which led to a mile high pile of both clean and dirty clothes in the hamper. Naturally, the clean was not discernable from the dirty (the one winter coat in the middle of June was a dead giveaway) so I decided to just wash it all.

I sat down to fold, and turned on the TV. Since I don’t like my kids to watch some of the stuff I watch, (begs the question: why am I watching things I wouldn’t want my children to see?) I often DVR more grown up shows. One such show is Without A Trace, an FBI drama where people seem to vanish into thin air and become missing persons.

I had 5 episodes saved, and I started with the earliest while I loaded and folded.

After 4 straight episodes, I remembered that I didn’t have any breakfast food in the fridge but I had a bunch of kids sleeping over with mine in the family room. I headed to the supermarket.

In the parking lot, I experienced the craziest paranoia. I viewed other shoppers cautiously, the cart collector guy took on a suspicious hue, and the sight of one particular late model leisure van had me convinced I was about to be abducted. In other words, after filling my head with danger and fear, it was what I experienced – even in a perfectly familiar situation and place.

After laughing at myself, I considered how true it is that what we spend our time doing, the people we choose to hear, and the places we regularly visit have a profound effect on who we become. Basically, we are what we eat.

Ah, but here’s the rub. I think that sometimes Christians think that God asked us to all huddle together in a church in an effort to stay safe – or at least near the stuff that is good. If I spend all my time here, then I will not be affected by less than desirable influences, right?

A great exercise is to ask yourself to name the top 10 people you hang around with. Are they all associated with the church? You may think you are in a perfectly familiar situation and place – but I sense danger.

If the church huddles indoors, the hands and feet of God will not go where they are needed and the gospel will be left without a trace. Christians become missing persons and I don’t think that is what Jesus most wanted.

Inside Out

I’m sure, if you live in the north or east, that you struggle with the same seasonal issues I do. I was off on Monday, and there was so much work to do OUTSIDE my home that I never accomplished anything INSIDE. Sometimes it’s the opposite and we have clean underwear but the tomatoes are being choked by weeds in the garden.

This inside vs. outside battle is one I struggled with in the church as well. There are certainly different opinions about which needs greater attention – the people of your parish or the people in the community around it? Many times I think that pastors opt for the inside life because it means less complaining in their ears (congregants get pretty upset when their needs aren’t met whereas unbelieving people in the community just die without God – a no brainer right?)

Ah, but here’s the real problem. When people mature INSIDE it should be an involuntary response of their spiritual lives to care for others OUTSIDE. We shouldn’t be able to help it. And, frankly, as we grow up we should complain less too.

I would even take it one step further. I do not believe that real community can be formed inside if we aren’t serving the world together outside. I think most churches form community using strategies – you know, form once-a-week small groups based on age or interest, give them a set of questions to answer and – VIOLA! Community is formed.

Hmmmm.

If I read the New Testament correctly, both the disciples in the Gospels and the early church spent much of their time SERVING others. Yeah, they hung around too, but they had a unity of purpose based on their compulsion to be agents of healing in their world. Out of these choices a community was formed that was so intimate and so tight that even when put to death for their faith, not one person ever recounted the reality of Jesus, His death and resurrection - what they had experienced together. And their commitment to being outside wasn’t a biannual service day when everybody wore matching T-shirts and stacked shelves at a food pantry, it was the primary concern of their lives and gathering.

I don’t know. I know how complex it is. After all, we need clean underwear, right?

Attached for growth

Noah finally got his latest cast off yesterday. He was pretty excited because he knew it meant that his baseball season would resume.

Unfortunately, the news wasn’t so good. Noah’s growth plate in his right elbow has prematurely attached itself to the bone, which can apparently cause one of two things to happen: hyper-growth or stunted growth. We are headed to a specialist, but Noah’s still pleased that he can play in the meantime.

The whole thing has made me consider this idea: is it true that whatever we attach ourselves to affects our growth? I can remember my parents telling me when I was young to choose my close friends carefully because I would become like the people I spent most of my time with. When you’re young, I think this is true.

It is still true in some senses. There are certain environments and relationships that can cause us to hyper-grow – places and people who push us and love us into becoming all that God intended. And there are some spaces that stunt our growth.

But here’s the bigger question. Let’s assume the church is a hyper-growth place (which, I do realize, is up for debate). How do we avoid living “in the church?” I suspect that since we think it’s an environment that is safe and positive and healthy we tend to hang out there.

Not what Jesus did.

Churches that are program heavy, that try to be all things to all people (offering multiple sports leagues and full-service opportunities) are actually growth stunting environments, in my opinion. Not only are all these programs taking place inside the church, they require massive amounts of volunteers – who are now hanging out in the church.

Jesus is in the streets. He was 2,000 years ago, and I believe He still is today. Is it possible that we’re wrong about growth environments? What does "in the world but not of the world" ultimately mean?

Reevaluating my attachments.

A must read

Have a look at this article. Come back after and comment. Or not.

The Walker

There is a little boy who goes to my kids’ school that I can't wait to see every day. He is a walker, which simply means that he walks down the street to get to school instead of riding a bus. I would guess he is in kindergarten, first grade at the most, and he is a TRIP.

I can hear him singing at the top of his lungs as he walks, and some days I see him having full conversations with an imaginary companion. He never seems concerned if he is late for school, he just strolls along enjoying the sights. He is also easily distracted, I have watched him sit right down on the sidewalk to open his lunchbox, seeming to inspect its contents long before lunch time. Just last week, as a teacher stood outside before the bell rang urging him to hurry, it was if he hadn’t a care in the world and continued at his leisurely pace.

I really like this kid. I don’t know his name, but there is something attractive about his refusal to comply. Every time I see him, I am reminded of all the social rules and cultural norms that I submit to. Some are just silly, some work against my nature, yet I would rather offend myself than others.

Sometimes I think people assume there is a Christian template – especially Christian people. We believe that following a set of rules or guidelines for living are what define the Christian life, when really CHRIST defines the Christian life. You know – the Guy who opened a young boy’s lunch box and fed 5,000 people with its contents.

Jesus often went against the grain of His culture – both doing and saying the unexpected and unpopular. How amusing is it that the subculture that claims His name requires more conformity than most others?

Jump out of the Cash Cab

If you are a fan of Discovery Channel, you are probably a fan of Cash Cab – the game show that takes place in a New York City cab. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend it at least once. The premise is basically this:

Unsuspecting folks jump into a NYC cab and tell the cabbie where they are headed. After he pulls away from the curb, interior lights begin flashing and the cabbie (Ben Bailey – who is GREAT) informs his passengers that they are, in fact, in the Cash Cab. They are offered a series of questions worth varying amounts of money until they reach their destination, when they are given a final chance to go double or nothing. HOWEVER, if during the ride they accumulate three strikes, they are immediately asked to leave the cab no matter how far from their destination they may be.

Real people are always the best, aren’t they? And real people who have a chance to win real money are even better! We are really willing to do anything, as long as there is the promise of profit for our efforts.

I was talking with a great guy at my sons’ basketball game. I almost never bring up the church in casual basketball conversations, but people often bring it up with me. He started to express his distress with the church and tell me the reasons why he no longer attends. His was a story I had heard before, and it had to do with cash. His premise was basically this:

Unsuspecting man goes into a church hoping that someone will help him get where he is headed. After the first hymn is sung, he senses that something altogether different is going on and that the congregants are there, in fact, to empty their wallets. They are offered a series of reasons why they are to part with their cash, with the most significant being that the end of their journey may come unexpectedly and they may not be given the chance to go double or nothing. Giving also prevents the accumulation of strikes, and refusal results in your immediate exit from the pew.

Lots of people struggle with the amount of money it takes to keep the church going and feel that some of the teachings about tithing and stewardship smell of manipulation instead of truth. I suspect that is often true and I do believe that, in some instances, the church has gotten in over its head financially because it has tried to be a full-service business. Desperation leads to exploitation of biblical principles.

But there is a deeper issue, I think. Why do we feel like the church should be like Cash Cab? We are so entrenched in consumerism that we have grown to believe that when we give we should get and so we think that our money should result in programs and opportunities that serve our needs – or worse yet – our wants. We are willing to do anything, as long as there is the promise of profit for our efforts.

I suspect we need to step back and recognize the ugly cycle. Congregants are consumers that the church tries to pacify and/or attract by spending money to build bigger and better churches. Churches entertain and overload, which all costs money, to appeal to people who want what they want but don’t want to pay for it. Then one church in town goes double or nothing – builds an indoor play land or something – and we all leave empty.

Stop the cab. Somebody needs to have the courage to get out, because we are so far from our real destination.

WorldWalk Peacetour

I found this blog today. It follows the journey of 2 brothers, Ferenc and István Ivanics, who have decided to take 6 years to walk around the entire world in the name of peace (they are currently in Spain). They walk 15-25 miles every day, work any odds jobs they can find for cash, meet people and eat native foods. Here is an older post about their first showers and haircuts in months - and, yes, the only place that would assist them for free was a CHURCH!

I love when we get it right.

I'll take a stab at it

My dear cousin in Canada sent me a link to this Associated Press article yesterday. I’m not sure if this is legal, but since it is short, I am reprinting it below. Feel free to go to msnbc.com and read it for yourself too.

Police: Dad stabs son for wearing hat in church
Son stabbed in buttock after dispute; arrest pending for 58-year-old father

BALTIMORE - A 58-year-old man stabbed his teenage son after he refused to take off his hat at church earlier in the day, police said.

The father and his 19-year-old son got into an argument on Sunday afternoon, police said. That's when police said the father went to a car, got a knife and stabbed his son in the left buttock and fled.

The son was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center for treatment. The father's name was withheld pending his arrest.

I used to talk about the 90 Day Probationary Period that churches seem to have. We love when “sinners” come through the door, but said sinners have about 90 days in the shadow of our steeples to shape up. When they refuse (i.e. ask hard questions, have a differing perspective or struggle with problems) the phrases used go something like, “He just doesn’t want to help himself, so we can’t help him” or “She is becoming a distraction to the rest of the church family” or “Is the church supposed to tolerate sin? I don’t think so!”

Here’s the thing. I wonder if we sometimes classify behaviors or questions that make us uncomfortable as “sin.” Admit it - we have a serious subculture going on in the church – complete with our own language, tribal gear and hierarchy (and boy can we define 'reverence'). We expect people to fit in to our schema, and the sooner the better. Please use our phrases, please be pleasant in the narthex and don’t ever, ever wear a hat in the sanctuary. God would not be pleased.

One Sunday a couple of years ago, the youth band at our church got up to lead worship in their bare feet. Afterward, I almost lost my mind as people logged their criticisms instead of rejoicing at the number of young people serving and participating.

Traditions and preferences are important, but not when they thwart the true mission of the church. And certainly not if they cause you to stab your offspring.

And justice for all

Did you happen to read this story on Monday about the three Chinese students who died in Ohio? Take a second to read it, and come on back. Be sure to read it in its entirety.

I was absolutely heart broken when I first read the details of this tragedy. Then I clicked here to see the images of the jurors hugging the students’ parents and I thought I would need another box of tissues. How does something like this happen? How is it, that years later, this suffering has not been eased?

Where is the Church? These are the very kinds of moments and spaces and places that we are called to enter, and this article should be liitered with references to Christians and churches offering aid. But perhaps we are currently too busy being upset about the references to gays and lesbians during the Oscar telecast.

Hear me out, even though I will undoubtedly upset some of you. What does God’s justice constitute? Yes, God’s Word is true. No, it does not return to Him void, but what does it really mean to defend it?

Quoting Scripture against sin amounts to nothing, if we aren’t living it against heartache. Is there any chance that God's justice is better realized by collectively assuming the debt of 6 Chinese mourners rather than being collectively disgusted with Sean Penn?

Yee-haw! See ya at church, partner.

My cousin, Wayne, sent me this link. I was open-minded until I realized I'd be baptized in a horse trough.

The truth is in the middle

When I was younger, still in school, I can remember that there was a difference between Catholic and Christian. If you asked someone if they were a Christian, he/she would say, “No, I’m Catholic.” I always found this intriguing, because I never said, “I’m a Protestant” unless I was asked if I was Catholic. It’s sort of funny now.

I never practiced Catholicism, but I have beautiful friends who do. At different times, when I have been to a Catholic mass, I have loved the liturgy and language and ritual. I marvel when my friends who grew up Catholic say that they hated it as a kid, and yet I can feel a little cynical about my Protestant sub-culture at times too.

I had the most interesting conversation with a Catholic friend last week. She was explaining how she understood her faith as a kid. She said:

“I kind of thought that if I did something bad, I could go into confession, get it all off my chest, and then leave and do what I wanted. There was always another chance to confess, so that made living pretty easy.”

I was the opposite. My juvenile understanding was that if I told a white lie, and then got hit by a bus, I was headed to hell.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that both misconceptions included that our faith was based on what we did? One of us thought that what she did didn’t matter, and one of us thought that what she did was all that mattered.

I used to have a professor in college who loved to say, “The truth is in the middle, Wendy” because I tended toward extremes. I think he may be right this time.

It says in Ephesians 2, “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

What the Apostle Paul is essentially telling us is that good works are not the means of our salvation, but the necessary evidence of it. Thus, besides Christ, Christians (Catholics and Protestants) should be the best thing that ever happened to this world. Not only should we be the most gracious people – when you consider the grace that has been lavished on us (salvation) how could we be otherwise? - but we should be the greatest force for good on earth, because we are quite literally the proof of Him and what He can do. We should be right smack dab in the middle of it all, being and doing good.

Marching Orders

We live in a town that still has an annual parade. Of course, in Center City, you can experience the Thanksgiving Day Parade (it’s probably on your TV if you live elsewhere) and there are the infamous Mummers on New Year’s Day. But in our suburb, the Saturday before Thanksgiving is reserved for the Mardi Gras Parade.

I have attended said parade for over a decade. I NEVER went to it growing up, I don’t even think I knew it existed. My parents weren’t really into community activities and I never played in the marching band or anything. My husband, however, views it as a staple, and ever since Noah could withstand the cold, we have been sitting on the curb watching our parade go by.

It was particularly cold on Saturday. I had already stood in the freezing temperatures for 2 hours Saturday morning while I watched my boys play their final football game of the season. The thought of standing outside for 2 more hours watching Cub Scout troops go by, was not my first choice for the rest of my day.

I have noticed in recent years that local churches have been purchasing parade spots. In between the fire trucks and the high school Homecoming Queen, the Jr. High marching bands and the local meat packing plant, churches are advertising their wares on floats. This year, I counted NINE churches with floats, most of which had colorful homemade poster board signs saying things like “Keep Christ in Christmas” or “Jesus is the Reason for the Season.” One church had an absolutely awful choir signing on top, and one even had a “mobile band” that was so out of tune I felt embarrassed for them. They all had willing congregants wearing their fake beards and bathrobes to represent the manger scene, but they left the summer sandals at home because frost-bite was a real possibility this year.

While these floats went by, other church members walked along side handing out flyers to the crowd with service times and website addresses printed on them. Apparently, this was an evangelical emphasis, and if I am truthful, most of them (if not all) did not present anything that I would be eager to explore or attend.

I stood there thinking about the church and its “advertising.” The old me would have said something like, “If you’re not going to do it with excellence, please don’t do it.” I used to think that the church needed to be better than the rest of the world in its output – video production, worship bands, drama, floats – and if we couldn’t do a decent job of it, we were leaving a lasting impression of ineptness (and heaven knows what that said about God, too).

Now, please don’t hear me incorrectly, I still don’t think that cheesy floats in a parade are a good idea, because let’s be honest, those church folks did it for themselves – they needed to feel like they were “doing outreach.” But no one’s life was changed on Saturday.

The current me sees it all differently. Even though I used to be, perhaps, one of the more capable at helping the church excel, I now understand that none of that means squat. I no longer can swallow the idea that the church should have big buildings or great campuses or smokin' bands and exciting Christmas programs.

Not that those things are wrong, they’re not - but they are distracting, and we are too easily distracted. Honestly, all the enemy of God has to do is distract Christians – get us believing that singing in the choir is serving the Lord or buying a new sound system will impact the world. It is not true, but we spend an awful lot of time and energy on these things, becoming preoccupied with activities that do not even remotely mirror what Jesus was preoccupied with. We are distracted, and unlike the parade bands, we have forgotten our true marching orders, Sure, we program compassion once a month, but the truth is, if we sing more than feed people, we have missed the mission of Christ.

Go love a sick person today without telling anyone. It may not be great advertising, but I suspect Jesus can handle all the marketing He requires.

T, T & T

We have “twin churches” in our town. It is not difficult to discover how they got the nickname, because they appear to be identical in every way, except that they face one another from opposite sides of the same road and they are affiliated with differing denominations.

One of them has a nifty little sign out front with a thought-provoking saying that changes weekly. Today, as I drove past, I read a phrase I have seen many times before. It said, “We give our time, talent and treasure to God.”

Last time I saw this particular phrase, it was in a handbook outlining and encouraging church volunteerism and stewardship. For those of you who are not savvy in institutional realities, the church needs a lot of help to maintain its overhead – which, of course, begs the question, “How does God feel about the church’s overhead?”

It’s kind of crazy, but when I have questions like this, I turn to the Handbook of God to see if I can achieve some clarity. Here’s what I know so far:

When I feed someone, I have given my time to God.

When I write an article that raises awareness about the plight of abused prisoners, I have given my talent to God.

When I buy a needy child a winter coat, I have given my treasure to God.

I’m still not sure about air conditioning bills and narthex wallpaper.

But I’ll keep looking.

A little eschatology is good for the sole

"I love the sea, so beautiful, so mysterious...so full of fish."

Kevin Kline as Luc in French Kiss

"Well, I don't really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end because what does the end feel like? It's like saying when you try to extrapolate the end of the universe, you say, if the universe is indeed infinite, then how - what does that mean? How far is all the way, and then if it stops, what's stopping it, and what's behind what's stopping it? So, what's the end, you know, is my question to you."

Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins in This is Spinal Tap

A reasonable amount of time

I started a part-time job recently. To say that the job forces me to work outside of my gift group is an understatement. A good friend of mine owns a business. The employee who performed these tasks before me recently discovered that she has a malignant brain tumor, so I am filling in to help my friend. The woman is receiving treatment with the intent to return to work.

Being new and stupid has its advantages. The way I see it, I have a reasonable amount of time - about a 6 week window - where my mistakes are easily blamed on a learning curve. After that, it’s pretty much incompetence. The job is full of attention to detail, focused tasks and organizational requirements. You’re smiling right now, aren’t you?

As of this writing, I have not made any huge accounting errors or a mistake that cannot be fixed, but I have laughed at myself a time or two as I have slipped off into a daydream in the middle of a task that requires my complete attention. I just go back to the beginning and start again.
Today, as I sat at the desk and thanked God that the company had been audited before my arrival, I was once again reminded of the grace extended to me.

I have been concerned about the polarity of Christian opinion this election season, and admittedly, there are fellow Christians that I strongly disagree with. “A country divided” is a phrase that I have heard many times in recent years, with red and blue states becoming almost prideful about their leanings. But a Church divided? I do not remember a time in contemporary history when Christ’s Church has had more fundamental differences of opinion, and even though I believe that many of these opinions are righteous and honorable, I cannot help but wonder if the disagreement overshadows their virtue altogether.

God then reminds me of the reasonable amount of time that He extends to us all. I have often been thankful for the chance to make mistakes and start again. I must offer the same learning curve grace to my fellow believers – all while allowing their ideology to test my own faulty thinking. I honestly believe it is a Spirit-led process.

But at the end of the day, particularly this Election Day, I think it might be prudent to lovingly ask each other, “When does our collective stupidity become incompetence?” Because, in less than 24 hours, there will be no more candidates or campaigns or pollsters to blame.

Cement and adhesives

I had an email conversation with a friend yesterday. We were not sitting in the same room, I could not hear his voice inflections and I have no idea what his facial expressions were, but I had the most amazing sense of knowing the essence that is him. We used to be together a lot and he and his wife are dear to me. Even though we are no longer in each other’s space frequently, I realized that when God cements people together it is so real and so strong and so permanent.

There have only been a couple of times when I was a part of what I believe to be real community. You know, the kind where your guard is always down, where ideas are respected and heard, where help is a cry away. It's also probably interesting to note that I have been a part of the church my whole life.

I started wondering why it is so hard to really connect within the church. I mean, we have all kinds of small group and fellowship programs established, so it’s not lack of opportunity. There are certainly plenty of casseroles if someone has a baby or an illness, and sympathy cards aplenty if your loved one dies. Lots and lots of study guides. And for some, I suspect that they can label these behaviors “community” and feel like that’s enough.

Not me. I want the real deal, the kind where you can really screw up and be loved anyway, the kind where one can truly rejoice when another succeeds, and the kind full of relationships that persist in the face of defense mechanisms and differences of opinion.

The church has yet to transform itself into a culture where truth telling is honored and understood. We still operate with a 90 day probationary period, so if you’re new, we’ll tolerate anti-church behavior, clothing and thinking for about three months, but we are expecting compliance within that time period. And, with its continued coasting away from the Gospel, the church has lost its bonding agent, the unifying idea worth working toward together. Building programs can only substitute so long.

Those precious days, when I knew I belonged, were based on the fundamentals: truth-telling, an idea bigger than ourselves, and love that evened out the uneven parts of each other. I think we may have been entering the Kingdom together, step by step and push by push, in it together as if we were super glued.

Country first?

Yes, I have been thinking about Republican nominee for VP Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol. Remember, years ago, when young unmarried women got pregnant and were sent to a convent in secret to avoid embarrassment? Not a good solution, but dear Bristol Palin is caught in the opposite of convent containment. Can you even imagine how this 17 year-old feels this week as news agencies and bloggers and politicians discuss what must be the most difficult, stressful and potentially shaming moment of her life thus far?

Imagine.

Bristol, you can come live with me. You are not campaign fodder. You are not a living example of pro-life values. You are not needed to prove anyone’s commitment to family values. I’m sorry this is happening, and I’m sorry that ideology and ambition and country have come first. Regardless of what others tell you, Jesus really isn’t interested in most of the other stuff. He’s interested in you.

I mentioned last week that my perspective on Christians in politics is going through a transformation. I have always thought that “Christian” is a verb, but I’m getting even more worked up lately. I want to ask every Christian who has made commentary on candidates or parties or ideologies to tell me what they did last week. Really, what did you do last week? If you did not feed a hungry person (and I don’t mean write a check) or care for a widow or befriend the fatherless or visit the sick and imprisoned or help another person heal, frankly, I am not interested in your rhetoric about family values or your ponderings about smaller vs. larger government or your answers for social justice. Jesus was full of ideals, but He was also a Man of touching and doing. He didn’t see Himself as the leader or the communicator who simply taught others the principles so they could live it out, He lived it too. He clearly understood “grass roots movement” and wasn’t above trudging through the dirt to sow the grass seed.

The church is too big for her britches. We need to humble ourselves and withdraw from the political conversation until we do what Jesus has asked us to do. Period. A vast number of the issues facing America (and the world), many of which are being discussed at political conventions and used to support both candidate platforms, would not even exist if the church was not swollen to impotence with a morality that somehow excuses inactivity.

I am not endorsing either party or candidate. I've decided to shut up and put up before I dare head to any voting booth.

Labor Day

I have decided to get a job. I’m not exactly starving yet, but I need something to do instead of wait. I am assembling a list of possible employers/positions.

1. Starbucks (or any other trendy coffee shop). Pros: get to serve people, love whipped cream. Cons: love whipped cream.

2. School cafeteria. Pros: on the same schedule as the kids. Cons: Hairnet.

3. Receptionist. Pros: get to sit. Cons: have to sit.

4. Waitress. Pros: I have experience. Cons: that experience makes me not want to do it again.

5. Weatherman (person). Pros: will always know when I need to take an umbrella to work. Cons: not sure I could figure out the green screen thing.

6. Car salesman (person). Pros: I love that “new car” smell. Cons: I’m a terrible driver.

7. Olympic athlete. Pros: seems fun. Cons: four more years until I get paid.

8. President of the United States. Pros: I’m not afraid to make speeches. Cons: Don’t have any clothes with a lapel – do you think I could wear my flag pin on my flip flops?

9. Dog sitter. Pros: I like animals. Cons: often forget to feed my own dog.

10. Go back to church work. Pros: I'm crazy about God. Cons: I'm crazy about God.

Well, it’s not like I don’t have options, right?