Theology of the Hammer

This evening I went to the Dedication & Blessing of a Habitat for Humanity home. Our church was part of this Interfaith Build 2009 project. Lots of Christian churches as well as Baha’i Faith, 2 Jewish congregations, & the Islamic Center took part in building this home.

The spiritual differences of these faith communities were put aside and brought together under the “Theology of the Hammer” as a director from Habitat put it.

This was my first time to take part in a Habitat build & I am looking forward to being part of more. The new homeowner read a prepared thank you to the many people and groups that were a part of this. Her voice never wavered, but when she looked up, there were tears in her eyes.

God’s work comes in many varieties.

Thank you to all who were part of this.

Christmas & The Decade

If you have let Christmas “sneak up” on you, it’s right here. Ten days. Next week. Right around the corner. However you want to put it, it’s upon us. If you haven’t made plans for yourself, it’s very likely plans have been made for you. You might want to check on those. Either people are coming your way or you are heading toward other people.
We’ve gotten into a pretty consistent routine in our family. Not that each year is the same as the last. I guess it’s really less routine, actually more like traditions. From the way we put up the decorations at home, to which days we spend at which family. I like all that. Christmas lights in yards, Christmas music on the radio, Christmas concerts and pageants. Food, snacks and treats that we could make all the time, but only seem right at Christmas.
My hope is that this Christmas season brings you the best that you, your family, and your friends have to offer each other. When that happens it’s easy to extend some extra care and giving to those who we aren’t quite connected to as well.
We’re also close to wrapping up the first decade of this century. That gives me a bit more pause than usual for the end of a year. Not that a ten year period of time in which the first three digits are the same are really more special than any other ten consecutive years. But people tend to categorize things, so there we are.
This decade took me from my early 30’s to over 40. From the father of one teen to “kids” that are now both in their 20’s and launching their adult lives. From a self-employed business owner with plans of wealth and fortune to a youth minister in which monetary income has become almost an afterthought. From a college drop out to plans for graduate school. From someone new to the reality of true faith to making faith a fundamental aspect of how I order my life. This has been an interesting and transformative decade for me. My priorities have changed over these years and I’ve clarified many values that lacked definition. Those priorities and values have become a driving force to the authenticity of my faith and the way I approach it.
So enjoy everyone in your life, give them all your best, and help them to be their best as well. Jesus appeared and shared that very outlook when came to us. The world will never be the same because of him, and it will never be the same because of you. Take this season of celebration and this time of transition to carve out the direction you want for your life and for those entrusted to your care. God has provided us with gifts beyond our worth. Love is the reason for it all. Accept it and share it.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Christmas Giving

Every family goes through some adjustments as they grow in size and Christmas can highlight those differences in unique ways. My older and younger sisters are ten years apart. My daughter, a niece, and a nephew are each ten years apart from them and each other. So we’ve always had at least one young child at my parents’ house that seemed to help keep the Christmas spirit fun and playful. As our family grew in size we started getting more deliberate about who we bought presents for and we’ve tried some different exchanges. Generally we all give presents to the kids and then worked out some sort of list for us and our spouses. We tried out some different things; some smooth, some not so smooth. One year the talk about spending limits and the ease of gift cards made me think it would just be easier to all show up with a handful of cash, stand in a circle, hand the cash to the person at our left and call it done. That helped bring us back to a more personal exchange.
My Dad’s answer to inquiries about what he wants are assurances that he doesn’t need anything. I think that’s a pretty accurate assessment for most of us. I’ve determined that I could probably never buy another article of clothing and be OK, but some of my family are a bit more fashion conscious. So I can pretty much count on a new shirt or two most years. We’ve started making donations as gifts for some. Not necessarily to charities that we are personally connected to, but something of interest to the person for whom we make the donation. That creates the sense of personal connection to go along with the stewardship of giving in response to needs.
In honor of my grandmother, there are some in my extended family that are making donations to the nursing home that cared for her or getting gifts for residents we got to know while visiting her. What giving should be about is caring enough to put some extra effort to connect in some deeper way. If you ask a young child (or someone older who is pretty materialistic) about Christmas you may get a list of stuff that can be bought. If you ask someone who has lost a person they love, whether through death, disagreement, or just distance, you are likely to hear about shared memories and the importance of spending time together.
The birth of Jesus began a new era. God could have easily gifted us with overt power or plenty of possessions. What we were given instead, was the unlimited power of relationship. Jesus modeled and taught what an incredible difference that can make in each of our lives. If we will simply put the needs of others before our own, we all end up taking care of each other and no one gets left behind. There is more than enough stuff to go around. Time and caring enough to make an effort is what it takes to make sure we are all blessed. This is right season to make a difference.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Food and Faith

The youth group has been focusing on food quite a bit lately. To be fair there has almost always been plenty of food to go along with our activities. But we have taken up the whole process ourselves lately. Everything from planning, shopping, cooking, serving, and eating, to cleaning up. We have experimented with odd combinations like hot dogs and fried rice or pizza and macaroni and cheese. One of the favorites, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, has become a standard part of the program. And bananas. We always have bananas. And toast. Toast seems to go with everything, too.

We shop for deals. We take turns cooking. There are a blessed few that almost always wash dishes. Making our meals together has become an important part of sharing our lives together. We have a lot of fun conversations and can talk about whatever anyone wants or needs to talk about. A lot of good things happen over shared food.

We used to ask families to sign up for the Sunday evening snack supper, but fewer and fewer people seemed to be able to work it in to their schedules. That was frustrating to me, but then I realized I was just adding another big task to a family’s crowded schedule and endless to-do lists. I was close to sending out a guilt-laden letter about priorities, but that just never felt right. So I like that we’ve figured it out in a positive way. To be clear, there is always room for anyone that wants to host. So if cooking and serving is your thing, just let me know and we will find a date that works.

Jesus did a lot of ministry centered around food and gatherings of people. That’s certainly one of my favorite ways to continue his ministry and connect people to faith. Food nourishes and refreshes and satisfies in wonderful ways just like faith does. Putting the two together is a great way to go.

Be Blessed!
Michael

School of Fish?

“There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that tell us we must be committed to protecting the poor and the oppressed… There is no concern of Scripture that is addressed so often and so powerfully as reaching out to the poor” Tony Campolo

This doesn’t mean that we are called to just simply hand people stuff.
(though that very well may be what many particular situations call for)

I love the phrase:
“Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats forever.”

But do we actually do much teaching?

What I hear more often is something along the lines of “They just need to…” or “Why don’t they just…”

That’s not teaching, that’s judging and blaming.

Jesus said we will always have the poor with us. In my experience, they are not always the same group of people who are always in need, but rather particular people in a particular situation. For some of these, giving a fish may be all that is required. For those that find themselves repeatedly in need, the more involved response of teaching is required those of who will teach. Our calling is to help whoever is in need in whatever way we can. Our turn to be helped has either already happened or will happen. No one is an isolated success.

I don’t think we will ever eliminate all of the many, many circumstances by which people find themselves in need of help. But if we see similar circumstances occurring again and again, it is also part of our calling to address that.

You don’t have to give all your stuff away.
(though it would be very scriptural to do so)
What we at least need to consider is that helping someone IN need is also an opportunity to help someone OUT OF need.

Jesus, give us the courage to live it. Give us the courage.

Weekly Grind – Grandma

I got a generation older this week when my 102-year-old grandmother passed away. For as far back as I can remember, Grandma Martinek was a focal point for our family. She and my grandfather started a family that had grown to five generations and over 100 members, not even counting spouses. As her elderly niece phrased it to my mother and her siblings, “We’re the old people now.”
Faith, family, and friends are three words that could easily be used to describe my grandmother’s priorities, but would not tell the whole story.
Her faith was shown in many ways. She had pictures of Jesus in her home. Palms blessed on Palm Sunday stuck out from behind crosses on the wall. She drove herself to church for as long as she could. The gift of a family bible went to every new couple in our family on their wedding day. She supported those of us that moved into other denominations over the years, telling me, “It’s all the same, it’s all God’s church.”
What underlined her faith even more was the love she showed to family and friends. She vary rarely was without a smile on her face and she made everyone around her feel special. Holidays, weddings, birthdays, and even funerals were a chance to celebrate together. One of her gifts was baking. She didn’t just have a few good recopies that she kept to herself. Grandma made wedding cakes, kolaches, and strudels for generations of us fortunate enough to be connected to her. Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and festivals were better because of her. She instructed and taught others who continue the love and care that she put into her efforts.
I think she loved babies more than anything else in the world. She was always so happy to see and hold new additions to the family. My brother and his wife brought their month-old son and 4-year-old to see her the day before she died. She had not eaten for several days and had been spending most of her time asleep, but they said she got so excited that they thought she was going to hop right out of bed. Our last pictures of her are with bright eyes and big smile as she held this newest member of the family.
One of the phrases that stuck out to me at her funeral was when the priest said, “Forgive Annie for her sins. You know she had the best intentions.” I thought to myself, “If Grandma fell short, I don’t have a chance. We are lucky to have a God of such grace.” I hope to take that love that she showed me with her life. There are so many petty things that we let occupy our attention. Jesus told us that the two most important things are to Love God and to Love each other. Nothing past that really ends up mattering very much.
Thank you Grandma for showing such love and pointing us all toward our Lord. Thank you God for giving me so much love, and especially for putting so much of it in the farm girl and baker that was my grandma. You have both blessed me more than I deserve.

Be Blessed!
Michael

Test

Test, test.

Test

Test, test.

Really Follow, For Real

“The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” – Soren Kirkegaar

When Lanell gave the message this past Sunday, she told the very compelling story of seeing a need in her community, taking action, and changing not just the lives of those she served, but of changing herself. She explained that scripture very clearly defines what our priorities are supposed to be, but growing up in church didn’t always make that clear. As she explained, the Old Testament, the teachings and practices of Jesus Christ, and the writings of Paul all point us to serving the needs of the poor, the sick, and the needy.

The history of our congregation is that of growing to serve the growing city of Woodway. The city of Woodway prospers as part of the greater Waco community. As our congregation grew out of our original space, we committed a great deal of resources to our new location and building. As wonderful as this is, we are called to serve people and we cannot let other matters get in the way of that. Our short distance from our neighbors in need does not excuse us from that call.

Our church budget for next year is almost $850,000. Of that, less than $80,000 is spent on actual ministry and most of that is focused on our own congregation. The rest we spend on our building and related debt, salaries and related compensation. By comparison, Church Under the Bridge donates over half of its budget to the needy. I have read of another church that got rid of their new building designs, pledging to spend at least as much on serving others as themselves. They decided to built an outdoor amphitheater instead and are now better able to minister to their community. When the pastor was asked about possible discomfort for church-goers he replied, “Is what we are doing of so little value that we won’t put up with a little inconvenience?

Along with our big budget for next year, we will be starting a new way of dealing with our financial matters. If you have been a part of Financial Peace University that we have been offering for the last couple of years, you will be familiar with the process. It is a system designed to get us, our families and our congregation, past the burden of dealing with money and into a place where we can follow God’s call to ministry unencumbered.

This stuff, this Good News, that we claim to follow can be very freeing if we actually take it seriously. It is when we try to control and tame our God, when we undermine and shortcut the teachings and practices of Jesus Christ that we run into trouble. We are called. Give us the courage to follow. Give us the courage.

Be Blessed!

Michael

Not Excuses, Choices

Jesus came to show us a new way of living our lives that went way beyond simply following the law. He called us to a life that is different because it is based on love. Not excuses, not rationalizations, not disclaimers. We can’t put it on anyone else. We cannot let our personal desires, family, friends, job, politics, or nationality get in the way. These are our choices, plain and simple. And no one will answer for them except us. God, give us the courage to live this. Give us the courage.

Be Blessed!

Michael

Here’s Chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew that wraps up the Sermon on the Mount.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.