Palm Sunday is this week.  We remember the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the crowds waved their palm branches and shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Usually, on this beginning day of Holy Week, our kids with great excitement march through the sanctuary swinging their palm branches and we joyfully sing “Hosanna, Hosanna!!” Well, not everybody.

One year a young unnamed pastor’s kid was not thrilled to participate in the parade of palm branches.  He reluctantly dragged his palm branch behind him through the crowd. He didn’t quite exude the excitement of the original day.  There was a look of bewilderment on his face as he followed the lineup of kids with a “why-are-the adults-making-me-carry-this-dopey-palm-branch-throughout-the-sanctuary” look on his face while his palm branch followed in tow. Maybe it was too early in the morning to march through anything (I’ve been there).  Maybe he didn’t want to be a follower but wanted to lead the parade (I’ve felt that way).  Maybe it was just one of those days (we’ve all had them).  To all the parents who noticed him shuffling by dragging his branch, it was considered kind of cute as we could all relate to our kids and a time when they had a less-than-thrilled attitude about some activity.

Why remind you of that boy’s Palm Sunday Blues (by the way, the next year he was much more content to wave his palm branch and march through the sanctuary)?

I think a lot of us are kind of like that kid.  We shuffle through life with a bewildered stare. We don’t feel like singing or waving our branches.  We’d rather be left in a corner somewhere with a “Don’t Bother Me” sign around our neck.  Maybe we do what we are required to do but we have little joy and even less enthusiasm for the things of life.

Jesus has more for us than that. In fact, on the night that we call Maundy Thursday, Jesus told his followers gathered in the upper room: Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (John 16:24 underlining mine).  Jesus is the Ultimate Restorer of joy. He calls for us to ask for it and He freely gives it.

If the stuff of life has been robbing you of joy lately, ask in Jesus’ name for his glory to return! In other words, in faith, remind yourself of the Good News that Jesus has come and he will come again! These tough days won’t last forever. So don’t drag your palm branches through life, but lift them high and expectantly and faithfully let your soul rejoice: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

College Basketball’s March Madness begins today.  It seems that everyone in the country fills out a bracket and picks a team they believe will be the eventual winner.  Well, not everyone.  I was at a funeral this week for the parent of a parishioner and the pastor mentioned something about March Madness and filling out a bracket and the octogenarian lady in the pew in front of me, in a not-quite-a-whisper voice asked her husband, “What’s a bracket?”  I saw a non-sports loving person post the following on Facebook: “I don’t know anything about football, but I filled out my bracket.”

I saw that the odds of someone actually filling out a perfect bracket (picking every winner in all 63 basketball games during the three-week tournament) is 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to one.  To quote Lloyd Christmas (played by Jim Carey) in Dumb and Dumber, “So your telling me there’s a chance. Yeah!”

I filled out a bracket, but I have no hopes of winning.  One year, when Ben was about 4 years old, I had him pick the winners and losers in the tournament.  He picked teams based on bodily functions or body part sounding names.  His final four were:  Duke, Butler, Austin Peay and IUPUI (pronounce Ewey-Pooey). He did better than me.  Jimmy the Greek, I am not.  I have heard of people choosing teams based on the color of the uniforms (i.e. “I like blue better than green”) or team mascots (i.e. “Wolverines are cuter than Spartans, I’ll take them.”)  Generally, such methods are just as accurate as the picks from the so-called experts (underdogs frequently upset a higher seeded team, hence the reason for calling the tournament “March Madness.”). Picking winners is hard.

40 years of filling out a bracket has taught me this important lesson (not about basketball, I stink at that skill, but) about God: God does not pick us based on our ability to shoot a basketball, our name, background, clothing color or any other silly criteria. In fact, the Bible indicates that God has picked all of us to be winners.  Isaiah 43 has God’s words to Israel which we can claim as our own saying: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1).  Paul tells a group of Christians, “In him we were also chosen” (Ephesians 1:11) and Peter reminds us: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

God has chosen you and me not because we can shoot a basketball straight or not but simply because we are His children and he wants us to win in life (which is a tad more important than a basketball tournament). Peter put it this way:  God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).

No matter who you pick to win the basketball games (I chose Michigan to win it all, shocking I know), make sure you choose God. He’s on your side and has already picked you as a winner—that’s not madness it’s called Amazing Grace!

When inviting a friend to church on Easter Sunday DO NOT say any of the following:

1) “Easter is on April Fool’s Day this year.  That’s kind of your daily double, isn’t it?”

2) “Your big ears look like the Easter Bunny’s ears, you’re as fruity as a jelly bean and your cologne smells like deviled eggs– you were made for Easter Sunday.”

3) “Don’t make me say: “Christ is Risen, but my friend is still in bed.”

4) “Easter Sunday is also known as “bring-a-peep-to-church-Sunday.”

5) “Easter just happens to fall is on a Sunday this year, could you join me?”

6) “On Easter, we are having a Barabbas look-alike contest, I think you will have an excellent chance of winning! The winner gets released from the service early.”

7) “Instead of an Easter Egg Hunt, this year our fourth graders are Hunting-for-Heretics, so unless you want 14 snotty nosed Sunday School kids showing up at your place at 9AM, you might want to join me at church.”

8) “At our church, visitors get an Easter Basket filled with year old Sunday school papers, last week’s church bulletins and Good Friday Potluck leftovers.”

9) “Before entering the ministry, our preacher was a pyrotechnics director in Hollywood. He promises that his Easter sermon will have REAL Fire and Brimstone.”

10) “Everyone goes to church on Easter except goobers.  Don’t be a goober.”

Please DO NOT use any of the above invitations to Easter Services, but DO INVITE someone to church on Easter!  Start praying about who could join you on Easter Sunday!

 

Do you like puzzles?  Here’s a riddle:  I have a cousin who isn’t having a birthday this year. She didn’t have one last year and she won’t have one next year either. She will have one in two years although. Here’s a hint: while she is nearly eligible for social security, she can truthfully make the claim to still being a teenager since she has had only 15 birthdays.

Answer:  She was born on February 29 so her actual birth day only rolls around every four years. I’m not sure if she celebrates her big day today or if she blew out her candles yesterday.

While, I don’t have my cousin’s excuse, there may be days when I act like a teenager (so says Karla) but there are probably more days when I feel like I’m ready for the rocking chair. In either case, the truth remains I am closer to the grave than ever before.

Moses, who knew a thing or two about birthdays (on his last birthday he blew out 120 candles), wisely instructs us in Psalm 91: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 91:12). Moses understood whether born in a leap year or not, we are not guaranteed any birthdays. Our days are numbered and we aren’t the one who numbers them.

None of us are promised another year on planet earth.  As many of you know, our family has recently experienced grief (Karla’s dad passed away less than two months ago). Likewise, many in our church have freshly faced death’s menacing reality. Just this week, a classmate of some of our children passed away.  Our kids had prayed for this precious little girl last Sunday in Children’s Church and now that little one is in heaven; yesterday a pastor officiated the funeral of a 25 year old man; tomorrow our funeral committee (they are awesome servants by the way) is preparing a post-funeral meal for the family of a church member; and then on Saturday I will attend the funeral of mom and step dad of a lady from Central both of whom passed away within two weeks of one another and the family is having one funeral for both parents.  Death is a constant reminder that our lives on this old world are numbered, and we aren’t the ones who number them.

Added to these tragedies is the national grief we are experiencing in the wake of the latest school shooting.  Politicians will debate the best strategy moving forward, but all of us can agree that school shootings are a national disgrace. Our kids need to be safe and should be worrying about who to ask to prom not if there’s an active shooter is in their building.  By heart breaks for the students and grieving families in Parkland.

My intention isn’t to be Pastor Grim Reaper today, but simply to remind us that each of our numbered days is precious. Every day is a gift.  Hug your kids a little tighter and let go of grudges a little quicker.  Don’t take your days or your relationships for granted.  Use your days for God’s glory whether you are 14 or 84.

The next two Wednesdays I will be teaching a church membership class. We will talk about what our church believes and how we operate. I won’t teach the secret handshake (we don’t have one) or give out decoder rings to the Central Church pyramid scheme (umm… we don’t have those either).  Generally, at the start of the class I say something like, “I’m the least membership oriented pastor you will ever have.”  The reason for that admission is that one’s “Nazareneness” or lack thereof will not be a part of the entrance exam into heaven (there’s an entrance exam?).  St Peter (or whoever is the gatekeeper, actually I don’t think there is a gatekeeper) will not ask to see your Central Membership Card prior to entry (we don’t give out membership cards. We are a church not Costco).  You also won’t have to give your favorite Nazarene Potluck casserole recipe, name any of the general superintendents or tell how many Sunday afternoon Nazarene Naps you have taken.

Having written all of that, I still believe church membership matters.  Here’s why:

1)  Church Membership doesn’t say, “Yippee! I have finally found the perfect church.”  Central isn’t perfect. We have humans (including me) making decisions and we aren’t perfect (especially me).

2)  Church Membership doesn’t say, “We have everything figured out.”  We clearly don’t have everything figured out.  Every four years the Church of the Nazarene has a gathering where the elected delegates (I was one last summer in Indy) change our by-laws and re-work them.  Some stuff gets taken out and other stuff is added.  The Manual of the Church of the Nazarene is a working, changing document.  All this to say, we don’t think we have a corner on the truth.

3)  Church membership says, “These are my people.”  We can’t pick our biological family, you are stuck with them (even the crazy ones).  But a church family– you get to choose.  You say, in effect, these people are my people, even the crazy ones.  They are not perfect. Some of them didn’t vote the way I voted.  Some of them don’t like my kind of music and are very bad at social media interaction.  They are not always refined, but I will stick by their side, in good times and bad.  I will support and love them and receive support and love from them. They are mine and I am theirs. I belong here.”

Here’s the bottom line on church membership.  I think there is something refreshing in an era when commitment to anything seems to be at all-time low and when more and more people are identifying as a “none” when it comes to church affiliation, for people to stand in front of a church and say: “These people can count on me to love, serve and join with them to see God’s Kingdom built in Flint (in our case) as it is in Heaven.”  I love when people band together and say, “We are better together and God is up to something good in this place because of it.”

Tomorrow is GROUND HOG Day.  You know how it works. If the fraidy cat rodent, Punxsutawney Phil, sees his shadow, we get six more weeks of disgusting winter.  It’s kind of a dumb tradition if you ask me. I won’t take a Pennsylvania ground hog’s advice on just about anything, let alone the winter weather patterns over the next several weeks.  Still my calendar (with little regard for fact checking of the meteorological marmot) calls tomorrow: Ground Hog Day.

All of this got me thinking: “Why should ground hogs be the only animal to have a special day?” There are plenty of other creatures in the animal kingdom who are just as deserving to have a day designated in their honor (maybe more deserving than an overly nervous Pennsylvania woodchuck). So to that end, I offer the following:

Lion Day. Second Sunday in September. If a Detroit Lion sees the shadow of a goal post, it hides and Lion fans get six more months of bad football.  Like other holidays that have special greetings (i.e. “Merry Christmas” or “He is Risen” on Easter), people in Detroit on Lion Day tell each other “Wait ‘til next year.”

Giraffe Day. If a Giraffe feels rain on the top of his head, then rain will certainly hit other creatures very, very soon and that day will also be known as a “rainy day.”

Deer Day.  December 1.  If a deer sees his shadow, he does a little dance because he or she has avoided a hunter’s bullet throughout the Michigan Deer Hunting Season.

Turkey Day.  I know what you’re thinking: “We already have ‘Turkey Day,’ it’s slang for Thanksgiving when we eat turkey and watch the Lions lose.”  Not so fast, pilgrim. Thanksgiving is a day to be grateful for your blessings. Period. The REAL Turkey Day is more of an anti-Thanksgiving holiday when we recognize the real turkeys are not in the oven but those that refuse to appreciate and count their blessings.

I don’t have much hope that Congress will recognize any of these special days, but there is one day that I know will happen.  It’s called LAMB Day and get ready for this: Every day in heaven will be LAMB Day.  This is how Revelation 5:11-13 describes it:

 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹² In a loud voice they were saying:

 “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

We can do without all of these other animal holidays (and a few others made by Hallmark holidays), but let’s determine to not miss LAMB Day.  In the meantime, have a great day honoring the Lamb with your lives and actions.  And let’s hope that the silly ground hog doesn’t see his shadow tomorrow.

A new Starbucks opened on Hill Road.  This may prove to be a problem because it is in my direct path of coming to church on most days.  I’m not a coffee snob as some people are (READ: my son Ben, who thinks purchasing Starbucks coffee is being a sell-out to corporate America and is NOT “real“ coffee).   I usually enjoy a dollar coffee that I’ve picked up at the McDonald’s drive-thru (which coincidentally is across the street from the new Starbucks).  I’m not sure I can write Ben’s opinion of McDonald’s coffee.

Generally, I have found that Starbucks establishments have better lighting, better music (for when I decide to start my day writing a sermon in a public place rather than my church office) and of course better coffee than McDonalds.  The problem is all of this ambiance carries a price tag. McDonald’s coffee is a dollar.  Starbucks might want to change their name to “Five-Bucks.”  Still there will be times in the future (shhh… don’t tell frugal Karla) that I will stop into the new Starbucks and pay a little more for all of the above reasons.

What I’m trying to say is that for the real thing, in the right environment and at the right time, I am willing to pay a little more.  I hope that the church notices these same characteristics. The church is a volunteer organization.  No one is forced to come (my boys might have argued that point about ten years ago).  There are a lot of options for people.  That’s why it is important that all of us strive for excellence in all areas.  Everything must be done well from the preaching, to the singing, welcoming, cleanliness of the building, the nursery staff, children’s and youth workers and everyone else.  If people walk into a church and feel it is unfriendly or untidy or underwhelming in its care for their children, you can have Billy Graham behind the pulpit and these folks will never come back.

We used to sing a hymn back in the day with the title, “Give your best to the Master.”  It still applies. Whatever your task in God’s Kingdom give the Master your best. I think that was Paul’s point too when he told the church folks in Colossae:  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters (Colossians 3:23). 

We have a world to reach for Jesus and all of us play a role in this global evangelism effort.  Let’s make sure all of our efforts (both inside and outside the church walls) are pleasing to the Master.  What you do and how you do it matters!

I’m sitting beside my father-in-law’s, Arling’s, bed as I write this post.  Arling is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease.  He hasn’t known me for months.  The hospice nurses don’t believe he has many more days on this old earth.  Soon his faith will be sight and Alzheimer’s will be a distant memory (pun intended).

For my Flint Central Nazarene friends most of you have only known Arling with Alzheimer’s.  You didn’t get a chance to know the man who is as unique as his name. (Have you ever run across another “Arling”? I bet not).

There is a beer commercial that touts some guy as “the most interesting man in the world.”  The fictional character selling beer can do all sorts of remarkable feats (usually with a beautiful woman by his side). Arling truly was an interesting man (usually with Mary his wife of 56 years by his side). He was a tool and die maker for most of his life and I’m told a very precise one.  But Arling was much more than his employment.

I played golf with him a few times.  Once we were on a par three hole that had a pond between the tee box and the green.  He proceeded to sink a half dozen balls into the water before finally getting a ball onto the green.  “I knew I could do it,” he proudly proclaimed.  He was a bad golfer (consider me as the pot calling the kettle black) but he was determined.

He wasn’t a great businessman either.  At least not when it came to his Christmas tree farm.   I think he gave away more trees than he sold.  “No one should be without a Christmas tree,” he told me.

He was snowmobiling into his 70’s, cut ice with the Amish, served in the army reserves and was an inventor.  (He came up with a better umbrella for his Amish friend’s horse and buggies).  One skill I wish he would have taught me is backing up a car with a trailer attached. He could back up a trailer straight as an arrow for two hundred yards without batting an eye. I have trouble backing up my car with its rear-view screen and no trailer at all.

I took Arling on a mission trip to Dominica about 25 years ago.  Arling was usually the last one on the van. His tardiness annoyed some of the team members (truth be told, sometimes it annoyed me too).  But Arling wasn’t delayed by extra-long grooming times or slowly eating his dinner. Usually he had found a child and had devised a game to play or noticed an older person with whom he could have a conversation. Some things were more important than being on time.

Arling was a faithful servant of the Lord.  A lifelong member of the Reading Church of the Nazarene, he taught Sunday School and was the head trustee for years and years.  Teaching the Word and serving Jesus were Arling’s loves.  When he finally passes, his obituary won’t make the headlines of the New York Times, but this world will have lost a most interesting man and heaven will have gained the man I’ve been honored to have been his son-in-law for almost 30 years.  Arling doesn’t remember my name, but I assure you the Lord has written his unique name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

“Phooey” is not the Greek word that means: “You are wrong about Flint,” but it should be.  This week I read another article containing another stupid list of the worst cities in America and, of course, the New York biased or Los Angeles biased author (I bet dollars to Donna’s donuts the author has never eaten a Koegel hotdog or stepped foot in our city) placed Flint on his worst cities list.  Pardon my not-so-ancient-or-accurate Greek, but “Phooey!”

I like Flint. In fact, here are just a few things I like about Flint:

I like…

• The people of Flint. They are generous and loving!
• Flint’s history of how a labor sit down strike lifted the working people of America.
• That jobs are coming back to our city.
• The pastors I’ve met as we worked together since the water crisis who love Jesus a lot!
• We are becoming a pretty great college town.
• The Flint has a downtown ice rink, even though my ice skating days are behind me.
• The Capitol theatre is opening up again.
• The Farmers Market is great!
• The Crim is the coolest race in America not named “the Boston Marathon”
• The brick streets down town—I especially like it when the brick streets downtown are filled with old cars during Back to the Bricks.
• The Vehicle City signs over Saginaw Street.
• The Sloan Museum.
• The General Motor’s Factory One is a very cool venue.
• We have a minor league hockey team, although I would have named them the Stones, not the Firebirds, I still like them!
• When someone mentions the Flintstones, we don’t think about Fred, Wilma or Pebbles but of basketball players Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, and Charlie Bell
• Koegel hotdogs, Donna’s Donuts Foster’s Coffee, Totem Books and the Crepe Company!
• The Whiting Auditorium is a wonderful place to see a concert.
• Halo Burgers (although their bill board announcing “salvation is just ahead” on the highway annoys me mostly because it’s Jesus who brings salvation not an olive burger)
• Chipotle and Panda Express have built new restaurants in Flint this year and if Chick-fil-A were smart, they’d open one too.
• When people debate on the yumminess of a Flint or a Detroit Coney (True Confession: I like Detroit coneys. Don’t hate me).
• How at Central Church we purposely misquote the Lord’s prayer just a little bit and pray that God’s kingdom would come “IN FLINT as it is in heaven” (of course we want God’s kingdom to come to the whole earth, but are just kind of partial to idea of God starting in Flint as His kingdom comes).

OK, more honesty, there are a few things I don’t like too. I don’t like that…

• Poverty is still high in Flint and crime and drug dealers and sex traffickers are present, but too often our kids are growing up when their moms or dads are not present in their lives.
• People are still afraid to drink the water, because they don’t trust the politicians who told them it was ok to drink the water (when it wasn’t) in the first place.
• We have too many liquor stores, bars, strip joints, boarded up houses and pawn shops not enough Holy Spirit filled outposts of God’s Kingdom.

Still, I like Flint and I like to think that Jesus was thinking of Flint too, when he grabbed a scroll in the Nazareth synagogue and unrolled it to Isaiah 61 to read:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.  (He didn’t say it, but I think we could have said, “I’m looking at you Flint, Michigan!”)
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.  He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:18-21)

I like Flint and I know God loves Flint, and far, far, far from turning his back on Flint or has forgotten Flint or in some way has abandoned Flint and certainly unlike what any author of an article that says how terrible things are might say, God has great things in store for the hard working, fun loving, generous and wonderful people of Flint in 2018! In fact, I think God is FOR FLINT and if we are on God’s side we will be saying, “I am FOR FLINT TOO.” In other words, I think Jesus would have read that article about worst cities in America and would have said, “Phooey! People said the same thing about my home town of Nazareth, but it was a lot like Flint and I loved that place too!”

Merry Christmas Flint! God is on our side!

Dear Reader of the Prince Christmas Letter:  For the last 28 years, each Christmas season I have managed to brag, boast, crow and swagger about the vacations we’ve taken, the sites we’ve seen and our boys’ accomplishments from the previous 12 months.  Well, I ‘m done with all of that, instead I offer you….

 Our Overly Honest Christmas Letter

Ben and Madison.  Graduated from Olivet Nazarene University in May; got real jobs this summer, tied the knot in November, but aren’t coming home in December.  They made some lame excuse about wanting to go on a honeymoon to a tropical island instead of spending Christmas break visiting their loving parents in not-quite-so-tropical paradise of Flint, Michigan.  We offered to go with them on their Dominica Republic honeymoon, but they said “no” to that suggestion too. We may have lead in our water, but that poor decision, virtually guarantees coal in their Christmas stockings and is seriously bringing into jeopardy any inheritance they may reap in the future.

Alex and Blaire.  Of course, we aren’t sure we want Alex and Blaire to squander our life savings after we pass through the pearly gates either. Blaire tells us, she gets her “baby fix” working as a nurse in the Mother/Baby unit at Kansas University Medical Center. Alex says he travels too much for work. Translation: They have a dog but there will be no babies anytime soon.  Both Alex and Ben work for the Cerner Corporation and travel all over the country but not once have their jobs brought them to the state shaped like a mitten. Karla may be calling Cliff Illig (the Cerner CEO) soon to discuss this matter.  Still we are glad that both boys and their wives have jobs and most importantly aren’t living in our basement.

Rob and Karla.  The personal growth that Rob experienced this year, unfortunately has been mostly in his waist size and the excessive hair growth in his ears, eyebrows and nostrils. Speaking of unwelcomed occurrences, Rob still has headaches most of which can be attributed to the fact that the sporting teams he supports continue to disappoint him.  While to date no one at Central Church has tossed rotten tomatoes in his general direction during a sermon, he has been considering taking dodgeball lessons just in case. Moreover, he is a bit worried that as he gets closer to his life insurance expiration date, Karla may recognize that he is worth more dead than alive and begin to plot Rob’s expiration date.  Speaking of Karla, she continues to work as an assistant at the church for a couple of days a week.  Read: Rob get bossed around at home and work. Karla has been observed secretly spying the senior citizen’s portion of the menu at Bob Evans. Proving that her frugality is stronger than any vanity she may have about getting a year older.  Much of her time is consumed with her parent’s care.  Like the US Men’s Soccer team, Karla’s folks are still kicking but won’t be attending any World Cup matches in 2018.

Totally Honest Conclusion:  We’ve had a pretty good 2017 (a few “downs” but mostly “Ups”) and we are looking forward to a great 2018.  We hope you are too!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Lord!

Rob and Karla

True Confession: I am not as mature as I think I am or want to be. I know this because of how I experience a flip in my stomach when a “friend” who has hurt me in the past posts something spiritual on social media. They are not writing anything about me, mind you. It is not directed at me at all. Usually the post is some spiritual platitude or Bible verse or how God has been speaking to them or blessed them in some fashion. My default response to such a posting too often is: “Really? God has been speaking to you? I think if God was really speaking to you, the Almighty would have first reminded you how much your actions have hurt good ol’ Rob Prince.”

I don’t like that like that about myself. It is so petty. I have preached on loving our enemies dozens of times, and yet such petty-mindedness still creeps into my heart. Here’s what I have found: I think it’s easier to “love our enemies” if the enemy is a faceless enemy like a terrorist who hasn’t encountered Jesus or an atheistic blowhard that hasn’t met a “true Christian.” When my enemy is a “Facebook friend” that has wronged me or spoken ill of me I want God to right the offender and do something about it. Oh I don’t want the Almighty to send a lightning bolt in their direction (I’m not that extreme), but a wart on the end of their nose or a case of head lice would be nice.

Obviously, I am still working on forgiveness. Forgiveness means forgiving even when the other person doesn’t ask for forgiveness. Sometime forgiveness means forgiving even when the offending person doesn’t realize how deeply they have hurt you.

Here’s what I’ve decided to do (I hope this helps): When I see a social media post from such a “friend” who has hurt me, I’ve determined to pray for him or her. Not pray that God would send the fleas of a thousand camels to infest their armpits, but pray that God would truly bless them. I want to genuinely pray that they would experience the power and majesty of God and know the joy of the Lord. I want to pray this not so that they will have some revelation that they have hurt me. I want to pray with the expectation that they may never know how deeply they have hurt me, but quite frankly (and to be honest somewhat selfishly), I need to see them in another way other than bitterness. Carrying in my mind a list of hurtful people is crippling and not particularly healthy. Resentment is a joy thief.

I’ve been camping out in Ephesians 4:32: Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Oh how I want to live out that verse. Bottom line: Bitterness and forgiveness cannot fill the same heart. I want to choose forgiveness.

There was (and may still be) a mouse in our house. Yesterday, Karla found a recently deceased furry creature in our basement storage area when she went to retrieve some Christmas decorations. Apparently, if Clement Moore was writing a poem for the Prince home this Christmas season, it would have read:

Twas three weeks before Christmas and all through our house,
Not a creature was stirring, especially not that dead mouse.
Rob will be hung by the chimney by his beak,
If another mouse shows up by the end of the week.

You get the idea. The thought of a mouse that may or may not be in our house has made for a spouse with no visions of sugar plums dancing in her head. It’s more like nightmares of Willard the Rat seeking his revenge. I tried to convince my bride that there probably weren’t any more mice in our house. “Our dead furry friend probably died of loneliness,” I told her. “The solitude killed him. Poor lil’ guy.” She wasn’t buying it. She thinks mice are like socks, shoes and Bartlett fruit—they come in pairs (or pears).

In order to ease her mind, I bought a four pack of mouse traps that I promptly stationed around the storage area—just in case. If there is a second mouse, he will soon join his friend in mousy heaven. There is a side of me that hopes there is a second mouse in the house and that he stumbles upon the trap, so I can say: “Mission Accomplished. We got ‘em! We can sleep easy tonight.” If the traps stay empty, with every noise and every clatter, Karla will be kicking me out of the bed to see what is the matter. There won’t be many long winter’s naps even if mama is in her kerchief and I in my cap.

Here’s why I share my mouse/house/spouse woes: It is so easy to worry over imagined threats—on issues much bigger than a mouse in the house. I heard someone say that 90% of the things we worry about never happen. I don’t know if that percentage is true or not, but I do know it’s a waste of time to worry. Jesus said so: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:27). Worrying about what might or could happen is like waiting for a mouse, only you’re the one stuck in the trap.

I have watched every Lions’ Thanksgiving Day football game for the last 50 years. One in the hospital following a ruptured appendix (1975); one in the Silverdome stands (1995) when Herman Moore and Barry Sanders made the Minnesota Vikings look silly in a 44-38 shootout (Could we get Barry to come out of retirement for todays’ game against the Vikings? The Lions could use some help at running back); but the Lions’ game on Thanksgiving 1980 was my most memorable.

The plan was to eat our Thanksgiving Dinner immediately after the Lions’ football game. As mom was busy in the kitchen, the rest of the family gathered around our Philco console color TV in the family room as the Lions were beating the Chicago Bears. It was 10-3 at half time and it wasn’t that close. The Lions were killing the Bears. The great Bear’s running back Walter Payton was looking more like Walter Cronkite and had gained only a few yards. It seemed like the Lions would surely get the win when they entered the fourth quarter leading 17-3. But the Bears scored a touchdown, then got the ball back with about 3 minutes left. They promptly marched down the field and on the very last play in regulation time, the Bears quarterback (a journeyman football player named Vince Evans) scampered like Joe Montana for five yards and scored a game tying touchdown. 17-17! Ugh!

As the game went into sudden-death overtime, my mom was not happy. Not because of her love for the Motor City Kitties, but because her dinner was ready to be eaten and the football fans weren’t ready to eat it. Mom didn’t want to serve cold turkey and warm jello, but we didn’t want to jinx the Lions by not watching and cheering in their time of need (obviously, the Lions don’t need anyone’s help in jinxing them). After the Lions lost the coin-toss (of course), on the opening kickoff in overtime (the OPENING KICKOFF!!!), the Bear’s kick returner (a guy named David Williams, a back-up running back, who never did much in the NFL except for stabbing me in the heart on that Thanksgiving Day) ran the ball 95 yards for a touchdown. The game was over 21 seconds into the overtime (at the time, it was the shortest NFL overtime game ever). Are you kidding me?

My mom was the only one smiling during that particular Thanksgiving dinner. Her meal was delicious. The hot food was hot and the cold food was cold. But you couldn’t have proved it from me. The game left me with such a bitter taste in my mouth, the turkey tasted like liver and onions and there was not enough cool whip and pumpkin pie in the world that could sweeten my football sickened heart.

Why tell you my Lions’ woes this Thanksgiving Day? Just to remind us don’t let anything (especially not the Lions) spoil your thankfulness. Instead live into Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: “In everything give thanks!” Let’s be thankful and show our gratitude in word and deed both to the Lord and our loved ones on this Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Thanksgiving! Go Lions!

Outreach Magazine once again came out with its list of the top 100 churches in worship attendance in America (http://outreachmagazine.com/outreach-100-largest-churches-2017.html) and once again Nazarene churches are more absent than a Buckeye at a Michigan Wolverine victory parade. Making the Outreach Magazine cut are Baptists, non-Denominationals, Methodists, Assembly of God, and even a Lutheran church but no Nazarene churches. I wonder why? Is it our theology? The Wesleyan Church has pretty much the same theology as Nazarenes but they are represented. Theology isn’t the problem. Is it our conservative bent to social issues? Many churches on the list that are far more conservative than the Church of the Nazarene, so I doubt that’s it. Why isn’t there one Nazarene mega church? Here are a few observations:

1) Nazarene ecclesiology. I have heard it said that our system of governance hurts us. The argument is that heavy handed District Superintendents thwart creativity and too many pastors of growing churches hop, skip and jump when another opportunity arises. There may be some truth these arguments. I’ve seen DSs that are more qualified to be a meter readers than the leader of churches and sometimes pastors jump around too much. But not all DSs are goobers and not all pastors have itchy feet, so you would think that tremendous growth could have happened somewhere.

2) Nazarene apportionments. The argument is: It’s all about the money. If growing churches weren’t outrageously taxed by the denomination (anywhere from 13-20%), they could invest more into mission and evangelism. I’m all for cutting our “franchise fees” but I’m not convinced that money is the sole reason for lack of phenomenal growth. The early church grew to mega church status overnight and while they didn’t pay their WEF budget, they also didn’t have any money.

3) Nazarene Community. The majority of Nazarene churches’ attendance is under 75, and several of these churches are located in close proximity to larger churches. Moreover, most of the churches on the Outreach Magazine list have more than one campus. I think Nazarenes have been reluctant (either because of a District Superintendent mandated injunction or, more times than not, a sense of duty to our Nazarene Community) to “invade” the territory of a small non-productive churches. Nazarenes don’t like to step on another Nazarene’s toes. Large churches have heard the whispers that they are “stealing the sheep” from the smaller Nazarene pastures and so rather than deal with such innuendo and criticism, they tend to not start satellite campuses.

So what is the answer?

Recognizing there may be a little truth in all of these arguments, there is probably not a single solution. But freedom seems to be at the heart of the issue. Our churches and pastors need:
Freedom to be creative.
Freedom to take risks.
Freedom to fail.
Freedom to use our District apportionment (at least) to start satellite campuses.
Freedom given by our Nazarene brothers and sisters to move into their “territory,” while not targeting “their sheep” to start new campuses.
Freedom to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in the days ahead.

Some could conclude having a mega Nazarene church is not necessarily a bad thing, but it still begs the question: With over 4,650 churches and over 14,000 elders, deacons and licensed ministers in USA/Canada why isn’t there at least one mega church?

If you went on a short-term mission trip last year, add 40 points
If you think eating at your favorite Mexican restaurant counts as a short-term mission trip, subtract 20 points

If you gave more to missions than you spent on sporting events or craft supplies, add 25 points
If your mission giving consists of tossing the change from your dollar that you received on a 98-cent candy bar purchase into the Salvation Army bucket, subtract 25 points.

If you pray for world areas on a regular basis, add 25 points
If while watching Travel Channel, you pray to hit the lottery so you can build a summer home in some exotic location, subtract 25 points.

If you participated in a one-day mission project (Mission Blitz, Convoy of Hope or Angel Tree), add 20 points
If you had other important plans on those days like rearranging the spare closet or counting your socks, subtract 20 points.

If you weekly volunteer at Dillon Elementary School, Carriage Town or Celebrate Recovery, add 30 points
If you live by the motto, “I’m not helping no stinkin’ kids,” subtract 30 points.

If you give two percent of your income above your regular tithe to missions, add 25 points.
If you spent two percent of your income on coffee, subtract 25 points

If you can name seven missionaries, add 15 points
If you thought Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters is one of them, subtract 10 points.

If you heard a missionary speak within the last year, add 10 points
If you heard a missionary was speaking at church on Sunday and suddenly you developed a cold, subtract 20 points.

If you have prayed over your Mission Outreach Commitment Card and how you might participate in missions this year, add 20 points.
If you ask: What’s a Mission Outreach Commitment Card? Subtract 20 points.

If you scored above 100 points you are a missions Super Star! Thank you!
If you scored below 100 point you might need to work on your missions’ acumen.
If you scored in negative numbers, be warry for the fleas of a thousand camels may infest your armpits in the coming days.

1. If I gave to missions, I wouldn’t have my Starbucks money. I know that people are suffering in the world, but c’mon to start my day with a McDonald’s dollar coffee instead of a five dollar Starbucks Non-Fat Frappuccino With Extra Whipped Cream and Chocolate Sauce is suffering.

2.  I’m not cheerful. The Bible says you should be a “cheerful giver.” I’m not cheerful about anything. Oscar the Grouch seems like Miss Congeniality compared to me. Grumpy the Dwarf and I should be exempt from all giving.

3.  I heard if you give to missions you don’t care about your neighbors. I really care about my neighbors. I can’t remember the last time I talked to them, but they are really nice people.  At least, I think they are nice. They look nice, except for the little ugly one, what’s-his-name?  He was a goblin last Halloween or maybe he just looks that way. I can’t remember.  But I love my neighbors, so I can’t give to missions.

4.  I’m a little short on funds these days. I just paid for my three-week cruise (balcony suite, of course) to South America and my manicurist upped her weekly rate… AGAIN! Have you seen the price of caviar these days? Ridiculous.  I’m going to have to cut back.  I’d love to give, but it’s about priorities.

5.  Have you seen the new boat the Jones’ just purchased? They should give.  In fact, they should give double!

6.  I’m young. Let the old people give.

7.  I’m poor (compared to Matthew Stafford the Detroit Lions’ Quarterback). See if Matthew Stafford can stop throwing interceptions and instead throw some money toward missions.

8.  Missions? Jesus never said that we should “make disciples in all the world.” He did?   Well, Jesus never said to “care for the least of these.”  He did?   Jesus never said to “love your neighbor.”  He did? Umm… Jesus never said, “What does it profit a person to gain the world but lose your soul.” He did? Oops. Jesus never said, “Cut that guy in Michigan some slack he just doesn’t want to give any money.”  You’re right, Jesus never said that last one!

9.  If you were counting my excuses at home, you will notice that this is my final excuse and it is my ninth (not tenth) excuse of the Top Ten Excuses on Why You Should Not Give to Missions. Clearly, I can’t count.  If you can’t count, you shouldn’t give. Who knows you might give $10,000 to missions instead of the much-easier-on-the-bank-account ten bucks and boy oh boy, you don’t want to make that cheap skate, I mean, mistake!

 

I hope NONE OF US make any of the above excuses but ALL OF US prayerfully determine what the Lord would have us give to make a difference in the world.

With the 2017 General Assembly in our rear-view mirror, can we start thinking about 2021? Is it just assumed the gathering will be held in Indianapolis? I like Indy. It’s a great city, but can I vote for someplace else?

75% of Nazarenes live outside of the United States, isn’t it time to seriously discuss having a General Assembly outside of the USA too?

In the past when the notion of holding a General Assembly outside of the USA is mentioned, Toronto, Canada seemed to be the first destination of choice. It’s clean, Canadians are generally nice people (unless you remind them that the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967) and technically it is not in the United States (I’ve heard that it’s a little too “American” for the “anywhere but North America” crowd, which I think bothers my Canadian friends who aren’t thrilled with such a descriptor.). I’ve also been told that there aren’t enough Nazarenes around Toronto to have the needed, money saving volunteers and that Toronto is an expensive city.

So, if Toronto is out of the running, why not Rio? Let me offer this disclaimer: I have never been to Rio de Janeiro. The Rio de Janeiro chamber of commerce did not pay me to write this blog. But the city has hosted an Olympics and a World Cup, so shouldn’t Rio also be able to handle a bunch of Nazarenes? We can’t be more trouble than soccer fans, can we?

With a little bit of checking this is what I discovered:

There are 17 Nazarene churches in Rio.  I think that should cover the volunteer quota.  There are plenty of Nazarenes in Brazil.

I checked on hotel costs. There are 27,000 hotel rooms in Rio (more than enough). The rooms seem priced quite a bit lower than in Indy. I think meals would be lower too.  Obviously, it would cost more to fly to Rio, instead of driving to Indy like I did in June, but the flight from Johannesburg, South Africa to Rio is about the same ($100 more) as it is to Indianapolis. So the airfares are more (depending on your starting point), but daily expenses are less in Rio than Indianapolis.

Rio has a convention center. It has sporting arenas. It has a mission opportunity for “one heart many hands” too.  I’ve heard it’s a beautiful city.

People come from all over the world to General Assembly.  Would it be easier or more difficult for the delegates to get visas for Brazil? I don’t know the answer to that, but ask our delegates from Guatemala or the Philippines who ended up sitting at home during the General Assembly how easy it was to get a visa to come to Indy last summer. I’m not sure it would be more difficult (and maybe it would be easier).

Just like in Indy there would be costs in holding the Assembly in Rio.  Would those costs be more or less than Indy?  I have no idea.  I believe that the actual cost of a General Assembly is a secret held nearly as tight as the nuclear launch codes. No doubt there would be a cost to hosting the GA outside of the USA, and maybe it would be more.  But isn’t that the price of having a truly international church? With half of our General Superintendents born outside of the USA, let’s have our next General Assembly outside the 50 states too.

Why not Rio in 2021?

One of the interesting discussions from the 2017 General Assembly was in the Christian Action committee about resolution CA-710 regarding the Use of Intoxicants.

Living (apparently) under a rock in Flint, Michigan, I didn’t think resolution CA-710 brought to us from the good people of the Nebraska and Mid-Atlantic Districts would wet anyone’s whistle (so to speak).  In Flint, we don’t drink the water and as Nazarenes we don’t drink the spirits (except for the Nazarenes that drink and don’t tell).  But much to by surprise, the committee voted in favor of social drinking. It wasn’t close.

When the matter came to the floor of the assembly (I believe) General Superintendent Warrick, informed the delegation that there was a proposal for a study on the use of the intoxicants, so resolution CA-710 was referred to the General Superintendents. Our drinking discussion was put off for four years.

Then last week, a study published in JMAA Psychiatry stated that 1 in 8 Americans have an alcohol problem. One in eight!  Moreover, the article stated that the population segment that is seeing the biggest increase in alcohol abuse is not those “gotta-have-a-beer” millennials who we are trying to stop from leaving our churches, but senior citizens.  African Americans and women also saw dramatic increases in alcohol abuse in the last ten years.

My question is this:  Will we take this latest study into account when the discussion heats up at GA2021?  Will we continue our historic stance on the side of those that struggle with alcohol (which apparently is growing every day) or will we say (as I heard in the committee debate): 1) Our people (especially millennials) are already drinking; and 2) If it was good enough for Jesus it should be good enough for us (that is an over-simplification of the debate, but that was mostly the point).

Shouldn’t a holiness church side with the 1/8^th of our society that struggle with alcohol abuse?  If not us, who will?  Can’t we honestly and simply say, Jesus drank wine and having a beer at a ballgame isn’t going to send anyone to hell.  But given what we know about the devastating effects alcohol has on society, whether that is in the form of the growing number who daily struggle with addiction, the deadly mix of alcohol and automobiles and the vast majority of domestic violence circumstances that are fueled by liquor, as a group we still choose to say “thanks but no thanks” to the use of intoxicants.

Just my two cents.

This little article is designed to be a lighthearted, 500 (or less) word essay to help bring a little hope and joy to your week.  We read enough bad news. This blog is designed to be a breath of fresh air.  Not too heavy.  Not too controversial.  A little scripture.  A little humor. Everybody’s happy.

But then along comes a week when neo-Nazis are in the news and White Supremacists are spewing their hate. It’s been ugly.

I want to write happy thoughts, but my sad heart is breaking for America.

I want us to sing happy songs, but the dirge in my soul is too overwhelming.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (a guy who stood up to the Nazis and who was executed for his stand two weeks before the end of WWII) said:  Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.

My dad fought the Nazis.  My uncle was captured and tortured by them in WWII. The men and women from “the greatest generation” knew that evil must be actively and forcefully opposed.  For them it was in Germany. For us (I can’t believe I’m writing this) it sometimes raises its repulsive head in America.

Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians are for us as we see injustice, sin and hatred:  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all (2 Corinthians 5:14). Christ’s love compels us to speak, to love, and to practice hospitality.  Christ’s love compels us in our stand against hatred.  Christ’s love compels us to action and not show indifference.  Christ’s love compels us to pray and keep praying until His Kingdom comes in America (and throughout earth) as it is in heaven!

In honor of Palindrome Week (7.10.17 – 7.17.17) I give you the following:

We panic in a pew weeping with tons o’ snot if the solos are out of tune or the preacher’s still preaching at noon. “Rum… Rum,” I murmur, as the sermon goes on and on. “Don’t Nod,” I tell myself.  Embarrassingly, I realized, I am the preacher.  “Is it I? It is I!”

Here was my sermon:  Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.

Oh No Don Ho!  The folks didn’t like that sermon.

“You preach too long,” they yelled.

I did, did I? I yelled back. Mad as Adam, they stormed out and I ended the homily as a civic duty to the remaining hungry souls. That day, the Baptists beat us to the restaurant even without a racecar. I’ll level with you, I guess I did preach too long.

Usually, following the service, Nurses run, a boy in a kayak floats, and Neil, an Alien flies to the closest eatery.  As I made my way to join them, a kid from my gym (that I always refer to as Yo Bozo boy) yelled “Go Dog!” Finally, I arrived and the waitress said, “Sir, I’m Iris. There’s no lemons, no melon. Would you like soup?

“Wonton? Not now,” I replied. “Madam, I’m a tuna nut. My mom made the best casseroles, but desserts, I stressed, were her specialty.” Iris was not impressed and brought me a sandwich.

And so, ends my palindrome tale, no wonder my boys say, “Pa’s a sap.”

 (If you were counting at home, there were 30 Palindromes in the previous story.)

The 29^th General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene will convene in three weeks in Indianapolis.  Here are my FIVE BIG HOPES for the gathering:

I hope that General Assembly is like a family reunion.

Four years ago, when the question on the floor was to move General Assembly to every five years, one of the persuasive arguments to continue every four years was that our gathering is like a family reunion. As our church family expands in this ever-changing world, we need more gatherings (not less) to keep the bond between us strong. Like the motto for the gathering, I hope we are One.

I hope the resolutions concerning Article X (Christian Holiness and Entire Sanctification) and Human Sexuality pass.

While I’m not ready to state that either resolution is perfect, both are HUGE improvements to the current manual statements.  The current Article Ten could best be described as a mishmash. If ten different people (including pastors) were to describe our “distinctive doctrine,” there would be ten different expressions of Article Ten.  The new precise statement is more readable, teachable, preachable, Biblical and Wesleyan.  I really like it.  The statement on Human Sexuality takes one of the most the complex and divisive issues of our times and gives our people a Biblically based, grace-filled position from which to speak. The resolutions are well written and show both scholarship and grace.

I hope the resolution concerning the use of intoxicants does not pass.  

I like the affirming, grace-filled language in the resolution. Moreover, I do not think people who have a glass of wine are going to hell.  Still I am not ready to do away with denominational injunction against the consumption of alcohol.  This resolution is a bit personal with me.  My dad prior to becoming a Christian was an alcoholic. Had the church allowed the consumption of alcohol following his conversion, I’m not sure moderation was possible for him. So, I’m glad the church said we are coming along side of you in this struggle and as a people we say, “no alcohol.” Alcohol related problems are well documented. Most domestic violence and sexual abuse has an element of alcohol involved. Drunk drivers kill innocent people every day.  I’m thankful for a church that says “we choose to side with those who struggle and have been harmed by the abuse of alcohol by abstaining from its use.”

I hope we elect two visionary and godly individuals to be General Superintendent.

Godly but not visionary leaders tend to lead from memory instead of imagination.  They lead based on fear (“we are going the way of the Methodists”) or nostalgia (“Let’s make the Church of the Nazarene Great Again”) instead of inspiration, grace and hope.  Conversely, visionary but not godly leaders are drunk on personal ambition. Elevating self instead of elevating Jesus seems to be their top priority. Our church has plenty of godly but not visionary leaders and we have our share of visionary but self-promoting individuals too.  We need General Superintendents to be both godly and visionary.  We need to elect two individuals who see what we can become and selflessly lead us there.

I hope we leave Indianapolis ready to promote the message of Holiness and making Christ-like disciples with a renewed zeal and commitment. 

General Assembly will be a success if we leave inspired and ready to accept the challenge of working to see God’s Kingdom come and His will done in our neck of the woods.

 

 

The 120 believers in the upper room experienced firsthand the Pentecostal wonders that we will remember this Sunday.  The color red splashed throughout the sanctuary and candles burning remind us of the tongues of fire. Scripture read in different languages reminds us that the good news was heard in many dialects.  We will remember the day, but the 120 experienced it. Heard it. Saw it. Lived it.

Pre-Pentecost the group wouldn’t have impressed a class of freshman Intro to the Bible students.  No one was particularly noteworthy.  All had recently failed Jesus.

They weren’t particularly courageous.  The 120 men and women were hiding behind locked doors when the Holy Spirit showed up.

They weren’t evangelistic. Not one person is recorded to have become a Christian in the time between the Resurrection and Pentecost. Not one.

They didn’t display great leadership skills. The only leadership decision they had was to replace Judas, and it could be argued that they choose in a poor manner (casting lots) and they made a poor choice (Matthias is never mentioned again after his lucky number was called).

The one thing they had (that we are lacking?) was obedience. Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem and that is exactly what they did.  They waited and prayed.  I wonder if we obeyed Jesus more if we would see similar results? There are plenty of conferences, sermons and lessons on being bold, evangelistic and displaying Christian leadership in order to change the world (all the things lacking by the pre-Pentecost, upper room group), but maybe to see a Pentecost we simply need to be more obedient. Maybe what’s needed for the Pentecostal power to impact our world is a few men and women who will simply and emphatically say “Yes” to Jesus.

I am praying for another Pentecost like movement of God and I’m praying that it would begin with our collective and resounding “YES, Lord, yes! I will go where you want me to go and I will do what you want me to do.”

1. Only Pray when you need something.
2. Only Worship on Sunday morning.
3. Only Read your Bible when you are at a Bible Study (that your spouse or parent insisted you attend)
4. Only Attend church if you are not working or on vacation or have a case of the sniffles or have tickets to a big game or it’s your favorite second cousin’s birthday party or your kid has a soccer game or a dance recital or you’re tired from a late Saturday night or you overslept because of Daylight savings time or there are snowy roads or wet roads or possibly snowy and wet roads or there is a guest preacher or your pastor is preaching on a topic you don’t like or you have nothing to wear or you are needing a “me” day.
5. Only Sing when you have no choice.
6. Only Give when you get something in return.
7. Only Fast if you are on a diet.
8. Only Serve when made to feel guilty.
9. Only Speak well of people if you think your words might get back to them
10. Only Pursue justice if it costs you nothing.
11. Only Promote Unity if everyone else promises to think, vote, and agree with you.
12. Only Share your faith… no skip that… never share your faith.

Last night as I watched a basketball game played in the Boston Garden, it reminded me of the time I sat in that arena and watched the Celtics defeat the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2008 NBA Championship.  Even though I am not a Celtics fan (Go Pistons!) and I could have lived my entire life without the hugs from the mostly drunk, elated Celtics fans on the way out of the arena that night, it is one of my most favorite memories.  I was able to go because my friends, Larry and Lynne, were generous with their tickets and my father-in-law offered to pay my airfare to Boston.

Sadly, Arling doesn’t remember his generosity these days.  He frequently doesn’t know me or Karla or even Mary, his wife of nearly 60 years.  Alzheimer’s disease has robbed him of so much of his life. He is unable to share his cherished memories with anyone most of the time.

This past Sunday, like every Sunday, my in-laws were at our house for dinner following church.  Typically, Karla or I ask the blessing for the meal, but this week she asked her dad to pray. Arling’s Alzheimer’s doesn’t allow him to have too many meaningful conversations. His words aren’t always coherent. Real communication is more guessing what he might be saying and thinking than knowing what he is actually saying and thinking.  But at Sunday’s dinner, just like he has so many times in his past, when asked to pray, he had a conversation with our Heavenly Father.  Just like old times he prayed for protection, direction and peace. He prayed for God to help us and be with us. It was a beautiful prayer except he forgot to say “Amen.”  He just kept praying and praying, repeating his words while continuing to pray.  Eventually, more hungry than blessed, we finally helped him out and said, “Amen, let’s eat.”

Later I was reflecting on Arling’s prayer and concluded:  Maybe, just maybe, Arling didn’t “forget” to say “Amen.”  Maybe he just didn’t say it.  Maybe in his Alzheimer’s state, Arling is living in constant communion with the Father.  Maybe he’s in a fellowship with Jesus where no hellos or Amens are required. Just because he can’t communicate with us like he once did, that doesn’t mean that he has stopped communicating with the Father. Moreover, I’m convinced the Father is still conversing with him.

My father-in-law has lived his life serving Jesus. He can’t express his faith to us most days. But it’s still there. His communication with the Jesus is different now than in days gone by, but maybe it’s better without the clutter of this world’s chatter.  If you heard Sunday’s prayer, there would be no doubt of a sweet fellowship that is shared between Jesus and Arling.  Jesus words are true for Arling and all those who suffer, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).

 

 

Nearly four years ago, in August 2013, we were on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University dropping off Ben and all his earthy possessions (minus a few old baseballs, video games and other assorted “treasures” still in our basement). We unloaded his belongings into a Chapman Hall first floor dorm room on a hot Friday evening. Sometime during that weekend, University President, Dr. John Bowling, told a room full of parents of freshmen that the next four years would pass in a blink of an eye and that we would gather in May, 2017 for graduation. At the moment, I thought it was college president speak for “time flies unless you don’t pay your tuition then time comes to a screeching halt and your scholar will be flipping burgers at Cheeseburgers-R-Us for the rest of his or her life.” But it wasn’t hyperbole.  The last four years have flown by and on Saturday morning I will join the throng of misty eyed parents, grandparents, and loved ones in the Betty and Kenneth Hawkins Centennial Chapel on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois as my youngest cherub walks across the stage and receives his college diploma.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Bowling’s assistant, Marjorie Vinson, contacted me to inquire if I would offer the benediction at the commencement ceremony.  I am so incredibly honored to do so. What began four years ago, on that hot August evening will end with my utterance of the final “Amen” on a cool Saturday morning in May.

Not wanting to melt into a blubbering puddle of pride and gratitude, I decided I had better write out the prayer.

Here it is:

Our loving Heavenly Father:

We have been so excited to celebrate with our sons and daughters on this day.  We thank you for them and for their achievements of which we are so very proud.

We thank you for Olivet’s faithful administrators, professors, and various personnel and we ask you to bless and keep them and may your light continue to shine upon them.

Lord, beginnings remind us that an ending will one day come. And every ending promises a beginning. Today is such a day.

May these graduates go forth with a passion that inspires us,

May your Word both comfort and challenge them,

May injustice trouble them,

May hope encourage them,

May servanthood define them.

May gratitude constantly be on their lips.

May they get things right from time to time.

And may they laugh when they don’t.

As they leave this remarkable place filled with friends and mentors, having been given knowledge and wisdom and dreams— may they continue to ask the right questions, and may they give much more than they have ever received.

May they always look for the good, never glory in the wrong and trust you continually.

May these graduates on the threshold of so much promise and opportunity never confuse success with fame and wealth, but may they discover that true achievement lies in pleasing you and finding their God honoring places in our world.

May they go in peace. Act justly. Love mercy. Speak truthfully. And walk humbly before you. 

May the love that overcomes all obstacles, that heals all wounds, that chases all fears, that brings courage to all who are burdened and heavy laden be found in them and us now and always.

May all of this occur in Jesus’ name,

 Amen

Parents, Dr. Bowling was right.  Time flies. It’s just a blink between sending them off on their first day of kindergarten and praying the benediction at their college commencement.  Enjoy each moment with your son or daughter and always keep them before our loving heavenly Father!

 

 

 

 

If you are more than a casual observer on the American church scene then you know the Sunday after Easter (aka “Black Sunday”) tends to have fewer people and even fewer tumbleweeds than your average old western ghost town.

Here are a few reasons to attend church on the Sunday after Easter.

1)  No parking problems. Park close to the door even without a handicap sticker.

2)  Sit in your own pew.  This is not a statement regarding the results of the lack of personal hygiene, but with fewer attendees you have your choice of seats in sanctuary and plenty of elbow room.

3)  No lines in the café for your coffee. No barista either.

4)  Passing of the Peace is called “Say Hi to the old guy up front.”

5)  Congregational Singing in the bulletin is listed as “Ensemble Practice.”

 6)  Half off tithing.  NOT TRUE!!!!

 7)  The Pastor can personalize the points to each person in attendance.  i.e. “…and Joe I think I heard you gossiping last week.  Stop it!”

8)  You just might have a Divine supernatural encounter.  Thomas showed up a week after Easter and he met the Resurrected Jesus (read all about it in John 20:24-30), you might too!  In fact, that’s our prayer—that you and Jesus will show up this week!

 

 

Dress up like a giant Easter Egg, hide in your neighbors’ bushes and when they come out jump from your hiding place and yell: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.  Which really bummed him out because he wasn’t able to attend Easter services at all.” (It’s kind of poetic and just might “crack” them up — bad pun intended).

Quote from memory John 18 and 19 (the section of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion) but not John 20 (the Resurrection account), then say to your friends: “If you want to hear the rest of the story you have to come to church on Sunday!”

Hide an Easter basket under the third pew on the center aisle (do not place a basket filled with candy under the first pew, I can’t promise it would still be there), then give your friend a treasure hunt type of map approximately 30 minutes before one of the services is to start and yell, “Go!”

Purchase a small airplane, take flying lessons and get a “Sky-writing-made-easy” kit then write in the sky above your neighbor’s house: “Come to church on Easter.”  (You might have had to start a little earlier than now to make this idea work).

(Speaking of airplanes) Take a lesson from United Airlines and drag your neighbors kicking and screaming to church.

Or simply say, “Hey friend, would you please join me at my church on Sunday for Easter services?”  You might be surprised at how many affirmative replies you receive.

Everyone you know needs to be in church on Easter!   So plan on getting as many friends and family to join you as possible.  There will not be a prize for the person who “fills the most pews with their friends and family,” but what a joy it is to worship the Resurrected Lord with the people you love!

 

Are holiness and social media compatible?  If holiness can be described as Christ-likeness, then how would Jesus have used (or not used) social media?  Jesus gathered millions of followers long before Twitter started limiting people to 140 characters. I just can’t imagine Jesus posting pictures of empty and then full wine jars at the wedding in Cana on his Instagram account.  Would Jesus have made a Facebook status like this one?  Fed a lot of people today.  Pete and the boys estimated the crowd at 5,000 men. #kidgaveuphislunch #belliesfullofbreadandfish Does anyone really think Jesus would have been obsessed with the number of “likes” he received from any social media outlet?

Would Jesus have used social media to cast cyber stones at people?  I know of a guy who loves using social media and blogs to point out the sins of pastors and others that he has determined behaved in a less than holy manner.  Of course, based on his slanderous, gossipy and “fake news” (read: lies) postings it’s a wonder he can even see his keyboard to type with the giant plank in his eye (see Jesus’ story in Matthew 7:3-5).  Unfortunately, that guy is not sitting alone in his pew.  I’ve seen hurtful, racist, insensitive, offensive, vulgar posts… all put there by church folks and people who have claimed to be following Christ.  There are days I wonder if to be truly sanctified doesn’t means “set apart for God purposes” but “set apart from social media.”

Hebrews 12:14 applies to social media too.  It reads:  Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  I know a few Christians who apparently have never read that verse as evident by the way they exercise their social media self and post comments as if the author of Hebrews wrote: “Make every effort to make your point and be right; without correct politics no one will see the Lord.”

John Wesley wrote this tweet worthy post years ago:  There is no holiness but social holiness. He meant that our holiness should be reflected in the way we respond to poverty, hunger and other social issues.  I think if old John were tweeting today, he might add just one word to his famous quote and write: “There is no holiness but social media holiness.” If holiness matters and apparently it does (see the above Hebrews 12 reference to no one seeing the Lord without holiness), then holiness standards apply to our Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Snapchat and Instagram postings too. Love should rule our social media content.  Purity should guide what we search for on the internet.

With much thanks to John Wesley’s quote, there is no Holiness but social media holiness.

Fat Tuesday was two days ago.  It is the day before the season of Lent begins.  On Tuesday I ate a Pazcki from Donna’s Donuts (a polish jelly donut—twice the fat, twice the calories, and twice the yumminess of a regular Donna’s donut). Fat Tuesday is supposed to be the end of our self-centered outlook on life.  Maybe we should call it FAT CHANCE TUESDAY.

Ash Wednesday was yesterday and is the first day in the season of Lent.  Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a Christ-focused 40-day journey to Easter. Many people attend services where the imposition of ashes is to remind the worshippers of the words from Genesis 3:19:  “For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

But for the Thursday following Ash Wednesday there is no special name.  So I will offer these choice describers for today:

WASH YOUR FOREHEAD THURSDAY

If you attended an Ash Wednesday Service, and haven’t washed your forehead yet you might be calling tomorrow FACIAL BLEMISH FRIDAY.  Wipe off the ashes but don’t wipe away the fasting commitments and sacrifices you have promised for the next 40 days.

FIND-A-BOOK-TO-READ-THROUGH-LENT THURSDAY

I am using Walter Brueggeman’s:  A Way Other Than Our Own.  My friend Jeren Rowell wrote: These Forty Days: A Lenten Devotional.  I will be using Dr. Jess Middendorf’s I Am for a Lenten Wednesday Night Bible Study (please join us starting March 8).  Any of these books would work great for your Lenten reading.

MAKE-A-REAL-LIFE SACRIFICE THURSDAY

Do you remember God’s words to the people during the prophet Amos’ day who were into showy worship and offering phony sacrifices to God while at the same time they were oppressing the poor?  So God bluntly told them:

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, 
I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.  But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream (Amos 5: 21-24)

The warning from Amos applied to to the first Thursday in Lent is this:  Don’t just fast candy or coffee during Lent so you can tell your friends what a wonderful Christian you are because you gave up chocolate for seven weeks. Care for the poor. Give to the needy.  Help a widow or orphan.   I wonder if Jesus would look at our “sacrifice” and say: “Chocolate?  Seriously? I don’t want you to give up Nestle bars, I want you to give up YOU!”  Paul wrote what I am talking about this way: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

The bottom line is this: let today (and every day) be known as I’M-GIVING-MY-ALL-TO- JESUS THURSDAY!  It might not be as catchy of a title as “FAT Tuesday” or “ASH Wednesday” but I think Jesus might like it even better.

There are a few unspoken rules in the selection process for a General Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene:

No Politicking. (yeah right!  Well, no visible politicking signs or buttons like Napoleon Dynamite’s VOTE FOR PEDRO).

We expect the Spirit to move (of course).

We believe that General Assembly delegates will discern the Lord’s choice and vote accordingly.  (Unless they vote for a university President who discerns that the vote is not the Lord’s will but the result of the delegates’ indigestion from eating too many meals at Indy’s finest restaurants).

We want a General Superintendent to be around 45 years old with 40 years of experience.  We want a General Superintendent who understands how to speak to the millennial generation and spends all of their time with the Baby Boomers. They should be a strong Wesleyan in an American Holiness Movement sort of way. We want them to attend all the important functions and meetings 52 weeks a year, yet be a devoted family person.  They must be culturally relevant while being true to all of our historical positions.  They must like camping in the BIG TENT of the Church of the Nazarene, but only if they are in my corner of the tent. We want the impossible in other words.

Does the way we’ve always picked our leaders provide for the the best candidates?

There are 674,414 Nazarenes in Africa but can you name two qualified leaders from that continent?  Surely there are many more qualified African leaders, but do you know them?  What about qualified candidates from the Asia Pacific region?  Can you name even one person?

How about this novel idea:  Let’s move to some kind of vetting process.  In the local church, we interview prospective pastoral candidates.  We don’t just have the congregation vote until someone gets a required number of votes.  More and more districts have the regional director assist in selecting a district superintendent candidate.  Why can’t we institute some kind of process that is actually thoughtful and thorough?  Why not have the regions nominate a candidate or two? Why does voting for our most important leaders have to be a popularity contest fueled by rumors under the guise of being spirit led?

The coming decade will bring much change in the Church of the Nazarene.  With an aging clergy and an aging American church that provides 95% of the funding for the global church, one doesn’t have to be a meteorologist to recognize a storm is on the horizon. We need new ideas, clear vision and a fresh perspective.

I understand that it is too late for this summer’s 2017 General Assembly.  The election of our leaders will once again be a popularity contest. Hopefully the most known is also the most qualified.  I’m just not convinced that is the case.  And I pray that the ones elected will have courage like the university president a few years ago to reject the popularity vote, if she or he is convinced that the popular consensus is not God’s choice or God’s will.

As for me, I’m voting for Pedro.

 

 

Schools are closed today.

There is not two feet of new fallen snow. There were no terrorist threats. The teachers aren’t on strike. The roads were a bit slippery, so they closed the schools. A tad slippery?!? I feel like I am obligated as a person with grey hair and born during the Kennedy administration to offer the following statement:

In my day they never cancelled school because the roads were slippery. I remember walking in snow that was over the rooftops. For two miles. With subzero temperatures. Wearing nothing but sweatpants, a windbreaker and my Keds. And I loved every minute of it!”

Of course, I never did the above things.

Our memories are a funny thing. Sometimes people like me get our memories a little skewed and “good old days” weren’t as good as we remember. Others are stuck in the “bad old days” that have happened in their life and everything has been colored by those events. I have found that many people tend to forget the things we should remember and we remember the things we should forget.

One of the hardest reminders in the Bible is hidden in the Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13) when Paul writes that love… “keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Corinthians 13:8). I think he was saying to have a heart filled with love we can’t hold onto the past (either real or imagined). We need to release those burdens to the one who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:38).

Remembering those things we should forget and keeping record of wrongs produces a burden that imprisons us, but Jesus’ love can set us free. His love empowers us to overcome those memories and experience a new day. His love produces a joy similar to learning that there is a “snow” day at school because of slippery roads!

I hope you can experience that joy! And I hope the kids and teachers enjoy their day off today too. Play. Dance. Sing. And in true grey haired, born-in-the-Kennedy-Administration form remember this: STAY OFF MY LAWN!!

Garden City, Michigan is my hometown. When people asked where I was from I would proudly declare that my hometown was home to the very first Little Caesar’s Pizzeria (on the corner of Venoy and Cherry Hill Roads) AND the home to the very first Kmart (on Ford Road just west of Middlebelt).  I’m not quite sure if people were jealous of me or pitied me when I told them, but I was always proud of my home town.  We didn’t have many gardens in Garden City, but we were the first to give America cheap pizza and the blue light special (anyone remember that?).

Yesterday the Sears Corporation (Kmart’s parent company) announced that they were closing a bunch of Kmarts, including the store in Garden City.  It’s a sad day for my hometown and I was a bit sad for the news too. I have good memories of “the saving place” (one of Kmart’s slogans).  Getting a sandwich from the Kmart deli as a kid was always a treat.  Once I bought a Kmart hamster and it died two days later.  So I rode my bike back to the store with my dead hamster in a paper sack to return it.  The merchandise return lady didn’t quite know what to do with a dead hamster (and why did my mom let me return a dead hamster instead of just taking in the receipt?  Why did she let me ride my bike as an 11 year old all the way to Kmart and return the dead hamster by myself? I don’t know but I digress). The merchandise return lady gave me a new hamster. That hamster didn’t live long either (I’m sure riding a mile and a half in a paper sack on the bike ride home had nothing to do with its demise).

I haven’t been in a Kmart in years.  My guess is that a lot of Americans haven’t been shopping there either and that’s why the stores are going under.  But that got me thinking of another “saving place.”  Isn’t that what the church is supposed to be?  I know people can find Jesus anywhere, but isn’t the church supposed to offer the saving grace of Jesus.  If the church was the original “saving place,” could we ever find ourselves in the same position as Kmart?

I’m not a business expert and I suppose students in business classes will be discussing “why Walmart and not Kmart.” But my guess is that somewhere along the way, Kmart lost it’s focus and message.  People thought that better deals were at Walmart or on-line.  Kmart was no longer “the saving place.”  It was just “another place” that sold lousy household goods.

When the church loses its focus and becomes just “another place” for people to see old friends, share old stories or remember times past then we might as well put a “going out of business” sign in our front yard too.  We must always be the “saving place.”  We must carry out our mission of making Christ-like disciples.  We must fight against turning the church into anything but the place where the saints are equipped and empowered to share the good news and love of Jesus.  Being the “saving place” is our mission and our #1 priority.

In the minds of many, Kmart was no longer the saving place and its doors are being closed.  When the church is no longer the saving place, you might just as well close our doors too.

 

Twenty years ago tomorrow (December 23, 1996) is a day that many at Flint Central will always remember. Not for a Christmas Eve Eve (the day before Christmas Eve) service or for impressive feats of strength or the airing of grievances for Festivus (Seinfeld reference) but it’s a memorable day because a fire swept through Central Church. The inferno destroyed nearly the entire structure.  Only the Chenoweth Family Center was spared.  People who have been around for the last twenty years know exactly where they were when they heard the news that Central Church was on fire.

The exact cause of the fire was never determined.  It was probably some electrical snafu somewhere.  Following the fire, the decision was made to rebuild on the same location.  Carmen Ainsworth School District allowed the church to use its auditorium for Sunday morning services and South Flint Church of the Nazarene opened its doors to Central Church for its Sunday Night service. The church rose again from the ashes and on April 18, 1999 they dedicated the new facility.

In 1996 many thought that the fire would destroy Central Church and she would never recover, but God had other plans.  In the twenty years since the fire, the church not only rebuilt but is stronger than ever. Central Church reaches into the community and around the world in great and wonderful ways.  Countless people have come to the Lord through the ministries of Central Church in the last twenty years mostly led by former pastors Rev. Gavin Raath and Dr. Glen Gardner.

The fire in 1996 was horrible.  Still it’s a good to remember that fateful day as we step through the sanctuary doors on Saturday night for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. The glow of 1500 lit candles while singing Silent Night twenty years and one day removed from the fire reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the World and His plans overcome anything this old world might throw at us. Life might give us unexpected circumstances (no one thought the church would burn down), but God is still in control. His Light still shines. He overcomes!

There are so many people that need a similar reminder this Christmas. Many people are lonely and have been beaten down by life.  2016 has been a rough year for a lot of people.  Hope is needed and Hope is what Jesus offers!  Can I encourage you to invite your family, friends and neighbors to join you on Saturday Night (or for Sunday’s Christmas Day Service or, better yet, invite them to both services!)  The services (while different in content) will proclaim the message that the Light of the World has come; Jesus overcomes; and with Him we can overcome our troubles too!

Even though many people in the Old Testament were religious, very few celebrated Christmas.  Even fewer Old Testament heroes wrote out a Christmas Wish List, but had they written out such a list of gift ideas, the following items might have been on it:

Adam: Snake Skin Boots

Noah: The book “How to talk to the Animals” by Dr. Doolittle

Methuselah: 969 Birthday candles

Job:  A rabbit’s foot or a four leaf clover

Abraham: “Canaan or Bust” Bumper Sticker

Sarah:  Pampers and Depends

Isaac: “My mom and dad are Ancient” T-Shirt

Mrs. Lot:  A rear view mirror

Joseph:  Dress pants to match a stylish multicolored coat

Moses:  101 Easy Meals with Manna Cookbook

Joshua:  Simon and Garfunkel’s Like a Bridge over Trouble Water CD

Delilah:  A Great Clips gift certificate

Goliath:  A rock proof helmet

David:  A lock for the roof top door

Solomon:  700 “Best Wife Ever” necklaces

Elisha: A year’s membership in Hair Club for Men

Nehemiah:  A wall sized mural of Artaxerxes

Jonah: Whale-sized antacid

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego:  Fire proof socks

Daniel: Lions season tickets

Those are just plain silly.  What’s not silly is remembering that Christmas is not about WHAT IS UNDER THE TREE.  Instead Christmas is still about WHO MADE THE TREES and yet WHO HUNG ON A TREE for you and me.  Christmas is still all about Jesus!

 

Fake News has become a real news issue.  Fake News is what it says it is.  Fake.  A lie.  Gossip and unfounded rumors.  It looks like it is real news.  Usually it is “news” that confirms the opinions of the Fake News reader and gives them further resolve to hold such ideas.  Of course, the news is fake.  It’s a lie. Those who write Fake News do so to make real money.  The more readers on their Fake News web site, the more advertising dollars it generates.

Fake News also produces nut cases.  This week a guy drove to Washington DC with the intent of killing someone over a Fake News story.  Crazy.  The Pope issued a warning about Fake News.  So did the President. Social media sites are doing their best to eliminate Fake News. So should everyone.  Fake News is stupid.

Fake News is old news.  People have been lying ever since Adam and Eve were hanging out in Eden. I’ve had people lie about me.  You’ve had people lie about you I suspect.  As long as we live in a sinful world (not shocking) people will act sinful. Slanderous talk. Lies. Gossip.  They are all the work of the worst Fake News perpetrator, our Enemy whom Jesus called “the Father of Lies.”

The Good News on the other hand produces life, love, forgiveness and peace.  The Good News is why this is the Season of Joy.  In a world filled with lies, gossip and Fake News, the Good News of great joy is that the Truth was born in Bethlehem.  The Good News which the angel’s proclaimed is still Good News of Great Joy: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

To a people being fed a steady diet of Fake News and Bad News, we are to be bearers of the Good News.  Good News is the God News that Jesus Christ is born, God is with us and we no longer are held captive to this Bad News and Fake News world.   Like the Bethlehem shepherds, don’t keep the Good News to yourself.  Experience it. Live it.  Share it.

In my Christmas celebration, I might have some strange traditions (i.e. I’ve been known to put the sheep on top of the stable), but the good people in Catalonia, Spain have us all beat. “The Caganer” is a part of the nativity scenes in Catalonia. “The Caganer” literally means (please forgive me for writing this) “The Pooper.”  You read that right.  The Caganer is a figurine in the manger scene along with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the rest.  But the Caganer figurine, dressed in traditional Catalonian clothes, is (ummmm….) “taking care of his business.”  This has been a Catalonia tradition for over 200 years and no one is quite sure why.  Usually the figurine is placed off to the side or behind the stable, where he is doing #2.  The most logical theory in my mind is that the Caganer expresses the truth that many people are unprepared for the coming of Jesus (both in Bethlehem and now).  That may or may not be the reason for this strange addition to the nativity.  Interestingly, the tradition has now morphed and famous people (President Obama, the Pope, Queen Elizabeth, Sponge Bob, etc.) figurines are sold in such a position to be placed in nativity scenes.  It’s weird. (Google “pooping Nativity” and you will get an eyeful of this crazy tradition).

If the early church fathers could see what our 21^st century American expression of the Christmas season has become, they might be more offended by our frenzied, consumeristic Christmas than even the bizarre Catalonian tradition.  Advent was meant to be a time of reflection.  Most of us are too exhausted to reflect on anything.  We were to use this season to learn the importance of patience while we waited for the arrival of the newborn King. If you think the season has anything to do with patience, try finding a parking place in the same zip code as the shopping mall next Saturday or stand in the mile-long checkout line at the lone register with a human clerk at Walmart in the next month. Very little patience will be observed.  The celebrations of coming of the new born King were to be after His arrival not before.  In many ways. we’ve gotten things backwards.

We are at the front end of the Advent season (my first Christmas gathering is tonight).  In the next 25 days we won’t be able to escape some of the traps of the season. Shopping, gatherings, and the busyness of the dreaded Christmas rush is upon us. Ready or not.  But throughout this season, could we keep in mind that Jesus came for none of this stuff?  He didn’t come so that we would decorate our houses with soon-to-be dead pine trees or that we would receive mountains of gifts or drink peppermint mochas in red cups. He came so that we might have “life and have it to the full.”  In many ways, everything else is (ummm….) what the Caganer leaves behind.

I hope my poo pooing (pun intended) our traditions doesn’t turn me into a Scrooge, I simply want us to keep our focus on Jesus throughout the season.

 

As we all know, Thanksgiving is a time for turkey, football and family get-togethers. So in order to truly have a “Happy” Thanksgiving those three things must be enjoyable.

Assuming the you are not my brother, it’s tough to ruin a turkey (I will spare you the long details, just take this advice: Do not use licorice in the turkey stuffing).  As for the football, well the Lions are playing and while they may technically be in first place the Lions are still the Lions.  To be happy with the outcome of a Lions’ football game, it’s best to enjoy the atmosphere, the crowd, the athletic achievement of the players and not get too wrapped up in the score.  Finally, to have a “Happy” Thanksgiving, your family gathering will need to be pleasant too.  That might be tricky in this season of a nation divided.  So here are my “Saving-the-Family –from-a-Fight-Before-it-Starts tips” and how to have Happy Thanksgiving with family members who voted opposite of you.

During the gathering, it would be best to avoid the following:

1)  No matter how you voted, don’t use the words “Clinton” or “Trump.”   This may be a difficult challenge if part of your Thanksgiving tradition involves playing card games like euchre or Rook where someone calls “trump.”  Instead of trump, I suggest calling it “The swooped haired special card grouping.”  My sister lives in Clinton Township (by Detroit), there are a few residents of her municipality that haven’t mentioned their city’s name since Monica Lewinski was a hot topic. My sister is not hosting the Thanksgiving gathering this year, so even my GPS will not be saying “Clinton” township.

2)  Don’t loudly announce: “I’m building a wall around this turkey no one gets a slice without the proper papers!” 

 3)  Don’t ask: “Can I use your computer, Aunt Suzie, my personal email server is causing me troubles?”

 4)  If you don’t like either team playing football (It’s the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings in the first game), please don’t start cheering for the New England Patriots.  No matter how loud you cheer for a third party, that team will not win.

And 5) Most importantly, Pray!   The Apostle Paul was not thinking about our divided nation and how we might make our Thanksgiving gatherings “Happy” when he wrote to Timothy, but his words apply to us this year.  He wrote:  First of all, I ask you to pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. (1 Timothy 2:1 CEV).   

Imagine if we did that for our relatives that voted opposite of us.  If we prayed for everyone and asked God to help and bless them all.  Imagine how our attitudes might change if we thought of ways we are thankful even for the most cantankerous relative. Paul used a lot of inclusive language in that one verse: (“everyone,” “them all,” and “each of them”).  He didn’t leave anybody out.  There are no exceptions.  So let’s pray for everyone who will be at our Thanksgiving Table—Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike.

If we follow Paul’s advice to pray for everyone, I believe we will have a Happy Thanksgiving—even if the turkey is overcooked and the Lions lose.

 

Will the same angst that propelled Donald Trump to the White House in 2016 creep into the mindset of the Nazarene General Assembly in 2017?

I think it might.

I’m not talking politics.  I’m talking mindset– an unsettled dissatisfaction with the status quo.  There seems to be a mistrust of authority and the ability to voice displeasure with a greater ease.  Moreover, a nostalgia for the perceived past by the disgruntled American congregant adds to the current anxiety.

I’ve pastored in Nazarene mecca in the not too distant past and now I am back in the rust belt that helped propel Donald Trump to victory.  I’m deep in the grass roots of the Church of the Nazarene far away from the Nazarene decision makers in Lenexa.  I’m out of any loop in other words.  I have no insider information.  I only have my anecdotal observations.

Thanks in part to the heated election, the angst of people is real. Many church folks have taken an anti-James 1:19 approach to life. James 1:19 says: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  I’ve seen just the opposite.  People are slow to listen, but quick to speak and quick to be angry.  Saying the “wrong” word or addressing the “wrong” issue in the mind of many brings the speedy wrath and suspicion against the speaker.

A mistrust toward authority is everywhere. Like the anger expressed by Trump supporters before the election and the anger expressed by Clinton supporters after the election, this mistrust is from all sides.  These are interesting days to pastor (to say the least).

The shrinking influence of the church in public life and upon the culture has added to the angst.   Like in the political arena where in part many people voted based on a perceived better time in the past that has “slipped away,” many people in the church long for the perceived “good old days” too. They remember the days when people dropped everything when the church called a meeting.  Their kids and grandkids aren’t doing that these days.  They are sitting in folding chairs at soccer games on Sunday mornings more than they are sitting in a pew.  Church folks long for familiar songs in worship and a familiar American Holiness version of sanctification (if they talk about sanctification at all).  In many cases, there is a fundamentalist lens in which much of the nostalgia is viewed. They see the greying of the American church and are legitimately worried about the demise of their local congregation in which they have invested their life. The angst grows.

Social media has provided a greater audience and fuel to a quick angered and slow listening angst.  Hiding behind a computer screen, people are free to share vile objections (Read: gossip and malicious talk) to a far greater audience than in the past.  A decade ago, if a carnal believer wanted to share their biased concerns they told a friend or two who might or might not believe the information. The friends of the disgruntled person (because they knew their friend’s personality and struggles) would evaluate the validity of the claim.  Today, the discontent person shares on Facebook and Twitter their dissatisfaction. The result is that people who are merely Facebook “friends” and Twitter followers and who don’t have the same connection to the individual as the close associates of a decade ago then take the biased misinformation as fact. The result is fuel to a perceived fire that might or might not actually exist.

If this nostalgia for an imagined past, mistrust of authority and a slow to listen but quick to anger in social media and life exists, it stands to reason that it will be brought to Indianapolis in the 2017 General Assembly.  How it will play out in church elections and decisions is yet to be seen, but if the presidential election is an indicator the General Assembly will be a more vocal and angered gathering than ever in our history.

So what can be done?

Pray.

The only hope for the church is God’s intervention.  We need God to be present with the decision makers and with our leaders. We need God to work in the hearts and minds of the delegation.  We need His wisdom.  Rather than a reactionary quick tempered response to current events and the changing times or ignoring the issues of the day, we need to be creative and open to God making all things new (even in the Church of the Nazarene). This General Assembly will have the new challenges of a very diverse collection of delegates with various world views and opinions.  It is imperative that our delegates gather with a God first, God inspired desire to see His will done.  If the Church of the Nazarene is going to be a force in the 21^st Century we need bold, courageous leadership and people that are “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Don’t let my current manly physique fool you, the truth is I wasn’t much of a fighter as a boy. I was in one scuffle (if you can call it that) in my school years.  This “Battle Royale” was not a remake of the “Thrilla in Manila” nor did it take place in Madison Square Garden.  It was in Mr. McNulty’s 8th grade math class at Radcliffe Junior High School.  My opponent was a big, moose of kid name, John Bird. If I ate a big lunch and had a lot of quarters in my pockets I might have weighed 80 pounds.  Look up the word “mismatch” in the dictionary and I think there is still a picture of the classic John Bird vs. Rob Prince showdown.

Here’s what happened: I may have made some smart aleck remark to young Mr. Bird.  I think the comments revolved around his lack of academic achievement and I may or may not have call him a “Bird brain.” Surprisingly and swiftly, Mr. Bird took exception such comments and proceeded to smack me silly.

The scrum didn’t take long.  He hit me.  I hit the floor.  End of fight. This was not a David and Goliath remake. One punch and I was out for the count.  Mr. McNulty quickly intervened and sent us to the principal’s office where the matter was resolved.  I promised to not refer to John as a “Bird Brain” and he promised to not pound me into the 21^st century.  While John never invited me to his house for crumpets and tea following that encounter, we did experience a bit of détente and mutual respect. It didn’t take long for us to have conversations, to joke and laugh and have life get back to normal.

Why remind you of my eighth grade mismatch?  Simple, our nation has just come through a tough electoral fight. No punches were thrown by the candidates but it was a national brouhaha. Moving forward we won’t be sending either candidate to the principal’s office (maybe we should), but for the good of the country we need to find solutions to our differences.  There is truth to Jesus’ wisdom:  If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand (Mark 3:25).  We must be the UNITED States.

Unity is achieved by listening to a few other things that Jesus said like:

Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). Even if your neighbor didn’t vote like you did.

Love your enemies (Matthew 5:44).  Even if they really, really didn’t vote like you.

Seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Seek his glory!  Not your glory.  Not Republican glory or Democrat glory.  Seek His Kingdom and His glory… FIRST!

Clearly our nation is divided. The election process has revealed many systemic problems, deep hurts and huge differences that exist between people who call themselves Americans.  For our nation to be healed and one, we need to start listening to our neighbor, loving them and in all things becoming more and more like Jesus.

Pray for America.

Pray that God would use you to help in the healing.

And Love… your neighbor, your enemy and love this land in which we live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the beginning of our Spiritual Renewal Week, our wonderful Sr. Adult Pastor Dr. Steve Anthony challenged our seniors to give $100 in support of the services. I am not a senior adult.  Neither is my bride.  While she is three months closer to receiving a social security check than me (Talking point #1 for the marriage counselor: Sharing that one’s wife is older than you could be construed as a bad idea), I also thought it would be a good idea to support our revival with $100.

As Karla was preparing dinner for our evangelist, I said to her, “Hey, I’m going to write out a $100 check for revival tonight.”  Maybe the noise of the pea pods frying (Talking Point #2:  Serving pea pods to guests and a finicky husband is literally in bad taste) was distracting or possibly the aroma of baked macaroni and cheese caused confusion, but in any event she heard, “YOU need to write out a $100 check for revival tonight.” (Talking point #3: Failure to communicate).

To further complicate matters, Karla arrived a tad late for the service (Talking Point #4: The importance of arriving early), so she was sitting in the back of the sanctuary and I was sitting in the front (Talking point #5: The importance of sitting together in church).  Following the receiving of the offering (FOLLOWING THE OFFERING!!), I received a text from her (Talking point #6: No phone usage in church unless it is an emergency or to check the score of the World Series game), stating that SHE HAD GIVEN $100 for the revival expenses.  Did I mention that she sent this text FOLLOWING THE OFFERING (Talking Point #7:  Never write in ALL CAPS in reference to your wife)?

So the Princes gave TWO $100 checks for the Spiritual Renewal Week (Talking Point #8: Handling finances), and now we have to pay for a marriage counselor too (Talking Point #9:  Airing the families “dirty laundry” in an all church blog and Facebook).  For all the wonderful outcomes of our Spiritual Renewal Week, my bride and I are a casualty (Talking Point #10: How the preacher/husband might slightly embellish a story) and that is how Spiritual Renewal Week Ruined my Marriage.

While it is true, we both gave a $100 check toward Spiritual Renewal Week, it is not true that this caused weeping and gnashing of teeth or an appointment with a marriage counselor.

Why tell you my troubles (real and imagined)?  It’s a simple reminder that while our Spiritual Renewal Week with Dr. Scott Daniels (my favorite preacher) may be over, let’s not let the revival end in our lives.  Pray that God would work in your home this week.  Invite a friend to church this Sunday.  Expect great things from the Lord whenever we gather!  Let’s live into verses like Psalm 85:6:  Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Let’s continue to pray for Spiritual Renewal in our lives.