Yesterday, I posted that some of us may need to rethink our ideas regarding persecution. Which brings us to the realization of if we are feeling persecuted, we have “enemies” in some sense. And when we have enemies, eventually we’ll realize that we need some type of plan dealing with their attacks and with them personally and collectively but for now, let’s focus on the idea that we really do have enemies.

The story of the crucifixion of Jesus includes that initially, it seemed that he was defeated by his enemies.  And this happened in spectacular fashion. Betrayed, abandoned, unjustly found guilty in poor excuses of “trials” by men more interested in power than justice, tortured, mocked, then crucified is just about the worst death one could have and add to it that the same crowd who cheered for him a week before, were among those that cried “Kill him!” Among the things are happening is that all of his (and our) enemies are uniting and converging against him at this terrible and tragic moment.

I am fortunate enough that I can not really relate. I suppose in some sense we have all experienced elements of these (betrayal, abandonment, etc.) Sadly, some of us have experienced this from our families, even our churches and people we regarded in our inner circle and some have been attacked by people who don’t even know us.

I want to make the point that whether we realize it or not, we all have enemies. For a good while, I thought I didn’t really have any real enemies. There are reasons for that ranging from a desire of being quick to reconcile with others to living in the suburbs. But I am wrong, For many reasons I have not realized and will continue to realize, I have many.  You do too.

Though the Christian ethic is one rooted in love we have to see that Jesus had and fought with his enemies. Any serious reading of Scripture forces us to ask ourselves, “Why was he so hard on those Pharisees?” Couldn’t Jesus have sat down with them, took the wine and made them mocha frappuccinos and spelled it all out for them? And what about the time in the wilderness with the devil? Why doesn’t Jesus say to him, “Hey, I think we got off on the wrong foot a few thousand years ago, let’s see if we reconcile?” I mean, imagine if the devil repented.

You don’t know how painful that last line was to write. I hope it was painful to read. We can discuss the reasons, the context, the scenes endlessly, but it’s important we take seriously the evil, the resistance and the selfishness of the heart. In any case, it seemed Jesus was content to have a few enemies.

Well, that’s great, we’re off the hook then. Because frankly, I’m not even sure I have any “enemies” in that sense. How about that – Jesus has more enemies than me.

But we’re not off the hook. Jesus doesn’t have these enemies because He is socially inept or has a lack of manners, He has these enemies because He’s fighting dangerous battles. He’s fighting all types of injustice, he’s fighting greed and pride and selfishness, even disease. Ultimately, he’s fighting pain, evil and death.

He has enemies because the world is flawed and a righteous man cannot stay neutral in a fallen world.

We have enemies. They are similar to whom Jesus fought. The self-righteous, the deceitful, the corrupt. From the sexual predators to the traffickers, to the greedy businessmen, to the manipulative pastor – these are our enemies too.

This Lent, I encourage you to identify those that are our enemies. I caution you from making a list of the pet-peeves we have, like “self-indulgent celebrities”, “people who drive slow in the fast lane”, people of a particular denomination, tribe, stripe, etc.  Let’s ask ourselves, who/what are the enemies of the Kingdom of God?

We may not only find that we are fighting the wrong battles but we may also find that sometimes we’re fighting on the wrong side.

One of my favorite parts of my new position here at Grace Chapel is leading our Oasis class. It’s a class designed for small group leaders to help them prepare the studies they’ll be leading this week. Based on the Sunday morning message, it’s our hope to not only reinforce the sermon but to explore its context, interpretation and application collectively.

This week’s sermon was on discipleship (preached by Pastor of Community Care, Jim Ennis) and it chronicled Peter from when Jesus called him, to when he was rebuked to when he boldly preached the gospel in Acts. When we talk about faithful discipleship, hopefully, at some point, we end up talking about sacrifice. And when we talk about sacrifice, eventually we talk about persecution.

One of the questions of my study asked, “…what risks do present day Christians face in being identified as Christ-followers?” This question generated some discussion.

[Read more…]

Ever click through old pictures and experience both, horror and a sense of joy? The thoughts range from, “Oh that’s right, I used to think that was cool” to “I remember that day, one of my favorites” to “I wish I could go back and …”

I write that not after watching a nostalgic movie (like Top Gun) nor after listening to something like Guns & Rose’s “November Rain” (has there ever been a Lenten reflection to mention G&R?) but after being at our Ash Wednesday service. A boy, probably about 12 said he was taking communion for the first time as that day, he decided to become a Christian.  I was genuinely excited for him and escorted him to the front and shared this with the elder serving communion who graciously instructed him how to partake before saying, “This is the Body of Christ, broken for you …”

I remember the first time I took communion. My mom slapped my hand as I grabbed a handful of crackers from the plate (I was 6 [Read more…]

During the announcements this past Sunday, I invited everyone to take part in our Ash Wednesday Service. I briefly shared that if you have ever had the experience that I had of sitting in a church sanctuary Easter Sunday with the realization that you were not ready to celebrate the glory of the Resurrection, I encourage you to participate this Lent with us. It prepares our hearts, enriches our lives and amplifies our worship to our Lord.

So off and on for the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do and not do for Lent. In some sense, each year gets tougher, but each year offers clarity as well so there’s a good bit of joy in thinking about this.

[Read more…]

I’ve been thinking about the tragic and untimely death of Whitney Houston and how it connects to these posts on celebritism. The first thought that comes to me is that in today’s media-driven, celebrity-preoccupied culture, celebrity deaths receive extraordinary attention.

In some ways, it may seem like an odd thing to be saddened of a death of someone that doesn’t know of your existence. In some ways, it’s still very normal. People have always mourned the death of people they don’t know. The loss of life is sad on any level and it’s a good thing because the opposite, apathy, seems like an inhumane response.

I remember hearing the story of one of my grandmothers crying when she heard the news that John F Kennedy Jr. was [Read more…]

I am continuing in my series of exploring celebritism. I had a handful of posts that I weeded out because they carried me away from my original point so I think I’ve got reset again. I’ll post about the tragic and untimely death of Whitney Houston another time as it sadly points to much of what I am saying.

In trying to outline this series of posts, I found the number of people that we regard as celebrities in some way to be incredible and a bit alarming. (In my first post on this, I simply defined a celebrity as a famous, or well known person). While I too have an aversion to stereotyping, I eventually succumbed to the need for it here – hope you’ll see why by the end.

Too Many Different Types of Celebrities:

1. “The Classic Celebrity” – The A-listers of A-listers. They have been talked or will be talked about for decades. Hollywood types like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie. Music types like Bono, Lady Gaga, and Jay-Z. Athletes like Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, and Tom Brady. There is always a handful of modeling celebrities in this grouping, television icons like Dick Clark and a handful of what we could call American royalties like former Presidents. They were the Mickey Mantles and the Marilyn Monroes, the James Deans and the JFK’s.

2. “The Entertainment Celebrity” – Jerry Seinfeld, Betty White, Jake Gyllenhall. All the “It” people whose faces are pictured outside theaters, who critics promise us played an “unforgettable performance”. The really good ones create a connection with us through our screens. It’s interesting how we begin to identify them as “friends” over the years. It’s worth noting that according to the tabloid system, you can up your celebrtism by marrying another celebrity.

3. “The Industry Celebrity” – They “entertain” in a different way – their innovation changed our lives. Steve Jobs was one, Bill Gates is and now people like Mark Zuckerberg fit in this group. People talk about them in a way similar to the way I imagine they did about Edison, Rockefeller and Carnegie.

4. “The Temporary Celebrity” – Katy Perry and Justin Bieber. I know it seems that they will never go away but they are the Alanis Morissette’s and Kid Rock’s of today.

5. “The Villain Celebrity” – Kim Kardashian, LeBron James, Paris Hilton and now Casey Anthony and Jerry Sandusky. Previous villains included the controversial Madonna who was loved again after releasing successful hit albums. Sinead O’Conner, Marilyn Manson and OJ Simpson have fallen off the map into general indifference in perhaps what’s called the “Forgotten Celebrity”.

6. “The Fall from Grace Celebrity” – Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Lindsay Lohan (as posted about earlier). Adored until we hear the words, “Breaking News, reports have been released that …”

7. “The Christian Celebrity” – Being a pastor, I felt the need to include this as every sector/profession of life has theirs. Depending on your corner of the church, these names vary. In my corner, these names are Billy Graham, Tim Keller, Rob Bell, and John Piper. All are white men and three of the four are mid-age to older. Historically, there was really one name you knew, it was the Pope and interestingly enough, his name was always changed. That was until the reformers arrived on the scene and as they had hoped, now preacher’s names are hanging above the stage where the cross of Christ traditionally hung. Ok, that was certainly not their intention, I digress.  But for better or worse, we do need to realize that there are celebrities in the Church.

What This Tells Us
In these categories there are overlaps, there is an A-List, B-List and countless other sub-categories including the wanna-be’s, has-been’s and never will-be’s. They line up at auditions, veg out in front of televisions and never take risks. We could go on here but I have three points to this exercise:

One, we clearly have no shortage of celebrities – and among the many things it reveals, is our need of consumption. And if money can be made from this product, chances are there will be a celebrity to endorse and sell it to us. As mentioned in my first post, the celebrity will always be with us.

Two, it also reveals our apparent need to objectify people. They may be famous but they only matter to us if we like what they do. Even worse, when they no longer interest us, we discard them and when we do, we are in effect saying, people are disposable.

I liken this to us each having a “gladiator” arena. Throughout our week, people are collected for our enjoyment, their performances analyzed, and our pleasure is tabulated by our response at the box-office, the sports arena, how we purchase the products they endorse and how many people “tuned in”. There are now shows that demonstrate how all this done, complete with auditions, judges and “text in your vote”.

When we no longer have any use for them, we give the “thumbs down” sign and whether we look or not, they are quickly removed from our midst.

Third, in light of all of this, we need to be aware how we endorse and help create this system. Know that I am not saying to the fellow Christian that we need to boycott the entertainment industry or culture in general (I find that way of thinking to be unhelpful). Know that I am not saying that we need to save, rescue, or destroy the celebrity system any more than our many other dysfunctional “systems” we have all taken part in creating (political, health, class-system, etc.). What we as believers should already be doing is proclaiming and bringing the redemption demonstrated to us through the person and work of Jesus in all that we say and do.

So, regarding celebritism, what I am saying is that people are people, created in the image of God and deserve that dignity regardless of what our media or even our friends say about them. In doing so, the “celebrity” de-celebritiizes, becomes a normal person, becomes like you and me. Even more importantly, understanding this may allow us to see people the way God sees them.

Thoughts, comments, push backs, feel free …

During the introduction, Pastor Bryan told this story.  Legend has it that Ernest Hemmingway was having dinner with his writer friends and he told them he could write a story in only six words. They bet him he couldn’t so he took out a napkin and wrote these words: For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn.

A powerful and sad story invoking many mental pictures and conjuring numerous thoughts.

More of these stories can be found at sixwordstories.net and examples include:
Missed my plane caught her eye.
Nerdy kid, rocket launcher, bully gone.

As Bryan, said, it only takes a a handful of words to make us laugh or break our hearts.

This sermon focused on the fall of Jerusalem and their six word story was: Covenant made, Covenant Broken Disaster Falls. Judah had already fallen to the Assyrians in 609BC but Jerusalem hung in there. In just 5 years, the Babylonian empire conquered the entire region, the Assyrians, took over Judah and the Egyptians retreated back West.

Jerusalem tried to survive the but was finally conquered in 587BC by King Nebuchadnezzar’s army. Then the exile would begin. More on the exile next time but that was the sermon that I was privileged to give the following week.

I re-listened to this message the other day (a semi-consistent habit that I have made a difference in a few ways, you can listen here) and it made me reflect on the fall of Jerusalem. Back in college, I had the opportunity to visit the holy city (and look forward to one day going again). One of the consistent themes throughout the tour was when the guide would say, “This is where (insert significant landmark here) is believed to be but of course, underneath all of this in one of the older layers of the city.” Jerusalem had been destroyed and rebuilt so many times that so many of the landmarks of the First Century are lost below. That’s why archaeologist dig.

It made me wonder of what I have seen fall over the years. Naturally, I thought of 9-11, and then remembered quickly that thankfully, the entire city had not fallen which magnified the idea that the entire city of Jerusalem had fallen. I have seen so many “natural disaster and alien invasion” type movies where cities and masses of people have been annihilated but I was really struck by the tragedy of what happened in 587BC.

As I thought a little bit more, I thought of other types of “falls” – like the Fall of the Berlin Wall was a great moment for us all. I thought of some trivial types of falls like when a sports team fails in spectacular fashion in the midst of high expectations. I thought of how marriages and relationships and people “fall”. I reflected on my own failures and while I don’t have anything epic enough to impress you with here, I do remember the pain of these times.

It’s a pastoral instinct to finish a sermon, study, blog post on some type of a higher note. But since it’s a sermon journey, I think it’s good to linger here in the ashes a little longer. Maybe there is something for you to reflect on. I’ll just end with a six word transitional story:

Hope Looks Lost … To Be Continued