Something to Wear

It was early in our marriage. I do not remember where we were going--just that we were going out.  I, of course, was ready before Kimberly.  I was waiting in the living room.  She finally came out took one look at me and said, "Is that what you are wearing?" 

What kind of question is that?  "Is that what I am wearing?"

"No, this is just my warm up out fit. I thought I would put these clothes on to get me good and ready for what I am really going to wear!"  That's what I thought, but instead I said, "Would you like me to wear something else?"

"No, that's fine." 

Again, thinking to myself but not saying it, "What does that mean..."fine"?  I 'll tell you what fine means...when she says it fine it never means fine." 

"I'm going to change.  What would you like me to wear?"

"Whatever you want to wear is fine."

"O, my word, woman, you are killing me.  I get it. I can't dress myself.  So, tell me what you want me to wear and we'll all go on our merry way," of course, I don't say this either. I just storm to the room and pray I can figure out what she wanted me to wear. :-)

Thankfully our marriage has evolved past this kind of nonsense.  Now she will just tell me flat out if I need her to dress me and I am quite fine with it.  But for this blog, the point is we have made something to wear complicated. 

However, the Apostle Paul reminds us that baptism has given us something new to wear every day.  In baptism we are stripped of our reason to run, hide and cover up and given new clothes.  In God's walk-in closet there is only one garment.  It is the garment of love.  Not love as sentiment or empty feelings or mere words or emotional goose bumps.  The kind of love that God gives us to wear from our baptism day forward is the love described in 1 Corinthians 13 (take a look at it for yourself--it says love is a positive choice of action toward others in the name of Christ regardless of one's feelings about said person). 

This garment of love never goes out of style.  It costs nothing and costs everything at the same time.  It is a name brand that will not make anyone wealthy in money, but will certainly make the world wealthy in what matters.  However, in our baptism, this new garment of love that Jesus puts on us is too big.  It is purposely huge on us. 

Perhaps we are tempted to look up and say, "Father, I am sorry this is too big for me."   

To which the Father replies, "I know.  My love is always too big for you.  Now that you have received these new clothes of baptism you must rely on my Holy Spirit to grow you into this outfit of love day by day until you see my son face to face." 

Each day as I have been putting on the cross necklace we were given on Sunday, I have been thinking about these things. I have been reminded daily since then that my baptism was never suppose to be an event of the past to be remembered, but to be an apparel of love I put on every day for Christ' sake.  Paul said it best in Colossians 3:17, "Let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way." 

So, let me ask you.  Is that what you are going to wear? 

If you are wearing God's love, then you can answer enthusiastically and without apology, "Yes, this is the only outfit God cares for me to wear.  And in consideration of his love for us, there is no better way for me to show Him my love for him than to wear his love for the whole world to see."  

WARNING: Don't Read If You Are Not in the Mood For Honesty

Sunday, our special speaker from Peacemaker ministry reminded us that the first key that unlocks the door to peacemaking is confession. Around LH, we call that being real.  The speaker even referenced a passage we regularly remind ourselves of and that is James 5:16.  So, today, I have a confession to make. It seems to be a sin with which we pastor types sub come to as easy prey.  I confess to you that on a weekly basis since May, I have been fighting, sometimes winning and sometimes loosing, the sin of distraction.  Even this week, I have found my self easily distracted by the petty. 

You know what is funny...at LH, the majority get this truth: Church is not about me, rather I am created for the Church.  The majority at LH not only recite, but are daily learning to live out what it means to be real, transformed, connected and poured out.  Praise God!

My word...with a church like this, I should be living on cloud nine every day...but you know what...I'm not.  No, since May I have been very distracted. I have been required to give an unusual amount of time and energy to a very small group of people who had become unhappy with LH and had decided to part ways.  While I honestly and truly respect these folks for loving God and the church enough to move forward,  I confess my distraction, which is all on me not on them.  In my sin of distraction, I have allowed myself to be pulled away from the amazing good that God is doing in and among the majority of you.  For this, I want to apologize. If I have seemed distracted, distant or discouraged it has been because I have been.  You deserve better and I am sorry.  Will you please forgive me?

I think one of the families who left us summed up what could be pointed to as the summary of why this small group of folks had become unhappy with us.  (I admit I have wrestled with whether or not to share this, but as I have been studying the NT letters to the churches, I see that by not doing so I am not being faithful to their biblical example). Someone seemed to sum it up best when they said, "Living Hope is not the same church it was ten years ago." 

I admit that they are right.  We are not the same church we were ten years ago.  For us to go back to being the same church we were ten years ago, we would need to move back to the old building, get rid of all of you who were not here ten years ago, quit Food 2 Go, stop serving orphans in Ukraine, not even think about joining Circles Re-entry which is helping ex-offenders never return to prison, tell Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that we have better things to do than help the poorest people in the USA, not be working with Men of Action to start the first safe house in Dayton for victims of human trafficking, not be feeding kids through Kids Against Hunger packs, we'd need to tell our teens and children that we are OK with over 75% of them leaving their faith when they graduate and never coming back to Christ, we would go back to barely having 30% involved in connecting, we would not have a poured out fund that is designated to helping others and we would not even be thinking about the 100% offering give away in January and I would not have at all grown in my understanding or boldness in preaching the biblical theology that says you can't over speak that God is love and that we are to be a people that lives out that love everywhere in order to fulfill Jesus prayer to usher in his kingdom coming on earth here and now and forever.  So, it is true, we are not the same church we were ten years ago and I pray that by God's help and your continued amazing faith ten years from now we will look back and say, "Praise God we are not the same church we were in 2012!"

Last night, I woke up at 1 AM and could not go to sleep.  My mind was racing.  I first prayed for all the people, some of them you, who the Lord brought to mind--we have so many good people fighting the good fight in Celebrate Recovery, the Prayer Ministry  for Inner healing, Freedom from Anger and Divorce Care (Most of which we also did not have ten years ago).   But then I started praying about my distractions...funny...God can even speak through our distractions...as I was praying God said I need to let him help me shift my focus to what HE is doing among us!

This reminded me of what God said when Moses asked him what was his name.  God answered, "I AM."  God is not the God of yesterday.  God is the God of today!  He is!  Right now.  In this moment.  God is!  Praise Him!  And in this moment the I Am God is on the move in and through you, LH. 

As I was praying God began to bring to mind what he is doing.  He said, "Chad, it is time for you to start celebrating what I am doing in your midst!"

" Celebrating, what, Lord? , I asked.

Then came to mind, "Celebrate tribal councils, public schools and local and county governments!"

I knew exactly what he was talking about...praise God for you!

Praise God that you are Church that a Tribal Council in South Dakota thinks to call! This week Charlene Karacia shared with me that the tribal Council from Pine Ridge Reservation called and said, "When you come can you bring 25 blankets?"  Don't miss how huge this is!  The tribal council does not just call anyone. In fact, generations of broken trust has taught this poverty stricken people to not call on any one outside their tribe.  But in Doug and Charlene Karacia they have found someone they see as trustworthy and even family.  Did you know they invited them to the tribal Sun dance a year or two ago and they were the first outsiders invited for countless generations?  What is that about?  That is about God moving and working his kingdom through the Karacias and you.  Each one of you who have or will donate food items, some cash or a warm new or gently used blankets by this Sunday will be extending God's love to these forgotten people next week when our mission team travels to them.

Praise God that the public schools call us!  The teacehr of the special needs students at CHS cried as she called to tell us that a large amount of Food 2 Go food was stolen from the High School.  She apologized as if it was some how her fault.  Karen Dubro and Larry Fouty answered the call in a way that helped this lovely teacher know that our God is bigger than stolen food.  Sure this put us in a bind, but we know God will provide and through you...you amazing people called LH, he has and will!

Praise God that the local government thinks to call a church!  Centerville called last month to see if we would help with the Veteran's Ceremony in November. Our Support the Military group is running with it in a way that has amazed the city.  They said,. "We did not know there was a church that had a support your military group."

Praise God that the county government sees LH as a people with whom to partner for the good of our county!  Ex-offenders returning to prison is a huge national problem, but Montgomery County in cooperation with Think Tank's Circles Re-entry is doing something about this.  All they needed was a faith community in the suburbs to partner with them.  Our very own, Scott Copitz, brought this need to LH and now over 20 from LH are involved in the beautiful, power, reciprocal relationship called Circles.  Former state Legislator, John White said, "In Living Hope we have found a church who has it in their DNA to be involved in gritty, scary ministry."   Praise God!

In the last several months, I have wrestled with whether or not to share this with you.  But, the nagging thought in the back of my head has been that I have never not been real with you. I have always shared what I am going through because I truly believe if we are to be a church that is real that I must not just preach it, but live it.  So, yes, I confess I have been engaged in the sin of distraction.  But today, as I confess, I am free to more clearly see how powerful it is that we are not the same church we were ten years ago because now the likes of Tribal Councils, Public Schools and even the Government turns to a Church in Centerville, OH, not because their is anything special about its pastor--Did I really say, "spiritual orgasm" because it best made point a couple weeks ago? Nor is it because of our building--have you seen our carpet lately? It is not becuase we are the biggest church around or have the most money, but because the majority of people called LH truly get that our faith is something to be lived and that means being real, transformed, connected and poured out! 

If this was too honest for you, please know it is your own fault for reading it--I warned you in the title :-)  But for the rest of you, I want you to hear me say how grateful I am for you. You are amazing.  And I believe we are experiencing the best days of our Church and even greater days are ahead.  In fact, on Sunday I get to share one great new thing that our board just voted to make happen for our Children's ministry!  Thank you for letting me be real!  I already feel as though He has lifted a weight that I had begun to wonder if would be lifted.  Praise God!

"Miracles We Forget to Count"

Today I saw a miracle in a cemetery. 

Before I share about that miracle, let me warn you that it was a miracle we can be tempted to overlook.  The miracle that I saw today is not the kind of miracle that will make the news or spread like wild fire through email chain letters or face book shares.  Everyone loves to note miracles like sick people suddenly being made well, blind eyes opening, deaf ears hearing and the dead coming back to life.  Please do not misunderstand me; I am not saying such miracles are not reason to give God praise--they are!  I have witnessed such miracles through our very own prayer chain and prayer gatherings.  I believe God still does these kind of miracles.  However, I also believe we can live blind to a different kind of miracle that is just as amazing as the ones I just described. 

So, now back to where I started:  I saw a miracle in a cemetery today.  I was asked to do a funeral for a 47 year old man who died suddenly last week.  I did not know that man or his family, but Brenda Barion, a member of Living Hope, did.  Brenda called me and asked if I would officiate at the funeral.  I did so this morning.  After the grave side service, I watched as Brenda went to the deceased man's mother, whispered something in her ear and gave her a hug.  The grieving mother wept in Brenda's arms.  As I watched I realized I was witnessing a miracle. 

Many of you know Brenda's story, but just in case you don't, let me fill you in (you can read her story in the book she published, "Take it Easy Martha" which can be purchased on Amazon.com).  Brenda's son was murdered a few years ago.  In fact, her son is buried in the same cemetery just yards away from where we buried this other Mother's son today.  Now are you starting to see the miracle?

How can a Mother have a murderer rob her of her son and then be there to comfort another mother who has lost her son? The answer: A miracle.  As I watched Brenda comfort another grieving Mother I realized I was witnessing a miracle that is every bit as astonishing as if that son had been raised from the dead during the funeral. 

Please, again, don't get me wrong...I too prefer to see the miracles of dead people being resurrected, but I am also learning to not let my desire for those kind of miracles to cause me to miss miracles of a different kind.  The kind like I saw in the cemetery today.  The miracle of a sister in Christ, named Brenda, unjustly loosing her son and, yet, instead of turning from God she has grown stronger in God, who gives her the love and strength to be led to the most painful place she can go--the cemetery of her son-- and comfort another mother in her loss.  I don't know what anybody else would call that, but I call it a miracle. 

Right = Right...Right?

More than once I have heard honest people, who are truly seeking to know and follow Christ, ask a question like this:  "It seems like the more I try to live my life according to Jesus teaching to love God with everything and to love my neighbor as myself, the more it seems I face obstacles, set backs, challenges and even ridicule and rejection.  Why is that?"

Behind this question I hear the assumption that right = right...right? 

So, here are three questions for you to ponder or, even better, respond to one or all:

1) Do you relate to that statement and question?
2) If that happens, why?
3) What do you do when that happens?

These are the questions we will wrestle with on Sunday.   Do you know someone who wrestles with questions like these?  Invite them to come with you to worship this week.  See you Sunday!

The Difference the Gap Makes

The gap between what is wrong and what God wills is no bigger than one person's intercessory prayer (see Ezekiel 22:30-31). When I step into that gap I see how much God cares.  When I see how much God cares, his love changes me.  When I am changed, others are changed.  Thank you for letting God touch you to touch others!

To all of you who donate food items or serve with to Food 2 Go, give to the Poured Out Fund or participate in GL Scrip or Kroger's rewards, here are just two stories of how God is using you to make a difference:

"I had to share my first heartwarming story of the year as today is the first Friday I have delivered the f2g bags to the children. Since many of my students are Kindergartners they have not participated in the program before. When I do the first delivery, I take the students out of class just for a moment to explain what the bag is and why their back packs will be heavier on Fridays.. This morning a student walked out to the hallway and saw the bag sitting in front of his locker. He recognized what it was immediately from older siblings who’ve brought bags home in previous years. He literally jumped up and down and said, “is that for me??” When I told him that it was, he excitedly said, “Aw man, I’ve really been wanting one of those!!!” Even his eyes were smiling!! Amazing that these kids see a white plastic bag all tied up and instantly know what it is.

Thanks again for all the work you do on behalf of our children. Please pass our message of thanks on to all those who help in this ministry."

Sincerely,

Lauren Ostberg (Centerville Schools Employee)

"It is wonderful to see the relief and delight that some of the kids experience when they get their bags.  We have a 6^th grader in our building and their family is considered homeless at this time and he was absolutely over the moon and truly grateful that we were giving him and his 7^th grade sister food to have over the weekend.  Centerville is fortunate to have such a wonderful program!!  Thank you!"

Arleen Petty (Centerville Schools Employee)

Praise God!

How's Your Bra-KHAH Going?

This week I have heard some great stories of how your Bra-KHAH prayers are going and I would love to hear more.  Every story you share will help me better incorporate this ancient prayer practice into the flow of my life. 

This prayer practice found its start in Moses words in Deuteronomy 8:10, "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord for the good land he has given you."  The word for bless in Hebrew is Bra-KHAH.  It does not mean the gift or favor God bestows upon us, but to bless or praise or thank God.  It literally means, "kneeling down."  This prayer practice is about a mental kneeling from the time you wake until you return to bed with short, specific sentence prayers of blessing.  It means we allow all the circumstances of life--small and larger, good and bad--direct our attention to God's goodness.  Bra-KHAH prayers root our happiness in God's goodness rather than in the circumstances of life.

What if we have not learned to pray until we have first learned to pray for God?  Bra-KHAH is our teacher.  The Jewish people would pray, "Blessed is the Lord, King of the Universe, for...the food you provide...body parts that work...the colors of a sunrise..." They even had a prayer for the grief and pain of life: "Blessed is the Lord, King of the Universe, who is the one true judge."  This reminded them that even when it is bad, God is still good and he will ultimately bring justice; righting every wrong.

OK...enough with the recap, reminder.  It would be great to hear from you. Send some examples my way of how your Bra-KHAH is going? 

"Too Easily Pleased"

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses

 

 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled," says Jesus in Matthew 5:6. 

 

Are we left empty because we are too easily pleased? 

 

Are we unfulfilled because we are content playing in the mud?

 

Is the cruise ship sailing without us because we've assumed a life in the slums? 

 

Is our problem that our desires are too weak?  Are we settling for drink, sex and ambition, at the expense of infinite joy?

 

Why are we living a life of being far too easily pleased, when God has already made possible, through his Son, a freedom that reaches heights that we could never ask for or imagine on our own?

 

These very questions are what lies behind the reason we emphasize small groups for children, teens and adults.  Quit playing in the mud and jump on the ship.  There is a blessing of filling for those who refuse to be easily pleased.