Trusting Leadership

There is nothing that brings the Hulk rage out in me more than one of my kids asking me why they have to do something. Now, I am not talking about why we put gas in the car, but things like why we have to brush our teeth. The problem is that most of the time this question is not posed in a delightful and loving way. It is posed with a deep disdain for what they are doing. It doesn’t matter whether it is my two-year-old or my six-year-old, this question comes across in a challenging manner for me. I want to look them in the eye and tell them because I know what is best.

           

It is funny how this happens between parents and kids, yet eventually kids see the wisdom of their parents. This was one of the funniest parts of watching high school kids go to college and come back. They had a new perspective on their parents’ leadership in their lives. Sure, there are certain situations where parents are not guiding their kids in good ways, but often that leads to less complaining by the kids and quicker results with their issues. This does not only happen in the parent and kid relationship, but in every aspect of leadership. They say leadership is lonely because so often as a leader you are making decisions that others don’t understand. And most often like parents, you are making decisions based upon what is best for the group as a whole.

I love the scene from Bruce Almighty where Bruce gets to be God and answer all the prayer requests. He firsts starts by answering them all yes. Conflicts arise when everybody starts winning the lottery and their other desires are granted. This is exactly why Paul would spend time writing a passage like Romans 13:1-10. Our world is quick to question leadership. He knew as humans we are constantly like my kids asking why. Sometimes the why is cleared up, but there remains struggles with the leadership. As Christians we trust that God has put those people in place, and while we know they are sinners and will make mistakes, we trust God has ultimate power. There will still be days and issues where we will want to shake people with that Hulk rage, including our leadership, but we get to set the example to trust God and the leadership.

Labor of Love

Watching Jacob start kindergarten reminds me of the days when I began kindergarten.  My memory is both a blessing and a curse.  In moments when I am preaching and illustrating stories and happenings, it is a blessing; but it is a curse when the visual of my kindergarten outfit and my clown bag that I took to school is engrained in my mind.  Yet, that was when I began my journey to see where life would take me.  Because I was young when I felt called to be a pastor, I did not know back then that I would do it for sure.  Recently Jacob asked Mindy and me, “How long do I have to do this?” (Meaning how long does he have to go to school.)  Wow! Hard to answer a 6 year old and say, “Oh, about 20-something years.  Take your life, triple it and add a couple years, and there is your answer.“  No, we didn’t do that to him, but it provides the beginning of understanding the labor of our lives.  We work on so many things, and life is exhausting.  Sometimes we can be like Jacob, and in the midst of it ask ourselves How much longer do I have to do this?

           

I find two keys that help me respond to this.  One is to always look back.  Often when we look back at life we see everything God has done in our lives.  It puts a new perspective on what is going on right now.  People that I counsel may not love this at first, but after we trace back a few years, they are able to see what God is doing and what He has done.  The second way is to help others.  When we take the benefit of our labor and see how it helps others, it is another reminder of how God is working. In some ways, my kindergarten days may not be fun to remember, but in other ways they remind me to walk that journey with my son.  I find that if I am constantly engaged in how God can use me, and take personal interest in watching how God works in the lives of others, it encourages me and takes the focus off my current state.  This is what our Romans passage is about this weekend--how we can labor with others.  Since it is the Labor Day weekend, it is the perfect time to talk about that.  Even Labor Day can be focused on the exhaustiveness of our labor, but this weekend we will talk about the labor of love that God performed for us, and how we can share that with others. 

Living out the new Saturday

The morning show host I listen to on the way to work commented that he refused to talk about Ferguson for fear that it would be misconstrued.  He said, “If you are wondering why we haven’t discussed it, it is because we know that no matter what we say, someone could hear it the wrong way.”  This week Mindy participated in the ice bucket challenge for ALS, and now that my facebook is consumed with this topic, I became aware of a few things.  A couple of the people with whom I am connected started posting their criticism of this challenge.  Some of the quotes read, “Stop dumping ice on your heads and start donating.”  Another subject for discussion, which my sister-in-law would say is my favorite topic, is that people were criticizing Robin Williams for committing suicide.  So what does this all have to do with New Saturdays?

                 

Everything is the answer.  I’ve got to admit that being thematic in my approach to ministry taints my view on this world.  I also wondered what ice buckets had to do with ALS.  My detailed teacher-wife explained on her first video, which got cut off because my iPhone is old and out of memory, that it is the same feeling that people with ALS experience in their bodies.  Then my skepticism of the theme faded, and I agreed that not only was this a brilliant way to raise awareness, but a great connection too.  Having studied marketing as a college student has made me aware that this type of promotion could catch on like wildfire.  But will new designers with new causes be able to do it with the same thematic connection that is necessary?  No!  Will people criticize?  Absolutely!  Now my wife has no clue who Peter Frates is, because she doesn’t watch ESPN, but she does understand the impact of the ice bucket challenge.

Living out the New Saturday will never be received well.  Becoming a disciple of Christ, and trying to make an impact on this world is challenging.  It is much easier to make our Saturday stories ones that are consumed with what movies we’ve watched, food we’ve eaten, and visits we’ve taken to the pillow.  Yet, believing that peace can happen in Ferguson; sharing that mental illness is a dangerous path that can lead to suicide; or connecting ice bucket challenges to a cause which results in a 400% gain for a charity, are totally worth it even if not everyone who does it is also donating.

We are not all Peter Frates.  I love his story.  He was an amazing baseball player who was living out his life.  Peter had a great girlfriend, was headed to a promising career, when at age 27 he was diagnosed with ALS.   He inspired his friends with the ice bucket challenge and then the madness began.  If you know the real story, I think it is hard to be critical.  I couldn’t plead the cause for a disease in my Saturday Story because I am not suffering from one.  But we each have areas in which we are gifted, and yet have struggles.  Our Saturday Stories include our gifts matched with passion, which then produce God’s way of fighting sin in this world.  Sure, the battle of sin is over because of Jesus, but there are still enough people out there who don’t know about Jesus.  Living as Extraordinary Servants involves finding those areas of our lives in which we are gifted, and have the passion to let people know that sin has been defeated by Jesus. I pray that Peter Frates knows about Jesus.  I pray that he believes that whether or not a cure for ALS is found, he can be healed by the saving blood of Jesus.  Living out the New Saturday involves trusting that God can use your unique gifts to be an Extraordinary Servant in this world.  It is different for each of us.  The world is likely to criticize it.  But the great news is that this is Sanctification.  We are being molded into servants of God, even though the world doesn’t get our New Saturdays.

Reforming Saturday

This week began with some sad news from Hollywood.  Actor Robin Williams was found dead.  At 63 he falls into the age category with Mindy’s and my parents, which means we grew up with him.  We watched Mork and Mindy episodes, Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Will Hunting, and a few side projects that I have in my personal collection. Robin Williams was so gifted in providing so many of us with joy and laughter.  Even young kids enjoyed his unique and iconic role of the Genie in Aladdin.  Yet, behind closed doors, Robin Williams had to confront many demons.  Many of his problems seem to have come from mental illness.  He battled various addictions and certainly struggled with them daily.  It’s difficult to believe that a man whose career consisted of making other people happy, had to fight an ongoing, daily sadness.  Robin Williams is exactly what this series is all about.  I don’t know where Robin’s faith life stood, but I do know that this reformation is key to growth.

Most of us normally move forward; yet, sometime we may be faced with a struggle that freezes us or puts us into a bad place.  We all have demons like Robin; we have sins that plague us and hold us back from using the gifts God gives us.  This is the drive of understanding this series.  Because in our weekly routine we cover up those things, and we pretend that they don’t exist.  In the quiet moments on Saturdays we cash in, and live in our sin.  It paralyzes us and holds us back from what God wants our stories to be.  And no one is exempt from this.  You look at the Noahs, Davids, and Goliaths of the Bible, and you see their demons.  It is through reforming their Saturdays that they are able to move out of their battles as they intentionally think about being disciples of Christ everyday.

The very foundation of our Church also went through this.  Mt. Calvary is part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  A long time ago Martin Luther came to the Church to challenge some of its ways of handling things.  At that time, the Church was making people feel guilty instead of giving them the freedom to leave their lives of sin.  It was not shaping them to create Saturday Stories, but rather a life of constantly figuring out how to rid themselves of all their sins, and even the sins of their families.  It was in the reforming process that they began to see the truth, which resulted in the Church that knows grace today.  But it was painful.  People were challenged as they experienced change in the Church.  Even the people who were constantly struggling with their sins had a hard time embracing a new reality. They only knew it one way.

The same will be true for us in the next couple of weeks.  No matter what you uncover you will find that God has a new story for you.  He has places for you to live out your life, and gifts that may be hidden behind selfish desires, sins, or just a lack of intentional living.  It is through grace that we find freedom, and through the gift of the Holy Spirit we find that God will shape our Saturday story into a story we can’t wait to tell.

What do I want my Saturday to look like?

Last week we celebrated the life of a great friend and member at Mt. Calvary.  Wanda Wrice was one of those ladies in whom you were able to observe a quiet and yet defined faith.  To the outside world she looked like a perfect women of faith.  She was patient and loving to others.  She was thoughtful in her words.  She patiently stood by her family, praying they would stay in faith.  And when I met with her in the hospital her motivation to get better was so she could attend Bible study with me.  While that was flattering, that was how Wanda was motivated.  We know, of course, that Jesus was the only one who was perfect, and we all face sin and challenges.  But we also know that as we grow in faith and God’s Word, He shapes us spirituality by sanctification through the Holy Spirit.  At moments in our lives we are all seen by the outside world as perfect people of faith.  But we know that in our quiet moments we battle with sins, pains, and struggles.  So in this series we begin to ask ourselves tough questions.  The question is, If I had the perfect Saturday, the moment when no one was looking, what would I want it to look like?  How do I want to appear?

           

Let’s not fool ourselves.   All disciples of Christ go home at night and think through the days’ mistakes, and what they want Saturday or tomorrow to look like.  Every phase in life offers us a chance to grow in faith and trust in Jesus.  It also gives us an opportunity to see sin more violently in our lives.  This series opens up the books on our stories, and allows us to think more deeply about what our Saturdays look like.

           

When I was a teenager my Dad, who was out of work at the time, took three years to read the Bible.  While this was commendable, and he certainly grew in faith, this was confusing to a young man studying to become a pastor.  I have to admit I wondered if God ever would want me to do that?  And that is exactly why I bring it up.  We could go to the extreme and decide that on Saturdays I should read the Bible all day. But that would limit the potential pieces of the discipleship model, which encourage us to love others and grow in relationships.  This is not a simple question.  This  requires deep thought and focus.  My prayer over the next several weeks is that we open up our lives and ask those questions.  That is why this is a four week series and not a stand-alone Sunday topic.  Before we can ever begin to reshape our behavior, we must first look at the law and our sin.  It is in that clear mirror that we see the places where we are missing the mark.  And while there are days or hours or moments that we don’t want to examine; when we finally do, we find the areas where we need restoration, reform and love from Jesus. This week we ask the question, What do I want Saturday to look like?

Day Off

I remember hearing the line and the song, of course, “Everybody is working for the weekend.”  The line only becomes a greater truth as we grow older.  We work to get those days off.  We do that all year to arrive at the place where we can acquire vacation time.  But we also do that every week as we work to get to Saturday. Saturdays change as kids grow older.  There are days full of sports and other activities.  We trade work for activities.  But no doubt we appreciate the break; a pause that is well deserved and much needed.  Even in retirement, Saturdays bring more freedom, and allow more people to be able to do things.  What does God want from Saturday?

We so quickly jump to this old time word of the Sabbath meaning rest/worship to be Sunday.  Yet so long ago these were full days, which often became more Saturday-type days.  When I was at the Storyline conference in February, I began to develop this concept.  I was asking myself tough questions like What does God want from me on Saturday?  No doubt my Saturdays have changed from my single days of sleeping in.  My Saturdays include making pancakes, waking up early, and playing with my kids.  While I am fulfilling my vocation and my role as a parent, I sometimes still pine for the days when I used to sleep in.  And so often I am trying to make it to noon for a 20 minute snooze that will refresh me before I head to the night’s planned activities and then back to my biggest work day--Sunday.  As I pondered my own story, I wanted to be intentional about days off.  I know one of the things I learned at the conference was that an excess of down time and unintentional living leads to boredom and non-fulfillment.  I know God has to want something from me on Saturday.  So what does my Saturday Story look like?

Over the next several weeks we will talk about your Saturday Story.  What I don’t want is for you to think we are going to spend the next several weeks telling you to stop doing your normal activities, and substitute them with only reading the Bible.  We know Read 1 is a part of our discipleship model, and is important in our Christian walk; but hopefully you know that it is by living your story that you impact the lives of others.  You share the love of Christ by being intentional in your living, and by looking for opportunities to share God’s Word.  We begin this series with Day Off and talk about the good aspects as well as the struggles with off days.  Days off happen not only in the summer, but every week, and so while the summer is beginning to draw to a close, we have plenty of days off that happen.  After we take an honest look at Day Off, we can begin to really open up our world and ask God to guide and direct our Saturday stories.  The goal is that this is a topic and day we rarely talk about in church, so this may help us be God’s extraordinary servants every day of the week.  You never know--you may come up with some cool ideas that develop into a Saturday Story you can’t wait to tell others.

Facing and Conquering Death

When I got to my first call the pastors at my new church invited me to dinner, and to hang out and visit.  They made tacos, and, trust me, they weren’t the kind of tacos we normally experience.  Right then I got my first exposure to California food.  Both pastors traded off; one popped in for a drink and a taco, and then went off to do a service. The other stopped in for a drink and a taco; then went off to a meeting while the first pastor returned in a few minutes.  That should have been Mindy’s and my first clue of how things were going to be in a church of that size.  During the summer, weddings, funerals and church services were many.  This seemed to be the pace of my ministry for five years.  One of the things I love about Mt. Calvary is having the time to truly get to know people, spend time talking to them, and learning their stories.  This week has become one of those weeks that remind me of the beginning of my ministry with two funerals along with my regular schedule, but it is blended with the beauty of knowing the stories.

I was prompted last Tuesday to call Ethel, and, sure enough, God had a reason.  I just woke up that morning feeling like I hadn’t seen her lately.  I tried to call her all morning long, knowing that typically I am able to reach her right away.  Then I discovered that she was in a new rehab center, and her phone was not working.  I made time to head over there, only to discover that she was just about to start a rehab session.  I asked for a couple minutes with her, and I held Ethel’s hands and prayed with her.  The first thing out of her mouth was, “Your hands are so warm.”  I can barely remember the words I prayed, but truly felt that at that moment I had become the vessel of Jesus.  So often I am humbled when Jesus uses me because I know I need His grace just as much as the next guy.  I noticed Ethel’s daughter, Lois, was struggling, and so I asked to pray with her for a minute.  Even though the visit was very short it was amazing to watch God work.  I came home and told Mindy I thought Ethel would probably pass soon, not knowing, of course, what would develop quickly in the next couple of days.

I had watched Jason Skaggs’ slow decline as the cancer in his body took over.  I had met and seen Jason so many times--lively and loving his family.  This time I was headed over to his home to baptize him.  This was a moment his family had been praying about for years.  As I entered his hospital-bed-equipped room, Jason was quiet, which was typical, but he was even more quiet than usual.  I questioned him about his desire to be baptized, and his answers confirmed that he was ready for this day.  I baptized him, and watched the water run down his head which was now bald from the treatments.  It was an overwhelming experience as I realized that I got to be the pastor who baptized him.   I prayed with him, and then before I left I got a chance to talk to Ron, his father-in- law.  We recapped this joyous moment, even though we were also surrounded by the ensuing sadness of his impending death.

This week and weekend I, along with the Mt. Calvary family, will spend time with these families, as we mourn and celebrate.  This is what extraordinary servanthood is all about--looking for opportunities to share the hope we have in Christ.  The sadness will develop into sweetness as we reflect upon what God has done in the lives of these people.  This weekend we conclude all of that by studying Paul’s instructions to the Romans about handling moments like these.   We face death and sin all day long, but nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.  We face death in multiple ways this week and weekend, but we rejoice in the knowledge that Christ has conquered all of this for us.  We will talk about that more this weekend.