Yawn

John on Vacation

My grandkids have introduced me to the cartoon series, Phineas and Ferb. It’s about how they spend their “104 days of summer vacation.” They are always inventing and building things and having fantastic adventures. Those two are never bored.

Wouldn’t it be great if life was like that — never boring – but we can’t always have mountain top experiences and, thankfully, we don’t always live in dark valleys. Sometimes life is boring: “same ol’, same ol’” and sometimes our faith goes through “dry places.” Bible study becomes meaningless and prayers are repetitious. We find ourselves just going through the motions.

I wonder if, in the days before his public ministry, John the Baptist ever got bored in the desert? Did his diet of locusts and wild honey ever seem stale? Did he get tired of looking at sand, rocks and scrub brush? If he did, what advice would you give him?

“Just be faithful Brother Baptist! Keep on keepin’ on.” But we are not called to stagnation and “faithfulness” can even become a way of rationalizing complacency or outright negligence.

Someone else might encourage John the Baptist to, “Keep growing!” That isn’t necessarily biblical advice. It sounds like something Oprah or Dear Abby would suggest and what if you lack the motivation to do even that?

“Persevere! Our preacher keeps talking about Christians persevering. Winston Churchill said, ‘Never, never, never, never, never, never, never give up!’” And while the Bible does call for perseverance, it doesn’t allow for hollow perseverance. Paul told the Romans, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord,” (Romans 12:11).

I think John the Baptist understood the need to maintain an internal faithfulness. We need a sense of duty and a sense of passion. That sense of passion comes from seeing faith at work. That means spending time with my brothers and sisters, sharing our passion and our energy. When I see the Spirit at work in others I am more likely to sense his presence in my own life.

And finally, what is the difference between sitting at home on the couch – bored – and standing in line for an hour at Disneyland? Anticipation! So what are we waiting for? The Lord is coming and that is exciting!

Lost Opportunities

lake pleasantMark Twain might have been a wonderful writer but he was an unusually bad judge of great opportunities. He squandered a fortune on harebrained schemes that lead him to financial ruin.

One time he exercised amazing self-control and steadfastly refused to invest in the invention of a poor but brilliant young inventor. The young man offered him a large share of his company if Twain would but invest $500 in his scheme. Twain saw no future in the contraption and so he sent Alexander Graham Bell on his way.

Of course Twain wasn’t alone. Joshua Coppersmith was arrested in Boston for trying to sell stock in the telephone. After all, “All well informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over a wire.”

The first iron plow (1797) was rejected by New Jersey farmers because they felt it poisoned the land and stimulated the growth of weeds.

Bob Hope refused to invest in his friend’s “amusement park” and sent Walt Disney on his way empty-handed.

Col. Sanders was rejected 1,009 times before the first restaurant accepted his chicken proposal.

We might get a chuckle out of these stories but how many people refuse the love of God because redemption just seems “too good to be true.” How about you?

Spreading Holiness

india“Don’t touch!” I heard that a lot when I was growing up. I seemed to have left a trail of smudges behind me: finger prints on the coffee table, finger prints on the mirror, finger prints on the glass. Later in life I was a visiting scholar at the Huntington Museum in Pasadena. It was an amazing thrill when the attendants would bring me an historic document to study but before I could examine it, they searched me for pens and anything that could mark the manuscript. I had to don special white gloves and the document was secured with velvet ribbons. “Don’t touch!” I guess they had talked to my mother.

In the late first century, the rabbis had a conference at Jabneh in Gaza to discuss the canon of the Old Testament. They discussed whether a book like Ruth, Song of Songs or Ecclesiastes “soiled the hands.” That was their expression meaning “it’s an inspired book and it belongs in the Bible.” They believed if you touch a holy book, the holiness comes off on your hands. In other words, they weren’t concerned about your touching something and making it dirty. They believed if you touch something holy, it makes you holy. I like that.

Sometimes we try to protect the church from the world. I once visited a very large denominational church in Houston that was so afraid of being contaminated by the world that they had their own “Christian” bowling alley, their own “Christian” gym, even their own “Christian” cafeteria (which they called “The Garden of Eat’n”)! That’s just backwards from the teachings of Christ. We shouldn’t be afraid of the world. Rather the world should be afraid of us! Read the words of Jesus again: “… on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matthew 16:18 ESV). Note: Jesus doesn’t say “hell will not prevail against the gates of the church” but “the gates of hell” can’t stop the church in her mission!

Are we like the drunk who walked into a telephone pole? It knocked him down. Slowly he regained his feet, put his hands on the pole and walked around it. Surprised, he put his hands on his hips and concluded, “Well I’ll be. They’ve got me boxed in.”

We’ve touched holy things and become holy. It’s time for us to touch the world and make it holy!

 

Time for a Change

Shrimp Boat January 31, 1821

 To President Jackson:

             The canal system of this country is being threatened by the spread of a new form of transportation known as “railroads.” The federal government must preserve the canals for the following reasons:

             One. If canal boats are supplanted by “railroads,” serious unemployment will result. Captains, cooks, drivers, hostlers, repairmen and lock tenders will be left without means of livelihood, not to mention the numerous farmers now employed in growing hay for the horses.

             Two. Boat builders would suffer and towline, whip and harness makers would be left destitute.

             Three. Canal boats are absolutely essential to the defense of the United States. In the event of the expected trouble with England, the Erie Canal would be the only means by which we could ever move the supplies so vital to waging modern war.

             As you may well know, Mr. President, “railroad” carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of fifteen miles per hour by “engines” which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel as such breakneck speed.

 Martin Van Buren 

Governor of New York

Change is inevitable. Wire recorders became tape recorders. Tape recorders became CD’s. CD’s became MP3’s and while I’m not sure what the initials will be for the next innovation, but I’m sure it is coming.

So what about church? Small country churches gave way to urban worship centers. “Old Blue” (Christian Hymns #2) gave way to PowerPoint slides. Black boards are now white boards. Filmstrips became video clips and two-hour sermons barely touch twenty-minutes today, but is that so bad? Only when we mistake the packaging for the product does it become a problem.

I was told recently about a little old lady who saw a young man apparently texting in church. She leaned over the pew and told him to be more respectful. “Stop that!” she whispered in her best mommy voice.

The young man blushed and held up his iPhone to show her the screen. “This is my Bible,” he protested.

She threw her nose in the air, “Well!” she quipped, “Get a real Bible!”

The Gospel is unchanging. God loved us so much, He sent His Son to save us. It doesn’t matter whether you write that using a pencil or an iPad, it’s the message we need to be concerned about.