A Wolf In The Sheep Pen

Leah is a businesswoman in a nearby community, and I see her occasionally. I knew her when she was in what we used to call “junior high.” I was a college student when I got a call to speak at her church one Sunday. I learned their pastor has suffered a major heart attack and wasn’t expected back at the church for a while. My speaking assignment turned into a six-month commitment, and it was a wonderful experience for me. At the time I had about three or four sermons, so speaking to the same group three times each week was a challenge, but also a time of personal growth.

I remember the community Thanksgiving service scheduled that fall when some of our church members lobbied for me to be the preacher. I smiled sweetly, but inwardly groaned at the thought of another sermon that week! Fortunately, they asked the Methodist pastor to speak at the service.

Leah told me lately she found her old diary and one entry was funny. She wrote, “I got to ride with Mike in his car tonight!” Though I couldn’t remember the specifics, we both had a laugh. But afterward I reflected on how much things have changed since those early years. Today most of our churches have specific policies forbidding ministers to be alone with anybody, much less impressionable children. And these days we have cameras in place in schools and churches so there’s a record of interactions between adults and children.

A Texas newspaper lately did a major expose on child sexual abuse in my denomination. I don’t know the precipitating cause, but the report was quite shocking. An Alabama newspaper did a summary of the series and mentioned local pastors and other ministers who had faced accusations. Double-shock.

I cannot fathom why any adult would wish to harm an innocent child in this way. This malady has to be a deeply ingrained sickness. I attended a denominational training event last year and heard a national presenter say he couldn’t explain the psychology of this aberration, though he could explain the predators’ methodology. And he told us plainly the safeguards we needed to have in place.

I’ve lived long enough to see several major changes in church life. Some are good, like how we “dress down” today in order to make newcomers feel more comfortable, and how we don’t rely as much on “the language of Zion” in favor of more identifiable speech.

But some changes don’t make us proud, such as child protection policies. But in obedience to the one who blessed the children, we do all we can to make church a safe and welcoming place for boys and girls.

What About Autographing The Bible?

The recent tornado in Lee County, Alabama, was devastating with 23 lives lost—several in a single family. How sad that things changed for these residents in such a short time.

U.S. presidents are expected to make appearances following disasters in order to boost morale. We remember President Obama touring Tuscaloosa with Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley in 2011. Likewise, President and Mrs. Trump visited the Auburn area to survey damage and offer encouragement.

The president received criticism for autographing a few Bibles on his visit. He didn’t choose to but was requested to do so by attendees at Providence Baptist Church. According to the AP a young person thrust a Bible into the president’s hands and asked him to sign, and others followed suit. The same story reported a few religious leaders outraged that someone other than the author would sign and claiming the president was “courting” his evangelical base in this way.

Theologians call the original biblical manuscripts “the autographs”—the documents written and  “signed” by Peter, Paul, Moses and others. Evangelicals usually don’t believe it’s disrespecting the original writers to sign Bibles; rather we see it as a way to encourage one another.

One of my boyhood heroes was the Chaplain of Bourbon Street, Bob Harrington. He was a dynamic Christian preacher who was recognized for his ministry in the French Quarter while a student at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I loved to hear Harrington preach, and probably knew his testimony from memory. He often signed Bibles, as he did for me, with the inscription, “Gratefully saved.” 

I have a Bible signed by the prince of Southern Baptist preachers, W.A. Criswell. Criswell served First Baptist Dallas, Texas for 40 years. He loved young preachers and often took a moment to sign a word of encouragement in our Bibles.

The Bible I most often use in the pulpit was given by a friend in 1980, and his dedication signature is in the foreword.

My ordination Bible is also signed by my pastor at the time.

The Carter Political Items Collectors group I’m a member of has an annual convention in Plains, Ga. We often have Jimmy Carter-signed items in our auctions, including Bibles and other Bible study materials. The auction benefits the Maranatha Baptist Church where the Carters attend.

Another church I served gave a music minister a Bible when he went away to school. He passed it around and asked us to sign our names by our favorite scripture passage as a memento.

The president himself owns a Bible inscribed by Billy Graham.

I think we shouldn’t criticize Bible signing, unless perhaps at a political event. Mr. Trump simply gave his time to encourage hurting people.

Open The Door

The British artist, Holman Hunt, produced a painting in 1853 that hangs today in the chapel at Oxford University. It’s called “Jesus the Light of the World,” and portrays Jesus knocking on a door with no visible latch while holding a lantern in his other hand. Hunt based his painting on the word of Christ in Revelation 3: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me” (v. 20).

“I painted the picture with what I thought, unworthy though I was, to be by Divine command, and not simply as a good subject,” Hunt said. “The door in the painting has no handle, and can therefore be opened only from the inside, representing the obstinately shut mind.”

The painting has been updated by many artists over the years, while keeping the main idea of Mr. Hunt that Jesus calls out and knocks desiring entrance into our lives.I can imagine that this verse, and this image, have been used by most of us evangelical preachers  when we implore men and women to open the door of their hearts and allow Jesus to do his work of regeneration. Whether we call it “being saved,” “obeying the gospel” or being “born again,” the idea remains the same. Jesus, a gentleman, will not storm his way into our lives. He comes by personal invitation where he’s welcomed.

However, the sobering original word in Revelation is directed to the church of Laodicea. How striking to think of Jesus outside his church, knocking and wanting to come in. What an indictment that worship might not include the Lord of the church!

Worship has nothing to do with noise, although some well-intentioned pastors see themselves as cheerleaders. “Let all the world keep silence” is in the Bible, too (Habakkuk 2:20). Nor does meaningful worship necessarily mandate movement. A popular cartoon a dozen years ago portrayed an usher asking two newcomers, “Clapping, or non-clapping?” I suppose for many of our congregations this issue has been settled, but now some churches encourage “liturgical movement,” or dancing while singing hymns. While this is a matter for individual congregations to decide, the old adage is true: “It’s not how high we jump, but how straight we walk when we hit the ground”!

Inviting Jesus into our churches is actually surrender to his will in all things. We must never close the door on the Lord of the church by doing what we think best. He’s the head of the body, his church, and we must always seek his will and his honor in what we do (Ephesians 5:23).

On God's Will

Someone took me to task for what I thought was a harmless quip. In a tongue-in-cheek article about how we Baptists “steal” pastors from one another, I remarked that though it’s a flawed system, God seems to help us through it most of the time.

“God helps us all the time!” someone responded.

Yes, I understand, but I know also that we frequently sidestep the will of God and mess things up.

A good example of this was a church in one of the Carolinas. A friend found the story and sent me the two newspaper copies years ago. A noted pastor from Texas announced with great fanfare it was God’s will for him to move from his flourishing church to a new ministry on the East coast. He said he had no doubts God was leading him to a new and even more flourishing ministry. In less than two weeks he announced it was God’s will that he return to his former church. The story didn’t explain any precipitating causes, nor what negotiations occurred with the former church that would bring about his return.

My friend who sent me this story, a great mentor, was exhorting me to exercise caution in labeling everything God’s will. In this case it’s alledged God changed his mind!

I know a similar story firsthand since I knew the pastor quite well. He announced his move to Louisville to attend the same Baptist seminary I attended believing it was God’s will. He remained one week before convincing his former church to take him back as their pastor!

The prophet Jeremiah spoke God’s displeasure with false prophets who say “he says” when the Lord didn’t speak (Jeremiah 23: 31). We need to seek his will, to be sure, but it’s often best to say we believe a matter to be the Lord’s will if we’re still working our way through it. And it’s helpful to ask for the insights of others as we test our thoughts (1 Corinthians 14: 32).

Some Christians believe in the reform doctrine that everything that happens to us is due to the active and deliberate plan of God. Whereas I respect their belief, I’m of the Arminian mindset, believing God gives us freedom to choose, and often we make some really bad choices. We see people all the time using tobacco, spurning their marriage vows, texting and driving and being reckless in other ways on the road. When these people hurt themselves or others, I really don’t believe it is God’s will. It’s his will that we exercise better judgment. God helps us if we let him.

Fortunately, he’s a merciful God who can mend the bad choices we make.

What About Money?

He was a long-time church member and a “seasoned citizen” as Rush Limbaugh would say. He came to see me when I’d been at his church for only a short time.

“We have some wealthy members here, and other pastors have cultivated their friendships because we need their money,” he explained. “I  hope you’ll do the same.”

I smiled sweetly, but in my heart of hearts I thought, “I hope I never base friendship on someone’s check book balance!

One of those wealthy members did become a good friend. He invited me to tell him privately about special needs he might help with, and I did. He had a heart for children and sent scores of young people to summer camp. No one every  knew about this except me and him. Later I had the sad duty of conducting his funeral and tried to say some kind words about him.

I’ve had other church friends with no money. One called lately to announce there wasn’t a “crumb of food” in his house. We were able to handle this privately and discreetly.

Money is important in the church. Most everything we do requires it and we have to have it.

My tact has been different from some of my fellow pastors. One of them forthrightly told me, “I preach on money all the time. If people get their hearts right about money everything else will work out.”

I tend to believe money is a by-product of spiritual growth; that is, if we get our hearts right, then honoring God with our money won’t be an issue. I preached a sermon on money last December after realizing I’d not mentioned money in months.

Churches have different opinions on reporting, too. A current practice is to include all salaries in one budget line item. The stated reason is not to embarrass anyone by publicizing their salary, and also to use money to deal privately with work performance.

My mentor was the late Dotson Nelson of Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham. When his finance team moved to lump salaries into one-line item, he refused to let his salary be included.

“I’m the editor of the Sunday bulletin,” he said. “If you don’t publish my salary, then I’ll print it every Sunday!”

His reasoning was that the pastor’s salary is the first thing people look at in the annual budget and he wanted to be transparent. Our church follows this practice and my salary is known to all.

Money can be an issue of controversy in our churches. I think we must encourage people to grow financially, as well as spiritually, to the glory of God. And churches need to be accountable in spending, too.

On Stealing Pastors

We Baptists have a unique system for hiring pastors, unlike our Methodist friends who have a bishop to superintend the process. The current nomenclature is “pastor search committee,” though we used to call them “pulpit committees.”

I’m grateful I was elected a youth rep as a high schooler on our church’s pulpit committee and had some acquaintance with the process from the layman’s side.

Of course, the process has evolved since those days. Our denomination claims the average church seeking a pastor will get at least 60 resumes in the first month. I’m not sure what this means, though it could mean there’s a lot of restlessness among pastors.

A story circulates about a pastor sanctimoniously declaring he’s praying and seeking God’s will about the invitation to move to another church, while his wife is at home packing!

The Baptist system means we send our elected committee to hear, meet and interview a prospective pastor whom we “steal” away from his present church. Then that church elects a committee to go to another church and do the same. Equilibrium is never reached!

I suppose the most interesting experience I had was several years ago when a committee showed up unannounced one morning and invited my wife and me to talk with them after worship. We met through lunch and weren’t offered lunch. I remember only one of their questions. They asked whether she or I had ever been divorced, which was the unpardonable sin amongst pastors, at least in that day.

At the conclusion of the interview the chair announced they’d go home and decide if I was “God’s man.” If I was, he’d call me that week. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t hear from them again and the church would save the cost of a long-distance call. A telephone call in that day was probably 30 cents, so I got an idea of how his church squeezed a nickel. And in this case, they saved their money.

But I do remember other search teams composed of wonderful, God-fearing people who took their task seriously, prayed earnestly and treated me respectfully, as it should be done.

One of these people called me recently to chat. I told him I’d heard about his 90th birthday, and he told me that was a year ago! He assured me of his love and prayers and his wish to drop by sometime and visit our church. It would be a privilege, for knowing him was a great privilege in my life.

The bumblebee, according to the laws of physics, shouldn’t be able to fly, but he does. And our Baptist system doesn’t seem feasible, but God helps us along most of the time.

The Ministry of Letter-Writing

A friend alerted me to author David McCullough’s visit to Montgomery a few years ago, and I was happy to attend the Air University Foundation luncheon with him. McCullough was invited to talk about his recently-published book on the Wright brothers. I’d not know that the Wrights visited Montgomery and established a flying school there when aviation was young.

McCullough won Pulitzers for “Truman” and “John Adams.”

I told Mr. McCullough in the book-signing line that I learned to love John Adams through his book. It’s on my top ten list of all time.

“Oh, what’s not to like about John Adams?” he replied with a smile.

Well, many people didn’t like John Adams. He was our first president not to be reelected, and in such a huff that he went home to Boston the night before his successor’s inauguration. Of course, being president between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would set one up for failure!

McCullough’s book is based largely on letters John and Abigail Adams wrote to each other and kept. These letters reveal wonderful history. I ponder what history this generation is leaving since letter-writing seems to be a thing of the past. Modern students often need to be reminded that formal papers must be written with good grammar and proper capitalization, unlike hastily-sent emails or texts. And many have long forgotten the art of the “bread and butter” note sent to people who’ve done kind things for us.

Christians have been encouraged for some 2000 years through letters written by people of faith. The apostle Paul wrote 13 we have, and at least one we don’t have (Colossians 4:16), addressing specific churches or individuals. Paul may not have known his letters would be part of Holy Scripture or he might not have called the Cretans “lazy gluttons”! (Titus 1:12-13). Eight letters are called general letters because they were written by five men to the church at large.

God chose human authors to write letters to inspire and instruct his church.

A retired physician told me about receiving an unexpected check through the mail. He decided to divide the money as gifts to his five children and, he said, this was a good prompt to write letters to each expressing his love and hopes for them.

Other parents can emulate him. Perhaps we don’t have “mailbox money” to share, but we can share our hearts. And grandparents can also use letters to encourage our grandchildren. And there are plenty of people we know who would benefit from a written word of blessing. I’m convinced many letters will likely be preserved and inspire others long after we, as Hamlet said, “shuffle off this mortal coil.”

Satan's Storeroom

Charles Chandler introduced me to Metropolis, Illinois—the hometown of Superman.

Charles founded the Ministering to Ministers Foundation in the early 90s to offer renewed hope to ministers under stress, including involuntary termination. The number of ministers who face job loss is astounding. I talked with a student pastor lately who was told the church was “moving in a different direction” and he was no longer needed. The pastor put this in a letter and handed it to him just after Christmas, which to me sounded very cowardly. Ministers are often in the same category with football coaches. Growing churches ensure job security, but notable losses bring murmurings.

MTM sponsors Wellness Retreats across the nation for broken ministers. I was able to assist in several of these over the years and was happy to do so.

Charles mentioned that he once portrayed Superman in Metropolis. The city fathers planned a big Superman celebration and privately enlisted him, the Baptist pastor, to be the man of steel.

I persuaded my wife I needed to attend the American Political Items Collectors biennial convention in Springfield, Ill. last summer. After crossing the Ohio River, I saw Metropolis signs, and determined to stop by en route home. Metropolis has a large Superman statue in the square and a museum with every Superman product ever produced.

Most interesting to me was the large barrel of Kryptonite fragments for sale in the museum store. For some reason I bought two or three pieces as mementos. As everyone knows, Kryptonite is the only substance that weakens Superman, so it’s unusual to find it for sale in his hometown!

I’m convinced Satan stocks Kryptonite in his storeroom. Some Christians are vulnerable to the pursuit of money. Some are vulnerable to illicit relationships with the opposite sex. Some have hair-trigger tempers or unguarded speech and leave relationships in disarray. And I’ve known some believers to fall victim to addictions, losing their self-respect and sometimes their careers and families.

God has given us at least two things to help us battle the temptations of life. One is his Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to give his followers the spirit of God after he departed, and the church celebrates this gift on Pentecost. The Apostle Paul declared the Christian’s body is the temple of the spirit who leads us to holy living (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20).

God also gives us his church. A major responsibility in our spiritual family is alerting one another when we fall into questionable practices. Confrontation isn’t usually pleasant, but it’s a godly task when used to restore the fallen. As the military says, “watch my six,” or help me see my blind spots. Christians need this, too.

Falling Out Of Love

Though Alcatraz Island was originally a lighthouse for San Francisco Harbor, it’s better known as the most feared penal colony in American history. Inmates called it “The Rock,” and it was a foreboding place even for my wife and me to visit as tourists several years ago.

The Apostle John was sent to the Alcatraz of his day. Patmos Island was a penal colony for the worst of Rome’s offenders. His crime? Being the apostle of love and preaching a gospel of peace.

Tradition says John as an aged man was pastor of the Ephesian church and constantly walked among the people exhorting them to love one another. He was the St. Valentine of the New Testament.

Like St. Paul before him and John Bunyan after him, John wrote words from prison that yet impact the world. The book of Revelation gave hope to believers suffering under Emperor Domitian, and reminds modern believers that though evil exists, it won’t endure.

John began Revelation with seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey. He addressed the first letter to his former church at Ephesus. He commended them for their ministry, tenacity and commitment to the truth, but he also criticized the church for having “left your first love.” John didn’t explain whether this meant the church had lost their love for God or for one another. Either is sad.

If he meant the former, how strange it sounds that a ministering congregation would serve God for any reason other than our love for him! Jesus warned in Matthew 6 that religious people could give money, pray and fast in order to earn the praise of others, and in so doing, forfeit the praise of God. We must be careful we don’t serve God in order to get praise and commendation from others. As the old hymn says, “winning the smile of God brings its delight.”

But could John have challenged the church because they fell out of love with one another? Sadly, this often happens in the body of Christ. Many have allowed a thoughtless word or deed to separate them from brothers and sisters in the faith and affect their relationship with the church.

Bill was once a parishioner. He stopped me in the parking lot of his business to say he knew he wasn’t the Christian he should be because he hated a man in our church.

“God won’t bless me until I deal with this, will he?” Bill asked.

This was what teen-agers call a “no-brainer.” As John wrote in an earlier letter: “How can you say you love God, whom you can’t see, if you hate your bother whom you know?” (1 John 4:20).

Leadership Lessons From The Gipper

Every young pastor has mentors, and I had some very good ones when I was younger. But, in retrospect, I also had a few who weren’t so good. Several leading pastors in our denomination taught that the pastor is God’s vice-regent. It’s the pastor who communes with God and learns what the church must do, they counseled, and then it’s the church’s task to humbly follow the pastor’s directives.

I became a pastor at age 21 while a college student. I arrived at my first church, albeit a part-time position, with enthusiasm, believing everyone would follow my leadership. I soon discovered though they were a sweet bunch of folks and very encouraging, I wasn’t the leader of the church—Ed was. Whatever Ed suggested was “gospel” and the congregation agreed. I regret to admit that I began to see Ed as my adversary since he was the leader and I wasn’t.

My second church was out-of-state while a student in Kentucky, and, again, I wasn’t the leader—Rachel was. And in my first church after graduating from theological school I discovered Joe was the leader, not me.

It began to dawn on me I’d found a pattern!

Leadership consultant John Maxwell later helped me understand this with his Claude story. Claude was the leader in Maxwell’s first church, and Maxwell learned to consult with Claude and try to sell ideas to him. Then Claude would take the ideas to the people and, of course, they agreed and committed to the plan. Maxwell coined the term “influencer,” and he  believes every church has at least one influencer who has earned respect through wisdom and faithfulness. Sensible pastors partner with the influencers, he says, rather than fight them.

I wish I’d heard the “Claude” story earlier; I think it would’ve saved me some grief. I should’ve tried harder to be better friends with Ed and Rachel and Joe and partnered with them to advance the cause of Christ. I probably could’ve done so in most cases.

President Reagan kept a sign on his Oval Office desk. It read: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Reagan is right. What difference does it matter who the leader is if the work goes forward?

I didn’t get to make amends with Ed and Rachel since they passed on years ago. I did talk with Joe and apologized for being young and foolish. He was gracious.

It’s important for us to grow in relationship skills with brothers and sisters in the faith since working with others is a major part of what we do as the church.

A Theology Of Losing

A few Saturdays ago I sat in a local school gym watching my 12-year-old grandson play basketball. A lady behind us had a son on the other team, apparently. She was very obnoxious in the way she yelled out during the game. Her team won. As we left, I jokingly asked my son-in-law which of us needed to slap her.

I almost did this many years ago when my son was playing high school football. He was quarterback that day and a lady kept yelling for her team to “get him,” “knock him down” and “kill him.” It was all I could do to restrain myself and at least not offer a tongue-lashing.

Obviously, some folks take children’s sports very seriously, not remembering all players on the field are boys and girls as important as their own children.

But it’s true that many adults take sports quite seriously, too.

A pastor I know always gave an exhortation on the Sunday before Alabama’s Iron Bowl game. He told the congregation that half of them would be disappointed the next weekend, but they needed to remember it was just a game and must respect those with other loyalties. I was so impressed by this, though I graduated from one of those schools, that I’ve spoken this exhortation most years myself.

Another bothersome thing is our theology of winning. How often do we see a player having a good game, scoring a touchdown or hitting one out of the park and then thanking God for this victory? Whereas we’re to honor God in all things, does this mean that the losing team experiences God’s disfavor? Is God always on the side of winners? Doesn’t he have compassion for everyone whether we win or lose?

The late Yankees great Yogi Berra was coaching third base one day when he saw a player kneel before entering the batter’s box, and another player make the sign of the cross.

“Hey, why don’t you guys leave God alone and let him watch the game?” he shouted!

I’m convinced we need a theology of losing, for sometimes we lose. People of faith don’t always win, and people of character don’t always excel. And sometimes we learn valuable lessons by losing.

We should respect all who subject themselves to the rigors of competition. President Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is better to try great things, even at the risk of failure, then to know neither victory nor defeat.” There’s honor in striving. Athletics is supposed to teach us how to reach beyond our limits, how to work as a team and how to be gracious whatever the outcome.

God, the master teacher, has lessons for us in winning and losing.

A New Year in God's Word

It’s always interesting to note the celebrities we lost in the last year, and 2018 witnessed the passing of several. These include evangelist Billy Graham, President Bush 41, Sen. John McCain, journalist Charles Krauthammer and musicians Roy Clark and preacher’s daughter Aretha Franklin who taught us how to spell r-e-s-p-e-c-t!

These deaths remind us of those who made an impact with their lives and remind us of our own mortality.

One way we can brush up our influence is to resolve to be better in the new year. About half of American adults make resolutions, but most are broken in a few months. For believers, a better way is the covenant. People of faith made covenants to the Lord throughout biblical history. The difference is the covenant is a faith-promise that asks for God’s help in making it happen. A covenant is seen as a binding relationship of dependence on God.

A worthy covenant is to promise to spend time in scripture. Three things may be helpful.

First, begin with a readable translation, of which there are many available at bookstores. Several websites offer electronic copies of the Bible with 30 or more translations. Even our friends the Gideons who have placed Bibles in many places have online scripture now!

Second, make a plan. Unless we schedule time for them, many good intentions fall aside. Some call a scripture-reading appointment a “quiet time,” and this is a good descriptor. In our busy and often noisy world, a time of quiet to commune with God is welcomed. Most denominations offer devotional guides or suggested daily readings. One plan, “Reading The Bible Through,” asserts that reading three chapters each day will take us through the scripture in one year. Many like to keep a prayer list or prayer journal with them during Bible reading.

Third, consider technology. Several websites have apps that can be downloaded to one’s phone for reading. One site I’m familiar with has daily reading suggestions. Another site allows one to download audible copies of scripture. This way we can hear the word of God while driving or working. This method is probably closer to what the personalities of the Bible did since copies of scripture were rare in those days. This is why the Bible doesn’t exhort us to “read” the word of God but to “hear” the word of God (James 1:22).

President Nixon worshipped at the First Baptist Church in Moscow while visiting Russia in the 70s and found one full hour was devoted to the reading of scripture since most worshippers didn’t own Bibl

We can be sure God will be pleased to help us with a covenant promise to read and obey his word.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

The Roman goddess Janus had two faces; with one he looked behind and with the other he looked forward. How fitting that the first month in the year is named for him. January is a time we evaluate what we have experienced and make plans about what we want to experience.

Looking back, we see a mixture of success and failure, prosperity and want, good choices and bad. We all experience bad things because that’s how life is. People we love get hurt or grow sick. And sometimes we get hurt or grow sick. As a friend of mine says, all it takes is one microbe to change our lives forever. We most often don’t understand why bad things happen to good people.

But sometimes we face bad things in life because we choose them. Every Christian knows the struggle the Apostle Paul described in Romans 7: the evil I want to avoid, I do, and the good I seek to do, I don’t do. Believers know God is working in our lives to make us more saintly, but we also know our basic nature is disobedience to the Lord. For this reason, we rejoice that we have a God of mercy. He doesn’t give up, but instead continues to patiently work in us.

So, we begin the new year with praise for the good and repentance for the wrong. And we look forward to a new chapter called 2019.

One way we can ensure it will be a good year is to make new covenants with God. The Bible is filled with covenants. God’s people made promises to God and asked his help to make them reality. We do the same in the new year ahead.

We can promise to have daily time of Bible reading and prayer. Some call this a “quiet time,” and in our busy world we all need this. We can promise to love our church more and support her worship and study times and her ministries. Every Christian is gifted in some way to minister, and we find fulfillment in discovering and using our unique gifts in ministry to others. And we can promise to be more faithful to God in our finances, moving toward the biblical model of the tithe to honor him.

And we can promise to be loving servants toward others. We often see on the highways how some have such short fuses! The slightest impediment brings a rash of anger. As followers of Christ, we must treat others with kindness. We should ask God’s help as we try to grow in people skills. We become more Christlike when we consider the needs of others greater than our own (Philippians 2:3).

Christmas Means A Change In Circumstances

A little girl found herself in the church Christmas pageant and sang the assigned carol with gusto, though in error: “While shepherds washed their socks by night / all seated on the ground / the angel of the Lord came down / and glory shown around / and glory shown around."

Actually, the shepherds “watched their flocks by night”—an important job in ancient Israel. The sheep provided food and clothing for the people, but the shepherds were assigned the lowest social class in Hebrew society. Their work prevented the ritual washings and regular Sabbath observance required by the Old Testament law and Jewish tradition. 

It’s interesting that the Christmas angels first brought news of the messiah’s birth to these men—the least in that society. God wanted all the world to know that Christ came not just for the educated and esteemed wise men who were at the top of  “the most admired” list, but also for the poor and the powerless shepherds who didn’t make the list.

Everyone is significant in the kingdom of God.

Some scholars believe there was another divine rationale in this saga of the shepherds.

Jewish rabbis kept a written record called the Mishna. The Mishna states that the flocks for the temple sacrifices were kept near Bethlehem. These flocks were used constantly for religious observance and the ritual ensuring forgiveness of sin.

Could it be that these shepherds in Luke’s narrative were the ones who kept the flocks used for daily sacrifices in nearby Jerusalem?  If so, it’s significant that they learned of God’s perfect lamb who came to offer a sacrifice for sin not for a day, but once and for all time.

The lives of these shepherds were never the same again. The gospel writer recorded that they went everywhere telling everyone what they’d seen and heard. Men of the pasture became preachers.

And so it is with all who believe God and trust in the work of his son. Their lives are transformed.

Some years ago a South Carolina bureaucrat sent a letter to a food stamp recipient in that state. The letter read, “Dear Sir, I regret to inform you that your food stamp eligibility will cease on March 31 due to your death. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”

 The message of Christmas is that our creator God hasn’t left us to live lives of despair. He took the initiative and provided the one who brings an abundance of hope. With his help, you and I can have a significant and improved change in circumstances.

Do Not Be Afraid

I was a boy in suburban Birmingham when a man pounded on our door one night. We came to learn he was drunk and believed our house was his house. My dad was working overtime in the nearby steel mill, so I was the man of the house. My mother and sister were terrified. The man wouldn’t listen to us asking him to go away. Then he began to walk down the stairs to the basement entrance that I remember I failed to lock that night. I raced down the inside stairs and turned the lock just as he touched the outside doorknob. Then I ran out the front door to the retired police officer next door who came and held him at bay until the police arrived.

This intruder was so tipsy he probably wasn’t much of a threat, but we didn’t know it that frightful night.

I remember another boyhood fear. Pete, the neighborhood bully, somehow got me in his crosshairs. He never touched me, but he kept telling me what he was going to do to me.

My older brother, home from college one weekend, quoted FDR to me: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This may be where my love of presidential history came about!

The state highway department was in the process of buying our neighborhood to expand the interstate highway system, so we soon had to move, and I left Pete behind.

I’ve often wished I could see Pete again after all these years. I’ve watched every episode of “Walker, Texas Ranger” at least twice, and I believe I could defend myself!

Fear often makes its home in our lives. One website, phobialist.com, lists 530 phobias identified by psychology. Though some may sound a bit trivial, they nevertheless affect a percentage of the population.

It’s striking that an oft-repeated admonition of Christmas is “fear not.” An unnamed angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him “Fear not.” The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist, and the angel said, “Fear not.” Gabriel then told Mary, “Fear not.” And yet another unnamed angel came to the shepherds in Bethlehem’s fields to say, “Fear not.”

And in each of these four cases, the individuals heard the command not to be afraid, and they obediently did what God asked them to do.

 The message to modern believers is that our creator doesn’t want us to live in fear. He wants us to have faith in and obey the Christ of Christmas—the one whom Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, John, later called the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

On Getting Along With Others

My denomination invited me to write a series of three commentaries for Sunday School teachers to be used next year, and I was happy to complete the assignment a bit early and hit “send” last week. The editor said 90,000+ leaders will use this material. He said the Bible teachers range from college professors to truck drivers, and I was to write for the truckers! As I tell classroom students, the communicator’s task is to take  the complex and make it understandable, so I tried to do so.

Writing for truck drivers reminded me of an unpleasant episode many moons ago in the 90s. An editor asked me to write a lesson on stealing in a series on the Ten Commandments. As part of my assignment I gave some possible examples of stealing, including pilfering on the job, slacking in our work and cheating on taxes.

I also related a recent news account of a state official convicted of bribery. According to the story, this Department of Transportation employee alerted truckers when weigh stations were opened or closed. The implication was that drivers could overload their trucks when stations were closed. I suggested this might cause damage to the highways that are built and maintained by taxes, thus stealing from taxpayers.

Soon I got a call from a lady in Missouri. She asked if I were the writer of the lesson. I admitted so. Then she began to berate me for defaming her truck driver husband! At first I offered some defense. I told her my example was an actual news story published in our state. I also told her I wasn’t criticizing all truck drivers, of course, since the report didn’t reveal how many drivers were in this group. I told her I was truly sorry she was offended, and I was sure her husband was a man of integrity. But she wouldn’t be deterred. She was still seething when she ended the call.

This experience is as an example of someone whose mind was set in concrete and for whom an apology wasn’t effective. Very few of the interpersonal conflicts I’ve seen over the years are like this. I can remember only a handful of people as determined as she was not to be appeased. Most of the time people respond reasonably when we sincerely seek resolution.

A friend suggested to me that an apology needs only two sentences: “I’m sorry. It should not have happened.” Period. We inflame the situation when we add to this with “but you provoked me,” or “it wasn’t my fault.”

Getting along with others isn’t a goal we magically achieve one day. It’s a life-long learning process, and a Christian imperative.

Where Is God When It Hurts?

The ancient patriarch Job felt alone in his suffering. He said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! (Job 23: 2).

I’ve heard people echo Job’s lament over the years. “Where is God when I need him?” or “God doesn’t hear my prayers!” or “What did I do to deserve this?” We’re human and forsakenness is a common emotion in our humanity. “Nobody knows the sorrow I’ve seen,” the old spiritual says.

But we find an interesting take from apologist C. S. Lewis. He knew loss when his wife, Joy, died of cancer. In “A Grief Observed,” he wrote about his sorrow and his questioning of God. But he came to trust God once again and wrote some tantalizing words about pain: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

The sufferings of life get our attention and make us see we’re not self-sufficient. We often feel so when things are going our way--when there’s health and money and all the attendant pleasures of life. But when we lose any of these things we’re reminded of our humanity and vulnerability to loss.

The apostle Paul knew pain as well. He called it a “thorn” in his body, but never explained what it was. My favorite theory is the stoning he received in Lystra where he was dragged out of the city and left for dead. Without emergency medical treatment we’re accustomed to, I can imagine he had internal organ damage and broken bones that never completely healed. Whatever his pain he cried out to God for its removal. It wasn’t removed, but he did get something from God: the promise of God’s presence and the promise of God’s grace.

This is why many faithful saints became so through suffering. Many of our hymn-writers wrote from personal pain, but also from the comfort they found in partnership with God. I’ve known many senior saints over the years who’ve wrestled with pain, but who, nonetheless, have developed an unshakeable confidence in the goodness of the Lord.

Scripture asserts that no one of us is truly forsaken despite our feelings that we are. The psalm writer said, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

Some of our pain is explicable, for we make bad choices. But some is inexplicable this side of heaven. We’re promised an accounting one day. Until then, we’re exhorted to trust in the goodness of God and his ultimate plan of fulfillment in our lives.

The Grandparents' Lament

Our six-year-old grandson wanted us to take him to see the Grinch movie on Friday, and he spent the night afterwards. The rain on Friday stacked my weekend workload, so I needed to rake leaves and wax a car on Saturday before winter sets in. However, I only got the leaves in the front yard because Sims wanted me to play soccer with him. An old man shouldn’t play soccer, but it was fun. The stiffness I felt the next day was a reminder that this was a better choice of Saturday projects.

Then I began to feel what might be called “the grandparents’ lament.” Grandparents take time to sit in the floor and play with toy cars, read books or play soccer in the back yard. When we’re parents we often don’t do this as much. Why? There’s always the pressure of work—climbing the corporate ladder—and feeling we must do more than anyone else at the company.

A friend once pointed out another anomaly; more years at the company bring more vacation days, but we need the vacation days when our children are at home, not when they’re grown!

A pastor I know was wiser than me. He arranged with his church that his work would entail morning and evening. He went home in the middle of the day, picked his daughters up from school and helped them with their homework since his wife’s work schedule was more rigid. Now in his 80s, his relationship with his daughters is exemplary, unlike some pastor families I’ve known.

Another man told me about a running argument with his wife when their children were small. She wanted a showplace yard, but there were bare spots with no grass where the children played.

“I can always grow grass,” he told her, “but I can’t always grow children.”

I suppose every parent looks back with some regret wishing we’d not become exorcised over things that in retrospect look trivial or stayed at the office longer than needed. We’d be better parents if we could go back and try again. But we can’t turn back the hands of the clock. What we can do is gently teach our children to learn from our mistakes. And we can spend time with our grandchildren, let them know they’re loved and guide them to faith in God.

A young person professed faith recently. She told me she’d been reading her Bible and began to think about becoming a Christian. And she said her Bible was a gift from her grandmother.

We boomers can’t do much about our past misjudgments, but we can ask God in our senior years to make us loving encouragers to others.

Mercy Drops

A pastor friend used an interesting phrase in conversation to me. He told about a revival effort in his church and said until the last service they’d only had “mercy drops.” I asked what he meant, and he reminded me of the old hymn: “Mercy drops ‘round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.” Fortunately, the last night they got the “showers” when many people made life-changing commitments to the Lord.

I think his imagery is appropriate for much of what we do in the church. We labor long and hard to invite, minister and encourage and sometimes it seems our work is ineffective. And then without human explanation the Spirit of God works overtime and we see great things happen.

I’m convinced both “mercy drops” and “showers” are in God’s hands, and we must be faithful as the Apostle Paul said, “in season and out of season.” That is, we must continue to do God’s work whether there’s visible results or not.

The scripture includes two encouraging promises. One is that God’s word will be effective. The ancient prophet Isaiah shared a message from the Lord: “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). We may not see the effect of God’s word immediately, or for a season, but we’re promised it will touch and change lives. The Bible calls itself “inspired” or “God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). The God who used his Spirit to give us his word promises to send the same Spirit to touch hearts.

The second promise speaks to the value of God’s work. Again, Paul wrote, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Ray Boltz wrote “Thank You for Giving to the Lord” in 1988. He told of a man dreaming of heaven. There he met a man who said, “I became a Christian in your Sunday School class when I was a child. Thank you for giving to the Lord.” And then he met a man from another country. He said, “You heard a missionary and you gave money to support him. That’s the reason I’m here. Thank you for giving to the Lord.”

Maybe surprises we’ll one day discover in heaven are the mercy drops that don’t grab our attention in the way the showers do. But our task is to remain faithful to God and his work. It has eternal value.

Thank A Vet

Veterans Day is a time to honor men and women who spent time in the armed forces and who remain with us, unlike Memorial Day which is a time to remember those who aren’t. Our veterans should be honored. They want to share their stories with us, and we should listen.

War is always a troubling time for people of faith. We know God desires peace, and our savior is known as the prince of peace. But we also know that conflict is a reality in our fallen world. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and others taught the “just war” theory, and this teaching has shaped our understanding as the church. We believe we must find a greater good above the carnage of war, such as preventing totalitarianism and slavery.

Our American founding fathers believed that God himself is the author of liberty and they unabashedly asked for his blessings as they fought for independence from Britain.

And historians tell us very convincing stories about the intervention of God. Young George Washington served under British Gen. Edward Braddock in 1755 during the French and Indian War. In a battle on July 9 in what is now the state of Pennsylvania, Washington had two horses shot from beneath him and sustained four separate bullet holes in his jacket. He, however, was unharmed, and went on to be the victorious general of the American Revolution and our first president.

Nevertheless, what should our response to war be?

First, we should work and pray for peace. Jesus said the peacemakers are children of God.

Second, we pray for our family and friends in the military. Most of our churches developed a prayer list of active duty military during the Gulf and Afghanistan Wars and prayed for these regularly.

Third, we honor our veterans in every way possible, lifting them up as genuine heroes.

A friend recommended the Ken Burns’ series, “The Vietnam War,” that aired on PBS, so I invested the time to view it. The series reminded me of a pivotal event of my generation. Several U.S. presidents wrestled with how to conduct this war, and how to conclude it. The anti-war movement was strong, and our country was divided. The series highlighted also how we failed to honor these brave soldiers when they returned home. We should’ve done better.

Memorial Day is a time of sadness. We remember men like my mother’s three brothers who served in World War II who are with us no longer. Veteran’s Day is a time of affirmation. We say “thank you” to the men and women who remain, and who devoted their lives to protect the rest of us.