"Those who would
confine God's work to the miraculous realm are limiting God's power. Why can't God work through the natural channels He Himself created? He healed me of cancer by using the skill he gave the surgeon." — Tom Blanton
"Avoid thinking that
God doesn't know your deepest motivations, conscious or unconscious." — Elizabeth S Bowman
"We underestimate God when we confine God to our limited images,
imagining God to be in any way like our petty selfish selves.
We are in God's image, but that does not mean God in any way
shares our falleness or limitations." — Elizabeth Bowman
If you are feeling guilty for not making any
New Year's resolutions this year,
I want to give you some relief.
January is about gone so if you had
made some resolutions they would already have depreciated by 8% by now.
Plus, I'll wager you don't even remember any resolutions you made last year!
Why not just make these words your first every morning for the rest of 2012:
"Mornin' Lord! Where are we going today?"
Just forget about January.
It is far easier to forgive than to forget.
It may be more Godly to be able to forget.
There is a beautiful phrase that sings:
"…their sins are cast into the great sea of God's forgetfulness."
Hebrews 8:12 says: "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will
remember no more."
We must work at forgiving but maybe only God has
a sea of forgetfulness big enough to hold forgiven sins.
What do you think?
I know the Commandment says: "Thou shalt not bear false witness...."
But you can be forgiven if,
when your dinner is interrupted by a
telemarketing call,
you say to the caller: "I am so glad you called.
I have really
needed to talk to someone about my gall bladder surgery."
Look for wonder in your personal universe today.
It will almost certainly be found in something you did not create.
It will probably be something you would have overlooked
if you had not been on the lookout for it.
It will surely be a gift to you!
You will think: "Wow!" Then you will say: "Amen!"
We Americans need to get beyond our
widespread tendency
to say "No" to things
that do not benefit us personally.
What kind of souls would we be
if we were to only care for ourselves?
Lost!
What if our Creator were to have finished creating
and said,
"Done with that. I'm out of here!"
That God would be lost.
Did you hear about the young fellow who was
on the borderline between graduation and failure?
The teacher said, "If you can answer the following
question, you will pass. If not, you will fail.
What is the difference between ignorance and apathy?"
The young man replied, "I don't know and I don't care."
The professor exclaimed, "You win!"
My wish for all of us in 2012 is that we can emerge from the
political/moral swamp
through which we have either slogged
or been dragged in 2011.
I pray that we will do better at handling our politics, morality, and ethics.
In an election year I am always troubled that so much political opportunism
travels under the guise of moral and religious piety.
Politics does not produce saints.
I hope we will be driven in 2012 by our spirituality
and that our spirituality will be genuinely rooted in Jesus.
The norm these days is to make Jesus derivative of
our politics and popular culture.
A sterile, hypocritical spirituality follows that.
In other words, we are forever crucifying Jesus
on the cross of our own agendas.
It didn't work the first time and it will not work now.
It remains for us to discover where resurrection will lead us—
and go there.
Alright now, I see that slight trace of holiday giblet on your lower lip.
The 12 days of Christmas have slipped on by and most of us have
packed away our tinsel and holiday lights for another year.
Here's a late gift from this old Southern-Fried Santa Preacher.
It's just a thought.
Don't pack Jesus away in that box marked "Christmas Stuff"
to be brought out next Christmas.
Keep him out of the box and grow this year with him.
I'm rethinking possible today.
We know that all things are possible with God.
When the impossible happens we call it a miracle.
When lots of miracles happen we eventually begin to call them possibilities.
I used to say that I live from one miracle to the next.
I now say that I live from one possibility to the next, thank God!
New Years Day comes at just the right time for us.
We have finished the old year with its joys and sorrows.
Our best has morphed into fond memories.
Our worst has begun to fade into the past.
Some of the worst will ferment into wisdom for the future.
Our faith will help us grow toward our ideals
and we will become at least partial answers to our own prayers.
Happy New Years
I have tried in my life and ministry to cultivate
what I call a "fellowship of controversy."
By this I mean, people of good will can differ
and
engage in spirited debate about the most vital issues we face.
But those people of good will maintain their respect,
even their affection, for each other.
It is the ultimate expression of our defeat
when we try to destroy those whom we cannot persuade.
Now's the time to wish Jewish folk a happy Hanukkah.
It is also a time for Christian folk to embrace the tradition of Hanukkah.
The word "Hanukkah" means "dedication."
Here's the basic story.
In 168 B.C.E. the Syrians seized the Jew's holy temple in Jerusalem
and
dedicated it to the worship of Zeus. In Modin, a little village near Jerusalem,
fighting broke out when a Greek soldier demanded that residents bow down
to an idol and eat pork--actions forbidden to faithful Jews. Mattathius, a
Jewish high priest, was ordered to take part in what he regarded as a pagan
ceremony. He refused and became outraged. Before the day was over, he had
killed the Greek officer. His five sons and other villagers attacked and killed the
other Greek soldiers. Then Mattathius and his band took refuge in nearby mountains
where they joined up with other Jewish resistance fighters to oppose Greek soldiers
whenever possible. Like all insurgents, they were a difficult force for a larger,
conventional army to combat.
Later in nearby Jerusalem, Judah Maccabee, a Hebrew
hero, led his soldiers into the temple and discovered that that their holy place had
been desecrated. Revered items had been stolen or demolished, including the golden
menorah. Maccabee and his followers cleaned and restored the temple. When they
finished, they decided to hold a great celebration and rededicate the temple to the
worship of God. They needed oil to light the menorah for the celebration. They searched
the temple for oil but their search yielded only a small flask--enough for just one day's light.
Then a miracle happened; the oil lasted for eight days. Today, Jews commemorate the
miraculous eight days of light by lighting candles in an eight-day "Festival of Light."
Dedication and Divine provision is the theme for this holiday. I like that.
Savor the time at Christmas.
Don't let it pass too quickly. Relish the time.
Don't clean up the chaotic mess in the living room too quickly.
Enjoy the hubbub. Enjoy it as long as you can.
Let neatness return on an ordinary day.
At Christmas, we Christians are challenged to teach our children
that it is important
for us to have a birthday party for this "one of a kind" person, Jesus.
It isn't mostly a time when we give each other gifts.
It's a much bigger deal than that!
We believe that Jesus is God in the flesh.
I know that some of you, dear friends, don't share this view.
Still, you know enough about him to hold him in high regard.
And I can't think of any reason why you would not enjoy his birthday party.
If you can't sing, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come," maybe you can sing,
"What a friend we have in Jesus!" Y'all come too!
Christmas is all about heart isn't it?
Santa doesn't come down a chimney.
He enters through the heart.
If Christmas isn't found in your heart,
it won't be found under a tree.
Whenever I have a "brain freeze" and my memory fails,
I take at least some comfort in the fact that I never forget an old joke.
For example, Bob Hope once said that President Eisenhour
admitted
that the federal budget could not be balanced
and Senator Joseph McCarthy
claimed Communists were taking over America.
Hope opined, "You don't know what to worry about these days...
whether the country will be overthrown or overdrawn."
Bob lived to be 100 years old. If he could have lived a little longer,
he would have learned the answer to that question.
Does it ever bug you that nobody ever whips out a pad and pen
to write down some of the clever things you say?
Well, it does me.
I sit around chewing on a wheat straw a
nd thinking about deep subjects.
Then I climb up on a stump or a soap box and orate
and my smart ideas
just drift off into the ether.
I never see anybody writing down my wit and wisdom
to preserve it for posterity.
I'd like to appoint someone to be my
official biographer when I'm gone.
But nobody's taking any notes.
It's downright discouraging.
George Washington started the tradition of presidential pardons at Christmas time.
Let us each issue some personal pardons this Christmas to people who have
hurt, offended or differed with us.
Let every Democrat pardon a Republican and vice versa.
Let us each pardon a family member.
Everyone needs to be pardoned now and then.
And everyone needs to give some pardons.
These pardons could help our world more than all the
New Year's Resolutions we can cook up!
One important thing Christians, Jews
and Muslims have in common
is that
they all believe that there is only one God.
The idea is framed in the ancient Jewish
prayer from the Bible
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
called the Shema: "Hear, Oh Israel,
the Lord our God is One."
That's it. Simple and to the point.
It's the beginning of theology for the
three great monotheistic religions.
Why do we who believe it
have such little appreciation for each other?
The Bible says, "Man does not live by bread alone."
It is also true that man does not live by hair alone.
Some bald folk have thin skins about their lack of hair.
The Old Testament prophet Elisha
was mocked by
a bunch of youth who called him "Baldhead."
He cursed the boys and two bears came out of the wild
and mauled them. (2 Kings 2:23-25)
It is not smart to mess with bald-headed prophets!
Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the snake. The snake didn't have a leg to stand on.
I know it's an old joke but think of this;
the first sin
may have been taking a bite of fruit in the Garden of Eden
but the original sin may have been blaming someone else for one's own disobedience.
Blaming, if not the original sin, is certainly a common one in every generation.
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I am a devout Christian, but I have many
Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and non-religious readers.
I love you all. I try to make you all feel welcome here.
At the end of the day, I'm trusting God to sort all that out.
I wish sentimentality could enjoy more respect in our culture.
Many folk regard it as an inferior emotion.
It seems to me to begin in adoration — even akin to worship.
I don't know anything at all about the science of such things.
But I can recognize love when I see and feel it.
With 47 years of ministry, here's a little secret practice
of mine.
I always breathe
a little prayer before
each worship service:
"Lord, let something
happen here that isn't
written in the bulletin."
I'm hoping for a serendipity experience —
an unexpected delight for which we did not plan.
You can do the same.
Try it the next time you go to church
and let me know
what happens.
Did you hear about the rabbi who threw a "hissy fit?"
It was a "Temple Tantrum."
I think that must be something like the "Christian conniptions"
that I have sometimes observed in churches.
I think I will throw one of these fits or conniptions before I die.
People who do them seem to get considerable pleasure out of them.
What qualities do you value in a friend?
I want friends who have open minds,
a love of beauty, and
commitment to the civilizing process.
How about you?
Perspective is critical, as
Jon Stewart reminds us with his comment about Thanksgiving.
"I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited
everyone in my neighborhood to my house,
we had an enormous feast,
and then I killed them and took their land."
We who are descended from early European settlers on American soil
don't often think
how descendents of Native American peoples might view the Thanksgiving tradition.
When you think about it, you could say that our traditional Thanksgiving celebrates
the first great wave of illegal immigration in American history. From our perspective,
our illegal entry into the continent eventually succeeded and we are thankful for that.
However, along the way, many of our European ancestors fell in love with native peoples,
married and now we have Native American ancestors as well! We love what we have now.
But lots of Americans — maybe most — just don't want this kind of thing to happen again.
How about you?
The Thanksgiving season. I love it!
I am a fellow who is driven by gratitude.
I don't know anyone who has more reason
to be grateful to God than me.
I'm the most contented man I know.
I'm not running from anything.
I'm not running for anything.
The truth is, I'm not running at all.
I'm mostly just sitting and counting my blessings.
I've been thinking about what I can do to
express my gratitude to God at this Thanksgiving season.
Here is something I can do:
I can celebrate everyday blessings in my family.
I can deal with my own family members with the same
courtesy and respect that I show strangers.
I can greet my own children with the same
politeness and
interest that I show the cute children of my employer.
I can be as thoughtful to my marriage partner as I was
in the days of our courtship more than fifty years ago.
What are you doing to express your gratitude?
The Gospel according to a bumper sticker:
Enough about youth.
How about a fountain of smart?
It's hard to be a chicken in the South.
Southern chickens just can't win.
I'm glad I'm not one.
At church suppers, I myself have helped
countless chickens enter the ministry.
One of the problems in many churches
is the reluctance to risk much for God's sake.
That's why, on the railroad of life,
we religious folk
are so often found crammed into the caboose -
bringing up the rear.
I want to be up near the Engineer so I can see
what's ahead and where I'm going.
That's just the way I am.
It takes a bit of risk to get the most out of life!
Look for a preacher who keeps company with God and who listens well.
That preacher may have heard something that bears repeating.
Last night I watched the sun go down in the west.
This morning I watched the sun rise over the beach to the east.
Not to believe that it would require a God to make this
is far too large a leap of faith for me.
I often think of myself as a steward of the mysteries of God.
The truest things in life defy our best efforts at explanation.
Pondering is so much more beneficial than pontificating anyhow.
The best mysteries deserve pondering
because explanations are so hard to come by.
The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, suggested the
following as a solution for the problem of baldness:
"Rub that part morning and evening with onions
till it is red, and rub it afterwards with honey.
Or wash it with a decoction of boxwood.
Or electrify it daily."
I can't personally vouch for the effectiveness of this cure
but I confess I've not tried the electrical part yet.
Maybe we could launch a campaign to encourage laughter
in the world.
It would be a gracious and healing thing.
We Americans could lead the way!
Christians draw strength from the faith that some things are temporary,
but the things that last are the things that really matter.
When the fog clears -
faith, hope and love remain.
I'm a cheerleader for the spirituality of a scoop of ice cream!
It certainly is good for the soul.
Ask God often for a scoop of your favorite flavor.
That's a perfectly fine prayer.
Make your spirituality be driven by love
more than duty, obligation or fear.
I believe humorlessness is a serious heresy
and that a humorless person
gets under the skin of God.
A very thick skin, I might add.
At one time, humorless Christians
burned heretics at the stake.
Few things in life are better than
good friends who hang out and
eat together regularly,
tell stories, sometimes misspeak
and have a howling good time.
It's a civilized and Southern-Fried thing!
Remember, it's okay to write in your Bible.
A well-marked Bible is a well-read Bible.
It honors God when we pay close attention to the Word.
Good Bible reading!
The faithful spouse
answered the phone
and the voice on the other end asked, "Is the coast clear?"
The bewildered one replied, "How should I know?
The beach is 200 miles away!"
Innocent fidelity trumps sexy! Innocent fidelity is sexy.
Friday night Mass at the
High School Church of
the Pious Pigskin
is the best attended service of the week.
It begins with a call to worship
at the fifty-yard line.
It roars with rolling waves of: "Amen."
It ends with some congregants believing God was on their side
and the rest shrugging, "It was only football."
Too often our dreams are
burned off by that first cup of coffee and never make it into anything real and beautiful.
By nightfall they are lost
even to our own memories. Schools ought to be graded on how well they teach their students to dream.
Don't let the potholes in domestic life
cause blowouts on the tires of marriage.
I want to exhort, encourage, cajole, aggravate and tease society
into deeper compassion, truer justice, greater liberty and genuine peace.
God can use you as a leader
if you will work on disproving
the idea
that change is
bad and to be resisted.
The nature of God is
unchanging; that is true.
But the business of God is redemptive change.
We may try to stand still but
God keeps working on us.
We are perpetual construction sites where remodeling sometimes slows
but never stops until we meet the Master Builder face-to-face.
The 4 year-old child
saw her grandmother's
false teeth
soaking in
a glass of water.
She said to her mother,
"The tooth fairy will
never believe this!"
When I was very ill I wrote on a napkin:
I don't know why I have this illness but
somehow I know God is trusting me with it.
What is God trusting you with?
There is something about a sleeping child's quiet breathing
that one thinks could correct the disharmony in the world
if it could be bottled and breathed by the child in every human soul.
That would be peace that
defies comprehension.
I'll have a whiff of that.
A life that always
plays safe usually
— all too soon —
plays out.
Oh, I don't mean it ends,
I mean it just settles
into boredom.
I believe the fruit Eve offered Adam was a homegrown,
vine-ripened tomato
because
it is so sinfully tasty.
The Bible doesn't say what it
was.
If it were an apple it probably would have been turned down flat
and today we would feel more kindly toward snakes.
If you are wandering
in the desert today
look
for the manna.
It will be a small amount and rather tasteless
but it will get you through the day.
Give thanks.
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