Happy Birthday Jesus

I was thinking this morning that the “problem” with Christmas is not the fun and fantasy and magic for children, the gifts and food and family for all ages, but that we have not talked and lived enough about the birth of Jesus and what it is really all about. It’s our problem as followers of Jesus, not the world’s problem. I am not so worried about the world taking away the meaning of Christmas but that we have not talked enough about the real meaning. Jesus came into the world as a baby as a gift from God. That is pretty “magical” to me in a very good way. He came to do more than give me some presents but to give me the best present of all, himself. God with us. Jesus left heaven and came to earth to die for our sin and invite us to receive forgiveness and then to spend the rest of our lives following him as disciples. Christmas celebrates that. It’s the best news of all. Have a very Happy Christmas this year in the middle of whatever traditions you enjoy as you share in the Joy of Jesus. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Dependency on Christ

Dependency on Christ.

For those filling out tax forms there is a benefit to having dependents. But no one wants to be a dependent all of their life. People want to be the Head of their Household.

We want to be blessed, empowered, and free.

I think dependency on Christ tops everything. We don't have to carry ourselves. In fact, besides not having to carry ourselves we are able to let Christ carry us. 

I realize that no one phrase summarizes all of life but this one is giving me hope. If it encourages you then I'm glad about that too.

You don't have to go it alone. I don't have to go it alone.

Dependency on Christ. 

Raining on Good Friday

It's raining now and it's supposed to be like this all day and into tomorrow. This is one of the few rainy days that encourage me. Usually, they are a downer and I just want to be outside to walk in the sunshine.

But it always feels right to me when the weather is gloomy on this Friday, the one before Easter. It reminds me that Jesus suffered beatings, mocking, and horrible death. The only way you can call this Good Friday is to look beyond it to the resurrection. And I do.

But on that day when he was murdered in a cruel way it sure didn't look good. Three men on a cross and the man in the middle didn't deserve it. It was a sad day. This is a sad day to think of how he died for sins he did not commit. I'm grateful that he died for my sins and the sins of others, but I'm still sad. Because I don't deserve his forgiveness.

But that of course is the point. None of us deserve it but He gave us forgiveness willingly. Because He loves us.

Yes, Jesus loves me. Oh, how he loves you and me.

Repurposed

Sometimes you don’t know what to call it when you are part of a church that is different than what you think it should be. Maybe you are thinking things are changing so fast. Or things are changing too fast. Or things aren't changing fast enough. So you try to describe what you want to happen.

Revitalization. But that takes a while and you certainly aren’t there yet.

Re-engineered. But the pieces are so separate that you aren’t there yet.

Reimagined. But you can’t see that far ahead and you definitely aren’t there yet.

So here is a word. 

Repurposed. So much that we have doesn’t need to be thrown on the garbage heap of life but if we keep it a new purpose for it is needed. 

Repurposed. Taking what we have in front of us and doing what it is able to do. Perhaps that is taking “Church” and repurposing it to what it was always meant to be. 

We know the ways we have been using it don’t matter or work as much or at all anymore. Maybe they did at one point but slowly they drifted from what the purpose of the Church really is.

The purpose of the Church isn’t to be a landmark in the community. “Turn left at the old first church of ___ and keep going three miles.” It’s not a building. 

The purpose of the Church is not to be a courtroom in the city where people come to be judged and then just told to not do that again.

The purpose of the Church is not to be a post office where messages come in and go out without being examined and shared.

The purpose of the Church is not to just take care of its own and neglect those who surround it.

The purpose of the Church is not just to convert those without Jesus and then send them on their way with a Bible and a hearty handshake.

We all could make a list of what the church is not. A list that we know intuitively just isn’t all that the Church was ever meant to be. We feel it. There has to be more. And there is.

The purpose of the Church is to make followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus. It's that simple. Some might say the Church exists to discover, develop, and deploy disciple-makers as Jesus commanded. That really works in integrating just a few words to begin a process of how that actually happens. 

But let me go back for a moment at least to the simple way of saying it. 

The purpose of the Church is to make followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus. You can know if that is really the purpose of the church that you are part of by asking two questions. 1) Are we making followers of Jesus? And 2) Are those followers of Jesus making followers of Jesus?

The often missed question isn't the first one, though it could be in some places. But the more often missed question is are the followers of Jesus whom we have made as a church making followers of Jesus?

We shouldn't expect that to be happening if that is not our purpose. Don't grade somebody on what they have not been taught and shown. 

Repurposed. We can do this. We can repurpose the church we are part of to make followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus. To discover, develop, and deploy disciple-makers as Jesus commanded.

We can do this but not alone. Fortunately, we don't have to do it alone. But with God leading us we can decide to repurpose the church that we are a part of. And evidently, we can do this even if we doubt.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Repurposed...with Jesus with us always, to the very end of the age. You are not alone. We are not alone.

More Jesus

As I am listening to the Gospel of Matthew this morning, to Jesus, I am reminded of how I just can’t get enough of Jesus these days. 

I was thinking of a friend who wants and needs to spend more time with non Christians these days. I think he finds Jesus among them. He gets more of Jesus.

Perhaps at different seasons God leads us to himself in the way we need. I’m glad he’s blessing this friend in this way.

As you follow in the way of Jesus let him guide you closer in the way you need in this season of life. Let others, and encourage others, to follow Jesus in the way that gets them closer to him. Don’t get in their way. Get in The Way. The Way of Jesus.

A Rich Life: What is a favorite story about my Dad?

A favorite story about my Dad goes back to when I was in High School and some friends and I started a band. We practiced at someone’s home and I was the lead singer. I didn’t know how to play guitar at that point so others played instruments and did backup vocals and I just sang. It was my first group and we called ourselves Pink Lemonade. Yes, I know, but it was the 60s. 

After practicing for a while we finally lined up our first gig. We were going to play at a school dance and we were very excited. I told my Dad about what we had lined up and he said, “No, you’re not allowed to play at a dance.” I was very surprised and of course upset. I couldn’t understand at all how he could tell me that. He knew that we had been rehearsing and how much it meant to me I thought. But he was firm and said that I could not play at a dance. 

Those were the days when some Christians frowned upon dancing and I thought he must not want me to play because he was a Pastor and it would reflect badly upon him. But it didn’t make any sense to me because my sister went to dances and had gone to the Prom several years before. He obviously thought it was OK for her to dance and go to dances. So why couldn’t I play at a dance? It all seemed very hypocritical to me.

But that was just the way that it was and since my dad had said no I told the band I couldn’t sing and the band disbanded without ever playing a performance for anyone. No Pink Lemonade. I was never in a group like that again that was basically a cover band singing hits from that time period.  

I survived. I went on to form a group in a year or so that would sing cover songs plus Christian songs and sing them at church functions for youth groups. I even recorded some of those songs on an album called Blades of Grass which was my next group that was a duo. My Dad even loaned me the money to be able to pay for the recording of it and the purchase of the albums to sell. At some point, I remember talking with someone who knew me from High School who said that Blades of Grass was one of the names that my first band had considered but we ended up choosing Pink Lemonade as our name.

My Dad and I had a really good relationship most times in life but sometimes I would still think about how he had told me “No” in regards to playing at the dance. I carried that with me for years and finally years later, I don’t really remember how many years but definitely decades, I finally asked him about it.

In conversation with Dad, I described what had happened. I told him about the high school group that I was in and that we had gotten a gig to play at a local school dance. I was the lead singer and we were excited and then I went home and told him about it. I told him his response was to say “No, you’re not allowed to play at a dance.” I said I was so surprised because I never imagined that I wouldn’t be allowed to play at a dance because Rosalyn had gone to dances and that was obviously OK with him. I told him that didn’t seem consistent to me.

His response was, “You’re right.” He said it didn’t sound consistent with him either. Then he said that he didn’t remember the incident at all. No memory of it at all. He agreed with me that it wouldn’t be right to tell me that, but that he didn’t have any memory of that ever happening. He wasn’t doubting me. He just didn’t remember it. 

All those years I had carried that with me. One of the few negative memories actually that I had of my Dad, something that had affected me so much I thought. I had carried it but he did not.

It didn’t stop me from singing in groups and it didn’t stop me from loving my Dad. It’s a favorite story about my Dad not that he told me “No” but that he would agree with me later that he shouldn’t have. It reminds me of how sometimes we carry hurts from someone and that person doesn’t carry them at all, doesn’t even remember.  

I’m not glad that I carried that for so long but I am glad that finally I brought it up to him and put it behind me. Dad could have defended himself. He could have said I don’t remember it but then launched into a justification of why he might have said it. But he didn’t. He just admitted he was wrong. That’s a good story. That’s a good Dad.

When God Laughed

One morning I was praying to God, asking God to forgive me and I heard God say, "I forgive you, Rich." I said I know but I don’t want to take advantage of you. Then God laughed and said, "I’m God. You can’t take advantage of me." 

I think what God was saying was that God will always forgive me and I should never be afraid to ask him to forgive me even for the same sins again and again. Because I cannot take advantage of God.

You can't take advantage of God either. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep asking for forgiveness, even if it is the same thing you've needed forgiveness for before.

God is not on a budget of forgiveness. There is no 77 or 70 times 7 for God to forgive you. 

You can't take advantage of God. God is God 🙏 And He loves you more than you can imagine.