I have to admit...I don't like "Happy Holidays" or "Holiday trees" or "Winter break". For me, it's always going to be "Merry Christmas" and "Christmas trees" and "Christmas break"!
That said, there is something about those greetings that has important implications for the transformed church. Think about it. Why, really, would Wal-Mart or JC Penney or Target feel the need to proclaim "Christmas" in it's true meaning? And why should we as the church feel offended if the CEO's of Fortune 500 companies forbid the greeting "Merry Christmas" or call them "Holiday trees" in adverstisments? What is their job? Their job is to sell stuff. Their job is not to proclaim Christmas, at least corporately. However, that is the job of the church!
I normally delete forwarded emails as fast as humanly possible. I do scan them, but only for a short few seconds. I received a forwarded email last week. OK, I received about 50 forwarded emails last week, but one in particular stood out. The way it started out almost got it deleted before I read it..."Letter from God" or something like that. I've got a bunch of those. If most of them are from God, no wonder there are so many atheists.
But this one was markedly different. The gist was this: does God really care if Wal-Mart or Target keeps employees from saying "Merry Christmas"? Does God want Don Wildmon to spend precious time worrying about such things? In the opinion of that email's writer, with which I concur wholeheartedly, the answer is a resounding "NO!"
I do believe that God desires that His followers, in any line of work, including retail, honor Him in any way they can. I also believe that God would have all His followers do something that would present an accurate understanding of who He is to the world, rather than the normal drivel we usually direct against our distinctly pagan culture.
So, in keeping with the spirit of the email sent to me, I would suggest that we followers of Jesus, instead of protesting and writing letters to the editor, do these things this Christmas season:
1. Instead of protesting your town for not having a nativity scene, why don't you and your fellow believers buy one and put it on your lawns? If all beleivers did that, municipalities wouldn't need to.
2. Say "Merry Christmas" to everyone. They may want to say it and can't, or they may need to hear that someone understands why we celebrate.
3. Instead of giving so much to those who need so little, how about giving an offering to mission causes or to Angel Tree or Toys for Tots.
4. Consider giving an offering to Samaritan's purse in honor someone you love. We did this last year, and will again, in honor of every family member. They like it, and want us to do it again.
5. Be nice. I know that you want that good parking spot as much as the other guy. I know you wished that Wal-Mart shoppers knew what a crosswalk was or that anyone knew what a "Yield" sign means. But be nice anyway. This is the hardest time of year for many people, like those who have lost loved ones or who are lonely. Suicide is a big cause of death this time of year. What if you smiled and acknowledged EVERBODY this year? It could well make a huge difference in somebody's life.
6. Give an offering to Jesus before you give presents to your family. My family, well before we open any presents, will offer a gift to Jesus. It can be a song or a commitment or a story or a conviction or a poem or an act of repetance - the gift will depend on chronoligical and spiritual maturity. But make Christmas about giving to the One who gave it all, not about how much we can give to people who need very little.
"Merry Christmas"? Most definitely. But spoken in word and deed by Christ's people to the ones who Christ came to save - the lost, the lonely, the least, and the left out.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
What's our job?
I love the church. Other than family, it is my singular passion. I believe the church is the only hope for America (and the world) today. That's why I do what I do. But the church, at least in North America, has some Goliath-sized problems. So much so, I would say, that we are at a crossroads: if the church in North America fails to readjust herself back to her mission, she will be even more impotent than she is today, and will utterly fail at the commission she has been given. It is one of those areas that needs transformation that I wish to delve into today.
So many followers of Christ in so many churches are content to focus on peripheral issues, and thus to leave the supremely important issues on the back burner. For example, morality is a concern to many people today, both to followers of Christ and to those who have yet to follow Him. But is the church's job to simply herald what is moral and what is not, or do we have a greater task?
Somewhere along the line, some of us confused Christianity and morality. They are certainly not synonymous. I have met non-Christians that I would much rather trust with my money that some Christians!
You see, we in the church are so caught up in the visible that we forget that what happens when a person comes to faith in Christ is internal in nature. The external change follows the internal change (accomplished by the Holy Spirit); it does not precede it. And because we in the church forget that, we focus our efforts on making people moral (as though we could do that anyway).
We cannot make people moral by passing laws or protesting or arguing or writing editorials or blogging or whatever. And we need to remember that that is not our job anyway! As my old buddy Marshall Johnston says, "The church's one task is to proclaim 'Jesus is Lord!'"
There will be many committed believers who love Jesus with a whole heart who will vehemently disagree with this assessment. Their number includes many leaders in the evangelical world today. I do not for a minute question their commitment to Jesus, to the gospel, to the church, or to her mission. I wish not to vilify them or to judge them. In fact, that very thing - the anger, mean-spiritedness, judgementalism, and lack of civility - is much of what is wrong with the church today, particularly my denomination. (That's a post for another day.)
I am simply saying that, while the church needs to stand strong on issues of morality and ethics, without fail and without exception, we can never let our mission be anything but paramount and foremost - even to the point that it far overshadows all else. And we would do well to remember that in many godless countries, the gospel is flourishing. The gospel does not need morality to make it flourish. It only needs people committed to Jesus who are anointed with the Holy Spirit. That will transform the church, and that will be the beginning of revival.
So many followers of Christ in so many churches are content to focus on peripheral issues, and thus to leave the supremely important issues on the back burner. For example, morality is a concern to many people today, both to followers of Christ and to those who have yet to follow Him. But is the church's job to simply herald what is moral and what is not, or do we have a greater task?
Somewhere along the line, some of us confused Christianity and morality. They are certainly not synonymous. I have met non-Christians that I would much rather trust with my money that some Christians!
You see, we in the church are so caught up in the visible that we forget that what happens when a person comes to faith in Christ is internal in nature. The external change follows the internal change (accomplished by the Holy Spirit); it does not precede it. And because we in the church forget that, we focus our efforts on making people moral (as though we could do that anyway).
We cannot make people moral by passing laws or protesting or arguing or writing editorials or blogging or whatever. And we need to remember that that is not our job anyway! As my old buddy Marshall Johnston says, "The church's one task is to proclaim 'Jesus is Lord!'"
There will be many committed believers who love Jesus with a whole heart who will vehemently disagree with this assessment. Their number includes many leaders in the evangelical world today. I do not for a minute question their commitment to Jesus, to the gospel, to the church, or to her mission. I wish not to vilify them or to judge them. In fact, that very thing - the anger, mean-spiritedness, judgementalism, and lack of civility - is much of what is wrong with the church today, particularly my denomination. (That's a post for another day.)
I am simply saying that, while the church needs to stand strong on issues of morality and ethics, without fail and without exception, we can never let our mission be anything but paramount and foremost - even to the point that it far overshadows all else. And we would do well to remember that in many godless countries, the gospel is flourishing. The gospel does not need morality to make it flourish. It only needs people committed to Jesus who are anointed with the Holy Spirit. That will transform the church, and that will be the beginning of revival.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A new venture
I look forward to starting this new adventure. Although I am not unfamiliar with bloggers, I am unfamiliar with blogging. I hope to use this venue to share some ideas on the thing that is my passion - a church that is genuinely transformed. Certainly I will delve into other topics, but I will be consistent in my original reason for beginning this blog. I will not post daily, but as time/circumstances permit. Hope you enjoy.
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