Yesterday was my mother's birthday. You can probably imagine my year's of stress having to deal with my mom's birthday and Mother's day in the same week. Two presents, two cards, two dinners; two of whatever families do for mom's birthday and Mother's Day. I always felt bad for this kids--like Donna from Beverly Hills 90210--whose birthday's were on Christmas. I wondered how they ever knew which gifts was for what.
My mom never had that problem. She has always treated her birthday like a national holiday. She doesn't go to work, friends or family take her out to eat. It is her day! And those around her have always known to be very clear about which gift was for her birthday and which was for Mother's Day. She took it easy on us though, she never cared much about Mother's Day. Her birthday was the thing.
Not surprisingly, I have inherited her love for birthdays. And now with my wife and daughter, we celebrate birthdays with more excitement and fervor than any other holiday. Here's kinda how I see it. Everyone celebrates Christmas, Father's and Mother's Day, Valentine's Day etc.... And while I know that people around the world share birthdates, there is something special in taking one day, while the rest of the world continues in its mindless hustle and bustle, to say to someone you love, "I celebrate you."
What a wonderful gift to be able say, "you are special, not in the generic 'everybody's special' sense but you are special to me. I choose to be in relationship with you. Your life makes my living better. I am grateful to God for the gift of you."
It seems to me that there some kind of external pressure with national holidays, but celebrating birthdays seems to be more about personal privilege. The privilege it is to be in relationship with someone, to love someone uniquely, to say today is your day.
So it is in that spirit that I say to Gloria Palmer, "I love you" and "Happy Birthday."
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Words to Remember
I have a terrible memory. I also read a lot. This means that much of my reading is simply re-reading things that I have already read. It happens all the time. I go back to read something that I thought was very profound, only to discover that my memory under-served the text and the words are much more profound than I remembered.
Here are a few powerful quotes for recent re-reads.
1. From Philip Yancey's Disappointment With God: "Some Christians long for a world well-stocked with miracles and spectacular signs of God's presence. I hear wistful sermons on the parting of the Red Sea and the ten plagues and the daily manna in the wilderness, as if the speakers yearn for God to unleash his power like that today. But the follow-the-dots journey of the Israelites should give us pause. Would a burst of miracles nourish faith? Not the kind of faith God seems interested in, evidently. The Israelites give ample proof that signs may only addict us to signs, not to God."
2. From Mother Teresa, (a quote that I always try to take into the pulpit with me): "What we say does not matter, only what God says to souls through us."
3. From Dan Taylor's Myth of Certainty: "Mistaking this active life of faith for an institutionally backed and culturally bound belief system is similar to reducing the Mona Lisa to paint-by-numbers."
4. From Soren Kierkegaard: "Christian scholarship is the human race's prodigious invention to defend itself against the New Testament, to ensure that one can continue to be a Christian without letting the New Testament come too close."
Email me some of your though-provoking quotes!
Here are a few powerful quotes for recent re-reads.
1. From Philip Yancey's Disappointment With God: "Some Christians long for a world well-stocked with miracles and spectacular signs of God's presence. I hear wistful sermons on the parting of the Red Sea and the ten plagues and the daily manna in the wilderness, as if the speakers yearn for God to unleash his power like that today. But the follow-the-dots journey of the Israelites should give us pause. Would a burst of miracles nourish faith? Not the kind of faith God seems interested in, evidently. The Israelites give ample proof that signs may only addict us to signs, not to God."
2. From Mother Teresa, (a quote that I always try to take into the pulpit with me): "What we say does not matter, only what God says to souls through us."
3. From Dan Taylor's Myth of Certainty: "Mistaking this active life of faith for an institutionally backed and culturally bound belief system is similar to reducing the Mona Lisa to paint-by-numbers."
4. From Soren Kierkegaard: "Christian scholarship is the human race's prodigious invention to defend itself against the New Testament, to ensure that one can continue to be a Christian without letting the New Testament come too close."
Email me some of your though-provoking quotes!
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
5 More Things I Think I Think
I good while back, I blogged about "5 Things I Think I Think". Well, here's five more.
1. No Matter How Beneficial Something Is to No Matter How Many People, Someone Somewhere Will Find a Way To Criticize It. This is particularly true, I think, in religion. A ministerial practitioner writes a wildly beneficial book and the theological gliterrati respond; "Have you seen his book? He misses this completely, he misinterprets this text, he is working from praxis (practice) and not theology." Or just the opposite. A thoughtful theologian writes and insightful text and practitioners begin to shout; "So, what? Is this helping anybody. The Academy is out-of-touch. You got to meet people where they are and not force heavy theology on them right away." I've never understood why people simply can't accept the offering of others, accepts what feeds them and their community of faith and use it as a launching pad for further growth.
2. Without Email and My Cell Phone I Feel Cut-off From The World. I don't know why. I haven't always had email or a cell phone, but when my phone is not with me or my email is not working, I feel as if the world is moving ahead while I am standing still. I get my news through email and communicate to colleagues and friends through email, so if my electronic addictions aren't working, then I'm worthless.
3. As It Was When I Was A Kid, I Think Worship Services Are My Least Favorite Part of Being A Christian. It's not that I don't enjoy them, the worship services at my church are great. I like them. But I would trade any worship service for summer camp, retreats, service projects, small groups, mission trips, a good, long conversation over cup of coffee, etc. I have just always felt like true Christianity was best expressed outside the church building.
4. The Designated Hitter Rule Should be Abolished. Hey, American League Baseball, if you can play in the field you can stand in the box. That's the way you play on the playground, in high school and college and in the National League. You're the only ones who play DH ball. Don't you think there's something wrong with that?
5. Discipleship Is The Lost Art of The Church. Somehow, Christianity become about facts, figures, propositions and doctrinal statements. Discipleship became a science instead of an art. People learned the data, but often never became more personally devoted to the cause of Christ in the lives, their family or society. Too many church-going men abuse their wives and children. Christian executives host Bible studies during lunch and then rip off their investors by cooking the books at the next days board meeting. Many children never see their parents pray except at church or over dinner. So-called Christian activists parade in front of news cameras with signs reading: "God Hates Fags!" Does that sound like something you would hear Jesus saying? We've had far too much emphasis on looking like Christians and not enough on being Christians.
1. No Matter How Beneficial Something Is to No Matter How Many People, Someone Somewhere Will Find a Way To Criticize It. This is particularly true, I think, in religion. A ministerial practitioner writes a wildly beneficial book and the theological gliterrati respond; "Have you seen his book? He misses this completely, he misinterprets this text, he is working from praxis (practice) and not theology." Or just the opposite. A thoughtful theologian writes and insightful text and practitioners begin to shout; "So, what? Is this helping anybody. The Academy is out-of-touch. You got to meet people where they are and not force heavy theology on them right away." I've never understood why people simply can't accept the offering of others, accepts what feeds them and their community of faith and use it as a launching pad for further growth.
2. Without Email and My Cell Phone I Feel Cut-off From The World. I don't know why. I haven't always had email or a cell phone, but when my phone is not with me or my email is not working, I feel as if the world is moving ahead while I am standing still. I get my news through email and communicate to colleagues and friends through email, so if my electronic addictions aren't working, then I'm worthless.
3. As It Was When I Was A Kid, I Think Worship Services Are My Least Favorite Part of Being A Christian. It's not that I don't enjoy them, the worship services at my church are great. I like them. But I would trade any worship service for summer camp, retreats, service projects, small groups, mission trips, a good, long conversation over cup of coffee, etc. I have just always felt like true Christianity was best expressed outside the church building.
4. The Designated Hitter Rule Should be Abolished. Hey, American League Baseball, if you can play in the field you can stand in the box. That's the way you play on the playground, in high school and college and in the National League. You're the only ones who play DH ball. Don't you think there's something wrong with that?
5. Discipleship Is The Lost Art of The Church. Somehow, Christianity become about facts, figures, propositions and doctrinal statements. Discipleship became a science instead of an art. People learned the data, but often never became more personally devoted to the cause of Christ in the lives, their family or society. Too many church-going men abuse their wives and children. Christian executives host Bible studies during lunch and then rip off their investors by cooking the books at the next days board meeting. Many children never see their parents pray except at church or over dinner. So-called Christian activists parade in front of news cameras with signs reading: "God Hates Fags!" Does that sound like something you would hear Jesus saying? We've had far too much emphasis on looking like Christians and not enough on being Christians.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
One Voice!
It was just me and my daughter, Malia, this past weekend. My wife, Rochelle, was off at our church's annual women's retreat. The women's retreat must be much more fun than our men's retreat. At the men's retreat, guys so up late and leave early. At the women's retreat, ladies show up early and stay late. What's up with that?
This year, I spoke at the men's retreat and Rochelle spoke at the women's. I am so grateful to have a marriage in which we compliment each other so well and share many of the same gifts. At our house, you can tell who is going to speak somewhere and who is not. The person leaving is getting on the person staying's nerves. It's non-stop questioning: "How does this sound? What should I say hear? How do you think this will go over? Can you think of a story about...?"
Public speaking and preaching at our house is a family affair. When our daughter was a newborn, my in-laws visited every weekend so that I could have Saturday nights to go over the sermon again and again and so I could get some sleep. After those sermons, my late father-in-law--a former preacher himself--and I would break down the sermon like football coaches break down game tape. Poor Rochelle, by the time a sermon is heard in public, she's heard it 20 times. And the same is true when she is speaking. But that's the way we like it. Or at least that's the way I like it.
I like that when I speak, I am not just approaching the text with my eyes, my experiences, my insights. I have Rochelle speaking alongside me. And I need her, several weeks ago I was speaking at a retreat for a large church in Dallas. For the second session, I had nothing! I asked Rochelle about it and from her words emanated the session. And if you were to ask those present about the retreat, they would probably tell you that the second session was the best. I hope that I am as much of a help to her as she has been to me.
We compliment each other and we challenge each other. I think that's the way it is supposed to be when the "two become one." We share the same passions, frustrations, loves, and hopes. That's not to say that there are not places where we could not be more different, but it is to say that God has worked a miracle in our marriage. He has taken two people from two very different places, with different backgrounds, different experiences, different family styles, and even from different races and given them one voice!
I don't think I could ask for more.
This year, I spoke at the men's retreat and Rochelle spoke at the women's. I am so grateful to have a marriage in which we compliment each other so well and share many of the same gifts. At our house, you can tell who is going to speak somewhere and who is not. The person leaving is getting on the person staying's nerves. It's non-stop questioning: "How does this sound? What should I say hear? How do you think this will go over? Can you think of a story about...?"
Public speaking and preaching at our house is a family affair. When our daughter was a newborn, my in-laws visited every weekend so that I could have Saturday nights to go over the sermon again and again and so I could get some sleep. After those sermons, my late father-in-law--a former preacher himself--and I would break down the sermon like football coaches break down game tape. Poor Rochelle, by the time a sermon is heard in public, she's heard it 20 times. And the same is true when she is speaking. But that's the way we like it. Or at least that's the way I like it.
I like that when I speak, I am not just approaching the text with my eyes, my experiences, my insights. I have Rochelle speaking alongside me. And I need her, several weeks ago I was speaking at a retreat for a large church in Dallas. For the second session, I had nothing! I asked Rochelle about it and from her words emanated the session. And if you were to ask those present about the retreat, they would probably tell you that the second session was the best. I hope that I am as much of a help to her as she has been to me.
We compliment each other and we challenge each other. I think that's the way it is supposed to be when the "two become one." We share the same passions, frustrations, loves, and hopes. That's not to say that there are not places where we could not be more different, but it is to say that God has worked a miracle in our marriage. He has taken two people from two very different places, with different backgrounds, different experiences, different family styles, and even from different races and given them one voice!
I don't think I could ask for more.
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