“Live Long and Prosper”

Yesterday, the world lost one of the most iconic actors in television history, Leonard Nimoy. Nimoy, more popularly known as Spock, was an intergalactic superstar. Many are mourning the late actor, including a loyal group of Trekkies, the most devoted fans of the show.

Nimoy’s iconic line was, “Live Long and Prosper”, and the actor surely did just that! He was an accomplished actor, director, musician, and family-man. He is responsible for not only one of the most well-known catch-phrases of all time, but also an ultra-famous hand gesture! His acting was brilliant and his work will forever speak for itself.

However, his death led me to think about how I will be remembered someday. To be honest, when I heard the news, I thought: “oh man, Spock died...” But SPOCK didn’t die! Spock is a made up character. In fact, thanks to JJ Abrams, there is already a new Spock!

Leonard Nimoy died. A very real man with very real friends and a very real family. And while there is nothing wrong with the legion of fans missing an iconic actor, it must pale in comparison to the loss felt by those who KNEW him.

When I die, I don’t want people to mourn the loss of my perception. I want people to see behind the disguise I put on from time to time. The disguise that says I have it all together, or that I don’t need any help. I don’t want people to remember the greatest moments of my acting. I want people to have known the real me. The me that struggles with real things. I long to be transparent and forthright with who I am.

There is so much temptation as a pastor to get on stage and act like we are the standard to be measured against. That we have it all together. We want to be resilient like Spock – unflappable in the face of adversity. We think that if people knew that we get scared, and prideful, and tempted, and pissed off – that they would think less of us… that we wouldn’t be able to lead them or be an example.

But our job is not to act. Our job is to be real… to be approachable and relatable. Our job is to let everyone know that we are in this together. That we are not the masks we wear to hide our deepest fears. We are not brilliant actors, and our church podiums are not our stages!

We are all flawed, and broken, and deceitful, and that is what makes us beautiful. Because, when we see ourselves for who we really are, then we are ready to truly look to God for our identity. And when we find our identity in God, we are finally ready:

to “Live Long and Prosper“

White & Gold… a BLOG about being wrong

It’s comforting to know that so many people, all around the world, experienced the same moment last night. That moment when you looked at your spouse/friend/child/co-worker/etc, like they were an absolute idiot for not seeing that the infamous dress was CLEARLY White and Gold!

I was reading an article about the viral sensation, wondering how anyone could possibly be seeing Blue and Black. The dress was so clearly White and Gold that it felt like the whole universe had organized a practical joke against me! (apparently, I think the whole world cares about pulling a prank on me…). I casually showed the picture to Katie and said “hey what color is this dress?”

“Black and Blue…” she replied, wondering why I was interrupting her phone call…again.

“OK” I thought, “Who got my wife in on this joke??”

It’s a good thing I don’t have much money because I was about to bet it ALL on that dress being White and Gold! It WAS White and Gold! I was more than sure!

Except…it wasn’t. The dress is, in fact, Blue and Black. My eyes had deceived me. I WAS WRONG! I hate being wrong! I mean, I can’t help what I saw, what I really truly believed; but, at the end of the day, the dress is Blue and Black.

Have you ever been SO sure of something, but in the end you were dead wrong about it?

• The boyfriend/girlfriend you KNEW was your soul-mate
• The friends you knew would stick with you forever
• The life goals you knew you would achieve by 30
• Y2K…

Add to that list now the infamous Blue and Black dress. The reality is, not everything is an optical illusion, but most things in life are rather uncertain. You can’t really know how your relationships will end up. There are too many intangibles to control all the aspects of your future. Something you may steadfastly vouch for today, you may run from tomorrow.

Life is crazy and full of inconsistencies! So where do we find hope in a world full of things we can’t rely on?

Well, in the midst of instability, there remains one constant. One immovable force. One thing that has been consistent for all of time. In an unreliable world, there stands an unchangeable God. A God who loves you. A God who makes it OK that you still can’t see the Blue or Black in that White and Gold dress. Because at the end of the day, you are loved.

You are loved through your mistakes. You are loved through your failures. You are loved when your spouse leaves you for someone younger and more attractive. You are loved when your friends ditch you or when your life goals are all failures. You are loved when you don’t make the grade. You are loved when you build an underground shelter, buy all the bottled water in the closest 5 counties, wear a tin-foil hat and tell all your friends the world is ending… No matter what you do or where you go, YOU ARE LOVED. Because God’s love is the one thing that has never, and will never change!

Also, #teamwhiteandgold forever!!

50 Shades of Grace

If you are unaware of the current blockbuster/bestselling book, “50 Shades of Grey”, then congratulations on waking up from your year-long coma… The sex-driven, bondage-themed plot has made tons of money and found numerous hardcore fans. It has also been met with STRONG opposition from many corners; one of the most outspoken groups being the christian community.

Now, I have not watched or read any of the ’50 Shades’ material so I am going off of second-hand info here, but it seems like the church has a clear biblical basis for standing against the film/book. However, what always bothers me in these situations is HOW the collective “we” go about our protesting of societal fads, (The “we” being christians as perceived by the rest of the world):

• Bitter interactions with individuals
• Judgmental Facebook posts
• A better-than-you countenance
• And other attacks on PEOPLE instead of the ISSUE.

If while trying to drive people out of the movie theater you also drive them further from ever entering the doors of a church, you are failing! Jesus did not spend His time on earth running around protesting all the immoral activities of the day (and there were plenty!). In fact, the only people we see Jesus consistently calling out on their behavior, were the Pharisees! THE PHARISEES! The religious elite who were ostracizing all the people who needed God. The Pious priests who got to pick and choose which sins to rally against and which to do in secret.

As christians, it is easy to get up-in-arms about “50 Shades of Grey”… It is full of gratuitous, out of wedlock, sex! It is produced by Hollywood, (synonymous in some churches with Sodom and Gomorra)! It represents everything that we say is wrong with the world!

SO, I thought of some alternative plots that the writer of ’50 Shades’ could have used that would have flown under the radar of christian protests:

50 SHADES OF GRAVY

Plot: A man starts an addictive relationship with southern, fried foods. He ends up in bondage, not only to his eating habits, but also to his ever-expanding waist line. What started as three square meals a day, has turned in to a gluttonous quest for more and more.  

50 SHADES OF GRAY’S ANATOMY

Plot: A young woman hears about a new show on Netflix. The series features a McDreamy doctor working in an intense, drama-filled hospital. The woman ends up chained to her computer, watching Netflix non-stop! Her relationships and responsibilities begin to drop as she falls farther and farther into her show-binging.

50 SHADES OF GRACELESS CHURCHES

Plot: A conservative church becomes obsessed with legalism and rule-following, sending away anyone who doesn’t look the part of the religious elite. The culture becomes more and more stringent and captive to judgmentalism and self-appreciation.

These movies probably wouldn’t lift many eyebrows. Who cares about a guy eating his way to an early death? Why would a Netflix addiction be worth protesting? Who cares if a church has strict moral policies?

Well, in short, GOD CARES! Gluttony is one of the 7 deadly sins. Putting anything before God (even Netflix) is called idolatry and is one of the most spoken about offenses in scripture. Being a stumbling-block to people seeking Jesus is such a big deal, that in some circumstances, Jesus recommended drowning yourself instead!!

Why is it that we jump at the opportunity to speak out against the current ’50 Shades’ phenomenon but leave other issues alone? Could it be that we can’t speak out against over-eating and being judgmental because we are often guilty of it? Sure, it’s easy to rally against sexual perversion, chains, and whips; but, could an even more dangerous sin be an inability to extend grace to those around you?

It’s time to tear down the pillars of US and THEM. “Us” the moral majority, Bible-carrying, Toms-wearing, super-christians; and “Them” the sex-flaunting, pot-smoking, club-hopping sinners. You may sin differently than others, but you are just as screwed. You are just as damned to eternity in Hell. Your sin has separated you the same distance from God. And your only hope of a future in heaven is also their only hope! We are ALL saved by grace. There is no US and THEM… we are ALL THEM! And we are all made righteous by Jesus’ work on the cross, not our works here on earth!

The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can begin changing the world, loving people through their mistakes, and extending 50 SHADES OF GRACE to everyone we meet! We can join with Jesus to love the unlovable, bring hope to the hopeless, and help the weary find peace!

If it Feels Good, Do(n’t do) It?!

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO GET A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE…

One of the greatest tragedies, (in my opinion), is people blindly following what society tells us is right, or popular, or trendy, or Ke$ha! Interestingly, the people that we admire are the few who say, “who cares what is popular?? I’m doing ______”. Of course, then we idolize that person, blindly follow their new trend, and wait for the next genius to tell us what to do, (I use genius lightly, let’s remember that two decades ago we were all frosting our tips…).

Growing up, the churches I was in referred to societies desire to follow trends as “IF IT FEELS GOOD, DO IT!”… We were assured that this line of thinking had one destination and (spoiler alert!) it ended with ‘double hockey-sticks’. Now the reality is, some things that feel good, we should do! Working up a great sweat in a hard workout feels great, jumping in a pool on a hot summer day is hard to beat, hanging with best friends and soaking in great conversation feels amazing, AND- I’ll skip the details- but my wife and I enjoy a few things that feel pretty darn spectacular and aren’t only good, they are acts of worship inside our marriage!!

However, the paradigm-shapers in my young world took the easy way out. If the world says “feels good do it” then the churches official stance would be: “if it feels good DON’T even think about it!” This created a world of hard lines for me. A world where black and white rules took the place of honest conversation. A world where once again, I was simply, blindly, following what I was told.

If the church won’t allow us to have open conversations about what we do and why we do it, then we fall in line with a society who does what it is told, without even knowing why.

NOW, THE PLOT TWIST!

So let’s get a little more uncomfortable!

As I got older I saw the church actively breaking their biggest rule. I saw programs, methodologies, and structures in place simply because it served the wants of the people. In other words, IT FELT GOOD, SO THEY DID IT! Membership made people feel special and like they belonged. Sure, it may make lost people or newcomers feel like outsiders, but they will get over it! Wearing your fanciest clothes to church seemed like a regal thing to do and surely God pays proportional attention to what is on the outside as well as the inside! Of course, someone who is poor and can’t afford nice clothes may decide the church is too fancy for them; but, they can always go to the mission! (are we uncomfortable yet?) Teaching about health and wealth, prosperity and piety, politics and programs FEELS GREAT, SO WE DO IT!

The church is suffering from the same issue the rest of the world is! Original thought has been replaced by conformity. The fear of not fitting in far outweighs the triumph of standing above so we put our head down and follow the crowd, connecting the dots to the same mundane picture the rest of the world is making! We are forced to fall in line and accept whatever is ‘HOT’ in our context at the time. The world screams for the Bieber’s and Snooki’s and the church has to pretend Kirk Cameron is a good actor!

We have to break this cycle and it starts with the church. If we do not give people permission to think for themselves, to ask the hard questions-then why should we expect them to live different OUTSIDE the walls of the church building. Don’t go to three Bible studies a week because it feels good! Go visit three bars a week (IF you’re an adult reading this) and build relationships with people who you can BE the Bible to. Don’t accept every sermon at face-value. Think for yourself, probe, see what the text and the application mean for your special life! Create your own picture with the path of your life! Be unique! Be an artist and use the world as your God-given canvas.  And whatever you do, for the love of all that is good and holy, DON’T LISTEN TO KE$HA!!