Soma

My heart has been so burdened for our brothers and sisters, and all those who have been affected by the tragedy in Haiti.  I’m sure your heart has been too.  In response to the sacrificial love we have received from Christ, we ought to be prepared to respond not only generously, but sacrificially.

Shoreline is partnering with Children’s Hunger Fund to address the innumerable immediate needs in Haiti.  We will be taking collections at all of our Community Groups next week and sending them to CHF, as well as spending time praying for the situation in all of our groups.  Join us in praying for the situation, and take time to pray about how we all might emulate the gospel-love of the Macedonians (2 Cor 8:1-5):

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.  For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

So, after returning from vacation on Saturday, I was just beginning to catch up on responsibilities and relationships when I found out that I was called to serve jury duty today.  That’s right, in the 7 days between vacation and moving our entire family into a new house, I get to spend an entire day at the LA Superior Courthouse in Santa Monica.

But, please don’t get me wrong…there are no complaints here.  It seems easy and normal to complain about jury duty, but as I got up this morning, picked up my coffee and headed to the courthouse I was struck by two thoughts:

1.  God has incredibly blessed me by allowing me to live in a country where we have a program such as jury service.  Many people all over the world do not have to be inconvenienced by the call of jury service, but they are also not allowed to participate in their governments or justice systems at all.  How incredible is it that instead of some grand fiat from on high, our justice system is run (by in large) by the decisions of average citizens like me.

2.  SInce God is sovereign, to complain about jury service seems to fall into the same category as complaining about paying my taxes: it is an afront to God who placed the authority in power.  As a husband, pastor, elder and father there are very few authorities in my life that I have the chance to willingly (and joyfully) submit to.  However, the government is one such authority.  Therefore, since they are not asking me to sin and aren’t even acting unjust towards me, I ought to respond to this opportunity with joyful service, not begrudged anxiousness.  Check out what Romans 13:1-7 says:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.  Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.  For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

And, in addition, I’m writing this blog entry while sitting in the jury room!  Free wifi!  How in the world can I complain about jury service when they give me a desk, a plug and free wifi?!

Those are my thoughts for this morning.  No complaints from me.  But, I also wouldn’t complain if you would pray that I don’t get placed on a long trial…because as joyfully as I respond to this opportunity…I’d still rather spend my work hours being your pastor.

It’s long been quite apparent to me that while little children certainly enjoy their birthday parties, much of what goes on is more for parents than for the kids.  However, it never occured to me that maybe that’s a good thing…something that teaches us about God.

Now, I’m not talking about those over-the-top birthday parties where parents drop a grand on a two year old, but even simple things like decorations, the design on the cupcakes, or even the whole present-opening event is often times more enjoyable for the parents to watch than it even is for the kids.

Last weekend at Harper’s 3rd birthday party (see fun pics here) it hit me: I was enjoying his smile, his laughter, his joy even more than he was enjoying the party.  I mean, sure, he was exstatic about the Lightning McQueen car he got, and the huge steam-engines he got to climb on, and the Dinasaurumpus book which he loves, and the cupcakes that he smashed all over his face.  But, I am convinced, as his father, I enjoyed watching him, interacting with him, and getting to see his excitement even more than he enjoyed those festivitees.

And that’s when I realized it: that’s how God works!  He loves getting to see us enjoy the gifts he gives us.  Our joy is great, but his joy in our joy is greater.  He knows and understands better than anyone the joy of the giver.  For, the joy of the giver is greater.

The sweetest part of the entire day was after we got home and Harper was done playing with all of his toys, and he had taken his bath and gotten ready for bed.  After we finished reading a story from his new picture Bible, he sat on my lap and told me all about how much fun he had had on his birthday.  He told me and his mother “Thank You.”  He hugged me tight and told me he loved me.

But, what would I have done if he had ignored me that night?  What if, instead of sitting with me, reading with me, thanking me and talking with me, he had insisted on playing with his new toys even after I had told him that play time was over.  What if he ignored me, and simply professed his love to his toys?  I’m not sure what would have happened, but I know one thing for sure, the joy of the giver would not have been the same.

I’m so thankful for that moment with my son…I pray I may be a son like that.

As the body of Christ, God has called us to live in deep, meaningful relationship with each other.  Some people call this “family,” some call this “community,” many (very simply) call it “church.”  Whatever name you tag it with, the truth is that as humans we were created (and as Christians we were re-created) to live in relationship with others.  Isolation, individualism, and surface-level relationships are not simpmly undesirable for the Christian, they are sin.

Few people would disagree with me, here.  Although, the reality is that our actions and the way we live our lives don’t always line up with our convictions and the way we view our lives.  As I sat in my living room with a group of friends the other night, and discussed the hindrances in our culture to the real and true community that Christ desires us to have, Chrissie mentioned the “Facebook Culture” as something that hinders us from true community.  I had never thought of it like this, but she’s absolutely right!

Right now, I know that Mark Glesne is having trouble with his healthcare, Brian Kincaid has someone’s cell phone because they left it at his house, and Denise James is pregnant.  “What’s wrong with that?” you ask.  I haven’t spoken to any of these people in years!  I know what’s going on in their life, so it feels like we have some sort of relationship…but we actually have no relationship at all!

In addition, I know that Phil is tired, Meredith and Karina are having lunch on Friday, and Amy has a new job.  “What’s wrong with that?” you ask?  I have spoken to these people lately, in fact they’re all my friends.  However, I haven’t talked individually with any of them about these facts…yet I know them.  I have a relationship with these people, but it feels more involved and intimate than it is.  I know things about them, but we haven’t really talked since those things happened.  It’s weird.

The first few years Lara and I were married we worked together.  We not only worked at the same church, but we both worked in the same department.  We sat in staff meetings together, we saw each other in the halls repeatedly, we knew what each others day consisted of.  Most of the time, the question “how was your day?” was unnecesarry because we both already knew.  As a result, when we would get home after work, we didn’t really feel any need to spend time together because we felt like we were all “caught up.”  Our surface level time together and knowledge of fact about each others activities gave us a false sense of intimacy.  But the truth was, we hadn’t spent any quality time together at all!

I think that our “Facebook Culture” is kind of like that.  Because of the tools at our disposal, we develop a false sense of itimacy with each other that doesn’t really deepen our relationships at all (and is defeinitely not the kind of relationship God desires for His church).

So, next time you see a status update and learn something you didn’t know about a friend that you talk to regularly, don’t simply be thankful for the information, but take it as a cue that maybe you should hang out more, or give them a call…and maybe we can use the technology at our disposal as tools to build true community and real relationships, and reject the temptation of false intimacy.

So, there is plenty to talk about after our quick trip down to El Salvador, but I’ll save some of that for later and allow it to digest a little more.  However, an interesting theme occurred in some of my reading that I think is worth sharing.  On the flight down, I took my most recent issue of Newsweek, and in it found an interesting article the subtitle of which describes its thesis best: Peter Pans aren’t as happy as they seem.  The Peter Pans it is referring to are, of course, the large number of 20- and 30-somethings whose life mantra seems to be, “I will never grow up!”

In addition, on the flight home I was reading a book that highlighted this same trend that is one of the most universally recognized developments in American culture.  Here, the author identifies the implications of not wanting to grow up on the institution of marriage.

American men are spending a greater percentage of their lives single.
There are many reasons for this, including divorce and longer life
spans. Yet more and more men are also choosing to delay marriage. The
median age at first marriage for a man has risen sharply from a low of
just under 23 in 1960 to its current high of over 27 in 2004.

Welcome to West LA!  There is no way that any of us can deny the fact that we are living right smack dab in the middle of Pleasure Island (the place where boys become donkeys in Pinocchio).  The only way that the median age for marriage in West LA is as low as 27 is if there are a bunch of 12 year-olds secretly getting married somewhere in town.

But, I’m not going to rip on the culture or muse about how we got here…many of the causes are self-evident…but I do think that the existence of this mindset in our culture ought to cause us to pause and take account of what’s going on in our own hearts.

You see, getting married early does not necessarily mean that your heart isn’t dramatically affected by an “adult-lescence” culture, and getting married late doesn’t mean that you’re a product of that culture.  Those things can be symptoms of a deeper heart issue, but all of our hearts (if we are honest with ourselves) are affected in different ways by the allures of ditching the responsibilities of adulthood (or at least putting them off) because of our consuming self-centeredness.  Married or single; 20-something or 40-something; student or career-person…it doesn’t matter.

What does matter, is answering the question: “What is motivating my actions?”  Is it the desires of this world or our love for Christ?  Is it my love for others or my love for myself?  Is it my fantasies developed by the inudation of media or is it my understanding of reality developed by the truth of Scripture?

So, read the Newsweek article and think about the culture we live in.  Ask the questions of “how we got here” and “where’s our culture heading?”  But more importantly, check out what’s going on in your own heart.  Just because you aren’t identified with the guys who are looking for a “hook up” every weekend, or the girls who are treating their own bodies as objects, doesn’t mean that everything’s OK.

In Romans 12 Paul writes:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We need to look deep into our hearts and ask ourselves (and those closest to us!) how we are being “conformed to this world” and to its passion for “Adult-lescence,” even in sublte ways that may seem acceptable in the general Christian culture.  And then we need to turn to the Spirit and Word of God for the transforming renewal that will allow us to truly be “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Phil. 2:15)