Judea, Samaria and the Ends of the Earth

The following was preached at Veedersburg UMC on Sunday, May 24, 2009.  The text for this week's message is Acts 1:1-11.

In the calendar of the Christian year, this week is referred to as Ascension Sunday.  It is the week that we look back to Jesus' last time with the disciples.  After the resurrection, Luke tells us that Jesus spent time with the disciples over a forty day period speaking about the kingdom of God.  But then the time came that he warned the disciples about in John 16.  Jesus was going to have to leave them so that the Holy Spirit would come and be with them.  Jesus' ascension closed the book on one chapter of the disciples' lives, but turned the page to another chapter at Pentecost, which we will discuss in more length next week.  But this week, there are a lot of things that we can learn about how God has moved and look at how we can cooperate with God's movement in the world today.

Just a quick historical point before we really get into the meat of what is going on in this passage.  You probably noticed that the Book of Acts begins in a very similar fashion to the Gospel of Luke.  Both books are addressed to a person named "Theophilus."  This is a major indication that both books were written by the same person, who tradition, and the name of the gospel, tells us is the physician Luke.  If you read through the Book of Acts, you'll actually come across some sections in which the first person plural pronoun "we" is used.  These are recollections of times that Luke actually spent traveling with Paul.  One of the many things in Scripture that we often miss if we aren't paying close attention.

Now, it's not really known if "Theophilus" is the actual name of the receipient of these two books, or if it is a code name for a Roman official to whom Luke was writing in defense of Paul.  What I find interesting though is that the name "Theophilus" is comprised of two Greek words - theos, which means God, and philos, which is one of the words that means love.  Whoever it is, it seems apparent that these two volumes of Luke's work may very well be intended for one who loves God, and wants to know more about the early Jewish movement that became known as Christianity.  Does that describe anyone here this morning?  That's something to think about, but let's get back to the text.

It says that while Jesus was staying with the disciples, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem.  Okay, first of all, if somebody rises from the dead, and tells you not to leave a place, you don't leave.  In fact, if someone rises from the dead, you listen to every single word that they have to say.  You set aside everything that you thought you knew and you listen again and again and again.  The disciples were fortunate enough to have 40 days of this kind of learning from Jesus.  For 40 days, they sat and listened to somebody who had once died and was risen from the dead.  You can bet that they caught every single word that Jesus said.  They probably heard some of the same things that he said in the previous three years, but they heard it in a new way.  And they didn't just listen to what he had to say, they lived it out.  They shared the message with those they met.  They went to places far and wide telling people about Jesus and about the salvation that he made possible.  But they started by obeying Jesus' command to not leave Jerusalem.

It had to start at home.  For us, it has to start at home.  Being a follower of Christ is more than appearances.  How we present ourselves to those around us is important, but it is not the only witness that we give.  It is sometimes said that character is who you are when nobody is looking.  Something similar can be said for the Christian life.  The state of your spiritual self is revealed when there is nobody around.  Because when there's nobody around, there's nobody to impress.  Who you are when you are by yourself reveals a lot about who you are.  And here's the kicker: it doesn't tell everyone else who you are, it tells you who you are.  

More often than we'd like to admit, the image looking back at us through the mirror is not who we think we should be.  We are often our own worst critic, and sometimes that is a valid criticism because nobody knows us better.  At other times, we are being too hard on ourselves and we do need to remember that we are children of God.  The key is to discern between the truth and the lie in our self-criticisms.  Learn from the truths; set aside the lies.  Believe me, I know that this is easier said than done, but we are never challenged by things that are easy, and we never grow without being challenged.

There is a second element to the disciples staying in Jerusalem that we need to look at as well.  The disciples had to wait on the Lord.  If you'll notice, Jesus doesn't tell them how long they are going to have to wait.  He simply tells them that they need to wait for the promise of the Father.  The good news is that he tells them that it will be "not many days from now."  However, that is still vague.  What is "not many days from now"?  Is it tomorrow, the day after, a week later?  What is "not many days" for one that has been around since before time?  Thankfully, we find out that it was only ten days later that the Holy Spirit came; however, there is no certainty as to the timeline when Jesus tells the disciples to wait.  And that's the hard thing - waiting on the Lord, when there is no definite timeline.

Has anybody ever felt like God takes too long to work sometimes?  I'm serious, there are times when I wish God knew my schedule and He would just hurry up and get things done.  Have you been there too?  But what I have found out time and time again is that God's timing is perfect.  He is never early, and He is never late.  If you've seen the Lord of the Rings movies, you'll remember in the first movie where the wizard Gandalf is coming to the Shire and he is greeted by Frodo, who says, "You're late."  Gandalf replies, "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins.  He always arrives precisely when he intended."  I'm fairly certain that Tolkien had a similar experience with God at some point in his life.

I remember at my seminary graduation, I still had no idea where I was going.  We were in the process of packing our apartment in Wilmore because Katie got her job as the assistant for the Indy East district superintendent.  At the time, I was waiting to hear back about a ministry opportunity, and was prepared to transfer stores and spend another year selling tools at Sears.  We finally received a call a few days before we were preparing to move that the ministry opportunity had become a reality.  I was fairly certain that God's timing was a little late at that point, but I know that it was perfect.  It caused me to put my full trust in him.  We were going to temporarily live with Katie's sister, and we had no idea where we were going to live, or about anything that was coming up.  We had to put all our faith in God.  We had to trust that He knew what was best for us, and that He would take care of us.  And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that was one of the toughest things Katie and I have had to do in our lives.

But it's no different than what God does in all our lives.  He tells us to wait on Him.  As difficult as that can be at times, God is never late.  He always arrives precisely when he intended.  He tells us this as individuals, and He tells us this as a congregation.  I know for a fact that God has bigs plans for this congregation, but we have to wait on him.  We first have to learn to rely and trust solely on Him.  And that's hard to do.  All of the training that I've had in the past few years says that we need to get everyone together as soon as possible and write a vision statement and set goals for the church.  And that's true, we do need to do that, but first, we need to wait on the Lord.  At some point, we will be putting together a team of people who are listening for what God would have us do as a congregation.  We are going to shape our identity, and we are going to strive after some goals, but first, we have to wait on the Lord.

And don't get me wrong here, waiting on the Lord is not a passive thing.  We don't sit and twiddle our thumbs until God speaks to us in a loud voice from on high.  We have to be intentional about reading His word and listening to what is going on in our community, and in the world around us.  Ministry in today's society is shifting.  What used to be effective and draw people in doesn't work any more because the world around us has changed.  The message of the gospel hasn't changed in 2000 years, nor will it, but how we reach out to others and how we share the gospel with them has changed.

People no longer want long philosophical and theological arguments.  That may have worked in a different era, but now, what you'll hear more often than not is, "I'm glad that works for you."  We live in a world that doesn't believe in absolute truth.  Everything is relative.  Now, this doesn't mean that there isn't absolute truth, but that people don't want to recognize that there is.  If people are shut off from this message from the beginning, there is no chance of sharing the gospel with them through these means.

We no longer live in a time when we can scare people into the kingdom either.  I remember during my take-in with the PPRC, somebody asked what my style of preaching is.  I thought about responding by saying that I was a fire-and-brimstone preacher, but I thought that might not be the best first impression.  That's me keeping my onery side in check again.  Seriously though, there was a time when people were scared to go to hell and so they would join a church.  Salvation wasn't seen as a gift from God, it was seen as fire insurance.  

Now, hell is very real.  Hell is eternal separation from God; whether or not the lake of fire that is mentioned in Scripture is literal or figurative doesn't matter.  One way or another, hell is total separation from God.  It's not going to be a pleasant way of spending eternity; however, to use it as a tool to scare people into coming to church is dishonest and it misrepresents the core message of the gospel.  The gospel isn't - turn to Jesus because he can keep you out of hell.  The gospel is about turning to Jesus so that you can finally live your life as it was intended to be lived - in relationship with God.

So, where does that leave us?  If we can't use absolute truth or fear to bring people to Christ, what can we do?  People want to see that the gospel has made a difference in your life.  It doesn't matter how solid your arguments are if you aren't living a life that glorifies God.  It doesn't matter a bit.  We are in an age where people are searching for honest relationships.  Does this type of evangelism take a long time?  You bet it does.  It requires a serious investment of time and energy.  Of course, isn't that the same model that Jesus displays for us in the gospels? 
 
Jesus chose just a handful of people and spent an incredible amount of time and energy investing in their lives.  But in three years, they were the ones who were sharing the gospel all around the world; investing time and energy into the lives of other people, who then were the ones sharing the gospel.  It's exponential growth.  If one person can influence the life of four people, then each of those four people can influence the life of four more people; suddenly, there are 20 people that have been influenced, directly or indirectly, by the original person.  And if the original four and the ensuing sixteen can each influence four more people - that is 100 people that have been influenced because a single person decided to invest his/her time and energy into just a handful of people.

That is an example of the widening circle that we see in Jesus' statement that the disciples were going to be witnesses in Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  Now, in the case of the disciples, they physically did go to those places, and there is certainly a need for us to reach out with the message of the gospel beyond just our surrounding community.  But we don't have to immediately be thinking of ways to widen our circle of influence.  We have to start where the disciples started - right where they were.  Right here, in Veedersburg, is where we need to start.  And don't forget, we start by waiting on the Lord.  I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said that if you are headed down the wrong road, progress means going back.  The call today is to come back and wait on the Lord.  Let's not run all over the place trying to do all sorts of things, if those things do not get us going in the direction that God has for us.

I think there is one more thing that we can learn from today's passage.  At the end, Jesus ascends into heaven and the disciples are all standing around staring into the clouds.  Two guys come up to them and say, "What are you looking at?  Don't you know that Jesus will come back?"  They're saying, "Hey, get your heads out of the clouds and get to work.  Jesus will be coming back, you don't have all day to be staring off into the sky."
We like to daydream.  We keep our heads in the clouds.  One of my favorite television shows is Scrubs, and the main character is constantly drifting off into the world of his imagination.  It's usually pretty funny, but it also shows us a very important point - we can't complete our task if we aren't focused on it.  If we have our heads in the clouds, we are going to miss what is going on all around us.  Ever heard the saying, "He's so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good."  It's not a bad thing to be heavenly minded, but if we aren't paying attention to what God is doing right next to us, we are going to miss it.  I don't want us to miss what God is doing all around us.

On this Ascension Sunday, we look back at the history of the Christian movement, but we also look forward to what God is going to do in our community.  I don't want us to miss it.  I want us to be intently focused on what God is doing, and I want to take part.  I really do, and maybe that's crazy, but I really think that we can do incredible things all around our community if we are only listening for the leading of the Spirit.  I've seen so much excitement here, and I truly believe that if we can plug in to what God is doing, then there is no stopping a significant movement of the kingdom of God in Veedersburg.

Cardinal Week in Review, 5/15-5/21

The past week has been a difficult one for Cardinal nation....

Milwaukee, 5/15-5/18
The first game of the series got rained out with the Cardinals leading 2-0, and they never led again.  Technically, they didn't lead at all in this series.  This was the epitome of poor baseball.  Now, I know that the Cards have been hurting with Ankiel and Ludwick out of the lineup, but they have to do better than this.  These were three of their five absolute worst losses that I have seen this season (the other two being Opening Day against the Pirates and a 2-1 loss against the Braves in which three batters were walked and 2 ended up scoring).  0-1 is a difficult loss to take, especially when your starter had been struggling in previous games and only gave up two hits in this one.  The 2-8 final in the second game is in large part due to 7 BB's and 2 HBP's by the starter, and three earned runs given up by a pitcher who only threw 16 pitches and didn't get an out.  In the 4-8 loss, Rasmus got his washed out 2 run HR back, but the Cards were already down 7-0 in the 7th inning when he hit it.
Cardinals record: 0-3, (6-4-1 series)

Chicago, 5/19-5/21
The Cubbies followed the Brewers into town on Tuesday, hoping to continue the Cardinals' losing streak.  What they found was a Cardinal team that still couldn't score, but wouldn't allow anyone else to score either.  Key numbers: 8-2.  No that isn't the final score in Thursday night's serie-sweep-completing victory.  It is the final tally of the entire series.  The Cards swept the Cubs by combining for and 8-2 score: 3-0, 2-1, and 3-1.  How 'bout another pair of numbers: 17-14.  The Cards managed to outhit the Cubs by 3.  Not a lot of offense, but the pitching stepped up in a big way in this series.
Cardinals record: 3-0 (7-4-1 series)

The next week's worth of baseball includes the I-70 showdown as the upstart Royals come to town; followed by a trip to Milwaukee to get those three ugly losses from this week out of their minds.  Next update will probably be on for Thursday the 28th, since that is the next Cardinals' off day.  With friends in town, though, it may get pushed back.

Summer Movie Tour: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

This is the last in a string of reviews that gets me caught up in what I've already seen on the big screen this year.

I'll have to admit, I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of this movie.  After watching it, I'm still a little baffled as to why they released it in May instead of holding out until November.  It is a a twist on A Christmas Carol, in which Connor Mead is the miser.  Only it's not money he's holding onto, it's love.

Connor learned the fast-life of no commitment, cheap sex and the "myth of love" from his uncle who helped raise him and his little brother after their parents died in a car crash.  It is the weekend of his brother's wedding, and Connor, in all seriousness, tries to talk him out of it as soon as he arrives at his deceased uncle's estate, where the wedding will take place.  After making a total jerk of himself at the rehearsal dinner, Connor is met by his dead uncle who tells him that he will be visited by three ghosts over the course of the night.  Connor revisits his past, sees some things in the present, and observes a possible future during the night, all of which lead him into a different place in his life.

My assessment: While I knew it was going to be a "chick-flick," I was also interested in seeing how they would translate A Christmas Carol into this type of setting.  Overall, I think they did a pretty good job.  There is a lot of talk about sex, but nothing is actually shown, and I don't remember the language being very offensive either.

My recommendation: It's worth seeing.  I would say that it could wait for DVD because there is nothing set on such a grand scale that it would be lost in translation from the big screen to the small screen.  It's definitely entertaining, and worth a couple hours of your time.

The summer movie tour will be a little more spaced out now, but there are definitely a handful of movies that I want to see soon, some of which are already out: Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, Night at the Museum, Up... and that's just what is coming out in the next couple of weeks!  It's going to be a good summer.

Fruit Bearing Trees

After a great vacation, it was good to be back to preaching on Sunday morning.  The following was (for the most part) preached on Sunday, May 17, 2009 at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC.  The text for this week's message was John 15:9-17.

As I was reading through the passage this week, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between what was just read and the passage that we looked at a couple weeks ago from 1 John 3.  The onery part of me, the part that I have to keep in check more often than not, thought about reusing that sermon just to see how many people would really notice.  But then, the more realistic part of me remembered that y’all absorb every word and take copious notes, so there’s no way I’d actually get away with it.  Seriously though, there are a lot of similarities between the two passages.  So the challenge, I think, is to ask ourselves if we are really taking it in?  Are we really listening to the Word here?

Now, it’s not like the two passage are word-for-word duplicates.  So, I want to spend some time looking at the differences, but first, what are some of the common threads?  What is it that we come to again in this passage that we were faced with two weeks ago in the passage from John’s letter?  Right out of the gate, we come across a familiar word: abide.

Believe it or not, this is not a very common word in Scripture.  It’s only found 36 times in the 66 books that we have in our Bible.  And here’s the baseball fan in me coming out, what do the stats look like?  “Abide” appears in the Old Testament 7 times, and 29 times in the New Testament.  Of those 29 New Testament appearances, 2 are in Paul’s letters and the other 27 are found in John’s writings – either in the gospel, or in his first two letters.  Three quarters of all appearances of this word in the Bible are found just in the writings of John.  So, apart from me having spent 5 minutes of my time looking it up, what does this mean?

It tells me that this is a very significant theme in John’s writings, at least in the course of four chapter of his writings.  You see, not only does John use the word 27 times, he uses it in bunches.  23 of those appearances are found in John 15, or the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chapters of 1 John.  And why is it so important that John would refer to it so much thoughout these chapters?  Because everything we are and do as Christians hinges on this single word.

To abide in Christ, to rest in Christ, to dwell in Christ is the very purpose of who we are as Christians.  It is an important element of having a personal relationship with Jesus.  Our lives as Christians need to be shaped by our relationship to Jesus – nothing more, nothing less.  And it is out of that relationshiop with Christ that we begin to discern and fulfill our call as individuals and as a congregation.  But it has to start with abiding in Christ.  It has to start with each one of us committing to read, listen to and be transformed by the Word.  Remember, that challenge to spend 15 minutes a day reading Scripture?  That is where it has to start.  Abiding in Christ begins with us putting ourselves into a postion to be receptive to his Word.

Imagine what we could do if only half of us here  were consistently being changed and molded by Christ.  After Judas was done hanging around… (okay, that was really bad; read Acts 1 later if you want to know why.)  Anyway, after Judas was out of the picture, there were only 11 of the original disciples left, and look what happened.  Christianity took off!  It became a worldwide phenomenon.  Lives were being changed.  Unbelievable things were happening.  And I know all the excuses – “the disciples have 40 days with Jesus after the resurrection, not to mention 3 years with him before the crucifixion, and THEN the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.  We don’t have the kind of advantages that they had.  We can’t do something like this.”  And my response is, “Why not?”

The Holy Spirit didn’t just come at Pentecost and go away for the rest of eternity.  The Holy Spirit is still around, and if God is the same yesterday, today and forever, that same Holy Spirit is available to work in this world, if we would only put ourselves in a position to give over all control.  The Holy Spirit still works in this world.  And if we abide in Christ, we abide in the Spirit.  We can do amazing things for the kingdom of God simply by abiding in Christ and listening for the leading of the Holy Spirit.  

The Holy Spirit is at work all around us.  The only question is whether or not we are going to join in.  Are we going to allow ourselves to get excited about what God is doing?  Are we going to submit ourselves to God and be a part of what He is doing all around us?  If we obey Jesus’ command to love one another, and if we continue to abide in his love, then all we need to do is listen and follow where the Spirit is leading us.  And it sounds so easy, doesn’t it?  But the challenge comes tomorrow morning.  When you wake up tomorrow, are you going to make sure you set aside some time at some point in the day to pray and read Scripture?  It doesn’t have to be at 5 o’clock in the morning, but it does need to happen at some point in your day.  You know your schedule.  You know when you can do it.  And if we are all being honest with ourselves, we aren’t too busy.  I’m not saying it’s easy.  I’m not saying that I come through every single day.  But it is so important.  For us to grow as individuals and as a congregation, we have to be doing it.  Period.  It’s not something that we can fake.  We do it because we want to develop our relationship with God, and for no other reason.  God doesn’t want our mindless obedience.  He wants us to obey out of love.

Jesus tells us in verse 15 that we are no longer servants, but friends.  What he is talking about here is a deeper level of personal interaction that had not been broadly available before.  In the Old Testament, while David is called a man after God’s own heart, only Abraham and Moses are called friends of God.  That’s it.  Two people in the entire Old Testament are considered friends of God.  This isn’t to say that there weren’t people who were failthful, but that only these two men seem to have the kind of deep relationship with God that is available to us through Christ.

Because of Christ, things have changed.  Jesus was God in the flesh – fully God, but also fully man.  Jesus was a model for how we can live our lives in total obedience to the Father.  The type of obedience that doesn’t come out of fear of punishment, but as a response to the love that one has for the Father.  Think of your friends and family here.  You do what they ask because you love them, not because you are afraid of the consequences if you don’t do it.  And that’s how it should be in healthy relationships.  We should act out of love, not fear.  That’s the kind of relationship that we can have with God through Jesus Christ, all because Jesus has revealed the Father by his life.

This section closes with another important point.  Verse 16 says, “You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.”  The Greek word for “chosen” here means “to be called out (of something).”  We have been called out of the world, friends.  We have been called out of the mundane and purposeless lives that we had before Christ, and we’ve been called out for a purpose.  That purpose is to go and bear fruit.  Maybe you haven’t responded to that call yet.  Maybe you are still wandering through life without a sense of purpose, and without a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ.  That’s not what you were created to do.  You have been called out of the world by Jesus Christ.  You have also been called to go and bear fruit.

We aren’t called to sit and wait for people to come to us, but we are called to go to them.  Opportunities are all around us every single day.  Whether it is with our co-workers, our friends, our neighbors, our classmates, or even within our own family, we have opportunities to go and bear fruit, and we don’t have to go far.  Spend some time praying about that this week.  Pray that God will open your eyes to the opportunities that are all around you.  It won’t take long for you to see them.

Did you know that you are perfectly positioned in somebody’s life to be a witness and to bear fruit for the kingdom of God?  You are!  You are in a better position than me, or the persons sitting on either side of you, or the persons sitting in front or behind you.  People don’t accidently come into our lives.  I wasn’t accidently appointed to this congregation.  You didn’t just accidently come here today, and there aren’t people in your lives who just accidently happen to be there.  We are all called out and appointed to specifically go and bear fruit for the kingdom of God.

So, today, I want to send you out with another reminder.  Because you have been called and appointed by Christ, because you abide in Christ and have a deep fellowship with God, and because your obedience to the Father comes out of love, not fear, live out your faith.  Remember that you, and only you, are perfectly positioned to go and bear fruit in someone’s life.  That’s what we are all called to do.


Tuesday Tunes!!!!


And we're back!!!  It's been a couple of weeks since I've put up a Tuesday Tunes.  Quite frankly, it's been a little busy lately, and this hasn't been the first thing on my mine.  But we're back.  We're back in the saddle again.  We're back.... oh wait, that's not this week's song.

This week continues my obvious baseball fascination with a couple of tunes (that's right, it's a Tuesday Tunes Two-fer.... today).  I came across a couple of great videos on the ever expanding YouTube.  They are parodies of relatively familiar songs.  No lyrics today, just some good times.

For all the Cardinal fans out there....



And, again, for all the Cardinal fans out there...


Summer Movie Tour: Wolverine

The tour continues with what really kicked off the summer movie season: the X-men series prequel - Wolverine.

Wolverine is a touching, nature documentary about a cuddly woodland creature.... oh wait, not it's not.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  Ever wonder why Logan seemed to be so ticked off all the time in the X-men movies?  Well, he does too.  He struggles with memory problems throughout the original trilogy, though some of it comes back in flashes.

This story begins with Logan, or Jimmy, as a child... in the 19th century.  Jimmy and his brother Victor go through a lot of things together - like WWI, WWII, and Vietnam.  As time passes, they don't age, and they begin heading in different directions.  Jimmy becomes more and more of a pacifist, while Victor becomes more and more of a psychotic mess.  Ultimately, they are recruited to be a part of a team of mutants who go around the world dishing out a particular brand of scariness.  However, their differences finally drive them apart, and Logan leaves the group for the quiet life in the Canadian Rockies.  But, as you would expect, he is not left alone, and eventually allows Stryker (yeah, the big, bad military guy from the original trilogy) to experiment on him, fusing his skeletal system with the indestructable adamantium that we've all come to know and love.  What follows from that point is non-stop action and unexpected plot twists.

My assessment: This is everything you're looking for in a summer movie.  Action, explosions, a few laughs here and there.  Don't expect deep storylines, and, as with a lot of prequels, don't expect to understand how all of the details translate into the previous movies.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.  You don't have to know all about the X-men story to get into it, but it certainly helps when some characters appear without any kind of explanation as to who they are.

My recommendation: See it in the theaters.  Maybe wait for the twilight prices to save a few bucks, but this is one that is worth seeing on the big screen... unless you have a giant television, then I guess you could manage to wait for it to come out on DVD.

Summer Movie Tour: Knowing

Stop #2 on the summer movie tour is Nicolas Cage's Knowing.  The movie begins in 1959 (I think it was '59, anyway) with a ceremony at a new elementary school.  A little girl, who is clearly disturbed in some way, writes a series of numbers on a piece of paper that is destined for the time capsule that will be opened in 50 years.  This is when we flash forward and meeting John (Nicky C.) and his son, Caleb.

John is a professor, and we get a glimpse of his outlook on life during one of his lectures.  He believes that things just happen randomly, and without any purpose.  Of course, with that speech coming so early in the movie, you know that it is going to be challenged.  It is, not surprisingly, when Caleb is the recepient of the little girl's page of numbers.  One night, while Caleb is asleep, John begins to look at this sheet of paper and with the omniscience of the internet is able to discern that the numbers are a code for disasters that have occurred over the last 50 years (disasters that included the 9/11 attacks, earthquakes, plane crashes, and even the hotel fire that killed John's wife).

Meanwhile, Caleb is followed around by creepy blonde-haired guys in black jackets, who apparently cannot talk audibly.  They are referred to as the "whisper-people" by Caleb and a friend that he meets later in the movie.  These two can hear the whisper-people talking, while nobody else can.

Everything comes together in an ending that can only be described as catastrophic... and really weird.

My assessement: though there is some violence, it is not over the top.  I don't seem to remember a lot of bad language throughout the movie either.  It certainly is a movie that makes you think about how we are all connected in some way.

My recommendation: it's worth a look at the theater, especially since it should be coming to a dollar theater near you soon.  Otherwise, wait for the DVD, and maybe don't watch it in the dark when it's really hot outside.  Once you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Summer Movie Tour: Watchmen

Summer is a big time for the movies, and this year isn't any different.  However, this year, I plan on seeing quite a few.   And, hey, why not let you in on what I'm seeing, and you can decide if you want to see them too.  Or you'll find out that we have totally different taste in movies... either way, it ought to be fun!

The first movie on this tour isn't really a summer movie, since it came out sometime in the spring; however, I'm starting here anyway.

Watchmen was interesting.  The plot is unique in this Hollywood age of reboots and rehashing of old storylines.  It is set in an alternative present.  Richard Nixon is president.  America crushed the opposition in Vietnam.  Superheroes are just regular people who get dressed up in funny costumes (with one exception, the freakishly blue and frequently naked Dr. Manhattan; yes, it's as disturbing as it sounds).

Watchmen gives us a glimpse of the kind of life that a hero would lead in this kind of world.  And it's a dark, morally gray lifestyle.  The action sequences are incredible.  The music really helps set the tone.  The picture itself is unique, very dark overall.  It was done by the same person who did 300, a movie that intrigues me in how it is produced.  However, I like 300 a whole lot more.

My overall assessment: the violence, language and nudity are bad in Watchmen.  For those reasons alone, I don't recommend seeing it.  It's not one that I think I'll watch again, although it did make me think and was intriguing.

Recommendation: your life won't be missing anything if you never see it.

Swish's Series Reviews - Catch Up Time

Ironic how I stopped doing the series reviews for just a little while and suddenly, the Cardinals lost their first series, and then drop a couple more.  Vacation was good, and coming back has been really busy, so this is the first real chance I've had to get caught up on things.

Philadelphia, 5/4-5/5
This series did not go so well for the Cards.  In fact, they lost both games of this two game series.  It was their first series defeat of the season, losing 1-6 and 7-10.  It was an omen of the things to come over the next several days.  Cardinals record: 0-2 (5-1-1 series).

Pittsburgh, 5/6-5/7
In a total turn-around from the Philly series, the Cardinals came out playing solid and took both games of this short set, with 4-2 and 5-2 victories.  Cardinals record: 2-0 (6-1-1)

@ Cincinnati, 5/8-5/10
First trip to Great American Ballpark of the season, and not such a good result.  They acted like they wanted to get into the first two games of the series, but never really got it going.  Then, they tried to give away the final game.  Going into the ninth, Franklin gave up his first two runs of the season.  Both on solo shots - but one to a pinch-hitting pitcher.  They came back and won it in the 10th.  Two losses: 4-6 and 3-8; victory: 8-7.  Cardinals record: 1-2 (6-2-1)

@ Pittsburgh, 5/12-5/14
There are some things that just shouldn't happen in baseball.  One of those things is the Cardinals losing a series to the Pirates.  It'd be one thing if they were close losses, but really, they weren't.  The one exception would be Game 2 of this series, in which the Cardinals did have the tying run at the plate in the 9th inning; however, they trailed by 4 going into the 9th.  The first two games: 1-7 and 2-5; final game: 5-1.  Cardinals record 1-2 (6-3-1)

This has all led from the Cardinals having a relatively firm grasp on first place in the division to them suddenly in a logjam atop the Central.  Going into Friday's postponed game against the Brewers, the Cardinals were tied with the Brew Crew at 21-14, and the Cubs and Reds were sitting 1/2 game back at 20-14.  Of the now 9 teams in baseball with 20+ wins, 4 are in the NL Central.  It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.

On Vacation!

In just a little while, Katie and I will be leaving for vacation!  I doubt that I will have internet access (apart from what I can get on my Blackberry), so I definitely will not be blogging until at least next Tuesday.

Swish's Series Review, Nationals 4/30-5/3

Cardinals record: 2-1 (5-0-1 series); 17-8 overall

Cardinals 9, Nationals 4
This was a tight game, believe it or not, until the 9th inning.  Tied at 4, the Cardinals "exploded" for 5 runs in the top of the ninth.  By "exploded" I mean - 3 hits (one, with bases loaded, was an infield single!), 2 walks, 1 HBP, and a balk.  Yup, that's what helped the Cardinals finish the month of April with the best record in baseball.  Lost in it all was an outstanding performance by Mitchell Boggs, who has been filling in for the injured Carpenter.  He struck out a career best 9 in 6 innings of work.

Player of the game goes to Ankiel on this one for a 2-3 night, including a pair of RBI's one of which broke a tie game in the 9th.  Pujols also deserves some mention for his 8th HR of the season in the 1st inning, which put him at 28 RBI's on the season


Cardinals 6, Nationals 2
Cards brought out the whoopin' stick in this one.  All six runs were scored via the long ball tonight.  Pujols, Duncan, Ludwick and Thurston (1st career) all homered for the Cardinals.  Pujols was on base for Duncan's and Ludwick's HRs.  Wellemeyer pitched a solid game, going 7 inning and only allowing 2 runs on a HR in the 7th.

Pujols is tonight's player of the game.  He was merely a triple short of the cycle, scored 3 runs, and knocked in another.  It's surprising he didn't get the cycle.  It seems like he has a triple every other night (not really, he has yet to record one this season).

Nationals 6, Cardinals 1
As good as the Cards played yesterday, they stunk it up today.  Pujols was getting a much deserved day off.  His replacement at first, Chris Duncan, gave Cardinal Nation another reason to love their MVP first basemen.  Duncan dropped a relatively easy foul pop-up, and the Nationals took advantage with a two-out single and a big, 3-run blast by Adam Dunn.  Pineiro pitched well, going seven strong innings and only allowing 1 earned run (the 3-run dinger by Dunn counted as 3 unearned runs), but he was outmatched by the Nationals pitcher, Martis, who pitched a complete game and only allowed 5 hits.  

It's important to note that this is the first loss by a Cardinal start whose last name doesn't rhyme with Bellemeyer.  Cardinal starters are 14-3 on the season.  In fact, Wellemeyer is the only pitcher with multiple losses on the entire team.  

An additional side note, why do I say that this was a much-deserved day off for our favorite MVP?  Currently, Pujols leads the NL in HR (tied with Adrian Gonzalez), RBI, runs, and slugging percentage, and ranks 3rd in batting average (.356), 3rd in hits, and 9th in stolen bases (don't expect that to be maintained!).  Smells like another MVP season to me!

The good thing about only scoring 1 run is that it was pretty easy to discern who the offensive player of the game was.  Rookie Colby Rasmus hit his first major league HR in the 7th inning for his second hit of the day.

Game 4 of the series was postponed due to the rain.  A makeup date has not been announced.

As much fun as a series review has been, I think with the conclusion of this series, I'll be switching to a weekly format instead.  It's an evolving process.

Loving in Truth and Action

The following was preached at Veedersburg and Hillsboro UMC on Sunday, May 3, 2009.  The text for this weeks message is 1 John 3:16-24.

Love is a word that is often thrown around, but rarely understood to the full extent.  As we get deeper into the third chapter of John’s letter, the author starts to paint a clearer picture of what it means to love another person.  The example that he gives us is Jesus.  To really know what love is, we need to look to Jesus, and not just to the versions that we see in modern culture – versions that both over-romanticize love and cheapen it.  We need to learn what it means to love another person.  We can learn that from Jesus and then apply it to how we love those around us.  Jesus’ love for us should lead us to have a similar type of love for others.

It is with much shame that I admit that I have watched the ABC Family show Secret Life of the American Teenager.  Now, originally, my excuse was that I was in youth ministry, but then I came here, and I no longer had an excuse.  So, to put it into perspective, have you ever watched a series of events that were so horrible that you couldn’t keep your eyes off of it?  I had that experience on Tuesday night last week, when Kyle McClellan, a Cardinal pitcher, walked three batters in the bottom of the eigth of a 1-0 game.  Secret Life is a lot like that.  It’s a mess.  I’m not even kidding.  The acting is terrible and the storyline is worse.  You know that it is going to be awful, but you can’t help yourself.

The main character, Amy, is 15 and pregnant.  She got pregnant during summer band camp, and the first season of the show basically traced her life during the course of her pregnancy.  In the course of this season, we meet different teenagers who struggle with what it means to be in love.  In fact, the theme song goes like this, “Falling in love is such an easy thing to do.  Birds can do it; we can do it.  Let’s stop talking. Let’s get to it.  Let’s fall in love.”  And it’s this very upbeat, pop song, which doesn’t fit with the rest of the show.

Now, during her freshman year, she meets a guy (who is not the father of the baby) and starts dating him.  For some reason, they think the answer to all the issues laid out before them is to fall in love and get married.  There is no sense of responsibility, no real grasp of the serious nature of the situation, and it’s like this for all of the characters.  Love is portrayed as some feeling that comes and goes.  It’s cheap, and not worth the time for some of the characters.  

And while I’m picking on this particular show right now, it’s not the only one on television like it.  I’m sure there is a long list of shows that we could go through right now that give a similar portrayal.  My point is not to tell you to stay away from these shows, but to watch them with a discerning eye.  Don’t just accept the “reality” that is laid out before you on television.  Every show on television gives us some kind of misguided perspective on what is important in this world, and how we should approach our relationships with others.  We have a whole generation of people who think love has a way of working itself out in neat half-an-hour segments.  But as we read through Scripture, we find that this isn’t what love is about.

Love is not about mushy feelings for one another, and it’s not an excuse to do whatever you feel like doing in your relationships.  Love for other people begins in our hearts, but it is much more than what’s portrayed on television.  Love is about earnestly caring for other people; putting their needs first, not our own.  Scripture tells us that love is patient and kind.  1 Corinthians 13 is all about the importance and description of love.  When we read Scripture, we find that love is not a feeling.  It is a verb.

It begins with our hearts.  Are our hearts in the right place?  Are we acting out of selfish desire, or out of concern for others?  John gives us the ultimate picture of love in the example set by Jesus Christ.  He says, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.”  Jesus’ selfless life that was given out of the love that he has for each one of us is the ultimate picture of love.  We read in the garden before he is arrested that Jesus was praying to the Father.  He didn’t want to go through with it.  He knew what awaited him.  But his love for others, and his love for the Father caused him to say, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

And while it may seem extreme, that’s the kind of love that John encourages his readers to have as well.  That’s the kind of love that we need to have for one another.  “We ought to lay down our lives,” he says.  We need to put others ahead of us.  That’s the example that Jesus gives to us, and that’s the example that John puts forth to us as well.  John recognizes that giving one’s life is an extreme case, and so he gives us another example.

Verse 17 says, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”  Where are our hearts?  If our hearts aren’t in the right place, we close them when we come to people in need.  I’m not suggesting that we give everything away to whoever comes around, but when we have an abundance of resources, what are we doing with them?  It’s a matter of stewardship.

I don’t talk all that much about stewardship, but it is an important part of our faith.  Usually, people complain when they hear pastors talk about money.  It’s a subject that people don’t want to hear about when they come to church.  I try not to talk too much about it, but to avoid it altogether would be irresponsible.  Perhaps we don’t like to talk about it because it is too personal.  But I’ve heard it said that if you want to see what somebody’s priorities are, then look at their checkbook.  Why is it important to talk about stewardship and money?  Because where your heart is determines where your money goes.  Do we have more than we need, but fail to give to those who need it?  I think there are times in all of our lives that we do.  But is it something that happens occasionally, or is it a pattern in our lives?  That’s where it gets a little harder.

As I’ve said before, stewardship is not about money.  Stewardship is about being faithful with what God has given us.  When it comes to money, we (and believe me, I do mean “we”, myself included here) are not always faithful.  When it comes to money, we tend to put our own wants before others’ needs.  We make out our family budgets, and we are certain to include all the bills, gas and groceries, but then we also have those other categories – entertainment, dining out, vacation.  Don’t get me wrong, all of these can be good things.  They are ways that we have fun together as a family.  But what’s missing here?

I read somewhere in the last few months, and I think I’ve shared this before, that Americans live on 110% of their annual salary.  110%.  We live in a nation where people are going deeper and deeper into debt just to keep up their lifestyle.  There are always things that we don’t think about when we make out our budgets, but how many times do we include savings and tithes in our budgets?  How often do we set aside some of our own money in order to help out those in need?  How often do we set aside some of our own time to help those in need?  If we are abiding in God, then the needs of others will be important to us.  Where are our hearts?

John challenges us to not just say that we love others, but to show it by our actions.  When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, he says that we are to love God will all our heart, soul, mind and strength; and then he throws another one on top of it.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love is a verb here.  It’s not just a gooey feeling of deep like.  It is something that is more than just talk and feeling, but action and truth.  Show it.  Live it out.  If our hearts are in the right place, then people will see it in our actions.  Katie put out a quote from the conference where she has been this week.  She said, “Mission is not a part of the church, mission is the purpose of the church.”  While all of this is true for individuals, it is also true for us as a church.  What do people see when they look at us.

Martin Luther, the German theologian, was all about the biblical idea that we are saved by faith, not our works.  The Roman Catholic Church had gotten fairly corrupt by the time Luther was on the scene.  They were selling indulgences, which was basically a way for us to pay a certain amount of money in order to be forgiven.  The money that was collected was sent to Rome, and was used to build St. Peter’s Basilica.  That was one of the Church’s first stabs at a building campaign, and it didn’t go well.  The end result was the Protestant Reformation.  The point is that Luther is a major figure in the history of the Church, but even he didn’t get everything right.

One of Luther’s most despised parts of Scripture was the book of James.  He called it the “Epistle of Straw” because it makes several references to showing your faith by your actions.  Luther took this to mean that James was laying out a salvation by works theology, which contradicted Paul’s salvation by faith theology.  James, of course, is doing no such thing; he is simply saying the same thing that John is saying here.  We show our faith by what we do.  We show where our hearts are by our actions.  When we live out our faith, we can be assured that our hearts are in the right place.  This is a point that John really wants to drive home here.

John recognizes that there are times in our lives when our hearts seem to condemn us.  We carry around a load of guilt and shame.  Sometimes people come to the faith and start doing as much as they can as a way of repenting from their past sins.  They work themselves to the bone.  When our hearts condemn us, it tends to be one of two things.  First, it could be the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin that is still residing in our lives.  And second, it could be that we just haven’t let go of the sins that God has already forgiven.

In the Church, we have a history of doing a very good job of condemning people.  We don’t always have the best track record when it comes to forgiveness.  And it is all the more magnified when we look into our own lives.  I’ve known a lot of people over the years that simply cannot forgive themselves for the things that they’ve done.  They will often use that as an excuse to avoid Christianity altogether.  They believe that God can’t forgive them, so there is no point in asking for forgiveness in the first place.  And we talked about this at Bible study a couple weeks ago, so for those that were there, this will be a bit of a rerun.  But I always want to ask them, “Why are you so special?”  Why is it that God can forgive the rest of the world for all the sins that have been committed, but He can’t forgive you?

Now, I don’t usually say that.  I try to have a little more tact with my words to other people, but I have thought it from time to time to myself.  Maybe some of us here today need to do that as well.  What sins are holding you back?  What are the areas in your life that are so bad that God can’t forgive you?  That’s not an easy conversation to have with yourself, but it is one that needs to take place.  John tells us that God is bigger than our hearts.  He knows who we are, and we are his children, remember?  If God has already forgiven us of our sins, then we need to get past them as well.  We need to stop living in shame and regret and start living in love and forgiveness.  We can live with clean hearts.
And when our hearts are clean, we can go before God with confidence.  We can pray and know that God will listen.  I can’t stand up here today and tell you that God will give you everything you ask for if you are pure of heart and ask in faith.  Because we all know that there are things in this life that just don’t happen, no matter how much we want them to.  But we can pray knowing that God loves us and He hears us and He cares about each one of us.

We will continue to abide in God if we keep his commandments.  And what are those commandments: to believe in Jesus and to love our neighbor.  There is the initial step of putting our faith in Jesus, and then there is the follow-up of living it out by loving our neighbors.  If we keep these two commandments two things will happen.  People will recognize us as disciples of Jesus Christ, and we will continue to abide in God.

So today, we go out into the world, challenged once again by God’s word.  It seems the challenge is the same just about every week, but that just tells me how important it is.  When you leave today, be prepared to follow the example of Jesus.  The love that he has for us is a model for how we need to love others.