Racism

There were a couple of news items that made me think:

The German magazine Spiegel reported this morning that racism is prevalent across the EU countries and "and discrimination is a sad fact of day-to-day life".

The President of Dartmouth apologized to the President of Harvard for some racially tinged heckling that the Dartmouth soccer team shouted during a Dartmouth-Harvard Squash match. The Dartmouth soccer team apparently "pelted Harvard’s men and women players with obscenity-laced insults that some witnesses described as misogynistic, homophobic, and anti-Semitic" (AP).

Racism is not an American problem. Racism cannot be solved with more education. Racism is a heart issue, it is borne out of my desire to belittle another so that, in my arrogance, I feel superior. If it is not skin color, it will be religion, gender, weight, education level, sports team - whatever my heart can find to differentiate myself from another solely so that i can feel superior.

Here is racism in a nutshell:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
James 4:1-2

- I get angry when I don't get what I want, or feel the way I want to feel about myself
- so I tear you down
- because I don't look to Christ, for he has all that I need

Christmas 1

Christmas!

Do you love it or hate it? Christmas carries with it all the warm carry-over feelings of our childhood. It also is a great reminder of the wonderful gift that God gave us in his Son and our salvation.

But Christmas can also bring with it pressures. Time pressures for gatherings, shopping, getting that right gift. Did I spent too much, did I spend enough? I can't invite Aunt Agnes and Grandma to dinner because they are fighting. Did I mention traffic at the malls?

So what to do?

Here is what I am trying to do [operative word, trying]. Take 15 minutes and ask yourself one question: When I look back on 50 Christmas's, or more, what will I want to say about everyone of those Christmas's.

What is your answer to that question?

Trials, and lots of them.

Finals, new babies and fatigue, doubt, anger hurt. And that is only the start. The furnace is so hot right now. So I put on my happy face and go to church? No, I jump in the car and I flee to church. I flee to that place where i am surrounded by my brothers and sisters, where I can serve and be served.

I flee to that place where corporate worship is happening and I throw myself on the mercy of God and sing with all my heart. I sing with all my heart and remember how He has rescued before an will rescue again. I throw myself at the feet on the only One who is truly faithful.

I flee to that place where the preached Word will remind me of the cross. No matter the trial, no matter the landscape of my heart, the cross has fully paid for my sin. The cross has instructed me, beyond a shadow of a doubt of God's love for me, of his grace towards me, of his unending mercy for me.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

He is Holy

"...because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy..."
Numbers 27:14

The people rebelled against God and his Word. They didn't like the food, they were thirsty, they grumbled. If i did that in my home, someone would ask me, "did you have a bad day?" or why are you complaining.

But God sees it, and rightly so, as questioning his holiness.

God is my friend, my savior, my gentle shepherd. But He is also holy, He makes the earth tremble, he created the stars, the flowers and he sustains life. And he is Holy.

Let the earth (and me) tremble.

Happy Birthday C. S. Lewis

Clive Stapes Lewis, born this day in 1898 was know to his friends as "Jack" (if my first same was Clive, Jack would work). He is best known to this generation as the author of the Narnia series.

Lewis had some interesting theological positions. He attended the church closest to his home, believing that we all should attend the church closest to us and work to make it better. In that sense, he was more of a puritan than a pilgrim.

Like most Europeans, he was not a stranger to adult beverages or tobacco and did not have a theological issue with their use.

The legacy, however, that C. S. Lewis leaves us, in Mere Christianity, The Problem with Pain and Surprised by Joy, and lurking behind every faun or lamp post in Narnia is his rich and tempting picture of God. His words still entice us to flee sin and draw near to God:

We are half hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Thank you Mr. Lewis for reminding me that I am far too easily pleased, and that there is something so much better out there. Lewis, like the professor, challenges about Lucy's claims of a forest being in the wardrobe. "it can't be there, it's just not logical." And I can see his smile turn up and his eyes twinkle.

"For Aslan, and for Narnia!!!"

Thanksgiving

This could take days!

Let me slip this in...I am thankful for Ella (welcome Ella to your first Thanksgiving).

I am thankful for:
1. God's gift of his Son, Jesus. He loved his son more than anything, but he still gave him for us.
2. Our freedom. This impacts so much and it must come before the personal
3. My wife. She is the evidence that God's kindness if fare beyond what I deserve
4. My son Brian. God has given me a friend to share the good and the bad.
5. My son Rob. I ways, I have had to share him with a nation
6. My daughter Anne and watching her grow in grace and holiness
7. My daughter Rebecca, she is my 'buddy' in my old age. Just love hanging with her
8. My parents and in-laws - loving mentors
9. My care group - they are like another family, caring for my soul and allowing me to serve them
10. My Church - honestly, the greatest place on earth.

This is just a start

In the Middle

I was thinking about something that that was very humbling.

First, think about this. Can you name all you children (if you have any)? If you do, that is typically easy. Can you name your spouse and your siblings? Sure. Do you remember the name of your parents? Still easy. Can you come up wit the names of your grandparents. Most likely.

Now the stumper - can you name your great grandparents? I can't. Both my parents are alive, and I cannot name their four grandparents.

Now for the humbling part. there is my legacy. I will hold my grandchildren today - and they are the last generation will will remember me.

But this motivates me. My time is now. I want to give my time, effort, energy and strength to making the contribution to the generations around me. I do not have a War & Peace or Handel's Messiah in me that will transcend generations. I have now.