I write a lot about the importance of Christian community. I too often hear from wounded churchgoers that have not found a place of grace and caring. At the risk of riling the ever present spiritual hall monitors I want to suggest a reason so many people leave the institutional church in frustration and pain. My thoughts were triggered by a song titled “I Love This Bar” by Toby Keith. If you will hang with me to the end before grabbing your judgement gavel I think you will at least see my point. I understand that bars can be a dark place to anesthetize pain. But there is a dynamic of these gathering spots that we can learn from. In my oddly constructed brain I listened to this song and dreamed of what a community of seekers and followers of Jesus should look like. Toby Keith loves that bar because any type of person can show up and be welcomed without
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Singer Dan Fogelberg was one of my favorite singer/songwriters. Every Father’s Day I think about a song written about his dad called “Leader of the Band”. Fogelberg’s father was a musician and he passed that talent down to Dan. Parts of the lyric made me think of my Dad in his final years.. The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing oldBut his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul I thank you for the music and your stories of the roadI thank you for the freedom when it came my time to goI thank you for the kindness and the times when you got toughAnd, papa, I don’t think I said ‘I love you’ near enough My Dad knew how much I loved him. Still I wish I had told him more often. But this is the portion of the song that continues to impact me as a son. My life has been a poor
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A recent study published by the Psychology Department at the University of Essex looked at the negative emotional and cognitive effect of hearing bad news only. Here is the opening statement from the study. Journalists employing the maxim “if it bleeds, it leads” seem intuitively aware of the negativity bias people have in attending to and remembering bad events over good ones. Indeed, negatively valenced news dominates the press and is shared on Twitter more frequently than positively valenced news journals.plos.org The study went on to note that “news featuring others’ immorality captivates people, it can have aversive affective and cognitive impacts, increasing emotional disturbances and negatively skewing people’s belief in the goodness of others”. I think we have witnessed that increasing and divisive effect on our culture. The authors are correct that such reporting of bad news “captivates” and leads to lots of unhealthy biting on the clickbait of negativity. The study examined an interesting counterbalance. Would showing acts
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One of my favorite Christian writers and thought provokers went home to Jesus recently. Pastor/Author Tim Keller had an amazing ability to synthesize deep and powerful thoughts into a couple of profound sentences. His writings had a deep impact on my grace journey. Tim Keller had the gift of challenging his readers to examine their walk with Jesus honestly. For example, the idea of justice in our culture is constantly debated. Christians often wonder how it should look and how we should respond to the concept. Keller made a pretty simple and convincing argument that Christians should go toward justice consistently and naturally because of one word. Grace. “If a person has grasped the meaning of God’s grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn’t live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God’s grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn’t care about the poor,
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One of my peers recently noted that “getting old is not for sissies”. Indeed. Even if you escape personal difficulties you will undoubtedly have family and friends who are going through physical, emotional and spiritual trials. One of the songs that I default to when I am walking through valleys with others is from singer/composer Rich Mullins. The song is from his CD called Songs and it is simply titled “Hold Me Jesus”. Well, sometimes my lifeJust don’t make sense at allWhen the mountains look so bigAnd my faith just seems so small Right now I am in a pretty good place in my life and journey with Jesus. But then I started thinking about the many friends and loved ones who could relate completely to those lyrics in their current situation. And I can certainly remember seasons of my life when those words accurately reflected the condition of my soul. And I wake up in the night and feel the darkIt’s so hot inside my
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Let me begin with complete transparency. I am saddened, frustrated, and disappointed with the anger and division in our society. Focusing on those divisive issues leads to anger, fear, and hopelessness. So how can I be optimistic amidst this societal chaos? When I am feeling down I often go to my spiritual comfort music. I flipped from more depressing news to a list of classic Gospel songs. The first tune to cue up gave me my answer. I am and will continue to be optimistic in this journey because of this belief conveyed beautifully in these lyrics sung by Nicole C. Mullen. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. That’s it! Because I believe Jesus lives I can face tomorrow. The next lyric should be true if I truly believe Jesus lives. Because He lives, All fear is gone. I am not saying that the enemy does not try to generate fear in my heart and I am not perfect in
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A few years ago my nephew’s daughter asked my advice about navigating the emotional ups and downs of the high school years. Here is what I told her. 1. I wish I had known that my high school years did not define me for life My teen years were a mixed bag of memorable highs and incredible lows. Now I realize that I am grateful for what I once considered some of the difficult moments of my life. In many of those spiritual valleys you could not have begun to convince me that God was molding me or that those experiences could ever be of value. Had I been the coolest guy or the best athlete I most likely would not have developed a sensitive spirit to others. With the benefit of hindsight I can promise you that I am grateful for every refining difficulty and problem. High school did not define who I would become and it does not define you either. 2. I wish
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