Do you have a complaint mode?

I have a problem. I often catch myself drifting off into complaint mode.

Do you have that mode?

It’s when I look past all of my blessing, and choose to make what didn’t work, what didn’t go the way I hoped, the most important thing.

In complaint mode, I fail to see all the good gifts that God has so graciously given me.

This week, so far, I have been in complaint mode.

A few things haven’t been what I had hoped they would be.

There are things that I would like to change.

And so far, that’s all I’ve been able to see.

The only way to defeat the complaint is to focus on the blessing.

So, I thought that I would share something I am thankful for, just to help me leave behind my complaint mode.

I am thankful for…

my wife and our family.

good friends.

my job.

more than enough food to eat.

my needs are met.

hope that tomorrow will be better than today.

grace to meet my failures.

the promise that Christ never leaves me.

…I am so blessed.

Ok, it’s your turn now.

What are you thankful for?

What does the world really see?

Lesslie Newbigin said, “The church lives in the midst of history as a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the reign of God.”

Every time I read those words I am inspired and challenged.

Inspired because I remember why we do what we do.

Why do we love our enemies?

Why do we serve the poor and oppressed?

Why do we gather and sing and teach and learn?

It’s because we have been radically changed by God in Christ.

It’s because we know the power and love and forgiveness and peace and hope that can only be given by the risen Christ.

I am inspired because I remember that we are blessed to be a blessing. We are the instrument God works through to share his gifts and goodness with the world.

I am challenged because I remember all the ways that I have, personally, fallen short of this calling to be a “sign, instrument, and foretaste of the reign of God.”

I remember all the ways my pride and selfishness prevent me from being who God made me to be.

I remember all the times that I, and other Christians like me, have given God a bad reputation in the world.  When we gossip, when we make our agenda more important than loving others, when we fail to honor the image of God in ourselves and those around us…what does the world really see?

If we are a “sign, instrument, and foretaste of the reign of God,” what does a watching world…[let's narrow that a bit]…

my neighbor, teacher, student, co-worker, parent, child, friend, insert the person/relationship that you are thinking of here…

what do they think “God’s reign” is like?

Does our example move them closer to, or farther away from trusting God?

Learning the lost art of the lament…

Yesterday at MCC we spent time re-discovering the art of the lament.

To read from the book of Lamentations click here.

In Lamentations chapter 3, after expressing all the grief and pain and loss that has been suffered, the author says:

²¹ Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Even in exile, in the midst of despair, we can have hope.

Because our hope is not grounded in our circumstances. Circumstances change like the weather. They are unpredictable.

Our hope is not in things going a particular way.

Our hope is grounded in the character of God.

The God whose love for us is greater than we can imagine.

The God whose compassions we can not exhaust. They are new every morning.

Maybe there are some things we need to grieve. Maybe we need to lament our suffering and loss.

If you need to lament, do it.  But don’t forget that suffering and pain do not mean that there is no hope. Our hope is not in something. It is in someone.

His compassions never fail.

They are new each morning.

Great is his faithfulness!

Is there hope by the rivers of Babylon?

Last Sunday at MCC we left the story in exile.

Dreams crushed. Hope lost. The future uncertain.

The Psalmist even asks, “How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?” [Psalm 137v4]

But, if we remember the story, the Exodus, the God who hears the cry, then we should not be surprised to discover that there is hope.

Even by the rivers of Babylon.

This Sunday we will explore how it is even possible for hope to exist in, what may appear to be, a hopeless situation.

Roll on…

Yesterday at MCC we continued the series “The Whole Story” by looking at the idea of the exile.

Exile is defined as “the state or period of forced absence from one’s home or country.”

Exile, for the Hebrews in 586 BC, was about being taken from their land, from Jerusalem…where the Temple had been turned into a charred rubble-heap…to Babylon.

But, exile is much more.

Exile is as much about our souls and identity as it is about geography.

Exile happens when our religion is more about the outward appearance…the show…than it is about the heart. We become estranged from God and his purposes for the world.

In Amos 5, the prophet speaks on God’s behalf:

²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; I cannot stand your assemblies. ²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. ²³ Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. ²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! [TNIV]

God is not anti-good deeds. He actually challenges us to let justice “roll like a river.” God is for our efforts to obey him, to share our blessing with the world. What God is not happy about is religious gatherings, where people may say the right churchy phrases…and have the whole religious “stuff” down…but it does nothing to change the way they actually live.

I have to be honest. Far too many times, I have simply nodded my head and paid lip service to the churchy talk…but I have failed to surrender my heart. I failed to be transformed. I failed to say, “Maybe I need to change.”

My prayer for all of us…starting with me…is that we will be so inspired by who God is and what he has done for us…that “justice will roll like a river.”

What a week!

This week has been a blur!

Monday we spent the “day off” working on the basement at our house.

Tuesday I spent the day preparing to speak to the BCM at WKU, which was a blast!

Wednesday and today have been slammed as we have been relocating our offices [to the welcome center] to provide more space for our kids.

So, as you can see, this week has been a blur!

I will try to post pics on Monday of our new office space.

Have a great weekend!

Have we lost the wonder?

Last Sunday at MCC my friend Jon Hunt sang a song called “King of Wonders.” He sang it beautifully, and the words of the song have hit me like a ton of bricks. If you have never heard the song, then check it out below.

Often in the Hebrew Bible, God reminds the people that he is “the God who brought them out of Egypt.” Egypt was a place of slavery and oppression…a place where they cried out to God for liberation.

And God brought them out.

Again and again he reminds them to remember all that he has done for them…because if they lose their awe and wonder for who God is and what he has done, they might end up in another kind of Egypt.

This song served for me as that reminder. How often does being a Christian just consist of going through the motions? How many times do we show up and sing words and affirm sermons…yet there is no wonder, amazement, or awe for who God is, what he’s done for us…or what he’s doing in our midst right here, right now?

My prayer for us is that we will remember and return to awe and wonder and amazement. That we will not take for granted all that God has done, but we will celebrate it and be so amazed at his grace and goodness towards us.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. [Deuteronomy 8v10-18 TNIV]