Almost Done

This is a picture of my daughter Robin, flanked by her trumpet professors Ronald Romm (left) and Michael Ewald (right). Yesterday Robin gave her senior recital in Smith Recital Hall at the University of Illinois. It was a wonderful performance. She selected beautiful music and played with professionalism. Mike and I are very proud of her!
Robin is our youngest.

A Civil Rant About Incivility

"As Christians, we never have the option to speak about or treat others in a way that diminishes their worth as human beings. As Americans, we should know better."

This quote is lifted from an open letter published by the Tuscon Citizen on 2-27-08, authored by Dr. Tim Kimmel of Family Matters; Pastor Sandy Mason, senior pastor of Desert View Bible Church; and Pastor Billy M. Thrall, senior pastor of Neighborhood Ministries. All are from Phoenix. They wrote to plead for civility in the debate about immigration. They did not take a particular point of view regarding the issue itself, only sought to remind the community that some of the rhetoric being used was indeed toxic, and some of that rhetoric was coming from people of faith.

I, too, would like to address the issue of civility in public debate. Not that I haven't been guilty of letting my tongue flap in an unpleasant way myself! But folks, lets call ourselves on it. And I think we should refuse to listen to it as well.

Often my husband and I will stay up a few extra minutes to listen to the opening monologue of one of the late night talk-show hosts. It was a way to end the day with a few chuckles. But lately, we've just given up that habit, because the humor around the political candidates has become so nasty and belittling. All three candidates currently in the race for president are United States Senators who have devoted themselves to a life of public service. Do we really need to give them derogatory nicknames? Mock their personal lives? Play "gotcha" with every slip of the tongue they make on the campaign trail? Does the president of our country- any president, of any party- really deserve to be discussed as though he is some kind of drooling cretin? Do we need to have open season on Hispanics, Muslims, pastors of black churches, members of the party we disagree with, environmentalists, oil corporation CEOs, or whoever the scapegoat du jour?

I realize that comedians have always gotten laughs at the expense of others, and I actually do have a sense of humor. I realize bloggers and those who comment on blogs have the right of free speech in this country. I am exercising that right myself at this very moment. But I also, in writing a blog about about leading a God-honoring life, would like to challenge anybody who reads this to think about who they listen to, and who they might emulate when they speak. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "Let us consider how to stir up others to love and good deeds..." That's what the above quoted pastors were attempting to do. That's what I'm attempting to do.

Recently a group of high schoolers challenged their town to attempt a week without swearing. They thought about just having it be the high schoolers themselves, but they realized they needed the people they live with to help them in this effort, too. Surprisingly, the townspeople came on board with the idea. In the end, many reported that they think it was a good exercise, and that our collective manner of speech had taken a serious turn for the worse, which they realized needed to be corrected. Now, a lot of the people I know don't do much swearing (I do work in a church!), but there are other things that can be said, or even tacitly agreed with, that are just as unpleasant.

I hope that some of you will think hard about that talk-radio host you listen to, or check that nasty, belittling comment you might make in your workplace break-room about the candidate you don''t like, or perhaps remind a friend who is talking that way that this isn't constructive discourse, and we can do better. I hope we can be inspired by those high school students, who finally got fed up with the bad example the adults around them were setting, and challenged their whole town to do better.

A Future Song Leader

Is this our future song leader?

Transportation

Today I left the Honda in the garage and rode my bike to work. I do this most days when the weather is reasonable. It's a round trip of only 3 miles; easy-breezy! It takes only about 8 minutes to get down there, hardly more than it takes to back the car out on to our busy street and drive there. I got a little moderate aerobic exercize, enjoyed a beautiful spring day, and saved on gas. What's not to like?

Cathedral Building

In the Middle Ages, the Church, in it's desire to glorify God, went on a sort of building spree. Today, as much as a thousand years later, we can still see the results, in the form of the beautiful cathedrals that are scattered throughout Europe. Most of them took a century or more to complete. The finest craftsmen, along with the most innovative architectural minds, were put to work, some for their entire lives, to create these edifices. New technology was created on the spot, as needed, for earth-moving, stone cutting and lifting, along with improved design elements to allow the buildings to soar higher without sacrificing strength. While the progress may have appeared slow to the casual observer, tremendous technological advances were made behind the scenes that laid the groundwork, and are still referred to today, for the building of skyscrapers.

Recently, Ray Pierrehumbert, professor of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, equated the lifestyle changes and technological innovations required to be good stewards of our environment as equivalent to that era of cathedral-building. He said, "Changing our personal carbon emissions is almost an act of devotion. It's like putting a brick in a cathedral. We're working on a spiritual edifice we are leaving for the future."

Now, he made these remarks to students at Lutheran Theological School. He did not mean to imply by them that we are to worship the created world, any more than we would worship a cathedral. What he meant by them was that we must be willing to tackle a huge, seemingly impossible task, that we may not yet fully understand how to do, in order to leave something God-glorifying for the next 1,ooo years, just as the cathedral builders did.

We may not know how to do it, but we must start anyway.

His encouragement to the students, who are not scientists, is to start with your own life: how you transport yourself, how you manage your home, how you treat the surrounding wild lands and farmlands, what you send (or don't send) to the landfill. Every Christian must start someplace, to build this "cathedral" for our descendants: a sustainable, livable, beautiful earth to live on, to serve God on.

So, from time to time, I will tell you a little something about what I'm doing to add bricks to the cathedral. I'm not going to do that to toot my own horn; I will do it to keep myself accountable, and perhaps to encourage someone else to try something for themselves. I may not live to see the finished product, but, if we all help, I'm sure it will be glorious.

Easter Excitement

Today's service included:

Christ Arose
Christ the Lord is Ris'n Today
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Because He Lives
He Lives! He Lives! Christ Jesus Lives Today!
The Hallelujah Chorus-The Messiah

We used the pipe organ, piano, violin, three trumpets (including piccolo trumpet); not all at once!

As I left the church, many people were very kind about the music, and we all agreed: there is no music like Easter music! It is hands-down everyone's favorite service of the year.

But really, the highlight of the day-week-month is the baptism that occurred today. We have started offering Mandarin interpretation of our sermons, because in this university community there are about 3,ooo people for whom Mandarin is the first language. And this month, March 3rd to be exact, a man who is here from China visiting his family, came to faith in Christ. He was the one baptized today. Boy, was there a celebration! That's how we started the service, and the energy never flagged after that.

I recently read that some people call a traditional service like ours a "stand up, sit down, listen, and leave" service. The implication being, I guess, that there isn't anything very exciting about it. Wish they'd been there today!

Repenting

Good Friday is a day of repentance. This is the day when Christians think about Jesus' willingness to be punished, not for things He did, but for things I do. So I don't have to be punished.

Since this is a blog about living a God-honoring life, I think it's worth thinking about areas where we need to repent, on this Good Friday.

This year's presidential primary season has, especially in the past week or so, brought to light once again the issue of racial prejudice that we have in this country. Now, before I go any further, I want you to know that I am not about to tell you who to vote for, or who I'm planning to vote for. We have a curtain on the voting booth for a reason. But the controversy generated by the video clips of Mr. Obama's pastor has proven that this issue runs very deep, even in the church, and that we are equal-opportunity racists. And, as Christians, we all know we need to deal with it.

It's a matter of allowing God to root this rotten stuff out. Confessing it is the first step. Remember, Jesus hung on the cross for this sin, too.

So I'll tell you my little story:
I was raised to believe racism was wrong, and I truly believed I was not prejudiced until I was hired to work as a lunchroom and recess supervisor at my children's grade school. As I worked with the children, the Lord began to show me that, in very subtle ways, I was not giving the African American children a fair shake. In every little playground squabble, I tended to believe they were guilty until proven innocent. It wasn't fair, and God was showing me that.

There was one little girl who was just a terror on the playground. She was very heavy and very black -guess what?-two prejudices rolled into one! Every adult in the building had had unpleasant dealings with her. One day the Lord just told me very firmly that I needed to reach out to this very difficult child. As I was walking her class out to the playground, it suddenly dawned on me. We shared the same first name! I came up beside her and said, "Hi, Joyce! Did you know we are name-twins? My name is Joyce too!" She gave me the first smile I had ever seen on her face. Next thing you know, she was holding my hand. I realized we had all been demonizing this little seven-year-old girl. And here's the rub-my own daughter was seven at that time! From that time on, I determined to treat this child the way I would want my own little girl treated by any adult, with cheerfulness, fairness, and respect.

This was a huge breakthrough for me. Since then I have tried to be very conscious of any biases I may have. The Bible says we are to "take captive every thought for Christ", meaning, don't just let your mind go any old place, but be willing to give it correction. We are also to "think of others as better" than ourselves, meaning, don't project on to others your own sinfulness, but assume the best about them. Both of those things speak to this issue of conquering racial prejudice. My mind still wants to head down the path of prejudice, so I need to pray for the Lord's help to overcome it, daily.

I know confession is hard. Is there anyone out there who would like to share what God is doing with them in the area of racial bias? We can all learn from each other and pray for each other.

Remember, Jesus died so that we might be dead to sin, and alive in Him.

How Deep the Father's Love For Us

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give his only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss;
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many saints to glory.

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life.
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast of anything;
No gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom.

-Stuart Townend, 1995-

A Dedicated Life

Twenty nine years ago tomorrow, it was the first nice day of the spring after we had received a record-breaking 100+ inches of snow in the Chicago area. It was a Sunday, and after church Mike and I decided to go for a walk to our friend's house, since the sidewalks were finally clear. I was pregnant with my first baby, five days overdue, and you can probably guess the rest. By the next morning, I was holding Matt in my arms.

All that long winter preceeding his birth, our Sunday School class at First Baptist of Park Forest had been praying for the baby. In those days, you didn't know if you were having a boy or a girl, but whatever we were having, the class was praying for someone who would devote themselves fully to serving God. I've lost track of most of those people, which is really regretable. They would love to know that Matt chose to answer the call of ministry.

When Matt was ten, he came in from delivering papers one day and said, "Mom, I've been thinking. This summer, instead of playing Little League, I want to get better at swimming. Because, if I become a missionary, I might have to swim across rivers to get to the people who need to hear about Jesus!"

When he was in high school, while everybody else was up to the usual high school shenanigans at lunch time, Matt was leading a prayer club he started.

In college he chose to live in a Christian co-operative house. He was a good student, and had plenty of options open to him, so he started off studying engineering. But his heart lay elsewhere, and he changed curriculums to better prepare himself for ministry. Then, he went to seminary.

Now, he is in his first pastorate. It's a small church, and it has all the usual small church issues, along with some that are unique to that congregation. It hasn't been easy. But recently a man from that congregation was liscenced to preach. A number of people have been baptized. A young boy who was in a world of trouble has been completely turned around. So, the spirit is working. For that church, I would like to send this verse:

Joshua 3:5-"Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."

The prayers our friends lifted up during that snowy winter have been answered.

Happy Birthday, Matt!