Hypocrite. There is no more damaging name to lay on a church goer than the dreaded title of hypocrite. Sometimes it is used unfairly. Often it is a smokescreen used by folks who want an excuse not to examine faith in their own lives. You have heard the line I’m sure. “I used to go to church but it is full of hypocrites.” The temptation is always to remind them there is room for one more hypocrite in the building. The more mature response as followers of Christ is to examine that charge seriously in our own lives. The word hypocrite comes from a Greek word that means actor. How appropriate. People are watching. And we too often give Oscar caliber performances on Sunday morning. They see that on Sunday you’re a saint and on Monday you ain’t. And that does damage. It is time to look in the spiritual mirror and drop the masquerades. If we are following Jesus it will make a
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Joni and I have been listening to my eclectic mix of music on the road this week. The lyrics from a song released 17 years ago sounds like it was written this week. The artist was John Mayer and he won a Grammy for Best Male Vocal Pop Performance with his song “Waiting on the World to Change”. The song describes the apathy displayed by many of Mayer’s generation toward political and social disunity. The words are powerful and, to me, a bit depressing. Me and all my friends We’re all misunderstood They say we stand for nothing and There’s no way we ever could Now we see everything that’s going wrong With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don’t have the means To rise above and beat it So we keep waiting Waiting on the world to change That accurately describes our culture today. We are discouraged and even paralyzed by things out of our control. We feel like the world
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I am a big fan of restaurant to go boxes. When I am full I can pack up the leftovers and be nourished again later. Recently I have adopted the “to go box” strategy when I go to church. I very intentionally pray for something I can pack away and take home that will nourish me spiritually and emotionally for the rest of the week. It is fascinating how God has honored that prayer by giving me something to put in my spiritual to go box each week. This week my to go box got filled during adult Bible class. We are going through the Old Testament book of 1st Samuel and the story of Hannah was discussed. Hannah was the wife of Elkanah who was married to a second wife named Peninnah. Elkanah seemed to emotionally favor Hannah but there was a problem. She was unable to bear children. That was a crushing burden to bear and especially when
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I write a lot about the importance of Christian community. I too often hear from wounded churchgoers that have not found a room of grace where there is freedom to be honest. 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 launching the email barrage I think you will at least see my point. I understand that bars can be a dark place to anesthetize pain. But there is another 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. We got winners, we got losersChain smokers and boozersAnd we got
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