Top 10 Posts of 2020

 Happy New Year!

We're nearly done with 2020 and into 2021.  Each year I post a "best of" of the year's posts from this blog.  Looking back at the post from this year allowed me to remember the turmoil and the blessings of this year.  I pray our 2021 will be less wild than 2020.

Enjoy 10 top posts from 2020:

1) She Didn't Want to go to Australia

2) How to Think Biblically About COVID-19

3) My Miscarriage Prayer

4) I Saw His Face

5) Can You Say Black Lives Matter?

6) Skin in the Game: A Conversation with White Mothers of Black & Brown Children

7) Dear Worship Leaders

8) Hallowing our Heavenly Father's Name

9) Little Big Prayers: Praying with Kids

10) New Life, Nausea & Answered Prayers

Advent: Peace

 What brings you peace in dark places?

December is the darkest month of the year and for some of us this has been one of the darkest years in our lifetime.  Advent is about how God brings light into our darkness (Isaiah 9:2, John 12:46).  Fittingly we celebrate Advent with candles: Candle one of Advent is Hope, the second is Love, the third is Joy and the last is Peace.

Peace means many things.  It can mean the absence of national enmity.  It can mean no personal conflict.  It can mean, like the Hebrew word Shalom, the wholeness and rightness of the world.

So, what do we do with the "peace on earth..." proclamation the angels gave the shepherds at the first Christmas?  What is peace on earth when Boko Haram kidnaps hundreds of boys and girls, when communities and police can't agree on how to best protect cities like Minneapolis, when those who pledged to protect and teach instead molest and use, when we can't stomach even calling a relative due to past pain, when we see a virus infecting and killing and our response to it is arguing and name calling?

What do we do when peace has been proclaimed but the world still looks and feels dark and scary and chaotic and dangerous?

My three-year-old son Joshua has recently become scared of the dark.  Children being scared of the dark really isn't as silly as we think it is.  Naïvety wears off and children realize some things want to hurt them.  They, like adults, become afraid of the unknown. They insert monsters into their unknown and we insert expensive car repairs or floods or muggers into our unknown.  

Today I asked Joshua, "Are you afraid of going into a dark room when you hold my hand?"  "No," he replied, "I'm afraid when I go into a dark room alone."

Holding Daddy's hand calms whatever fear cripples Joshua from entering the dark playroom.  This reality is precisely the peace that Christmas offers us.

God promises to be with us.

"Even when I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me."
-Psalm 23:4

We see this promise littered all over the Bible: Isaiah 41:10, Joshua 1:9, Romans 8:38-39, Hebrews 13:5, etc.  God promises to be with us, before us, behind us, within us.  God can give us peace through His presence.  Christmas confirms this.

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' ... which means, 'God with us.'" -Matthew 1:23

When we walk in the dark places we can have peace because Jesus was born to be Immanuel.  He came to be God with us.  He came so that we can have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.  Jesus came so our hands can be held in the dark.

Jesus will come again to make the full peace He provides a full reality.  He will come again to end injustice, violence and all malevolence.  Until then, we hold on to the promises tight enough to have tranquil peace in a still dark world.

The peace proclaimed 2,000 year ago is here, but not yet.  During Advent we meditate on Hope here but coming, Love felt but not fully, Joy experienced but wanting more, and Peace here and now but also not yet.

2020 has taken us all into to rooms darker than we would have chosen.  Rooms lonelier and scarier.  2020 has brought hundreds of thousands of my countrymen to the valley of the shadow of death.  Latch onto the promised Immanuel.  Peacefully hold on to your Daddy's hand in the dark today.

Advent: Joy

 What brings you joy in 2020?
What brings you joy when you're at your breaking point?

Perhaps those seem like the same question after the year you've had.  If so, then you need to look at the third Advent candle.  Candle one is Hope, candle two is Love and candle three is Joy.

The Christmas season is very often described as a season of joy.  Many of our most joyful moments have come at this time of year.  But what is it about Christmas that brings us real joy?  What is it about Christmas that is so joyful this year?  What is it about Christmas that promises to bring us joy in whatever circumstance we find ourselves?

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appears and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn."
-O Holy Night

If we honestly look at the world we can see and feel that it is lying in sin and error.  We can see that it is full of souls searching for worth.  If ever in my lifetime, this year the world feels weary; weary of sickness, infighting, politics, racism, isolation, fear, etc.

What is this hope that makes the weary world rejoice?  What is it about Jesus that makes our soul feel its worth?  What is this new and glorious morn that is breaking into existence yonder?

Our world, we, need what Christmas inaugurated.  We need to hear the good news of "New Management Coming Soon".  We need to know that a king has been born into the world.  We need to know about the humble baby that has come to earth and will return to earth as triumphant king!

The joy of Christmas isn't just that the Savior came to earth to save us from the penalty of our sins.  Oh, it is that, but it is much more.  Christmas is about what the magi said: a king has been born.  Jesus is our king who has come and will come again to rule perfectly.  This good news is so poignant, so relevant, so important for us to hear in 2020.

"No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found..."
-Joy to the World

This oft skipped verse of Joy to the World holds a key to finding joy in this Christmas during a pandemic.  Joy to the world is found in the good news that Jesus' reign reverses the curse.  No sins, no sorrows, no thorns.  The New Heaven and New Earth will not have pandemics, will not have infighting, will not have racism, will not have election cycles, will not have fake news: This is good news!

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.'" 
-Luke 2:9-11

This is Gospel.  Jesus' birth is good news of great JOY that will be for all the people.  The Gospel that Christmas announces and reminds us of is for all people.  It is joy to a weary world.  This truth is gives us lasting joy at our breaking point. This is a tried and true source of joy, even in 2020.  

Let your mind understand and your heart be filled with this joy today.

Christmas Letter 2020

 Merry Christmas!  We hope this e-card finds you well.

2020 has been a year for our family like no other year, but that's been true for everyone.  The year has been strange and trying, but it has been good.

Anna and Joshua had birthdays, but the birthdays were very different.  Anna turned 1 on February 2nd surrounded by family.  Joshua turned 3 on May 14th celebrating with grandmas and grandpas on video chat.  Joshua was very excited though that a firetruck came to the house to help him celebrate and he really handled the disappointment of not having a big party in stride.

Joshua hit a big milestone.  He began preschool this Fall. He's really loved school and his friends and has been learning so much.  Unfortunately, he's done some preschool from home recently but will most likely go back in-person in January.  Joshua has been so resilient with all the changes in his world.  Luckily, Anna has little idea how different life has been this year.  

2020 also brought us severe sorrow and great joy.  In March Christine found out she was pregnant with our third child.  We were very surprised and excited.  Sadly, just after Easter Christine suffered a miscarriage.  We had always feared a miscarriage and known statistically that it was likely to happen to our family at some time, but it hit us hard.  That child's due date just recently passed and though we miss him or her we are thrilled that they get to celebrate their first Christmas with Christ Himself.  Our sorrow soon changed to joy in September when Christine became pregnant again.  We were fearfully excited.  This pregnancy is going well and the baby is due to be born on May 25th.  We've decided to not find out the gender until birth.

This year is a year we will never forget.  We've had highs and lows.  We've been cognizant of the moments that will eventually be in history textbooks.  We've palpitated between anxious and trusting.  We've added words and phrases to our lexicon, like social-distance and church on the couch, that we never saw needing.  Matt's prepared, unprepared and re-prepared to cover various sports seasons.  The kids discovered how exciting parks re-opening could be.  Christine wore more P.P.E. than ever before at work.  2020 will definitely be burned in our minds even though it's felt like the world's slowest blur at the same time.

2020 has also been different because it has mostly been spent with just our nuclear family in another way.  Our foster sons left us in January.  Our teen went to live in Texas with his dad and our toddler went to live with our wonderful friends who are inching closer to adopting him and his sisters.  

This year has offered us many chances to drown in worry, but thankfully we know a better way.  Christmas reminds us that Love Himself came down into our mess to deliver us.  Jesus has come and Jesus will come again!

The little baby in the manger grew up to be the man who gave us a great promise that we cling to in 2020:

"In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world." 

-John 16:33b

Advent: Love

 How do you know someone loves you?
How do you love others?

The first candle of Advent is Hope and the second is Love.  Love is a fitting Advent candle because God is love and Jesus is God.

Love is too often ambiguous.  Many of us can feel it better than explain it.  So to understand love we must look at its definition.  Jesus and His actions give us the definition of love.  

Jesus in all of His life has shown and is showing pure love.  But what is so loving about Christmas that we spend one of the four weeks of Advent dwelling upon it?  

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." 
-John 3:16

We don't often think of this verse as a Christmas verse, but it most certainly is.  The very first gift given at Christmas, before even those the magi gave, was Jesus Himself.  God so loved the world, that... Christmas.

So, we've established that God the Father is loving, but what about Jesus?  Let's look at another lesser used Christmas passage:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made Himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself

and became obedient to death...

even death on a cross!" 

-Philippians 2:3-8

Jesus, being God Himself and therefore equal to the Father, had to agree to this plan.  In fact, being God Himself, it was Jesus' plan.  At Christmas Jesus lowered Himself beyond our wildest imaginations.  The absolute value of His condescension is immeasurable.   From the apple of the eye of Heaven to the womb of a poor, teenaged girl to the cross!

True love must condescend. 

Advent is like a coin.  On one side we look back to the love that was shown; on the other side we look forward to the full experience of that love.  And today, we invest ourselves in living out what Advent teaches us.

When our hope is in Christ we can love like this.  When we're confident in how we are loved and abide in that love, then we can confidently, relentlessly and selflessly love like we're loved.  If we aren't confident in our hope we will have trouble condescending because we'll be afraid of losing more than we'll gain.

We are to love in this way because we know who love is.  We are to love like this because we are to mimic Jesus.  We are to love like this because the Holy Spirit grows us into mature, new creations of the perfect Creator.  As Sinclair B. Ferguson says in his book Maturity, "love... is Christian maturity in action."

We're also to love in the here and now because it pays dividends.  Notice the rest of Paul's poem about Christ in Philippians chapter 2:

"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place

and gave Him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in Heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father."

- Philippians 2:9-11

Christ's awesome condescension rendered Him a reward.  Any condescending we do in love will also lead to reward.  Not the same reward as Christ, because our condescending is not worth comparing, but a reward nonetheless.

"'I tell you the truth,' Jesus replied, 'no one who has left home or brother or sisters or mothers or father or children or fields for me and the Gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields... and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
-Mark 10:29-31

True love, condescending love, is always worth it when done out of love for God and for neighbor.  At Advent we look back at our example of love and forward to our reward while living out ever-maturing lives of love.

"Stir one another up to love and good works" today.

Advent: Hope

What gives you hope in a normal Christmas season?

What gives you hope this Christmas season?

Christmas 2020 is Christmas in a pandemic.  Christmas 2020 will be many things, but normal isn't one of them.  As I last wrote, this Christmas we need Advent more than ever.  Advent draws us to the four candles of hope, love, joy and peace.  Today let's consider hope.

What gives you hope this Christmas and what is hope?

We often see the word 'hope' used in political campaigns and Christmas cards, but what is hope?  Simply writing 'hope' without a firm grasp of what is to be hoped in is the same as the often used word 'believe' by itself this time of year.  Believe in what?  Hope in what?  Hope for what?

If we're honest most of us place our hope this time of year in family.  We find hope, love, joy and peace in our holiday gatherings.  I often do, too.  There is something warm and hopeful about sitting near a Christmas tree with a hot drink in hand telling the same old stories with the people we love.  

"Christmas day is in our grasp

so long as we have hands to clasp." 

-Welcome Christmas

"Here we are as in olden days,

happy golden days of yore.

Faithful friends who are dear to us,

gather near to us once more.

Through the years,

we all will be together,

if the Fates allow." 

-Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

So, what if the "Fates" don't allow?  What if we don't have hands to clasp?  What then?  Is the hope gone?  Is the Christmas season pointless?

"My hope is built on nothing less,

than Jesus blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus' name." 

-My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Trusting in anything, even good things, outside of Jesus Himself will leave us hopeless at times.  The other sources of hope are wells that often work but that can't be guaranteed to work when we need them.  Only Jesus works all the time.  We must hope in the person and accomplishments of Jesus Christ this Advent and every day.

I don't like the idea of my other streams of hope being taken away.  The hope-filled streams of my extended family and my gathered local church are God-given streams.  Yet, in a pandemic we're being tested to see where our hope truly is.  Will we lean wholly on these other sweet frames or on Jesus' name?

In this time of semi-isolation I have been drawn to Psalm 42.  The psalmist is, for some reason, not allowed to be with others he loves.  The psalmist feels isolated and is tempted to feel hopeless; yet he preaches to his own soul a reason to have hope.

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
'Where is your God?'
These things I remember 
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise Him,
my Savior and my God."-Psalm 42:1-5

There is nothing wrong with deeply missing going out among the multitude for Christmas Eve service.  Desiring to be with family to celebrate Jesus' birth is not a sin at all.  Wanting to press the warm blanket of traditions against your face to be comforted is not wrong.  But none of that can be your source of hope.

"Put your hope in God" for you will yet praise Him.  This week sing or listen to songs that preach to your soul to not be downcast but instead to put its hope in God.  Read wonderful promises that God is certain to keep.  Find your hope in nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness today.

Fight the Viral Grinch

 That old Grinch had taken every decoration.  He'd pilfered every present.  He'd stolen all the food.  He'd stopped Christmas from coming.

"They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming! 

They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do! 

Their mouths will hang open a minute or two

Then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO!

That's a noise," grinned the Grinch,

"That I simply MUST hear!"

So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.

And he did hear a sound rising over the snow.

It started in low.  Then is started to grow...

But the sound wasn't sad!

Why, this sound sounded merry!

It couldn't be so!

But it WAS merry! VERY!

He stared down at Who-ville!

The Grinch popped his eyes!

Then he shook!

What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any presents at all!

He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!

IT CAME!

Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

It came without packages, boxes or bags!

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzller was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"

COVID-19 threatens to be a real grinch this Christmas.  Many of us spent Thanksgiving alone or with fewer people.  Unfortunately, it looks that Christmas could be much the same.

What can we do to keep COVID-19 from stealing our joy?  Of course, we could ignore wise counsel.  We could go ahead and do what we always do.  I'm sure some of you will.

Or we could find out that "Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"

I hope we don't have to celebrate Christmas exactly like we celebrated Thanksgiving (though we still managed to have a wonderful Thanksgiving).  I hope we can do all of our traditional gatherings, but I fear that won't be the case.

Every movie, from Home Alone to It's a Wonderful Life to every one on Hallmark, tells us the true meaning of Christmas is loving togetherness.  But I know that is not the meaning, but a wonderful side effect most of us get each year.  The true meaning of Christmas is the birth of our Savior.  It is the story of God Himself giving up the bliss of Heaven for the poverty of a lowly family on earth.  It is about a Son born away from the very community that should have welcomed Him in.  It is about Emmanuel. 

I don't know what this Christmas will be like exactly, but I do know Christmas tells us that God is with us by His own sovereign choice.

To be able to experience the best Christmas has for us, we need Advent.  This year, more than ever, my family needs Advent to prepare a place in our hearts to experience the full joy of Christmas.  We may not be able to go in-person to Advent services so we are going to focus on Advent at home.  We are going to do daily Advent readings as a family.  I encourage you to do that.  You could use a book like we are or listen online or read a chapter of Luke a day... whatever you do, I say, just do it.

Don't let COVID-19 steal your Christmas.  Commit to fight the viral grinch with the ancient tool of Advent today.

The Fear of Death

COVID-19 and the 246,000 deaths in the United States from it have awakened a fear of death in many of us.  You can see this fear of death in our reaction to the news of coronavirus and our reactions to the various restrictions imposed to combat sars-cov-2.  

Those around me express the fear of death in two main ways: YOLO and YODO.

YOLO is an expression popularized by the Canadian rapper Drake in 2011.  It means "you only live once".  YODO is my acronym for "you only die once".  Both of these stem from a fear of death.

YODO:

You only die once is the feeling of the one that protects life at all cost.  One life to die means, unlike a cat, you have to be super careful.  Stay safe.  Be careful.  Don't get crazy.  Safety first and foremost.

Extreme expressions of YODO are evidence that one has no security in the here after.  One has no assurance that to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).  These people can't imagine a life more precious than the life they are currently living and will guard it at all cost.

YOLO:

You only live once is the feeling of one that pursues current pleasure at all cost.  Jump off the bridge? Sure, YOLO!  These people can't imagine living a life of pure safety because that means living a life of regrets.  These people try to squeeze the marrow out of each moment because you only live once.  These people can't imagine pleasures more precious than the ones here and now and will pursue them at all cost.  These people don't trust that "in your presence there is fulness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).  They lack an eternal mindset.  They don't believe that whatever pleasures are missed now will more than be made up for in the next life.

YOLO and YODO have one chief concern: But what if I die?  FOMO (fear of missing out) is their big fear.  One fears death for love of life and one fears coming to death having missed out on earthly pleasures.

Neither YOLO or YODO can be the posture of the Christian.
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

So, how am I navigating the season of COVID while fighting to walk by faith and not in fear?  I'm trying to have the presence of mind to ask myself these three questions:

1) Am I loving God?

Does my decision or action demonstrate my love for God?  Do I express trust in His sovereignty, love, providence and provision?  Am I being selfish or am I trying to do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)?

2) Am I loving my neighbor?

Would I want people to do what I am about to do if I was my business owning neighbor, my cancer patient neighbor, my democrat neighbor, my republican neighbor, my Christian neighbor, my atheist neighbor?  Am I seeking my own safety or theirs, too?  Am I seeking my own pleasure or theirs, too?

3) Am I advancing the Kingdom?

Do my actions make the rule and reign of Jesus seem appealing or appalling? When this is all said and done will my community think Christians were sincerely loving because of my actions?  Do my actions make earth a little more like Heaven (Matthew 6:10)?

I don't have all the answers and I am bummed at the thought of spending Thanksgiving at home instead of surrounded by extended family.  I'm sad but unafraid.  I'm trying to fear God more than death in any of its expressions.

Fight the fear of death whether it looks like YODO or YOLO.  Fight to love God, love people and advance the Kingdom today. 

Now What?

 A few hours ago Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were projected as the winners of the 2020 Presidential Election.  Barring a miracle or nightmare (pending your perspective), Joe Biden will be inaugurated President of the United State of America on January 20, 2021.  

(If things change after this post is published you are more than welcome to repost it and make fun of me for being wrong)

What now?  What do we do now?  

First, we continue to pray for President Trump.  He is now a lame duck with some major fires on his agenda.  COVID-19 is raging here and advancements in the fight against it are needed in the next few months.  Our neighbors are still dealing with unemployment and underemployment.  Our enemies abroad and at home still want to do us harm.  Lame duck or not, Donald Trump needs to succeed in doing his job.

Second, pray for a peaceful transition.  Pray that a gracious victory and a gracious defeat occur.  Pray that the three men and one woman in this race lead by example.  Let us not continue the anger and fear filled election style interactions.  Let us be gracious people who either accept our preferred candidate's defeat or victory with the dignity those who had a different preferred candidate may or not deserve.

Thirdly, we pray for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  The job of President and Vice President is large.  The job is one I would never want.  Those who hold the office usually age at an accelerated rate from the stress of the job.  Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris need wisdom, courage, restraint and energy to do a good job for this nation.  Pray they surround themselves with people that will challenge and enable them to be what we need them to be.  They have just acquired jobs for which no one is fully qualified to have.

Lastly, let us pray that we can be less political and more neighborly over the next four years.  It seems one side never stopped celebrating the last outcome and running for the next election and the other side never stopped rueing the last outcome and running for the next one.  It is my belief that we need to take a deep breath as a people.  We need to become more interested in our neighborhood and our town than in the occupant of the White House.  Pray we can have a stretch of time in which we can unplug from the temporal politics and plug more fully into the eternal Kingdom by simply "loving the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength and loving our neighbor as ourself."

Some of you are thrilled today and others of you are frustrated.  To the excited, congratulations.  To the frustrated, sorry.  

Now let us heal, let us pray and let us react to the news in a God-honoring way today.

New Life, Nausea and Answered Prayer

 Tuesday, April 14th, just after supper, my wife had a miscarriage.  

The pain of a miscarriage was deep for the two of us and such a strange thing.  Strange is an odd adjective but somehow for me it fits.  We spent quite a while not knowing how to feel.  We didn't know if we should feel as bad as we did at times and at other times we felt ashamed at our feeling normal.  

One of the worst parts of the miscarriage was that my poor wife had to be reminded of it every time she used the bathroom.  I only saw that red, lifeless, blood a few times and it turned my soul inside out.  My wife had a gruesome reminder of loss for days.

For the last ten and a half weeks Christine has been pregnant again.

The discovery of new life within my wife excited me and terrified me.  This Spring I had learned intimately the reality of my utter helplessness is sustaining new life.  The lines on the stick brought a commingling of immense joy and fathoms of deep paranoia. 

When Christine had the miscarriage I wrote out a prayer to keep.  And when my joy and fear collided with this new pregnancy I wrote another prayer.

"Dad,
I'm not afraid that you won't do the right thing or the best thing; I'm afraid that the best thing might hurt.  God, please don't hurt me.  Love my kids."

God has answered my prayer in the way I would want, so far.  I'm happy about that.  God also gave us a cruel blessing: nausea.

Christine has not had nausea with our other kids.  She's had "easy" pregnancies (I type "easy" nervously as a man).  But this time she has been nauseous most times of the day.  This nausea is hard on Christine, but it also is a blessing.  Nausea means the baby lives.  Until she can feel the baby move, nausea is our sign from God that our child's life is being sustained.  I know that my wife wants to stop being nauseous and we know that if she does stop that the worry will restart.

So, we thank God now for nausea.  We thank Him for answered prayer.  We thank God for trusting us with another life.  We thank Him for being the Creator and Sustainer of all life.  

Thank Him with us today.

The Discipline of Wonder

 What do you do in your small group?  What do you in your personal quiet time?  What do you do in your worship service?

I'm guessing in your small group you spend lots of time chatting, lots of time catching up, lots of time answering each others' questions about the passage.  I'm guessing your personal quiet time is filled with brisk reading while your phone lights up next to you and you struggle to ignore it.  I bet your worship service is filled with music, preaching and praying.  

I'm guessing you're a lot like me and your church is a lot like mine.  The things listed above are not bad, but the list is incomplete.

"It seems to me that some of us value information over wonder, and noise over silence.  And I feel that we need a lot more wonder and a lot more silence in our lives." -Fred Rogers

This quote hit me last night as I found myself in a labyrinth of old Mr. Rogers interviews, and yes that happens more than it should.  I'd heard this quote before but it hit me between the eyes last night and I had to write it down and let it sit in my notebook a night.

Do I care more about getting the right answers when I read my Bible or about being in wonder at the God that the Bible reveals to me?  Do I come to small group to stand in shared awe like I did when I went with my family to the Grand Canyon?  Do I expect to spend any time in wonder at a WORSHIP service or do I just plan on getting more answers to the next theological debate I enter?

When my family and I went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, I was in wonder, but I didn't stay that way long.  We stopped first at Mather Point and it was breathtaking, but it was so crowded.  I was in awe of the Grand Canyon but something was missing.  Silence.  So, I helped convince my entire family to get on a bus and go to the furthest stop called Yaki Point.  Yaki Point wasn't any more grand than Mather Point, but it was silent.  That silence so enhanced my wonder and appreciation of the Grand Canyon.

Do I plan enough quiet space in which to truly wonder?  Do I surround myself with people that allow wonder to happen at all?  Or do I simply feel the need to fill the space with noise?  

Do I view my faith journey as a quest for the right answers to a test or as a wondrous pursuit of a wonderful, saving God?  

We need more wonder.  So, how can we do this?  How can we pursue wonder and not simply correct answers?  How can we use silence in our worship and small groups?  What quiet can we build into our quiet time?  What physical space can we go to in order to achieve this?

I'm not going to answer these questions because your answer may differ from mine, but I simply ask you to ask these questions to yourself today.

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus..." Hebrews 3:1

 

Little Big Prayers: Praying with Kids

In my last post I mentioned that praying with my children is one of the most important things I do as a dad.  That post is better than this one, but in this one I want to look at a few practical ways to pray with your children.

Notice that I say "with" and not "for".  We, no doubt, must pray for our kids but sometimes we have a hard time praying with our kids.  The difficulty can come when they have trouble focusing or when they don't seem to understand what's going on.  I encourage you not to worry too much about that.  They will eventually understand more about how to pray, but praying with your children, or in front of your children, will deeply impact their prayer life.

When you pray with your kids is up to you.  I suggest meal times and bed times because they are easy markers in the day to remind us to pray.  But I also encourage you to pray, as Deuteronomy 6:7 says, "as you sit at home and as you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  Walks and car rides are great moments to pray with your kids.

So, here are a few types of prayers to do with your kids:

Thank You Prayers

These prayers are easy for kids to participate in.  Thank you for this food, thank you for being able to play with friends, thank you for the beautiful day, thank you for Mommy, thank you for the park, etc.  These prayers are easy prayers for your kids and teach them that God is the Giver of all good gifts.

Help Prayers

For most of us this is the type of praying we remember doing as a kid.  God help Grandma, God help our sick neighbor, God help my school friends, God help me not have bad dreams, etc.  These types of prayers will help them know that caring about others is important.  These types of prayers will reinforce that God is their Helper.  And these types of prayers, even from little lips, work.

Ambulance Prayers

Kids love sirens.  They often notice them before you do.  When you hear ambulance sirens, stop what you're doing and simply say, "God, help whoever that ambulance is going toward and thank you for the people that work with you to help others."  These prayers help your kids learn to pray for those they don't know.  This prayer reminds them that prayer is to be done more often than dinner and bedtime.  These prayers, like the others, help you in the same way.

Steeple Prayers

As you walk by a church building, pray for that church.  Pray that they reach people with the Gospel of Christ, pray that they stay faithful, pray that they do good in the community, etc.  These prayers develop an ecumenical spirit in your child.  These prayers help them be cheerleaders for the Church and not simply their local church.  These prayers encourage your kids to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).

Shema Prayer

This prayer is one that you do aloud over them.  I've begun ending my prayers with my kids each night with the Shema prayer.  The Shema is the ordinance God gave the Israelites to "love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5).  Jesus said the two greatest commands are, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind... and... love your neighbor as yourself"(Matthew 22:37-40). 

So each night I pray, "Help Anna love you with all her heart, soul, mind and strength, and love her neighbor as herself."  With this prayer I am asking God to enable my children to do their greatest task.  And, by praying this nightly, I am highlighting for my children their purpose in the world.  My prayer shows them they are not aimless beings but people with a particular and massive purpose.

Pray with your children.  If you are already, I hope these little big prayers are able to be added to your toolbox.  If you aren't praying with your kids, then start today.

Hallowing Our Heavenly Father's Name

The below is the manuscript to the sermonette I was able to give at church Sunday. 

One of the most important things I do as a father is pray with my children.  My dad did this and I knew I needed to when I became a father.  I want my kids to catch how I pray, what I pray for and most importantly to whom I pray.

 

In our passage Jesus modeled prayer for His disciples.  Jesus no doubt prayed many prayers with or near Matthew, but this is the prayer Matthew recorded for us.  This is the prayer Jesus gave His disciples during this speedy, master class in prayer.  This prayer is not magic words, though it is always good to pray the words of Scripture, rather, this prayer is a model for us to use.

 

Jesus begins what we call the Lord’s prayer like this.

 

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed by your name.”  Matthew 6:9

 

This is all I’m going to look at today.  Our Father in Heaven, hallowed by your name.  Just the ‘WHO’ and the first ‘WHAT’ of the prayer.

 

This morning we will talk about the HOW of prayer but to get the H-O-W we start with the W-H-O of prayer.  The WHO of prayer is far more important than the HOW of prayer.  The most excellent part of any prayer is the destination of the prayer, the One on the other side of the line, not the words being said or the length of the prayer.  Remember last week?  The prophets of Baal had some varsity level praying going on from morning to evening and Elijah prayed a short, simple prayer.  What was the difference?  It was the WHO of prayer.  If you’re not praying to the Living God you’re wasting your breath. 

 

“Our Father in Heaven”

 

Jesus taught us to say Father.  In Greek this is ‘Pater’, but Jesus spoke Aramaic and that word is ‘Abba’.  Romans 8:15 says Christians receive the Spirit of sonship and by that Spirit we cry out “Abba, Father.”

 

I have some friends who live in the Middle East.  In fact, one of them, Nate Munstermann, will be here next week.  They say the little boys and girls run to their fathers and say “Abba, Abba” or “Daddy, Daddy.”  Jesus taught us to pray using very intimate language when referring to the Almighty God.  This was a new concept when Jesus said it.  It was known that Yahweh was the Father of the universe as Alexander Graham Bell is the father of the telephone.  But Jesus told his disciples that Yahweh was their father, like their daddy.

 

But Jesus didn’t just say that God is father.  He said “He is Our Father in Heaven.”  God is in Heaven.  Meaning He is on the throne.  He is dwelling in the glory and majesty of Heaven right now.  God is the King of Heaven sitting on His very own throne.  Don’t miss the majesty and unapproachable holiness that the God of Heaven is described with throughout the Bible.

 

~To help us understand this truth of Our Father in Heaven we’re going to use our imaginations.  Some of you are going to think this is silly, but I want you to do it.  You’re going to close your eyes and fill your imagination with what I’m about to describe.  I’m going to compile some Scripture to help paint a picture in our minds that I hope will help the truth seep into our hearts using our God given imagination.  So, close your eyes and picture this.

 

Picture the throne room of Heaven.  The LORD is seated on a throne, high and exalted.  He’s way up above the eye level of every being in the room.  The train of His robe is so large that it fills the room.  A rainbow resembling emerald encircles the throne.  Above the LORD are seraphs, angels that are nearly indescribable in beauty and terror.  They have six wings, yet they are protecting their faces from the Almighty LORD because of His inapproachable light. With two wings they cover their faces like Moses in the cleft of the rock, with two they covered their feet and with two they fly in a circle about the throne.  They call out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty who was, and is and is to come; the whole earth is full of His glory.”   As they shout that, the doorposts and thresholds of the throne room shake and the room is filled with smoke.  Flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder come from the throne.  The elders in the room lay their crowns down before the LORD and praise Him loudly.

 

Are you seeing this?

 

Now you step into the back of the throne room and survey this awe inspiring scene and shout “Daddy” as you run and boldly approach the throne to talk to Our Father in Heaven.~

 

Open your eyes. 

 

This is how Jesus taught us to pray.  This is to whom we pray!

 

1 John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.”

 

Brothers and sister, this is not a metaphor.  This is what we actually are.  We ARE children of God!

 

Understanding this will change our prayer life in a number of ways but I want to talk about two.

 

1)   OUR Father.

Not only does God adopt us into His family but He puts the lonely into a family.  You are never alone even though a quarantine or a widowing may make you feel alone.  This is why we pray with one another.  This is why we pray for one another.  This is why we rest knowing somebody’s praying for me.  This is why we trust that even if nobody in the church is praying for us that our Big Brother Jesus certainly is and the prayer of a righteous man availeth much!

 

2)   Our Great Father is Good to Us and Desires to Hear from Us.

Some of us pray like we’ve got to get a PowerPoint presentation ready to present to God to convince Him that He should be good to us.  We can trust that our Good, Good Father knows best and does best.  We can ask in the confidence that He will work all things together for good and that He’s a bread giving Father and not a serpent giving father. 

 

I invite you to think deeply about the wonderful attributes of our Heavenly Father and shout in your heart, “That’s my Dad!”  He is holy, self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal, infinite, unchanging, all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent, faithful, good, just, merciful, gracious, sovereign and loving.  That’s my Dad!  Is it yours?

 

He doesn’t need us to say magic words to get what we need.  We don’t have to say fellowship instead of get-together and talk about whatever a hedge of protection is to get Him to notice us.

He doesn’t need us to say millions of words or have millions of people praying for us.  See verses 7 and 8, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”  So, if He knows what we need before we ask, why do we pray?   It’s because our Great Father is good to us and desires to hear from us. 

 

What are we waiting for?  Run to the throne, climb on His lap and talk to Him!

 

That’s the first half of verse 9.

 

“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.”

 

I read this verse incorrectly for years.  I read hallowed as part of the WHO of the Lord’s Prayer and not of the WHAT.  Our Father without a doubt is hallowed.  He is holy and set apart.  But this actually is the first thing Jesus teaches us to ask for in His model prayer.

 

In fact, I’ll argue that this is the main request of the entire prayer. 

 

So, we ask God to make His name hallowed.

 

But isn’t it already hallowed?  How can I ask an infinitely holy God to MAKE His name hallowed?  If you’re thinking that I can’t ask God to be any more holy than He is then you’re right.  You can’t increase an infinite.

 

So, what is Jesus modeling us to ask for?

 

When we worship we often sing about magnifying God or glorifying God.  What do we mean in this?  To steal a metaphor from John Piper and to bore all the Pulse kids who have heard this a thousand times… do we magnify God like a telescope or a microscope?  Microscopes take small things and magnify them to appear larger than they actually are.  Telescopes take enormous things and make them look slightly less small than they appear without the aid of a telescope.  Jupiter looks much bigger in a telescope than it does with the naked eye, but we know that Jupiter is not the size of a half dollar.  In fact, more than 1,300 planet Earths can fit inside of Jupiter and Earth is so big that many of you haven’t been out of our own country.

 

We magnify God like a telescope.  When we pray that God would be hallowed we are asking Him to appear somewhat more like He actually is.  We’re asking Him to look like a half dollar instead of a speck to our mind’s eye and to the minds’ eye of those in this little planet.

 

Why does Jesus instruct us to make this request first?

I think it is because our Person is child of God and our Purpose is making much of Him.

 

Our Person:  J. I. Packer in Knowing God said, “What is a Christian?... a Christian is one who has God as Father.”

 

Our Purpose can be defined by the Westminister Shorter Catechism question one.

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

 

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

 

So, how do we hallow our Father’s name in prayer?

 

There are many ways but I will look quickly at two ways.

 

1)   We recognize our smallness and our need for our glorious Father.

Jesus teaches this in the Lord’s prayer.  We pray for our daily bread.  We pray for forgiveness of sins.  We pray that we would be forgivers.  We pray that we be led away from temptation.  We beg our Good Father to help us like my kids beg me for help; not because I have to be begged, but because they have to be helped.

 

2)   We enjoy His presence in prayer.

I love it when I come home and my kids run to me and shout “Daddy’s home!”  Tuesday I was meeting with Dan and Jim and when I got home Joshua was thrilled to see me. He asked if he could put on his frog boots and jump in the puddles as it rained.  And you know what?  I love that.  I love when my kids are so utterly satisfied just by holding my hand and jumping in puddles.  I secretly love it when they run to me instead of my wife and ask me to kiss the scrape.  I love when they’re thrilled with my presence and provision.

 

I’ll remind you of a Piper quote: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

 

So, let me finish by asking two question.

 

1)   Do my prayers magnify the reputation of God? In what I pray for? In how I pray?  In how I wait? In how I approach Him?

2)   And, do I have God as my Father?  If you do, how can you pray like you do so that you experience this truth?  If you don’t, do you want God as your Father because His Son died to adopt you.

7 Lucky Years

 Today is the 7th anniversary of the day my beautiful bride walked down the aisle.  It was seven years ago today that my friend became my wife.  It was seven years ago that we swore to God that we would cling to one another until death did us part.

Over the last 2,557 days we have done a lot:

2 homes

infertility

2 births of kids

1 miscarriage

3 foster kids

6 funerals for family members

many weddings

some bad days

some ordinary days

some great days

1 pandemic

In the last 2,557 days my love for Christine Marie Ray has grown deeper and wider.  I've learned so much about the woman gifted to me.

Here are seven things I learned in seven years.

1) Christine is a great mother.  She is a great mother to our own children and to children invited into our home.

2) She is a constant friend.  I still like playing with her and talking with her.  She's still the first person I want to tell my stories even if she doesn't really care about them.

3) She knows nothing about pop culture or history.  I don't know what rock Steve and Karen raised her under, but it was effective.

4) I have to notice where she places things.  There will be a quiz later.

5) She's passionate about me.  I thought perhaps a woman could tolerate me, but I never thought a woman like Christine could be nuts over me.

6) I get nervous when she's the one driving and she doesn't like that.  Not sure why I feel like I need that drivers ed brake on the passenger side, but for some reason I can't get over that.

7) Life with her goes fast.  I hardly remember life before being her husband and yet it seems like she walked down the aisle of Grace Baptist Church a week ago.  Seven years has gone by in the blink of an eye.

Christine, I love you and I will be here with you until one of us dies.  I hope, even in the age of COVID-19, you feel that love and commitment today.

Present Good > Future Good

It was Saturday and I had a conundrum.  My in-laws were in town and we had church the next day.  Our church had been meeting in-person.  I knew my in-laws wouldn't feel comfortable going to an in-person service.  So, I wondered what we should do.  Should we stay home and watch online?  Or should we go?  I didn't want to put them in a position they didn't choose to be in with the virus.

I didn't have to make the decision.  Saturday we got an e-mail saying service was canceled due to a positive case of COVID-19 in a family and some contacts with that family made by both pastors.

That Sunday my in-laws were in town because Christine and I had a CPR and First Aid class that afternoon and they were going to watch the kids.  We were going to leave the house at 12:20.  A little before noon I got a call saying the instructor was sick and the class was canceled.

This is the life we live now.  Our plans are very unsure.  Will schools meet in-person all semester?  Will sports happen?  Will your family Christmas gathering happen? 

We know nothing.

This morning I was on the phone with a friend that I was about to interview.  He talked about how the business he worked at was waiting to unveil their plans for the Fall.  I said I feel like we're stuck in the verse in James.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.'  Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'  As it is, you boast and brag.  All such boasting is evil.  Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."  James 4:13-17

Let's use this time of uncertainty to learn. 

During this pandemic we are keenly aware that we can't predict the basic things of the future.  Our plans all have to be held onto loosely.  We all know that we can't know.

James told us this truth 2,000 years ago.  What is my life?  It is a mist.  My life is dictated by the will of the Lord.  Believing anything else is braggadocios.

So, what do we do when life is a constant flux?  What do we do when we can't know if our plans will go as we intend? 

We do the good in front of us.

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do, and doesn't do it, sins."  James 4:17

The lesson of this verse and of our uncertain times is don't plan on future good when present good is available.  Don't think, "When I have the money, I will be generous."  Be generous now.  Don't delay doing the good set before you now in order to do good later.  Don't exchange actual good for theoretical future good.

What good is there for you to do today?  What has been presented to your present? 

Do it, before it's too late, today.

Dear Worship Leaders

Music has been and continues to be an important part of Christian worship services.  Many of our fondest and deepest memories of corporate worship have to do with music. 

I've said this many times... when you leave a service do you more often have a line from the sermon stuck in your head or a line from a song?  For me, it's nearly always a song that has become looped in my brain.

The songs we sing are important.  Many music therapist have told me stories of people with dementia that can't remember the names of their grandchildren or even their children but can sing multiple verses of their favorite hymns. 

Music glues words to our brains in a way no other thing can.

A few weeks ago my wife and I were reading through 1 Chronicles.  When we read at night we don't do a study.  We simply read a chapter before bed.  Some chapters we read are thrilling and others, to be honest, are long, boring lists of names and boundary lines.  1 Chronicles 25 is one of those chapters, but it was this chapter that had a line jump out to me and it has everything to do with the songs we sing.

"David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.  Here is the list of the men who performed this service:" 1 Chronicles 25:1

The chapter is all about King David's musicians.  This chapter is full of tongue tying names and is one of those chapters that are not the most fun to read, but that first verse spoke to me.

What were the musicians tasked to do?  Prophesy words set to music.

What is prophesy here?  First, it is not telling the future.  Much of the time the Bible doesn't mean doing the work of a seer when it says prophesy.  What prophesy means here is to speak as a mediator between God and man.  So, the musicians were tasks with singing God's Word to the people and singing the people's words to God.

Worship pastors/leaders, are you in the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by piano, organ, guitar, drums, bass and violin?  When you choose music for your corporate worship do you think about what sounds best first?  Do you consider what is on Christian radio?  Or do you most consider what lyrics best mediate God's Word to the people and the people's words to God?

I think there are all sorts of musical styles that can be God honoring.  From baroque to EDM, from orchestral to hip hop, all styles of music can honor God effectively.  Worship leaders must find styles of music that can speak to those in the congregation best.  But the lyrics should be of first importance.

What lyrics are long lasting?  What lyrics would Christ himself say accurately represent Him?  What lyrics help the congregation hear what Jesus has for them?  What lyrics help those assembled speak honoring words to God?

In 50 years when I'm in the nursing home with dementia will the lyrics sung on this coming Sunday at your church be worth being stuck in my head?

Worship pastors/leaders, your job is very important.  You are more than sing-a-long leaders.  You are tasked with the ministry of prophesy set to music.  Choose your lyrics wisely today.

Toppling Statues

Recently there has been a lot of talk about statues being toppled or removed from public places.  Many of these statues have been of Confederate leaders.  To show my cards, I feel no remorse over statues of slavery protecting rebels being removed from publicly owned places.  I myself am not the type that would show up at a topple a statue rally, but there are multiple reasons why those statues are out of place in the public sphere.

Many that are against the removal of these statues complain that it is a slippery slope.  Slippery slope is a logical fallacy.  All things stop somewhere.  That being said, there have been people that have moved beyond removing statues of people who fought to preserve slavery in America to statues of others and there is just enough chaos now that other statues have been taken down.  In fact, the activist Shaun King suggested that statues of Jesus should be removed because He's often portrayed as a white man and King believes these statues have been used to support white supremacy.

I do not believe that protestors should topple any statues of Jesus.  Statues and paintings on private property should not be disturbed by those that don't own or control that private property.  But King's tweet has caused many to think about this question:

Should churches display statues and paintings of Jesus?

My short answer is 'no' and it doesn't primarily have to do with the racial issues being discussed today.

In the last several years I have come to understand that the 2nd Commandment forbids making images of God.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them...." Exodus 20:4-5a

Does a statue of Jesus break this commandment?  Some may say that the law was against having idols of other gods.  It is, in part.  But the 1st Commandment says in Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me."  So, I believe that the 2nd Commandment is about idols of other gods and idols/statues of Yahweh.  Jesus is Yahweh.

It could be that you might make a statue of Jesus without worshipping it.  I truly believe that is possible for a person.  However, we are prone to worship things.  We are prone to use things like a good luck charm.  We might use a statue of Jesus or a crucifix the same way a rabbit's foot might be used.  We are prone to worship physical things, so why tempt ourselves or our congregation by erecting a statue of Christ?

In the Bible we see even good things being used as idols of worship.  Even things prescribed by God to be made were turned into idols by the hearts of the people.  Remember the bronze serpent on the pole that God told Moses to make in the book of Numbers?  The people would look at it and be saved from the poisonous snake bites.  Well, by 2 Kings the people were worshipping it.  In 2 Kings 18:4 King Hoshea, who was noted as a good king, destroyed idols of other gods and the bronze snake that Moses had made.  The people had begun to worship it and call it Nehushtan.  An aid of worship became an object of worship.

Or the temple itself.  When Jesus Himself walked among the people the leaders were more in awe of the temple.  In John 2:19 Jesus said that if the temple was torn down He would raise it in three days.  His accusers used that against Him in His trial.  They claimed He said He was going to topple the temple (Mark 14:58).  The people revered the temple more than what the temple pointed to.  We are just as prone to do this.

Another problem with statues of Jesus is that we are prone to make Him in our image instead of letting Him make us in His.  I don't believe it is always nefarious when pictures or statues of Jesus show Him looking like the people who made them.  Cultures all across this world do this, but I do find it troublesome.  Too often we don't stop at making Jesus look like us in appearance, we also try to make Him vote like us and go to movies like us and shop like us.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John had ample space to include a description of Jesus' appearance, but they don't.  Not one of the Gospels say, "He was short". Not one says, "His hair was flowingly long."  There isn't one single mention of what He looked like.  If we were supposed to be making images of Christ then the Bible isn't much help.  Isaiah prophesied that His beard would be pull out (Isaiah 50:6).  That's the only description of the pre-ascended Christ.  The best descriptions of Jesus are in the book of Revelation but I have yet to see a statue of Jesus "dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around His chest.  His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire.  His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.  In His hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.  His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance." Revelation 1:13-16.

How many statues of Jesus with a sword coming out of His mouth have you seen?

If you're thinking I'm off the deep end, I understand you.  I wasn't always sure that I would oppose a painting of Jesus in our church sanctuary or a statue of Him out front.  I was pointed to this understanding by J. I. Packer in his book Knowing God.  Packer wrote in chapter three the following while quoting Charles Hodge:  "idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images."  Packer goes on to say, "In its Christian application, this means that we are not to make use of visual or pictorial representations of the triune God, or of any person of the Trinity, for the purposes of Christian worship."

Packer admits that the question of what to do with Sunday School classes for kids in light of this is difficult.  But quickly (and you should just read Knowing God for yourself) here are his two reasons why we should not make any images of the triune God or a person of God, including Jesus.  1) Images dishonor God, for they obscure His glory.  2) Images mislead us, for they convey false ideas about God.

Close your eyes right now and picture Jesus.  See, you have an image and the Bible didn't put it there.  An artist did.  I'm for art, but I'm more for the 2nd Commandment.

I don't think that protestors should be toppling statues of Jesus.  I think that would be wrong.  However, I think churches should honestly consider whether their iconography of Jesus violates the very laws and principles He gave His church.

You likely differ from me in this view, but I encourage you to think deeply about it today.