Tuesdays with Morris

I’m preaching this upcoming Sunday at Center Chapel. As I’ve been preparing, I’ve been struggling with finding a message…a focus. I’ve been able to come up with catchy titles. I’ve been able to find stories that I’d like to share. Yet, I’ve struggled to find the most important part…the Scriptural focus. When I preach, I like to just take the Scripture and see what it has to say to me…Rather than coming up with cool ideas and then finding a Scripture to fit my agenda. Yet…that’s where I find myself this morning.

So, I’m extremely thankful for my morning devotions…because I came across a passage of Scripture that reminded me that when I preach…it’s not about sounding intelligent…it’s not about having a great story…it’s not about a catchy title…it’s about Jesus Christ!

“When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with eloquence of superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that you faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

So, if you’re in the area, I invite you to join us at Center Chapel. I’ll be bringing a message about Jesus…I’m not sure where it’s going to take us…But, I’m going to pray, study, pray, study, pray, study and let the Spirit lead me!

Today, I felt like I was back in high school taking the SAT, ACT, and ISTEP exams. I just finished over 3 hours of ridiculous testing for the ordination process. As I was taking the tests, I found myself wondering what the point was behind these tests. I understand they want to get a good feel for the psychological well-being of candidates. I understand they want to find out they likes and dislikes of the candidate. I understand they want to find out what the candidate thinks of himself. But, I’m almost certain they could find a more comprehensive way of accomplishing all this.

Filling in 566 bubbles on one test, 330 on another, 180 on yet another…filling in blanks, completing sentences, interpreting proverbs, figuring out patterns. Man, I’m spent. I definitely need a break. If it wasn’t Monday, I’d quickly make my way to the Heorot for a pint. That will have to wait!

But, in reality, this is just one more step towards completing this whole ordination process. So, I guess the pain in my fingers from grasping a pencil for hours is somehow worth it!

This morning, I came across a few things in my reading that I thought I’d share with the people that happen to stumble across my site.

“For many people, Church has become a barren and unfulfilling experience, which fails to address, let alone answer, life’s deepest questions and concerns.” (Stephen Chalke in The Lost Message of Jesus)

“To assume that we have got Jesus ‘pinned down’ or ’summed up’ is not simply arrogant but stupid, and in the end inhibits our ability to communicate His unchanging message to an ever-changing world.” (Stephen Chalke, The Lost Message of Jesus)

“A little faith will take you to heaven, but I pray for the kind of faith that will bring heaven to earth.” (Charles Spurgeon)

“He has no desire to punish people. They have already been punished excessively by their own inner and outward waywardness. The Father wants simply to let them know that the love they have searched for in such distorted ways has been, is, and always will be there for them.” (Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son)

Yesterday, our church administrator shared a story from ROCK (our ministry to 3-5th grade students). They were talking about what sin is. She said a young girl, probably in 5th grade, gave this statement, “Well, it’s like, if you’re taking a test and you’ve written the answers on your hand. It’s only bad if you get caught.”

So, the definition of sin to this young girl is that it’s only sin if you get caught! Wow! It’s sort of sad, sort of funny, and sort of a great representation of the messages that we put out there.

My first thought on hearing this was in regards to our current administration in the United States. Is it wrong to lie to people? Apparently not! First, we have all these conflicting stories about the intelligence used to justify our invasion of Iraq. Turns out it was all wrong. Any apologies? Any admission of error? Not really. Instead, we’re trying to position ourselves to take out Iran while we’re over there. You know…maybe we should set the example and destroy our own nuclear weapons and resources to make nuclear weapons first. Maybe then Iran and North Korea wouldn’t have such a strong desire to have ability to make these weapons. Then, we’ve got this wire tapping thing. They got caught. They weren’t using the proper channels and avenues to go about this…invasion of privacy. So, instead of saying, “Well, we didn’t go about it the right way. We were wrong. We’re sorry!”, the administration has instead basically said “We haven’t done any thing wrong.” Gonzalez even stated that George Washington used electrical wire tapping…Hmm, interesting!So, our governmental leaders, many of whom claim to be Christians (though my father would say at least one appears to be more of an anti-Christ than a Christian), don’t fess up to their errors. A wonderful example to the rest of our nation and the world.

So, of course this young girl only thinks something is wrong if you get caught. That’s the way things have been working in our society for a while. We have found ourselves in a position where we can justify just about anything…it’s okay to steal a candy bar because I’m hungry…it’s okay to cheat on this test because I was out late and didn’t get a chance to study…it’s okay to gossip about that person because they gossip too…it’s okay to cheat on my taxes because the government is corrupt anyway…and so on and so on.

To me, sin is any thing that we do that fails to bring God glory. I want to lead a life of worship, a life where all I say and all I do glorifies God. I fail at that all the time. But, I’m not going to try and hide my failures. It doesn’t matter if I don’t get caught…because, ultimately, God knows all! So, I guess we’re all screwed if we’re planning on hiding our sins!

What is sin to you?

This morning, I’m sitting in my office drinking coffee, listening to some great music, and reading various books (the Bible, The Lost Message of Jesus, etc). As I’m reading, I’ve been reminded of God’s great love for us. I’ve been reminded of my great desire to follow Jesus. I’ve been reminded of our call to “love God, love our neighbors, and love our enemies.”

Each day, I want to do all I can to become a better Christian. I think that means that I want to learn to love God, love others, and love my enemies in real, tangible ways.

Recently, I’ve read various articles and passages of books that have talked about the idea that this world might be a better place if Christians would take seriously the teachings of Jesus. If we would seek out the lost, if we would feed the hungry, if we would take care of the poor and sick, if we would demonstrate love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness, if we would try to live as Jesus lives maybe things would change.

Today, I want my day to be filled with love…I want to extend love to God’s wonderful creation (not just people, but all of creation). Too often I find myself focusing on judgment, sin, and other negatives. I need to focus on love! God is love and I want to be a reflection of that love.