Remembering Anne

She's been gone from us almost a year now, yet the memory of her is strong today as I sit in my favorite spot in the coffee shop and think about what I want to write for this article. Christmas was always a special time for her. She would always treat us well. We always received a giant box or two of candy from her to nibble on as the cold Christmas days passed. There was also a bottle of cologne or perfume, or some other little token of her appreciation for you that would come around Christmas. The most favorite thing for me was the annual lunch at The House of Ing. It was always enjoyable to sit with a plate of whatever buffet offerings they made that day and listen to her stories about the past, about things she had done or experienced in her life.

Anne Fischell was a great lady. She was always prim and proper when she came to church. She dressed as best she could. She always wore a dress hat of some sort. And she always sat in the same place—way back in the far corner of the old church building. After just spending a few moments with her, anyone could come to realize that she was a feisty, yet classy lady who loved her family and loved her church. She reminded me a lot of my grandmother, who had that same sense of dignity and fire within her personality. Maybe that was just one of the things people picked up that had lived through the rough times in the 1930s and 1940s here in America.

One specific conversation with Anne will stand out far above the rest for me. One time I went with two of the elders to visit her. We were visiting members of the church then to ask them to increase their giving some as we headed into the building project for our current building. As we sat there and talked with Anne, she shared how she didn’t have much more to give, but that she would give a little more. As our conversation strayed from finances, she looked directly at me and said, "I don’t much like your guitar. I would much rather hear a piano and an organ. But, I see the younger people who are coming because of the music style we use at South, and I’m ok with it."

In her words there is much for us to learn. Anne saw past the idea that it's always what I want. For her, it was what is better for them, not me. She didn't have much more to give, especially on her fixed income, but she did. She was one of our most faithful givers. She didn’t so much like the music, but she appreciated it because it was pulling people towards God. She was always there every Sunday, dressed as best she could in respect for God, always encouraging us as we participated in worshipping our God.

As Christians, how often do we let our opinions get in the way of the bigger picture? How often do we think that we should have it the way we want? How often do we get frustrated and pouty when we don’t get our way? Anne lived out the life of Jesus the best she could. She did what she could for her family and her church. She loved those around her. She showed them she loved them and appreciated them by simple things like lunch and chocolates. She was faithful and honest.

As we look to a new year of life, may we learn from Anne and put the life of Jesus more into the living of our lives. May we think and live not for ourselves, but for those around us that God has called us to love—brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors, and our enemies. (Mark 9 & 10, Matthew 20, Luke 6)

Who Knew?

Christmas is less than two months away. Soon, most of you will begin doing the normal Christmas things-buying presents, listening to Christmas music, decorating, and possibly even baking and making holiday treats. The holiday spirit will be in full swing. Stores have been working to put you in this mindset already, putting out Christmas trinkets, decorations, and everything else the minute Halloween passed.

I wonder if Joseph and Mary felt a similar excitement and anticipation. They had both been visited by angels who told them that God is getting ready to do something great. As Mary's pregnancy drew to the end, I can't begin to understand how they dealt with it? I remember the emotion that was going through Steph and me as we were getting closer to Hannah's birth. How were Mary and Joseph's families handling it all? God had told them He was coming to earth through the birth of their baby. That was, and still would be, a big thing!

My mind has been chewing on these things since I read through the first part of Luke last week. Luke paints a glorious picture. There is anticipation of the coming baby within the expectant families, scores of angels proclaiming His birth to shepherds, wise men coming from a far because of what they had seen in the sky.

Through all the thinking, my mind always comes back to wondering how long after the birth of Jesus the excitement lasted. Was it like the letdown that always happens after all the presents are open and all the festivities are done. I can hardly imagine that it did. I can only think that the anticipation continued as Jesus did things like taking his first steps and saying his first words. I can see the wonder in the eyes of his parents, trying to figure out how the Son of God was going to reveal himself.

As you go through this holiday season, take time to revel in the coming of our savior in the form of a little baby--helpless and in need of the humanity that he's coming to save. And, when the holiday season is past, don't let the amazement that we have for our Lord to fade away like the spirit of Christmas.

Learn From The Pros. . .

There is a constant flow of Christian junk mail that goes across my desk. Everyone seems to have their own conference or convention that will give you the best advice for growing your church into what it should be--or so that is what they are trying to tell me. One piece of mail caught my attention today, partly because of the cool sliding paper window on the front and because one of their speakers is Rob Bell (a minister of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, MI)

As I was perusing the flyer, I was struck by a line on the fundraising page. It reads in bold letters, "Learn from the pros that have experienced enormous success." It probably wouldn't have caught my attention had I not just put down the book, Praying Like Jesus, by James Mulholland, that I am reading through. (Mulholland's book was written as a response or alternative to The Prayer of Jabez.)

The section of Muhlolland's book I was reading questions the validity of megachurches and where the focus of the present day church is. His suggestion to his readers is that we focus on the things that Jesus focused on--like helping the sick and poor, and getting those who have means to do the same thing. His words really have my mind in motion today.

I guess I question whether Jesus would ever have used such a flyer if he were alive today. Would he have a giant convention where everyone can come and learn how his success has come about? Would he have an award winning, best seller book? Would he be the pastor of a megachurch? What would it be focused on? I don't think he would.

Even more, if one were to be making a flyer for him to promote his ministry back then, I don't think they would say, "Learn from the pro that has experienced enormous success." I don't think one could look back at his ministry and say there was much success. Many questioned him. Only a few really followed and devoted their lives to him, and they deserted him at the end. He wasn't flashy. He did not have a giant support staff and a magnanamous building to minister out of. What few possessions he had were gambled for by some soldiers.

Why is the church trying to be such a glorious and large thing? Why do we strive to out do the world at their own game with "church business" and "marketing"? Why after all these years are we struggling with the simple?

Even more painful are my reflections on my ministry. What have I done to further the kingdom? How have the ministries that I oversee done good for the Body of Christ, and more importantly for those who are in need and hard to love?

It is a somber, reflective day in my mind. . .I'm glad it's raining outside.

He Did What?

It’s a funny thing. I’m sitting here at the computer at home trying to figure out what to write about for my Light article (church newsletter). At the same time, I’m watching the Yankees and the Red Sox battling it out in game 6 of the American League Championship Series. The only time I watch baseball is in October, and only then if it is teams I know or if it is interesting. As I sit here and stare at the screen, a runner from the Yankees bunted and ran to first base. As he neared the base, he knocked the ball out of the Red Sox pitcher’s hand as he tried to tag him. That is not allowed in baseball—otherwise known as cheating. After some confusion, arguing from both the coaches, and the fans throwing things onto the field, the Yankees’ runner was called out for interference. It gets better—as the game continues on, there are police in riot gear lining the field to control the fans and protect the players because the fans keep throwing things onto the field. All I can think about is Dorothy telling Toto, “We’re not in Kansas anymore!”

I would guess that some of you are like me, shaking your head in disgust for the actions and reactions being seen throughout the world of sports. Players are cheating the game by taking drugs to enhance their performance. Players are letting their anger show during the game and sometimes causing grave harm to those they are competing against. Even the fans are getting into the action—fans fighting fans, parents beating up umpires in little league games, and tonight, fans throwing things on the field.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, remembering back to a time when sports had respect and etiquette. Some of you are probably even letting our little discussion here of sports spread outward to the rest of everything in our society right now and you are saying, “I remember days when there was respect and good within our country.” In today’s world, those times and actions seem so far away and forgotten. The world is getting better and better every day of being the world. I think all of you would agree.

Where we would come to a slight disagreement would be in how we as the church, or better put, the body of Christ, reacts to that statement. Some of you would push for us to all get in a time machine and go back this many or that many years. (If it could be done, I would love to go back to the late 1800s and live. Life seemed so much simpler and better organized back then.) But we can’t do that, so we must look to other things. Some of you might want to push Christian morals back into the world for the world’s sake. Yet, when the world pushes its values at the church, we despise it. The world reacts to our morals in the same way. What then shall we do?

In the scads and scads of reading I have done for my master’s thesis, I came across the following idea by Stanley Hauerwas: the first task of the church is not to make the world more just, but to make the world the world. For the world can only know it is the world through its contrast with the church that rightly knows the joy of worshipping the true God (“The Liturgical Shape of the Christian Life”, from Essentials of Christian Community, T. & T. Clark Publishers, Ltd., 1996, p.39). As the world gets better and better at being the world, are we as the church, the body of Christ getting better at being the Body of Christ? That is a hard question that calls for much prayer, humility, and honesty to answer.How are you growing as a Christian? How are you helping the church to be better at being the church? How are we being the example? Or, is the world taking our attention away and causing us to just sit and watch, like the baseball game that is now over.

In Matthew 13, Jesus shares a parable about the wheat and the weeds. Take some time right now and read the parable. Notice that the owner of the field, God, allows the wheat and the weeds to grow side by side until the harvest, when Jesus comes again. It’s not our job to pull out the weeds. It’s our job to live the best that we can being wheat—the body of Christ.