There is a difference

You may or may not be aware but one of my favorite ways to vacation is to go on a cruise.  I’ve only been on a couple of them, but they are (in my opinion) one of the most relaxing experiences to enjoy.  If you’ve never been on a cruise I’d recommend you start saving, planning, and preparing to go sometime.  If nothing else it will be good to take off your “bucket list.”

Not too long ago I was daydreaming about a cruise and in the midst of it I started comparing a cruise experience to that of a church experience.  Let me share some of my thoughts with you.

1. This first one is obvious.  You go on a cruise for rest and relaxation.  You go to enjoy the scenery.  You go to take some time to sit by the pool, take an excursion, read a book, eat more than you need, and sit.  That’s not why you go to church.  We go to church to worship.  We go to serve.  We go to encourage and care for one another.  Church revolves on and thrives in active participation.
2. On a cruise, when you compare the number of crew to the number of cruisers it’s disproportionate.  You have a couple of  hundred on the crew and you have a few thousand on the ship.  Unfortunately, too often that percentage is duplicated in the church.  It’s the old adage of “20% of the people doing 80% of the work.”  That ratio might work great on a boat, but it’s a lousy way to experience a church.
3. When you first get on a cruise (even before it heads out to sea) they have the participants practice getting themselves and others into a lifeboat.  In my experience, very few of the cruisers see this as important, necessary, or even worthwhile.  It’s more of a nuisance.  Once again, I’ve met some in the church that feel the same way about evangelism.
4. On a cruise the spirit is “all about me.”  Can someone get me another piece of pizza?  Is my massage scheduled?  On one cruise they said the average amount of weight gain is approximately 5 pounds per cruise.  In a church, it’s all about Him.  It’s a cyclical pouring out of what He is already pouring in.  The psalmist said, “He anoints my head with oil, my cup overflows.”  That’s not an image of stagnation or gluttony.  It’s a picture of being blessed to the point of sharing with others.

I’m sure there are a number of other comparisons.   Can you think of some?  If so, share them with us.

 

Let this serve as a challenge

I came across this a few days ago when I was reading Greg Nettle’s blog.  He is a minister friend that serves at a church in Ohio.  God’s doing some great things through Greg and the church.  Anyway, even though several days have passed since I first read these.  I keep coming back to them.  (By the way, the context for Greg’s writing is that he’s on a trip through the Holy Land.)

Here you go:

This is the essence

This morning I spent two hours on the Mount of Beatitudes-the traditional site where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount.

After some general information about the location we were told to simply go spend time with God.  I spent the next several minutes reading through the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5-7.  And then I reread it . . . only this time asking God to speak into my life.

Matthew 7:12 came alive to me: Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.  This is the essence of ALL that is taught in the law and the prophets.

Okay, at a very young age I memorized the Golden Rule.  Perhaps that’s why I don’t pay too much attention to it.  It’s for little kids.  Didn’t Jesus say, “Unless you become like a little child . . .” Hmmm.

So I wrote in my journal:

If I were an orphan I would want someone to adopt me.

I were ill I would want someone to care for me.

If I were elderly and alone I would want someone to visit me.

If I were oppressed I would want someone to fight for me.

If I were wealthy I would want someone to teach me how to invest for eternity.

If I were addicted I would want someone to love me unconditionally.

If I were to win I would want someone to celebrate with me.

If I were on a journey I would want someone to walk beside me.

If I were weeping I would want someone to hold me.

This is the essence . . .

 

Open Access

In the Book of Ephesians Paul writes, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners.  You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people.  You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.  And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT emphasis added)

Then a few verses later he writes, “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome.”  (Ephesians 3:12 NLT emphasis added)

As I read those verses I thought, “God is not only building us into his home, but he has on top of that given us complete access, open access to spend time in his presence.”  That’s a better deal than we can get at the White House!  If we go there there are certain places we can’t go.  There are certain rooms they have made off limits.  We (probably) aren’t going to be invited to stay for dinner nor is President or Mrs. Obama going to be there to greet us.  If we asked someone, “Why?”  They would likely respond, “They have so much to do.  There’s no way they could be here for you.”  That’s different than what read about God.

It’s a better deal than we get at our boss’ house!  I mean, if we go there he’s not going to want us to put our feet up and really relax.  He may say, “Make yourself at home,” but my guess is he’s going to be more than a bit reluctant and nervous when we just go over to the refrigerator and without asking make ourselves something to eat.  That’s different than what is described in Ephesians.

It’s a better deal than we can get by watching “Cribs” or even the old “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”  In those experiences they don’t mind showing us what they have.  They are excited and proud of their resources, but they only want to share them with us through the safety and security of the big screen.  According to Scripture, God wants to get closer than that.

 

Opportunity to Engage

You may or may not know, but just a few days ago we had a trip of 15 people from FCC return from a trip to Ecuador.  This trip is one we do regularly (via Compassion International) in order to go down and serve one of the projects as well as give those who are on the trip (and who sponsor a child in Ecuador) an opportunity to actually meet the child they support.  It’s a pretty life altering (read that as “humbling”) experience when you actually have a chance to meet the one your giving is supporting.  I had the privilege of meeting the 2 children (Jordan age 8, Miluska age 6) we sponsor last fall and you just, in that moment, realize how much of a huge difference such a small sacrifice on our part makes in their life and in the life of their family.

Sometimes people ask what does a sponsorship really do and I think the best way to explain it is through the words of student I met when I was down there in the past.  He said, “Here in Ecuador we have a public school system.  So, kids have the freedom to go to school.  But on the other hand we are required to have a uniform, school supplies, and to purchase our books.  So, in my case, my parents couldn’t have afforded for both my brother and me to go to school.  They would’ve had to choose . . . but because I was sponsored we both got to go and even better than any of that we both had the chance to meet Jesus.”

As a parent who is on the verge of having 3 kids in school I can’t imagine the scenario where we would have to sit down and say to one or two of them, “I’m sorry, but we can’t let you go.”  I also can’t imagine growing up in an environment where because of that very situation my greatest aspiration is to just survive, make it another day.

Why am I writing about this?  Simply this:  When our group from FCC returned they brought with them a handful (9) child sponsor packets that features some of the children they served at the project.  I need to send them back to Compassion within the next few days, but I thought in advance of sending them back I would make it known and see if anyone would be interested in sponsoring (cost is $38/month) one of these kids.

If you are, contact me at the church office.  I can help.

Also, later this summer (August 23rd) we will be having a child sponsorship day where you will have another opportunity to consider being a part.  Currently FCC sponsors over 200 children in Ecuador.  My prayer is after the 23rd of August that number will be over 300 and we can continue our quest to make a difference for Christ in Ecuador.

 

Communication Conundrum

I want to give a little bit of background (actually 2 pieces).  First, over the last few months I’ve slowed down on the amount of posts I’m able to create.  A few of you (I’ll protect the names of the guilty) have even prodded me to get back to posting.  Some of the lack of writing has to do with the general busyness of the late Spring.  In other words, it’s not that I don’t want to write or blog, but I just haven’t been able to carve out the regular time.  Some of the lack of posting has to do with now being a part of Facebook and realizing you can only give so much time to technology and communication.

The second piece of background is that I had a conversation with someone a week or so ago and he made the following statement, “I’m never going to be a part of any of those social network sites.  They are dumb.  I don’t even like to e-mail.  So, I’m sure not going to sit around and do that.”  Now, I’m not going to make an evaluation of his comment (although it did strike me that probably had he been around in the early 20th century he may have felt the same way about the telephone), but it did lead me to think about this question:

How do you communicate?  How do you stay in touch?

The way I see it there are several avenues you could use.  Some may even use multiple avenues.  I’d love to know what ones are most popular with you.

The avenues:

1. Face to face — You are someone who goes out of your way to meet with people and talk.  You go through the drive through bank rather than the ATM because you value talking to people eye to eye.
2. Letters and Cards — Maybe you are great in utilizing the traditional birthday card.  Perhaps on occasion you’ll drop someone the “Thinking of You” type of card.  Or, maybe, you annually put together the full blown (complete with pictures) Christmas letter.
3. Telephone — Although as a rule this avenue has been monopolized by teenage girls some people do prefer to talk on the phone.  Ironically they are usually also the ones who are driving in front of me! :-)  BTW:  Have you heard about the new “malady” that is afflicting some people who talk a lot on their cell phone?  I’m not making this up and it has nothing to do with the brain being altered by the electronic waves, but they are describing it as “cell elbow.”  Apparently if you talk too much on your phone it can effect a nerve in your elbow and make your hand (temporarily) go numb!  Teenage girls beware!!!
4. E-mail — This method caught on about 10 or 15 years ago, but it’s still going strong.
5. Text Messaging — This is a cross between e-mail and telephone.  It’s done on the phone, but it similar in form to e-mail.  Most people keep the messages short and they use a lot of abbreviations to communicate (JK!  Lol!  TTYL! L8r!).
6. Social Networks — This is the newest form.  Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space, and Twitter are all linking people together and keeping communication constant.  For those who aren’t familiar I don’t want to take the time to explain it here.  So, either ask one of your k ids, a coworker, a neighbor, a spouse, a grandparent, or simply the person standing in line waiting to get into an event chances are they are in the process of posting some random comment about what they are currently doing or have just completed.

For me, in an ideal day, I’m a nominal user of the Social Network but I utilize e-mail and text messaging a lot.  I don’t like to talk on the phone but I love to meet with people face to face.

So, what do you use?  How do you communicate?