YOU can help someone who is hurting

While Grand Cayman is both remarkably diverse in the six different continents with a strongly represented presence and assuredly contemporary in its features and amenities as compared with other Caribbean islands, we are still but a small-town population of only 55,000 persons...give or take (which is why I like to describe Cayman as an urban nation with a rural population).  

So when tragedy hits our small community, it often hits hard. A young man, just 15 years old, took his own life just a few days ago. And, as if that fact wasn't tragic enough, it seems that bullying directly precipitated this tragedy, as footage of the bullying act was posted and went viral. 

This has especially affected the Oelschlager family as we were afforded a small window into this young man's life. His best friend used to live across the street from us. Both were avid basketball players. And as a dear family had recently donated to us a basketball goal, they were over in our driveway a lot playing with Mason, Gage, and myself. The young man of whom I speak was especially and unusually kind, for a 15 year old male, to our boys. He would remember their names and even shoot hoops with them while I had to work on something in my adjacent office. We saw him last this past December at a basketball clinic. He bent down on one knee to say hi to Gage, whom he always called "Gabe" (understandably). Tears were shed, young questions were asked, & prayers were prayed at the Oelschlager dinner table this past Tuesday.

One of the local schools asked me to come in today to assist some particular students through grief counseling. There is never a time, even for a so-called "trained" pastor, when this is not a daunting challenge. But God's Spirit was sweetly present and ever gracious as I met back-to-back-to-back with a handful of young men.

Here's what I wish to share with you: Helping someone who is hurting isn't rocket-science. Just a little preparation, a tentative plan, and I lot of reliance on God. That's what it took today. Allow me to walk you through:

Preparation. Pretty simple prep. Two things. First, I remembered that in the midst of suffering, the goal is to point the person toward the only God of human history (and only purported God of any major religion) who became human and opened himself up to the worst that human suffering had to offer. Point the person to the God who has suffered - Jesus Christ. Second, I called to mind and prayed one of Jesus' precious promises to his disciples: "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:11-12). It's good to think through a couple things but even more so to remember that the Holy Spirit wants to use us in these pressure-packed moments as we rely on Him.

Tentative Plan meets Holy-Spirit-helped Execution. Here's a basic outline of how I handled the conversations with teenage boys most of whom I had never really met.

1. To the hurting person: (a) Share with me a little of how you knew this person; (b) what are some memories of him that stick out to you?
>> I find this allows the hurting person opportunity to affirm out-loud the value and impact of the person's life. That their life was not in vain. 
>> This also helped me to share a little of my responses to these two questions.

2. Share a little yourself about valuing a life lost.
>> In this case, I had opportunity to share about how I valued the same person whom they loved. 
>> Especially in cases where you might not know the hurting person very well, the Spirit can use this I think to help earn the person's trust. They know you care and have a certain genuine depth of feeling also.

3. To hurting person: (a) Describe for me some of the feelings you are feeling. (b) Have you spoken with anyone else about these feelings?
>> Affirm the health of doing so if and when they have spoken to others.  

4. To hurting person: Everyone does something with their hurt, sadness or anger. Some bury it but it will cause them to harden, maybe become bitter. Some look for an escape: Perhaps partying; a hobby/activity/sport they can pour themselves into; or their work. What would you say are you doing with your hurt?

>> Bring Jesus into equation. 

5. To hurting person: You know if you haven't or feel like you can't talk with anyone else about how you are feeling or what you want to do about it, you can always talk to God. Especially the God of the Bible. Can I tell you why? The God described in the Bible is the only God who claims to have come down from his lofty throne in heaven to earth and suffered the worst pains of being human.  [I don't quote Scripture per say but give a few Bible facts in plain terms]

• He's a God who was born into a people defined historically not by power nor by royalty but by their suffering (Hebrews/Israelites/Jews).
• He's a God who was born into questionable circumstances - who's the father? (no human father, "illegitimate" birth).
• He's a God who was immediately born into an assassination attempt upon his life (see Herod's killing off of all children in Bethlehem Jesus' age - Matthew 2).
• He's a God who was betrayed by his friends, cursed by his enemies, and suffered the most painful and humiliating form of capital punishment known up to that point in history.
• None of that equaled the punishment of suffering He took on for us. The just punishment each of us deserves for living life his/her own way not God's way. That's why Jesus died on a cross - he died in our place, the death we deserved.

6. PRAYER: Would you mind if we talked to Him now?
>> In prayer, I keep pointing to the God of suffering - whether it's the need know & trust Him as the person in front of me suffers, the reality that He understands what other loved ones not present are going through, or the forgiveness He offers even to those who caused His suffering (should there be persons involved in the matter at hand who bear some degree of blame and, thus, need forgiveness).

7. To hurting person: Is there anything else you feel you need to say or get off your chest?
>> So often God uses the prayer to soften the person to the point where now they wish to offer something more that they need to express. 
>> That certainly occurred today - and, through the prayer and the Holy Spirit urging me to follow-up with the above question, He may just have saved an angry young man from going down the path of becoming a bitter old man.

YOU too can be used by God to help someone who is hurting.

Free Audiobook for February: A Jesus-lovin' Indiana Jones

I have two sons - 8 and 6 years of age. The youngest celebrated his most recent birthday with a Spy Party (which included mostly parents jumping behind cardboard boxes shooting Nerf Gun Darts at one another...so, yes, the party was awesome!!). Boys, including this one in his mid-30s, gravitate toward adventure & risk. And there is plenty of that in the story of Brother Andrew.

God's Smuggler is a true story that begins with a boy who dreamed of one day being a spy and spent his childhood acting like one. After trusting his life to Jesus and seeing in His own life the impact of His Word, Brother Andrew decided to wed his life long passion with His passion for God's Word - spending decades smuggling Bibles across closed borders. The stories of God's supernatural protection and provision in the face of persistent imprisonment and death are astounding. 

You can download the free audiobook here. And as countless reviews tell of parents whose 7-10 year old children were riveted by this true account, my boys are likewise looking forward to hearing about the "Jesus-lovin' Indiana Jones" (don't judge me, but I'll use Harrison Ford-based media reference to lure my kids to the adventures found in living radically for Christ...okay, except for maybe Morning Glory).

I dare you to watch it!!

How do we know if God is disciplining us?

A former professor of mine at Trinity adroitly addresses a question that I have asked and still often do ask when things go sour in my life: Are these things happening because God is disciplining me for some offense or pattern of rebellion? How can I tell?

You can find the brief article here: "How do we know God is disciplining us" by D.A. Carson. (*note: he uses some fancy words & addresses pastors at times - but definitely well worth having to read a couple lines twice). 

I think his 3-part response covers all the bases nicely: 

(1) We must avoid, even in casual conversation about such issues, quoting one verse or alluding to one biblical story in trying to grapple with how to discern when discipline for sin is in play. I worry individuals tend to come from one extreme and quote whatever verse/story supports that - (a) God would never intentionally bring harm to me so it must be like Job where I just throw up my hands and learn to trust; (b) Like the Corinthians or those beloved sons spoken about in Hebrews 12, God is most certainly disciplining me for sin or a pattern of rebellion. 

(2) God's purposes in suffering and hard times are intricate and interwoven. I can think of a recent example of someone I know whose family member flew to her to accompany her on an airline trip due to a fear of flying she had. After touching down, that family member grew ill to the point where they had to fly to Miami for treatment. The person who had a fear of flying went with family member on to Miami and then to their final destination for treatment and subsequent care - all the while the fear of flying went away while accompanying the ill loved one. Now, was God's chief purpose in family member getting gravely ill (they are better now) to assuage and remove someone's fear of flying? Hard to say that. But what's not hard to say is it is a purpose - intricately interwoven into the multicolored tapestry that is God's plan.

(3) Why not examine our life and conscience? While no one wants to say it to the suffering friend, family member, co-worker, such suffering should give us an occasion to at least check the inner chambers. That's the first place we should look, but too often the last place we are willing to look.

Carson's conclusion at the end is on the money in my opinion: "The remedy is always the same: Flee to the cross." He's right. If the suffering is a form of loving discipline given in response to an act or pattern of rebellion, then we ought to flee to the cross to confess and receive Christ's unending forgiveness that will, then, empower us to change (that's what grace is: God's love made active through an undeserved gift). On the other hand, if the suffering can't be reduced to discipline but is more complex or seems to mysteriously involve no discipline at all, flee to the cross where we can find comfort in a God who did no wrong but willing suffered a hell far greater than we ever will - provided, of course, we trust in Him.

Crossing a Threshold of Getting Old - For Me, it's Catfishing

Manti T'eo: Catfished!!

(tiny disclaimer: this is a non-spiritual post)

It took me a while, but I plunged into Facebook. I never set-up a twitter account but I managed to familiarize myself with tweets and hashtags. While I have friends who try persistently to get me to watch ABC's "Modern Family" (thanks Jeremy & Sheena), I at least have a basic grasp on the characters and plot line while understanding the show's appeal. Plus, apparently, I bear resemblance to one of the characters - Sweet Moses, I hope it's not Al Bundy!!

But this week, still wading in the waters of my mid-30s, I officially crossed a threshold of Old-ness by going from slipping out of touch to completely losing touch with a major development of this next generation - Catfishing. 

An American College Football player, Notre Dame's Manti T'eo, unveiled a story and his heart during the early part of his team's run to play for the national championship this past season - namely, that his grandmother passed away on September 12th and then his girlfriend died of leukemia within a couple days. He went from being one of the best players in the country to a national story to a team and then national inspiration. His was the college football story of 2012 - overcoming a double dose of personal tragedy to lead his team to the highest pinnacle. These circumstances no doubt aided him ing getting  nominated for football's highest honor, the Heisman trophy.

Except, his girlfriend wasn't real. Te'o was the apparent victim of a hoax known as "catfishing." "Catfishing" occurs when a person, pretending to be someone they are not, lures an unsuspecting person into an online relationship - usually romantic and usually done not for financial gain but for unapologetic, twisted 'enjoyment.' In this case, a random woman's picture was used, a name was created, a backstory composed, and a death was staged. Phone calls were made and three different persons impersonated his supposed girlfriend (two of them male!). So Te'o, it seems, was completely duped. It's not sure for how long. 

Nev Schulman and Max Joseph, filmakers
featured in MTV's Catfish: The TV Show

This phenomenon of "catfishing" is so popular that there was a movie made about it in 2010 and has been a popular MTV reality show (episodes of which were re-run a LOT this past week I noticed). 

I still can't believe that it's possible to plunge oneself in an online relationship spanning two to three years and never discover the lie. I'm typing this and I still can't believe it. But speaking with others younger than me, they get it. That's when, last night in fact, Katie and I discovered - we have crossed a threshold. For other generations, it was leaving behind 8-tracks, others the advent of the personal computer, some was the passing of leg-warmers (really??!!), then the arrival of the internet. For me: It's Catfishing. I simply don't understand how one could live that dichotomous of a life - one in a present, physical universe and another almost totally unaffected one in cyberspace. I get avatars and online gaming. But to fall in love with someone online and not see them for three years?! I can't imagine infusing a cyber identity into my real identity like that.

I am genuinely curious: What was or is your Threshold of Getting Old? 

• Instant Messaging?
• Twitter?
• Fashion Trend?
• Surprising shift in Musical Tastes? (I still can't figure out why neither Rich Mullins nor Toad the Wet Sprocket remain popular??)
• Future: Jet-packs replacing automobiles as our regular mode of transportation?  (My oldest son's dream by the way...I've let him know his father hopes to live in a world where jet-pack production overtakes the Prius...and that he will be personally disappointed in him with anything less).

Found People Find People: Tips for Finding a Hearing (Part I)

Under the Big Top on Sunday Mornings, our Sunrise Fellowship is working through a series entitled - Answers without Compromise: Sharing the Gospel in ways that answer people's most immediate needs without compromising its message. The goal is to, as best as possible in sermon format, to share how one might use the gospel message to answer very relevant, contemporary questions of friends, neighbors, co-workers in a conversational setting. People are rarely bringing up God anymore with their questions (even to question his existence or character) - but that doesn't mean their question does not relate to God. In fact, I believe that the handful of main questions/life obstacles people seem to mention are directly addressed by the God's gospel message.

My hope with the blog is, following each message, to provide a few tips for creatively yet boldly and accurately sharing the gospel as presented the previous Sunday. So for example, this past Sunday's message explored the question of suffering: Why is my life so hard? And even harder for others? I intentionally utilized certain strategies and wisdom when approaching this question. 

Tip #1: Be Prepared to Cross the Border. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World are different. But Christians often talk to people as if they speak the language of God's Kingdom. Even though Jesus used analogies about His own Kingdom that were agriculturally-relevant to the time (see Mustard seed, different types soils, Fig Tree), relationally-relevant to the time(see Prodigal Son, the persistent friend) and economically-relevant to the time (see Shrewd manager, Tenants). 

To cross the border into another's world you must speak seeker-sensibly. Our Sunday Morning services are not seeker-driven or even seeker-sensitive in priority because the primary purpose of corporate gatherings, as modeled in Acts, is for the strengthening and equipping of believers. So even this series is primarily for equipping believers to go out and share their faith. But while not seeker-driven or seeker-sensitive, as a church we need to be seeker-sensible. We must be thinking about how to explain truth from the Bible in ways that make sense to someone who has never read one. 

Let me give you a few examples from Sunday that I would suggest using in real conversations. I talked about both the act and disease of sin as two of the three reasons that the Bible gives for why life is hard. It's okay to use "sin" and we should as it is the chief reason Jesus needed to die. However, we need to define it. So I define sin as "that Big "No" in our heart that says: I will do a better job running my own life than any authority, especially God" and then connected that back to Genesis 3 where the key idea that Eve (and then Adam) bought into was being her own god. Instead of using the "sinful nature" as a concept, I used a "hereditary disease" that is passed down through a kind of spiritual DNA. Still accurate, but people understand the concept - its danger and pervasiveness - of a hereditary disease like alcoholism better than they do "the sin nature" or "original sin." People will graciously shake their heads but even I still barely understand it and I've got some sort of diploma.  A second example is instead of saying "salvation" or inviting people to "get saved," I termed it this way: "You can trust Jesus to make you right again with God and to run your life." I do this because people understand alienation in relationships and usually have bosses. Only if someone nearly drowned will they immediately relate to any kind of life "saver" or "getting saved."

Consider preparing for a couple more: How would you explain the term "resurrection" or "rose from the dead"? What about "church"? Take time to consider and define for people who don't know the Bible.

To cross the border you have to know what's on the other side. I do not mean that you need to indulge in the ways of the world (does planning to watch Anchorman 2 count?). Only that we should be relating with enough lost people to understand the culture and life in which they live. The Apostle Paul did this. Just a couple weeks ago we looked at Paul's sharing the gospel message in a culturally-relevant way with the people of Athens (Acts 17:16-34). While doing so he quotes a pop song and then a popular local poet to get across a spiritually relevant and still truthful point (v.28). My attempt to do this on Sunday was explain a few typical responses to the hardness of life: (1) "Stuff" Happens (usually using a different word); (2) At least my life isn't as bad as _______; (3) I try not to think about it -- and then proceeded to talk about the advantages but ultimate failings of each approach to the hardness of life. This is how real people talk. Likewise before we sang for worship, I tried to be cognizant of the fact that people brought folks to church who may have never been to church before, especially this past Sunday. So I simply said: "For many of you, the only time you get to sing in public as an adult is a "Happy Birthday to you" for an office birthday party or at a drunken Karaoke Bar. But when you trust Jesus, we are told we get to sing to Him. It's an awesome privilege and sounds far better than a Karaoke Bar." Now we've reached over into their world and invited them into the Kingdom of God.

Tip #2: Take time to read the Bible with them. This will require asking their permission for some extended time, as I attempted to demonstrate on Sunday: "Would you mind if we take a few minutes to read about this in the Bible?" But opening the Bible does a few things: (1) Exposes them to words that are more certain and powerful than your own (see the promise of Isaiah 55:10-11); (2) Demonstrates that the changes, the love, and "something different" about your life is caused not by a philosophy or set of ideas but some objective standard outside of yourself. I find people actually walk away with more respect for what you've said when you take time to show its origins in the Bible; (3) Bible Words usually stick with people AND they can later look up or Google a Bible passage online (and they can't always later find or Google you when they have questions...unless you are famous...or have your own youtube channel).

Tip #3: Be prepared to pop the question. Be ready to ask them if they want to respond by trusting their life to Jesus. Don't anxiously qualify it, wait for their answer. If they say, "no" or "not right now," you can follow-up tactfully and ask if you can speak again at a later point. But the answer is always "No" if you never ask. I'll never forget asking this of a student I had just met, he responded yes, and is still walking with the Lord today. You never know!

All of this, it goes without saying, should be done in the context of a building a relationship of love so that you are sharing with a lost person the love of Christ in both word and deed.

SCC in 2013: A Year for Found People to Find People

(Disclaimer: The following post is primarily for my peeps in Sunrise Community Church)

With everything that is in me I want to share that personal evangelism is what the Holy Spirit continues to impress on my heart for 2013 - namely, for us to grow as a church body to the next level in both breadth and depth it will be primarily through brave and faithful persons such as yourself not only building relationships with pre-Christians (most of you excel at that!) but to take the courageous next step across that bridge you've built with friends, neighbors, & co-workers to share a message of good/freakin' awesome news - a.k.a the gospel. 

This is why we build relational bridges - you earn the right to share the gospel with someone and you grow to love them enough to share the key to eternal life with them. 

Somebody in the church steps up. And it's not just me, by the way, who senses this call to GO OUT and share the love of Christ in word and deed - it's people in the church stepping up to God's call. People like my friend Sean Glidden. Last year, the elders and I prayed SCC would be blessed with the opportunity to embark on our church's first ever missions trip. Just as with praise and worship, we prayed God would call someone to step up (and we see what happened there - Lisa Welman stepped up and now we have three worship leaders!). Sean approached me toward the tail end of last year excited about a calling to reach the lost locally and abroad through missions. Lord willing, we will embark on our first missions trip this year with the help of his organization and mobilization. Sean and Kacey may even start up a Missions-based Community Group!! (To be continued...) 

Over the coming four weeks, we will spend Sunday Mornings equipping and preparing you to creatively share the gospel. I say creatively because, as we discussed on Sunday, pre-Christians are no longer asking the same questions they once did 25 or even 10 years ago. God does not factor into their questions - at least as far as they know. In actuality, I've discovered most people's immediate questions pertaining to life, though they contain no mention of God, are in fact answered by God's gospel message. If you ask a person, like I did over the past six months (a little side experiment): "Take God out of it for a moment - what's the biggest obstacle in your life right now?", you might be surprised how the gospel provides both a framework for understanding that obstacle and a solution to it.

So get ready for Answers without Compromise: Sharing the gospel in ways that answer people's most immediate questions without compromising its message... Okay, so you may only remember the first part. No worries. Here are those most immediate questions:

• Jan13: Why is life so hard for me?  (Suffering)
• Jan20: Who is going to pay?  (Justice)
• Jan27: How can I live confidently without Ego, yet humbly without Eeyore? (Humble Confidence)
• Feb3: How can my emotional & physical needs be met while I meet them in others? (Red-Hot Romance)

How it will "work." My goal with each message will be to, as best as can be done in sermon-form, make it as conversational as possible - as if I'm having a conversation with a pre-Christian about their question. So I will be trying to explain concepts about Jesus, His good news, and life from a biblical perspective in seeker-sensible ways that someone who has no clue about any of above can understand. Please also note: I'm going to get right into the conversation, which means I won't be pausing to explain to Christians why I've decided to, for example, share directly from Isaiah 53 at one moment but only summarized Sin & Satan from Genesis 3 at another. However, I am certainly open to any questions (or suggestions) afterward re: why I said x, y, or z. My hope is that you can jot down an outline of the points made, the Scripture utilized, and a story/moment/illustration that "grabs you" so that you can re-use them when you share.  

How you can prepare starting today:

• Pray. Pray for any and every pre-Christian in Cayman who comes to mind that the Holy Spirit would begin to pursue their hearts. Pray that you and your fellow brothers and sisters in SCC would have the courage to invite friends to hear the gospel message answer their most immediate question. Pray against the enemy's desire to block this message from reaching ears that need to hear it. Pray for my explanations of the message from God's Word - I need help! Pray that this effort would extend beyond Jan 2013 and that we will use what we've learned going forward. Pray that lost people would be found as they trust Jesus as God of their life who can forever forgive their rebellion.
• Wherever you are and with whatever you have nearby, jot down the names of 2-3 friends, co-workers or neighbors who immediately come to mind as you read the above questions. Now, invite them and offer to pick them up!
• Print out a flyer that one of our church members has worked on and voluntarily paid to have posted this whole week in the Cayman Compass. Post at your work bulletin board or hand to a friend. If the jpeg of the flyer pasted below isn't high quality enough, you can obtain a better image by emailing me at ryan@sunrise.ky. 

You were once lost but now are found. It's time for found people to find people!

Christmas Myths

I am a ridiculously nostalgic person in general but especially when it comes to Christmas. My Christmas Playlist remains defiantly entrenched on my iPod all year round - even though it takes up far too much space (but what do you take off? Elvis' "Blue Christmas"? or "Mele Kalikimaka - Hawaiian Christmas"?! I don't think so!!). But I do like my Christmas traditions truthful. With the help of a couple books & the interwebs (snopes.com in particular), I found out some interesting and, sadly, disturbing revelations about Christmas.

Claim: December 25th is Jesus' birthday
Conclusion: Doubtful.
Further info: The Biblical Account of Jesus' birth does not give an exact date for the event; however it likely occurs in the Spring rather than in the Winter. Luke informs us that shepherds were "out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night" (Luke 2:8). Shepherds guarded their flocks day and night only during lambing time, in the spring. In the Winter, the animals were kept in corrals at night, unwatched. Celebrating the Nativity was first suggested in the 4th century A.D. During this time, the early church fathers were taking Roman ideas, symbols, and holidays and replacing them with Christian significance - it was another way to help people who had trusted Jesus as their Savior to move from their old ways of life to new ones. On December 25, the date of the Winter Solstices, Romans celebrated Natalis Solis Invicti, "Birthday of the Invincible Sun God," Mithras. This would be the date the church picked. One church father wrote: "We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it."  The apostle Paul would warn Christians not to make particular days holy lest we overemphasize a particular day rather than on the Lordship of Jesus (see Colossians  2:16-17). Nevertheless, celebrating the birth of Christ can serve as an opportunity to utilize a particular day in focusing on the wonderous mystery of the incarnation - God becoming flesh - though it doesn't matter on which day this occurs.

Claim: The modern image of Santa was created by the Coca-Cola Company
Conclusion: Myth

Further info: The idea here is that Santa's costume was changed to Red & White to reflect the corporate colors of Coke Brand. It's not true. Coca-Cola was looking for ways to boost sales during the Winter months as this was not a popular time for cold, soft drinks. And they did turn to illustrator Haddon Sundblom, who created a series of memorable drawings that made a direct correlation between a larger-than-life, red-and-white donned Santa Claus and Coca-Cola (as seen in adjacent picture). However, this modern version was not created by Coca-Cola. Sundblom's illustrations were based on what had already become the standard version of Santa as demonstrated in a New York Times article published in 1927, four years before the appearance of Sundbloms's first Coca-Cola Santa Ad. The article states:

A standardized Santa Claus appears to New York Children. Height, weight, and stature are almost exactly standardized, as are the red garments, the hood and the white whiskers. The pack full of toys, ruddy cheeks and nose, bushy eyebrows and a jolly, paunchy effect are also inevitable parts of the requisite make-up.

To further stress this point, below are some illustrations of Santa from 1906, 1908, and 1925 respectively: 

So while I love a good ole-fashioned corporate conspiracy as much the next bloke, we do not get one here.


Claim: "Xmas" is a disrespectful abbreviation of "Christmas."
Conclusion: Myth

Further info: The idea is that people, at the least, looked for a way to abbreviate the spelling of Christmas and, at worst, secular society pushed this abbreviation to "take the CHRIST out of CHRISTmas." In actuality, this usage of Xmas dates back quite far and involves the Greek language in which the New Testament is written. The first letter in the Greek word for Christ is "chi" and the Greek letter "chi" is represented by a symbol quite similar to the letter "X" in the Roman alphabet. So "Xmas" was really utilized as a way of shortening the name of Christ, not X-ing out His name. 

Claim: The Suicide rate increases significantly during the Holiday Season.

Conclusion: Myth

Further info: Sorry, I don't mean to end on a downer. But can you tell me you've never heard this one before?! And the claim is all the more persuasive when one considers its logic. Christmas and New Years are occasions in which many experience profound joy with family & friends can only serve to accentuate, in others, pain and isolation associated with loneliness. And, yet, this too appears to be a myth as pointed out by the Mayo Clinic in an article originally printed in The Des Moines Register (1995):

Suicide is not linked to the holidays, at least not in Minnesota's Olmstead County, where the Mayo Clinic is located, according to Mayo Clini researchers. A study of all reported suicides in Olmstead County during a 35-year period did not find an excess number of suicides just before, during, or after Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's...holidays. Nor did researchers find a higher suicide rate on birthdays or three days before or after birthddays. However, their work, concluded in 1985, did affirm other studies showing that suicides are most numerous early in the week and least common on weekends.

I should note that there are other studies arriving at remarkably similar conclusions but I'm too lazy right now to quote them. Look it up - heck, you might discover yet another Christmas myth! (If so, please post below).

A Christmas Prayer (in response to violence)

Author Max Lucado penned a brilliant and, in my humble opinion, inspired little prayer in response to what seems like escalating violence all around the world. I hope and pray it provides the encouragement needed to run to a Savior who is intimately acquainted with suffering and alienation (but also triumph!).



A Christmas Prayer

Dear Jesus,

It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.

These killings, Lord.  These children, Lord.  Innocence violated.  Raw evil demonstrated.

The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas.  But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty.  Dark with violence.

Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.

This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.

Hopefully,
Your Children

The Word & The Spirit: Why can't we have both?

"Why was the United States invented?" asked our 6-year old son, Gage, at the dinner table last week. "Yeah, dad, you said it was a newer country. What caused people to move there?" chimed in our 8-year-old Mason. Okay, Oelschlager, think. Well there are a myriad of issues but I decided to go for the 1st amendment, which also happens to be in my wheelhouse as a pastor. "Religious freedom." (Come on, Ryan, simplify). "People wanted to worship Jesus in slightly different ways. For instance, some people who loved Jesus wanted to study what God says in the Bible without the government or anyone else telling them how they should understand the Bible (see the Puritans). Their focus was understanding and putting down deep roots in Jesus. But others wanted to celebrate, sing, and worship the Jesus of the Bible without outside interference (see Quakers and guidance by the Spirit or "inner light"). So while the other group focused mostly on the Bible, their focus was on celebration, worship, and the mysterious bigness of God." 

"But Dad," said Gage, "Why can't they do BOTH?"   

"Yesssss! You are exactly right, Gage. They can...and so can we." He smiled really big, just as his dad was.

In some ways, I want to end this blog entry here as it gets to one of our key goals as Christians and in local churches. Preaching, teaching, group and personal study of God's Word that is anointed and empowered by the Spirit and responses of thanksgiving, praise, and obedience (ie. worship) that are prompted and sustained by the Spirit. 

It's not one to the exclusion of the other. Both are needed. Let's look at why.

Reason #1: People find ultimate satisfaction in something containing both truth & power. 

Consider the number of times you've read profound statements in birthday card, on a Facebook Status, or from a good book (maybe even a Christian book). They might ring true but at most you consider how it applies to everyday situations of your life sticking with it a few days and usually you tend to carry on as before. Likewise, you find something that helps you change - for better or worse - but the results (if for the better) are temporary. And even if you get the weight loss you wanted or the discipline with your finances sticks, your inner being still longs to consume something else and your soul remains bankrupt. And usually such changes do not stick. In other words, truth is missing. Truth, in its very essence, is enduring, not transitory.
I was reading about such a man in the Book of Acts recently. It's an account that's easy to pass over (one of those "next-versers" that's easy to gloss over for some bigger and more flashy story). This Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus, seems to have spent his life trying to find satisfaction in something containing both truth and power. Check this out:

So, being, send out by the Holy Spirit, [Paul/Saul and Barnabas] went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prohpet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him, and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time." Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord  (Acts 13: 4-12).

Before even meeting Paul and Barny, this proconsul - described intentionally as an intelligent man (by which this most certainly implied, at this time, he one who is well-read) - noticed that truths and platitudes were not enough when empty of power. Thus, he had on his staff not one but two magicians (he had Sigfried and Roy)! Thus, through a combination of truth and power - Word and Spirit - this proconsul trusts his life to Jesus. 

Such persons seeking both truth and power exist today. We live in an era that has seen the poverty of modernism (the idea that science, truth that emerges from scientific method, and technology can save humanity) and the poverty of its response - postmodernism (no one has a stronghold on the truth, but each must interpret and gain his/her own truth primarily through then lens of his/her own experience). People are recognizing the inherent flaws in the breakdown of the postmodern mode of life and thought as well. It just doesn't hold up - society falls apart unless there are some agreed upon truths and standards. Thus, even if they are unfamiliar with the technical jargon, more people are seeing the need for both - truth and experiential power. I would suggest such persons are, like Sergius Paulus, ripe to trust Jesus. 

Reason #2: Worship, like much of life, works best with a leader and responder. 
Two dancers work best when one of them takes the lead and the other responds. Two people can ride a horse together but only one can take the reigns if they hope to go anywhere. Business meetings work best when a leader sets the agenda & leads allowing for others to meaningfully respond. The pattern we see in the Bible is that God's Word leads and the Spirit then moves people to respond accordingly in worship.  

Like Eugene Peterson once said of prayer, worship of God is "Answering Speech." God spoke, the darkness/formless void responded (see Genesis 1). God speaks His Word and we respond through the Holy Spirit with speech of thanksgiving & praise as well as with ongoing obedience & serving others with our gifts - ie. worship. Or as my good friend and SCC worship leader Lisa Welman, likes to put it: "Worship requires Revelation & Response."

Let me offer a quick but necessary disclaimer before I head any further: I fear making too much of this because this because the Spirit and the Word are likewise so enmeshed. For instance, the Spirit wrote the Bible (II Peter 1:20-21; II Timothy 3:16). This should also give us pause to insinuate that people who love the Bible are less sensitive to the Spirit's leading since the Bible itself was inspired by the Spirit (thus, a person sensitive to the Bible is sensitive to the what the Spirit wrote about living). Also, preaching, teaching and communication from God's Word is most effective when empowered by the Holy Spirit. So Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:5: "Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." Likewise, when we respond to God's Word, the Spirit speaks words through us that are consistent with and "flavored" with God's truth - "When he, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). Nevertheless, having made this disclaimer, the larger pattern of the Bible and the exercise of spiritual gifts both seem to point to God's Word taking primacy. 

We see the Word of God take the lead, for example, in the ministry of Jesus. His closing sermon to the disciples at the last supper takes the lead (John 13-16) and they all respond in praise to God - with a prayer (John 17) and a hymn (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26). Four chapters of teaching the Word of God and then an opportunity to respond with Jesus in prayer and and singing a praise song to God. Throughout the Book of Acts, we see the Word of God take the lead as it is taught and preached and people responding, sometimes in unusual and miraculous ways, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the example above from Acts 13 and our pal Sergius, notice even with the miraculous working of the Spirit through making a man blind, it his astonishment "at the teaching of the Lord" that proves to be the conclusive word on that matter. Likewise as we dip into Acts 14: We see the Lord does signs and wonders by the Spirit in order to "bear witness to the word of his grace" (Acts 14:3).

Also if you read the lists in the New Testament regarding gifts of the Spirit, you will notice that the "Word Gifts" have primary position. In his book The Holy Spirit, theologian Sinclair Ferguson puts it this way:

Central to the exercise of any gift of the Spirit is the ministry of the word given to God's people...In the lists [of spiritual gifts] which do exist (Romans 12: 3-8; 1 Cor. 12:7-11, 28-30; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 4:10-11), it is clear enough that the ministry of God's revelatory word is central to the use of all other gifts; it stabilizes and nourishes them; they give expression to that word in various ways (208).

Likewise, Pastor Peter White, in his book The Effective Pastor notes: "It is significant that in all four New Testament lists of the gifts...the 'Word gifts' come first. We do not have to look fare to see the reason for this. God has given us minds. He addresses and changes us by way of them (see Ephesians 4:17-21)" (52). 

What does this mean for SCC? Due to the primacy of God's Word in leading us and the mission of our church to introduce people to the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, our primary objective in corporate worship needs to be faithfully preaching God's Word in a way that reveals our need for Jesus or how to respond in faith and obedience to Jesus. Then respond in song, thanksgiving, prayer, and praise as the Spirit leads.

As the Spirit has clearly been at work (doing overtime) at Sunrise, I think it's also important that people have opportunity to exercise all the spiritual gifts. We should provide safe places for people to experiment, experience and potentially grow practicing these gifts as well, especially since some of these gifts are more of the mysterious sort (and often misunderstood - see tongues, prophecy and prayer for healing). Two venues seem especially appropriate: Community Groups and Simply Worship. Regarding the latter, when I was a pastor at a Vineyard Church in North Chicago a number of years ago, we were keen to keep the Word of God primary in its leading position during the Sunday AM corporate gatherings. The first Sunday of the month, however, we would hold a Sunday Evening Service to which all were invited. As preaching had already taken place that morning, this service was dedicated to worship and gift ministry. People would pray together, offer prophetic words in a responsible manner, and speak words of encouragement/knowledge/wisdom. And because it was a safe atmosphere, where there was error and misunderstanding (especially when people had little knowledge or experience in using such gifts), the intimate environment allowed for gentle but genuine correction. Perhaps our next "Simply Worship" service might provide such an opportunity - in fact I pray that it will. "Simply Worship" will take place at the Harquail Theatre this Sunday, December 16, 7:00-8:30 pm. 

Reason #3: To defeat a false dichotomy of Word=Head & Spirit=Heart
One of the great frustrations for Christians who tend to side with one camp or the other on this matter is how one is characterized or thought of by the other. I've witnessed those in "The Word" camp view the Spirit camp as less stable, less intelligent, less deep, and often misguided by their emotions. Likewise, I've witnessed those in "The Spirit" camp view the Word camp as dry, lacking in love & emotion, and far less open to work of God's Spirit. 



Let's look at what God says about this false dichotomy: 
Point #1: How can you say you are a person of God's Word and not possess a full heart of emotion & passion?
Most would agree, no New Testament book contains the lucidity of doctrine and theology as that of the Book of Romans. Justification by faith, human bondage to the sin nature, the purpose of the law in pointing us to our need for Jesus - awesome truths without which we'd be all mixed up about living for God and where we stand with Him. But Paul closes this portion of doctrine & theology not with some home-run hitting doctrinal zinger but with praise, glory, zeal - HEART:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:33-36).

Point #2: How can you say you are a person full of the Spirit and not consistently read and think hard on God's eternal words? Paul criticizes those who possess a lot of passion when it is not based on knowledge of the truth. "I bear witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge" (Romans 10:2), or as the New Living Translation puts it: "I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal." What a waste! Zeal thinking it's for God but has no direction - because it is not guided by God's truth. Likewise, those who are especially open to the Spirit, also open themselves up to "other" spirits (of the non-godly origin). Having encouraged prophecies, Paul says to "test everything; hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Likewise, the apostle John: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). How does one test the spirits? According to the Word of God!
Let my final word on this be that spiritual people need the mind of Christ and the truth of God and word-y people need to submit to the Spirit to understand any of it. I take my cue here from from 1 Corinthians 2:13-16:

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned..."For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

I have no problems boldly declaring: (1) Those who love, sing, praise, & pray to God with great sensitivity to the Spirit are missing out on depth and are far more open to deception without an abiding faithfulness to reading, listening, and then responding to God's truth. 
(2) Those who love, study, read, meditate on and listen to good preaching and teaching from God's Word are missing out on unseen opportunities and far less open to God's doing more than we can ask or imagine without consistently asking for the Spirit's leading in prayer, His help in service, and His anointing in speaking.  

Word-Spirit / Truth-Power / Head-Heart. With respect to each of these, I gotsta agree with my son:  Why can't we have both? 

Mailing it in

Urbandictionary.com defines Mailing it in as: slang for doing the least amount of work possible to produce a adequately finished product. 

I want to be honest with those whom I am privileged to serve as their pastor - I mailed it in this past Sunday. 

I continually get to experience the grace of God (His love for me made active through a undeserved gifts) - and last week was no different. I had some wonderful times of fellowship with folks in the church and Katie and I were led one sweet night last week to stop our busy-ness and spend an evening giving thanks and praise to Jesus. But basking in the glow and a spirit of contentment, I mentally/spiritually felt myself begin to mail it in as it pertains to Sunday worship. Joshua 9 contains such a straightforward and practical message about seeking the Lord in prayer when making important commitments - I felt I had a pretty good handle on the passage (pride!) and decided I'd focus on enjoying my kids and the beautiful back half of the week/weekend (the best time of year weather-wise in Cayman has begun - breezy & cool). So while I worked on the sermon, put together an order of worship, and coordinated with other key Sunday Worship co-laborers, I sort of just trusted the Scripture passage and my heart to get in the right place in the nick of time. But upon arrival Sunday morning, I felt distanced from others and everything going on -- this distance continued during and after the service as well. So, first of all, I'm sorry dear brothers and sisters of the Sunrise Family. I did not serve you well. I also don't mind saying: If Sunday's message encouraged, convicted, or produced fruit through you, then it is entirely by the grace of God!! Praise be to Him!

I don't know if you've experienced a similar phenomenon - your heart begins to distance itself ("prone to wander, Lord I feel it" as the great hymn says) from what God has called you to do and how he has called you to work - as an employee, as a husband/wife, as a mom/dad, as a member of a community, as a volunteer. I have too. And I've had better moments, where God helped me to stop mailing it in before it started. 

Here are three strategies I've found helpful for putting a stop to a mail-it-in moment:

(1) Pray for those whom you serve and those with whom you work.

I don't know the nature of your particular line of work or vocational calling. Some of you serve others fairly directly in your work- nurse, teacher, HR, sales, pastor, etc. But for those of you whose work affects other companies with a very slow trickle down effect to real people, even still you recognize your work affects more directly those with whom you work - your example of working hard and working hard so they never feel they have to pick up your slack. 

One of the ways to stop a mail-it-in moment in your work is to care so deeply about persons involved to the point that you would desire and believe your work would provide significant benefit and/or growth in their lives. 

How do you care more about persons you serve or with whom you work? It's not a matter of thinking of other people more. According to a report published by the U.S. National Scientific Foundation, our brains produce somewhere between 12,000-50,000 thoughts per day. Of these thoughts, 10-25% are directly fixed upon other persons. This means that at least 1200 thoughts you have per day are about other people. And yet you don't necessarily walk away from a thought caring about that person more. The thought just passes by. 

The apostle Paul gave us a great example of how to care about such persons more - taking an otherwise passing thought and praying it. For Paul, prayer would lead to love and love would lead to prayer - a cycle of praying passing thoughts about others whose GDP is love. Listen to how Paul's prayer for the people of the church in Philippi lead to love and then love leads to prayer:

[Notice a thought...a 'remembrance' leads to prayer] I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from this day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. [Here comes love!!] It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. [love that now leads to prayer] And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more...(Philippians 1:3-9).

It's easier to persevere in the work your doing when your love increases for those who stand to potentially benefit from the work. 

(2) Make sure you enlist others to be prayerfully invested in your work.

When I pray for something for someone, I am invested. I wish to know what happened. What did God do? How did something I got to be a part of turn out?

You might not believe it, but a simple weekly request of your Community Group or a group of close friends to pray for you will help them become more invested in your work - even if you have, in your opinion, the most boring job in the world (#3: Construction Flag-Traffic Person; #2: Exit Sign Designer; #1: Pillow filler). 

And when you know others are praying, it gives you more confidence that God is at work in your work. He is helping you, using you, and doing things in and around you which you previously never even thought or conceived of.  

In the above passage from Philippians 1, notice Paul had enlisted the Philippians who were "all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel." Paul's life work was a defense and confirmation of the gospel. The Philippians were prayerfully invested. As were the Ephesians, whom Paul also enlisted: "Pray also for me, that words may be given me so that I might fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might declare it fearlessly as I should" (Ephesians 6:18-19). 

I have enlisted a few key individuals, who showed interest in praying that God's Spirit would powerfully use my preaching, the worship, greeter teams, audio-visual volunteers, children's ministry workers to greatly glorify Himself on Sunday Morning. They have now begun to gather about 30 minutes before the service to labor in prayer. I have a higher level of confidence knowing that my persevering in my work will be worth it - it is going to be used by God as it prayed for by friends!!

(3) Work hard and expect second-hand results

Christ's hard, literally excruciating work on the cross for us produces in us a surety about our spiritual status before Him (we are in the Family!!), which in turn produces great contentment and deep joy. Yet He asks us to respond to His work with work of our own. This response, thus, does not include: "Let go and let God." This was my mistake last week - I understood God's work for me but misunderstood what was the proper response. I let go and let God -- and so let my work go. 

The Bible says I ought to work hard on my growth as a Christian (Philippians 2:12), to work hard at the mission God has assigned me (Colossians 1:28-29a), and work hard at my job (1 Corinthians 15:10c). So I should expect to work.

But as I work, something funny sometimes happens: I trust that my hard work ought to produce results. Such that, if those I serve or with whom I work don't immediately respond to my work, I am prone to become insecure some times, depressed at other times, and embittered at still other times. Such that I am tempted to mail-it-in next time around. 

Our Father knows the human heart, however. So He reminds us of something else - there is Someone else working with and through us. So the Apostle Paul completes all the above thoughts about hard work: 

• It's "God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13)
• I struggle to live out the mission God has assigned me "with all his energy that he powerfully works within me" (Colossians 1:29b).
• When working hard at my job, I'm reminded with Paul: "It was not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10d). 

In each case, the Lord is faithful to show up in my hard work - to give me strength to do the work and the grace to produce results that possess a certain authority and finality. I'm reminded of Joshua, who in between inconvenient, mundane obedience (circumcision and observing Passover - Joshua 5) and daunting but thrilling obedience (marching around a city while singing with friends while they waited for the miracle of crumbling walls - Joshua 6), has the pre-incarnate Christ visit him in the form of a Warrior, sword in hand. Help with the very task with which he needed help and results. Jesus present to initiate, then join, then win the fight! Jesus produces second-hand results as Joshua works hard. Jesus is the second (and most important) hand.

A slightly more modern person who exemplifies this tension of hard work and second-hand results is George Mueller. Mueller preached in a local church every week for over six decades in 18th century Bristol, England. But he most is famous for his tireless work with orphans. Through Mueller's work and influence, the care of orphans in England skyrocketed from 3000 to over 100,000 by the end of his life. Mueller famously said about work: "Work with all your might, but trust not the least to your work." 

In other words, don't expect your work will secure for you anything or yield results in-and-of-itself. Unless the grace of God goes with you, does the work, and produces the results, it will be in vain. And Mueller lived out this saying. He never (never!) solicited charitable funds for his orphans. He simply prayed and relied totally on the grace of God - monies would show up, often anonymously, at his doorstep and often just as the last shilling had been spent. He didn't trust His own efforts but for God to work.

You do your part, trust Jesus do His. We are freed to persevere well in our work when we can trust God to take care of giving us the strength to do it and producing the results to win the day! If people don't respond to your work, well, that's His problem.