Ben Stein's Last Column

George Dishman sent this to me, and I thought it was worth passing on...

Ben Stein's Last Column...For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called "Monday Night At Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time. Ben Stein's Last Column... ============================================
How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end..

It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.

They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit , Iraq . He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.

A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.

I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.

There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.

Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York . I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will. By Ben Stein

From Please, God to Please God

There are still a number of phrases incubating in my head from the Zoe Conference. One of these concerns the need to transform my prayers from please, God to please God. With the comma, I am constantly asking for something - please, God, help me with this; please, God, give me that; please, God, please, please, please...Without the comma I am expressing my desire to live according to God's will, not my own. Augustine put it like this - love God, live as you please; meaning that if you truly love God, reflecting that love will be the way you want to live.

Another phrase that resonated with me is that the church is not the dispenser of God. We don't take God out into the world - He is already there. Our job is to go out and join him.

Neither is it our mission to get people to come to church. Our mission is to go and lift up Jesus. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to myself."

Every Christian has a ministry to the body and a mission to the world. Baptism is our ordination to ministry and our commission as missionary.

What's Right With This Picture?

Larry James' post today is disturbing, no matter what one's thoughts are regarding immigration in the U.S. today. I don't pretend to have the answers to all the questions arising from the various issues related to immigration, but I do recognize injustice when it occurs.

It Is Well - Blessed Be Your Name

Not too long ago, Nathan asked me to give him a list of my favorite songs to work into the worship orders at Skillman. That got me to thinking about how many different songs might be the favorites of different people, and why they might be among their favorites. One result of those thoughts is that we are putting together a bulletin board - Songs of Skillman - where members can post an index card listing 3 - 5 of their favorite songs on one side and the story or reason why they selected what they did on the other. Feel free to post a comment with your own favorites.

I have so many songs that narrowing down to a top 3, top 5, or even a top 10 list would be extremely difficult, and the list would probably change from week to week, but 2 songs would almost assuredly be on my list. While from different eras and somewhat different in musical style, they are very similar in the stories behind them and the thought they express.
Note the parallels in the beginning verse of each...

Blessed be your name in a land that is plentiful,
Where your streams in abundance flow, blessed be your name.
Blessed be your name when I'm found in the desert place,
Though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be your name.

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

The music to Blessed Be Your Name is very much contemporary, written in 2002; the text and the story prompting it is ancient, coming from Job. Hear these words from the chorus...

You give and take away.
My heart will choose to say,
"Lord, Blessed be your name."

The story behind It Is Well with My Soul, written in the latter part of the 19th century is very similar to that of Job. H. G. Spafford was a wealthy, successful Chicago businessman who lost his home and his business in the great Chicago fire. A few weeks later, his four children died when the ship on which they were crossing the Atlantic sank. Sometime later, he was on a ship to join his wife, who had survived the sinking of the ship that took his children, and as he passed near the spot where the ship had sunk, he penned the words that so many have come to love.

It Is Well With My Soul - Blessed Be the Name of the Lord.

Body Worlds

Yesterday afternoon as Taylor's spring break drew to a close and mine began, we went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at Fair Park. Body Worlds is a touring exhibit of the human body and its various internal systems. It is incredible.

The exhibit consists of several bodies that were donated to science and underwent a process to plasticize the systems that are the focus of each gallery. There were galleries focused on the body's structure - bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, cartilege, etc.; on the circulatory system - the heart, the arteries and blood vessels; the digestive and respiratory systems, the reproductive system, and the brain and nervous system.

I'm not close to doing the exhibit justice with this description, but it vividly reinforces that the human body is an incredibly complex and amazing design. It will be in Dallas through May and is well worth the time and cost to see it.

Navigating the Perfect Storm

Leonard Sweet described the perfect storm facing churches today - the Tsunami of Postmodernity, the Hurricane of Post Christendom, and the Global Warming of Post Scale. He gave five principles for steering through the perfect storm.

1. Lift anchor and launch into the deep. While it seems counterintuitive, in a storm, the most dangerous place for a boat is to be tied to the dock.

2. Steer into the storm. Again, counterintuitive - the natural inclination is to try to outflank or outrun the storm. An example he gave was a comparison of a herd of cattle and a herd of buffalo. When a storm approaches a herd of buffalo will gather tightly together and face directly into the storm, where a herd of cattle will bolt and scatter. Much more damage is done to the cattle than to the buffalo.

3. Get rid of excess cargo. A timeless adage among sailors - remember Jonah? To survive a perfect storm we will not be able to carry excess baggage. In the following breakout session John York wondered if at times we haven't redefined the baggage as the boat. Clinging to the baggage is not the way to face a storm.

4. Lash ourselves to the mast. The mast represents the Master - we can survive any storm if we are lashed tightly to the master and let go of everything else.

5. Enjoy the ride.

An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries

I interrupt the series of postings on the Zoe Conference to return briefly to the topics of poor children, schools, and testing. Actually, it is not really an interruption so much as an expansion. Jesus' interest in the well-being of children in this world cannot be compartmentalized as 'separate and apart from' the gospel.

Joshua Benton had a column last week in the Dallas Morning News that ties some of my recent thoughts together...

As I type these words, I have an excruciating toothache. And it's made me realize that we blame schools too much for our children's problems.

(Keep reading. That'll make sense eventually.)

Earlier this month, a research arm of UNICEF issued a report dryly titled, "An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries." Its goal was to measure how children in 21 well-off nations – mostly the U.S., plus much of Europe – compared with one another. It took dozens of measures from each of the countries and compiled them into a series of ratings.

The results were pretty miserable for fans of the Stars and Stripes.
Overall, children in the United States finished 20th, beating out only Great Britain. Gather the torches and pitchforks, right? That sort of pathetic showing surely must be the fault of lazy teachers, incompetent principals and administration bureaucrats!
Not quite. Actually, in the one UNICEF rating that schools have some impact on – what the study calls "educational well-being" – America does OK. Not great, mind you, but our 12th-place showing in schooling was easily the best we did in any category.

Our test scores are below average, and we have more dropouts than we should. But according to UNICEF, our schools are earning a solid C-minus. It's the rest of society that's dragging down our grade point average.

How about "material well-being," a measure the richest country in human history should fare well in? We finished 17th. We have more of our kids living in poverty than any other rich country. We're near the bottom in how many books our kids have in their homes.

How about "health and safety"? We all care about protecting our kids, right? Then why do we have the second highest rate of infant mortality in the study, barely edging out Hungary? Why are we second from the bottom in the percentage of our kids who die from accidents or violence? Why does UNICEF rate us dead last out of 21 nations overall?

Maybe you think we'll do better in "family and peer relationships." Sorry – try 20th place. We have more of our kids living in single-parent homes than anywhere else. We're near the bottom in how often kids eat dinner with their parents and in how many of our kids rate their friends as "kind and helpful."

The final category the United States was rated in was "behaviors and risks." (Or, as those Euro-loving UNICEF types spell it, "behaviours.") Again, we finished second to last. Our kids lead the most unhealthy lifestyles, eating more and junkier food. They also smoke more pot and, by far, have the most babies of their own.

I'm sure there are ways to quibble with UNICEF's numbers. (And I'm sure the tinfoil-hat-wearing portion of our readership won't believe anything that comes from the U.N.) But the story line is clear: Our kids are in trouble, and for reasons that have nothing to do with schools and teachers and superintendents. By the time a kid turns 18, she's only spent about one-eighth of her life on a school campus. The rest of the time, she's at home, at the mall, with her friends – places a teacher can't easily reach.

As the Texas Legislature meets in Austin, they're considering a number of changes to the state's school rating system. The assumption behind some of the proposals is that schools need more pressure to perform well. Set higher standards on the TAKS test, the argument goes, and schools will find a way to meet them.

The testing and ratings systems of the past decade have led to student gains and helped in some ways. But I wonder if we're hitting the ceiling for how much good more pressure can do. There have been any number of studies showing that between 70 and 80 percent of a school's academic performance is based solely on the socioeconomic background of its students – whether it's handed poor kids, middle-class kids, or rich kids.

Let's say the quality of a child's parenting takes up another 10 or 15 percent. That doesn't leave much space for schools to maneuver in.

So what does all this have to do with my tooth? (My left maxillary second molar, if you must know.) Because of a poorly done root canal six years ago – finally come home to roost – I've spent much of the last week in various states of agony, shuffling
back and forth to the dentist's office. I tried to work on a few stories I'm writing, but the persistent firebombing in my mouth kept distracting me. Then I remembered reading a study a couple of years ago that found access to dental care was a small but significant factor in how kids did in school. If a family can't afford regular trips to the dentist, there's a good chance their kid will have toothaches. A federal study found that poor children are three times more likely to have an untreated cavity than middle-class children. And a kid with a toothache is going to have more trouble concentrating in class than his pain-free neighbor.

Would universal dental care boost our test scores? Maybe a little, but that's not the point. The point is that there's not that much teachers can do, on any sort of scale, about their students' teeth – or any of the other factors that keep kids from being teen Einsteins.

Blaming schools for problems beyond their control doesn't help. And putting more pressure on schools to solve them won't, either.

The Perfect Storm

At the Zoe Leadership Conference Leonard Sweet described what he called a perfect storm facing churches in today's world. A perfect storm occurs with the confluence of two or more major storms. Sweet described the Tsunami of Postmodernity, the Hurricane of Post Christendom, and the Global Warming of Post Scale. Each of these has the potential to significantly impact today's church; together some effect is inevitable.

The postmodern world values community, authenticity, and experience; it is a digital, connected, electronic world; it is a world that views truth as relative.

The post Christendom is one where the traditional view/role of the church in the community is no longer the common view/role. The church is no longer at the center of a community, but has moved to the margins of society.

The post scale world is one that has reached a tipping point, where the next incremental step results in disproportionate change far greater than the previous increments. One example Sweet used was the development of hunting tools: the bow and arrow was an improvement over the club; the gun an improvement over the bow and arrow; they each make hunting incrementally easier and more efficient. The bomb however, destroys the food.

We can recognize and prepare for the approaching storm or we can maintain status quo as though it doesn't exist; either way, the storm is approaching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
27 years ago today, at the Downtown church in Searcy, Dr. Kenneth Davis, Jr. (Uncle Bud for any readers with Harding connections) performed the wedding ceremony that united me with the love of my life. This evening we celebrated by having our kids join us in watching the Mavericks win their 16th straight. Taylor is home for Spring Break this week, and Lauren took a short break from studying, riding the train from Ft. Worth to meet us at the American Airlines Center. How pleasant to be able to share important occasions and simple good times with your kids.

Lest you be concerned that going to a basketball game is not exactly the most romantic of anniversary celebrations, I can share with you that Barbara and I do have a long weekend trip planned overlapping our spring breaks. And the day also included 27 roses. But I can also share with you that just doing the smaller things together is a large part of the joy and depth of a mutually satisfying marriage relationship.

Looking back over these 27 years I am amazed at how I have been blessed by life with Barbara; I can hardly wait to see what the next 27 bring.

Vampire Christians

One phrase that caught my attention at the Zoe Conference was attributed to Dallas Willard - Many Christians today are vampire christians - they want the blood of Jesus, but are not so interested in the lordship of Jesus.

Lanny's Covenant Class devotional the other day expressed the same idea...

Saul's conversion teaches us:
(1) conversion is always the result of divine initiative - God seeks us;
(2) in conversion, there must be a personal encounter with Christ - salvation is not about faith in everlasting life - it is about a personal, intimate faithwalk with the Everlasting One;
(3) conversion involves surrendering to Christ - too many people "decide about" or "commit to join" - yet surrender is the only way to truly know Him. And
(4) conversion means more than a "get out of jail free" pass - many people think that conversion is an individualistic thing - just between God and me. "Isn't it wonderful? God saved me." And although they live the rest of their life in appreciation - they miss out on why God saved them: to bear His image by reconciling fallen man.

We were not saved to go to church and sing "hallelujahs" over our own redemption. Saul understood that God sought him - and saved him - for more than personal reasons. He was not converted to simply savor the experience, but in order to witness to others the saving grace he now understood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be an example in spirit. Always cherish a meek, gentle, and quiet spirit-a humble, loving, heavenly, and praying spirit. Such a spirit will almost silence the tongue of slander, or cause its poisoned darts to fall harmless at the feet. Barton W. Stone, Christian Messenger (1843)

Zoe Conference Highlights

Barbara and I left Thursday evening to go to Lubbuck for the Zoe Leadership and Worship Conferences. Besides being a welcome and refreshing time of worship and fellowship it was a virtual feast of healthy, nutritious insight mixed with the rich dessert of discussion.

Leonard Sweet is one of the most profound thinkers I have encountered; Jeff Walling continues to be a 'master' communicator - both in terms of his ability and in terms of his content. The breakout session topics and leaders were relevant and well prepared.

It was good spending some time with Nathan. And I got to say hello to one of my students from my first year of teaching - Steven Bailey is a worship minister in the Fort Worth area now.

One of the most moving and memorable aspects of the Saturday morning worship time was Jack and Jill Maxwell painting on a mural-sized canvas a depiction of Jacob wrestling with God as the story unfolded. As Jeff Walling told the story, mixing in testimonies, prayer, and singing, the blank canvas behind the stage transformed into outlines of shape, bits of color, and eventually an amazing picture depicting Jacob refusing to let go of his opponent - God. What an image that was...

More to come...

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today I published my first blog article - here is the first paragraph...

I have created this blog for two main purposes - as a means of communication for those whom I serve as an elder at the Skillman Church of Christ in Dallas, and as a means to discipline myself. I have never been one to share much of my personal thoughts and reflections, but am convicted to do so to be more accountable to the people at Skillman and to practice a discipline of journaling for my own personal growth.

I'm not sure how well the first purpose has been served - I never really know who, if anyone reads it, but the second purpose I have addressed fairly well. My intent was to post at least 2-3 times per week. As of today a I have published 183 posts - over the course of a year that's roughly once every other day; sometimes more frequently, sometimes less, but overall a higher pace than I anticipated - somewhat inflated because I frequently borrow from whatever I am currently reading. I find that others often are much more eloquent at expressing thoughts that are on my mind. Like this one from Max Lucado...

Grace for the Moment - February 26

The rich and the poor are alike in that the Lord made them all. ~ Proverbs 22:2

Have you noticed that God doesn't ask you to prove that you will put your salary to good use? Have you noticed that God doesn't turn off your oxygen supply when you misuse his gifts? Aren't you glad that God doesn't only give you that which you remember to thank him for?

God's goodness is spurred by his nature, not by our worthiness.

Someone asked an associate of mine, "What Biblical precedent do we have to help the poor who have no desire to become Christians?"

My friend responded with one word: "God."

God does it daily for millions of people.

~ Max Lucado, Grace for the Moment

49 and Counting

Today marks the beginning of the final year of my 5th decade on this earth, and as I reflect on the past 49 years I recognize that I have truly lived a blessed life. I am blessed to have a beautiful, intelligent, loving wife; terrific kids; wonderful, faithful parents and in-laws; great sisters; and dozens upon dozens of church family members that I have shared with over the years. I have never lacked for food or shelter; I have enjoyed educational opportunities, job stability, and good health.

I have also been blessed over the past year by developing the discipline to write regularly on these pages. Sometimes I labor over my words and sometimes they just flow, but writing has helped me clarify my thoughts at times.

To celebrate my birthday and one year of blogging I would like to ask a favor - If you read this, leave a quick comment with your name or initials, and your location. May your life be blessed as has mine.

Fasting

Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I Am.
Isaiah 58:5-9

Teaching to the Test

One of the most common complaints about the TAKS test, by parents and by teachers, is that instruction is frequently reduced to 'teaching to the test'. Within the context of rote preparation for taking a test, this is a valid complaint. When the goal becomes passing rather than learning, this is a valid complaint. When students are discouraged or prevented from exploring anything other than what will be on the test, this is a valid complaint.

However, in the context of teaching and learning being aligned with a test that is aligned with desired outcomes, this is not necessarily a valid complaint.

When I began teaching more than 25 years ago, there was not a defined curriculum scope and sequence with defined outcomes - you simply tried to pace yourself so that by the end of the school year you covered the textbook. When I began consulting with school administrators and teachers more than 15 years ago, not much had changed. Curriculum varied from school to school and from classroom to classroom based on a combination of whatever textbook was adopted and the teacher's interests and areas of skill. "Achievement" testing was typically done using one of three standardized tests - the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the Stanford Achievement Test, or the California Achievement Test. If there was any connection between what was taught and what was tested, it was generally coincidental.

One of the results of Texas' journey from TABS to TEAMS to TAAS to TAKS to the End of Course Exams that appear likely to come from the current legislative session was the development of the TEKS - Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, which defines what students should learn at each grade in each subject. No longer is curriculum defined by textbook publishers. There is alignment between grade levels and across campuses, and alignment with the test. In this context, teaching to the test is not a bad thing.

Sample TAKS Test

By the way, if there is any question about the rigor of the TAKS test, you can judge for yourself by getting a copy of the 2006 released Exit-Level exam from the TEA web site.

It's TAKS Test Day

The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) is being administered across Texas today, and for students, teachers, administrators, and school districts a great deal weighs upon the results. Third grade students must pass the Reading test to be promoted to the 4th grade; 11th graders must pass all four subject areas of the Exit-Level exam to be eligible to graduate; teachers and administrators may be eligible for bonuses; campus and district state accountability ratings depend largely upon not only the overall performance of their students, but also upon the performance of multiple subgroups of students - Ethnic groups, Low socioeconomic groups, special education students, limited English speakers all affect both state accountability ratings and Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind act.

Accountability is a good thing; I have been in numerous conversations with superintendents, teachers, and other administrators and have yet to find one who does not believe that they should be held accountable for the learning of the students for whom they are responsible. Over the past dozen years or so, Texas has been at the forefront of identifying what it's students should know and/or be able to do (TEKS - Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) and aligning its assessment system to test what it expects its students to know (TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). During that time, the academic performance of all students in Texas has improved steadily.

What educators (and more and more the general public) recognize that the legislature and other powers that be seem not to recognize is that a single multiple choice test, no matter how rigorous and how well aligned to teaching, should not be the sole criterion for accountability. It is not possible to measure such traits as creativity, innovative thinking, complex problem solving - those things that Singapore's Minister of Education said that American education does so well - with a single assessment. That's why teachers' and parents' complaints about teaching to the test have some validity. If the assessment measures what students should know, teachers should teach to the test; the problem is that the assessment cannot measure some of the most important skills, and those are the ones that are sometimes ignored because entirely too much hangs in the balance based on test taking performance.

The crux of what I'm trying to say is that educators believe in accountability; they want it to be measured adequately, accurately, and fairly.

It's About Seeing Us

This week's Fax of Life from Rubel Shelley follows up on the video I posted last week and continues the theme of "seeing" the unfortunate among us...

Title: "It's About Seeing Us"
Date: For the Week of February 19, 2007

Josh has shared a few stories with me about his friend Jack. He has come to call him "Professor" Jack. I can understand that venerable title, given some of the really important things Jack taught him.

Professor Jack is a homeless man in Detroit. In better days, he played in a band, owned a restaurant, and had a family. Addiction to drugs took all those things away from Jack. When Josh first met him, Jack was taking a meal from some church members whose hearts had been convicted about their need to help the poor. And he certainly qualified.

Jack began to be a tutor and coach to my young friend as the two just sat and talked. Josh can, in fact, tick off a catalog of things he learned from Jack. One of the most important lessons came early in the course.

As with first-rate teachers from Moses to Socrates to Jesus, Jack was open to questions. So Josh dared to ask him what good-intentioned people with charitable hearts could do that would really make a difference for the poor and homeless. "Make us feel real," he said. "We want to feel like we are real people. See us. Talk to us. Be with us. Help us feel. It isn't just about feeding us or giving us clothes. It's about seeing us."

Now there's a lesson that do-gooders like me need to learn! We know what Jesus taught about visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. And we know that faith without works is dead. So we send get-well cards or visit hospitals. We donate money and build soup kitchens. We drop off used clothing. All those are good things.

But what about personal awareness? What about communicating a person's worth? What about making her feel valued rather than pitied, And how do I let someone know he is a human being to me, not a project?

Professor Jack says it is as simple, direct, and difficult as making eye contact. Spending a little time in conversation. Asking an occasional question -- and really taking what is said to heart.

Okay, so you're not the next Mother Teresa or someone who is going to give up your warm bed to live among street people in the dead of winter. Me either! But we can try to keep our giving and caring from becoming impersonal. We can actually be on-site occasionally. Give time as well as money. Have a conversation. Show some respect.

It would be a fitting tribute to Professor Jack. He died of an overdose in December. I'm glad he knew he had been seen before he died.

Let's Magnify Our Agreements

We had an open forum this afternoon to talk about progress to date and next steps in the Partnership for Missional Church. It was a positive and encouraging meeting. There were, however, two things that were identified as areas to improve in. One was to be more persistent and perhaps more intentional in Dwelling in the Word.

The second had to do with one of the observations of the consultants in their report summarizing the findings of the interview process that took place. They noted that we have a highly developed ability at avoiding conflict. Part of the conversation this afternoon centered around our need to address differences in a loving manner, rather than avoiding them as we more often tend to do. I ran across the following quote this evening and thought it was timely...

It is right for each of us to present his honest convictions concerning any difference of teaching he may hold. Having done this, let us leave it with that, and not try to force our teaching upon each other. An effort to force always produces opposition, strife, bitterness, and finally division. What we need is to love one another and magnify our agreements. - J. N. Armstrong, founding president of Harding College.

U.S. Students - Are They All That Bad?

A few weeks ago Paul Fahri of the Washington Post wrote a column about how U.S. students compare with students from around the world. In this column he described as mythical 5 commonly articulated statements about the performance of American students, and offered supporting documentation for his suggestion that these statements are mythical. I won't reproduce his entire column here, but I will list the five statements that he says are not exactly true...

1. U.S. students rate poorly compared with those in the rest of the world. In six major international tests in reading, math, science, and civics conducted from 1991-2001 American students' performances were above average when compared with 22 other industrialized nations.
2. American students continue to fall even futher behind. No other nation educates as many poor students or as ethnically diverse a population as does the United States; as the percentage of historically low-achieving students tested has increased, so have American test scores.
3. U.S. students won't be well prepared for the modern workforce. In the 50's and 60's the same thing was said in comparison to the Soviet Union; in the 70's and 80's it was Japan. Today it is China and India.
4. Bad schooling has undermined America's competitiveness. A dynamic economy is part of a culture that rewards innovation and risk-taking and values unconventional problem-solving. When asked why Singapore's education system produced so many top-ranked test takers but so few top-ranked scientists, inventors, and business executives, the Education Minister said, "We both have meritocracies. America's is a talent meritocracy, ours is an exam meritocracy."
5. How we rate in international tests matters, if only for national pride. If being No. 1 in education is our goal, shouldn't we also want to be No. 1 in the factors most closely linked to academic achievement - children's health care and reduction of childhood poverty?

Before the Throne of God Above

I have a lot of 'favorite' songs, both old and new, but near the top of the list is Before the Throne of God Above. The second stanza is a powerful juxtaposition of God's innate need for justice and his merciful love, and may be my favorite stanza of any song...

When Satan tempts me to despair,

and tells me of the guilt within,

upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end to all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died,

my sinful soul is counted free;

For God, the Just, is satisfied

to look on him and pardon me;

to look on him and pardon me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Underlying some of the discussions we have had about the Partnership for Missional Church project has been the thought that if implemented successfully one result will be numerical growth. There is an interesting discussion over on Wade Hodge's blog around the question of whether an attractional church can be missional...

Doctrine vs Theology?

Lanny has been teaching the Covenant Class this month. It is a study of Acts, and he has been sending out daily emails with thoughts about the next week's lesson. I thought these comments from a couple of days ago were insightful...

One of the problems with religion over the last two thousand years is that religious men scour scripture looking for doctrine (what man must do), when they ought to be looking for theology (what God is doing).

Historically, we have pointed to this passage (Acts 6) as the beginning of the deaconate - or the office of deacon. It may well be. But God's purpose was not to establish offices or a hierarchy of leadership - but to solve and serve the needs of His people.

Now I understand why a group who determines doctrine from "restoration principles" (direct command, apostolic example, necessary inference) would use this text as a foundation for doctrine.

What we should be doing is looking for theology, not doctrine. There are several examples of "divine desire" presented in this story:

(1) No one should be overlooked. God's church is about love, compassion, mercy, grace, caring, bearing burdens, lifting up, encouragement, meeting needs, responsibility to others, etc. God has a heart for the alienated and marginalized. So should we.

(2) God always solved practical problems with practical solutions. He wants the church to do the same. It's not a matter of doctrine, but one of caring. When we care for one another, we glorify His name.

Remember people are watching. Unbelievers are taking notice, not of how we organize our church polity (our form and rules), but how we take care of the needs of others in the name of Christ.

Throughout the New Testament, the church employs various strategies to solve problems and set up organizational structures.

Again, I don't think the important aspect is a doctrinal one, but a theological one. What is God doing in the community of believers? And what must we do to accomplish His divine desire?

Spiritual Metaphors

During the PMC cluster meeting this past weekend, we spent part of the time with David Wray guiding us in spiritual formation activities. One of those was a reflection on a series of metaphors for spiritual life - spiritual life is like a journey, is like a struggle, is like a river, etc. As we were discussing in our small group one of the guys said that the whole exercise really didn't connect with him. I think that's an important concept to remember as we continue engaging in conversation - that some processes, some activities, some delivery media will make a connection with some people, and not with others, and that's ok.

I think it's also important to realize that some things connect on an intellectual level, others on an emotional level, and that it is good to have balance. Beyond these levels I think there is a largely untapped (at least in my experience) spiritual level. It is at this level that we get the smallest glimpse into the nature and heart of God.

The metaphor that did connect with me is reflected in the subtitle of my blog site - spiritual life is a journey. The journey is sometimes difficult, sometimes dangerous, sometimes lonely; it is sometimes stimulating, sometimes rewarding, sometimes shared and made easier by companions along the way.

It's like traveling through the plains towards a mountain. At times the mountain is so clearly visible it seems that you could just reach out and touch it; at times it is shrouded in clouds and you can barely sense its shape. Between you and the mountain are unseen crevices and smaller hills, and occasionally you can lose site of the mountain. Sometimes there are detours and distractions, and sometimes you can get off course. But no matter how deep the ditch or how wide the plains, you constantly reorient yourself and continue the journey towards the destination.

Og Mandino on Poverty

Who can live in poverty with peace of mind? How can one by happy with an empty stomach? How can one demonstrate love for one's family if he is unable to feed and house and clothe them? Poverty may be a privilege and even a way of life for a monk in the desert, for he has only himself to sustain and his god to please, but I consider poverty to be the mark of a lack of ability or a lack of ambition. I am not deficient in either of these qualities!
- Hafid speaking to Pathros in Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman in the World

9 Things...

Christianity Today interviewed Bob Roberts of the Northwood Church in Ft. Worth. Below are a couple of excerpts that caught my attention...

"We aren't about weekends," Bob says. "We aren't just trying to get people into church. It's 'kingdom in, kingdom out.'"

In kingdom work, we make a mistake when we start with ecclesiology. We should start with Christology. Our first approach should be "How can we live out the love of Jesus in this society?" It's not "How can we start a church?"

People living like Jesus: that's what changes a society. Too often, we start with a preacher who tries to gather a church first, thinking that, in time they'll get around to engaging the world. That's backwards.

If my church is primarily about the Sunday event, then doing kingdom work is secondary and actually unnecessary. If the Sunday event and church programming is primary, then I'll spend all my time, money, and energy on what happens inside the church.

For so many pastors, church is about what happens on Sunday. Well, I really disagree with that. Church is not supposed to be a Sunday event. It's supposed to be salt and light in the family, in the community, and around the world.

9 Things I'm Learning and Unlearning

I'm learning … that mission begins with Christology not ecclesiology. Following Jesus leads us to mission, which leads to churches gathering.

I'm unlearning … my assumption that starting churches naturally leads to mission. It doesn't. Churches default to self-focus unless a commitment to be like Jesus in the world comes first.

I'm learning … that being glocal means decentralizing power, decision making, information, all of it. The kingdom of God means ministry opportunities are available to almost everyone.

I'm unlearning … the American church's traditional focus on a super-star speaker, worship leader, educator, and shepherd, which serves mainly to attract spectators rather than igniting the power of everyone else.

I'm learning … that we serve not to convert but because we have been converted. We serve because Christ has changed us and made us servants to people who are hurting and lost.

I'm unlearning … the assumption that "Christian" is defined primarily as acknowledging a moment of conversion. Becoming a follower of Jesus depends on what happens after that.

I'm learning … to love people, which means to see them healed, educated, and given the same opportunities that we have.

I'm unlearning … that the Christian faith is all about heaven. I believe the church has denied the future by just waiting for the Second Coming. We need a story that includes the future.

I'm learning … the kingdom will be established not by human power or entertainment, but by realizing God's concern for humanity and the whole of society.

Tough Choices

Central Dallas Ministries has produced this short video clip that helps articulate why they exist and who they serve...

How Much Does It Cost To Smile?

I am in Austin for a couple of days at the annual Texas Association of School Administrators Midwinter Conference. Austin suffers from severe traffic congestion, and now with the legislature in session, plus a thousand school superintendents and about twice that many more other administrators the problem is magnified. This afternoon it took more than twenty minutes to drive the mile from the convention center to my hotel. People were typically impatient and seemed to all be in a hurry to get where they were going.

As I pulled up to the light at my exit, there was a lady walking from car to car with a sign asking for money. As she came near, I made eye contact with her and smiled. I have taken a cue from Larry James, and for the last several months I always try to acknowledge people that I encounter. In the past, I would have just averted my eyes and hope she would pass on by.

She started to pass by, then backed up and motioned for me to roll down my window. She said, "I have been standing on this corner for over two hours, and you are the first person I have seen smile. I just wanted to thank you for smiling and tell you to have a blessed day." What must it be like to go through life and not see a smile? To encounter people who try to avoid acknowledging your existance?

As you have done to the least of these....

The Third Temptation

The third temptation facing leaders parallels Jesus' third temptation - the temptation of power. When Eve was tempted, it was fundamentally about power - the power of knowledge. Almost every division in the history of the church has been about power - who had the power to decide or control. Even among well-intentioned, God-fearing elderships issues are often settled by the most powerful persuader or the one who is able to align the majority.

Nouwen responds to the question of why the temptation of power is so difficult to resist with the following:

Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for love. It is easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks 'Do you love me?' We ask 'Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your kingdom?'...The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led."

Leaders must constantly be aware of and guard against falling to the same temptations that Jesus faced in the desert - the temptation to be relevant, the temptation to be popular, and the temptation to be powerful.

The Kingdom is Near

Having spent a significant amount of time dwelling in Luke 10 over the past few months, I have thought quite a bit about what it means that the kingdom is near. I am convinced that the kingdom has significant implications for our interaction with the world today. As I read this recent post on Out of Ur, it struck me that if the kingdom is present in this world, then so is the opposite of the kingdom...

But have you ever noticed that Jesus didn’t spend much time on hell.

In fact there are really only a couple of times he speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth, of hell and God’s judgment. And both of them have to do with the walls we create between ourselves and our suffering neighbors. One is Matthew 25 where the sheep and the goats are separated, and the goats who did not care for the poor, hungry, homeless, and imprisoned are sent off to endure an agony akin to that experienced by the ones that they neglected on this earth. And then there is the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a parable Jesus tells about a rich man who neglected the poor beggar outside his gate.

In the parable we hear of a wealthy man who builds a gate between himself and the poor man, and that chasm becomes an unbridgeable gap not only with Lazarus but with God. He is no doubt a religious man (he calls out “Father” Abraham and knows the prophets), and undoubtedly he had made a name for himself on earth, but is now a nameless rich man begging the beggar for a drop of water. And Lazarus who lived a nameless life in the shadows of misery is seated next to God, and given a name. Lazarus is the only person named in Jesus’ parables, and his name means “the one God rescues.” God is in the business of rescuing people from the hells they experience on earth. And God is asking us to love people out of those hells.

Nowadays many of us spend a lot of time pondering and theologizing about heaven on earth and God’s Kingdom coming here (and rightly so!), but it seems we would also do well to do a little work with the reality of hell. Hell is not just something that comes after death, but something many are living in this very moment… 1.2 billion people that are groaning for a drop of water each day, over 30,000 kids starving to death each day, 38 million folks dying of AIDS. It seems ludicrous to think of preaching to them about hell. I see Jesus spending far more energy loving the “hell” out of people, and lifting people out of the hells in which they are trapped, than trying to scare them into heaven.

The Blogosphere Library

I frequently post about something I have read, and occasionally reprint an excerpt or copy. I often benefit from others who do the same. Sometimes the blogosphere is like a big library full of works I would be unaware of if others did not share.....This evening I read this from John Stackhouse's Humble Apologetics in Wade Hodges' blog .

We can conclude, then, with some questions that Christians shouldn’t ask, and a question we should always ask instead.
“Is he saved?” I don’t know, and I cannot know until “the roll is called up yonder.” The actual condition of another person’s heart is mysterious, even to the individual. So from the outside I certainly cannot presume to know, and therefore I do not need to try to know. The whole agenda of some Christians to figure out “who is in and who is out” is therefore mistaken.
“What can I do to convert him?” Nothing. God’s Spirit alone can truly convert. Again, God does not call us to do what we cannot do. So we need not, and must not, try to convert anyone, including through what we might pride ourselves on as being impressive apologetics.
“Does he need to hear the gospel?” Of course he does. We all do, again and again, until we see Christ face to face. That’s one of the reasons Christians take the Lord’s Supper regularly: to hear in it the gospel once again, the gospel of everlasting forgiveness and empowerment to overcome evil and enjoy the good. If we therefore have any opportunity to tell the gospel to another, we should tell it. No one outgrows it.
The good question to ask instead is simply this: “How shall I treat him? How shall I treat her? And the answer is just as simple: with love. Until all of our neighbors are fully mature in Christ, there is something left for serious Christians to do, and when we have the opportunity to assist the neighbor somehow, then we should take it. I daresay that will keep us all plenty busy until the Lord Jesus returns.

And then, this from an article in Christianity Today in Mike Cope's blog -

“Can the West be re-evangelized? Only if we unlearn our default ethnocentric assumptions about “real” Christianity (our own) and unlearn our blindness to the ways Western Christianity is infected by cultural idolatry. It may be more blessed to give than to receive, but it is often harder to receive than to give. That reverses the polarity of patron and client and makes us uncomfortably aware that what Jesus said to the Laodicean church might apply to us in the West: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17).”

Both of these struck me as particularly on point as we explore being missional.

The Second Temptation

Nouwen describes the second temptation that leaders face as the temptation to be popular. This parallels Jesus' temptation to throw himself from the roof of the temple, and is not necessarily a desire for popularity that he is talking about, but the desire to impress, to portray ourselves in the best light, to do the spectacular, to earn applause.

This often translates into an indiviualistic or egocentric mindset where decisions and actions are viewed through a lense colored by how this will impact me or perceptions of me. This self-focus is a barrier to community, and very often results in a leadership style that is based on power rather than servanthood.

Overcoming this temptation requires openness, vulnerability; a brokenness that we are willing to expose to others rather than hide. Nouwen says that the keys to developing these traits are confession and forgiveness. We develop a culture where confession is rewarded with forgiveness, gentleness, and grace rather than rebuke and punishment. We confess our own brokenness and begin to experience the healing, reconciling presence of Jesus.

As we lead from our weakness rather than our own strength we make it safe for the ones we are charged to lead to be vulnerable as well. Vulnerability, confession, and forgiveness lead to the kind of community where we can truly serve and build one another up - the kind of community that announces that the kingdom is among us.

Reflections on Christian Leadership

As Jeremiah reminds us, the responsibility of leadership is sobering. Henri Nouwen, in In the Name of Jesus, Reflections on Christian Leadership, draws parallels between the three temptations that Jesus faced in the desert and temptations that face leaders in the church today. The first of these, he calls the temptation to be relevant - to do, solve, prove, create - to demonstrate competence in those things that the modern world uses to measure success.

Nouwen says that when Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread, he was being tempted to be relevant. He had the ability to turn stones into food for all of the hungry people he would meet, but his mission was greater. The bread that he would provide was himself.

According to Nouwen, "the leader of the future will be the one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there...

It is not enough to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty...

Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well formed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the Incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source of their words, advice, and guidance."

Faithful Leadership

"I will send disaster upon the leaders of my people – the shepherds of my sheep – for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for," says the LORD. This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: "Instead of leading my flock to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them." - Jeremiah 23:1-2

Every so often something will just reach out from the page and grab me. I've been reading through Jeremiah this month, and the other day this passage caught me squarely between the eyes. It is a sobering thing to consider the expectations that God has for those in positions of leadership, and the consequences of not being faithful to those expectations.

Fredericksburg 35, Kerville Tivy 28

Yesterday I drove nearly 600 miles round trip to referee a high school basketball game. It was a district rivalry game between two small Texas towns, nice crowd, plenty of intensity among the coaches and players, not much scoring. I got to work with two competent and experienced co-officials and we had a solid game.

Why would 3 officials drive 283 miles from Dallas to Fredericksburg? When the coaches involved in a district game are unable to agree on the officials assigned by their local officals chapter - in this case the San Antonio chapter - they can appeal to the University Interscholastic League (Texas High School sports governing body) to have officials assigned from another chapter in the state.

When the UIL gets involved with the assigning of officials for regular season games, it becomes somewhat of a high profile assignment, and is therefore considered something of a privilege to get such an assignment. After being on the road for more than 10 hours, I'm not sure how much of a privilege...I did enjoy talking basketball and getting to know my partners better, it was fun working the game, and I'm glad to have had the experience, but I think I would be willing for someone else to enjoy the next 'privilege'.

How Will You Race Against Horses?

LORD, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. Now let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy? You have planted them, and they have taken root and prospered. Your name is on their lips, but in their hearts they give you no credit at all... Then the LORD replied to me, "If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?"

These questions from Jeremiah are not different from questions that have been asked throughout history and are often heard today. Why do wicked people prosper? Why do good people suffer? How can a loving and benevolent god permit children to suffer from AIDS, hunger, abuse, etc? They are the same questions Job asked, that were asked in the Psalms.

God's reply here is a little bit different from the reply he gave to Job. To Job, he responded 'Who are you to be questioning me? Were you there when I created...' But to Jeremiah, he responds 'If you think this is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet.' I think I would rather have gotten the response that he gave Job.

While I do often find myself asking these kinds of questions, I try (not always successfully) to not demand answers so much as to adopt the attitude of the Psalmist - 'Still I will praise you, Lord.'

One More Quote from Martin Luther King

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’ ” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bonhoffer and Dr. King

Staying in because of the threatened winter storms Saturday gave us the opportunity to watch Bonhoffer - the documentary about the life of German theologan Deitrich Bonhoffer. Bonhoffer was executed by the Nazis for his efforts to stand against Hitler. As I watched the movie, I was struck by the similarities and parallels in his life to that of Martin Luther King.

• Both men were trained in the classic theology of their time, personally struggled with the practical application of the intellectual studies they engaged in, and came to an understanding that application of theology to life involved actively living and speaking in a way that opposed oppression and injustice.
• Both men actively challenged the status quo and were advocates on behalf of the oppressed in their society.
• Both men heroically abandoned safety and comfort to fulfill what they saw as their duty.
• Both men were imprisoned and eventually killed because of their efforts.
• The lives of both men created a legacy that surpassed what they were able to accomplish in life.

Although they lived a few decades apart and in two distinct social contexts, the way that they lived according to their beliefs was similar. Both men did understand the cost of discipleship. Below are some quotations from each - I will put in a separate post the author of each.

1. "One of the great weaknesses of liberal theology is that it becomes so involved in higher criticism, in many instances that it fails to answer certain questions. ... The weakness lies in its failure to connect the masses. Liberal theology seems to be lost in a vocabulary. Moreover, it seems too divorced from life."
2. “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
3. "On the one hand, I must attempt to change the soul of individuals so that their societies may be changed. On the other, I must attempt to change the societies so that the individual soul will have a change. Therefore, I must be concerned about unemployment, slums and economic insecurity."
4. “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it."
5. “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
6. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

__________________

By the way, Larry James has published in his blog today Dr. King's Letter From a Birmingham Jail. I would encourage you to take the time to read it. It is powerfully eloquent.

Quotes from Bonhoffer and Dr. King

1. "One of the great weaknesses of liberal theology is that it becomes so involved in higher criticism, in many instances that it fails to answer certain questions. ... The weakness lies in its failure to connect the masses. Liberal theology seems to be lost in a vocabulary. Moreover, it seems too divorced from life." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
   
2. “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” - Dietrich Bonhoffer
   
3. "On the one hand, I must attempt to change the soul of individuals so that their societies may be changed. On the other, I must attempt to change the societies so that the individual soul will have a change. Therefore, I must be concerned about unemployment, slums and economic insecurity." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
   
4. “The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it." - Dietrich Bonhoffer
   
5. “First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.” - Dietrich Bonhoffer
   
6. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Weathermen Cried Wolf...

The local weathercasters have been talking for at least a week about the severe winter storms that they were predicting would beset us this weekend. Beginning Friday evening and throughout the day, they interupted regular broadcasting with special alerts and maps forecasting the imminant freezing rain that would cover the area with ice. Many churches, including Skillman, canceled Sunday services out of concern for the safety of members.

There was quite a bit of rain during the night and this morning, but the long threatened ice failed to form. By the time roads actually started to freeze around the area this evening, people were immune to the forecasts and apparently caught off guard by slick driving conditions. One wonders whether weather wonders working themselves into such a frenzy all week didn't have the same numbing effect on the public as the boy who cried wolf...

The Neighbors Next Door...

With the threatened winter weather conditions it was a good weekend to stay in, watch football games and rented movies, and catch up on some reading. The following excerpt is from the January selection of the Urban Engagement Book Club, The Latino Wave by Jorge Ramos.

The majority of Hispanics in the United States don't wear sombreros, have beards, or sing like famous Mexican crooners Pedro Infante or Luis Miguel. We don't joke around like comedians Cantinflas or Alvarez Guedes, we don't dance when we walk, we don't cook pork and lamb on our patios, or have a carpentry or paint shop at home. We don't wear guayaberas to the opera, we're not all undocumented immigrants, and we don't all quit school before finishing the twelfth grade.

You won't usually find workshops set up on our patios, or exotic flora and fauna in our bathrooms, and it's even less likely that you'll find us digging pits in our backyards to cook meat in. We are just as likely to be astronauts or investors as farmers or restauranteurs. We keep our money in banks, not under our matresses. We invest in securities and have 401K plans so we can retire in our sixties....We support our troops, wherever they may be. We may have doubts about the true reasons for starting a war, but once committed, we respect the bravery of the soldier in the battlefield more than the thought given to the decision that got him there.

Missional at the Core

The following description of a missional church is excerpted from Christianity Today's blog Out of Ur...

Missional at the core
In essence, missional churches seek to align their identity, activities, and hopes with God’s redemptive mission on earth. This is a tall order for churches that brim with cultural and programming expectations, resource abundance, iconic labels (like “evangelical” or “mainline” or “Pentecostal”), and visions of grand ambitions. The temptation is always to have a grand scheme to which we incessantly try to woo or invoke God’s presence rather see ourselves fitting into God’s agenda.

In contrast, the missional church is a corrective to or an outright rejection of commodified and cultural Christianity, steeped in institutionalism, individualism, and sentimentality.
Identifying missional churches can be difficult. Such churches are separated by identity and perspective as much as their visible forms. Nonetheless, there are some common commitments.

(1) Missional communities try to align themselves holistically with God’s theme of redemption. They resist the use of Christianity as an anesthetic to the pain of human needs and as an affirmation of the superiority of one culture’s way of life.This is lived out in several common practices.

(2) Programming and finances are directed outward. It’s easy for much of the church’s program and fiscal reflexes to become directed internally. Emphases on church growth or “building the body” are often presented as the mission (“A larger church means more space and opportunity for our community to encounter Christ,” is the overt message, when the real message to staff is, in fact, “Keep the saints happy and coming back.”).

To counter this temptation, missional communities may cut back on programming to leave space for breathing and living. Some ministries are relocated from the safe confines of the church into the community. Financial assets are viewed as both opportunity and burden. Some missional churches have made a pattern of giving away resources without control or strings attached to reduce congregants’ sense of entitlement.

(3) Missional communities are discontent with spiritual formation as primarily cognitive assent (“I believe this to be true”). Instead, formation is presented as a way of life, a rhythm of being, and a rule of values. It emphasizes faithful living during the week rather than gathering for worship at a weekend event. The sharp boundary between the sacred and secular is evaporating as missional fellowships seek to hear God’s voice in culture and creation.

(4) Embracing the ethnic and social diversities of local communities is becoming a moral expectation. (This is one aspect of God’s voice that I believe we have heard strongly from outside the confines of the church.)

(5) Finally, missional communities are not only ardent listeners for the earmarks of God’s redemptive work in our world, these communities are passionate activists when they find the pathways and trajectories of God’s redemptive presence. The work of justice, reconciliation, peace, and spiritual direction are becoming the dominant reflexes of missional communities.
In this spirit of activism, theological debates and historical sunderings are becoming marginalized.

It Costs More to be Poor

Over the past year or so, I have become more and more aware of some of the factors affecting the poor. One of those is that routine, everyday expenses like food, transportation, and shelter often cost the most for those who can afford them least. The following guest column was written by a freshman at Yale, and appeared in the Dallas Morning News on January 1, and illustrates one aspect of the factor that it really does cost more to be poor.

Weighing Their Options

There is something to be said for fast food: It is quick, convenient and – especially – cheap. We all know it's bad for us, but when a bacon double-cheeseburger costs less than a head of lettuce, it might be hard to refuse.
Fruits and vegetables are one of the keys to good health. Barbara Rolls invented the sensible Volumetrics diet, which encourages people to eat large quantities of low-energy-dense foods rather than small portions of energy-dense foods. This plan makes sense: You feel full, lose weight and end up eating a lot more fresh produce.
Unfortunately, Volumetrics and similar health-food diets miss an important element: the economic factor. For somebody on a tight budget, it is not feasible to buy lots of expensive vegetables to replace one jar of peanut butter. A British study, "Poor Families 'Priced Out of a Healthy Diet,' " found a 51 percent price gap between shopping carts full of nutritious vs. unhealthful foods. If people can barely afford the least-expensive foods, these more expensive, healthful foods are clearly out of reach.
For the past seven years, I have worked at a food pantry in Baltimore. Many clients are overweight, and many have diabetes. One day, a woman mentioned that she was trying to lose weight because she was afraid of getting diabetes. Her main concern was that she would not be able to afford health care and medicine.
I tried to help this client find low-fat, low-sugar options. As I scanned the shelves, all I saw was food high in salt, fat, preservatives and sugar. Ramen noodles and boxes of macaroni and cheese were the pantry's most plentiful items, and because of a lack of refrigeration facilities, we were never able to provide fresh fruits or vegetables. Many other women at the pantry had similar issues with weight management, and they were not nearly as concerned with the aesthetic consequences of obesity as with the economic ones.
The affluent spend billions of dollars annually on diet programs and products; the poor do not have these tools at their disposal. But there are things the government and others can do. If food pantries and shelters were required to provide more nutritious food and given government support to do so, this could help stem the obesity epidemic. The food stamp and Women, Infants and Children programs could be greatly expanded to provide better food to more people. Most important, if the government would stop subsidizing corn and soybeans and start subsidizing fruits and vegetables, we could begin to make real progress.
The reasons to address this problem go beyond altruism. Low-income people rack up more than $200 billion a year in medical expenses that they cannot pay. For every $1 the government spends on preventive measures, the nation saves $10.64 in later medical expenses and lost productivity. The resulting savings could offset the costs of providing higher-quality food and nutrition education to the needy.
Today, many of us will vow to change our dietary ways. Here's a resolution that would do all of us good: Let's establish policies that will give every American a better chance at having a happy, healthy new year.
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Hannah Lupien is a freshman at Yale University.

Quotable...

From the Religion section of today's Dallas Morning News...

"You gotta have two wings to fly." - Rick Warren on why the left wing and the right wing need to learn to get along.

"There's an old evangelical saying, 'If he's not the Lord of all, he's not the Lord at all.'" - N. T. Wright

"While Baptists bicker about booze, or whine about worship style, or cry over Calvinism, or tilt over tongues, Rick Warren is doing what he can to make a difference in his lifetime." - Benjamin Cole

A Missional Conversation

The following is from an email forwarded to me by my friend and "second mother", Carol Thomas. While I don't spend much time in beauty shops, the conversation depicted does represent a world view that is very common today, and it also illustrates the ambivalance we face even when we missionally seek opportunities for conversation...

A lady went to a beauty shop to have her hair cut and her nails painted and trimmed.

As the beautician began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the beautician said : "I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked Sheryl who has MS. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

Then Sheryl thought for a moment, but didn't respond because she didn't want to start an argument. The beautician just finished her job and the customer left the shop. Just after she left the beauty shop, she saw a woman in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and not groomed at all. She looked dirty and unkempt. Then Sheryl turned back and entered the beauty shop again and she said to the beautician: "You know what? Beauticians do not exist."

"How can you say that?" asked the surprised beautician. "I am here, and I am a beautician. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" Sheryl exclaimed. "Beauticians don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and very unkempt, like that woman outside." "Ah, but beauticians DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me." "Exactly!"- affirmed Sheryl. "That 's the point! God, too, DOES exist!

Follow Me

I thought this gracemail from Edward Fudge was particularly relevant as we are beginning a new year...

Follow Me

There is a time to analyze, to study, to reflect. There is also a time to respond, to move, to act. Mark's Gospel is intended for the second occasion. It is 65-67 A.D. Nero is Emperor in Rome. He has just beheaded Paul and crucified Peter upside down. Now he is unleashing a wave of lethal persecution against Jesus' followers in the imperial capital. Some he ties to stakes, drenches in oil and burns as human torches. Others he dresses in animal skins and exposes to killer beasts. Others he crucifies. Jesus' followers remember the master's challenge: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Mark 8:34). They do not sit in a Bible class and theorize "What is my 'cross'"? For them, this is no metaphor. It is cold reality. The choice is clear. Jesus went to a Roman cross in obedience to God. Do I follow him or not?

Some observers say that more Christians died as martyrs during the 20th century than during all previous centuries combined. Today, in at least 40 countries around the world, believers in Jesus are actively persecuted for their faith. Most of us who live in the West have never experienced physical or financial hardship for following Jesus. It is too easy for us to forget or to remain ignorant about our sisters and brothers who do (Heb. 13:3). We cannot know what the future holds as the chilling glacier of post-Christian thinking continues to cover Europe, the U.K., North America and Australia/New Zealand. Already the center of Christianity has shifted to Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. Already the Koreans and Nigerians and Ugandans are sending missioners to the United States and England.

Whether we face physical persecution or not, the call of Jesus remains the same and it is unmistakably clear: "Follow me." Jesus does not say, "analyze me" or "explain me" but "follow me." He does not call us to build buildings or plan programs or attract audiences, but to follow him. This best happens with the support and comradeship of communities of faith but it ultimately happens individually, personally, one person at a time. Each morning we awaken we hear his call: "Follow me." Each hour we live we respond to his challenge: "Follow me."

Before Jesus calls his first apprentice, Levi, in Mark's Gospel, he has already been announcing the kingdom of God and calling his hearers to repent. He already has been healing and expelling demons. Already Jesus has been teaching with uncommon authority. He is not an ordinary man but the Son of God of Psalm 2:7, the apocalyptic Son of Man of Daniel 7 who will finally judge the world. His deeds match his words. He is what he says. His words therefore command our attention. His person compels our respect. Every minute we breathe, his call hangs in the air: "Follow me." How will we respond?
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Copyright 2007 by Edward Fudge.

Today I Choose...

One of my daily devotional resources is Max Lucado's Grace for the Moment. I have a couple of copies - one at work that I generally begin my working day with, and one at home. Yesterday as Barbara was reading my home copy she reminded me of this introduction to the book...

I CHOOSE LOVE...
No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I CHOOSE JOY...
I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical...the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I CHOOSE PEACE...
I will live forgiven. I will forgive that I may live.

I CHOOSE PATIENCE...
I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I'll invite him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clenching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I CHOOSE KINDNESS
I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I CHOOSE GOODNESS...
I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

I CHOOSE FAITHFULNESS...
Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I CHOOSE GENTLENESS...
Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I CHOOSE SELF-CONTROL...
I am a spiritual being...After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

The Poor Will Always Be Among You...

Over the past couple of years, and especially in 2006 a number of events and experiences have helped shape my evolving perspective on poverty. Over the next few weeks I hope to share some of those experiences and my thoughts.

One event was a session I attended at ElderLink a couple of months ago, where Larry James defined what he called a theology of the poor. I'll try to summarize without losing too much in the translation...

When Jesus made the statement to his disciples that the poor would always be among them, he was quoting from the 15th chapter of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 15 is one of those situations where God first describes his intent for his people - the ideal standard.

There should be no poor among you, for the LORD your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. You will receive this blessing if you carefully obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today.

Next he acknowledges the possibility that his people may fall short but remains hopeful that they will respond appropriately...

But if there are any poor people in your towns when you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead be generous and lend them whatever they need.

And finally, knowing the nature of his people, he acknowledges his realistic expectation...

There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.

I had always understood Jesus' statement (when I gave it any thought) to indicate that it was simply part of the natural order of things that there would be poor people in the world. Clearly, that is not what the first part of Deuteronomy 15 would imply. Rather, the presence of poverty in the world would seem to be confirmation of a failure to live according to God's will. And not just on the part of the poor...

New Year's Blessing

Below is the blessing I gave to the Skillman congregation on New Year's eve...

Throughout the history of God's people there are accounts of a blessing being given to mark times of transition. As I look at some of these blessings, many are accompanied by a charge. As the Israelites were about to enter into the promised land, and Moses was about to hand over the mantle of leadership to Joshua, he recounted their journey, charged them to remain faithful, and then blessed them.

This seems to be God's intent as recorded in Genesis 18 - "Should I hide my plan from Abraham?" the LORD asked. "For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the LORD and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised."

Centuries later, the prophet Micah reiterated a similar charge to God's people - He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God?

A few hundred years later, as Jesus was nearing the end of his ministry on earth he elaborated on what it means to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God - The King will say to those on the right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.'
"Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?' And the King will tell them, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'

This morning, as we acknowledge the transition from one year to the next, my charge to you is to feed the hungry, shelter the stranger, visit the sick and those who are in prison - to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God.

And then may your land be blessed by the Lord with the choice gift of rain from the heavens, and water from beneath the earth; with the riches that grow in the sun, and the bounty produced each month; with the finest crops of the ancient mountains, and the abundance from the everlasting hills; with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of the one who appeared in the burning bush. May the Lord bless you and keep you; May His face shine upon you and give you peace.

2 Days Left...

Just a friendly reminder for anyone who is contemplating a tax-deductible year end contribution - Central Dallas Ministry's campaign to raise $100,000 from the blog reading community continues for two more days (although I feel fairly confident that Larry and the folks at CDM will accept donations in 2007 as well - somehow, I doubt that the need will lessen with the dropping of the ball at midnight on the 31st)

Homeless at Christmas

Christmas morning Barbara and I joined about a half dozen other families from Skillman and handed out bagged breakfasts to 208 homeless people as they checked out from the Hyatt Regency, where they had spent Christmas Eve courtesy of the SoupMobile, a non-profit mobile soup kitchen feeding the homeless in Dallas. The SoupMobile was founded and is operated by David Timothy, aka the SoupMan.

As we were getting set up that morning, David met with us for a few minutes. He said that we had 2 tasks. The primary task was to make eye contact, greet and acknowledge the humanity of each of the people as they checked out. Of secondary importance was handing each of them one of the breakfast bags that had been prepared.

As they came through the lobby, we greeted them and gave them the breakfast bags; they got on buses that would take them to the day resource center. Afterwards we got into our cars, went to our homes, and celebrated Christmas with our families. I am thankful for a healthy family, a comfortable home, for not having to worry about where my next meal will come from, and so much more, but as we celebrated the birth of Jesus, I wondered - if he had been born in Dallas this year, would it possibly have been to one of the people on the buses?

Ain't It Too Bad...

Adapted from a recent Heartlight...

In one of the All in the Family episodes that aired some years ago, Edith and Archie are attending Edith's high school class reunion. Edith encounters an old classmate by the name of Buck who, unlike his earlier days, had now become excessively obese. Edith and Buck have a delightful conversation about old times and the things that they did together, but remarkably Edith doesn't seem to notice how extremely heavy Buck has become.

Later, when Edith and Archie are talking, she says in her whiny voice, "Archie, ain't Buck a beautiful person?" Archie looks at her with a disgusted expression and says: "You're a pip, Edith. You know that. You and I look at the same guy and you see a beautiful person and I see a blimp."

Edith gets a puzzled expression on her face and says something unknowingly profound, "Yeah, ain't it too bad." (Christian Globe)

Ain't it too bad how often we fail to see with the eyes of the Savior whose birth we have been celebrating, who came to give his life that ALL might live - not just those who look like us, think like us, or act like us. If you are contemplating new year's resolutions, at the top of the list, try to start seeing others the way that Jesus did -- as eternal persons worth saving, at any cost, no matter what they choose to think about him or how much they resemble us!

Steve Blow on Public Schools

I haven't written much on the topic of education, but I thought Steve Blow's column in Sunday's Morning News expresses some of my thoughts pretty well...

Sunday, December 17, 2006

I was browsing in a used-book store the other day and came across a wonderful book. And of course, by "wonderful" I mean one that said just what I believe.
But where my beliefs have been based on personal observation, this book was full of hard data to prove the point. And that point is: Generally speaking, our public schools are doing just fine.
You sure don't hear many people preaching that idea, do you?
The book is The Manufactured Crisis – Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools. It was written by a couple of professors, David C. Berliner of Arizona State University and Bruce J. Biddle of the University of Missouri.
"This book was written in outrage," say the opening words of their preface. "We discovered how Americans were being misled about schools and their accomplishments."
After scanning the book, I flipped to the front to see when it was published. Copyright 1995.
Wow, I thought. Criticism of public education has only intensified since then. I wondered if the professors have since decided the critics were right – or if they are still outraged.
Dr. Berliner didn't miss a beat when we spoke last week. "I'm still outraged," he said.
Schools haven't worsened?
"No!" he said.
"In fact, I'd say the classes we are graduating today are the brightest, best-trained students America has ever produced."
He said SAT scores have climbed over the last decade. More students are enrolled in demanding Advanced Placement classes. Standardized test scores are up.
But Dr. Berliner and Dr. Biddle were both quick to say it's impossible to have a meaningful discussion about "public schools" – as if they can all be lumped under one term. Schools vary far too widely for that.
Dr. Biddle said, "In wealthier suburbs, like those around Dallas, you will find some of the absolute best public schools in all the world.
"On the other hand," he said, "in some inner cities, in places like the South Bronx or East St. Louis, Ill., you will find some of the worst schools in the modern, civilized world. They are unbelievably rotten places."
Unfortunately, the professors said, Americans tend to think of "public schools" as one thing. And the pockets of failure overshadow the far broader landscape of public-school success.
As I said, my views have been shaped by personal observation. With two children educated in public schools, with a wife teaching in public schools, with a job that takes me into many public schools, I mostly see bright, capable kids in orderly, focused schools.
Yet on an almost daily basis I hear from readers about the failure of our schools. An e-mail last week referred to the "cesspool" of public education.
The professors said this perception stems from a variety of sources. Part of it is simply the timeless tendency of oldsters to fret about "these kids today." Partly it's our fault in the media for playing up isolated horror stories.
A big part is the growing hostility toward anything governmental, regardless of success. (Rush Limbaugh repeatedly refers to "our public screw-els.")
The worst part, the professors said, is a deliberate, deceitful campaign by some to discredit public education and profit from privatization. "This is not an unmotivated group," Dr. Biddle said. "They are not shy about lying and creating all sorts of propaganda."
Because we have such a distorted view of our schools, we keep getting wrongheaded attempts to "fix" them, the profs said.
Poor, inner-city schools need much more money – for smaller classes, for longer days, for experienced teachers and other proven strategies. "The myth says money won't improve schools. That's just nonsense," Dr. Biddle said.
On the other side of the coin, successful schools get saddled with things like standardized, high-stakes testing, which does far more harm than good, Dr. Berliner said.
We've got to get smarter about our schools. Let's fix what needs fixing – and as the saying goes, stop trying to fix what ain't broke.
Sure, let's keep striving to improve. But for most of our public schools, a little more praise and respect is what they need most.

Basketball Season is a Busy Time

Since basketball season has begun I have not had the time nor energy to write at night. It's hard to realize it has been more than 2 weeks since I last blogged - I'll try to get to it at least a couple of times a week....

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Quote for the day - I believe that the Word of God is inspired; my understanding and interpretation of it is not...Harold Curtis this morning in Bible class.

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Thanksgiving was relatively low key this year. Both kids were home for a few days. Watched some football, saw a couple of movies, ate some good food, and just relaxed and enjoyed each other. On Thursday morning, we did the traditional turkey trot in downtown with about 30,000 other people. Lauren ran the 8 mile race in under an hour; Barbara and Taylor did the 3 mile run; My knees and I waited for all of them at the finish line...

One scene remained with me - As I was walking from the start/finish line to a vantage point a couple of blocks away where I could see the runners going by, I walked by the downtown library. There were about a dozen homeless people sitting on benches outside the library, patiently waiting for the shelter to open that would serve them a Thanksgiving meal. It was a beautiful morning and I exchanged pleasantries with a couple of gentlemen.
As I went on to see the runners I couldn't help but ponder the irony of all those thousands of people choosing to travel to downtown that morning. They/we would return to the comfort of a home and a good meal, leaving behind those people who had no choice but to remain on the street, wondering where their next meal would come from.