What’s the Rush?

I have found myself in a slight panic in the last day or so. But it wasn’t the “normal” things over which I might push the “panic” button. It was something weird. Weird enough to blog about anyway…

My panic moments have involved information. Content. And here’s the weird part. I was freaking out about the fact that I had not heard about some particular information. The content actually wasn’t that important or life-changing in the least. But I was behind. Others had received the information before I did and it caused me to freak.

We live in an unusual time. A time where the immediacy of content, not the content itself determines validity. What we know isn’t as important as how quickly we know…or if we are to be honest…who knew it before us. If we don’t know it first, then we can’t capitalize on it first. This used to be the linchpin of gossip. Now, it’s the linchpin of going “viral.” And someone else will beat us to the next great idea. It’s become apparent that the next great idea is also the next great fleeting idea. So there’s little chance that even though we may be first, we will only be first for a short time. It’s not whether you are watching the same video – it’s whether you can download it in 3G or 4G.

This creates two different types of responses in people. The first is mild panic and clamoring to be first. That is what I have felt lately. The second response is the more mature one I think. And that response is “What’s the rush?” Eventually, the immediacy of content thrills us little and the quality of content surfaces again. And we stop clamoring to gain information because we realize that the information is useless anyway. It has no staying power. It’s not quality. It doesn’t speak to anything beyond self-gratification.

Eventually we have to stop clamoring to purchase the new Lady Gaga album from Amazon because it’s only 99¢. The question has nothing to do with Lady Gaga’s availability. It has to do with whether or not her music is worth 99¢ or $99. Does it have staying power? Do any of the items we drool over have staying power? Are we chasing products or merely newer versions of the same products?

I have a theory. If it is quality content, it will still be here once the immediacy of that content is gone. Good things stick around. If that’s true, then what’s the rush?

A Quirk with Actual Theological Significance?

Here’s a strange quirk of mine: I mute all TV commercials.The first person I saw do it was my grandfather. Then I noticed my father did it as well from time to time. As I got older I started to mute TV commercials as well.

There are some practical reasons for this. First off, TV commercials are very loud to me. I can be listening to dialogue in a show and be blasted by a car salesman commercial within seconds. The audiophile in me can’t stand it. But that’s a personal reason – coming for a guy who finds the hum of fluorescent lighting irritating or too much 3-5 kHz or 300 Hz in a song maddening. Secondly, at 3 1/2 minutes a break, I can talk to my wife about something or read a page or two of a book. Also, if I mute the commercials I am more likely to get up and clean up the dishes during the commercial breaks. So, improved communication, information gathering, and household chores – all with the click of a button!

More importantly, for me, there is an emotional and spiritual reason. As a minister, I firmly believe that our Christianity can be culturally influenced by many things, including commercials. With each commercial, we get a sermon regarding what we should value as a nation. This translates to what we should spend money on – something an advertiser tells us to value. Commercials stoke the fire of materialism in a person’s life.  The church is not immune to this at all. I was at a large conference recently where one of the popular topics was the evils of consumerism. Of course, I had a ten piece praise band, lights, videos, a comedian, a magician, free books and DVDs, and 400 kiosks to help me understand just how bad consumerism had become in America. Commercials are the foundation of that. Advertisers believe your convictions and values can be swayed in a mere thirty seconds time. Why do they believe that? Because we’ve proven it to be true in the past.

Christians should certainly believe in the power of Satan to tempt and destroy our lives. However, Satan (unlike God) has limited resources with which to do this. Though I am not saying our culture is authored by Satan, I do think he makes good use of what we’ve given him. Why spiritually attack a believer when you can lull him to sleep? To me, that’s Satan’s main objective – not to visit someone with direct demonic attack (though that happens) but to create a level of dysfunction in the Christian’s life by distracting him from “the one thing necessary.” Though commercials can certainly be entertaining, they are also “preaching” to you. The question is: are we buying what they’re selling?

“Change We Can Believe In,” Part 2

My question this morning is: how do we find worth in something greater than our circumstances? How can we live with a sense that we are a part of something greater than our individual agendas? Our culture doesn’t teach us that. Our culture teaches us to be self-occupied and egotistical – completely consumed with our circumstances. It’s the disease of our nation. And we thrive on it. I know a lot of people who aren’t happy. Or at least they aren’t happy for long. Most people ride a roller coaster of reactions to what happens to them in any given day. In America, this is compounded by our affluence. We really don’t know what real suffering is! When asked about work, we complain, “Oh today was horrible!” When asked why, we mention things like, “I couldn’t finish my Excel spreadsheet because my email inbox was overflowing and my Blackberry just wouldn’t stop ringing!” or “It took forever to get my special order latte this morning, someone just had to get in a car accident and that put me behind schedule all day!” Obviously, I’m being facetious, but we have to admit we generally only have “small” problems.

If I remember correctly, the etymology of the word “happiness” comes from “happenings” – events in life that produce a specific emotion. In other words, the emotions of “happy” people rise and fall according to what “happens” to them. We live lives of reaction. If, of course, you have to perfect life, then you’ll always be happy. But remember, we’re the same people that complain if our dry cleaning isn’t ready for pickup. Our lives suffer at the hand of our circumstances. Our treatment of others, our attitudes, and personal worth rises and falls on the praises or criticisms of acquaintances and co-workers – people that really have little bearing on who we truly are. Yet, we let the actions of others and the “grind” of life mold us into people we don’t want to be.

I like history a lot, so I like to study how we came to believe in the ideologies we value as a nation today. One of the more fascinating ones to date is the idea of “self-esteem.” Now, when I say self-esteem, I mean the general ability to evaluate ourselves and have that self-image affect our behaviors and moods. We live in a culture that values the idea of a healthy self-esteem, and rightfully so. We spend a tremendous amount of time securing the self-worth of children in our educational systems, our governmental programs, and through non-profit organizations.

So, where do people go when looking for worth? Well, since the rise of the Human Potential Movement in the 60s, we most often seek healthy self-esteem in our value as human beings. By developing our potential as humans, we can achieve the quality of life that we desire. We can be fulfilled and content and…well…happy. And though psychologists go into more complex forms of self-image, this is the idea that drives the popular movement towards happiness. In other words, this is the “Dr. Phil” version. So, we grow up with the idea that we should think well of ourselves and recognize our merit as individuals with valid hopes and dreams. Everything we need to live a happy and fulfilled life is already present in us.

But after 40 years, we’re beginning to see the reality of that paradigm. In 2004, the American Psychological Association put out a report that challenged that idea. After surveying 600 people from the ages of 50 to 90, they determined that many of the individuals had “high” self-esteem but said they were unhappy. They knew they were smart, talented, resourceful, and educated. But they felt they had missed something along the way – some set of goals they didn’t meet. In other words, though they felt comfortable with who they were, they recognized that all the things they had accomplished were of little significance outside of the praise and accolades they received at the time. Even those with “healthy” self-esteem are slaves to their circumstances.

And here’s what we can learn from that: the idea that we possess within ourselves those qualities that will ultimately make us happy is false. It’s a self-defeating model because it attempts to derive worth and value from a source that always fails. Society tells us to be happy with who we are and then barrages us with qualifiers to that self-worth: education, credentials, social connections and the like. You are only as good as your ability to out-perform the next guy. That’s why people ride the roller coaster of life reacting to the changes that come our way. And though none of those things are necessarily bad, we give far more value to them than they actual give back to us…and it creates a constant reminder that we will never measure up to the standard to which we are held. Reputation, status, financial stability, high levels of education, physical attractiveness, athletic prowess, even personal integrity leaves us empty. And because we’re empty, we grasp and claw and hold on to whatever circumstances validate who we are: a job, a community position, money, our children, our spouse, even the reputation of our church. But when change comes, we’re devastated – because the familiar is gone and our security is threatened. In the end, change is something we can’t believe in. If we do believe in it, we won’t for long.

Welcome to Worship!

Can you laugh and cry at the same time? Thanks Derek for the link…

http://derekvreeland.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/worship-star/

I wrote about this once. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Death of Praise and Worship.

Sermon Snipets: Debt Free – Putting First Things First, Part 1

Preached January 4, 2009.

Today we are beginning a sermon series that “hits us where we live” in a lot of different ways. We’re going to talk about being “Debt Free.” Now, when I say that phrase, most people think of financial issues. But we incur “debt” in other ways, not just financial – we’re also going to talk about debt in relationships, the debt of sin, as well as finances.  So, as our first installment, this morning we’re going to talk about how to relieve our “debt to society” by putting first things first.

 ”Debt to society.” Strange phrase isn’t it? But it most accurately describes much of our lifestyle today. We make promises and commit to projects that ultimately rob us of our time with God and time with family. We become a slave to calendars, and deadlines, and the tyranny of the urgent. We are always paying the “debt” of time to our commitments, spending our time being busy but rarely being fruitful. There’s a big difference, you know. And being able to tell the difference between fruitfulness and busyness determines whether we live a peaceful or hectic life.

 There’s a humanities professor named Stephen Bertman who published an important book about ten years ago. It’s called Hyperculture: The Cost of Human Speed. Bertman believes that our fast-paced lifestyle is ultimately the cause of much of our stress and illness – it affects our bodies, our relationships, or emotions, and the like. Bertman says we are all “hard wired” to live a slower lifestyle…and our current pace causes more problems that it solves. Not sure if you suffer from “hyperculture?” Try these phrases on for size: “I’m totally lost without my calendar. If I get more productive, I’m gonna scream! Sometimes it seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day. My life is on fast forward. I don’t spend enough time with family and friends. I don’t feel like I accomplished anything today.” Listen to some of the symptoms of “hyperculture” Bertman describes.

 The technology explosion has changed our lives – over 25 million televisions are purchased a year – so many in fact that in America today, more people have television sets than indoor plumbing. With the rise of the internet and rapid access to information, Psychologists have noticed a trend they have dubbed “information anxiety” – a scenario where our mind literally cannot handle the deluge of information to which we expose it. In the process, the assimilation of knowledge among school age children is becoming thin and is producing an ever widening gap between what we think we know because we “googled it” and what we really know. We are becoming a mile wide and an inch deep. But an even more disturbing trend is occurring as well. Psychologists are beginning to see the emergence of a new type of personality among younger generations called the “saturated self,” where all stimuli are completely self-generated. In other words, a “self-saturated” person does not respond to anyone or anything outside of the world they create. They may be online, but they are personally isolated, remote, and detached. They alone create their own entertainment and they induce their own level of stress. What’s more, our stress levels are beginning to affect the national heart rate average. And it’s affecting our bodies as well. Recent studies estimate and average of 200 billion dollars is lost annually due to stress-related accidents, illnesses, and absenteeism. Over-stimulation and too many choices are making our nation physically sick. Houston, we have a problem! And a growing one at that. We’re so busy managing our time that we’ve forgotten to enjoy the time we’ve been given. The urgent has gotten in the way of the important. And church can be one of the greatest culprits in this struggle.

I remember the first time I really encountered this type of stress. Beth and I had been married for about two years. I worked for Flowers at the time and Beth worked for a health insurance company in Tallahassee. We were both actively involved in church…to the point where it took up most of our nights with meetings. We had also taken on several service projects and agreed to be the FCA leaders at Brookwood school. Though all were considered worthwhile Christian activities, we were totally covered in “busyness.” And something began to happen: whereas once we had a stable, though young, marriage, we became distanced and argumentative. We stopped connecting with each other because our “debts” to society took away our time to connect to each other. And that’s always the case: time spent doing one thing is time spent not doing something else. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak. So, Beth and I started saying no…to everything. We finished our commitments and declined offers left and right until we had most of our weeknights back. And things got better. But it’s still difficult for us to “just say no.”

 Out text for today, Matthew 6:33, is the first scripture I ever memorized: “Seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be yours as well.” It’s one of the most important scriptures you can apply to your life. Now, most preachers I’ve heard over the years apply that scripture in the following way. They give you a list of priorities and the list usually goes something like this: 1) God 2) spouse 3) children 4) church 5) job – or something to that effect. And then they’ll tell you that what you spend your time on determines what your priorities really are. And that’s when everyone goes home feeling guilty for golfing or shopping or working long hours and promises to change for the better. They vow to spend more time with their children or their spouse. Or they vow to spend more time in daily devotions with God. But, to me, that’s as stressful a way of living as any. Those expectations are just as demanding. There’s got to be more than just learning to guard your time and say no to unnecessary commitments. And there is. Let me explain.

Part 2 tomorrow…

“Christmas Was Meant to Change the World”

Two years ago at TFUMC, the staff came up with a unique idea that revolutionized Christmas for our congregation. As part of the movement Advent Conspiracy, we unveiled a project called Advent Revolution. Advent Revolution begins before “Black Friday” after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas Eve. During that time, we ask our families to spend $50 less on each individual for Christmas as well as consider giving a $50 contribution as gifts on behalf of others for the purpose of raising $25,000.

That amount is given towards building homes in Rwanda to shelter the victims of the AIDS epidemic and the Rwandan genocide. We have partnered with World Help – a wonderful organization – to build the homes. Our tag line: “Christmas was meant to change the world,” represents exactly what we are attempting to do with Advent Revolution. We’re asking people to think outside of the box and become more globally aware. We can’t take every person in our church on a mission trip to Rwanda. But we can ask them to collectively catch the vision for something greater than their personal well-being. We can ask them to care for the less fortunate.

Advent Revolution has completely changed our church’s view of Christmas. It’s the highlight of our calendar year. And this past year, we invited other churches to join us. We had churches located in North Georgia, Maryland, Texas, and Pennsylvania, among others, join in. We even had a dentist’s office in Oklahoma take up the cause. World Help combined the donations of several churches to reach the $25,000 goal. Smaller churches don’t have to raise the entire amount on their own – they can partner with others.

If you are interested in joining us for Advent Revolution in 2009, visit our website or contact World Help directly. They would love to hear from you and are excited about the possibilities Advent Revolution brings to local churches.

The Prosperity Gospel of the Ages

I grew up on a steady diet of T.V. evangelists. And as a young Christian I adopted much of the “prosperity gospel” or “Word of Faith” message I heard. Now, there’s much within “Word of Faith” that needs correction. A pastor friend of mine wrote about that here. But there’s some good things about it as well. That may be strange for you to hear, since normally people either love the “Word of Faith” message or they think it’s heresy. Sorry, I wish it were that simple. Sure, prosperity preachers say some wacked out things. But they also believe God actually cares about the day-to-day issues of life, like finances and health. And that’s something a lot of their detractors have no answer for. People that say God does a greater work by “healing the soul,” not the body, are completely out of touch with real life. Of course there’s balance – God’s not gonna give you a Mercedes because you confessed it into existence. But neither am I the least bit afraid to say that God does bless people materially and financially.

Most people see the “prosperity gospel” as a new phenomenon – something created in the last 40 years or so. An “Americanized” form of Christianity that hinges upon Western consumerism and greed. And if you merely study contemporary reflections of Christiantiy, you may convince yourself that you are correct. But there are countless examples throughout church history that say otherwise (you can start with historians Keith Thomas, Valerie Flint, and Stephen Wilson for this information). For example, Keith Thomas in Religion and the Decline of Magic, tells the story of a local parishioner who believed his excommunication was ineffective since he had his best crop production the following year. In other words, this guy thought that if God had been angry at him, he would not have received such blessing. Yet his material prosperity stated otherwise. Most Christians throughout history have followed this line of thinking.

Equating material and relational “prosperity” to Christianity is as old as the church itself. This most commonly involved alternative uses of consecrated items found within the church. Parishioners drank holy water as a cure for illness, sprinkled it on their homes, their fields, and on their cattle for protection. Clergy performed exorcisms to make fields fruitful, lit holy candles to protect animals, and spoke curses to drive away vermin, weeds, and crop destroying insects. During communion, parishioners would not swallow the host but hold it in their mouth until they returned to their seat. They then carried the host as an amulet for protection, to cure disease, or sometimes ground it into powder to sprinkle over crops as a charm against caterpillars. Christians also took the blessed palms from Palm Sunday back to their farms where they placed them above their beds, on religious pictures, over doors, or planted them in the fields to ensure good crops. They were also placed in the cradles of babies, used to ward off storms, or weaved into small crosses that the people used as talismans. The practice of making palm crosses was banned in the 1540s, yet people continued these practices to the end of the 1800s. At calendar festivals, animals were blessed by the priest, sprinkled with holy water, and ritually washed or dipped as part of ceremony for health and protection. There are reports of parishioners withholding their tithes from ministers who refused to perform such remedies.

Despite clergy’s efforts to state otherwise, Christians have always believed in a properity gospel. The examples above explain this thinking: though Jesus helped in the afterlife, a cross worn around the neck protected from peril now. Though the Eucharist represented a life of spiritual communion with God, the host could be sprinkled over crops now. Though the blood of Jesus atoned sin, communion wine could heal a sick child now. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that the rise of such practices roughly coincided with the marginalization of spiritual gifts by clergy.

Belief in ”prosperity” did not stop with the Reformation or with the Enlightenment. With Catholic and Protestant clergy condemning their use, people continued to employ alternate methods for physical and financial well-being. In 1594, Lutheran inspectors in Germany reported that “the use of spells is so widespread among the people here that not a man or woman begins…or refrains from doing anything…without employing some particular blessing, incantation, spell, or other such heathenish means…” They did this because clergy gave them no Christian alternative. So, they found substitutes. Documented examples like this exist into the twentieth century.

So, Sam, what are you trying to say? I’m saying that most Christians (until they are taught otherwise) honestly believe that God should be willing to intervene in their daily lives bringing “prosperity” in the forms of material blessing, protection, deliverance, healing, and wealth. Telling them they shouldn’t expect such things has never deterred anyone from seeking God’s blessing. The “Word of Faith” movement is merely a modern manifestation of this. And though some may see such requests for “blessing” beneath them, the majority of Christians throughout history have thought differently. The “prosperity gospel” isn’t new. In fact, wherever you find well-meaning Christians seeking the kindness and generousity of God, you’ll find it. If God cares at all, then he must care about all aspects of our lives.

Why I Mute Television Commercials…

Here’s a strange quirk of mine: I mute all TV commercials. There are several reasons for this. The first person I saw do it was my grandfather. Then I noticed my father did it as well from time to time. As I got older I started to mute TV commercials as well.

There are some practical reasons for this. First off, TV commercials are very loud to me. I can be listening to dialogue in a show and be blasted by a car salesman commercial within seconds. The audiophile in me can’t stand it. But that’s a personal reason – coming for a guy who finds the hum of fluorescent lighting irritating or too much 3-5 kHz or 300 Hz in a song maddening. Secondly, at 3.5 minutes a break, I can talk to my wife about something or read a page or two of a book. Also, if I mute the commercials I am more likely to get up and clean up the dishes during the commercial breaks. So, improved communication, information gathering, and household chores – all with click of a button!

More importantly, for me, there is an emotional and spiritual reason. As a pastor, I firmly believe that our Christianity can be culturally influenced by a lot of things, including commercials. With each commercial, we get “preached to” at a very loud volume about what we should value as a nation. This translates to what we should spend money upon – something an advertiser tells us to value. Commercials stoke the fire of materialism in a person’s life.  The church is not immune to this at all. I was at a large conference about 5 months ago where one of the popular topics was the evils of consumerism. Of course, I had a ten piece praise band, lights, videos, a comedian, a magician, free books and DVDs, and 400 kiosks surrounding the building to help me understand just how bad consumerism had become in America. Commercials are the foundation of that. Advertisers believe your convictions and values can be swayed in a mere thirty seconds time. Why do they believe that? Because we’ve proved them true in the past.

Christians should certainly believe in the power of Satan to tempt and destroy our lives. However, Satan (unlike God) has limited resources with which to do this. Though I am not saying our culture is authored by Satan, I do think he makes good use of what we’ve given him. Why spiritually attack a believer when you can lull him to sleep? To me, that’s Satan main objective – not to visit someone with direct demonic attack (though that happens) but to create a level of dysfunction in the Christian’s life by distracting him from “the one thing necessary.” Though commercials can certainly be entertaining, they are also “preaching” to you. The question is: are buying what they’re selling?