So, I came into work early today to prepare for a worship meeting but between the rain, a window in my office, hot espresso and the daily office, I just have to stop down for give thanks for a refreshed soul. God has been incredibly faithful to me, especially during the times I have not deserved God's faith, love and grace. God has always, always been faithful and good to me. I have no words to express my thanks (hence, my thankfulness for the daily office today).
My gratefulness this morning has something to do with death. Of late, I feel like the powers and principalities are making a bigger push these days. (Perhaps that suggests that we are on the brink of something amazingly wonderful!) I have been struck by the fact that, until the latter half of the 20th century, the average human life ended somewhere in the the late twenties or early thirties. Now, the average world-wide life expectancy is 70 (except for most of Africa, which is much lower).
While I certainly wonder if I have accomplished much of value during my life, I am more and more thankful for the chance to have been alive this long, coupled with thoughts of what to do (and what to value) in the remaining years of my life. (May there be many!)
More and more I believe that loving and serving people, in as many ways as possible, is what we are really called to do with our lives. I want to do more than just pay lip-service to this for the rest of my life!
When we give ourselves away for others we gain our lives. When we love others we inch towards becoming what God dreams for us to become!
Well, I had better get to worship planning, that meeting is in two hours and I've only got sketches of where to go in my mind.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit will see fit to join me this morning as I prepare?
May you have a wonderful, God-drenched day!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Another thought-provoking editorial from Bono
Check out Bono's recent op-ed piece for the New York Times:
http://tinyurl.com/da3vh3
http://tinyurl.com/da3vh3
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Leonard Pitts
I remember reading this editorial the day after it came out (in the Dallas Morning News, no less!) and it rang so true, I thought I had to post it. Granted, it's almost a month after the original publishing date but it's a great and important read nonetheless!
Pitts: What drives people from God
Leonard Pitts Jr., THE MIAMI HERALD
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
We are losing our religion.
That, with apologies to R.E.M., is the startling conclusion of the American Religious Identification Survey, conducted by researchers at Trinity College of Hartford, Conn. The poll of more than 54,000 American adults found a sharp erosion in the number of people claiming religious affiliation.
A few highlights: The number of people who call themselves Christian is 76 percent, down 10 percentage points since 1990.
Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious ceremony.
Better than one in four Americans do not expect a religious funeral.
It is important to reiterate that we are talking about overall percentages. In raw numbers, there are actually about 22 million "more" Christians now than in 1990.
Still, the trend is clear, particularly as illustrated in one telling statistic: In 1990, 8.2 percent (about 14 million) of us said "none" when asked to specify their religion. Last year, 15 percent (34 million) did.
Some have suggested our loss of faith is due to increased diversity, mobility and immigration. I'm sure there's something to that, but I tend to think the most important cause is simpler: religion has become an ugly thing.
People of faith usually respond to that ugliness — by which I mean a seemingly endless cycle of scandal, controversy, hypocrisy, violence and TV preachers saying idiot things — in one of two ways. Either they defend it (making them part of the problem) or they regard it as a series of isolated, albeit unfortunate, episodes. But irreligious people do neither.
And people of faith should ask themselves: What is the cumulative effect upon outside observers of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker living like lords on the largesse of the poor, multiplied by Jimmy Swaggart's pornography addiction, plus Eric Rudolph bombing Olympians and gays in the name of God, plus Muslims hijacking airplanes in the name of God, multiplied by the church that kicked out some members because they voted Democrat, divided by people caterwauling on courthouse steps as a rock bearing the Ten Commandments was removed, multiplied by the square root of Catholic priests preying on little boys while the church looked on and did nothing, multiplied by Muslims rioting over cartoons, plus the ongoing demonization of gay men and lesbians, divided by all those "traditional values" coalitions and "family values" councils that try to bully public schools into becoming worship houses, with morning prayers and science lessons from the book of Genesis? Then subtract selflessness, service, sacrifice, holiness and hope.
Do the math, and I bet you'll draw the same conclusion the researchers did.
Who can be surprised if the sheer absurdity, fundamentalist cruelty and ungodly hypocrisy that have characterized so much "religion" in the last 30 years have driven people away? If all I knew of God was what I had seen in the headlines, I would not be eager to make His acquaintance. I am thankful I know more.
Including that God and religion are not synonymous. God is, for the faithful at least, the sovereign creator of all creation. Religion is what men and women put in place, ostensibly to worship and serve Him. Too often, though, religion worships and serves that which has nothing to do with Him, worships money and serves politics, worships charisma and serves ego, worships intolerance and serves self.
The ARIS survey should serve as a wakeup call to organized religion. It continues in this manner at the risk of irrelevance. I am reminded of a line from the movie "Oh God," with George Burns as the deity and John Denver as the grocery store manager reluctantly recruited to spread The Word.
"I don't even go to church," says the manager.
And God says, "Neither do I."
lpitts@miamiherald.com
Pitts: What drives people from God
Leonard Pitts Jr., THE MIAMI HERALD
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
We are losing our religion.
That, with apologies to R.E.M., is the startling conclusion of the American Religious Identification Survey, conducted by researchers at Trinity College of Hartford, Conn. The poll of more than 54,000 American adults found a sharp erosion in the number of people claiming religious affiliation.
A few highlights: The number of people who call themselves Christian is 76 percent, down 10 percentage points since 1990.
Thirty percent of married couples did not have a religious ceremony.
Better than one in four Americans do not expect a religious funeral.
It is important to reiterate that we are talking about overall percentages. In raw numbers, there are actually about 22 million "more" Christians now than in 1990.
Still, the trend is clear, particularly as illustrated in one telling statistic: In 1990, 8.2 percent (about 14 million) of us said "none" when asked to specify their religion. Last year, 15 percent (34 million) did.
Some have suggested our loss of faith is due to increased diversity, mobility and immigration. I'm sure there's something to that, but I tend to think the most important cause is simpler: religion has become an ugly thing.
People of faith usually respond to that ugliness — by which I mean a seemingly endless cycle of scandal, controversy, hypocrisy, violence and TV preachers saying idiot things — in one of two ways. Either they defend it (making them part of the problem) or they regard it as a series of isolated, albeit unfortunate, episodes. But irreligious people do neither.
And people of faith should ask themselves: What is the cumulative effect upon outside observers of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker living like lords on the largesse of the poor, multiplied by Jimmy Swaggart's pornography addiction, plus Eric Rudolph bombing Olympians and gays in the name of God, plus Muslims hijacking airplanes in the name of God, multiplied by the church that kicked out some members because they voted Democrat, divided by people caterwauling on courthouse steps as a rock bearing the Ten Commandments was removed, multiplied by the square root of Catholic priests preying on little boys while the church looked on and did nothing, multiplied by Muslims rioting over cartoons, plus the ongoing demonization of gay men and lesbians, divided by all those "traditional values" coalitions and "family values" councils that try to bully public schools into becoming worship houses, with morning prayers and science lessons from the book of Genesis? Then subtract selflessness, service, sacrifice, holiness and hope.
Do the math, and I bet you'll draw the same conclusion the researchers did.
Who can be surprised if the sheer absurdity, fundamentalist cruelty and ungodly hypocrisy that have characterized so much "religion" in the last 30 years have driven people away? If all I knew of God was what I had seen in the headlines, I would not be eager to make His acquaintance. I am thankful I know more.
Including that God and religion are not synonymous. God is, for the faithful at least, the sovereign creator of all creation. Religion is what men and women put in place, ostensibly to worship and serve Him. Too often, though, religion worships and serves that which has nothing to do with Him, worships money and serves politics, worships charisma and serves ego, worships intolerance and serves self.
The ARIS survey should serve as a wakeup call to organized religion. It continues in this manner at the risk of irrelevance. I am reminded of a line from the movie "Oh God," with George Burns as the deity and John Denver as the grocery store manager reluctantly recruited to spread The Word.
"I don't even go to church," says the manager.
And God says, "Neither do I."
lpitts@miamiherald.com
Catching Up
Today is my first day back in the office after Easter and I am so behind!!! Between moving to the new church, Holy Week and Easter, I am feeling the crunch now to catch up! So, as I see things of interest I will post but it could be a few days before too many more posts come!
God bless you and Happy Easter!!
God bless you and Happy Easter!!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen! I hope you had a wonderful, amazing Easter! I know that we did in Argyle! May God dwell with you richly in the coming days!
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Beautiful Service and a New Tool!
We had a beautiful service tonight at Argyle UMC for Maundy Thursday. I will be posting more about the service later. We employed a variety of media and it the worship experience was well received!
I am so excited to welcome a creative tool to the proverbial shed: a new MacBook Pro! I do love it so! I remain deeply committed to my PowerBook G4 (first loves, you know!) but her best days are long behind her. I just got my new MacBook today. Of course, I know it's just a tool but wow, I love it so! I am so excited to see what creative endeavors we will attempt together. All right, that's a bit too much! It's time for me to call it a night, as a big day awaits tomorrow in Good Friday. May God continue to dwell with you richly during this week.
I am so excited to welcome a creative tool to the proverbial shed: a new MacBook Pro! I do love it so! I remain deeply committed to my PowerBook G4 (first loves, you know!) but her best days are long behind her. I just got my new MacBook today. Of course, I know it's just a tool but wow, I love it so! I am so excited to see what creative endeavors we will attempt together. All right, that's a bit too much! It's time for me to call it a night, as a big day awaits tomorrow in Good Friday. May God continue to dwell with you richly during this week.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
First Sunday in the New Church!
Yes, it's been a crazy long time since I last posted but I've been doing real work as of late! We had our first Sunday in the new church on April 5th, on Palm Sunday no less! The above picture is of our 11:15 traditional service.
Once Holy Week has passed I will get back in the habit of posting!
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