Anne Rice, famed “vampire genre” author of several well-known and acclaimed books, recently stated publicly that she “quit Christianity”.  Want to read about it?  Click here.  However, upon closer inspection of her forsaking “Christianity” as  her stated religion, she clearly is trying to stay close to Jesus Christ.  This presents a problem: it’s impossible.

Impossible, and yet quite trendy.  And comfortable.  And easy.  And non-sensical.  And unbiblical.  And trendy.

From what I can gather, the movement known as the “Emerging Church” has based its premise of existence on a similar notion.  Here’s the idea: Following a decapitated Jesus.  There seems to be a subtle dismissal (and sometimes blatant condemning) of the body of Christ as it is as new trends in church leadership bring a new a kind of Christianity.  Ironically enough, the word “Church” (ekklesia) is still in their name.

Jesus said clearly that He is the “head of the Church” (Eph. 5:23) and that His followers (mathetes) are His body (1 Cor. 12:27).  And yet it seems that some people try and marry Jesus’ head without marrying His body.  Again, I’ll say it: Impossible.

Anne Rice’s #1 reason for leaving Christianity?  She has reached the conclusion that the word “Christian” is synonymous/interchangable with words like “anti-gay”, “right-wing conservative”, “bigoted”, “judgmental”, “condescending” and the ever en vogue “hypocritical”.  To her, Christians are defined by those people who profess one thing while living something else.

So, what should someone do when they find more in the Church to condemn than celebrate?  What should someone do who wants to cling to Christ but tell His followers to “take a hike”?  What should someone do who has become disenfranchised by the short-fallings of those they’re attached to, by virtue of being under the same “religious” umbrella?  What does someone do when they, like Anne Rice, find themselves wanting to follow Jesus, but want to have no part of “organized religion”?  Here are my thoughts.

1. Remember your humanity.  This one sounds simple, I admit.  But if you’ll just remember the frailty of your own skin, bones, attitudes, spirit, and self then you’re a step away from remembering that every other person on the planet has the same frailties.  We’re all spiritual beings wrapped in flawed and broken vessels.  And inasmuch as we are all imperfect, we need to stop expecting anyone (even “Christians”) to live completely perfect lives.  Do some Christians seem to place themselves on some higher pedestal where they look down on others?  Sure they do.  And so do some Buddhists.  And so do some Muslims.  And so do some Taoists.  And so do some Wiccans.  And so do some Hindus.  And so do some Atheists.  And so do some Gnostics.  And so do some Mormons.  And so do some Free Masons.  Why?  Because the one thing we all have in common is that we are all broken humans.  Remember that and you’ll find yourself open to grace for others, perhaps as quickly as you receive it for yourself.

2.  Remember the definition of “religion”.  Let’s be clear.  Jesus didn’t come to establish a religion.  In fact, that is one thing that sets Him completely apart from all other “religions”.  Jesus came to “seek and save that which was lost.”  (Luke 19:10)  The idea that the final mission of Jesus was to simply establish guidelines for living is utterly offensive.  Jesus’ mission was far more radical and ultimately eternal.  Jesus came to reunite the Creator with His creation.  If I have one thing against the Church today, its that we’re really good at producing “nice people” or “responsible citizens” and “good neighbors”.  Those are good things, but if that’s all we’re producing…God help us.  Jesus came to make us nice AND dangerous.  Dangerous toward the “wiles of the devil”, dangerous in that we are charged with “bringing heaven to earth”.  The definition of religion (look it up for yourself) is more about a sense of guidelines and rules based on a particular belief.  Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If what you believe doesn’t affect how you behave, then you really don’t believe it.”  To be sure, living right (Jesus called “righteousness”) is absolutely an essential part of the life of a follower of Jesus.  But religion speaks more about making behavior the primary issue.  That’s why if you were to walk outside right now and approach the first person you see and ask them, “Do you think you’ll go to heaven?”, you’re more than likely going to hear something like this…

“Yes, I think I’ll go to heaven (if there is one).  You ask, “Why do you think you’ll go to heaven?”  They’ll respond, “Because I’ve basically been a good person.  I’ve done more good than bad.  I haven’t killed or raped anybody.  I think God will let me in because I’ve basically lived a good life and tried to be nice to people.”

Our focus on “doing good” is not a bad thing (of course), its just that we’ve put too much emphasis on that being the MAIN criteria for entrance into heaven and eternal salvation.  Tisk tisk.

#3: Remember grace.  This one sounds close to #1, but when a person hears, receives, and is transformed by God’s grace, they MUST live a life from that point on that seeks only to communicate that grace to every other person they come into contact with.  Any good Christian (and most non-Christians) can quote John 3:16 to you.  You know, the one about how much God loves the world, and how He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him (Jesus) won’t die but will live forever.”  However, we need to know just as well the very next verse; that Jesus didn’t come to earth to condemn it, but that through Him the world (that’s us) might be saved.  Where in there are we as His followers called to bring the gavel down?  We are called to love the Truth, love all people, and to speak truth (Eph. 4:15) with love.  Some people are really good at speaking truth but lacking the love part, and some people are so loving that they forget the truth part.  Both of those are equally off.

We’ve come to this idea today that the greatest kind of love accepts everyone’s beliefs as all true, all valid, all equal.  This is actually the most pretentious farce of real love as we can hold and perpetuate.  “Tolerance” has seen its crest in popularity and is now engrained in our children.  Tolerance says that I can say that there is a God and I’m right because I believe it.  And you can say that there is no God and you’re right because you believe it.  And neither of us should say anything that might hint at the fact that we’re completely illogical as long as we hold tight to our “tolerance”.  Its completely disrespectful in today’s society to convey any sense of absolute.  Why?  Because absolutes inevitably make someone uncomfortable and God (or Allah or Buddha or the Jolly Green Giant)-forbid that we make anyone uncomfortable.

So goodbye Anne Rice, enjoy your walk into the sunset with the head of Jesus tucked under your arm.  We, His body, those who love Him, love others, give grace, seek justice, walk humbly, and love mercy will be here if (and when) you get back.

*That Newsweek magazine cover was added April 2012, 2 years AFTER this post was originally written.  Pretty crazy, huh?

My youngest son has been a bit cantankerous today.  I’ve had to corral and try to correct his attitude, his actions, and his words throughout the day.  And when I’ve had to say, “Don’t ________”, his common response today has been “I can if I want to!”

Now, civil liberties aside, I have to say that I vehemently disagree with my son’s assertion.  Indeed, while he may want to believe that he in fact can do whatever he wants to, it is my God-given responsibility to teach him that he most certainly can NOT do whatever he wants to.  All the hipsters out there might say I’m stifling his creativity, but their kids are brats.  And I’m not raising a brat.

The notion that we are all free to “do what we want to” is one that has become quite en vogue.  And I’d contend that it is that notion that has, more than anything else, aided in the denegration of our society.  Not only that, but that sense of freedom that says in essence “To thine own self be true” is exactly opposite to God’s design and desire for humankind.

My previous blog post was all about my recent trip to Kentucky; what I experienced, saw, and learned.  And I suppose that my thoughts here take a step away from that particular trip and closer to a truth that each of us must grasp, ingest, digest, and live out (I was going to say “excrete” but I thought that might be too crass).

Where are you right now?  Who is the person closest to you in proximity right now?  What needs are most obvious to you right now?  What needs that bless others are within reach right now?  What is stopping you from standing up and going to meet that need…right now?

Some thoughts that come to mind in response to those questions may be, “I hadn’t planned that.”, “I don’t have time for that.”, “I’m not comfortable with that.”, “I don’t know how to do that.”, or an otherwise “That’s not really something I’m willing to do.”

But when it comes to blessing others, I’d like to borrow the words from my Mom (which I suspect she “borrowed” from someone else)…”When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  I know it sounds like it’s straight out of some corporate playbook, filled with quips and inspirational sayings, but even on a spiritual level it’s all too true.

So, what is your plan to bless someone today?  No.  What is your plan to bless someone right now?  I’ve never seen a watch with a “sometime” on it and yet that is when we figure we’ll get around to doing that thing that would make that difference in that person’s life.

Last week, I took a dozen or so high school students to a nursing home.  I’d dare say that most if not all of them were uncomfortable with the concept of sitting, chatting, crafting, listening, or singing with nursing home residents.  It simply wasn’t something they were used to doing.  But you know what happened?  When we left 2 hours or so later, every one of them had become an expert in the areas of sitting, chatting, crafting, listening, and singing with nursing home residents.  And do you know who trained them?  They did.  Not with a how-to manual, not with a script, and not with a crash course from the nurses.  Giving themselves to the experience rendered its own beautiful benefits.  I’d even guess that some of them would go to our local nursing homes in our area and do the exact same thing.  I challenged them to consider just one hour a month volunteering at their local nursing home.

The nursing home is only one of millions of options when it comes to blessing others.  But no matter what the open door, there’s one thing that is sure to kill it: “I can if I want to” gone wrong.

I don’t really.  The only times I do are when my hot wife says, “You want to run with me?”  The entire time I am running, I am asking myself “Why do people do this?!?  I just don’t get it!”  But man do I love my wife, so anytime with her (even running/trying not to die) is always welcome.

Getting entrenched in life is something that I highly recommend. 

However, it’s not so good if you hope to keep your blog current.  And for those who have been checking daily, weekly, monthly, or centennially….I’m back now and hope to get my blog groove on.  At least for now.  We’ll see.

Maybe I should rename my blog to “We’ll see.”  It reminds me of the intramural basketball teams I led in college; one year our team name was “Maybe next year” and another year our team name was “Yeah…whatever.”  We wore plaid button-up shirts with the sleeves cut off.  Collars and everything.  We took all the players the other teams didn’t want.  We were terrible.  It was great.

So, in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been immersed in our annual middle school mission trip and all the details revolving around that.  All in all, it was a fantastic experience.  We took a new step in our leadership development plan this year and took along high school student leaders who I have worked with over the past year.  I can confidently say that they brought SO much to the table as it relates to influencing our middle school students.  Even as young and spry as I am, middle schoolers consider me “old” (anything over 25 qualifies), so having high schoolers whom they idolize speak into their lives for the week did immeasurable good.  No doubt about it, Student Leaders rock.

We had an interesting thing happen one night while on the trip.  If you’re up for a quick story, read on.

We had rented a YMCA camp for the week and spent most of our time there.  But with one of our “sister” churches right up the road, we thought it’d be fun one night to have a change of scenery, and take our students there for some dodgeball. The youth pastor there was totally down with it and asked if he could invite some of his students to join in. I’m a “the more the merrier” kinda guy, so I thought that was a great idea.
We arrived at the church and as we began to gather all the students together, I noticed that their students looked more like high school and even college age or perhaps even inmates.  (reminder: our students were middle schoolers). I thought to myself, “No biggie, I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
As one of their youth leaders began to explain the rules, I noticed that “head shots” were allowed. “No biggie”, I thought. “I’m sure it’ll still be fun.”
Then it was decided that we’d have a church vs. church battle for round one. This is where I should have stepped in but didn’t. Because after all, “No biggie, I’m sure this will be fun and a healthy competition.” I still had no reason to believe otherwise.

At the sound of the starting whistle I learned exactly what kind of nightmare we were in for.

Remember that rule that “headshots are allowed”? Well, it turns out that’s pretty much all they threw. And when I say “threw”, I mean “shot” or “launched”. I’m not joking–I’ve NEVER seen dodgeballs move that fast. Within seconds I had a few of our students in tears, gripping the side of their head, and all of our students looking like the proverbial “deer in the headlights” Leaders were consoling the casualties (which turned out to be more in shock than in pain). The game didn’t last long, even though we outnumbered them almost 2 to 1. As it turns out, a 6th grade girl is no match for a 22 yr. old man when it comes to dodgeball.
Leaders came up to me, voicing their discomfort with the situation, but I barely heard any of that because I was mentally rehearsing a) the earful I was about to give the other youth pastor and b) the angry phone calls I would receive Monday morning after we get back.
After speaking with the youth pastor and voicing my concern in no uncertain terms, he apologized and assured me there was no intention to harm, and that we should mix up the teams and even them out. I could not have agreed more.

(I’ll say here that there really was no malicious intent from the other team, they were just really REALLY good at dodgeball! We still love them and many of our kids have dedicated the next year to training and steroids, looking forward to a rematch!)

After we evened out the teams, most of my students actually BEGGED to keep playing, even after 3 more rounds.

This was a situation where no one was “wrong” per se; we just had 2 very different approaches to the same game. And I also learned that their students play dodgeball religiously every time they get together.
That would explain the special shoes and the tattoos.

So, since returning from that trip, I’ve been sleeping, reminisching, and thanking God for the fantastic time that we had.  Hopefully that explains my absence from blogging as of late.

Not many people know this, but I’ve had my fair share of celebrity run-ins. 

I asked Ollie North a question and got an answer.  I saw Alan Ruck (“Cameron” from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) TWO different times at the grocery store when I lived in NY and I even talked to him (inviting him to one of MY performances).  I’ve been to the Conan O’Brien Show (the first, much better one) where I also saw Kelsey Grammar and more notably Max Weinberg.  I held a door open for Rosie Greer, I’ve been on The Today Show (well, in the crowd outside but still), I’ve been literally run into by Barry Manilow, I’ve had a conversation with Rosie O’Donnell, and I was personally introduced to Kathie Lee Gifford backstage after a performance.  And I’ll just throw in for free that Phyllis Diller once stepped on my mom’s foot.

Yep, clearly I am where I am in life because of these chance encounters with greatness.   Or not.

While it may be true that I have been just as affected by the aforementioned celebs as I would have been had I merely thought about them, there is a truth that I’ve been thinking about recently.  And it has much more to do with the real truth in the old saying “Its all in who you know.”

Take a gander at what Paul said to the church in Rome (8:16,17): “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

We usually only ever hear the word “heir” when we’re reading a will or we’re watching Antiques Roadshow and its immediately followed by “loom”.  It’s no wonder then that the depths of what is being said here is lost on our 21st century ears, enlightened as they may be.

The easiest way to understand the legal term “heir” is to use the term “entitled”.  Someone named heir is someone who is entitled to all that is laid out in the legal document.  This verse is telling us that if you are a “child of God”, then you are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”  Just before Paul wrote these words, he wrote about the concept of adoption; a fitting parallel to what God the Father has done through God the Son.

So, welcomed into the family of God as an adoptee is what puts us, His children in the position of heirs.  We now stand alongside Jesus Himself as beneficiaries of every blessing, every gift, every supply, everything that God can give and does give to His only Son, He now gives to every son and daughter that enters into His family.  Paul says further that we are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3)

“What’s the dif?”, you ask?  Well, I believe it is primarily one of attitude, perception, and ownership of all that we have in our adopted sonship/daughtership state in God’s family.

In my junior year of high school, our family decided to host a foreign exchange student.  So all the way from Holland, we welcomed “Wouter” into our home for an entire year.  I remember vividly picking him up from the airport, awkward first moments of silence, and that first morning at the breakfast table when he put unimaginable things together for breakfast, out of sheer ignorance of what he was and wasn’t supposed to eat together.  To this day, I still can’t forget that mashed potato sandwich.

But it didn’t take long before “Woody” (we couldn’t pronounce his real name) and I became fast friends.  We became truly like brothers in the same family.  We laughed, we wrestled, we shared secrets, we talked about girls, and we enjoyed sharing a room together for the year.  And just as vividly as I remember his first day in America, I remember his last.  I remember standing at that airport checkpoint, hugging him with tears literally pouring down my cheeks.  I remember standing there holding my brother, this brother I never had, for what seemed like an eternity.  We held each other and wept because of the deep sense of family that we had come to know in one another.  We cried and cried and we actually never said the word “goodbye” to each other.  We couldn’t bring ourselves to say it.

As strong as that bond was for the both of us (and I have never seen Woody again since that day), the bond of the Heavenly Father on those who call Him such would make my feelings for my exchange brother seem trite and silly.  We ARE all that He says we are.  We HAVE all that He says we have.  We WILL BE all that He says we will be. 

Just as God the Father embraces, prizes, touts, and honors God the Son, so He does for you His child. 

Now, what was it that you wanted to ask Him?

I’ve heard that most people are deathly afraid of public speaking.  I love it.  I find myself looking forward to the next time I get to communicate to a crowd.  As a kid, when other kids wanted to be firefighters, policemen, and astronauts, I wanted to be a stand-up comedian.  It’s true.

I recently had another opportunity to be in front of and speak to a large crowd.  As usual, I was in my element.  I hope that doesn’t sound too egotistical, but I suppose I can’t help it if it does.  I don’t mean it to be, it’s just that the more people I’m in front of, the more comfortable I am.  It’s weird, I know.

I got a comment from someone in the crowd the other day that he just couldn’t believe “how comfortable I seem up there.”  It’s true.  I love it.  And again, I’m not sure how this is coming across, but I feel like its something like a gift from God.  Its a gift I’m so thankful for, because it ignites my insides. 

What is it that makes you come alive inside?  What is the gift of God in your life?  What is your talent, your unique ability?  What is that thing that brings you joy simply because you recognize it comes straight from God’s hand?

My youngest son just walked in soaking wet from the belly down.  Not even seeming to notice (or hoping I wouldn’t) he said calmly, “Hey Dad, can I get my swimming suit on and go in the stream?”  We have a small stream behind our house that our kids love to play near and around, but hardly ever IN.  So, his request came as a bit of a surprise.

I asked, “Hey Hudson, did you go into the stream with your clothes on?”  (Playing dumb.)  The response came back, “Ummm….no.”  I pressed on, “Then how did you get all wet?”  “Ummmm…….I dunno…….Hey Dad, can I put my swimming suit on and go in the stream?”  Clearly we had quickly come full-circle on this conversation.

I said, “Hudson, you’re all wet.”  He looked at his clothes momentarily, raised his head to look at me and said, “That’s no problem.”

What is it about doing the wrong thing that messes up our thinking?  Since it’s terribly hard to accidentally do the wrong thing, most of the wrong things we do (like going into the stream with our clothes on) are thought out, even if the thinking starts and ends nanoseconds before the wrong thing is done.

But we know when we’ve “stepped in it”, don’t we?  We have that sense of “uh oh” and sometimes we have the crazy audacity to come to God the Father dripping wet and acting like we’re bone dry.  We sometimes completely skip over the step of talking with Him about why we’re dripping on the carpet and go right to making our requests.  We do that because confessing our sins to God isn’t very comfortable.  We rationalize our behavior with thoughts like, “God already knows what I’ve done wrong, so it really doesn’t need to be brought up or discussed.” and “God knew what I was going to do before I did it, and He already forgave me so I can just forget about it.”

But let’s allow God’s Word to speak here: 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The word “confess” is “homolageo” and means literally “to say the same”.  When we see sin in our lives, our confession is when we say the same thing about it that God says about it.  Essentially, confession is agreeing with God that a sin is a sin.  We don’t sugarcoat, we don’t gloss over, we don’t sweep under, we don’t dismiss.  We face it, and SAY THE SAME as God says about it.  Only then can we rightly partake of the forgiveness that is ours by the blood of Jesus’ death on the cross.  Our confession triggers His faithful response of justice—wait a minute here—justice?!?  The verse says that God is “faithful and JUST…”  Where in the world is the justice?  How do forgiveness and justice go together?  In human terms, forgiveness and justice don’t seem to be anywhere near each other.  You either forgive OR you dispense justice.  If you punch me in the face, I can either forgive you OR dispense justice by punching YOU in the face.  So, how can the concepts of justice AND forgiveness be found together in apparent harmony in this verse?

It’s because Jesus on the cross satisfied once and for all the justice of God’s holiness.  God’s holiness demanded a holy sacrifice.  Jesus was that supply.  Jesus was that sacrifice.  1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…”

So, when we confess (say the same as God about) our sins, the forgiveness (made possible by the satisified justice of God through Jesus on the cross) is applied to that sin and we are purified from all unrighteousness.  Now, if you read that verse again, you’ll read that God does “purify us from all unrighteousness.”  That means that every sin, every flaw, every decision we’ve made, every word we’ve said, and every thing we’ve done is purified by the hand of God.

But it all begins when we confess.  I know this may not be a pleasant illustration, but I’ve always felt that vomiting is a great illustration of confession.  You see, vomiting happens when your body rejects something that has been put into it; either by something you ate, or by virus.  Just like that, your spirit knows when something has entered that doesn’t belong there, that isn’t part of God’s will and plan for you.  And the only way to get rid of it is to confess, to vomit, to expel it from your life.  Have you ever noticed that you usually feel better after puking ?  When all of that virus, that food item, that whatever-it-is is gone, you have a sense of relief.

What sin are you holding in?  Are you coming before God in dripping wet clothes but pretending you’re dry?  Puke that thing out, call it what it is, and allow God to purify you from all unrighteousness.