Christmas is over.

Christmas is gone again. Finally.

We can put away the trees, specialized yard gnomes, wrapping paper and Angry Bird Christmas lighting. No more wrapping paper, reindeer car ornaments or the questionable sweaters (and no... cats do NOT skate), and, maybe most importantly, we can put away the Christmas spirit.

I have begun to dislike the term. It's like we save all our righteous indignation for the season. We expend so much energy fighting to "put Christ in Christmas" that we forget to act like Christ before and beyond Christmas.

What a concept.

Not to discount the good that has been done over the season. It is all needed. But there will still be hungry, homeless people. There will still be people trafficked, children abused, and poor people without. We can't afford to wait till next Christmas to stand in the gap.

A friend of mine, Brian, posted a telling poster on his Facebook Wall a few weeks ago. Paraphrased, it said:

Instead of being so concerned about putting the "Christ" in Christmas, how about we work to be the Christ in Christmas?

A little bit more love... just a teeny bit, and no one will ever be able to stop us. I honestly believe if Christ was physically here, one of the last things that would bother Him is how much of Him is injected into a season that has little to do with the sacrifice of His life anyway. If I might be so forward, I do humbly believe He would be in pain with regards to the human condition.

I believe we need to feel the same type of sorrow.

So, I propose we make the "Christ in Christmas" phrase the most redundant one in existence by reflecting God all the time. Let's work to become the Christ people see all the time.

Image courtesy of James Fischer via Flickr CC

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Church now allows interracial couples

I mentioned the interesting case of the Kentucky congregation that voted to disallow interracial couples a while back (to be fair, said couples were allowed to attend funerals. Okay).

In an update, the pastor of the church publicly noted that the church had overturned that vote. I should also note that the pastor who spearheaded the original rule is not the current Pastor.

There is a lot I could say, but since I am a nice guy, I'll hold my tongue. At least till Black History month.

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Church Tech on a Shoe String | ChurchMag

Church Tech on a Shoe String | ChurchMag

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The humility of leadership

Courtesy of Ian Britton via reelworship.com

There is a time, in every believer's life, that he or she finds out just how important they are in Kingdom-building.

You can be such a powerful tool for the kingdom. This precept should be a motivating factor in the life of every Christian. But even more importantly, one must realize that as important as we are, God will get things done... without -- or in spite of -- you. In other words, you might as well get on board, because God's will will be done.

Understanding and appreciating this intrinsic dichotomy is a serious, humbling lesson all Christians must learn, and I admit I am still getting a handle on it myself. It is a thought that frees me from burdening myself with self-doubt and the occasional spirit of reluctance.

As potential champions of social justice, we all have opportunities to impact our local worlds in positive ways. There is a need. God wants us to project love. He blesses our humble endeavors in that regard.

What are you waiting for?

What am I waiting for?


Let's dream big, and worry about meeting people where they are, and showing God's love, with no strings attached. Forget about Christmas Spirit (don't gasp!)... let's make it perpetual.

Let' make it happen.

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Twitter, the mayor and the high school usurper

In yet another example of folks stumbling over social networking, I found this story fairly amusing. A teenager created a Twitter account to poke fun of the mayor of his town. Well, said mayor did not like it, and initiated legal actions to compel the young man to kill the twitter profile.

Not only did the teen refuse to remove the account, he is now running against the mayor (seems there is a recall process underway). Ha!

While the issue of alcohol dependence is sad, this public official did own up to failings, and does seem to be working to stay clean. Still, there are several points to glean here:

• Get your own twitter handle, and do it quickly. Think of it as scooping an .xxx domain.
• Sometimes, the best way to deal with teens is dialogue, not cease and desist letters.
• If you are in a small town, create rules that prevent people who attack you from running for office.
• The best way to get people to not talk about your drunken exploits is to have only sober exploits.

I have no idea what type of chance the kid has in any recall election, but if he wins, I will use his likeness as my phone background for a week. 

Go Twitter!

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Would you hire Jesus as your pastor?

via Google images

Would you?

Would our present-day sensibilities preclude us from looking at Jesus as a success?

What would you consider to be a successful minister/ministry? Congregation? Size of edifice? Length of time on local radio or TV? Propagation of intellectual material? Use of high-end technology?

How would Jesus measure up in a world that is instinctively influenced by materialism? I think the answer might be a bit scary.

Now, flip it.

How do I measure up to Jesus (the true measure of success)? Do I battle for those that need to be fought for? Do I show compassion? Am I willing to sacrifice my comfort to present the gospel to people?

Do I reflect God in everything I do?

Hmmm... food for thought...

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Interracial couples NOT welcome!

Yep, it's 2012...

Chalk this up as one of those headlines that make me do a double-take. I was dozing off at the time, too. Apparently, a Kentucky church has gone out of it's way to ban interracial marriage. It made the decision after one of its congregants made the monumentally dangerous decision of bringing her Zimbabwean fiance to church, where she played the piano while he sang. And no, the church is not caught up in a time warp or being punked by M. Night Shyamalan (I checked).

He sang "I Surrender All."

Apparently, he couldn't or wouldn't surrender his skin color, because he is not allowed back, or at least not while engaged to a white lady.

You see... the church decided to, uh, proactively make sure it didn't have to deal with this travesty again. It formally banned all interracial couples from coming to the church. Oh wait... except for funerals (I didn't make this up; plus, I thoroughly believe that there is no better place to relax overtly racist mores than at grave sites).

I would have given good, good money and my favoriite Christmas ornaments to see the looks on the faces of the congregants during the song.

Now, apart from giving me major pause, this unbelievable story let to a blog post that presented me with a few unenvisaged issues:

• How would I categorize it with a blog label? I initially wanted to use "Funnies" since it is so shockingly unbelievable, but also considered creating a new one: ...Songs that won't get you invited back to church...
• Confusion. How on earth would this church deal with the cast of Jersey Shore? Over-tanning would definitely be an issue. I guess re-runs of Mixed Blessings never play during church get-togethers. Guess who didn't come to that dinner. What happened to simply making people feel uncomfortable? I'm all for democracy, but, c'mon. For real?
• A weird sense of understanding... maybe this church is simply misunderstood. Maybe they were striking back for the disenfranchised expatriates Robert Mugabe ticked off with his land reform. 

In any case, this stuff still happens in the Land of the Free, so I guess there is still work to be done.

Thanks to Cass for giving me a graphic sign that clearly denotes my speechlessness.

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