Overkill?

Yeah, yeah... I know...it's been forever since I've posted. Frankly, I just haven't felt like sitting down and taking the time to organize thoughts into some sort of coherent order that could be followed by the average reader.

Sorry.

This morning I'm wondering if yesterday's message wasn't a bit of overkill.

It's not often that I get to preach at Hopedale. Maybe I've gotten used to being able to preach freely to people that I don't know so well. I think that preaching to people that you really care about is much more difficult...especially when the message is somewhat of a scolding.

That's not how I intended for it to sound, but I'm afraid that it might have come across that way.

I really do love my church family. But I think that we get way too comfortable with the way we are doing things. Hopedale was a "Pacesetter" church in Missouri Baptist life for the year 2009. That means that we were one of the leading churches in baptisms for churches of comparable size. I think we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 (maybe it was 68) baptisms for the year. Javalujah!

If you figure that we have an average of around 300 in attendance on Sunday morning and work with an annual budget of around $580,000, that means that it takes about five of us and just under $9000 to reach each soul for the kingdom...and for that we're given an award and can feel good about ourselves! Why doesn't this give me a warm fuzzy feeling? Why do I feel like we've become a more of a social club than an effective tool in the hands of Our Lord? (and if Deacons are like Board Members then I'm on the Board at our club)

I hope that you understand that I realize that I am a part of the problem...but I don't want to stay that way. Maybe I got it wrong and the message that I was hearing was just for me. There wasn't the usual excitement as I was preparing the message (actually, I felt pretty uncomfortable). There wasn't the usual rush as I was sharing it, either (again, that feeling of discomfort). One Facebook friend suggested that the "good sermon" comment is like the kiss of death...well, I didn't get a lot of those; a few, but not many. I still don't know if that's a good thing or not.

I'm having lunch with a friend today. I think that he'll give me an honest assessment of how he felt about it and maybe some insight as to how others may have received it. It's been such a long time since I've preached at Hopedale. If it's a long time until I preach again I won't know if it's just the normal long time of if enough people complained about the last time I preached. I think I'd like it better if they would just come and tell me if they think I was out of line.

Maybe they will.

John

What Would Happen If...

I found about about this political candidate from a relative on Facebook (thanks Sharon). Apparently Mr. Phil Woolas is losing his seat because his campaign ads were deceptive and attacked the honor and character of his opponent.

What would our Congress look like today if false ads were banned from political campaigns with the consequence being disqualification and not being able to run again in the next election? One thing is certain--candidates wouldn't need to raise so much money to put out the number of lying ads that are out there.

Of course, here in the USA there would also have to be something done about the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that allows large corporations to lie anonymously on a candidates behalf.

Wouldn't it be nice if the people that we elected to office were honorable people that had some personal integrity? Wouldn't it be nice if they couldn't be bought or bullied into making decisions? Wouldn't it be nice if they could actually talk to one another and work out differences without resorting to temper tantrums, lying, name calling and behaviors more likely to be found in a junior high student council (my apologies to the junior high council members)?

We do have laws that keep people from lying...slander, libel. Why don't they apply to campaign ads?

All-in-all, I have to say that I'm glad it's over for this election cycle. We ought to have a few months of the normal sex filled beer commercials and normal false stories and inflammatory reporting from Fox News. The return to the normal everyday lying and hype that we've grown accustomed to will be a relief!

John

Voting: Your Christian Duty?

I heard that today on a Christian radio network. They said it was your Christian duty to vote.

Really? I thought it was your Christian duty to tell people about Jesus. How is it that so many of our Christian "leaders" have become political pawns instead of voices for Jesus? How is it that they give dollars and air time to candidates for office and push for political reform while allowing their neighborhoods and communities to go to hell because they would rather judge them by their politics than share the love of God with them?

Maybe it's easier to tell somebody how they should vote instead of sharing the "Good News" of salvation. We've become pretty quick to ignore their spiritual conditions and oh so very slow to tell them of our religious beliefs. Is talking politics really so much less offensive than talking religion?

No matter the outcome of the mid-term elections, let's all do our Christian duty tomorrow: Tell somebody about Jesus!

Can I get an "Amen"?

John