What is Advent?

Text for the week:  Luke 1:67-79

As I reflect on this semester, I think we’ve come full circle.  Here’s what I mean:

While suffering from a mild case of writer’s block, I was reading through some of my reflections written earlier in this semester, realizing that what I had written in September was really about Advent.  That’s almost like playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving — or is it? 

Here’s what I wrote:

I’m reading a book by Phillip Yancy entitled, Rumors of Another World.  In it, he talks about the tension we live in between two worlds; one filled with disorder, pain, sorrow and death; and another that gives signs that point to a reality different than what we often see.  At times, the disorder of one acts as a signpost to the other.

I’ve been reflecting on how that shapes how we remember, especially this week as we arrive at the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  There is a lot being said about how to move through this weekend — preparations being made by every organization, from churches to the NFL.  As people of a particular faith, shaped by the one called Jesus, we move through it remaining hopeful that the world that is disordered will one day be made new.  We long for the day when there will be no more crying, pain, death or sorrow, and work to make this Kingdom a present reality.  So we lean into that future, in hope and faith longing for the day when Friday is gone and Sunday is here.

That’s Advent.  Living today, shaped by the hope we have for tomorrow.  Christ has come and will come again. While we wait, we experience His presence here and now.  Advent living isn’t seasonal, like Christmas music.  We don’t remove it from our thought, like the tree from our family rooms.  We don’t put it away, like the lights on our porch.  It shapes us every day as we remember the first time He came by the retelling of the stories of the birth of Jesus; looking ahead to the day when He will come again; and allowing those thoughts to shape how we live today. 

So, until He comes again, Merry Christmas!

Christmas is everywhere

Text for the week: Luke 2:1-20

You can’t go anywhere this time of year without noticing that there is something different going on here.  From the lighting of Michigan Avenue, more music than any one person can listen to in a month, Black Friday every week, a Michael Bublé Christmas concert, Bieber ruining a song forever, guaranteed pricing at Wal-Mart, and even Panera opening at the end of this month (Can I get a “wahoo”?), Christmas is everywhere!

But if you think it’s all “out there,” it’s also all over our campus — Party for the Kids, The Messiah, The Christmas Bizarre, Sounds of the Season, and Party with Baby Jesus. Christmas is everywhere.

All of these things are great, and remind me of the first Christmas, which wasn’t such a great celebration. Oh, I suppose you could technically say there were lights (hello, star!), music, and fanfare (hello, angel choir!). But it really started with a young couple showing up in a busy town, surrounded by busy people, sleeping in a stinky stable with stinky barn animals, and the only ones paying enough attention to show up were shepherds — who no one believed anyway!  Quite the beginning, right?

I’m not sure about you, but I’m so glad we’ve come as far as we have in how we celebrate Christmas. After 2000 years, we finally have it right. In the church, we decorate properly, sing properly, dress properly, and celebrate properly.  We know when to start playing the Christmas music (sort of), when to put up the decorations, when to take them down, and when and where to shop.  We never grow tired of singing the old carols, because you might only get to sing your favorite once a year, if you’re lucky.  Christmas is everywhere! I can’t speak for you, but I’m really glad to be celebrating now, and not then!

This week, don’t miss out on your chance to celebrate Christmas properly by hitting the new layaway plan at Wal-Mart, insisting on their lowest price guarantee through Christmas, listening to as much Christmas music as possible, and counting the days until the semester is over. Christmas is everywhere!

So close, yet so far. 

Everything matters

Text for the week: Colossians 3:17

Well, that about does it, right?  That’s about all that needs to be said.  We’ve transitioned and turned the corner.  Because of where we are in the semester, we find ourselves thinking about Thanksgiving break and all that goes with it.

I think of Thanksgiving Day (the first day Christmas music is allowed in my home), putting up Christmas decorations, watching the Lions lose again, eating turkey till I bust, and the traditional clash between my beloved Buckeyes and the boys wearing the ugly helmets north of the state line. (Got your attention on that one, didn’t I?)

I’m not sure how you are, but I compartmentalize my life pretty easily.  It’s natural for me to just move on and forget what I’ve just done because it’s done, over, finis (thought I’d throw a little French in there). It’s already getting colder, getting dark early, and everything seems to be rapidly moving us toward the end of the semester and on to Christmas.  So, before our minds wander too far away from topic, here is one last thought: Whatever you do for God matters.

This semester, I know we’ve talked a lot about going, but I want you to know that whatever you do and wherever you do it, matters.  When Tony Campolo was here, he challenged us to go where we are needed — not where anyone else could do what we do.  I think he said it something like this:  “Why would you go someplace and do what you do, if a lot of other people can do it, instead of going someplace where what you do is needed, and no one wants to go?”

Before we put a bow on this box and put it under the tree, I hope you will think about that challenge one more time.  I don’t care where you go.  I just want you to find God waiting for you when you get there.  I don’t care what you do — that’s not my call.  I just want you to do the very thing that God created you to do, and that’s between the two of you. 

I trust God to help you discover what that is, and where you will do it.  I believe He is capable of speaking that into your heart, if you’re listening.  I don’t think we necessarily need to do anything differently to hear Him, just be attentive to the ways He is speaking to us every day.  It’s the little things that matter most.  Whatever we do for God matters. It makes all the difference in the world. 

Bigger hands

Text for the week: Exodus 3:13-4:5

A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation with two professors and we wondered together how God was going to use one of our guests in chapel.  What would God say to us through them?

During the course of the conversation, I said something — maybe in an attempt to ease my mind as much as to come up with a response.  In a moment of inspiration, I made this statement:  “Bigger hands are shaping this semester than mine.”  It was intended to be a statement of faith, but is one I believe has become a reality to us.


Since then, I’ve thought about that conversation and my response several times.  I’ve actually used that phrase often, maybe with some of you.  The further we move into the semester, the more profound it has become to me — not because I said it, but because it is true.  The evidence is right in front of us, again showing up this week through three of our own faculty and two alumni. 

Bigger hands have been shaping this semester than mine — than all of ours.  This is a not-so-subtle reminder that we aren’t in charge.  God is, and He will do what He will do, when He wants to do it.  We can plan, pray, and do everything we can, but ultimately, this is His.  We believe that God is ever-present, but it has been apparent to me, and many of you, that He has chosen to be close to us as well. 

Yet in the midst of saying that, we need to also be reminded that He sees us; He sees you and me.  He is aware of the deepest desires of our hearts. As we seek Him, He wants us to not only find Him (Jeremiah 29:13), but find those desires met. 

I had this conversation with a student just this week, reminding him that God doesn’t jerk us around, doesn’t play games with us concerning the things that matter most.  He desires to shape us, helping us to experience life that is more than we could ever imagine in our wildest dreams (Ephesians 3:20, The Message Translation).


So, the question of the semester remains: What will you do with what God has placed in your hands?

Lessons from a ballpark

Text for the week: Jeremiah 29:10-14

I’m a recovering baseball fan.  The strike of ’91 hurt, but the strike of ’94 killed me.  I know, ’94?  The team with the best record in baseball before the strike of ’94 was the Montreal Expos. Again, I can hear a resounding, “Montreal Expos?”

But, it’s not the teams I want to talk about today. It’s the stadiums they played in: Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. Old Candlestick in San Francisco. The Big “A” in Anaheim. Three River Stadium in Pittsburgh. Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The Astrodome in Houston. And even my beloved Tiger Stadium in Detroit. 

None of these stadiums are standing anymore, but do you know what else they had in common?  They were large, cavernous stadiums built to get as many people in them as possible.   Not much personality.  As a matter of fact, you could almost say that if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all.  Big, oval, concrete structures that, once inside, you couldn’t see beyond their walls to the outside world.  You didn’t go to the game for the ballpark, you went in spite of it. 

It’s why people value the older stadiums like Fenway and Wrigley, with their personality, charm and individuality — remembered for things like ivy and “a green monster.”  People still go to watch those teams, just to visit the ballparks.  It doesn’t really matter how well the Cubs are doing; they still draw over 2.5 million because of the ballpark. 

So, if you visit the stadiums that have replaced the ones listed above, you will see that they are all built with a different purpose in mind.  They are all individually shaped not just for the team, but even around the city they inhabit. 

Did you see the arch cut in the grass of Busch Stadium during the World Series, showcasing not just the Cardinals, but the entire downtown skyline of St. Louis?  Or have you been to The Great America Ballpark in Cincinnati, where you are on a river walk once you walk out of the seats in right field?  Or how about the new Miller Ballpark in Milwaukee, where every time a homerun is hit, Bernie slides into a huge stein, and every fifth inning you have the mascot race, made up of a brat, sausage, hotdog, and polish?  See what I mean?

Each is creative and individual, having its own personality, experience, charm and even story.  Just like us.  I don’t think I’m being romantic, either — because we matter!   We are wired by our Creator to long for meaning and purpose and to see ourselves as He created us to be.  And like we were reminded this week, not one of us is wired the same, and that’s okay.  (I’m glad I wasn’t called to math, either!)

Just like the new generation of major league ballparks springing up across the country, maybe their rebuilding is expressing the greater longing within each of us to find our own meaning and purpose for this life.   Maybe we can learn a lesson from a baseball park, because maybe they are betraying our hearts.   

What are you hearing?

Who’da thunk?

Text of the week: Luke 13:18-19 and Ephesians 3:20-21

Part of my journey this semester began over the summer, with a small parable embedded in Luke’s account of the parable of the mustard seed (see Luke 13:18-19).  So that you don’t feel like you’re reading an exegesis paper, let me just say this: a mustard tree is more like a gnarly, ugly-looking bush — not a majestic tree.  This is not the way Jews envisioned the Kingdom of God showing up.  They would have envisioned something more like a cedar from Lebanon, or an oak, like the oaks of righteousness from the psalmist, representing what the Kingdom would look like.  A mustard tree is a bush — a shrub, even.  This story is easily overlooked because Jesus certainly didn’t mean the Kingdom is like a gnarly, ugly bush. Or did He?

What if Jesus is saying the Kingdom comes in ways we don’t expect —on His time table — to wherever He wants it to come.  I like to call these “who’da thunk” moments.  For instance, when Susan Kizzee walked on this campus as a freshman art major, did she think she would be called to live overseas, doing graphic design for a company with her husband, helping raise funds for their ministry, while at the same time using her artistic talent to beautify a developing office compound in India?  I think we could put that in the “who’da thunk” category.  I’m sure Susan didn’t see that coming, but now wouldn’t have it any other way.  That’s the way God works.

The Kingdom doesn’t always appear in ways that we can predict.  Maybe if we stopped trying to predict how the Kingdom is supposed to come (i.e. telling God how to do His work), we would actually recognize Kingdom work more often.  Early in the semester, we started engaging our imaginations in the process of listening to what God has for us, and now we are right back to where we started.  For us to hear God, maybe we need to think outside the boxes we’ve created for Him.  Maybe we need to remember that this is His work, not ours.  Maybe we need to re-imagine what the Kingdom is about.   Maybe we need to be reminded that it isn’t about us.  And remember, this is most effective and meaningful when it happens in community.

So, we’re back to where we started.  We have come full circle.  We’re looking for “who’da thunk” moments.  We’re looking for the ways that God works in and among us that we didn’t see coming and couldn’t predict, allowing Him to create His dreams for us, as we partner with Him to build His Kingdom.

So, the questions we’ve been asking each other throughout the semester are still there:  What are you hearing?  How is God re-shaping your dreams?  Have you seen any mustard plants lately?

Rediscovering the joy in the everyday

Text for the week: Colossians 3:17 and John 14:1-14

It’s a Thursday morning, and I just met with a student visiting our campus who will be a freshman next fall.  He has a sensitive spirit, and is asking questions about what God would have him do with his life.  I had the privilege of sharing with him that God calls in a variety of ways, and that he didn’t have to buy into the fact that you have to do something big or noticeable for it to be significant.  I also shared with him that he isn’t less of a person if he doesn’t have a classical call to ministry (e.g. pastoral, youth, missions, etc.), but that God can and will use him regardless of how he is wired.

Sound familiar?

I also shared some of the early story of Mother Teresa.   When she left her position as principal at a high school in Calcutta, she thought she was leaving a position of influence.  She was giving that all up to go live and serve among the dying.  What do you think motivated her?  Acclaim?  Recognition?  Title?  I don’t think so.

She saw a need, wanted to do something about it, and did it in Jesus’ name.  Why?  Do we really think she did it for the praise she would go on to receive?  Did she do it so she could be quoted from her speeches given in front of presidents and world leaders?  To give her a platform to write books?  I’m sure one of the things running through her mind was receiving the Nobel Prize for working among the dying, right?  You wouldn’t think there would be much said about someone who goes to live in the slums of Calcutta, to help the dead and dying, would you?

But that isn’t the way the Kingdom works.  The secular world, at times, even acknowledges that.  She didn’t do it for recognition.  There was nothing glamorous about what she was doing.  She was holding hands, washing bed sores, changing soiled beds.  I don’t think she ever believed she was doing anything special.   She wasn’t doing anything you or I couldn’t do.  But it was significant, and there is a difference.

Mother Teresa discovered joy in the every day.  She said, “I have a feeling that we are in such a hurry that we do not even have time to look at one another and smile.”  The joy given from a smile; the difference made in someone’s life because of a birthday party, a card, a word, or a hug.  It’s rediscovering the joy that comes in the mundane, ordinary, everyday experiences in life.  Loving and serving the needs that are around us today — right now.   Never forget, whatever you do now in Jesus’ name, matters.

Community is key

Text for the week:  1 Corinthians 12:12-26 

A friend of mine is executive pastor at a church in Valparaiso, Ind.  He and his wife both grew up around Tuscaloosa, Ala., and her mom teaches at the University of Alabama.  When the tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa and other towns nearby, they felt it.  The same thing happened when hurricane Katrina went through southern Mississippi and Alabama — they were hurt by what happened in their home state and by the devastation that occurred along the Gulf Coast.  They felt it.  Why?  Because it was home.  These were their people.   It affected their friends, their families and their neighbors; and they responded in kind.

I’m not sure how many trips they have taken to Tuscaloosa to help with the repair and rebuilding efforts, but I can guarantee, when they aren’t there physically, they are there in spirit.

Nouwen says, “As individuals we cannot be everything to everyone, but as a community we can indeed serve a great variety of needs.” 

Compassion fatigue

Text for the week: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 

I get tired of hearing I’m not doing enough, in the middle of my trying to do something.  There is so much pain, hunger and tragedy all the time. How can I help meet all the needs that are out there?  Just thinking about it makes me tired. (See paragraph 2, pg. 77 of Quitting Church)

What would you say if I told you that you didn’t need to?  What if you could be an active participant in the Kingdom of God without responding to every need that presents itself?

Remember what happened this spring with the devastations in both Tuscaloosa and Joplin?  I remember the personal guilt I experienced because not only did I not go, I never felt compelled to go.  Am I heartless?  Some might say yes.  These came right on the heels of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Come on, how much can one person take?  How much can humanity be expected to respond to?

Henri Nouwen says, “When there is no community that can mediate between world needs and personal responses, the burden of the world can only be a crushing burden.  When the pains of the world are presented to people who are already overwhelmed by the problems in their small circle of family or friends, how can we hope for a creative response?”

So, I ask again: How much are we expected to respond to?  All of it.  That’s right — all of it.  Not me, but you and me together.

What are you hearing?

Text for the week: John 10:1-10

There have been a lot of ways that God has been speaking to us this semester.  What are you hearing?

If you are looking for an answer to that question here, I don’t think I can do that for you.  I can’t dream what God will do in and through you. I’m wired differently than you are, and you should be very grateful for that.  But because of that, there is no formula to follow for the “what” to our dreams. Some would like to say it’s as easy as 1-2-3, but I don’t think so.

Of course, there are similarities about all of our dreams — developing a relationship and heart like God’s, living in community with each other, learning to love as God loves and to see as God sees.  I don’t think I need to go through the whole litany of what we believe, but what we believe shapes what and how we dream. 

Your dream is your dream.  But we don’t chase our dreams in a vacuum.  Some of you are studying to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, pastors, engineers, writers, lab technicians, and a number of other occupational callings.  These are the things you are wired to do.  They fit how you are uniquely created, and what you are created to do.  I believe that we are all passionate about different things. 

I hate math. Sorry, Dr. Atkinson, but I do.  Maybe better stated, I don’t do math.  And I’ve tried — trust me, I’ve tried!  That doesn’t mean math is an evil subject sent from the pit of hell to haunt me all the days of my life. (Maybe I’m still festering over that last test in Dr. Atkinson’s class that cost me my A.)

Just because I’m wired in ways that aren’t conducive to math doesn’t mean I’m wired better than someone else; it just means we’re wired differently.  Because we’re wired differently — or gifted differently, to use the biblical term — we will do different things, but still do them for the Kingdom.  The “what” you dream, matches the “how” you are wired, gifted and created.  How will you use your passions for the purpose of the Kingdom?  That is how you begin to answer the question: What are you hearing?

So how do you make your calling about the Kingdom?  I think that’s found in listening and dreaming.  They go hand in hand, because I believe that we can know for certain that everyone has a calling.  And if what we’ve been saying this semester is true, then God will reveal that to you as you listen, and begin to dream His dreams for your life.

What are you hearing?

25 things

Text for the week: Psalm 19: 7-14

If you didn’t take notes, you’re in luck.  If you missed them, here they are.  I thought, as a reminder of some wise counsel we received this week that we needed to put this to print.  So, I asked Corey if we could have a do-over, and give you his list of 25 things, again.  Here they are:

1.        Floss every night before you brush

2.       Never go grocery shopping while you are hungry.

3.       Change the oil in your car every three thousand miles.

4.       Never buy new technology.

5.       Don’t buy anything with credit except your house and education.

6.       After you graduate, read a book or two a month.

7.       Lay your clothes out the night before — it will save you time in the morning.

8.       Always get the name of the customer service person you are talking to.

9.       Keep an “in-case-I-die” folder.

10.   Be critical in your thinking, but not critical in your spirit.

11.   Finish strong and with character in everything you do.

12.   Love people, all people, regardless of the team they cheer for.

13.   Be careful what you talk about in front of your children.

14.   God first, then family, then the ministry.

15.   Remember that God does not need you, but he really wants to use you to advance His Kingdom.

16.   Let God use you to the fullest.

17.   Remember, you are going to die.

18.   Remember, this side of heaven is not your home, and you will always be homesick.

19.   Have an accountability and prayer partner.

20.   Remember that we are all one.

21.   Be faithful in the little things.

22.   Love the Church.

23.   God’s will for your life is this: to live as Christ.

24.   Remember the most important things in life.

25.   God is enough.

Thank you, Corey MacPherson.  Our lives are richer because God allowed our paths to cross.

Always about the heart

Text for the week:  John 14:1-14

As a young man, I remember searching to remain as close to God as possible.  I didn’t do this perfectly; as a matter of fact, like most teenagers, I was far from it. But God was patient with me as we grew in our relationship with each other.  I remember a conversation I had with my father concerning my continued trips to the altar in our church.  I asked him when I would ever get over the need to come and pray — most times in confession — and I will never forget his answer: “Never.”

That has shaped me in ways that I’ve always been grateful for.  It has served as a constant reminder that God is bigger than me and my ability to “rein Him in.” There is always more for me to know, experience and do.

It also taught me that humility is a part of our journey of faith.  It’s humbling to walk down the aisle to the altar in front of everyone, especially when you might have to walk over 13 people just to get to the aisle.  I’m no different than you — I have to fight my own demons, being more concerned about what others are thinking about me than what God is saying to me at the time.

This reminds me that even in the process of doing good, our faith rests in our hearts, our passions, our desires and our willingness to respond when God calls.

That’s what revival is all about.  It’s about the heart.  It’s about making sure we’re doing what we do from a heart that is shaped by the things of God.  We want to love others, but love them in the right way — the way God loves.  We want to see people as God sees them — even ourselves.  We want to do what God would do if He were here.

 Understanding what this love looks like is vitally important to our faith and relationship with God.  As we examine our hearts this week, let’s remember that it’s always about the heart.  Let’s protect it and allow God to keep and shape it, so we can love, see and do as He would.

Why we dream

Text for the week: Romans 10:14-21

The word “imagination” has been kicked around these days, like we can’t trust or use it.  But I wonder what could happen if we started imagining together a new and different future, for us and for our world.  What could that look like? 

I’m sitting in my office on a cool, June morning, thinking about you — thinking about what it is that God would want to say to us through our minds, through our ability to imagine, dream and think big thoughts for the Kingdom.  I’m imagining what God could do through a group of young adults if they truly aligned their hearts and minds on the things that are on the heart and mind of God — living on a Friday and anticipating Sunday.  But why should we?  Why should we even care about this?
That’s a great question.  It’s one I want to attempt to answer.

Why should we care?  Simply put, because God cares.  It’s because of His nature and character, not ours.  He drives this train.  How and where does He drive it? However and wherever He wants to. 

Here’s what I’m trying to say: we believe that God is active everywhere, working at all times for the sake of His Kingdom. God isn’t limited to our location.  He isn’t limited to the space we fill, but His Spirit is everywhere —all the time — working to reveal Himself to everyone.  If you don’t believe that, then re-read the claims found in John 3:16, which is much broader than people think.

Because God is active everywhere at all times, we are to be a people that look outward, seeking out the places where God is active, and joining Him in those places.  It’s why we send missionaries, plant churches, visit prisons, minister in nursing homes, invest in mentoring kids, preach the Word, build homes, love the handicapped, minister to the homeless and feed the hungry. We believe that God precedes us in every one of these activities, whether in the city or on the farms; in the slums or in mansions; with the rich or with the poor.  He is already there.  If He is there, these are the places we should go as well. 

But those activities take us out of our comfort zones, which is why they involve our imagination.  We need to realize that things can be different; we need to imagine a day when things are better.  And because of our dreaming and imagining, we then try to create a world that looks like our God-given dream.  With God, we imagine and dream, because He already sees it.  It’s up to you and me to join Him, making “it” happen.