What does the church and 9/11 have in common?

Have you seen some of these demolition companies that specialize in imploding towering structures like old buildings and giant smoke stacks? 
They use a strategy of calculated physics to bring these antiquated monstrosities to the ground by their own weight. 
 

 They do this by placing explosive charges at key load-bearing structural components so that when the charges are exploded, the building collapses on itself.

 
The most grotesque example of this type of demolition technology, I suppose, is the strategic plan the Muslim extremist of Al-Qaida used to implode the twin towers on 9/11. 

They calculated the amount of energy required by a forced explosion - in combination with the precise location - to cause an unthinkable and devastating collapse.  The terrorists knew they could not defeat America, but they could attack its institutions. 

I like to ask questions, especially those which are spiritual in nature.  So here is a whopper: If the “evil one,” Satan, were to create a strategic plan for the demise – the implosion of the church – what would the elements needed to create a collapse look like and where would they be placed? 

 

Satan can’t defeat Christ; Jesus has already won the victory, so the best he can do is attack Christ’s church on a main street level.  So, first, he would locate and target the load bearing supports.  Next, he would weakened them just enought to create the instability needed to bring the Church down upon itself.  But, what type of explosive material would he use? 

If he employed only the strategy that C.S. Lewis’s creatively describes in the Screwtape Letters - a one-by-one, individual assault by little devils - it may gain him a few souls, but it would be highly inefficient.  Going after every follower of Christ one at a time would be daunting and impossible. 

 

However, if he followed a similar strategy of implosion as the 9/11 designers, (or maybe they followed Satan’s design) he could bring down to the pit of ground zero, towering numbers in Christ and weaken the Church to the point of irrelevancy. 

What if Satan has indeed strategically targeted the twin towers of the Christian faith, the institution of the Church itself at a local, main street level!  If so, are we susceptible? 


And, are there any signs we can identify to guard against this strategy to implode the structure of the church?  And, if not, what would the effect be on us, the very ones who make up the church.  Could this be a reason the church seems to be weakening in America?

This Sunday in worship, we return to our series, “Where did we learn that?” as we seek to find some relevant biblically based answers to these questions I just posed.  We will do this by looking at some very powerful, yet misguided, lessons we’ve learned about the institution of the church. If you can't be with us, you can view this message through facebook and from our web site http://mwpcusa.org/
 

 

Hangin' My Homies

Who do you hang with?  You know, who are your “boys (or girls)?”   It’s interesting that we very often become like - or have our identity shaped by - those we chose to include in our “circle.”  However, many might say they are their own person and that they are free to be whoever they want to be.  If we are truly free from the shape of our friend circle, why are so many people unhappy with themselves and to some extent, with life?  Why is it so hard to really find a better more positive and fulfilling life?

 

I believe, in part, this constraint has a great deal to do with who we “hang with” -- where we place ourselves in a life-context -- and who makes up our inner circle of influence.  There seems to be a strange dynamic of image-reciprocation in our circle of friends.  What I mean is that it’s as if we surround ourselves with mirroring images that create a perpetual reinforcement of a particular lifestyle and life-answers.  We take on the group image, group think and group character of our primary circle of friends, while they reflect back a similar life view – even if harmful or ultimately unsatisfactory in terms of life-fulfillment and personal-peace.

 

 

When caterpillars begin the process of transforming

from a butterfly pupa into the free-floating, fulfilled realization as the final form of a butterfly, they “hang with their homies" in a protecting and nurturing environment we call a chrysalis.  Nature has internally wired the pupa to create, live and perpetuate life by surrounding itself with the exact perfect environment while going through the life-stage transformation.  To choose other surroundings would spell disaster.  But human beings are different.  We may choose any number of surroundings; hang with a variety of desirable and undesirable influences.  And we do.   

 

 

I felt urged to write about this issue out of a real-life example.  Unfortunately, it’s a story I have heard many times.  A married person with a family succumbed to the lure of instant gratification and love without responsibilities by entering into an adulterous affair.  When you ask someone, “Why risk so much?  Why jeopardize your family and possibly the rest of your life?” the answer is never very rational or satisfactory.  Maybe the “love” word is tossed out without much thought of its true definition or commitment of character such a statement requires.  But ultimately, it’s about their homies who mutually reinforce the behavior:  “Go ahead, you deserve love.”  “We’ve done it too.”

 

When I look at the why of it, one clear factor (although there are several) seems to be who we “hang with.”  If my theory of the dynamic of image-reciprocation in our circle of friends is true, this is a classic case.  If in surrounding ourselves with mirroring images that create a perpetual reinforcing lifestyle and thought includes those who also would engage and approve of seeking extra marital “love pleasures” regardless of responsibilities and consequences, then the “chrysalis” is woven and hung to produce a like minded image and action.

 

I have taken over a thousand teens to retreats and camps during my years in ministry.  I have witnessed this phenomenon so often and worked hard to counter it by creating a new environment.  Often I would bring along a kid who had fallen into, been accepted by, or chosen to surround themselves, with a group of friends who perpetuate counter-cultural, character-diminishing, and self-destructive thoughts and behaviors.  The hope is to, if only briefly, offer them an alternative circle, through a week-long Young Life retreat.  It only takes about an hour for them to find their group of image-reciprocating circle of friends, and engage in the same behaviors that limit their success in a more fulfilling life.

 It takes more than a week or month or even a year “away” to create positive change.  If you want to have positive change in your life, first take a look at who you hang with!  Do they reflect principles and values that build character and create a truly freeing opportunity for fulfillment, or do they only reinforce proven life-lessness? 

 
Who you surround yourself with will absolutely determine your attitude, lifestyle and sense of fulfillment -- especially while going through the life stage transformation!  Where is the best place to hang with some positive homies, who wish you to find complete fulfillment in life and as a human being?  I know, it’s so corny, but it’s the only real and complete answer – it’s the Church.  It’s a group of committed friends who have based their life operating system on faith in Jesus Christ.  Find that group.  Bring them into your circle or seek to be a part of theirs.  Not all churches are the same, but within the church there will always be more good homies than not.  If you can’t find one, just look for the people who exude fulfillment, high character, available unconditional love, and a positive outlook,  not only in their life, but who are also interested in helping you find it too.  Now, go where they go.  Hang with them and stand tough!

 

What to do with worship?

Is Christians worship supposed to be entertaining or thought provoking?  In worship, are your experiences limited to sitting in a darkened auditorium watching a smoke enhanced spotlighted preacher?

 

Or, are you surrounded by a throng of jumping enthusiasts who could just as well be at a rock concert?  Who taught you what worship is suppose to look like and how you are supposed to act in order to fit in? 

 

 

Since I - like so many who are 50 and over - was initially raised in a mainline tradition church, I learned that first of all, worship was boring and basically irrelevant to my limited experience in the world.  The general lesson was this: worship was a place to be quiet, be still, behave or be exposed! 

Modeling this out very well was the pastor, who always looked like he had either just eaten liver, or was having gastric cramping.  With smiles limited to greetings at the door, we were left with little but an hour of stoic resignation. 

Now having worshiped in a variety of churches and denominations with a wide range of
worshiping styles, it raises questions.  Some of these worshiping communities look a bit scary to someone raised in the 50’s.  Maybe it’s the juice at the fellowship time – is it spiked or what? 


Back in the late 90’s we sang a song in the “emerging” contemporary worship movement call “Undignified.”  It was based on the II Samuel 6:22 passage where King David -- so overjoyed that the Ark containing the covenantal laws was finally coming into a proper house -- danced “naked” through the streets of Jerusalem.  When he was confronted about this "indignity" he said, (v 22) “if you think this is something (my indecent dancing) just wait, I’ll become even more undignified than this!”

What are we meant to experience and express in Christian worship?  Are we to be the more serious stoic-worshipers of Almighty God; or are we to raise our arms and dance in the aisle because the Spirit of Christ is upon us and we just can’t contain ourselves.  Should we all don loin cloths and taunt those who would criticize by saying, “You haven’t seen nothing yet, we can become way more undignified that this!” 

 

If you want the rest of the “loin cloth” story (a real one) we will continue our series this Sunday “Where did  we learn that?  Misguided lessons we’ve learned about the Christian faith.” 

  

 

 

 

Where Did You Learn That?

How much do you remember from what you’ve been taught, be it school or life in general?   Would you like to test your knowledge?  Okay, here goes.  Write down your answers to the following questions.  When you get to the end, you can see if you get a passing grade.

 

 

1.     What are diamonds made from? 
2.     What percentage of our brains do we use?
3.     Who invented the light bulb? 
4.     Cleopatra’s famous heritage?
5.     Who invented the printing press?

Now for your grade:  1. If you wrote Diamonds are made from compressed coal, you are 100% wrong.  The carbon that makes diamonds comes from melting of rocks from the Earths upper mantle; coal is produced from plant material.  2.  If you answered that we only use ten percent of our brain, you are also wrong. Over the course of a day, most people use all parts of their brain.  3.  Edison did not invent the light bulb! Actually, historians list up to 22 invntors of the incandescent lamp before Thomas Edison, starting with Sir Humphry Davy in the early 19th Century.  4.  Cleopatra was the beautiful, charismatic queen of Egypt and the wife of Julius Caesar, but she was not Egyptian!  She was actually of macedonian Greek Heritage, daughter of Ptolemy XII.  5.  If you’re doing poorly, certainly you’ll get this last one correct.   If you answered Gutenberg, you are not alone in being wrong.  So you will base your knowledge on the truth, print technology originated in China in 593 AD, and the Chinese were printing from movable type in 1040 AD.

If you answered based on what you had been taught, or felt were commonly held facts, and still failed, please don’t fret.  What I am really interested in is this: Where did we learn these “truths?”  

 

Wherever or from whomever we learned them, we learned them well.  And once learned, these “truths” become incorporated into our life operating system (our philosophy, both socially and culturally) by which we live and act. 

 

Most of us realize that what we learn has consequences both beneficial and harmful.  This is because what we learn guides us; and like a tram on a rail, it’s hard to make a u-turn!

 

Practice perfect, right?  Wrong! Practice makes not perfect but permanent.  If you an idea reinforced over and over again it doesn’t get perfected, it becomes permanent.  But, what happens if what we learned, no matter how seemingly authentic and commonly believed, was wrong in the first place.  What if we’ve placed into our psyche misguided lesson we’ve learned?

 

Some misguided lessons are innocent and have little effect on life; there are others which do. What about the misguided lessons we’ve learned about the Christian faith?  What if there are lessons about faith and practice we’ve learn very well that are actually wrong.  Then, like other such “learnings” we’ve incorporated them into our Christian operating system (theology) which guide us like a tram on a rail too!


We all bring “lessons” and “learning’s” into our faith.  However, some of what we’ve learned has no basis in Judeo-Christian biblical faith.  This Sunday, we will begin a sermon series, “Where did we learn that?”  In the coming weeks, we will examine some commonly misguiding lessons we’ve learned about the Christian faith.  The goal behind our exploration is to become more authentic and more fulfilled through our faith.   This week we will look at our worship of God in community.

 

 

The Missing Masses!

Crowds are a big deal today.  If there is a crowd, something amazing is usually happening. If you’re looking for a party at someone’s home, we know to just “look for the cars.”  Where there are cars, there’s undoubtedly a crowd!  And, crowds create curiously.  We used to play a trick of getting a group of people together and then start pointing up toward the sky and then chattering among ourselves.  Point, and chatter, point and chatter.  Every time we did this in public, people would stop, move our way and a crowd would gather and start looking up too.    

 

Some crowds are good and some are bad.  Crowds at your local surfing spot – bad.  A crowd at Disney means long lines - bad.  But, crowds at church, that’s good.  Last Sunday in every Christian church around the world, there were unusually big crowds.  Sanctuaries and sunrise waterfronts were filled with masses of people.      
 

Why do they show up in mass?  You know, Christ-mass, Easter-mass.  Traditionally in all churches the two “masses” are always the most highly mass-attended worship services of the year.  Then the next week, it’s on to the other tradition within the church: “low Sunday.” 

 

If it was crowded last week it must have meant something really good must have been happening within.  Maybe some just saw the cars and turned into the church parking lot to check it all out.  But the following Sunday, we’re missing the masses.  What happened?  Did Elvis, I mean Jesus, leave the building?

 

What should the church do?  Offer discounts for membership on mass-less Sunday’s?  O darn, I forgot, we don’t charge for that!  Maybe the church could bring in a top celebrity for a book signing?  The Holy Spirit always needs a little exposure.  I know there are always crowds when the lottery gets really big.  Maybe we hold a lottery for an all expense paid trip to the Holy land or the pastor’s back yard pool?  I guess the church could try the chatter and look up tick to see if people might crowd around to see “it” for themselves!  There must be some way to get the crowds back?

 

Jesus had crowds, giant life-hungry crowds. And, they kept coming back even when there wasn’t a live band, good parking, or hot food.  Maybe we are missing something?  If you want to know the secret to having masses of crowds who engage an authentic life through Jesus, join us this Sunday when we explore The Missing Masses!

 

The Most Famous Person to Ever Live?

If there were a world-wide poll held today, who do you believe would be voted the most famous person on the planet?  The Pope? Barack Obama? Vladimir Putin?  Once you answer that question, here is an even better one: who is the most famous person to ever live?  Socrates, Buddha, Leonardo Da Vinci, Einstein?

Today, fame and notoriety have become the “call of the wild” on a global scale.  Maybe it’s always been that way, but with Instagram, selfies, Twitter and 24 hour electronic connections, you can be known in a millisecond for good, for bad and for very ugly stuff.

However, historically you didn’t need 21^st century technology to become famous.  You just did something amazingly-spectacular which most often had world-wide affects or ramifications.  Believe it or not, in reports about the recent “God” and “Jesus” themed movies now being released, I have heard several well-known (famous) TV personalities, in reasoning out Hollywood’s new found fascination with Jesus say, “Why not? He’s the most famous person who ever lived.”  And, it’s true; Jesus tops every list as the most famous person who ever lived.

At this time of year it seems more okay or reasonable or acceptable to talk about Jesus.  We get the same treatment at Christmas.  It’s like the secular world gives us a “pass” during these season.  And this is true, but why?  At this time of year it seems to be centered on his passion and death.  That’s what most of the movies focus on.  And that seems right too.

Often, the most famous people become even more elevated in history because of the mysterious, extraordinary, or bizarre circumstances connected with their death.  Although profoundly famous for what they were doing during their life, they receive “elite status” and become even more famous for the way they died.

 Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy did wonderful and historic things, but we seem even more drawn to their story – at least what keeps their stories alive – by the sensational and very mysterious way they died.  Princess Diana's funeral on 6 September 1997 was broadcast and watched by an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide.

Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger could all fall into this category.  But I wonder if we would see them the same - if history would look upon in with the same level of renown - if they had grown to a ripe old, wrinkles and grey haired age and then simply died quietly in their sleep?

Jesus is at the top of the list of  sensational, famous-making, deaths.  But that is not what made him the most famous person to ever live.  Maybe it was his teaching?  Maybe it was his radical social reforms?  Maybe it was all the miracles?  He turned water into wine, calmed hurricane-force winds, he fed thousands with a sandwich, and he raised people from the dead!  We haven’t seen that one on Instragram! 

So, it has to be his death, right?  You can’t get more sensational than the archetypal image of being crucified. Surely the cross is the most famous symbol the world has ever known.   But, that is not what garners Jesus' top position even by secular standards, as the most famous person to ever live.  If you’d like to know the answer, join us in our Sunday worship at MWPC.

 

“Phantom Wisdom That’s Never Right!”

It happens to everyone’s parents.  Soon or later, they start to lose it intellectually.  One day we awoke only to find them, well, dumb!  Don’t misunderstand, I am not talking about dementia or Alzheimer’s at all.  The funny thing is that it’s not related to their age at all, but ours. 

Can you remember when you started thinking that your parent(s) were just a little behind the times -- that you clearly knew more and understood more than they did?  Somewhere between the age of 12 and 18 we discovered the secret - that in this short amount of time, our brains had developed far beyond that of the parents who birthed us.  This secret “phantom knowledge” is almost miraculous.  We didn’t have to go to school for it, and we have no degree as proof of our accomplishment.  But, somewhere, somehow it became abundantly clear that we were smarted and knew more about how to live life than they did. 

Time has a way of turning life on its head.  It’s funny that as some of us are getting older, we see our own IQ diminishing while that of our parents has increased – even though they may have already died.  Could it be that we may not have been as smart as we once thought?  And it all has to do with one particular aspect of sin called pride, because the sin associated with pride is what produces phantom wisdom!

Five weeks ago we began our current series “If God is so good why we feel so bad.”  And we began with some FAQ’s like: Why are we like we are?  Why do we do the very things that seem to hurt ourselves, our relationship with our neighbors and our relationship with God?  And I said then, if we are willing to dig into that question, all the questions about God make more sense.  In doing so we discovered we are not the way we are supposed to be.  This Sunday, we will see how the sin of pride has produced in us phantom wisdom which renders us unteachable, dumbing us down and trapping us in continual error and folly.

  

Here's the problem. Pride is an aspect of sin which invites us to supplant God’s wisdom for our own.  Like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable, we are more than happy to oblige because we are pretty sure we know what’s best for us, and we would very much like to make those important choices ourselves. 

Unfortunately, this gives us the illusion of knowledge or “phantom wisdom” which we employ in all our life decisions.  Milton, in Paradise Lost, wrote that “A proud person tires to reinvent reality.  He tries to redraw the borders of human behavior to suit himself, displacing God as the Lord and boundary keeper of Life.”  In John 8:34  Jesus says,  “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin” so now through sin - we have become a slave to phantom wisdom - bound by its mastery over our thinking which then directs our life.  Worst of all, by believing our own phantom wisdom, we find we are know-it-alls which render us unteachable even to God.  

Phantom wisdom actually dumbs us down, and when we find we have messed up, we keep on pushing forward.  But, we would build on folly would we?

  

We have all heard of the Hubble telescope that was launched in 1990.  It is known for producing the best imagery of the universe ever known, but not at first. Huston had a small problem at the beginning of Hubble's creation.  They worked 12 hours a day for five years to grind the reflective mirrors, key to the clarity of the device.  

 They ground the mirrors to perfection within one millionth of an inch.   But in the process, a minute micro chip of paint flecked off a measure rod. That error, which was 25 times smaller the width of the human hair, rendered the Hubble telescope a useless failure.  They had to start over and make repairs.  Pride keeps us from the very repair we need.  It may seem minute to us, but from God's view we are way out of focus. 

We can’t improve on wrong! We can’t improve our way out of sin, but there is reason for great hope.   This Sunday, we will hear this way of hope as we conclude our series.  You may gather with us or hear the message from our web site www.mwpcusa.org.