Chip Shots

Yes, I've been quiet for a while. Perhaps it has to do with my birthday which came and went last Sunday. Actually, that's not the reason, but it's as good an excuse as any. All in all, it was a good day, full of the ordinary moments which make life extraordinary. But it didn't start that way. It began with every preacher's worst fear: oversleeping on church day. As best I can recall, it's the first time I've overslept on Sunday. But hey, what better way to begin your 45th birthday than with a rude awakening? For once my recurring nightmare came true -- a pretty predictable plot: church is ready to begin, everyone's waiting, and I'm desperately trying to find my shoes, or my shirt, or even my pants. "Wait! Just a minute! I'm not ready yet!" The panic is palpable as the clock ticks. I wake up in a cold sweat. I hate that dream. It may sound innocuous, but then it isn't your nightmare, is it? Anyway, no sooner had I showered a...

At first I was pleased. Then I was offended. Now I'm furmished (is that a word?) I was pleased ... because a friend from long ago emailed me out of the blue. She'd gotten our annual Christmas card and responded with a few greetings of her own. As a vital part of a former church, she'd gone on to marriage, parenting, and the like. You know, the usual stuff. I was pleased to hear from her and delighted to know something of what was happening in her life. Then I was offended ... for suddenly the tone of her letter changed. It started with the words, "I am writing you to let you know about a fantastic business opportunity. Have you ever heard about...?" What? Give me a break! How naive does she think I am? Does she really think I don't see through her blatant recruiting effort? Send me a Christmas greeting, or send me a recruitment letter, but don't try use the one to validate the other! In so doing, you demean both our relationship and your ...

"But you've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord." (Jerry Falwell, CNN Late Edition, October 24, 2004). Does this statement trouble you? It does me. I'm certain that I am to pray for others in the name of the Lord. It's also clear that I am to baptize disciples of Christ in the name of the Lord. I recall a text where men were honored because they "risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Then there's Paul's tearful statement to his friends in Acts 21: "I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die ... for the name of the Lord Jesus." The scriptures include admonitions to give thanks in the name of the Lord, to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord, to do everything in the name of the Lord, and to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. All of these make perfec...

In her forward to the book Future Church , Sally Morganthaler wrote: Many of us launched our boats on the Mississippi of church growth in the past two decades. We dutifully set them afloat in the world of big and simple. We followed those who had built massive riverboats, along with the equally massive paddlewheels of programs to propel them. But the landscape shifted beneath our feet. From big and simple, we entered the postmodern topography of small and complex, transforming American culture from homogeneous demographies, seeker-believer compartments, easy answers, and fill in the blanks to diverse neighborhoods, ubiquitous spirituality, paradox, and tell-me-your-story. The boats we need now are kayaks, but having spent our ministry years building and operating riverboats, some of us find ourselves not only up a creek without a paddle but without the expertise to use one if it were handed to us. I've thought a lot about these words, having cut my own ministry teeth on the ...

Like many adult males I did a little last minute Christmas shopping. My motto is, "why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" (I keep angling for a new motto, but it seems these things rather find us than the reverse.) Anyway, I wanted to buy a Christian book for a good friend. Usually I'd simply order it off the internet but, as I said, this was the last minute. I instinctively ventured into a well known Christian bookstore to find what I wanted. I should have known better. I was immediately bombarded with gadgets, trinkets and "testamints" (breath mints with Scripture verses on them). I found wall hangings, posters, gospel tracts and Christian videos. As for books, I could find scores of them about the "end times" (by the way, has anyone else ever mused about the similarity between the words eschatology and scatology?). I could read about the Christian family or about how to pray or how to have "driven" life complete with b...

I'm one of those drivers you hate to see on the road. Now don't be too critical; you're likely just as bad as me. I know it's not a race, but still, I'd rather lead than follow. Besides, I tell myself, the faster I go, the more quickly traffic behind me can travel. It's like the interminable traffic light. Don't you hate it when the line is so long that you only move forward once the light turns red again? Why is that? It's because of all those slowpokes at the front who are waiting 1/2 second longer than they need to to accelerate. Every car behind them is slowed down and us poor souls at the back of the line can only creep forward once the light has changed again. I go fast; it's for your benefit. So stop swearing at me. Recently they resurfaced a major road near my home. I was travelling it on a moonless night. In the absence of streetlights or starlight the only lights were headlights. The centerline was painted, but none of the white li...

John Donne (1572-1631) has long been my favorite poet. Following are two reasons why: Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend Your force, to breake, blowe, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurpt town, to'another due, Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end. Reason, your viceroy in mee, mee should defend, But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue. Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine, But am betroth'd unto your enemie: Divorce me,'untie, or breake that knot againe, Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I, Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free, Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee. -- Holy Sonnets, XIV, John Donne Oh, to vex me, contraryes meet in one: Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot A constant habit; that when I would not I change in vowes, and in devotione. As humorous is my contrition...

How to begin a brand new year and a brand new blog? Perhaps with old words. Homer... Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy. TS Eliot: Four Quartets, Little Giding, stanza V... What we call the beginning is often the end And to make and end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. ..... We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings... The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say. Again... All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who ...