Ask any good church person and you’ll quickly discover that Easter has nothing to do with either bunnies, baskets or eggs; our private, familial celebrations notwithstanding. It is a mark of some level of failure on the part of the church when we note that our society associates this holiday more with those items than the resurrection story. Society, it seems, would rather celebrate hopping bunnies than empty tombs.

That’s not to say that society isn’t interested in the great themes of Easter. There seems to be a huge “hunger” for stories that celebrate self-sacrificial love and the triumph of the solitary, good individual over an evil regime, as one recent box-office hit verifies. I wonder, what’s happened to the Easter message that it no longer resonates in the same way as these other, popular messages? Might the answer be in the way we in the church are telling our story?

To a world that finds fault in “systems” but promotes the virtues of self-esteem, we say that Jesus died for their sins. We’re speaking right past many of them. “What sins?” They reply.

To a people who have been raised to “grab as much gusto” from this life as possible, we say that Jesus died so that they can go to heaven. Then we do a rather poor job of explaining to them what heaven might be like or why they would want to go. “So what?” They ask us, and the message of Easter gets discounted as irrelevant.

What if we were to reclaim the message of Easter?

What if we were to posit in the hearts and minds of society that this world around us is not the product of chance randomness spinning haphazardly toward an unknown destination? What if we made the claim that this world actually had a good beginning from the work of a loving creator and was set askew by some of the very same forces plaguing our world today? What if we told how the world’s creator loved his project too much to leave it spin off into self-destructive chaos; that he enacted a rescue plan and, bore the heavy cost of that rescue himself? Dare we not explain how the creator allowed the forces of chaos and death to expend themselves upon himself, and once spent, he was declared victorious over them?

This is the story of Easter. The agents of death pound nails through flesh into a Roman cross and lift high the King of the Jews. Those in power, threatened by his kingdom, mock and curse him from below. On the cross, in love, Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” With his dying breath, having suffered the worst that the powers had to offer, he proclaimed, “It is finished.”

There were other voices at the cross that day. Some eerily echoing today’s marketing ploys urged him to “hop on down and save (yourself, if you truly are the Son of God.)” Thankfully, those messages did not carry the day. Jesus died, and three days later – new life.

And so I ask you now, what’s your story of Easter? (I know the baskets, bunnies and eggs are for home, with the kids.) What do you tell people that you believe about the Resurrection? Are you always ready to explain the reason for the hope that is in you? (1 Peter 3:15) And, prayerfully inspired by God’s Spirit, is your Resurrection story one that will captivate hearts and minds in the telling?

Praying that our message is greater than “hop on down and save,”

Pastor Clint

I’m a musical person, and to me, songs can “make or break” a funeral service.  Some songs are more appropriate than others for such an occasion.  I personally favor the hymns, such as “In the Garden” or “Where He Leads Me.”  One of the more remarkable things I remember from any funerals I’ve officiated is the one which ended with the playing of Sinatra singing, “I Did It My Way.”  There’s much to be inferred from that selection, but the one concept I want to advance for the purposes of this note is autonomy.  The question which develops is this: What song you want playing at your funeral?

One of the books to return with me from that Chicago trip is “The Drama of Scripture,” by  Bartholomew and Goheen.  In this text, the authors examine the broad, sweeping narrative of the Bible to flesh out its story-line and theology.  Their focus is on covenant and kingdom, but within those bounds and from the very beginning of the story, they note mankind’s struggle for autonomy.

The first several chapters of Genesis tell us of the goodness of creation and God’s intention for man to both remain in relationship with Him and, flowing from that relationship, to rule over creation as God’s representative.  There was harmony and order.  All was under God’s rule.  Everything was “good.”  The gifts of the garden came with only one prohibition, “Do not eat from that one tree” (Genesis 2:17).

We chafe at such restrictions, don’t we?  That, in itself, is a symptom of what ails us.  I’ve heard believers wonder, aloud, “Why that one commandment?”  What marked that tree as different, special, better or other from all of the rest of the trees in the garden?  The short answer is: nothing, save for the direct commandment of God to leave that one tree sacrosanct.  Once more, the issue is one of autonomy.  I suppose a definition is in order.

Autonomy: from the Greek, autonomos “having its own laws,” from autos “self” + numos “law.” – (credit to the New Oxford American Dictionary.)

Thus, this word has come to mean self-governing or becoming a law unto oneself.  This is what was at issue with that one tree in the garden.  This was, and remains, the fundamental choice for all humankind: self-rule verses God’s rule.  Which will we choose?  Better yet, which will you choose?

So, what song do you want played when it comes time for your funeral?  (Don’t feel in any way as if I’m rushing you.)  Shall we play something along the lines of “All The Way My Savior Leads Me” or will it be “I Did It My Way” ?  The choices you make today help to determine your answer.

Praying for less autonomy and more “thy will be done…”

Pastor Clint

“What’s that?” I can hear someone asking, “Hoodie-What?”  No.  It’s Hoodie-Hoo.  It’s the day wherein we are all urged to go outside and shout “Hoodie-Hoo,” to chase away winter and bring in spring.  It’s an actual holiday.  Believe me.  It’s got a website and everything.

Of course, February could change this, but so far this winter has been just fine with me.  Goldilocks would love this winter.  It’s not too hot and not too cold.  It’s been just right.

I started the new year with some readjustments around the house.  We’re back on the “healthy lifestyle” bandwagon at my home, and I’m here to tell you, it’s a major effort.  This Dr., to whom I recently went, started describing her idea of a healthy meal by drawing a circle on a piece of paper.  “Let’s say this circle is your plate,” the Dr. said.  Then she drew a line dividing my “plate” equally in half.  “This half,” she said, pointing to the left, the ‘sinister’ side, “is for all of your vegetables.”  She drew another line dividing the right half into quarters.  “This top quarter,” she advised, “is for your lean meats.  The bottom quarter is for your carbs.”  She then went on to advise me that I was limited on the carbs and proteins, but I could pretty much have all of the vegetables that I wanted.

I quickly pointed out what I saw as the flaw in her diagram.  “All of the vegetables that I wanted” could most easily fit into one of the quarter-plate slots on the right, whereas the half-plate, on the left, would be better served hosting a juicy slab of grilled steak.  She remained clinically detached and unsympathetic.

I then explained that “all of the vegetables that I wanted” consisted chiefly of sweet corn and various iterations of the potato family.  I was then told, in no uncertain terms, that neither of those “vegetables” were actually “vegetables” as far as this demonstration was concerned, and in fact, those items should properly be placed on the “carb quarter-plate” section.  To that I strongly objected saying, “But if those go there, then there won’t be any room on my ‘plate’ for my dessert!”

“Exactly,” agreed Dr. Killjoy.

I wish there were a way to say “Hoodie-Hoo” to bad health habits.  Wouldn’t it be great just to wish your troubles away: to chase away the bad and welcome in what’s good for you?  Life doesn’t work that way, does it?  We discover, often to our regret, that habits are hard to break.

But if that’s true about bad habits, then why is it we don’t put more effort into developing those good habits that life (and spirituality) require?  The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go,  And when he is old he will not depart from it.”  (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV)  I think that verse speaks something into the responsibility of parents to instill good habits into their children.  And as we grow older, we are to become responsible for ourselves.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got plenty of habits to relearn.  They won’t go away by my shouting at (or about) them.  (Just ask my wife.)  They will change through effort and discipline.  And it wouldn’t hurt to add in lots of prayers.  I’ll need those, certainly.

What about you?  Does my story remind you of something in your life you’ve been meaning to change?  Have you been hollering your version of “Hoodie-Hoo” at the problem, but it just won’t go away?  Why not take the first step towards a new life today?    If it’s a spiritual problem you’re wanting to change, then that first step begins with Jesus.

Praying for you as, together, we step into a better tomorrow,

Pastor Clint

You may be familiar with my stance in years past of being critical toward “New Year’s Resolutions.”  I have found little use for them and have scorned their practice.  I have been reading something recently that has caused me to revisit this position.

In his 2011 book, ‘Thirsting for God,” Gary L. Thomas makes a strong case for goal-setting as a part of discipleship.  He notes that, for most believers, the goal of the Christian life is salvation.  Since salvation was won by Jesus on the cross and is a free gift for the believer upon repentance, the new believer has received the goal of Christianity the moment of their conversion.  Thomas says, “We’ve started at the finish line.  All that is left to do is hold on and wait for the award ceremony to begin. (pg. 20)”

Unfortunately, this often leaves one with a stunted form of spirituality.  The church is left “more like an evangelistic club than a place where people can grow deep” in the things of God.”

Thomas goes on to posit that the first step toward “an authentic Christian spirituality” is to get a clear picture of a mature Christian.  The Bible and history gives us many examples of people devoted to Christian maturity.  If we ignore their examples our spiritual growth, if it happens at all, will be haphazard and random.  Thomas argues that believers should set goals for their spiritual development and measure their progress against them.  As John Climacus wrote in his “Ladder of Divine Ascent,” – “Regarding every vice and virtue, we must unceasingly scrutinize ourselves to see what point we have reached, a beginning, a middle or the end.”

With this in mind, I plan to spend the first several days of this new year doing some “goal tending.”  In that, I intend to spiritually survey where I am and where I should be going, with God’s help.  I am certain that Gary’s book will help me in this.  He lays out some great historical examples and explains how those people strove for God.  By this time next month, I hope to be “pressing on” and “striving” (to use some Biblical words) toward the goal that God reveals for my spiritual journey this coming year.

How about you?  What is your goal for spiritual growth?  Do you even have one?  Are you reaching for one now?  What do you believe God would like you to become in this new year?  Without a goal, how will you know if you made it, or if you were close or even got half-way?

Praying for your “goal tending” in the year ahead,

Pastor Clint

Watch Gary Thomas here:

As a rural church minister, I’ve decided that I cannot compete with the larger churches on the consumer level.  Larger churches with their greater resources will always be able to offer more and better ministries.  To compete with them would be something like the local hardware store squaring off toe-to-toe against Lowes or Menards.  The local owner may be able to hold off for a while based on such things as his location and convenience to his local market, but eventually those stores with the bigger resources will wear down his strength and resolve.  You’ve seen it before.  The little guy runs out of either money or fight, and then the bigger stores divide up that market area.  This scenario will continue to play out in our churches so long as Christians approach their religion as consumers.

Pause to consider just how much a consumer mentality has affected Christian worship.  We judge the worship service as good or bad based on what “we got out of it.”  “That was a good service,” we tell someone, “I got a lot out of it.”  Or, “I didn’t care for that service.  I didn’t get very much out of it.”  Our very concept of church has been corrupted in this manner.  We are in trouble when worship becomes more something we hear than something that we DO.  For far too many people, church has become someplace to which we GO rather than the original intention of the Church as a group of Christ-followers called out from the world and gathering together for service and worship.

You see, truth be told, Jesus never told us to go into all the world and make consumers.  His mandate was to make disciples.  Disciples, in the Bible, are called many things, but never called to be consumers.  Instead, believers are called to be  priests of Jesus’ kingdom, ministers of grace and diverse members of a Body who share the unique gifts for the benefit of one another. In fact that phrase, one another, is used scores of time in the New Testament calling the Church to cooperation in unified service.

With all this in mind, I have concluded not only that I can’t compete with the larger churches but that I shouldn’t need to.  I believe that there is room in God’s Kingdom for all manner of ministries, both large and small.  I further believe that true Kingdom growth occurs when our focus is on building disciples and not enlarging ministries.  Sure, there’ll still be the occasional temptation toward “bigger and better,”  but if that temptation is motivated more from competition than kingdom, I’ll have to stand with a firm “No” to those ideas.

What about you?  In light of what’s been said, do you see yourself as more disciple or consumer of Christian things?  What can you do to move away from the one and toward the other?  1 Corinthians 3 speaks to those who were “still in the flesh” and were making their decisions as consumers of religion.  To those people he wrote:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,  so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.  He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 ESV)

Praying for you all.  Boasting in the Lord for your sake,

Pastor Clint

This year I was asked to judge a Halloween costume event.  I have to refuse.  I don’t celebrate Halloween.  It’s not that I don’t believe what it represents, it’s that – as a person tasked to bring life and light into darkness – I cannot revel in darkness and death.

Now I know, there are those who see nothing wrong with a little “harmless, innocent fun.”  They are free to hold their position.  As for me, I am bound to certain points of Scripture.  For example, 1 Thessalonians 5:5, “You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.”  And consider 1 John 1:7, “… if we walk in the light as He is in the light, … the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  Finally, consider Ephesians 5:8-16  , “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says:

“ Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light.”

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ”

In summary, while I am happy to celebrate life and light, (That’s Easter, isn’t it?) I choose not to revel in darkness and death.  Some choose to see the holiday differently.  The see it as innocent, dress-up fun; all princess and fairies.  There is that, but I cannot ignore the darker aspects of the day.  You need to think it over, pray about it and decide for yourself.

Praying light and life for you,

Pastor Clint

My wife, son and I were vacationing, enjoying a week of rest in Maine, when we determined to go up into Canada.  We’d spent the money on passports, and we thought, “Why not use them?”  So we set out North, in the winding, Maine-road-sort-of-way, and up RT 27 through the border check-point at Corbin Gore.  In Canada we did the proper, touristy things.  We ate at McDonald’s and looked for a Wal-Mart.  (All of the things one could NEVER do back in the good ol’ USA.)  Having properly satisfied our wanderlust, we bid Quebec “Bon soir” and  turned back for native soil.

Just in case you’ve never been through a border crossing, especially post-9/11, I’ll explain the procedure as we experienced it.  When you pull up to a border crossing there are all sorts of signs in all manner of languages informing you exactly what you are about to do and what is expected of you.  That is to say, you are about to interact with a Border Agent, and you’d best not mess with him (or her, I suppose.)  Duly warned, we proceeded to the first stop-area.  A signal light holds you there until the interrogation area is clear.  Receiving a green indicator, we pulled forward.  The Agent asks you to turn off your car and begins quizzing you about where you went, what you did and what you are bringing back with you.  If you pass and are deemed worthy of entrance, you may restart you vehicle and proceed.  This was the beginning of our troubles.

Our car would not start.

All of a sudden the stand-offish Border Agent became our best friend.  He left his interrogation box and came out to see if he might be able to turn the key in a different way so as to coax our car into starting.  He opened the hood and stared at the engine in an intimidating manner – as only armed persons can – as if to threaten our engine into starting.  The starter, unmoved by either of these attempts, remained dead.  Since we were blocking all entrance into the USA on RT 27, we were forced to push the car out of the way into a parking slot.

Our new friend, Agent Bates invited us inside the Border Station.  I warily accepted, noting the Agent’s name and its infamy in Hitchcock film lore.  Hopefully, we were not to be spending the night with him.  We didn’t realize at that time that God was already beginning to provide for our need.

I used their telephone to call the American Auto Association (AAA.)  The girl who took my call and I were in “the same boat.”  I couldn’t tell from where she was answering, and she had no idea from where I was calling.  “Corbin Gore?”  She said,  “That’s not on my map.”  Map or no, that’s where we were stranded.  She was going to have to call “dispatch” in Maine.  They would get back to me.

A half hour later, I was told that our rescue was on his way.  Now would be a good time to mention that, in all of my conversations with AAA, I had told them that I was broken down at the border-crossing, my car wouldn’t start, and I needed a tow-truck.  “He’ll be along in about an hour,” I was told.  So we waited.

Ninety minutes later a Ford, F-150 pickup truck pulled up to the Border Station.

“That’s what they sent you?”  Asked Agent Bates.  His partner chimed in with the obvious, “That’s not a tow-truck.”

The service man sent by AAA jumped out of his truck with a “starter-battery-pack” gadget in hand and said, “Who needs a jump start?”  Ummm… Not me!

I was beginning to lose all hope on that dark, Saturday night of either a prompt return to our hotel room or a sound nights sleep.  Both of those I considered requisites for my preaching at Vi’s father’s church the next day.  It was then that “AAA man” developed a plan.  (In the despair of those hours I never got to know that man’s name.)  Our rescuer decided that he would take us twenty miles South to the nearest outpost of civilization.

“Is there anyone you can call to meet us there?” He asked.  We called Vi’s mother and arranged for pick up at Eustis, Maine (population 685.)  Our rescuer and his three stranded passengers all piled into his pickup.  Along the way, our rescuer made an insightful observation.

“You know,” he said, “Those AAA folks didn’t say anything about there being three of you stuck at the border.  My tow-truck only seats two.  If I’d have brought that there wouldn’t have been room for everyone.  It’s a good thing there was this sort-of-a mixup.”

Indeed.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  (Romans 8:28 NKJV)

Praying that your trips are much less exciting… unless you’re looking for a good story to tell.

Pastor Clint

These storms bother my dog.  Actually storms are merely a sub-set in the category of “loud noises” that bother Shadow, the dog.  Other terror stimuli include the dishwasher and fireworks.  (Perhaps you’ve heard the story about how the neighbor’s fireworks set the dog into a self-destructive rampage this past June?  It’s an interesting yarn.  I think I’ll save that story for a later newsletter.)

It may be possible to explain away the dog’s irrational fear of storms, but what about people?  Dogs are “brute” creatures, while we claim more civilized sentiments.  Why is it we are frequently found fomenting in fear?  How does that speak to a believer’s faith?

Jesus once walked across a storm-tossed sea to calm His twelve disciples by saying, “It is I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27)  Do you recall that story?  Peter was so emboldened by Jesus’ walking on the water that he asked to join Him.  Could you do that?  Would you?  What is it that YOU fear?

One prominent Christian author traces the Israelites fear of the sea with this:

The sea is part of the original creation, part of the world of which God says that it is “very good.”  But already by the story of Noah the flood poses a threat to the creation, with Noah and his floating zoo rescued by God’s grace. From within the good creation itself come forces of chaos, harnessed to enact God’s judgment.  We then find Moses and the Israelites standing in front of the sea, chased by the Egyptians and at their wits’ end.  God makes a way through the sea to rescue his people, and again to judge the pagan world; like the Noah story, though now in a new mode.  As later poets look back on this decisive moment in the story of God’s people, they celebrate it in terms of the old creation myths themselves: the waters saw YHWH and were afraid, and they went backwards.  But then, in a passage of enormous influence on early Christianity, we find in the vision of Daniel 7 that the monsters who make war upon the people of the saints of the most high come up out of the sea. The sea has become the dark, fearsome, threatening place from which evil emerges, threatening God’s people like a giant tidal wave threatening those who live near the coast.  For the people of ancient Israel, who were not for the most part seafarers, the sea came to represent evil and chaos, the dark powers that might do to God’s people what the flood had done to the whole world, unless God rescues them as he rescued Noah.  (NT Wright, 2005 lecture to Seattle Pacific University’s Church Leaders Forum, retrieved online.)

Our Gospel truth proclaims that God HAS, indeed,  rescued His creation from the forces of evil and chaos through the mission and work of Jesus Christ.  This is vividly illustrated in that Matthean account of Jesus water-walking and storm calming.  There Jesus demonstrated His Lordship over the elemental forces of nature.  No wonder, then, that His disciples bowed down in worship of Him proclaiming, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Jesus is the One who came and fulfilled all of the promises of God.  Promises such as Psalm 89:9 where, speaking of the Lord’s Messiah, the Psalmist declares, “You rule the raging of the sea;  When its waves rise, You still them.”  Or consider Psalm 93:4 which announces, “The LORD on high is mightier  Than the noise of many waters,   Than the mighty waves of the sea.”

Is this the Jesus that you know, serve and love?  The One who has overcome death, hell and the grave?  The One who is mightier than the evil and chaos of this world?  If yours is this same Lord, then why do you fear?  What do you fear?

In his first epistle to the church, John wrote to us about fear.  It’s a wonderful expression of God’s love overcoming fear.  “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear causes pain and torment.  The one who is afraid is not yet fully complete in love.  We love because God first loved us.” (1John 4:18-19)  1 John 4 is the Bible chapter that twice says: “God is love.”  Do you know that love?  I mean REALLY know it?

If you do, then what have you to fear?

Praying God’s peace and love to you,

Pastor Clint

It took me a while to write this, but here it is.  I procrastinate.  This isn’t news to some of you.  There have been at least two editors of the church newsletter during my time at Cable Church, and both of them know this awful truth about me. So… here I am at (or past) the deadline for the July Newsletter, it’s nearly midnight, and I’m writing this.  Yeah.  I’m bad.

I once considered looking to see if there were a “12-step” program for procrastinators, but – as you might have guessed – I never got around to doing that.  Maybe you know.  Are there such groups?  Yeah. You could tell me about it, but chances are I’d never get around to going.  I need an intervention!

Usually I can keep this professional handicap hidden.  There are times, like VBS time, when such deficiencies come glaringly to the forefront.  For example, here we are with nearly two weeks to go before The Big Event, and I’m still writing the daily lessons that the teachers are supposed to teach!  Yeah.  I’m bad.  (Did I say that already?  I forget.)

So, if you have or know some kids who are coming to VBS this year, here’s “the skinny.”  Well, actually, it’s a MYSTERY!  You knew I’d say that, didn’t you?  Especially after I’ve just admitted that it isn’t FINISHED YET!  But I digress.

This year the name of VBS is “GOD’S GUMSHOES.”  Our assignment for the week is  “Solving Life’s Mysteries.”  Seems like a pretty tall order, doesn’t it?  That may explain why I haven’t finished yet.  Or, perhaps it’s because…. I procrastinate.  Yeah.  I’m bad.

We’re mixing things up a little bit this year.  Throughout the day, your kids will be challenged to discover “clues” that will help them, at the end of the day, to tell the lesson.  Usually – with VBS past – we would open with the day’s lesson and spend the rest of the time reenforcing that lesson.  This year we open with a “mystery” and set the kids up to hunt the clues all day.  In the final hour of each day we will go over the kid’s progress and “solve” that day’s mystery.

Of course, I can’t tell you what any of these “mysteries” are, but each day begins with a skit, and each skit tells a story of something to do with a detective, a plant and a dog!  Every day something different has happened with the plant.  The detective and the dog have different ideas about how to figure out what’s going on.  Which one is right?  How can the kids at VBS help them figure it out?   Can’t wait to find out, can you?  Neither can I!  (Did I mention it isn’t finished?  Yeah.  I’m bad.)

So… that’s probably enough of a tease for VBS, and likely not enough self-confession.  Truth is, I need to get to sleep so that, perhaps, I can get the daily lessons finished tomorrow.  Tomorrow.  That’s a favorite word for we procrastinators.  Often I break out in song (in my head, at least) with… “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow.  You’re only a day away.”  Me and Orphan Annie, we got it goin’ on.

This is the point in my prose where I, traditionally, insert a spiritual application or Bible verse.  I have neither at this time, except, don’t put off ’till tomorrow what ought to have been done yesterday.  No… wait!  That is (kind of) from the Bible!  Proverbs 27:1 — “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.”  Or, there’s that whole business at the end of Luke 9 wherein Jesus seems to be having cross words with procrastinators, just like me!  Oh, my.  Am I that bad?

Now I really must be going.  Pray for me, that good habits overwhelm these bad ones.  Also, remember to pray for VBS this month.  Thanks, and, as always…

I’m praying for you,

Pastor Clint