As a result of one of our elder’s initiative, creativity, and drive, we will be continuing our Food For Thought Series this Fall. While last Spring we tackled the issue of work, we’re trying to take on an even bigger, and far more monstrous foe this year: Racism.

Due to our area of study this year, Randy advised me to familiarize myself somewhat with what our denomination (PCA) says about this issue. Of course nothing written, spoken, or done by a Presbyterian has ever been short; the paper is about 30 pages long.

But in the brief time I’ve had with the position paper, I’ve already been exposed to the fact that racism is certainly far worse than I originally thought. How many of the 10 commandments would you say that racism breaks? Interestingly enough, the writers, often borrowing from the Westminster Confessions, argue that racism actually breaks 3 of the biblical “Top Ten.” So here they are in their own words; they write gooder than me.

Commandment #1 Racism is idolatry-You shall have no other gods before me.
“Racism grounds the identity and security of human life not in God who alone is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, but in self-a creature-and therefore an idol.”

Commandment #6 Racism is murder-You shall not kill
“Hating your brother is a violation of the commandment, as is vile mockery of another and unexpressed hateful heart attitudes….The 6th commandment is not only violated in the extremes of anger, hatred, envy, desire for revenge, but also violated in the omission of charitable thoughts, love, compassion, the unwillingness to be reconciled and the failure to forgive injuries-to any or all of which we may easily succumb to based on how we view persons of another race.”

Commandment #9 Racism is lying. The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own neighbor’s good name, especially in witness bearing. The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor’s good name.

I guess I never really thought of Racism as lying. But I really do think it is. Even if I don’t tell, or speak that falsehood to anyone. If I harbor racial biases that just aren’t true, than I’m guilty of harboring that lie. Kind of like harboring a guilty fugitive. And that’s not good or safe for anyone. Everyone has his/her own prejudices that he/she hold on to. Since we’ve been preparing for this lunch series, I’ve been made more aware of my own.

Over the weekend, Amy and I took in a profound and thought provoking flick: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. The prices at the dollar theater have increased by 25 cents, so it’s now totally improper to refer to it as “The Dollar Theater.” It shall hence be called “The Two Dollar Theater” from now on (although I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to keep that up.)

If you thought this movie might have had a subtle pro-gay marriage agenda, you would be totally wrong. It was about as subtle as wasabi. There were certainly some funny scenes, and with 2 dollar a head cover charge, I seldom walk out disappointed. And I didn’t. But was there any ‘redeeming’ value about the movie? Of course.

Certainly I did struggle with some of the flambouyant gayness, and clearly pro-gay agenda with the movie. But another scene bothered me a bit more.

As the gay folk were leaving their ‘gayla’ (sorry I had to) they were accosted by Christian protesters shouting “Gay is not God’s way!” They were depicted as heartless, and even a pastor called Adam Sandler’s character a “faggot.” He was shortly punched in the face, and rightly so.

It frustrates me that Christians get represented on the Silver Screen in such a negative light. I’m criticized if I stereotype, even though Christians are usually criticized and stereotyped in this way. Oh well, I’ll get over it. I’m not condemned because of Jesus, so it really should matter if opponents don’t play fair.

It frustrates me even more to realize that this caricature is accurate in some, or perhaps many cases. But shouting the truth in hate is far different than speaking the truth in love. Whether Christians like it or not, we are often seen as those shouting protesters (with some exceptions like in MS and LA where the church is doing the recovery work). Most folks will not listen to what you have to say unless you hear what they have to say first. And that’s OK. It takes time, relationships, hospitality to break down barriers others (or we) have erected for us.

Most of us tend to either skimp on truth, or skimp on love. Which one do you tend to skimp on? I flip-flop. But if we reflect upon the gospel, we become more truthful and more loving than anyone out there. It may not put us on the Silver Screen, but it will get our Savior heard by more needy and hurting people.

I guess that the best sign of a good retreat is that you’re still thinking about what’s been said on Monday morning. Even better if Tuesday, and so on..

Well today, as I was reading my bible and reflecting upon my anger, I felt the need to reflect upon the question behind the issue: why? Why am I so obsessed with certain things, and certain responses from people? Well, the Holy Spirit informed me quite loudly-though not audibly-exactly what it was.

What Rodney Dangerfield complained about and what Aretha Franklin sang about: Respect. It’s not that I desire everyone to like me. I really don’t think that’s the case. I don’t ‘need’ you to like me; I ‘need’ you to respect me. Maybe I’m more Machiavellian than I would like to admit. Not so much your love, but your respect. That’s what I feel like I’ve really been seeking. You can disagree with me, and even dislike me, but please don’t disrespect me! I looked back over my years of ministry experience, and that’s been one of my main struggles.

Just confessing that to Christ this morning, and cyber-confessing this to you frees me and moves me down a path to recovery. I can’t complain about the same thing that Rodney complained about: the ultimate sign of respect is that of someone dying in my place. That’s respect. That’s respect and love. Can you beat that? So after confessing and taking one look at my sin, I need at least 10 looks at the cross. Believing is harder than it looks.

A few weeks ago, our session had a retreat. This weekend, our whole presbytery had a retreat. In the same place. It was a great time of being renewed in the gospel. There was nothing earth shattering as far as a new principles go, but simply getting back to the basics.

We followed an old Puritan model of spiritual renewal. First there is a downward aspect of repenting that simply has to take place. We were instructed to repent not simply of our specific sins, but why in fact we chose those sins. Sin is always rooted in disbelief in the gospel.

We stopped there for the evening and then moved on the next morning to the upward part: faith. We tried to isolate a certain aspect of the gospel, a certain accomplishment of Christ which we had previously failed to believe: and thus fell into sin. It was great. I had to really reflect on the fact that there is no condemnation in Christ, and therefore I do not need to be angry when I don’t see ‘the results’ (numbers) I would hope to see in the church. The ‘results’ don’t validate me: Christ does. So I’m trying to believe that.

Another thing that I learned was this: “you don’t have to go it alone” (U2). Solitude is not always a bad thing, but being in real community around folks who truly believe always helps me when I’m struggling. If struggling with doubt, I’ve found that surrounding myself with believers (fellowship) blesses my soul greatly and begins to chip away at my doubts or despair. A community trying to believe, share, and apply the gospel is truly a beautiful thing. Even more beautiful than an individual trying to do the same thing.

A former seminary friend (though fortunately he’s not a former friend) and youth pastor in our presbytery recommended a book to me called TrueFaced. Since its co-written by John Lynch (I know its not the football player, but like George Costanza, I still think its cool), I quickly ordered it off amazon.com.

The gist of the book is that our justification before God ought to make us be more open, honest, and real people before Him and others. I’ve enjoyed it so far, and am about 2/3 of the way in. And I recommend it you, understanding that if the last third is repulsive I may recant.

In a particular part of the book, Lynch and his men contend that we ought to be willing to trust others more deeply without the constant fear of them letting us down. We are to let others love us despite their imperfect attempts. But he does so in a way that doesn’t allow relationships to become idols.

“Will others meet our needs perfectly and will we trust perfectly?
No. This is the Room of Grace, remember? Grace is the face
love wears when it meets imperfection.”

I love that sentence. Maybe it’s the wording. Maybe it’s the concept. Maybe it’s both. We are constantly dealing with people who are imperfect, who are not trustworthy. So as soon as you or I commit to love another, it automatically must become gracious (independent of their deserving it), or it won’t be a commitment for very long. And I guess it wouldn’t have been love either.

This doesn’t exclude the need for ‘tough love’ of course or the need to call people to repentance. Instead it is a good reminder to me that love and manipulation really have nothing to do with one another. And yet my ‘love’ is often manipulative-based upon what you bring to ‘my ball club.’ So I guess I need Jesus to work on my “Grace Face.”

Last night I wanted ice cream. And when I want ice cream, there is only one solution: go and get ice cream. So we headed to the Mad Cow Creamery (actually its the Big Cow, but we call it Mad Cow because that’s what I would call it if I owned an ice cream store).

When Amy and I got there, we noticed our neighbor (who didn’t remember meeting me a while ago) and so reintroduced ourselves. His son, the owner of the shop, was preparing an traditional Indian birthday carrot cake-like concoction. It read “Happy Birthday Krishna.”

The father was heading to some sort of birthday party for Krishna, who is one of “the main gods” in Hinduism. The party was slated for midnight because that was Krishna’s time of birth. We know Jesus was born sometime in between 4-6 BC, but the Hindu’s somehow know the very time!

Anyhow, Krishna was born a man, but later became deity upon death. I guess that’s what prompted my neighbor to say that he was “like Jesus Christ.” Of course one difference (besides reality), is that Jesus was the preexistent creator through whom the world was made (Col 1), who in the fullness of time took on a body (Gal 4:4). Kind of different order.

Anyhow I remembered some of this from my World Religion classes, but the store owner filled me in on the rest. Simply by asking some questions about Krishna, I was able to show respect to someone I obviously disagreed with. And he certainly was glad I showed some interest in his culture and religion.

But who knows, maybe that was a start to a relationship where the gospel can be fleshed out and expressed one day. Who knows? But at the very least, I think I can now get my neighbor to come to a neighborhood cook out. And I’m even more certain Amy and I will now be getting a friendly wave back instead of a “why-are-you-waving-at-me-type-stare” we’d been accustomed to.

I did something rare yesterday; I saw a movie in the real theater. A matinee of course, though. Fortunately Transformers was still out, so I could take advantage of the high quality sound systems in ‘real theaters’ (the dollar theater has decent visual, but bad audio-but for chic flicks, the audio isn’t as important, I’ve found).

The movie was quite delightful, if you can use such a word for a movie whose plot centers around alien robots battling each other for a ‘cube’ which can turn blow dryers into robot warriors. But it really was a good story, with great action sequences, and some cleverly written dialog. Seriously.

One theme which periodically popped up was the goodness of humanity. The Darth Vader of Robots (Megatron) questions why it is that another robot would be willing to sacrifice himself for humans. After all, humans were quite inferior and were incredibly selfish and destructive. We can all agree with the latter two, but honestly, I’ve never met a robot I’ve felt inferior to. Maybe that’s just me.

Optimus Prime, the Luke Skywalker of the Robots, noted that the humans really hadn’t been around all that long. Give them some time, they have some good traits. They are in essence good, and just need to work some kinks out (a modernistic worldview of humanity). There were several other exchanges which reinforced the goodness of humanity-a theme, or at least a hope, that I’m seeing in news reporting and more and more in pop culture.

I really don’t think that I’m on one of those communist witch hunts to see this stuff. But if I am, I repent and want to remind you that I’m neither a communist nor a witch.

But when I see the goodness of humanity expressed on the big screen, or more importantly the big screen of our culture, or even more important than that, the big screen of our hearts, I see one big enemy of the gospel. And it breaks my heart. For the gospel actually affirms more greatly the dignity of man than any other modern/humanistic worldview.

Christ didn’t die to ‘work out the kinks,’ but to provide salvation and hope for a people devoid and unworthy of such hope. However by his sacrifice, Christ affirms to the the world that while we are not worthy to be saved, we are still ‘worth’ saving. That’s far more dignity than our buddy Optimus would confer upon humanity (although let’s not blame Optimus, he’s just reading his lines).

That’s some serious dignity, and humanity truly does long for dignity. But it only comes if we can first ‘eject’ our notion of a latent goodness in humanity. And instead embrace the goodness of Christ, who is the hope and Savior of humanity.

Someone at youth group last night asked a question probably many of us lie awake thinking about, “What is Labor Day for?” And it is a good question indeed, though it often goes unasked by most folks, and therefore unanswered. And since no question is a ‘dumb’ question (at least that’s what good teachers tell shy unconfident young question askers), we’ll delve briefly into what Labor Day really is.

Some McGuire, either Matthew or Peter-no one knows for sure-came up with the holiday in the late 1800’s. Regardless of which McGuire came up with it, Labor day was created by the Central Labor Union and a parade soon ensued. Just two years later in 1884, many other industrial centers thought “we can do better than a parade.” Thus they so solidified Labor Day’s place in September.

It was to be a “working-men’s” holiday to celebrate those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold (Peter McGuire).”

Since I’m not a Jehovah’s Witness, I can celebrate holidays, and can do a lot of other cool things with the freedom I possess in Christ. How then should I celebrate Labor Day? Well last year, I painted my office room blue, and this year I went fishing and watched Transformers. But I think there is a bit more that can be done, but of course no parades for me.

I’m not in a union, and am not being paid by a union to say this, but I think something related to Labor Day is worthy of reflection. There are a lot of jobs which are completely thankless, and for which I have neither the skill, desire, or tolerance to do. Collecting garbage is certainly up there. But this is an important thing to do, and we ought to be thankful that folks do it. What about toll booth operators? How hard would that be? Recently they’ve been really darn friendly to me (so I’m kind of ‘high’ on them right now), and are doing something that simply needs to be done.

But jobs like these might run the gamut, from blue to white to ring-around-the-collar.
So in honor of Labor Day, or rather just to honor one another, (which is a scriptural command from Romans 12 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves”), thank the un-thanked. Or at least honor them by remembering what they do. I think they’ll thank you right back.

Randy and I made the trip to the Apple store early this morning in hopes of getting my darn Ipod to sync with my computer. Well, the trip to Tampa proved to be a futile attempt to bring an Ipod and its coolness into my life. The tech dude hadn’t used Windows stuff since 98, so he couldn’t do much more than I could. That was information that would have been helfpul if brought to my attention yesterday. Nevertheless, it was good to have someone to whom I could talk and discuss hard life decisions.

But in reflection, after numerous attempts to get this thing to work, maybe the Ipod (for me) is like that girl you wished you could date, but she wouldn’t give you the time of day, or just wanted to be friends (even worse!). And to pursue her any longer would be tantamount to stalking. Am I a stalker? I don’t want to be that guy.

Maybe the Ipod isn’t ‘meant to be’ for this time in my life….Or maybe this is a sign to get a new computer after 5 years of Toshiba excellence…..Maybe I can see some ‘writing’ on the wall, but I just can’t read it yet. Maybe.

I’ve been reading II Corinthians for my morning devotions the past month or so. Today I came across a puzzling passage: “But as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you-see that you excel in this act of grace also” (8:7).

The question I raise is “How does someone ‘excel’ in an ‘act of grace’ when Paul begins the passage by explaining that the grace God has given the churches in Macedonia has moved them to give, and even in the toughest situations? I mean if grace is given, then how can someone excel in it?

At first look it sounds like a contradiction. But I think I might at first glance have been falsely dichotomizing two truths. God gives grace and this grace is responsible for any good work in the life of a Christian. Yet we must respond to this grace. Westminster Shorter Catechism question 35 defines sanctification as “the work of God’s free grace,(1) whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God,(2) and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”

God works in us= grace. Because God works in us to will and work for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13), then we do live out our salvation (Phil 2:12). In other words we are enabled by his grace to lay aside our own innate selfishness and follow Jesus more nearly. In order to “excel in this grace” we are then to regularly respond to the grace given to us.

How might we regularly respond? Jesus told the disciples to freely give as they have received. In order to ‘excel in this grace’ I imagine we would need to actively realize how much we have been given, and actively repent from our own love of money. Of course, who works that repentance in our lives? God in His grace. Fortunately we can pray for a repentant heart.

Did Paul’s exemplary church in Macedonia excel in this grace because they simply had ‘more grace?’ I don’t know (I really don’t know what that means anyway). But one thing I do know is that a lack of response to God’s grace is never blamed on the fact that God didn’t ‘give’ enough grace. Giving is a spiritual gift-and some are more giving than others.

But a lack of excelling in this grace is more probably due to a lack of reflection and belief in that grace. At least for me. So probably I can’t use that excuse when challenged to give!