Retreat Re-Cap

Great photo of the Jumonville Cross, eh?

That's the effect of an extreme fog that fell over the camp on Saturday night.

But the fog was no damper on the workings of God's Spirit this past weekend! We had an incredible weekend of worship, fellowship, and bible study. God really did a work in our hearts, including my own.

We celebrated the 16th birthday of one of the guys in my youth group....But the angels in heaven were celebrating this weekend for another reason! Three of the youth committed themselves to Christ for the first time on this weekend! Praise God! I spent some time in prayer with each of them individually, and I know that their hearts were sincere. Please pray for Eric, Trevor, and Chris, that God will strengthen them and pour out His grace into their lives as His children.

A handful of other youth recommitted themselves to Christ, confessed some personal struggles and sins, and affirmed the significance of this Christian community in their lives. One of my seniors, Derek, challenged all the youth to really be witnesses in their schools and extracurricular activities, and not to be intimidated by peers and adults who hate the Christian faith. Another senior, a very shy but very deep girl named Alana, made cards for each youth and chaperone, encouraging them in their faith.

I especially thank my fellow chaperones, Greg, Jane, and Penny, who gave up a whole weekend just loved all these great teenagers!

Thank you, Almighty God, for meeting us at Jumonville and reminding us of Your all-embracing love and grace!

Walking Up To The Cross

This weekend I'll be taking about 30 senior high youth up to Jumonville for our annual Winter Retreat. It is a spiritually rich time when the youth turn off their iPods, TV's, cell phones (at least most of the time!), and try to focus on the still, small voice of God. In spite of the fact that I'm currently suffering from some kind of bronchial infection, I still intend to be the bravehearted youth pastor and spend an incredible weekend!

For the teens, the highlight of the weekend is when we all walk up to the big cross at the top of the mountain. Whether in the daytime or close to midnight, the spectacle is truly amazing. Hopefully it will not be too frigid or windy up there....

I love the imagery contained in the Jumonville cross, especially at night. At night, it is a solitary light amongst a sea of darkness. Anyone who drives down S. R. 119 at night can not fail to see it, and it is therefore a powerful, wordless witness of Christ's presence there.

In the daytime, from the cross you can see in the distance 3 states and 9 counties. You can see city life and country life, factories and farms, automobiles and trees. Taking that sight in, I always recall the magnificent Christological statement in Colossians:

"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see...Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together...He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross."

I thank God for providing a wonderful place like Jumonville where my youth can reconnect with God and each other, and at least for a time, remove themselves from the multiple idols that dominate our culture. Please pray that God will use me as his instrument in speaking words of truth and love to these incredible teens!

Help My Unbelief!

The other day I had one of those deep theological conversations with one of my best friends. Even though he and I don't see each other as much as we'd like, the conversation immediately went past the superficial niceties of polite chit-chat, and we just shared our hearts and our thoughts about the deeper stuff of life. It was a blessed time and I'm grateful for it. One thing became apparent during our talk: both of us struggle with doubt. This is not to say that we're "closet atheists" or anything like that. We're both devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. It's just that the profound questions don't go away, and we're not completely satisfied with the simplistic answers that we often get from others within the Christian fold. Paul Tillich once wrote, "Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith." Looking at Scripture, I suppose I'll have to agree. John the Baptist, Jesus' mother Mary, Job, and the writer of Ecclesiastes all went through periods when their minds and hearts were plagued with doubt, although they wanted very much to believe. This sentiment is kind of crystalized in the one sentence spoken by the father of a demon-possessed boy: "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24) Yes, there are many times when I ask those deeper questions and my heart is unsettled with the answers. I have faith but not certainty. Call it a "Dark Night of the Soul." Call it a "Crisis of Faith." Call it whatever the hell you like. But I don't think I'm off the mark in saying that it is a reality that every human being faces, including the men and women in the pulpits. Yet we are so conditioned in the church to preach "certainty." Modernity, with its emphasis on objective truth and inerrant reason, has trained us to give people answers...rather than affirming and honoring questions. I don't claim to know the purposes of God. But Scripture does seem to indicate that when individuals go through bad times in their lives, God uses those times in positive ways in the lives of other people. I think of Joseph's words to his brothers after they recognized him as the Pharoah's steward: "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." Job went through the doubt of suffering, but it is now a testimony for all of those who suffer that God may have a greater purpose in suffering. Jesus went through the doubt of Gethsemane, perhaps even questioning God's plan for Him, but it led to salvation for the human race. Dietrich Bonhoeffer went through doubt while in a concentration camp and was ultimately executed: yet his life and martyrdom are modern prophetic witnesses against evil, against injustice, and against a Church that is more interested in compromising with the world than in redeeming it. So when we go through these periods of doubt....maybe the best thing to do is share it with others. Instead of maintaining the facade of absolute certainty (which we do more to impress our congregations than to truly glorify God), let's admit that even we need help with our unbelief. Is it possible that our authenticity, and our willingness to work through peoples' questions, might be more meaningful and helpful than the "pat answers" that they have come to expect from us? Of course, we can hope for certainty. But we will never have it this side of heaven, when "in our flesh we will see God." How my heart yearns within me!

Let's Talk Politics...

The other night, my wife Cherith and I were watching the results of the Iowa caucus. As usual, there were roaring crowds, enthusiastic candidates, and media pundits ready with their fast analysis of the results (which usually changes from day to day).

Obama, the Democratic victor, gave what was by far the most inspiring speech, focusing on the historic moment of the first African-American to win a presidential caucus/primary, and on the hope that he will bring as a candidate of change (although change to what, I haven't yet gotten from him).

The speech that caught my attention was Huckabee's, the Republican winner who seems to be championed by many Evangelical Christians. Certainly more "folksy" and less polished than Obama's, he made reference to a quote by G. K. Chesterton...one of my favorite writers and a major influence on all of the Inklings.

The quote was: "A true warrior fights not because he hates those in front of him, but because he loves those behind him." A great quote, which Huckabee proceeded to take totally out of context and misapply to his point.

However, Huckabee's use of Chesterton in a political speech made me think of another quote from Chesterton in his book, The Everlasting Man: "A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep."

A despotism is a tired democracy. What a statement.

I look around the US, and in many respects, a tired democracy is exactly what I see, even among faithful Christians.

I see religious conservatives wanting government to legislate their moral principles and allow Christian orthodoxy to intrude into the public sphere...rather than doing the hard task of building relationships, loving, evangelizing, and discipling those who are lost.

I see liberal-thinking Christians wanting government to demonstrate the compassion and justice of Scripture through government entitlement programs and universal health care, all the while using most of their budgets on congregational programs and structures that are often more culture-bound than biblically mandated.

I see the majority of Americans believing that government owes them something beyond being a source of impartial law, an enforcer of contracts among people, and a protector from criminals and foreign enemies...which was implicitly the vision of our Founding Fathers.

Government has gotten so large and has taken on so many functions, we would hardly recognize the very frugal and simple government that existed for the first 100 years of our nation. Ironically, when our national government was small and had limited functions, it was then that our local communities were strong and vibrant, because those local communities were empowered to do things for themselves rather than immediately relying on Washington, D.C.

Is America slowly on the road to becoming a despotism? Are American citizens really more interested in being "cared for" by the government, rather than trusting in God and relying on their own ingenuity and the willing generosity of family, friends, and churches in their communities? Is it even possible to return to the vision of a national government so eloquently stated by Thomas Jefferson: "...a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned"? Or has government become yet another idol in which we choose to put our unquestioning faith?

In conclusion, a brief lesson of history: In 1933, Adolf Hitler, perhaps the greatest despot of the 20th century, was elected into office. He did not seize power; it was given to him by the people of Germany, and as he usurped more and more authority while silencing his critics, the majority of Germans (including the church) chose to do nothing.

I pray to God that never happens here, but something tells me He might feel like teaching us the hard way.....