More Movie Reviews

Well, after being sick for a week Lisa and I had a chance to watch a few movies! My last posts were so popular I thought I'd pass on my thoughts on four movies.

My stars are based on the entainment value it brought to me. It says nothing about the quality or value of the movie in general. So take them with a grain of salt!

Children of Men - * - I got this movie because I read that Matt Damon and George Clooney thought it was the best movie of the year. Maybe you have to be an actor to appreciate it. It was way too dark for me. It's an end time flick where the human race has been sterilized and one woman becomes pregnant and the goal of the movie is to get her to a safe haven amidst all kinds of anarchy. Too weird for me. Sorry Matt and George!

Premonition - * - A good friend of mine loved this and so I had to get it. I like Sandra Bullock. But I don't like this genre of movie. It's a semi (but not really)horror/semi suspense flick. Bullock gets a premonition of her husband's death and spends the movie trying to prevent it. The movie hops back and forth between before and after the premonition. Lisa enjoyed it. But I'm too linear of a thinker. I don't like bouncing around with time frames and the imminent death kinda creeps me out!

The Good Shepherd - ** - I rented this a second time by mistake. I forgot I had rented it before. I guess that tells you something. I like Matt Damon a lot but he plays a VERY melancholy secret agent. I'm not sure how factual it is but it "documents" the beginning of the CIA. I like historical stuff. It has a lot of suspense. But it's not uplifting by any stretch of the imagination. I'd have given it a third star if it was more action and less melancholy. The entire music track is a piano playing sadly (at least when I noticed it). The movie gives you a realistic view (I assume) of the undercover world of our government - a no win situation where ethics are blurred and people are killed on a regular basis to prevent greater losses. Plus, Damons family life starts off bad and gets progressively worse...totally fractured by the end of the show.

Reign Over Me - *** - This was a pleasant surprise. It is NOT an action flick at all. And don't rent it for pure comedy (Adam Sandler is one of the stars). But if you like great acting and good interplay of characters with the full range of emotion, then you'll like this. Sandler plays a former dentist whose family dies in the 911 Boston flight. He is emotionally devasted and turns into a recluse. Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda star) recognizes him on the street. They attended med school together as roommates. The story is how Cheadle seeks to rescue Sandler from his trauma and restore him to real life. I think it's a great story of love and friendship. It keeps you laughing and crying. But it's pretty serious with a happy ending. Two stars are for entertainment and the third star is for the good moral theme.

There you go! Enjoy the show.

A Politically Correct Christmas?

There's been a lot of concern expressed amongst Christians this year about the elimination of the word "Christmas" and substituting it with "Holiday". Help me out here...why do we as Christians need the world to validate our holy days? And why do we need stores... the same stores that have hijacked our holy days and made them greedy days...why do we need their validation especially? It seems to me that the Christian church would celebrate the separation of materialism from Christmas, not criticize it.

I just find it odd that Christians are the first to object to the need to be politically correct in other areas but here, at Christmas, they are retaliating with their own form of "PC". This is the kind of behavior that makes the world hate Christians and not want to be one. This is the kind of external religion that is about looking good on the outside instead of being good on the inside.

I just don't understand why Christians demand the world to dance to their tune. Why should they? They will do what seems right to them...and they should. Why would we want them to be phony - to talk about God, Jesus, and Christmas - as if they believe, when they don't? It would irritate me if Muslims imposed their festival on me and then got mad if I tried to neutralize the verbage.

I think we need to wake up and realize that we live in a pluralisitic society. Yes, Christianity dominated culture for a long time...for good and for bad. It's not that way anymore. Let's get over it and move on. Let's find better ways to influence culture than to berate stores and such for not using our terminology for a holiday that we let get away from us.

Our faith should highlight a transforming relationship with a living God, not petty nit-picking over words for a pseudo-Christian holiday. Is that really what we want to be known for?

Well...there you have my mild mannered opinion. Feel free to disagree!

More on Golden Compass

Well, I guess my blog still isn't allowing everyone to post. Sorry about that. So here's a post that was emailed to me about the movie "Golden Compass"...

I just finished the first two books in the "Golden Compass" series of books. I couldn't put them down, and that's an odd thing for fantasy fiction and me. Really captivating plot, solid writing, very advanced for children's fiction.

I'm putting the third one down and not sure I'll be picking it up again, no matter how good it is. Very clearly it is a story about the fallen angels and all their cohorts mounting war against God (no chance it isn't our God since the author calls him YAHWEH) claiming he's not really the Creator but the first created angel who pridefully led everyone to believe that since he came first, he was God.

The way I see it, it's a story about "the other side" and what they believe... however, the definition of good and evil has been switched around. Blurred at best. So this is no classic story of good and evil, which most fantasy fiction is. It takes a severe departure from the best of it in that way and questions everything. And worst of all, it leads the reader to question God.

I'm coming out, surprisingly, very strongly against these books because of exactly that. Children, whose theology is still forming, will be attacked even worse... at least those who get through the books for the difficulty of reading level. I am pro-Harry Potter and very opposed to Christians who won't read things before criticizing them... but I'm on this band wagon now. Dawn

Overcoming Faith Objections

I just got back from being gone for a week. One of the first things I did was to listen to Christine's message from Sunday. She took the second message in our Making Christmas Real series. You might want to give it a listen.

I like how she opened it by talking about a number of Christmas cards that she's received that simply said, "Believe" as if everyone knows what that is in reference to. But her questions were, "Believe what?" What does it mean to believe? What are we asking people to believe? And how does that belief come about? Good questions that she addressed.

One idea that she borrowed from Andy Stanley (www.northpoint.org/messages ) was that when you come to believe in Jesus you don't stop doubting, your doubts just get smaller. They are proportionately smaller than your faith. It's like all the doubts you have about marriage. You tell people all the reasons why you'll never get married. They are great reasons...until you meet someone you love. Your love doesn't eliminate your objections (you'll lose your independence, it will cost too much, etc.) the objections just don't carry as much weight as they once did.

And that's what happens when you take time to discover Jesus. At some point the balance shifts and your objections grow smaller in regard to your growing faith. But the doubt never goes away. Those questions about evolution or the suffering in India or how those miracles happened will remain. You see, doubt and faith is a tension that never fully disappears.

So, if you are waiting for ALL of your faith questions to be resolved before you take the step of faith, that's just not realistic. Life's not like that...it's not that neat and tidy! Sometimes we have to move forward even though everything isn't resolved for us. Listen or read what Christine has to say..

Who calls the shots?

Thanks to those that tested my link below. Seems to be working...at least for them! Now the rest of you can go back and add your movie comments!

I.T. K.? Sorry for no "in the know" comments this week. I guess I'm too busy working on my house in my free time to have my ear to the ground on much right now! I need to get a bedroom finished in time for Christmas!

Men and Women's roles: I never have enough time to talk about everything I'd like to talk about on Sunday's. One thing I'd like to have had time to address is how my teaching on "Putting Women in Their Place" shakes out in a marriage. There's a lot I could say about that but one thing I hear a lot of couples say is, "We are basically equal but we believe the husband should 'make the call' when we disagree."

Hmmmmm....I've got a problem with that. That doesn't sound very equal to me. My experience, in marriage and in church leadership, tells me that when two parties don't agree that's NOT the time for one person to pull rank on the other. That's the time for MORE discussion, more research, more input...maybe even counseling or some form of mediation. Whenever one person "calls the shot" they are opening themselves up to resentment. You can say, Well that's why God gives grace to the wife to submit to the decision. But I'd counter by asking why that isn't just as much the time for the man to humble himself and defer to his wife.

Like I've been saying on Sundays...there is no wonder or mystery in one person taking control. That's the cowards way out in my opinion. The courageous person will seek to talk until a true compromise and true unity is reached. It will undoubtedly require more work and more time, but all good things do. It's worth the effort. Plus, it requires us to be more in-touch with God. Any one, on their own human effort, can call a shot. But to reach a compromise with another person requires the grace of God's Spirit working in you.

I'd love to field questions on this issue and others. Remember you can post your comments and questions anonymously. So ask/comment away!

Please test the "comment" link

Hey...I've heard a lot this week that people are having trouble commenting with the link in this blog. Bummer! No wonder you are all so quiet! I guess a lot of you had comments in regard to the movies.

Do me a favor...would you click on the "comment" link below and just run a test for me. You can just say "testing" or whatever. I 'd like to see if I can solve this. Thanks.

At the Movies...

I'm fairly limited on what kind of movies I like to watch. I'm hoping others will kick in their two cents by posting below. I like action and suspense. I also like movies that teach a moral well without being preachy. Humor is great but I like it subtle and not the yuck, yuck kind! I guess I'm kind of picky. I generally can handle bad language. It doesn't seem to phase me unless it doesn't fit the plot. I stay clear of the horror genre or anything blatantly sexual.

So, with that said, this is what I've been watching...

Shooter ** - I liked this movie as much as you could like a movie about an assassin. It got increasing bloody toward the end. I wouldn't recommend it for that reason. But the plot was interesting and it kept me guessing.

Breach *** - This was well acted and a fascinating story. It also gives insight into how people can compartmentalize their life separating out their faith from a life filled with lies. It's about the biggest security breach in US history involving one of our spies.

Fracture *** - Anthony Hopkins does a great job keeping people guessing about how he murdered his wife. There's a twist at the end that gives you a satisfying "aha" moment.

Amazing Grace ** - I was looking forward to this movie and was disappointed by it's pacing. It just seemed to drag for me...maybe because there was no suspense...I knew how it was going to turn out! Chuck Colson recently said this is one of his all time favorites. I'd definitely recommend it for the history lesson and for a great example of a man compelled by his faith to fight injustice. In case you haven't heard, it's about how slavery was outlawed in England.

Bourne Ultimatum *** - If this movie had a great moral to it I'd give it four stars. I suppose it is a story about fighting injustice and exposing lies. It's just no "Amazing Grace". I haven't seen a movie that kept me on the edge of my chair like this since "The Fugitive" years ago. I really like Matt Damon's understated character. Unlike "Shooter" he only uses force when he has too to save his life.

The Golden Compass ??? - This movie is raising a lot of concern in the Christian community. I generally don't like to criticize something before it hits the street. I don't like it when Christians are always dissing things in the media but this movie might be an exception. This is what one Cedarbrooker recently wrote me...

I was going to use [The Golden Compass] for my book club, but had some concerns, so I read the whole series and found that it is blantant anti-God. My thought is that some families may not be aware of how bad this series is concerning Christianity. My family has enjoyed the Harry Potter books. We see them as just fantasy. This movie and series is something very different.

Breakpoint.org gives their review of The Golden Compass here.

I'd love to hear back from anyone your thoughts on these movies or others you'd recommend!

In the Know...11/20/07

I can tell how many people click on this blog so as long as people are reading "I.T.K." I'll trust that means you want me to keep writing it!

Lisa and I enjoyed getting to know Jerry and Julie Burg a bit more last week. I first met Jerry when he was installing the room divider at the banquet center before the Cedarbrook band's first cd release concert. Jerry said that as he was installing the divider he sensed that God was going to use the banquet center but thought that was an odd thing to think. Then he heard about Cedarbrook and...well, I guess God IS using the banquet center! Jerry's dividers are the Cadillac of room dividers. He donated one to our Children's ministry. He said that before the internet they only sold in three states but now they sell worldwide!

I heard back from Diane Colson that we sent out 88 Christmas giftboxes last week for Operation Christmas Child. Good job! People seem to really like that. And now Darlene Huehn is helping to promote Angel Tree that distributes presents locally for Christmas. I appreciate people championing these various projects. By the way, did you know that Darlene is engaged to be married December 22nd?

Matt Deyo-Svendsen is getting his master's degree at the University of Minnesota but he is within striking distance of Cedarbrook and so we've invited him to share in January about his recent trip to Africa with Habitat for Humanity. Matt is also the guy who got us on iTunes!

I heard there was quite a crowd of soup-cookers at Janene Samples house on Sunday preparing for our Thanksgiving meal. Be sure to thank Janene, Suzie Ziebel, Lisa Diederich, Sandy Buckner, Jackie Williams, Jayne Rechtzigel, Elli Hunt, Jennifer Froseth, and Barb Prochnow.

I had a great discussion with Cherise Nielsen, Steve Jensen and Tiffany Ehlert tonight about how we can offer a variety of options for people to join one of our trips to New Orleans to work in our Center City Project. We are hoping to send off another team over Spring Break '08.

I'm curious about the success of our hunters. Tiffany told me that her husband Chris hunted with Andre Oldberg this past weekend in Medford where his Chris's brother took down a 17 point buck! Jon Spanger got an 11 point buck on Steve Jensen's farm. I think Diane Sinz said that Todd and their son Mitchell already got their tags by Sunday morning. Way to go guys. What about the rest of you? How about if you post your success below? Go on...don't be shy.

Cedarbrook Sermons Now on iTunes!

If you are an iTunes user you can now download and listen to Cedarbrook sermons for free through iTunes! You can listen to them on your computer or download them to your ipod or Mp3 player. You can also subscribe and get them automatically sent to you each week.

Hey, tell a friend who wants to check out Cedarbrook but never seems to make it. Or that relative in Sawdust, Wyoming who doesn't have a church nearby!

Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/ then click on "podcasts" and do a search for "Cedarbrook Church podcasts". Enjoy.

Interpreting Parables Correctly

There's one thing I wish I would have taken the time to talk about in the parable series and that is that you have to be careful how to interpret them.

This was brought to my attention when I attended a small group discussion last week. Some people were expressing confusion at how they could love their children like the father in the parable of the Lost Sons (Prodigal). I said, "Whoa...don't go there. That parable wasn't given to teach parents how to parent. It was given to teach us about God's love. The only application Jesus wanted us to get from it was that we should rejoice when "sinners" respond to God's love and not be critical."

You see, God is able to love people unconditionally all the time because he is infinite and he can't be worn out by us. But we are not so fortunate. Our finiteness causes us to need to implement boundaries into our relationships to save us from being relationally burned and taken advantage of. There are indeed times when our love should be completely selfless and unconditional. But if we treated all people like that all the time we'd end up in a psych ward by the end of the week!

So, be careful with the parables in how you apply them. They have restricted application. The same can be said about judging. Jesus often taught through parables not to judge but he wasn't saying that we should NEVER judge. He was saying that we shouldn't judge sinners that show an interest in turning to God. I'll be preaching on appropriate times and ways to judge in January. Stay tuned.

R.U. "In the Know?"

Well, this is about as close as I can get to "gossip". Welcome to my world...

I dropped in on the Men's Meeting last Tuesday night (led by Jeff Ayres and Keith Nye) at the Cedarbrook House to touch base with the guys. They are working their way through a 16 week course called "Winning at Work and at Home". That night's topic was "Improving Your Sex Life"! Of all the nights to drop in! But seriously, it was one of the best teachings I've seen on the subject. I told the guys that I'm going to be recommending this to couples from now on. Guys, if you can't attend the meetings, buy the cd's or dvd's. You and your wife will be glad you did. If every man at Cedarbrook went through this series we'd be better men for it. Learn more here.

Working with other church youth leaders, Andy Britz helped schedule the first all-church ski trip for youth this February. Pretty cool team work.

Did you know that Children's Ministry is going wild? A year ago we had six people volunteering on a Sunday and now Brenda Brewer has 20 volunteers each week. They are attracting close to 100 children every Sunday! I'm hearing great things about the work of Kari Mogen, Julie Colson, Kristen Schroeder, Jon Farrell, Jon Kluver, Lisa Diederich, Kendra Hefner and a whole bunch more!

Speaking of big numbers, our Sunday services have taken a big jump. With children, we are fast approaching the 500 mark total for both services. Thanks for sitting up close to free the seats in the back (and we just started adding more seats too). Thanks to Dave Prestebak, Jon Lutz and Ken Jorandby for faithfully setting up chairs each week. I hear they could use some help though now that the load has increased.

I had some fellow Viking fans over on Sunday to watch the "big" game. I think I better keep their names anonymous. It's not something people want to brag about these days! Good thing the food was good because it was a real sleeper on the purple side of things (I gotta give that old QB some credit in the green and gold!) Maybe next year.

Dave and Lynn Prestebak shared the parents side of sending a son to war at Fresh Encounter on Sunday night and Kendra Hefner shared from her time in Saudi Arabia as a woman in the service. It was a good time of lifting up our past and present troops in prayer.

Orland Able just retired for the third time. This time from Fleetfarm. He says this time its' for good. I enjoyed a cup of coffee with him today in celebration. It's great to hear from one of our senior members how much Cedarbrook means to him. He's been in church all his life but much of it was the "toxic" version. He said it's been refreshing.

I heard second hand that Dennis Mentor received two gifts for the land debt reduction on Sunday as he tended the "Building 127" booth. It's great to hear that the booth is getting the word out and people are responding.

Jeff Ayres came off Upper Tainter lake today after fishing for walleyes one last time before the ice sets in. I love the patience that fishermen have (and I don't!).

Well, that's what I remember from my week. Now you are "in the know".

This week at Cedarbrook

I was talking to Byron Anderson over coffee about how the chancelor at Stout will often email about conversations he's had with people around about Stout. Byron said it was always interesting to "listen in" on his musings. I thought I could do a bit of the same to put some faces on all that goes on around Cedarbrook...

Speaking of Byron, did you see the "Building 127" table that he and Judy Abel had out on Sunday? Byron came up with a unique way to communicate to us all the status of paying off the church land. Using a LEGO platform, we will put a "brick" on the platform for every $100 invested until the platform is covered. How many bricks is that? 1370 (representing $137,000). The table will be up for the two months for you to check out.

I enjoyed the pizza served at the Welcome Team's luncheon on Sunday. I so appreciate how Diane Sinz, Sarah Anderson and Diane Kistner work with about 25 others to welcome people on Sunday, inform them of where everything is and help them find the best possible seat! A great service starts with a great welcome!

Betsy Wolbert invited a number of people over to her house on Thursday to discuss how we can decorate on Sunday's to supplement each sermon. Patti Irwin, Sandy Buckner, Larry Froseth and Kelly Pember were there to help brainstorm as I layed out my upcoming sermon series. (I also got a couple kitchen remodeling tips on my way out the door!)

It's been great to have Andre Oldberg back singing with the band now and then when he and Krista drive back from Medford. Andre was back in town to do some turkey hunting with the Cormican's. But he also tells me that he and Krista are having some serious Cedarbrook withdrawals and like the excuse to come back for a CB style church service.

Christine Ruth was off preaching at her kid brother's church in St. Paul (Substance Church) on Sunday. Peter started the church two years ago from scratch on the University of Minnesota - St. Paul campus and they are already drawing 800 people! From what I heard, Christine had a great time with the very young and lively crowd but a little weary after three services of preaching!

I dropped in on Christine's "Crossway Bible Class" a couple Tuesday's ago at the Cedarbrook Center. She has quite the crowd of eager Bible students engaged in discussion...too many to mention (40). I loved seeing her passion for the Old Testament and the way everyone was so quick to comment or ask questions.

Last night Lisa and I enjoyed mentoring a group of parents at the Parenting Club and now tonight I'm off to visit my old small group that I started and turned over to Swen and Nancy Erickson. Sounds like it is still a lively group. One of the members was just telling me that the group has started to serve people in North Menomonie who they hear have pressing needs (bringing meals, etc.). That was great to hear!

Well, that's just a bit of the life that I'm seeing around here this week...

Here's a video for you ...a spoof on the IBM/Apple ads...remy

Undignified Love

The parable of the Lost Sons (Prodigal Son) is a challenge to anyone looking to learn about a "safe" way to love. Forget about boundaries, God's love for us is the "risk it all" kind that takes no thought for Himself.

What struck me about this story - something I had never seen before - was that the father in the story ran to his son, not just because he missed him so much but because he wanted to protect him from the abuse of the villagers. The villagers would undoubtedly have taken up the offense for the father and would be quick to meet the boy at the city gate to discourage him from returning. It's amazing, isn't it, how unkind and vengeful religious people can be. Maybe you've been on the receiving end of this kind of hatred.

But the father beat his way through the crowd and made it to his son before they did, saving him from the humiliation and the shame. The father didn't care what people thought of him. He wasn't looking to preserve his reputation. His only concern was the welfare of the son. What a picture of God's protective love for us. And isn't that what we see in Jesus bearing the shame of our sin on the cross? No mere mortal could have ever conceived of a god like this!

It's worth some time to consider how we might be like that village crowd with the "sinners" in our midst. And it's worth some time to see how we might be more like the father by embracing them, welcoming them back into the faith community and even giving them the "seat of honor" at our banquets.

(By the way, the audio file won't be uploaded until the end of this week but the text file is ready to go.)

Forgiveness First, Then Repentence

I was telling someone the other day that what I enjoy about Jesus' parables is that as you layer one on the other certain themes emerge that you may not have seen with just one parable. One theme that I see emerging is that Jesus doesn't expect us to repent in order for him to forgive us. He forgives us in order that we will repent.

I mentioned this on Sunday in my sermon on The Lost Sheep. Sheep are incapable of "repenting". Once lost, they shut down, curl up and wait to be rescued or die. If the shepherd doesn't seek them out and carry them home they are toast. In the parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15) the same is true. The coin has no ability to "repent" and is dependent on the woman to find it.

I will show this Sunday that the Prodigal son tried to repent by returning home willing to be a servant but the end of this kind of "repentance" was only slavery. That's not what God wants for us. He wants us to be his son or daughter. So true repentance doesn't happen for the prodigal until his Father takes action - embraces him and offers him a banquet. True repentance takes place when the son agrees to attend the party and live like a son instead of a slave.

I'm convinced that many Christians live like slaves vs. children of God because they still haven't received God's forgiveness. They are in a perpetual state of trying to earn God's forgiveness, but since that's impossible, they never achieve their goal which makes them feel like they are on the "outs" with God. Is that true for you?

When to "Take a Stand"

Someone mentioned to me the other day that some people around town think Cedarbrook is "soft", meaning we don't confront people about lifestyle issues. I purposefully don't try to defend comments like these in my preaching but addressing the "soft" comment fit perfectly with my sermon on The Great Banquet on Sunday. It gave me the opportunity to explain that there is both method and theology behind my reticence to "take a stand" and condemn lifestyle issues publicly. Give it a read/listen to see if you agree.

There was a day when I would jump at the chance to "take a stand" for "righteousness". It felt so good to point out how others were doing it wrong (implying that I was doing it right). It compelled people to pat me on the back and thank me for "preaching the truth". And it drew a clear line in the sand, defining what a follower of Jesus truly looks like (and I love clarity vs. fuzziness). Plus it made me feel like "God's man"...you know, being willing to step up and say the unpopular thing - kind of a spiritually macho thing to do.

But over the years I feel like God has exposed some of the self serving attitudes in "taking a stand". Truthfully, I don't know what good it does. I'm not saying that there is never a place for it. There is. But often not the place where we think it is. Too often it only serves to puff up our pride and turn the target of our "stand" off. We only polarize ourselves more. How is that helpful in reaching the unchurched?

Sometimes the hardest thing (certainly for me), and the most righteous thing is to just keep our mouths shut. Now if your character flaw is that you are too wishy-washy, God might be speaking the exact opposite to you. You need to stand up for what you believe. But that's not my problem.

As for being soft, it's a compliment to me because twenty years ago (uh, and more recently than that!) I was accused of being harsh. I guess I've come a long way. I'm just thankful that Jesus' Spirit is the One who brings true conviction to our hearts and not self-righteous preachers.

The next three Sundays I'll be adding to what I said so I hope you'll join me in person or on-line.

The fun of judging others...

Yesterday, Christine Ruth tackled the parable of The Weeds. She brought some great insight to it. What I find interesting in the parables is how your first impression isn't always the right impression. As with the weeds, the first impression is that it's a parable of judgment. But in reality it's a parable about NOT judging. Religious people love to judge and Jesus says, "Leave that to me. Let 'em be." Ooooohhhhh...but judging is SO MUCH FUN...especially when you KNOW that you have the truth...that YOU are right and everyone else is wrong!!! I mean, that's the dream of every insecure person, isn't it...to finally be in the place of power and look down on OTHERS instead of them having them look down on you?

Sorry for the dripping sarcasm but their is a lot of psychology that comes into play regarding why people turn to God/religion. I've done enough study/teaching on shame issues to know that our brain is constantly looking for affirmation and we will do whatever we can - no matter how dysfunctional - to feel good about ourselves. Unfortunately people use God/religion to boost their ego. But Jesus tells us that it's not our job to judge who's "in" and who's "out" with God. There are better ways to feel good about yourself.

It reminds me of my ordination interview. I was asked the age old question..."Tell us what will happen to the tribal chief who has never heard about Jesus." The "right" answer is that without Jesus he is eterally lost. But I said, "I have no idea. But I trust that God does and he will be perfectly just." That unsettled my interviewers but I think that's precisely what Jesus was getting at in the parable of The Weeds. He didn't want religious people sitting around making judgments about things that were none of their business.

You can listen or read Christine's message here.

The Two Debtors parable

I love the parables of Jesus. They appear to be so simple but as you explore them they take on layers. One of the things I enjoy doing is to view the parables from the viewpoint of everyone involved.

For example, in the parable of the Two Debtors (Luke 7:36-50), there is a man who owes his lender $5,000 and another man who owes $50,000. I took some time to explore times when I owed little and I owed much and how I felt. When I owed little, my high task orientation kicked in and I decided I'm going to "DO IT", I'm going to "GET 'ER DONE". I'll get another job, I'll work nights, I'll freeze spending. I will do whatever I have to do to make it happen. It's all about me and my abilities.

If someone were to offer help with my small debt, I'd say, "No...thanks...I've got it covered." And inwardly I'd be proud of my ability to rise to the occassion and save the day.

But when I have owed thousands I merely cry because there's nothing I can do to solve the problem. I like it when I am in control. I hate it when I'm at the mercy of others. If someone were to offer to wipe out my debt I would be tempted to refuse. It's so humiliating to admit that I can't fix the problem. But if someone were to offer the help I think I'd take it because I could stop living with the weight of the debt and finally start living in freedom.

We understand things so well when it relates to the natural world. That's why Jesus told parables. The trick is to make the appropriate application to the spiritual world.

You see the big mistake we often make with God is to think that our problems are small and WE can handle them. God offers to help and we say "No, got it covered". And in doing so we miss the opportunity to encounter God in a very profound way. We would be wise to ask God to see our sin from his perspective so that we could see how much we truly need his help. Maybe then we would embrace God in a way that we've never done before.

Check out my sermon here. I won't be able to check posts this week but I hope you will post your thoughts and comment on what others write as well.

Am I Loving My Neighbor or Enabling Them?

In light of the parable of The Good Samaritan, the obvious question to surface is; How do I know that my helping someone isn't enabling them? That was the question that someone posted in my entry below.

There are lots of ways to answer that so let me take a few stabs at that question:

• I think it's often helpful to define terms and so I would ask, "What does it mean to help someone?" Is helping them doing what they ask of you or is it doing what will lead to true freedom? If the victim in Jesus' parable was able to talk and they asked you to carry them rather than put them on the donkey, would that truly help them? Probably not because it would overwhelm you so much that you too might be lying beside the road near death.
• Because this question is so tricky it requires significant input from both God and wise counselors. So it's not a time to isolate and try to solve things on your own. People who like to be enabled are great at manipulating you through guilt so it's important to have clear voices speaking truth into your situation and not letting someone pull your strings. The more wisdom we receive the less conflicted we feel.
• Shame based people are easily manipulated because they feel like they aren't good enough and maybe if they try to help lots of people with their problems they'll prove that they really are good enough and get the approval that they've always wanted. That's a black hole. Don't go there! If you recognize that shame is an issue in your life I'd get counseling for that before I tried to solve the world's problems.
• Finally, I think you have to assess the fruit of your "help". If the person you are "helping" isn't getting any better, then maybe you aren't helping them after all, only enabling their bad behavior. Some times we help by doing nothing or doing the opposite of what seems like help (calling the police, exposing a problem, etc.)

There are no easy answers to the conflict that often comes with trying to help someone. Jesus taught us that it's always the right thing to do to help others in need, just make sure that you are truly helping them and not making matters worse.

Bad Religion and Toxic Faith

Is there ever a time when you should NOT obey the Bible? I think so.

Paul said that "the Letter (of the Law) kills but the Spirit gives life". (2 Corinthians 3:16). And that's exactly what some Bible verses do when applied in the wrong situation. If you listened to my sermon on Sunday about The Good Samaritan, you heard me tell how both the Priest and the Levite in Jesus' parable used scripture to excuse them from helping a man near death.

That's bad religion. That's toxic faith. It totally misrepresents who God is to the world.

But Jewish rabbi’s had a practice called “binding and loosing” scripture to prevent this from happening. When someone felt that a scripture shouldn't be obeyed the elders in the community were to determine if that person should be “bound” to obey scripture or “loosed” to not obey it.

Jesus gave this same right to his disciples. This is important so that the Bible doesn’t put us in bondage to meaningless rules. A good example is the woman caught in adultery (John 8). The Bible says to stone people caught in adultery but Jesus loosed the community from carrying this out. He forgave her but challenged her to stop her life of sin.

Have you ever seen a Bible verse obeyed that did more damage than good?

Help them. Don't judge them!

I saw something in the parable of the Sower and the Seed that I had never seen before. The parable talks about a seed that falls on hard, rocky and thorny soil. The seed just sits on the hard soil and waits for the birds to eat it while the seed on the other soil sprouts and grows but eventually dies.

This parable is often taken personally, as in, I better clean up my act and work on having better soil. But what I saw is in relation to other people. When I meet someone who I can clearly see has a compromised faith, instead of judging them, this parable tells me that the clock is ticking and I have just a small window of time to help them with their soil condition. The question is...what can I do to help them develop their soil so the seed will not only sprout and grow for a time...but actually produce a harvest.


I see too many people come to church for a time and then suddenly disappear. Sure, you can blame it on the church not being perfect, but I think it often has something to do with the nature of the person. They come to church because a seed has fallen on their heart and they are stirred to seek God. But soon their troubles or personal distractions pull them back out of church and away from God.


Instead of judging the weak the church community can seize the moment, while there's still time, and encourage them in their faith - helping them address their issues of "hard soil", "rocks" and "thorns". It's that kind of understanding and encouraging community that I want to be a part of. How about you?