Light

Planted

"Plant a kernal of wheat and you reap a pint. Plant a pint of wheat and you reap a bushel. Always the law works to give you back more than you give" (Anthony Norvell).

Words

"How sweet are your words to my taste..." (Ps.119:103).

I posed an interesting question to my students this morning to get them fired up for the day: Would you rather be married to someone who could not see or someone who could not speak? The consensus among them was that they would rather be married to someone who could not speak. The vote was unanimous, I might add, among the boys in class!

I asked the question to get them thinking about words and how we choose to use them. In our discussions, I realized that they associate words with negative feelings, and I have no doubt that many of them have experienced very little positive communication and may well be able to count on one hand the number of compliments they have received from their peers or parents in the last month or so! As you can imagine, very few of my students trust words because they recognize how shallow, manipulative, or hurtful they can be.

About half way through my curriculum each term, I usually lay the lesson plans aside for a few hours and facilitate a round of positive bombardment (an activity in which each student becomes the focus of a round of compliments and appreciation). I've been doing this for years, and every time I am impressed by depth and quality of offerings that my young people have to offer one another. What makes this experience particularly interesting in my current job is that I am now doing this in a public school with a population of students who carry with them a bit of a reputation.

I have never seen better results.

At first, students are uncomfortable with receiving the good words from their peers, but it doesn't take long before their craving for affirmation becomes apparent, even among the most diehard. Gradually, the students began confessing their assumptions and judgments about each other and recognized that they had been wrong to jump to such conclusions. By the end of the experience, trust had been established, old differences had been set aside, and new friendships had been born.

All because of words.

Scripture warns us of the dangers of the tongue. We all have plenty of our own stories to share about words that cut us to the core. If the tongue has the power to unleash devastation, then it also contains the power to restore, heal, and bring life. Imagine a world in which the people of God took every opportunity to ensure that the words coming from their mouth brought restoration, healing, and life... What a contrast that would be to the voices of destruction that so many must listen to!

I saw the difference it made in the lives of a few kids today.

They felt the difference as they left my classroom walking on air.

Keep Going

Minister of the Gospel

"...for in Christ shall all be made alive."

In 2000, I was ordained an elder -- a minister of the Gospel -- by laying on of hands at the Blue River Church. I have taken that charge seriously whether employed by a church, serving as a missionary, or now working in a public school. As a minister, I think I've always carried with me this idea that my calling could not be simply about words. I wasn't ordained as a speaker or simply a preacher but as a minister. In other words, I want people to know the good news of God with my life. I'm not called to be a great and convincing orator. I am called to live as His.

We tend to focus a lot on the spoken word in the church (as well we should), but I believe we miss a lot of the dynamism of the message of Christ when we limit our ministry to words...to "preaching" as we understand the term. In a day when one's "ministry" is judged a lot on skill as a great and dynamic speaker, it can become easy to overlook Christ's call for us to live among the people and serve them in His name.

"Preaching" is a part of the call to ministry but it is certainly not all of it. When I do speak, I am given the charge to "preach the good news" -- a charge I gladly keep. I am continually amazed, however, by those who want me to preach "a different gospel"...one absent of grace and and full of curse and condemnation. I am astounded by those believers who I have met who have little or no comprehension of the depth of God's mercy and the breadth of his grace. They, instead, believe in a "gospel" dependent upon our works and a conditional love from God based on reward and performance. Like the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians, I am frustrated by those believers who "cut in" on the truth and insist that the grace of God is conditional. They offer nothing but a curse.

Who is preaching a message of life out there? I will listen to my conscience and keep my vow as a minister of the Gospel. When I speak, I want it to be good news. Having said that, I want my life to be good news as well.

Those who know me well know that I am a bit of a MASH fan (you should hear my very spiritual reasons for liking it so much!). Apart from Season 7, I think I own the entire series. Among my favorite episodes is one entitled "Blood Brothers" from Season 9. The beloved Father Mulcahy, expecting a visit from a Cardinal, worked hard to improve the moral image of the camp and deliver "a particularly inspirational sermon" in honor of the Cardinal's visit. He was obsessed with making a good impression, but it all backfired. The episode culminated with Fr. Mulcahy's public confession of his selfishness and my all-time favorite MASH quote: "God didn't put us here for that pat on the back. He created us so He could be here Himself, so that He could exist in the lives of those He created in His image."

Well put.

Because of Christ, I can be good news to the gang member, the homosexual, the prisoner, the outcast, and the church deacon. Currently, I have no audience to sway with my preaching of words, but my calling hasn't strayed one bit. I have the privilege of serving a population of people who have experienced very little of the goodness of God (or the goodness of people, for that matter). Where I get my paycheck from has changed.

Very little else has.

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule..." (Galatians 6:14-16).

Walk

Walk this way...

Perhaps if we spent less time trying to tell people we were Christians and more time living among our neighbors as Christ did, they might find something admirable, notable, and life changing about Jesus.

Perhaps.