What’s your RED FLAG?  There are four red flags in Alcoholics Annonymous that apply to any addiction–H.A.L.T.  Are you  hungy? Are you angry? Are you lonely?Are you tired?

 These are triggers that if not addressed kick addicts back to an addicitive lifestyle.  I have found them very useful in my own life.  Why?  All sin and habits are addictive. I may not struggle with alcohol, but there are those things that I am attached to; that are nailed down in my life in self-limiting, hurtful, and unhealthy ways.

What’s the one thing you will do that nurtures your spirit and refreshes your soul? This means you have to decide what to say “YES” and “NO” to. Blaming others won’t cut it. This means that you will have to consider the necessary resources and relationships to stay refreshed.

I am praying for you!  

This morning, I was on a conference call with a friend who is quite familiar with with Churches of Christ (a’cappella).  She is a born and raised Lutheran; more specifically, a conservative Lutheran in the Wisconsin Synod.  Pat is a delightfully intelligent, thoughtful and biblically astute person who loves God, people and the Bible.  Recently, she co-authored a small handbook on Dwelling in the Word with Patrick Keifert.

In our conversation she mentioned her joy in working with church leaders in Churches of Christ. She said, “Your people have such reverence for Scripture and receiving insights from Scripture.”  Wow!  This is something those of us raised in the Churches of Christ take for granted.  Good to hear.  Then she said, Churches of Christ have a “perfectionistic streak.”  She said it with love and care qualifying the statement that she can identify because of her Type A personality.  I understood exactly what she was talking about.  In other words, “We have to get it right to be right.”  It does foster an uptight, cautious and anxious environment in many ways. Fellowship that is determined by “my interpretation” of Scripture is always fragile and peppered with sectarianism. Perfectionistic people have difficulty with grace, first for themselves, and then for others.

It is one thing to pursue truth (in love of course and quite another to believe we have arrived at all truth.  I have said it before and believe it more than ever, “NO ONE READS THE BIBLE IN NEUTRAL.”  In other words, everyone read the BIble with presuppositions in culturally conditioned ways (Particular religious heritage, ethnicity, gender, life experiences, etc.). It’s all the stuff below the line that informs and forms us.

I am grateful to be part of a heritage that has reverence for Scripture and appeals to the Bible for religious authority.  Taking the Bible seriously is both hard work and great joy. The Bible will take us places we don’t want to go and into  mysteries we will never know.  The Bible when taken on its own terms will not fit into three point constructs for having a happy life  and will most assuredly show us things we don’t want to live and consistently challenge our presuppositions about God, life and church.

I confess that I have a perfectionistic streak. Thank God Jesus saves perfectionists.

Jesus laughter was certainly not at the expense of others. Nor was his laughter one of practical jokes. I am convinced Jesus laughed with deep joy, gratitude and hope when children came near; when faith was seen in the most unlikely people; and particularly when Zaccheus said, “Look, half of my possessions Lord I will give to the poor”(Lk 19.8a). Jesus response, “Today, salvation has come to this house..”(Lk 19.9a). Salvation means sharing!

It’s thanksgiving time and we would do well to connect the dots of gratitude, laughter and salvation.  Nothing worse than a ungrateful church whose joy is contained and laughter is absent.

Happy Thanksliving!

Distracted. My friend Randy Harris says being distracted is the greatest hinderance to spiritual growth. Simply being fully present is rare. We are so distracted. Randy is a college professor. He says just getting college students full attention is virtually impossible. Technology, over-scheduling, insecurity, demands of life, the need to produce and a host of other things contribute to it.  Randy has adpated his teaching style to ten minute increments only to realize that this method feeds their distraction.

The spiritual life is cultivated in a spirit of reflection, listening and discerning God’s Word, will, and way. Bullet point Christianity supported by an inspirational music video cannot sustain the spiritual life. Jesus calls us to run deeper, not faster. Ouch! Even Jesus knew the temptation of distraction and cultivated the rhythyms of silence, solitude and prayer. If Jesus needed it, how much more do we?

Take a minute and breathe!

You need it!

Sometimes we hide behind our pet passages of Scripture and our way of doing things as if  God is limited by our understanding and practices.

Sometimes we define ourselves only by what we don’t do and our own failure to be consistent leaves us in our guilt and self-loathing.  As a result, we approach everything as a matter of salvation and reinforce our tribal sectarian identity. When someone who has different tribal experiences comes to the campfire seeking warmth, we make them walk across the coals to prove their worth and sincerity. Many times, becoming part of our tribe is not worth the effort because the spirit of the chief has been quenched in our tribe.

I love my tribe. I will always be with my tribe. I simply want the spirit of the chief, Jesus Christ to be our tribal identity.

Whatever happened to the buffalo, anyway?

Balcony people are encouragers.  Balcony people, in the words of one author are those who lean over the banisters of heaven and pull you up with encouragement. They are the people who constantly say, “You can do it,”  “Don’t give up,” and “You are loved.”  

Of course, by now you know there are basement people who always pull you down, find a way to critcize and can’t find a word of affirmation any time, any place. And then there are the porch people who just don’t care. They don’t give a rip.  But sit on the porch in your life.  These are people who Jesus loves, but you aren’t enough like Jesus, yet.  

If you want to read about being a balcony person consider Barnabas in the New Testament. He was the son of encouragement. Or, just go to Amazon.com and look for Joyce Heatherly’s work, Balcony People or Walter Albritton’s, Leaning Over the Banisters of Heaven: Balcony People Make the Difference.

Today you can choose to leave the porch, get out of the basement and go to the balcony.

It’s your choice.

Follow Barnabas.

We assemble  not as an event to audit, rather, as participants in God’s life in Christ.  To think of church in terms of a limited amount of time on Sunday is to woefully miss the mark of being the “Church of Christ.” It is a dynamic, organic life in being the “Church of Christ.”  We are not the only ones  committed to being a church belonging to Christ.

Let us walk in humility and hold on to Christ, tenaciously, in word and deed to the glory of God. It’s enough for any given day.

A few things I know.

• God is not vindictive. What is happening is not about God’s particular judgment over a certain people or region of his creation. The drought, fires and loss is not God’s way of manipulating greater faith.
• All creation does groan waiting for redemption (Rom 8.18f).
• Be still and know that I am God is said to people of faith who groan for a number of reasons (Ps. 46.1-10).
• God’s people give, share, care, pray, and reflect who he is, even in the midst of our own groaning.
• Groaning is not bad. It is a part of being human, trusting God and finding a way to help others as people of compassion and redemption.

Thanks for taking a minute to groan, pray and be the presence of God for someone this day.

What’s your passion?  Do you have a ministry burden? You know, something that must be done because of the way God wired you.  It’s when you feel alive spiritually with a sense of purpose. It’s when your soul is nourished by God’s Spirit in you. It’s when you know peace and can drift off to sleep with joy filling your tired bones from serving and want to do it again.

Go ahead.  Consider where you are in life. Take inventory of what makes you feel alive and willing to take risk.   “I used to do” faith won’t get you unstuck. Another deep ditch is “If only they would…”.   This too is powerless.

Our friend, Paul, who we have read for years speak of his passion, “Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2.2). He speaks of “pressing on…” (Phil 3.12); of fighting, laboring, struggling–all the words of passion.

Some days I just have to look in the mirror and say, “I will not quit because of Christ.”

God loves you.You belong to Christ.  Take the step.

All I know to do to be formed by Christ is to:

Consider the person and presence of Christ daily: REFLECTING on WHO HE IS AND I AM IN HIM.

Consider something he teaches that I can dwell in daily:CHOOSING ONE SCRIPTURE TO LIVE IN.

Consider how God may be speaking to me through others: LISTENING CLOSELY TO THEMES IN CONVERSATIONS.

Consider how I am sharing in community with others who want to be formed by Christ: SHOWING UP CONSISTENTLY TO WORSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP.

Consider ways that I can focus on others, rather than myself: TAKE ACTION ON ENCOURAGING AND HELPING OTHERS.

What would those who know you best say about how Christ is formed in you?

We become what we behold!