While I was walking my son to school this morning we passed by a garbage truck making his morning rounds. Jacob wanted to stop and watch as the truck picked up the trash bin and dumped it into the truck. He thought it was way cool, like all little boys think, and like many he expressed a thought that maybe it would be fun to drive a trash truck.
Most parents probably do not want their kids to grow up to be trash haulers, fast food fry cooks, or custodians. We hope that our children will rise to something more 'substantial' (code: better paying), and it would be easy to try and dismiss those hopes by running down what some people do.
But I thought that this gave me an opportunity for a different kind of conversation on the rest of our walk. Yes, trash trucks are cool, but they also are a bit smelly, and there are other things I hope you will do someday. He seemed to accept that, but I decided to press on a bit further. I told him that I hoped he would do other things, but I also told him that picking up the trash is an important job. Who really wants to have trash sitting out in the streets for a long period of time? I also told him that people who work in restaurants are important, and if I had more time before I turned loose of him, I would have told him that we should also honor people who cut grass, clean school buildings, and make up hotel rooms.
Because all lives matter. All jobs are important. While as parents we hope for our children to do some things and not others, we must make sure they learn to respect people who do jobs that we ourselves do not want to do.
Recently I have seen a trend to 'elevate' some kind of jobs. Facebook posts reminding us that 'Police Lives Matter' (in response to some officer shootings). Yes, they do...but so do the people who a few bad police threaten, intimidate, injure, or kill because of an over-glorified view of their position. Then there are other posts griping about how fast food workers demand $15/hour while soldiers live in virtual poverty. Rather than take time to think that both have difficult and often undesirable jobs, we put the two 'classes' in conflict with one another instead of looking up at those who make millions pushing papers.
Maybe we need to recognize and affirm that all kinds of people matter, all kinds of job matter. Paul talked about the nature of the church in 1 Corinthians 12, how different kinds of giftedness does not give us an excuse to despise or cast off some we think are less important. It's the same way in society. We certainly don't pay him as much, but my garbageman matters just as much as the school superintendent. We might not want him making important decisions, but the guy who cleans my kids' school matters as much as the city manager. Because all lives matter.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
The Kentucky County Clerk
The gay marriage fight continues on. I've posted on this before, and really don't have much else to say, but I am interested in the ongoing drama going on in Kentucky. An elected clerk in the courthouse has decided that she cannot issue marriage licenses to gays because of her faith, and even as the courts have ruled against her, she continues to resist. Now she says that she will not issues licenses to anybody.
The question of conscience has now become the new battleground in the fight over homosexual rights. Should those who sincerely feel that homosexuality is sin (I am one of them) have to do things that go against their conscience? Should bakers have to bake wedding cakes for gay couples? Must Christian adoption agencies have to place children with gay couples? It's a hard question: on the one hand, it does seem 'hateful' to deny somebody a service that would be offered to other couples. But on the other hand, are we 'blessing' a sin by helping somebody carry out that sin, no matter how small?
As a preacher I would feel compelled to say no to any gay couple that asks me to do their wedding. I cannot think that it is right to take part something that I feel to be sin. Maybe it will come to a point that I cannot do any weddings so as to be 'non-discriminatory', but I do know that people will always be able to be legally married, whether in a church or in a courthouse. Life and marriage will go on without me.
But as I have said before, because the legalities of marriage are dependent upon the state (e.g. inheritance rights, visitation rights in hospitals, custody rights for children), I do believe that gay people should have a legal right to be married and have that marriage recognized by the state. To deny them the same rights as straight couples seems to be an unlawful form of discrimination. I may not like or approve of what it is that they are doing, but as one who still has a libertarian bias, it is not in my power to say whether or not they can be married. I know of many straight couples that I think should not have been married (for various reasons)...but that's not in my power to contest from a legal point of view.
And so when it comes to the Kentucky clerk who will not issue licenses, here's my belief: she should either resign or be removed from her position. She does not have to like the law, but if she is an officer of the state, she has to carry out its policies or resign. If her conscience cannot allow her to do what the law requires, then she should step aside and let somebody else should do the job. Imagine a police officer who is Rastafarian: his religion tells him that drug enforcement of cannabis users is wrong. Should we keep him in his job? Or imagine a soldier who decides that he cannot kill for any reason based upon his understanding of Scripture. Should he continue to be a soldier?
Perhaps the laws were different when she was elected; too bad. Laws change, and even if as Christians we do not like the change, it is our duty to accept it in society, and officers of the law are compelled to carry out that law. If they cannot carry it out, then resign your post. When it comes to a law we do not have to like it, promote it, or affirm it. In our democratic form of government we might even work to change it. But accept it as law of the land we must.
Here's the thing about this story that most amazes me, though. The woman who will not allow gays to marry has been divorced and remarried three times. From a very literal understanding of what I read about divorce and remarriage in Matthew 19 and Mark 10, then she should not have been allowed a marriage license, either, for her current marriage! But the law of the state seems to be that somebody can be divorced and remarried as many times as possible; what of a clerk who held that she could not issue licenses to anybody with a previous marriage on their record? We would not tolerate that, would we?
The question of conscience has now become the new battleground in the fight over homosexual rights. Should those who sincerely feel that homosexuality is sin (I am one of them) have to do things that go against their conscience? Should bakers have to bake wedding cakes for gay couples? Must Christian adoption agencies have to place children with gay couples? It's a hard question: on the one hand, it does seem 'hateful' to deny somebody a service that would be offered to other couples. But on the other hand, are we 'blessing' a sin by helping somebody carry out that sin, no matter how small?
As a preacher I would feel compelled to say no to any gay couple that asks me to do their wedding. I cannot think that it is right to take part something that I feel to be sin. Maybe it will come to a point that I cannot do any weddings so as to be 'non-discriminatory', but I do know that people will always be able to be legally married, whether in a church or in a courthouse. Life and marriage will go on without me.
But as I have said before, because the legalities of marriage are dependent upon the state (e.g. inheritance rights, visitation rights in hospitals, custody rights for children), I do believe that gay people should have a legal right to be married and have that marriage recognized by the state. To deny them the same rights as straight couples seems to be an unlawful form of discrimination. I may not like or approve of what it is that they are doing, but as one who still has a libertarian bias, it is not in my power to say whether or not they can be married. I know of many straight couples that I think should not have been married (for various reasons)...but that's not in my power to contest from a legal point of view.
And so when it comes to the Kentucky clerk who will not issue licenses, here's my belief: she should either resign or be removed from her position. She does not have to like the law, but if she is an officer of the state, she has to carry out its policies or resign. If her conscience cannot allow her to do what the law requires, then she should step aside and let somebody else should do the job. Imagine a police officer who is Rastafarian: his religion tells him that drug enforcement of cannabis users is wrong. Should we keep him in his job? Or imagine a soldier who decides that he cannot kill for any reason based upon his understanding of Scripture. Should he continue to be a soldier?
Perhaps the laws were different when she was elected; too bad. Laws change, and even if as Christians we do not like the change, it is our duty to accept it in society, and officers of the law are compelled to carry out that law. If they cannot carry it out, then resign your post. When it comes to a law we do not have to like it, promote it, or affirm it. In our democratic form of government we might even work to change it. But accept it as law of the land we must.
Here's the thing about this story that most amazes me, though. The woman who will not allow gays to marry has been divorced and remarried three times. From a very literal understanding of what I read about divorce and remarriage in Matthew 19 and Mark 10, then she should not have been allowed a marriage license, either, for her current marriage! But the law of the state seems to be that somebody can be divorced and remarried as many times as possible; what of a clerk who held that she could not issue licenses to anybody with a previous marriage on their record? We would not tolerate that, would we?
Monday, August 31, 2015
The Confederate flag comes to my town
In the small town in which I live I have started to see a disturbing trend: a spike in the number of Confederate flags waving proudly from the back of pickup trucks. These aren't simply flags in a window, or flags on a bumper sticker (things that have always been in my little town), but big flags on poles planted by design on the pickup bed. One of the trucks has a small American flag on one side, and a larger Confederate flag on the other side of the truck bed. Another flies the Confederate flag alone, along with a sticker saying "Always been a rebel" as well as an OU sticker on the back window. I'm safe in saying that actually going to college has probably never been an option for the driver.
I look at these trucks and the drivers are all very young. What, exactly, do they think that they are doing? We don't live in the South; in fact Kansas has a history centered on what it was going to be, slave or free, and ultimately and proudly chose free. Osawatomie, Kansas (last town of one of my grandparents), is where the great abolitionist John Brown spent at least some time. It's not that Kansas really has a problem with racism; we are a tolerant, moderate people, even with the short-sightedness of current government officials. It's not as if slavery and/or racism has ever been thought of as a good thing in these parts.
And so these young drivers, if asked, probably would say something like, "I don't hate black people. It's all about states' rights! I hate the federal government trying to tell me what to do, to take away my guns." And so, in opposition to all that, let's pick out a symbol that for most people means hatred and bigotry and under which in South Carolina there was a recent mass killing in the name of racial purity. It's a flag under which many people went to war to fight against the country that they now live in, a flag that stands in marked opposition to the other flag that redneck #1 also has planted on the back of his pickup truck.
I get it. People have free speech, and they get to protest how they want. Accepting free speech means that you have to put up with a lot of really dumb free speech. I don't want to go down the road of banning symbols and words.
But really, if you hate things so much, isn't there a better way than to fly a flag that for so many represents one of the darkest periods in our nations' history? Do you have to make your point by waving proudly a flag that people in the years since the civil war has been used to still intimidate minorities and express hatred? I know...for you it means one thing. But for the rest of us, it's a sign of your stupidity.
I look at these trucks and the drivers are all very young. What, exactly, do they think that they are doing? We don't live in the South; in fact Kansas has a history centered on what it was going to be, slave or free, and ultimately and proudly chose free. Osawatomie, Kansas (last town of one of my grandparents), is where the great abolitionist John Brown spent at least some time. It's not that Kansas really has a problem with racism; we are a tolerant, moderate people, even with the short-sightedness of current government officials. It's not as if slavery and/or racism has ever been thought of as a good thing in these parts.
And so these young drivers, if asked, probably would say something like, "I don't hate black people. It's all about states' rights! I hate the federal government trying to tell me what to do, to take away my guns." And so, in opposition to all that, let's pick out a symbol that for most people means hatred and bigotry and under which in South Carolina there was a recent mass killing in the name of racial purity. It's a flag under which many people went to war to fight against the country that they now live in, a flag that stands in marked opposition to the other flag that redneck #1 also has planted on the back of his pickup truck.
I get it. People have free speech, and they get to protest how they want. Accepting free speech means that you have to put up with a lot of really dumb free speech. I don't want to go down the road of banning symbols and words.
But really, if you hate things so much, isn't there a better way than to fly a flag that for so many represents one of the darkest periods in our nations' history? Do you have to make your point by waving proudly a flag that people in the years since the civil war has been used to still intimidate minorities and express hatred? I know...for you it means one thing. But for the rest of us, it's a sign of your stupidity.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
The Problem of Concentrated Giftedness
I lived in a rural town on the Oregon coast early in my ministry. I was not married at the time and it did not take long before I realized that a good wife was not going to be found there. In this small town young people had two options: stay in town and get a job in the lumber mill or in the forest (jobs that were increasingly going away), or move into the I-5 corridor (or even further) and start a life or get an education but never come back again. I did make some friends with some 'young' people in the community, but never found a single dateable female. Sure, they were there, but none were really my type. If they stayed, they really wanted to stay there and live that kind of lifestyle, one that was not really for me. Any girls who came out of that area that I would have wanted to date left at an age far too young far before I arrived.
Years later I am happily married with a wonderful wife whom I did not find in Oregon, and now live and preach with a church on the edge of the Bible belt, but I continue to see history repeating itself. Today in my email inbox I got a notice about a church workshop put on not from where I live. It's being done by a large, LARGE church that is in the center of the Bible belt, and they have decided to come here and teach us how to do church better. I know that their intentions are good and right. They are prosperous spiritually and numerically, and we are not. They are trying to help be a blessing, and we need to honor that. But here's the thing: church here is not, and likely will not ever be, the same here as it is there, in part because they have all the most talented and gifted people who once grew up here. Like the Babylonians taking the best and brightest of the Jewish young men into their service, our 'best and brightest' now are firmly ensconced in the Bible belt.
Think about it. Like my time in Oregon, there are two types of young people in the church. One kind stays and lives and rarely moves far from home. They get no greater training from our church colleges and ministries and so, while they might have some gifts, they do not really have them developed in a professional manner. They might well serve and teach here, and even do well (and I know of a few who do so), but how much more gifted could they have been had they had the right kind of training? The other kind goes off to college (often a Christian college) looking for a bright new world, and they rarely ever come back. I see it again and again: we are sending our best and brightest and most gifted away to be even better than what they are now, but then they stay in or around the place where they went. Rather than come back and be a spiritual force in a small pond, they would rather stay in the large pond where it seems to be more safe spiritually.
I can't say that I really blame them. It's easier to be a part of a large church in an area in which more people come reside in your spiritual comfort zone and have been trained in much the same way. In these large churches, you aren't asked do as much, and perhaps you can even become more of a specialist. For those who stay, who live their lives in small churches that are in a less 'spiritual' culture, there's little time to really get good at one particular thing because you get asked to do so many different things. Even for those who stay in this area many tend to concentrate at a few of shrinking number of larger churches. There they have more youth programs, more diversified kinds of ministries and people than we have in our little churches. Again, I can't blame them for doing what they think is right for their families. But while large churches have many people with more developed gifts, smaller churches struggle to find those who are strong in spiritual gifts and have had some training to develop them.
Or here's a further example about preachers, something I know a lot about. Many of these larger congregations have numerous retired preachers (either those who were full-time or vocational) sitting in their pews. Many of these have moved to these large congregations after retiring: perhaps they are to be closer to their kids, or because they need to be in a town with better health care. Or perhaps many of them are just tired of having to lead. They've been leading and serving all their lives, working in churches in which they were one of the few with a college education or especially ministerial training. And now they are just tired of it. Sundays are now much easier for them. They don't have to preach two sermons and a class. Maybe they deserve some rest, but I'm guessing that even within an hours drive of where they attend there are literally dozens of little churches dying for somebody with their skill sets and gifts. But now that the preachers have become concentrated in the large church, they no longer have any interest in helping.
So when this large church decides to come up and tell us how to do better, maybe their plan will be to send back our young people, or to train people to go and work with small churches as much as possible where we are. Doing that will be the best blessing they can give to us.
Years later I am happily married with a wonderful wife whom I did not find in Oregon, and now live and preach with a church on the edge of the Bible belt, but I continue to see history repeating itself. Today in my email inbox I got a notice about a church workshop put on not from where I live. It's being done by a large, LARGE church that is in the center of the Bible belt, and they have decided to come here and teach us how to do church better. I know that their intentions are good and right. They are prosperous spiritually and numerically, and we are not. They are trying to help be a blessing, and we need to honor that. But here's the thing: church here is not, and likely will not ever be, the same here as it is there, in part because they have all the most talented and gifted people who once grew up here. Like the Babylonians taking the best and brightest of the Jewish young men into their service, our 'best and brightest' now are firmly ensconced in the Bible belt.
Think about it. Like my time in Oregon, there are two types of young people in the church. One kind stays and lives and rarely moves far from home. They get no greater training from our church colleges and ministries and so, while they might have some gifts, they do not really have them developed in a professional manner. They might well serve and teach here, and even do well (and I know of a few who do so), but how much more gifted could they have been had they had the right kind of training? The other kind goes off to college (often a Christian college) looking for a bright new world, and they rarely ever come back. I see it again and again: we are sending our best and brightest and most gifted away to be even better than what they are now, but then they stay in or around the place where they went. Rather than come back and be a spiritual force in a small pond, they would rather stay in the large pond where it seems to be more safe spiritually.
I can't say that I really blame them. It's easier to be a part of a large church in an area in which more people come reside in your spiritual comfort zone and have been trained in much the same way. In these large churches, you aren't asked do as much, and perhaps you can even become more of a specialist. For those who stay, who live their lives in small churches that are in a less 'spiritual' culture, there's little time to really get good at one particular thing because you get asked to do so many different things. Even for those who stay in this area many tend to concentrate at a few of shrinking number of larger churches. There they have more youth programs, more diversified kinds of ministries and people than we have in our little churches. Again, I can't blame them for doing what they think is right for their families. But while large churches have many people with more developed gifts, smaller churches struggle to find those who are strong in spiritual gifts and have had some training to develop them.
Or here's a further example about preachers, something I know a lot about. Many of these larger congregations have numerous retired preachers (either those who were full-time or vocational) sitting in their pews. Many of these have moved to these large congregations after retiring: perhaps they are to be closer to their kids, or because they need to be in a town with better health care. Or perhaps many of them are just tired of having to lead. They've been leading and serving all their lives, working in churches in which they were one of the few with a college education or especially ministerial training. And now they are just tired of it. Sundays are now much easier for them. They don't have to preach two sermons and a class. Maybe they deserve some rest, but I'm guessing that even within an hours drive of where they attend there are literally dozens of little churches dying for somebody with their skill sets and gifts. But now that the preachers have become concentrated in the large church, they no longer have any interest in helping.
So when this large church decides to come up and tell us how to do better, maybe their plan will be to send back our young people, or to train people to go and work with small churches as much as possible where we are. Doing that will be the best blessing they can give to us.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Summer 2015: Breathe-a-thon
It's the middle of the summer, so that means a)vacation for a lot of people and b)the Supreme Court is handling down a boatload of rulings before they escape the summer heat of DC for a few weeks. It's always an exciting time for court watchers, but this year has been especially important, for in the past few weeks the court has legalized gay marriage nationwide, upheld Obamacare subsidies, made it easier for power companies to pollute, and kept as legal some of the more controversial lethal injection processes used to put to death the worst among us. There's a bunch more they are ruling on, but I don't feel like looking up everything on which they have graced us with their wisdom and/or stupidity.
As you might expect, this has led to a lot of people FREAKING THE CRAP OUT. While most of these issues will rarely affect any of us directly (though, in the case of the court finding the Obamacare subsidies legal, this will save me and my family a ton of money), What This Means For America has become the trending topic of the day.
If you are one of these people who have become irate or overjoyed, then, let me give you a few words of advice as we continue on through summer. It's hot, and I don't want you overheating or dehydrating because you can't take the time to relax and breathe and eat. Once you calm down, you can thank me.
-The apocalypse is not coming because the gays are married or people are getting cheaper health care or polluters feel more like polluting. If it was, the stars really would fall from the sky, the sun would rain down fire, and the moon would turn to blood. Last I looked up, though, this had not happened. But if it does and you have been proven right, you have my permission to spend the rest of eternity telling us how wrong we idiots were.
-These are not the best of times nor the worst of times, nor the darkest of all eras nor the beginning of a new age of enlightenment. Read a little bit of history, people. At least we're not actually shooting at others over a matter of whether it really is good to enslave people with dark skin color. At least the plague is not killing millions even as we are engaged in 'the war to end all wars'. At least rivers aren't on fire. At least the economy is not in shambles and we are wondering whether or not we can afford to ever eat lamb again. Are things perfect? No. But I'd rather live now and here than at most any other time and place of history.
-You are not moving to Canada or Costa Rica or Uganda or Sweden because some people did some things you don't like. Once you calm down, your life is going to go on and you will realize how silly you looked at your threats to leave. You are staying right here, just like everybody else. I know, you feel like America has left you. Wouldn't you be happier in a place in which people were not so environmentally destructive, or where gays were put 'where they belong'? Yes, we all dream of moving to a place in which business is truly free or where human life is respected rather than destroyed. But you're not moving. You wouldn't be able to get ESPN there, would you? Vacation there if you want, but remember, you're still an American.
Look, I'm not saying all this to denigrate what you believe, though I admit I am making fun of you, at least a little bit. Nor am I saying that we shouldn't worry or get upset about bad things happening. But I am saying that in the big picture, these things are really small potatoes. They really are, trust me on this. I know it seems like a big thing now, but in a few weeks you'll be outraged at something different. Some presidential candidate will say something racist or something that goes against party dogma, or another fanatic will shoot up a mall or school or church building, or your football team will try covering up how they shrunk the goal posts to make field goals harder to make. You'll be outraged about those things and have completely forgotten how distraught you were a few weeks earlier. Come back and read this again. Breathe. Realize that it's not worth getting so mad about. Go for a walk and tell God how much he needs to agree with your position. And then come home and hug your kids. You'll get through this.
Now, do we have that straight? Are you ready to calm down and breathe again and stop freaking out? Good. Now, go get me some ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough if they have it.
As you might expect, this has led to a lot of people FREAKING THE CRAP OUT. While most of these issues will rarely affect any of us directly (though, in the case of the court finding the Obamacare subsidies legal, this will save me and my family a ton of money), What This Means For America has become the trending topic of the day.
If you are one of these people who have become irate or overjoyed, then, let me give you a few words of advice as we continue on through summer. It's hot, and I don't want you overheating or dehydrating because you can't take the time to relax and breathe and eat. Once you calm down, you can thank me.
-The apocalypse is not coming because the gays are married or people are getting cheaper health care or polluters feel more like polluting. If it was, the stars really would fall from the sky, the sun would rain down fire, and the moon would turn to blood. Last I looked up, though, this had not happened. But if it does and you have been proven right, you have my permission to spend the rest of eternity telling us how wrong we idiots were.
-These are not the best of times nor the worst of times, nor the darkest of all eras nor the beginning of a new age of enlightenment. Read a little bit of history, people. At least we're not actually shooting at others over a matter of whether it really is good to enslave people with dark skin color. At least the plague is not killing millions even as we are engaged in 'the war to end all wars'. At least rivers aren't on fire. At least the economy is not in shambles and we are wondering whether or not we can afford to ever eat lamb again. Are things perfect? No. But I'd rather live now and here than at most any other time and place of history.
-You are not moving to Canada or Costa Rica or Uganda or Sweden because some people did some things you don't like. Once you calm down, your life is going to go on and you will realize how silly you looked at your threats to leave. You are staying right here, just like everybody else. I know, you feel like America has left you. Wouldn't you be happier in a place in which people were not so environmentally destructive, or where gays were put 'where they belong'? Yes, we all dream of moving to a place in which business is truly free or where human life is respected rather than destroyed. But you're not moving. You wouldn't be able to get ESPN there, would you? Vacation there if you want, but remember, you're still an American.
Look, I'm not saying all this to denigrate what you believe, though I admit I am making fun of you, at least a little bit. Nor am I saying that we shouldn't worry or get upset about bad things happening. But I am saying that in the big picture, these things are really small potatoes. They really are, trust me on this. I know it seems like a big thing now, but in a few weeks you'll be outraged at something different. Some presidential candidate will say something racist or something that goes against party dogma, or another fanatic will shoot up a mall or school or church building, or your football team will try covering up how they shrunk the goal posts to make field goals harder to make. You'll be outraged about those things and have completely forgotten how distraught you were a few weeks earlier. Come back and read this again. Breathe. Realize that it's not worth getting so mad about. Go for a walk and tell God how much he needs to agree with your position. And then come home and hug your kids. You'll get through this.
Now, do we have that straight? Are you ready to calm down and breathe again and stop freaking out? Good. Now, go get me some ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough if they have it.
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