In honor of the season, I wish to offer a few choice thoughts on behalf of those who have at some level achieved academic notoriety in earning a degree. For all the times your parent stayed up late helping you finish an assignment that you should have finished a week before, offer a prayer for their blessing.
For all the friends you made while you pursued these years of academic advancement, remember them as you continue aiming toward future goals and remember that friends are not a dime a dozen. Make the effort to keep in touch. It will always bring benefits. Everyone needs friends. And remember as the old song reminds…”you have a friend in Jesus.”
For many young graduates, this is the time in life to “sow wild oats” or in some other way to suggest “going out and making a real mess out of life.” People make mistakes, but before you go out and make a bunch of them on purpose, stop and consider the fact that no matter how many times you think “you are only hurting yourself” you are also hurting every person who loves you, cares about you, and who has invested in your life in positive ways. Sit down with the book of Proverbs and read it slowly…thoughtfully, underlining things you recognize as helpful to remember. It may save you, and people who love you, a lifetime of heartache.
Many people decide graduation is a good time to walk away from church. You will find a crowd of folks who have adopted this profile. And what you go to is what you get. You will find many who don’t prioritize a relationship to Christ, a lifestyle of faith, or a public testimony of following Jesus. I challenge you to get the religion out and the Christ-following in. If all you have is your parent’s faith…it won’t work for you…it has to be your own. On the other hand, many Christian parents have set a wonderful example of love and care and support for children and have taught them well the love of Jesus. Many such parents have obviously understood what it means to share high expectations and ideals. People who keep settling for less than what would be pleasing to God have settled too soon. As you go searching for great things -- understand the words of Jesus:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things (that you need) will be added to you.”
While not a biblical quotation…it perhaps has the vision of one…In the name of Christ, do as much good as you can, as often as you can, for as many as you can and trust God to lead you, to enable you, and to be with you all the way.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Defining Community
Community: A place of shared identity and purposeful interchange of ideas and understanding.
The above definition is my own. I attach to the understanding of community three key elements. First there is recognition. In communities, people identify one another. They know one another. They recognize personalities and unique qualities. They observe one another in vocational roles and in personal ways identify with one another.
Then there is interaction. People in community enjoy a rich interchange of ideas. They share with one another. They challenge one another. They provoke one another. They employ one another. They inspire one another. They think about one another. They care for one another. They believe in the value of one another.
They find understanding of one another in the context of their engagement. They may now agree, but they find ways of seeing and knowing and valuing the differences represented by other’s points of view. They move past the personal to the collective comprehension of the larger body of persons relating to one another. They value positive outcomes for all. They believe in the capacity of a cooperative spirit to move a group of people forward. They perceive the interests of all worth the challenge of engagement and healthy debate, with a willingness to appreciate and value the person who might extend a less-collectively approved minority opinion. Communities that inspire the best in all of us respect the worth of every individual and demonstrate above all the capacity to engage one another in openness and integrity of thought and consideration of each person’s unique gifts and abilities. Building such a community is not the work of those employing wood and brick and mortar. It is the willingness to share, to think, to listen, and to welcome one another to the conversation and to nurture and promote those places in which we can learn to know one another and appreciate one another.
In all the places we might consider as places for community, the church is clearly a place that deserves to be at the top of our list as a place to find it. At the same time, in order for the church to be the kind of community I have described, it must clearly be Christ-like in spirit and openness toward all.
The above definition is my own. I attach to the understanding of community three key elements. First there is recognition. In communities, people identify one another. They know one another. They recognize personalities and unique qualities. They observe one another in vocational roles and in personal ways identify with one another.
Then there is interaction. People in community enjoy a rich interchange of ideas. They share with one another. They challenge one another. They provoke one another. They employ one another. They inspire one another. They think about one another. They care for one another. They believe in the value of one another.
They find understanding of one another in the context of their engagement. They may now agree, but they find ways of seeing and knowing and valuing the differences represented by other’s points of view. They move past the personal to the collective comprehension of the larger body of persons relating to one another. They value positive outcomes for all. They believe in the capacity of a cooperative spirit to move a group of people forward. They perceive the interests of all worth the challenge of engagement and healthy debate, with a willingness to appreciate and value the person who might extend a less-collectively approved minority opinion. Communities that inspire the best in all of us respect the worth of every individual and demonstrate above all the capacity to engage one another in openness and integrity of thought and consideration of each person’s unique gifts and abilities. Building such a community is not the work of those employing wood and brick and mortar. It is the willingness to share, to think, to listen, and to welcome one another to the conversation and to nurture and promote those places in which we can learn to know one another and appreciate one another.
In all the places we might consider as places for community, the church is clearly a place that deserves to be at the top of our list as a place to find it. At the same time, in order for the church to be the kind of community I have described, it must clearly be Christ-like in spirit and openness toward all.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Refuge
After all the news of the past few weeks, I needed the words of the 46th Psalm. They reminded me that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” As I think about the multitudes of people facing disasters of all sorts this week, I acknowledge that many of those people will only have God’s presence to see them through the next hours and days. Whether in Myanmar with flooded fields and destroyed homes and destroyed roads and stores and schools…only the very present help of God will meet the needs of those desperately seeking the basic needs of life. In the streets of China where buildings fell and thousands died, there is the great hope alone in God’s presence that can sustain.
The Psalmist said. “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.” An invitation to “fear not” has always been the message of God to us. But our fears always stir in the shortsightedness of our pain, in the brief, momentary afflictions that garner our full attention to the neglect of greater truths. Fears stalk our memories and yield only slowly to the power of a truth beyond all others…the love of God for us.
Some may face an earthquake, and others the torrents of storms from the sea, and others may be moved by the floods and troubles of days that may be described in a hundred different ways…cancer, business collapse, war, fire, economic ruin, broken relationships, prison sentences, accidents, disease, death…and the Psalmist still reminds us…” The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.”
The affirmation, the promise, the hope lies in what we must remember in times like these: “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
God brings to all of our circumstances, the capacities to change the way things are at any moment, by reminding us to “Be still, and know that I am God!”
In those moments …when we exalt the name of the Lord our God…when we and the earth seem most unlikely to survive, God brings us hope…”The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
The Psalmist said. “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.” An invitation to “fear not” has always been the message of God to us. But our fears always stir in the shortsightedness of our pain, in the brief, momentary afflictions that garner our full attention to the neglect of greater truths. Fears stalk our memories and yield only slowly to the power of a truth beyond all others…the love of God for us.
Some may face an earthquake, and others the torrents of storms from the sea, and others may be moved by the floods and troubles of days that may be described in a hundred different ways…cancer, business collapse, war, fire, economic ruin, broken relationships, prison sentences, accidents, disease, death…and the Psalmist still reminds us…” The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.”
The affirmation, the promise, the hope lies in what we must remember in times like these: “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
God brings to all of our circumstances, the capacities to change the way things are at any moment, by reminding us to “Be still, and know that I am God!”
In those moments …when we exalt the name of the Lord our God…when we and the earth seem most unlikely to survive, God brings us hope…”The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
Monday, May 5, 2008
Celebrity Call-in
It is the eve of our primary election here in North Carolina and candidates are spending a lot of money on direct mail and direct phone and direct TV advertisement.
Just today I have been called by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Andy Griffith, and a host of other people who didn’t talk to me except on a recorded tape played for my listening enjoyment. I have learned when the polls open, where I can call for a free ride to the polls, who will offer to lower gas prices, who will help to provide health care for all Americans, who will serve the state house with integrity, and in some ways I am very proud that they all want so much to serve the people of this great state and nation.
What I am also proud of is the opportunity we have to vote. I do my best to learn as much as I can about candidates, but to really learn about them is sometimes the hardest work of all. It is easy to hear the ways they spar with one another about those issues that “scream” for attention. Everyone wants lower taxes and no one wants to pay the ones they have. Everyone wants good government, but fewer and fewer seem to have the means to wage the kinds of campaigns that we have today…largely sound bites and snippets of phrases taken out of context used to “attack” fellow opponents. In reality,
the largest contributors to campaigns are often the largest corporations, and with some frequency they hedge their bets on who is “winning” and send money to both sides. It all seems a bit sleazy when you get down to the reality that contracts for government work and appointments to places of power are still big ticket items for plucking in the systems we have created.
But somewhere, down deep inside, the ideals of this nation remain strong. We can be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people…if we remember our own responsibilities to the process. From the town hall to the public square, from the gathering places of friends and neighbors, to the coffee shop conversations and hometown editorial pages, the information is able to be shared in ways that do inform and inspire us to carry out with distinction the processes of this republic. Democracy, while not always able to be “infused” by design, can be undertaken by those who believe in the highest ideals over the lowest common denominators of human endeavor.
Tomorrow will come and go, but the choices we make will be important ones as we exercise our freedoms and opportunity. Never take such gifts for granted.
Just today I have been called by Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Andy Griffith, and a host of other people who didn’t talk to me except on a recorded tape played for my listening enjoyment. I have learned when the polls open, where I can call for a free ride to the polls, who will offer to lower gas prices, who will help to provide health care for all Americans, who will serve the state house with integrity, and in some ways I am very proud that they all want so much to serve the people of this great state and nation.
What I am also proud of is the opportunity we have to vote. I do my best to learn as much as I can about candidates, but to really learn about them is sometimes the hardest work of all. It is easy to hear the ways they spar with one another about those issues that “scream” for attention. Everyone wants lower taxes and no one wants to pay the ones they have. Everyone wants good government, but fewer and fewer seem to have the means to wage the kinds of campaigns that we have today…largely sound bites and snippets of phrases taken out of context used to “attack” fellow opponents. In reality,
the largest contributors to campaigns are often the largest corporations, and with some frequency they hedge their bets on who is “winning” and send money to both sides. It all seems a bit sleazy when you get down to the reality that contracts for government work and appointments to places of power are still big ticket items for plucking in the systems we have created.
But somewhere, down deep inside, the ideals of this nation remain strong. We can be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people…if we remember our own responsibilities to the process. From the town hall to the public square, from the gathering places of friends and neighbors, to the coffee shop conversations and hometown editorial pages, the information is able to be shared in ways that do inform and inspire us to carry out with distinction the processes of this republic. Democracy, while not always able to be “infused” by design, can be undertaken by those who believe in the highest ideals over the lowest common denominators of human endeavor.
Tomorrow will come and go, but the choices we make will be important ones as we exercise our freedoms and opportunity. Never take such gifts for granted.
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