Church

I used to think that older people who talked about the “good old days” were just being nostalgic for when they were younger. Every “good old day” always sounded brighter than the present day. Back in those “good old days,” even a baby’s dirty diaper smelled better.Now that I’m inching towards being included in the “older” demographic, I find myself in a curious position. I find myself talking with other forty-something people about “the way kids are” and about how things were different “back when I was young.” It’s kind of funny. Not the getting older part, but about how perspective changes with time.Then again, our perspective should change with time. We learn, we grow, we experience significant life events. Wisdom isn’t the result of growing older; it’s the result of growing older and paying attention to what we learn along the way.As Christ-followers, our perspective is informed by more…

Words matter. Understanding the words we use matters even more. I found this to be true while helping coach a team of 8 year-old girls in softball. “I want to bunt. What does that mean?” Or another girl asked me what a “fair ball” was.Softball players have a language of their own, borrowed from the baseball diamond. A few examples: getting in a pickle, worm-burner, rope, shiner, high cheese, heater, Texas leagueer, and on the list could go. To an outsider, it might be a little intimidating until the basics are mastered.The same can be true of church. We may find ourselves speaking a language that people disconnected from God may not understand. Newer, more modern versions of the Bible help -- they translate the Bible using contemporary language. But no matter how current or contemporary the translation, there will always be words that need to be defined for new…

It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is? By BONO I AM in Midtown Manhattan, where drivers still play their car horns as if they were musical instruments and shouting in restaurants is sport. I am a long way from the warm breeze of voices I heard a week ago on Easter Sunday. “Glorify your name,” the island women sang, as they swayed in a cut sandstone church. I was overwhelmed by a riot of color, an emotional swell that carried me to sea. Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie. After 40 days in the desert, sort of ... Carnival — rock stars are good at that. “Carne” is flesh; “Carne-val,” its goodbye party. I’ve…

For those keeping score: I just uploaded two new podcasts. Find them here.

As a child, I loved getting a chocolate bunny at Easter. Not the hollow kind, but the solid five-pound bunny rabbit that would take a good part of one month to eat. I’m not sure how many of those I actually finished. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak ...”But Easter is so much more than chocolate bunnies or grown men dressed up in bunny suits.Easter is a celebration of God’s most awe-inspiring miracle: his ability to bring life out of that which was dead. When Jesus’ burial tomb was discovered empty, angels from heaven asked his followers: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” In other words, Jesus is no longer dead -- he’s alive!The miracle that happened on the first Easter Sunday has happened millions of time since then. In small towns and places like San Diego, all across the world, God has…