Church

Father forgive me, but there's a good chance my bubble gum is still stuck underneath a pew in East Peoria, IL. Our church had pews and no such thing as "children's church." That meant I spent the better part of an hour every Sunday for the first five years of my life under a pew. When I learned to count, I would spend the hour counting the number of wooden beams and tiles on the ceiling. I also got removed from a Sunday School and was forced to sit with my parents in their class. That was a long time ago but I remember it like it was yesterday. I have other memories I have tried to forget. For some reason, the forgetting actually gets easier with age. I have never served a perfect church, usually the result of the church being served by an imperfect pastor (it was my…

Philip's encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 offers a good lesson for anyone who wants to grow and advance beyond their current situation. After Philip asks a very powerful question (do you understand what you are reading?), the eunuch responds with an equally powerful question: "How can I unless someone guides me?" And with that question he invited Philip to join him in the chariot. This man undoubtedly had more money and power than this preaching deacon. He was the Secretary of the Treasure for Candace the Queen. He was educated, evidenced by the fact that he is reading the scroll himself. He had no prior experience with Philip by which to gauge Philip's credentials. But one thing he did have was humility. Therein lies the difference between one who will stay prideful and stuck and one who is willing to learn. The prideful respond by saying, "I…

Many of us have friends who are spiritual seekers. They are friends or co-workers who want something more but haven't considered trying Jesus. In their mind, Jesus = church = religion, and they definitely don't want to be religious. It could be that their prior experience with church was confusing (especially if they remember it being in Latin). Or, the only Bible they own is a leather-bound King James, complete with thee's and thou's. Yet you know they are searching, and often searching in the wrong places. What can you do? How about asking them the same question that Philip asked an Ethiopian searcher back in the first century: "Do you understand what you are reading?” That one question set in motion a conversation which led to Philip sharing the message of Jesus, leading to the Ethiopian's baptism.

One minute, you're the most popular guy in class and the next minute you're not. That's how fast public opinion can change. Just ask Jesus. On Palm Sunday, he's riding a donkey as the crowd lays down branches and shouts, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. By Friday, the crowd is shouting, "Crucify him!” Somehow, somewhere, something went terribly wrong. Or did it? Maybe what appeared to be wrong was actually God's plan to set things right. Good Friday reminds us that just because something doesn’t appear to have a happy ending is no proof that God wasn’t behind it.

Jesus would have made a horrible politician. Had Jesus been a politician, the first person he would have needed to hire would have been a public relations expert. Why? Because Jesus was a walking public relations nightmare. For one thing, he was politically incorrect. He didn't excuse immorality as a product of low self-esteem. He called it sin. Instead of pandering to the crowd, he challenged and provoked them. He was compassionate to the unpopular, and uncompromising toward the powerful. To ears both then and now, he would say things that sounded both intolerant and exclusive. There is no better example than this one: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Jesus doesn't offer himself as an alternative path to God or even the best path to God. He claims to be the ONLY path to God.…