March 4 – Getting political

Lent, the season of repentance.  And we as a nation have much for which to repent these days.

I have made it my practice to get involved in politics to the same extent that Jesus did, which is not much at all.  But the political debate in Flint, MI last night was the final straw for me.  Federal law requires that I not endorse any candidate, which is just fine because I couldn’t endorse a single one this year anyway.

Listening to a radio show with guest Neil Degrasse Tyson, he failed 2 of the 3 questions posed to him.  When asked whether he was disappointed in this, he said, “Had I answered all three correctly, I would have simply proven what I know and learned nothing new.  Since I failed twice, I learned two new things, and isn’t that what life is really all about?”  As I listened to this, I imagined hearing it from the mouth of any of our presidential candidates, and I simply couldn’t.  Vulnerability, honesty, humility… these three things are completely missing from the political rhetoric, and I for one am feeling rather defeated by this.

But I can’t blame this ridiculous circus of a campaign cycle on the candidates alone.  We as a people have caused this, turning off any serious policy debate and tuning in only when these people act like 3rd graders on the playground.  I have been ashamed at the name-calling, the puerile innuendos, and the lack of any honest discussion of who these people are.  The truth is irrelevant so they can say one thing at one gathering if it tickles their ears, and then say the opposite to the next crowd all the while denying any inconsistency.  I have been ashamed of both parties, but more so of myself for the part I’ve played in it.  When was the last honest policy debate that I watched with as much interest as these playground fights we see today?  How have I sided with the underdog, or the overlord, and allowed myself to be emotionally manipulated to support or vilify any candidate?  When have I stood for civility, decency, humility, honesty, or absolutely anything redeeming in this race?

Well, repentance is to turn away from the wrong and back to the right, back to God.  So today I stand against the hatred, racism, classism, sexism, immaturity, dishonesty and unGodliness of this presidential race.  Today I stand for truth, honesty, humility, decency, civility, and Godliness in not only our candidates but in how I talk about them.  Today, I want to do anything I can to bring God into this situation (not that He isn’t already there) and more importantly, into my mouth as I speak about it.  Each plan, each policy, each candidate has good in him or her, and I choose to work to expand that rather than cry out against (and thereby spread) the vitriol we’re hearing.

So, please vote, but first please pray.  Ask God openly who He would have you vote for, and ask Him why.  Then obey.  And always remember, whoever leads our country in the next years, God is still upon His throne and his plan bows to no one.

Here are some verses that I think are vital to our Christian thought about this current presidential race, and our Lenten prayers this year…

Phil. 2:1-11
Phil. 4:8
Gal. 5:19-26
1 Tim. 2:1-2
Phil 1:27a
Phil. 3:20-21

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March 3 – Being Real

How real do you allow  yourself to be with, well, yourself?  How well do you know yourself?

Too often we are afraid of what we’ll find when we truly get to know ourselves.  We’re afraid of the weakness and fear, the doubt and worry, the anger and hurt.  So we hide it behind a mask which we display to everyone else.  But behind that mask, we often have a deeper mask that even we can’t see behind.

Taking the time to really sit with ourselves, to journal about our feelings, to talk with someone else about the reality of our reality, takes more courage than most of us have.  And so we decide that it is not just hard, but bad to truly delve our own depths.  We call it “naval gazing” or label it as too New Age.  And then we sit content with learning about the bible, and working on committees at church, and serving others all the while oblivious to our own internal workings.

It has always interested me that at the same time as we proclaim loudly that we are “filled with the Holy Spirit”, that we have “Jesus in our hearts” and that God lives within us, most of us pray to a God who is “out there”.  Because if God lives within us, the the journey to God must involved a journey inward.  We can’t get to God in a truly authentic manner without acknowledging all that is going on inside of us.  And that’s how God designed it!

God isn’t madly in love with the mask we portray to others.  He isn’t head-over-heals in love with the me I pretend to be, even to myself.  God loves the real you.  God knows the real  you, even better than you do.  And God wants us to bring the real us into our relationship with Him.

This Lent, what if you spend 15 minutes each day journaling about your emotions, truly allowing your own inner mask down for a few minutes and looking with courage and faith at the True You inside.  This is the You that God loves, and this is the You that God wants to redeem, grow, and help to flourish.

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March 2 – The Rest of Steve’s Story

For the first part of Steve’s story, click the “Pastor’s Blog” link under “Categories” at the lower right of your screen and see the March 1 entry.

Since elementary school, I had heard about the older kids going to “CHIC” and though I didn’t know what it was, I knew they returned from it changed.  We heard stories in church about it, and when my sister went in ’84, I knew my turn to go was coming.  So, in the summer of ’88, my friends and I boarded a bus in Farmington Hills, MI and headed for the University of Colorado for CHIC.  This youth conference drew a few thousand high school students from Covenant churches all over the world for a week of worship, fun, lessons and time together.

Arriving at the school, my friends were all paired up as roommates, but with an odd number, I wound up with Mike, the “odd one” from another church.  We got along, might even have become friends, but I was still not with my friends.  And for the rest of the week, that was my experience.  My friends headed for a seminar I wasn’t interested in, so I went to another.  Free times were sometimes spent wandering the grounds alone.  It seemed my CHIC experience was ruined.

But in those wanderings, in attending sessions which taught me what I wanted (or what God needed me to learn?), I met with God in ways I hadn’t before, though I couldn’t have said that at the time.  In the bus ride home, at 2am driving across Nebraska, watching thunderstorms rage in the distance, I reflected and thought about the week.

We arrived home late on Saturday night, and my folks wanted to know all about it, so the night got later.  But being Larson’s we were still up for church the next morning!  And sitting in the church service that next day, I received God’s call to ministry.  During the prayer, just an average, ordinary pastoral prayer, God spoke to me and told me that His plan was that I be a minster in His church.  I was a bit stunned, figuring a call like this was supposed to come at CHIC, not at my boring old home church.  Driving home with my dad that morning (Mom was working to pay for college for my sister and me), he noticed me troubled and asked about it.  “I think I have to be a pastor,” I told him with no enthusiasm whatsoever.  And without missing a beat, my dad replied, “Then, Steve, you be the best pastor you can be.”  And that was that.  The next 9 years were training for ministry, and the rest were the long, slow walk with God through this world we call Pastoral Ministry.

God doesn’t always call us when we’re ready, or when we think He should.  So this Lent, as you’re fasting, praying, reflecting, always keep listening.  You never know what He might say to you, or when.

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March 1 – Steve’s Story

Lent is a time to remember and reflect.  So we’ve asked a number of people to share their stories with us.  Today, we hear from Steve Larson, one of our pastors…

Born in Livonia, MI, my parents raised me in the church on 8 Mile Road which eventually moved to Farmington Hills and became Faith Covenant Church.  I have no “conversion moment” because church, God, and my relationship with both was simply part of life from the very beginning.  Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights and the occasional event in between were set calendar items for our family.  With Dad chairing the church, or the C.E. Board, or the Sunday school program, and with mom teaching, singing in the choir and baking, baking, baking for church events, “family” and “church” were in some ways synonymous.  And through the church family, I grew.

From the age of 5 through the age of 8, we spent our summers (dad was a teacher, mom was home raising us) managing Portage Lake Covenant Bible Camp in Onekema, MI.  Being the “camp kid” was a joyful thing for me.  I got to experience church, God, and my relationship with both outside the building and scheduled times.  And through our camp experience, I grew.

It wasn’t until high school that I truly began to make my faith my own, however.  In 9th grade, my English teacher soon learned that I would be fitting my faith into every public project she assigned.  Whether “Share Your Talents Day” where I sang Christian music, or a report on “The Most Important Thing in Your Life” where I preached my first sermon, Mrs. Bauer always shook her head and graded me down, but continued to give me opportunities to share my faith in class.  This was not easy for a shy, introverted, uncomfortable kid like me, but I never considered doing anything else.

A thespian and choir geek, I learned (sometimes the hard way) how to be comfortable in front of an audience.  A leader in my youth group, I learned the organization it took to pull off a really fun event that still made a difference in people’s lives.  And so through my high school years, I grew.

My call to ministry came just after CHIC ’88, our triennial youth conference.  And I’ll tell you all about it… tomorrow.

 

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Feb. 29 – The Joy of the Gift

It’s been a few days since our last devotional due to the men’s retreat at Covenant Point.  With no cell service, I chose not to post.  Today, we’re back.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” – Luke 6:38

Today is leap day, that special day every four years that is added to our lives.  Sure, its there to make sure our calendars line up correctly (who knew in first grade that there weren’t really 365 days in a year, but 365 1/4), but today I choose to receive it as a gift.  Too often we complain about not having enough time to do the things we must or want, and many have rhetorically asked me if I didn’t think it would be fantastic to have an extra day.  Well, here you go!

As I think this Lent about Jesus’ gifts of salvation and resurrection, about giving things up, and about the call to give our own selves away as gifts to others, this passage came to mind.  “You’ll receive gifts in the same way you give them,” is how I read this.  Too often we’ve read it as, “You’ll receive the same level, amount, or kind of gifts you give,” but that can’t be right.  I know that I receive so much more from God than I give to Him.  You can’t “out-give” God.  You can’t even match Him.  So this can’t be about the amount of the gift, or even the value of it.

I believe this is speaking to the attitude of the gift.  If we give begrudgingly out of a sense of duty, we will receive less because one of the great gifts we receive is the joy of giving itself.  In fact, elsewhere the bible tells us, “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.”  When we give out of the joy of gratitude for what we’ve received, then not only do we receive more, but the very act of giving is a gift.  When we give, we get the opportunity to join with God in His amazing plan for His people.  What could be a better use of our money, our time, our talents, ourselves than that?  What else do you want to spend it on or save it for?

What is your attitude when it comes to giving?  Take some time this Lenten season to sit quietly with God and ask Him and yourself that question.

What is your attitude toward the gifts you receive from Him?  Are you a “cheerful giver” like God, or are you giving your time and talents and tithes to church because you have to, because God won’t love you if you don’t, or because “if I don’t, nobody will so I guess I better”?  When we recognize our giving as an opportunity from God, a gift in and of itself, then we’ll begin to see that God’s gifts come, “pressed down, shaken together and running over.”

Lord, this Lent, may we truly comprehend the lavishness of your generosity and respond with an equal joy in the gifts we give.  Amen.

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