Whenever I Open My Mouth

While our Session had its retreat a couple of weeks ago, we had the opportunity to take a brief "retreat of silence." We spent about an hour on our own-- no cell phones, no conversation, no iPods...absolute silence. I found it to be a very enriching time. As suggested by a study guide we were given, I prayed through the following verse. It helped me get the right perspective on what God asks of every pastor. I hope you'll consider praying through it yourselves on a Sunday morning for your own pastor(s).

Ephesians 6:19-20 (NIV)
"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

You'll note, of course, that such an idea is not limited to those preaching and teaching-- it is a prayer we would do well to pray ourselves in any situation where we have the opportunity to share God's Good News.

From Mountain-Top to Valley Floor

I imagine many of you have heard of the term, "a mountain-top experience." It's one of those ideas that we often encounter peace, wisdom, or something else that enlightens our lives after we've journeyed to a place (literal or metaphorical) of solitude and refreshment.

Last weekend, several of our leaders at Living Waters had a mountain-top experience as our pastor, David, led a retreat on re-defining the vision for Living Waters. It was a great experience, and many of us recognized that our "new" vision is the same as the vision we've had along: to serve Christ at our church with a specific purpose. We don't want to do ministries just because we've always done them or because they worked for another church. We want to do them because God wants Living Waters to do them. This mountain top experience was an important step in reclaiming the God's vision for LWC after so many months of simply nursing our wounds.

In my bible study today, I realized for the first time that Peter, James, and John had a mountain-top experience, too. They were with Jesus at his Transfiguration-- a pretty significant moment (Luke 9:28-35). I'd expect that the experience would be life-affirming and life-changing for anyone. Yet, only a few verses later (Luke 9:40), a man tells Jesus,

"I begged your disciples to [heal my son] but they could not."

The disciples had seen a glimpse of Christ in all of his glory, but when it came time to fulfill their mission in his name, they failed.

These passages reminded me how easy it is to have clear vision and purpose on one day, but to fail when the challenges of life overtake us on another day.

I hope you will be praying for your Elders at Living Waters-- that the ideas and purpose God has given our church's leaders will be implemented and accepted by everyone, and that the Session's mountain-top experience won't stay on the mountain.

Elvis, Action, and Outflow

Back in July of '07, I was intrigued by a sign at the gas station...something along the lines of "live like a king." The sign was advertising the latest incarnation of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; a Limited Edition Elvis Banana Creme and Peanut Butter. I didn't have any cash on me, and I had already paid at the pump, but I knew my week wouldn't be complete without trying this combination of some of my favorite things. I'm always a sucker for the various incarnations of Reese's (dark chocolate, honey peanut butter, inside-out) and when I was growing up, my mom would mix Peanut Butter, Bananas, and Duke's Mayo together and serve it on wheat bread- it's still one of my favorites.

Long story short, I visited 3 grocery stores that week before finally just heading back to the gas station where I had seen the sign. Even then, the candy hadn't been stocked on the shelves. The cashier had stashed them behind the register. I half expected to be asked a secret code word or something in order to get them! I bought two packs and immediately headed home to try them out. They were delicious as expected, and I was able to move on with my life.

Fast forward to present day January '08...the heady days of summer Reese's consumption have slowly given way to the slow winter. The other night I was at Bi-Lo here in Lake Wylie and saw a stray package of these "Limited Editions" mixed in with the standard Reese's cups. I figured I might as well enjoy them again one more/last time. Incidentally, January 8th was the King's birthday, so maybe it was serendipity that allowed me to stumble on the treat once again. The first batch had been released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of his death.

But as I was eating them, I was overcome with a whirlwind of emotion (okay, that may be a bit of an overstatement). Elvis was a musician first and foremost...the King of Rock 'N Roll who changed the face of radio for years to come. The Beatles, Dylan, U2, and more cite him as an early influence.

But today, his face is on a box of candy, inspired by his most peculiar of eating habits: the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. I would argue that most know him best from Halloween costumes, Food TV trivia, parodies, and impersonators. In other words, Elvis is no longer known as an artist, but as a personality-- he's known for being Elvis.

The same can be said for many Christians. We are to reflect Christ in our daily lives. Our every action is supposed to point to the saving grace of our Heavenly father. Yet, we rarely are known for being like Christ. Instead, we're known for calling ourselves Christians. There is a big difference.

Jesus said in Luke 9:23:

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself..."

In James 1:22-24, God tells us:

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like."

This Christian life is a life that is Christ-filled, not compartmentalized. This past Sunday, as part of our series on Outflow, David Zimmerman talked about how tough it can be to share Christ's love with our family and friends because we've blown it so many times. We may have shown Christ's love in one area and been totally selfish in another. No one is perfect, and we're going to mess up, but the overall outflow of our lives is what we'll be known/remembered for.

There was a time when Elvis was known for music, singing, artistry, etc. As he grew older and more indulgent, he became known for his eating habits, drug addiction, marital infidelity, and eccentricity. Now his name is not at the top of the charts, it's on a box of candy.

Where will our names end up?

Better Living Through Compression?

A recent Rolling Stone article entitled "The Death of High Fidelity" discusses the impact that digital culture has had on music recordings. Essentially, to keep music convenient for downloading and optimized for computer speakers or Mp3 players, the files must be compressed. Compression basically cuts out the extremes that your ear (supposedly) doesn't hear and balances the other sounds into a relatively equal volume. The result? Music that cuts through the clutter of environmental noise but loses the nuance that makes it unique. If you're scratching your head and wondering if you've heard compression before, a non-musical example is the gripping TV drama that you've been sucked into only to be knocked senseless by the loud TV commercial that interrupts the mood. It's not just louder, it's also compressed so that it really knocks you over the head with its potency.

I noticed this in my own music collection once I began converting my CDs to digital. Some of the music I loved on CD with my home stereo lost it's beauty and richness on my iPod. I've since corrected the problem by loading CDs at a higher bitrate. The problem now days is that many CDs themselves are compressed from the beginning. As a result, they sound great in a noisy car or restaurant, but they lose their dynamic and even sound noisy in an audiophile environment. Here's a quote from the article from Daniel Leviton, author of This is Your Brain on Music:

"The excitement in music comes from variation in rhythm, timbre, pitch and loudness," Levitin says. "If you hold one of those constant, it can seem monotonous." After a few minutes, research shows, constant loudness grows fatiguing to the brain. Though few listeners realize this consciously, many feel an urge to skip to another song."

And this leads us to God (believe it or not). In the modern Christian walk, so many have the assumption that our relationship with God is loud, constant, and ready to cut through the mix of everyday life. We've stripped the nuance of meaning from His word and taken only the bits that will help us have our "Best Life Now." When we can't sense the Spirit's presence or discern His guidance, we assume He's not there. In reality, if teh Christian walk was all peaks and no valleys, it would have the same effect on our attitude as compressed music has on our ears. It is when we need God most that we may also appreciate Him most. The Psalmist experienced times when he was afflicted and felt distant from God. But David always knew God was still there. Note the pain in verse 1-2, followed by the assurance in 11-12:

Hear my prayer, O LORD!
And let my cry for help come to You.
Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress;
Incline Your ear to me;
In the day when I call answer me quickly.... (Psalm 102:1-2)

My days are like a lengthened shadow,
And I wither away like grass.
But You, O LORD, abide forever,
And Your name to all generations. (Psalm 102: 11-12)

I'm always stunned by the honest acceptance of the ebb and flow of God's relationship with man as written in the Psalms. The relationship between Creator and created is not always happy clappy-- sometimes it is downright painful. Rest assured, though, it is certainly dynamic. It is filled with highs and lows, loud and soft, ballads and rockers. But when we strip our God down so He fits our lifestyle (like so many have done to their music collection) we take away the dynamic relationship that makes it beautiful. We compress it for convenient listening, and we don't even know what we're missing!