I do not now, nor will I ever, shamelessly promote an event which I will be attending/serving at. However, I did want to voice a thought or two about giving money or time to alleviate the suffering of others.
Now, when I say suffering, I don't mean wanting a few more dollars in a paycheck or wishing for the newest technological assistance. I mean the tornado-or-hurricane-destroyed-my-house-and-business type of suffering. The I-don't-know-where-my-next-meal-is suffering. The please-give-me-medicine-or-I-will-die-in-one-hour-from-AIDS suffering.
I think this is why we do Mennonite relief sales in Virginia every year. Not because we just want to catch up with folks that we haven't seen in ages (we can do that at Christmas too, by the way), or because we want real, home-made baked goods. I think members of the Mennonite church truly believe that there are millions of people to whom we can be the living, breathing example of Jesus' hands and feet at work in the very messed up world we humans live in.
Feel free to post your thoughts or reactions if this slugs you in the gut or makes you pause for a bit.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Taming the Tongue
I am reflecting on the past few days and in part from the book of James in the New Testament. Most of the third chapter of James' letter deals with the sheer power of words; how often has that little statement starting with "sticks and stones..." been proven false in your life experience, hmm? Vitriol and manna alike come from between our lips, and yet I myself have often forgotten this little fact at work and at home.
So I myself have begun working on harnessing my mouth to give life and stop committing verbal homicide. The first thing to go has been profanity, in large part because I am sure that Jesus would make a very wry face at choice words and phrases I have put together in the work place. Am I trying some self-help tricks here? Not at all. I have found myself searching for the mastery of myself that can only come from God in the thick of the moment's heated tension; somehow, that has made all the difference.
Secondly and perhaps far more important, I am looking now to speak in a way that encourages. Now, don't get me wrong: this seems like such a trite task to accomplish. At my current workplace and with my current co-workers, said task is not very easy at all. The prevalent sentiments are quite negative despite the record-setting accomplishments of all three shifts these past two months, and when a person is immersed in such an environment...well, I confess that I get sucked in quite regularly. As my co-worker Tony puts it, "we should be singing and dancing because we're working here with our pay-rates, benefits, and insurance coverage, because there's 15 million people outside those doors without a job." I agree completely. And yet the fussing and complaining continue...
This is not a rant about my job, but rather a quick background introduction to my nightly reality so that anyone reading this may understand my goals regarding my personal speech. "Out of the same mouth come blessings and curses. My brothers, this should not be!", says James. I believe he has a point. Speaking to early Christians, James points out that there is a drastic and harmful dichotomy regarding speech among Christians. Paul addresses the need of Christians to be different from the Greco-Roman Mediterranean culture surrounding the early church in many of his letters. Until recently, I nodded my head and then let the teachings go over my head. Now I intend to address speech with devotion, because although I cannot attain perfection through this, I do want to be a better example of what a Christian looks and sounds like. After all, disciples come to Jesus after seeing and hearing an example of Himself per the Great Commission.
So I myself have begun working on harnessing my mouth to give life and stop committing verbal homicide. The first thing to go has been profanity, in large part because I am sure that Jesus would make a very wry face at choice words and phrases I have put together in the work place. Am I trying some self-help tricks here? Not at all. I have found myself searching for the mastery of myself that can only come from God in the thick of the moment's heated tension; somehow, that has made all the difference.
Secondly and perhaps far more important, I am looking now to speak in a way that encourages. Now, don't get me wrong: this seems like such a trite task to accomplish. At my current workplace and with my current co-workers, said task is not very easy at all. The prevalent sentiments are quite negative despite the record-setting accomplishments of all three shifts these past two months, and when a person is immersed in such an environment...well, I confess that I get sucked in quite regularly. As my co-worker Tony puts it, "we should be singing and dancing because we're working here with our pay-rates, benefits, and insurance coverage, because there's 15 million people outside those doors without a job." I agree completely. And yet the fussing and complaining continue...
This is not a rant about my job, but rather a quick background introduction to my nightly reality so that anyone reading this may understand my goals regarding my personal speech. "Out of the same mouth come blessings and curses. My brothers, this should not be!", says James. I believe he has a point. Speaking to early Christians, James points out that there is a drastic and harmful dichotomy regarding speech among Christians. Paul addresses the need of Christians to be different from the Greco-Roman Mediterranean culture surrounding the early church in many of his letters. Until recently, I nodded my head and then let the teachings go over my head. Now I intend to address speech with devotion, because although I cannot attain perfection through this, I do want to be a better example of what a Christian looks and sounds like. After all, disciples come to Jesus after seeing and hearing an example of Himself per the Great Commission.
Monday, September 26, 2011
A few keys from Winston-Salem and Paul Baloche
I attended a worship team seminar with four other folks from my church, including my very good friend Steve Horst. There was so much to learn from Paul Baloche and his friends who joined him; I have begun practicing longer and harder as a result with my electric guitar to learn triads and more power chords (send me some more information on that stuff if you are reading this and have stuff I might not), and I'm trying out vocal exercises I picked up as well. Aside from all the technical stuff, here's a few overall concepts that I am bouncing around in the vast space between my ears:
1. The worship team isn't there to perform like a concert band; we're there to lead a congregation of believers in earnest and sincere worship of our God.
2. Less is more, actually. The more band members are present up front, the lighter the musical burden is on all the musicians. The lead electrical guitarist can "noodle" if the acoustic guitar is covering the rhythm, the pianist/keyboardist can focus on the right hand melodies with a drummer providing the time, the guitarists do not need to use the bottom two strings if the bassist is providing the chord root notes, and so on. For me personally, this presents at once a lifting of a burden and also a tremendous challenge; I'm not the world's greatest noodler.
3. Take care of yourself as a musician and a vocalist. Eat right, drink the right fluids, do vocal exercises, get plenty of sleep, and yes, exercise. Tough to do with crazy schedules, but I believe that a holistic approach to our roles as worship team members is crucial. Kinda like the rest of life, huh?
4. Last, but not least: the focus is on God. Without God, there would be no reason for standing up in front of a bunch of people every week without pay and playing music that popular culture often labels as "lame" and "weak".
So yeah, a few things to chew on. Have a great day, folks!
1. The worship team isn't there to perform like a concert band; we're there to lead a congregation of believers in earnest and sincere worship of our God.
2. Less is more, actually. The more band members are present up front, the lighter the musical burden is on all the musicians. The lead electrical guitarist can "noodle" if the acoustic guitar is covering the rhythm, the pianist/keyboardist can focus on the right hand melodies with a drummer providing the time, the guitarists do not need to use the bottom two strings if the bassist is providing the chord root notes, and so on. For me personally, this presents at once a lifting of a burden and also a tremendous challenge; I'm not the world's greatest noodler.
3. Take care of yourself as a musician and a vocalist. Eat right, drink the right fluids, do vocal exercises, get plenty of sleep, and yes, exercise. Tough to do with crazy schedules, but I believe that a holistic approach to our roles as worship team members is crucial. Kinda like the rest of life, huh?
4. Last, but not least: the focus is on God. Without God, there would be no reason for standing up in front of a bunch of people every week without pay and playing music that popular culture often labels as "lame" and "weak".
So yeah, a few things to chew on. Have a great day, folks!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The Problem of Pain
No, I will not wax poetic or reflective on C.S. Lewis' book by the same title. In fact, my thoughts today are much simpler and perhaps easier to read for many folks than Lewis' writing style, even though I have not read "The Problem of Pain" recently enough to recall any of the content.
The problem of pain which I am thinking about is concerned more with the physical toils of this life...and how far removed many Americans seem to be from the pain and exhaustion that goes with a hard day of work which many millions of people in other countries almost seem to accept unconsciously. I remember hearing a story from a friend of mine who went to Thailand with his then-girlfriend to visit her family. He observed rice farmers getting up in the morning, eating a bowl of rice with a small fish on top...and then working with simple tools and hands in the blazing heat of the Thai summer for fourteen hours.
My mind is boggled by this story whenever I think about it. In fact, I am starting to keep this story in the back of my mind whenever I think that a certain task is beyond my endurance. At the breaking point, I grumble at myself: "Think you've got it tough? Do this on a bowl of rice and a sardine for breakfast...wimp." Usually that is enough to goad me onwards.
How does this relate back to the removal of many American citizens from the problem of everyday pain that comes with hard, honest, back-breaking labor? Perhaps 5% of our workforce is engaged in agriculture, if that. The other 95% are engaged in service industries including finance, a dwindling manufacturing and heavy industrial sector, and a very stagnant housing and infrastructure sector. The government employs hundreds of thousands, but these still make up a small fraction of the whole.
I am convinced that the absence of pain has dulled the awareness of many people, taking away the ability to empathize and see other perspectives. Wrapped up in a pain-free, insulated world, some people in the United States have turned to look inwards and see everyone else as being not quite as good as they are. The problem of pain for these folks is that pain might reveal a certain ugly truth about themselves that they did not want to confront: character flaws and shortcomings are to be found in everyone, especially the individual doing the investigations of other people for their flaws.
Introduce a hard week's worth of demanding physical labor, and then another. Turn the weeks into months, and months into years. Pain mutes the self-promoting pride, sharpens the senses of touch and smell and taste, enhances the foresight which is also called common sense, and pushes the mental capacity of the individual to perform in times of bone-deep exhaustion and do so with no mistakes and no over-looked details. Pain experienced mutually allows people to find common cause in suffering, and forges bonds of friendship and teamwork that only get stronger over time.
Whether this is a God-sent gift to us is beyond my reason right now. I do know that God can open the eyes of a person's heart through the very problem of pain. If such were not the case, why would God allow pain to exist at all?
The problem of pain which I am thinking about is concerned more with the physical toils of this life...and how far removed many Americans seem to be from the pain and exhaustion that goes with a hard day of work which many millions of people in other countries almost seem to accept unconsciously. I remember hearing a story from a friend of mine who went to Thailand with his then-girlfriend to visit her family. He observed rice farmers getting up in the morning, eating a bowl of rice with a small fish on top...and then working with simple tools and hands in the blazing heat of the Thai summer for fourteen hours.
My mind is boggled by this story whenever I think about it. In fact, I am starting to keep this story in the back of my mind whenever I think that a certain task is beyond my endurance. At the breaking point, I grumble at myself: "Think you've got it tough? Do this on a bowl of rice and a sardine for breakfast...wimp." Usually that is enough to goad me onwards.
How does this relate back to the removal of many American citizens from the problem of everyday pain that comes with hard, honest, back-breaking labor? Perhaps 5% of our workforce is engaged in agriculture, if that. The other 95% are engaged in service industries including finance, a dwindling manufacturing and heavy industrial sector, and a very stagnant housing and infrastructure sector. The government employs hundreds of thousands, but these still make up a small fraction of the whole.
I am convinced that the absence of pain has dulled the awareness of many people, taking away the ability to empathize and see other perspectives. Wrapped up in a pain-free, insulated world, some people in the United States have turned to look inwards and see everyone else as being not quite as good as they are. The problem of pain for these folks is that pain might reveal a certain ugly truth about themselves that they did not want to confront: character flaws and shortcomings are to be found in everyone, especially the individual doing the investigations of other people for their flaws.
Introduce a hard week's worth of demanding physical labor, and then another. Turn the weeks into months, and months into years. Pain mutes the self-promoting pride, sharpens the senses of touch and smell and taste, enhances the foresight which is also called common sense, and pushes the mental capacity of the individual to perform in times of bone-deep exhaustion and do so with no mistakes and no over-looked details. Pain experienced mutually allows people to find common cause in suffering, and forges bonds of friendship and teamwork that only get stronger over time.
Whether this is a God-sent gift to us is beyond my reason right now. I do know that God can open the eyes of a person's heart through the very problem of pain. If such were not the case, why would God allow pain to exist at all?
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Profound thoughts...or not?
As part of an LTG (Life Transformation Group), I'm required to do a lot of Scripture reading. Although right now the group is doing a couple of smaller books, there will be times where I must read 25-30 chapters in a week. No, it's not too late, there's not something in your eyes, and yes you did read that correctly.
Personally, I am glad that the challenge is so great. Immersion in the Bible is something that I have never done in my three decades of existence, so getting my head forcefully plunged into the ice bucket (figuratively now; don't get any crazy ideas) has been a very good thing. Why?
I was listening to a conversation in the factory canteen one night about a mechanic who was violating state regulations for inspecting vehicles. Apparently the man had been caught and lost his business for six months. Another story which cropped up was about a butcher's business which had been quite successful and known through a few counties for the high quality of their products. That is, until the state government shut down the business and confiscated the property because the owners had not paid taxes for three years.
After listening to these stories, I was reading through Romans and found a section in chapter 12 or 13 (?) charging the Christians in Rome to heed and obey the authority of the Roman state/empire because God had given the rulers authority to take things away from citizens. This is a rough paraphrase, but Paul asked the Christians to pay taxes and revenues and respect to the current authority because the authority could take things away from them.
The heart of my thoughts today are: how much must we give to temporal, that is, earthly, authority? Going by the letter to the Romans, Christians in Rome needed to fulfill their fiscal obligations at the very least or run the risk of being stripped of all earthly possessions. Looking at some examples from my own experiences and past, a professor of mine withheld a certain percentage of his taxes every year. I also understood that this professor would have his house taken immediately upon retirement from the university by the IRS, even though he was still technically paying his taxes. Is the IRS unfair? Sure. But so are all other tax collection branches of all other governments in our world, now and in the past. I believe that many Christians in all denominations interpret Paul's message to mean whole-hearted devotion to our government. Not so. Rather, we give what the government is due.
I wonder if my co-workers have considered the world in this way. I believe that I am not the first person to listen to real-life examples and then go back to the Bible and read what wisdom is there concerning that real life situation. As Solomon said so sagaciously in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun. That statement is just as true today as it was when the Teacher wrote his reflections on life down.
Personally, I am glad that the challenge is so great. Immersion in the Bible is something that I have never done in my three decades of existence, so getting my head forcefully plunged into the ice bucket (figuratively now; don't get any crazy ideas) has been a very good thing. Why?
I was listening to a conversation in the factory canteen one night about a mechanic who was violating state regulations for inspecting vehicles. Apparently the man had been caught and lost his business for six months. Another story which cropped up was about a butcher's business which had been quite successful and known through a few counties for the high quality of their products. That is, until the state government shut down the business and confiscated the property because the owners had not paid taxes for three years.
After listening to these stories, I was reading through Romans and found a section in chapter 12 or 13 (?) charging the Christians in Rome to heed and obey the authority of the Roman state/empire because God had given the rulers authority to take things away from citizens. This is a rough paraphrase, but Paul asked the Christians to pay taxes and revenues and respect to the current authority because the authority could take things away from them.
The heart of my thoughts today are: how much must we give to temporal, that is, earthly, authority? Going by the letter to the Romans, Christians in Rome needed to fulfill their fiscal obligations at the very least or run the risk of being stripped of all earthly possessions. Looking at some examples from my own experiences and past, a professor of mine withheld a certain percentage of his taxes every year. I also understood that this professor would have his house taken immediately upon retirement from the university by the IRS, even though he was still technically paying his taxes. Is the IRS unfair? Sure. But so are all other tax collection branches of all other governments in our world, now and in the past. I believe that many Christians in all denominations interpret Paul's message to mean whole-hearted devotion to our government. Not so. Rather, we give what the government is due.
I wonder if my co-workers have considered the world in this way. I believe that I am not the first person to listen to real-life examples and then go back to the Bible and read what wisdom is there concerning that real life situation. As Solomon said so sagaciously in the book of Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun. That statement is just as true today as it was when the Teacher wrote his reflections on life down.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Grinding It Out
I find it rather strange that some folks would rather quit at something when the going gets tough rather than stick it out.
Perhaps I just grew up in such a different socio-cultural background and was given such a very different set of ideas about the need to work (even in a manufacturing job on the third shift) that I simply cannot comprehend the grumbling of some of my co-workers who want to leave because mandatory overtime has been increased by another eight hours this month. I was quite elated when I heard this news as it will mean a boost in pay for myself. So imagine my surprise and indignance at hearing about a man in his late 40s who has been working at the same place I have for the same amount of time I have saying that he "didn't sign up for so much overtime".
Here's where the rubber meets the road: work stinks. Period. I would not mind having a more enjoyable job myself, perhaps as a house painter or something like that. Yet, every single person who needs to have food, clothes, and shelter must work to get them. I know this, and every day this past summer that I did not have a job was like being subjected to the Chinese water torture in some ways; not enough to kill, but enough to drive me stark raving mad with frustration because of the realities of paying for the apartment, utilities, student loans, Discover card, and remaining tuition balance from my senior year. My need for income is quite high, and so I do not mind sleeping at odd hours and driving a half-hour each way for $9.00 an hour.
Others with less need...I'm not sure. I cannot fathom the reasons for wanting to leave jobs that will eventually pay as good as $17.00 an hour and more simply because second or third shift is not what someone wanted. If anyone wishes to add thoughts or even criticize something in this post, please do so; good discussions are something that I cannot get enough of.
Perhaps I just grew up in such a different socio-cultural background and was given such a very different set of ideas about the need to work (even in a manufacturing job on the third shift) that I simply cannot comprehend the grumbling of some of my co-workers who want to leave because mandatory overtime has been increased by another eight hours this month. I was quite elated when I heard this news as it will mean a boost in pay for myself. So imagine my surprise and indignance at hearing about a man in his late 40s who has been working at the same place I have for the same amount of time I have saying that he "didn't sign up for so much overtime".
Here's where the rubber meets the road: work stinks. Period. I would not mind having a more enjoyable job myself, perhaps as a house painter or something like that. Yet, every single person who needs to have food, clothes, and shelter must work to get them. I know this, and every day this past summer that I did not have a job was like being subjected to the Chinese water torture in some ways; not enough to kill, but enough to drive me stark raving mad with frustration because of the realities of paying for the apartment, utilities, student loans, Discover card, and remaining tuition balance from my senior year. My need for income is quite high, and so I do not mind sleeping at odd hours and driving a half-hour each way for $9.00 an hour.
Others with less need...I'm not sure. I cannot fathom the reasons for wanting to leave jobs that will eventually pay as good as $17.00 an hour and more simply because second or third shift is not what someone wanted. If anyone wishes to add thoughts or even criticize something in this post, please do so; good discussions are something that I cannot get enough of.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Day One
Ouch.
That's pretty much the only way to sum up the way I feel at the moment. My legs ache despite drinking water, stretching, and making sure that I am eating the right kinds of food. Ah well.
Life without pain seems...foreign to me. No, I'm not a glutton for punishment, and neither do I go looking for activities that can provide some kind of bodily harm. I'm talking about pain in all forms, whether physical, emotional, and yeah, even spiritual.
Right now, the pain I'm experiencing is quite insignificant. No, really! Some sore muscles after exercising? Former coaches of mine would probably wonder what my problem was if I complained about a little bit of physical pain. Psychological pain? Who doesn't have that in their lives to go along with emotional pain? I have decided, though, that spiritual pain is what could truly kill a person.
I'm talking about a true absence of God in one's life. As a Christian, I can't think of anything more painful than that. This first day of distance running after a long time away from the sport seems like a wonderful experience compared to the pain of being separated from God.
That's pretty much the only way to sum up the way I feel at the moment. My legs ache despite drinking water, stretching, and making sure that I am eating the right kinds of food. Ah well.
Life without pain seems...foreign to me. No, I'm not a glutton for punishment, and neither do I go looking for activities that can provide some kind of bodily harm. I'm talking about pain in all forms, whether physical, emotional, and yeah, even spiritual.
Right now, the pain I'm experiencing is quite insignificant. No, really! Some sore muscles after exercising? Former coaches of mine would probably wonder what my problem was if I complained about a little bit of physical pain. Psychological pain? Who doesn't have that in their lives to go along with emotional pain? I have decided, though, that spiritual pain is what could truly kill a person.
I'm talking about a true absence of God in one's life. As a Christian, I can't think of anything more painful than that. This first day of distance running after a long time away from the sport seems like a wonderful experience compared to the pain of being separated from God.
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