tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2018036739842061412024-02-07T17:27:54.312-08:00504 JavaI live in Atlanta, but New Orleans was my home for two decades. I drink coffee. I am on a journey as a Christ-follower, husband, a father, pastor, and part time professor. A cup of coffee with someone symbolizes community, conversation and a simple willingness to park an agenda for a few minutes to hear and be heard...Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-91703113659556674692021-11-22T18:43:00.000-08:002021-11-22T18:43:09.816-08:00On a Stained Glass Christmas<p> I am preaching a sermon series for advent called, "A Stained Glass Christmas" -- this is the idea behind it. Thanks to Dunwoody Baptist Church and FBC Winnfield families for encouragement and much love.</p><p>Before I came to Dunwoody in the 80s as youth pastor, I served a church in Louisiana. During my time there, we did a building project (anyone surprised?). We renovated a sanctuary building that was built in the 1920s. We decided to restore and repurpose the old building to preserve the stories of the wonderful history of the church (home of Huey and Earl Long) rather than to tear down the historic building and start over. </p><p>We discovered many things about renovating an old building. The columns were full of bees. The foundation was leveled by pouring more concrete. The roof trusses were so full of termites that the inspector said “the only thing holding this building up is that the termites must be holding hands. And the stained glass windows needed to be completely restored. </p><p>I learned more about stained glass than I ever thought I would know as I watched the tradesmen remove each window and transport it to a rented storefront nearby that had been transformed into a stained glass studio. Each window was disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled using the original lead process. Then each window was replaced in its original location and sealed with a storm glass to preserve it. </p><p>Seems like a lot of work and expense for windows. But stay with me. </p><p>At its most basic level, a stained glass project consists of pieces of glass whose edges are joined together in some manner. There are two common materials used to join glass –copper foil and lead. With each, the glass edges are held in a channel that conforms to the shape of the piece. Stained glass is colored glass and it has been used for a thousand years to create art in windows, using the color of the glass and the sun that God provides to illuminate the story in the window. Stained glass has been used historically in churches, but has expanded to other applications by modern artists like Frank Lloyd Wright and even the famous lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany.</p><p>The craftsman takes small pieces of colored glass and creates a story, an image, a work of art by arranging the glass into designs or pictures, bordered and secured by strips of lead or copper. Sometimes additional details are painted. The artist doesn't just start putting glass into random places. He or she has an idea in mind, a story that the window must tell. In addition to artistic skills, the artist must design it in such a way that it can be a chapter in a story with other windows in the same room and also hold up to wind and rain and cold--as functional as it is beautiful as a window.</p><p>I have seen incredible stained glass from the Notre Dame in Paris to the stunning contemporary design at FBC Huntsville, Alabama. In Europe, many stained glass windows remain and it is fair to say that they are examples of a major art form from the medieval period. Interestingly, they do not serve very well as windows as it is difficult to see out. However, they manipulate light in such a way as to create beauty regardless of which side of the window one is standing. </p><p>So what? It occurred to me that the various parts of the Christmas story are independent in a way, yet the pieces need to come together in just the right way to tell the story of Jesus’ birth and why it is significant to us. Three of the gospel writers viewed the nativity through their own lens. The Gospel According to Mark has no story of Jesus's birth. Instead, Mark's story begins by describing Jesus's adult life, introducing it with the words, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). </p><p>Mark does tell of John the Baptist, who predicts the coming of a man more powerful than himself. And each adds details that the others leave out. We need all of the writers, all of the stories to bring together the intent of God the Father in sending His son to us as a baby, to grow into a man and to be the sacrifice for our sin and brokenness. </p><p>Only two of the four canonical gospels, Matthew (Matthew 1:18-25) and Luke (Luke 2:1-7), offer narratives regarding the birth of Jesus. Of these two, only Luke offers the details of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. John’s gospel starts at the beginning of the universe, telling us that the birth of Jesus was part of God’s design for mankind from the start. </p><p>From the original idea for the Christmas series: The music of Christmas is always memorable in church. At DBC, this year, the combined choirs and orchestra will present “The Symphony of Christmas” on Christmas Eve. The five songs in the piece provide the background and the storyline for the series. The titles come from the movements in the music. Each of the messages is a component of the story–an individual piece of stained glass to go into the window that allows us to see the whole story.</p><p>Oh and by the way, I love a saying about perspective: “When you look at a window, you see fly specks, tiny cracks, and the accumulated dust and dirt. When you look through a window, you see the world that God made and challenged us to love.”</p><p>The point of the series is to look at the beautiful window that God has given us in the story of Jesus coming to earth to live and die so that people can be forgiven from sin. Then we look through the window at a world desperately in need of that message.</p>Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-53875931781218313262021-11-22T18:26:00.000-08:002021-11-22T18:26:55.951-08:00On Thanksmas<p>I write this on the 21st anniversary of my Dad’s death. Here’s to you, Pop. Glad Mom is there with you. We miss you both. We'll still set a place for you, but you are at a better banquet.</p><p>We had a tradition in our family for years that we all called, “Thanksmas.” My Dad actually started the tradition when grandchildren were little. He thought that ‘every kid should wake up on Christmas morning in their own home’ and suggested that we all get together for our family time at Thanksgiving. There were four Jackson kids and we all got married and started families over the course of a decade or so, ending up with 8 grandkids. We also spread out to Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Georgia. We also had inlaws. Judi and I loved the tradition. Once Aaron was born, we didn’t really have it in us to travel at Christmas. You may or may not know, but pastors always have a Christmas Eve service that we do and that means that if we are going to wake up in a distant city with our families of origin, we have to drive through the night. </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So the Jackson family invented Thanksmas. Judi and I–and the inlaws and outlaws–agreed that we would spend Christmas with Judi’s Mom and Thanksgiving with the chaotic Jackson clan. So every Thanksgiving week, Judi and I would drive with Aaron and Sarah to Atlanta from Louisiana–usually on Tuesday or Wednesday–and spend the middle of the week with my Mom and Dad and my older sister Carol and her two boys, my younger sister Susan and her husband and her son and daughter, and my younger brother James, my sister-in-law Trish, and their two boys. For Thanksmas.</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Some fantastic traditions birthed from Thanksmas. We would all set up camp at either my parents’ house or my sister’s house. The basement had pallets for all the older cousins (who now call themselves “the council of cousins” and make most of the decisions for the extended family). Wednesday was for finalizing shopping for the Thanksgiving feast and buying last minute Thanksmas gifts. Friday was for the serious shopping, back when Black Friday didn’t last for most of the fall. Until he died in 2000, my father was the King of Thanksmas, pretty much second-guessing every decision anybody else made, but rarely making any decisions without being prompted. I understand that a lot better now. </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>On Thursday morning–Thanksgiving Day–several of us got up really early to go to the Chamblee Marta station to run the Atlanta Half Marathon. As many as 7 of us ran it one year and the rest of the family took up posts along to route to cheer us on. We liked that tradition. When you burn that many calories in the morning, you can eat whatever you want to for the rest of the day. We got home from the run sometime late morning and started preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. Everybody had favorites, and everybody had some contribution. Some years we smoked the turkey. One time we fried the turkey. Mostly it was cooked in the oven so we could argue about which dressing was better–the stuffing that was inside the turkey when it was cooked or the stuffing that got cooked separately.</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Dinner was sometime around 2 in the afternoon and after lunch we would either nap or play football. Dad would referee. I remember the year he died–the day before Thanksgiving–we still played football, but we set a bench up on the sideline to remember him. After he died, we also set a place for him at our table, even though we knew he was eating at a much bigger table. </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Life was full. Turkey. Football. Nap. Rinse, repeat. As far as football loyalties, we represented by Georgia, Georgia Tech, FSU, LSU, Kentucky, and Auburn (and throw in Southern Mississippi and Georgia State, but they were irrelevant to the football discussion). Somehow we still got along. After football, we would come inside to nap some more, watch whatever games were on and officially transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas. My sister would have the house totally decorated but not lit up. When we gathered to read “The Christmas Story” from Luke, we would flip the switches to light up tree(s) and garland and officially transition from “Thanks” to “mas.” We drew names sometime in early November, set a price limit and tried to buy something that would be appreciated. We outlawed gift cards when it got to be more common than it wasn’t. Everyone would give their gift to the family member whom they had drawn until all the gifts were given.</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As I reflect on those Thanksmas holidays, I remember being profoundly grateful. Maybe it is because the holiday reminded me to be thankful. Maybe it is because we all made the effort to be family. Maybe I looked around the room and cherished all the relationships. Maybe I was aware enough to appreciate that we could buy a turkey, buy presents for each other, afford to travel across the southeast to be together. Maybe because I had a similar gratitude when the family news was good and when the news that particular year had challenges or sadness. Maybe because I wasn’t in charge of anything “churchy” I was especially able to take time to thank God that everyone in the room had access to the message of forgiveness and hope that is the person of Jesus Christ. </p><p><br /></p><p>So Happy Thanksmas.</p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-72182395647089004232020-03-26T04:19:00.000-07:002020-03-26T04:19:02.904-07:00On the New NormalThe new normal. I keep hearing that phrase, but it will never be normal that we keep distance from people we love. It will never be normal for the church to “forsake the assembling together as is the habit of some.” It will never be normal for us to venture out of our homes to do essential work or purchase essential items, but to do so in great fear. It should never be normal to refuse to hug, shake hands, kiss a cheek or reassuringly touch a shoulder. The concept of personal boundaries has taken on new meaning with a six-foot buffer of personal space. I reject this kind of normalcy.<br />
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There are aspects of the Great Quarantine that have been beneficial. We are perhaps more in tune with our families. Working parents who normally drive away each morning and leave the other parent at home with children are seeing the reality of a “stay home” mom or dad. Many are trying to catch up on home projects.<br />
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Some families are rediscovering non-electronic ways to spend time like board games or crafts. I spoke to a man in my church who is committed to giving his wife an hour or two of “me time” so he takes a break from his working remotely routine to actively play with young children while she walks or yogas or reads.<br />
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We have new appreciation for teachers. One of my friends suggested that the day the schools reopen is the day teachers should ask for a raise, and that it would be gladly granted. We have hearts that break for families that have lost or will lose loved ones to this terrible pandemic. We have a fresh appreciation for the heroes who staff emergency rooms, hospital floors, and surgical units.<br />
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And some of us are rediscovering a devotional life. No breakfast meetings (it just seemed weird to eat eggs in front of a computer while someone else ate eggs in front of theirs). No staff meetings, except via telecommuting. No classes, no club meetings, no homeowners association or volunteer activities. Almost universally, minutes have been freed up, and for me at least, it has caused me to ask how I am filling those minutes (those of you with small children are appropriately eye-rolling me right now).<br />
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My point is that I am learning dependence. I cannot control someone sneezing on me if I venture out. I cannot control the shortage of medical equipment. I cannot control the continued bickering in Washington or the second-guessing of all leaders (likely including me). I can however seek God in prayer and scripture to see what He wants me to change in me. That I can control.<br />
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Father, thank you for a new day. Help me today to reach out to people who need to hear my voice, help me to redeem time with thoughts of You and others. God, bring an end to this pestilence. Bring and end to the suffering. Allow Your glory to be seen. In this world, we will have trouble, but let the approaching of Resurrection Day remind us that You have overcome the world.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-7804995809490253372020-03-25T04:59:00.001-07:002020-03-25T04:59:47.401-07:00On Viruses and DependenceAgain, I have neglected my blog. I last wrote while riding on a train with the amazing senior adults at Dunwoody Baptist Church. I have been blessed to be a senior pastor for almost 5 years now--6 if you count the interim year before I became full time. It seems like I have had the experience of several challenges that have allowed me to grow as a Pastor and leader. And the lessons have not always been easy. That is why I write today.<br />
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A national health crisis called COVID-19 or the Coronavirus has caused us to move our church services exclusively to livestreaming, our meetings to virtual ones, and our conversations to be via telephone or computer. We are isolated, by choice, caution and decree. We have time to think and write and read since we are not spending time in the car, not going to offices, not going much of anywhere.<br />
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So I am learning through this. Today, I reflect on some of what I have learned as a pastor after more than two decades as a seminary professor. I have learned I didn't have as much patience as I thought. My wife warned me. I have learned (again) that I don't really lean towards strong mercy gifts. I have learned that I do not have as many sermon ideas as I thought. I have learned that I thought I knew a lot, but I really don't know much about being a pastor. And I am learning that I know a lot about God, but I am discovering the joy of knowing Him better.<br />
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Maybe I am just getting older, but as various aches and pains remind me of my mortality and vulnerability, I find myself longing for a word. I find words in Scripture. I am finding them in a devotional book by Paul Tripp called <i>New Morning Mercies</i>. I am finding words in talks with my beloved bride (who is a prophetic truth-teller, especially when I am whining). I am finding wisdom in conversations with friends and church members and my brother.<br />
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And now a virus in our nation and around the world is causing all of us to assess and reassess what is important. We are staying in our homes, working remotely, keeping close to each other and trying to find ways to communicate. To connect. To create ways to spend time that do not involve endless vegetation in front of whatever streaming service is providing old content.<br />
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So I decided to write. God is teaching me dependence and humility all over again. In so many seasons of my life, I confess that I am almost like the cycle we see in the book of Judges in the Bible. People would drift far from God, sometimes subtly and sometimes drastically. They would suffer from whatever their decisions had brought on, or God would send a reminder of their human weakness. A judge or a prophet would bring a word from God, the people would repent of their pride and God would forgive them and help them rebuild their broken lives.<br />
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Living through hurricane Katrina, I trusted and wept and depended. Then I rebuilt and began to unintentionally distance myself from the Hand and Voice and Provision of God. Time seems at a premium in crisis, though with Katrina and now COVID-19, I know that is not true. I make time for what I want to do, what I need to do and what I think is urgent.<br />
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Today, I confess that my time with God is urgent. My declaration of my sin, my pride, my inability to fix things that only God can fix. I am learning dependence. Let me know if I can pray for you in that journey as well.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-73001773362198948682019-04-06T08:15:00.002-07:002019-04-06T08:15:51.163-07:00On Train Rides and SabbathIt has been a long time since I wrote anything on my blog. I confess that early on, I thought of lots I wanted to say. I like to write, I needed to write, and I thought that maybe my words would help someone else along the way. Maybe I was right, maybe I was wrong.<br />
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Why have I neglected my blog for so long? Life as a pastor happened. For the 22 years I taught at the seminary in New Orleans, life had certain predictable rhythms. I was able to refresh in summer or at Christmas break. We took a week off in fall, a week off in Spring and a few bonus days for Mardi Gras. It was as if I could hold my foot to the accelerator pedal because a break was coming.<br />
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Not so as a pastor. Since I became the pastor of Dunwoody Baptist Church (a church I dearly love and one that has loved me well over parts of four decades), the rhythmic rest has been harder to come by. That is why I write today. I am sitting on a train--the Amtrak Southern Crescent which runs from New York to New Orleans, but my leg of the run is from Atlanta to New Orleans and back. I have brought a group from the church to a conference.<br />
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During the time we have been away, things continue to happen at church--people go in the hospital, decisions need to be made about future programs, and a beloved saint in our faith community passed away. Yet because I am away, I am unable to make decisions, offer a prayer, walk through a proposal--in person. It causes anxiety to feel like I am letting people down. I am grateful that one of the other pastors was able to guide the grieving family through end of life and after death decisions. But I wasn't there. I am the Senior Pastor and I wasn't there. And it is okay. It has to be okay because the expectation that anyone is available at any time and under any circumstance is unreasonable.<br />
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The train is wonderful. America is passing by and what is an eight hour drive in a car is a thirteen hour ride on Amtrak. And it is wonderful. The realization for me is that I recharge when I get such a change in rhythm. Even though the week was exhausting with long days of sightseeing and seminars, it was a reset because of the change.<br />
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I think that is what sabbath is supposed to be. It is a nap, a long train ride, a "snow day" when you are in school. It is a time where the days melt away as days and at least once a day, the days seem to lose their identity. I have to keep reminding myself that it is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday and that means we are back in the groove of our "normal" life.<br />
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So my personal takeaway this morning is sabbath rest. I am absolutely basking in the warmth of the company of these precious people. I enjoyed every minute of showing them "my New Orleans." However, in riding a train where I have no control over going faster or going slower or stopping or going, I feel the change of rhythm that must be sabbath. I know I must have it. God said we all must have it. I need the reset to "be still and know that He is God" and to allow Him to recharge me for the work ahead. We are somewhere in Mississippi now. I think I will take a napAllen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-4465185470316713662017-05-05T15:25:00.001-07:002017-05-05T15:25:33.850-07:00On the Full Armor of God: a PrayerThis week, in both my small group and in my men's Bible study, we talked about the armor of God. It occurred to me that I should put it on each day like the kevlar, taser, handcuffs, flashlight and weapon put on daily by the wonderful policemen and policewomen who watch our church.<br />
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I wondered what that prayer might look like, me talking to God about my spiritual wardrobe as I got dressed in the morning.<br />
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The Scripture is in Ephesians 6:10-18. This version is the J.B. Phillips NT:<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil. Therefore you must wear the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women.<br />
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Father, today let me put on the full armor that You said I need as a disciple. Let me chase after truth, even if it means I admit I am wrong. Remind me to pursue righteousness, seeing unrighteousness in the world for what it is and seeing the unrighteousness in me. Give me an acute awareness of who I was without Jesus and who I would be if He had not redeemed me. I pray that I won’t be enticed by shiny things that are not righteous, excellent or necessary.<br />
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God, today You will create opportunities for me to share Your story and how it has become my story. Please give me both awareness and courage to be ready to share.<br />
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Jesus, reassure me that I am loved, forgiven and transformed–the essence of my faith and my shield against feelings that I am not worthy, not holy, not secured in You. Wrap my mind with the truth that I am eternally secure. Let me be intellectually satisfied that salvation is a mystery that cannot be explained or discredited by “experts” in science, literature, entertainment or even religion.<br />
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Help me know that I can cut through the deceit, distraction, darkness and despair of this fallen world because You have allowed me to wield the sword of Your Spirit. I can navigate today with the peace that passes all understanding, guarding my heart and my mind because I am filled with the Spirit. I can be salt and light in this world because I am a citizen of another world.<br />
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I pray with Paul that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I may fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel. I pray I face this day clothed in the full armor that You have provided.<br />
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AmenAllen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-24562434537545832312017-02-07T03:26:00.000-08:002017-02-07T07:28:39.004-08:00On Waiting and MovingOn Waiting and Moving<br />
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It seems a paradox that I want patience and movement at the same time. One of my favorite phrases is “let’s proceed with deliberate haste.” The tension between motion and stillness, patience and drive is held in that phrase and also (for me) in my faith.<br />
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The word combination “deliberate haste” may have come from Abraham Lincoln, when asked whether he favored the immediate emancipation of slaves, quoted the Latin motto festina lente: "make haste slowly." This expression, attributed to the emperor Augustus, found its English counterpart long before Lincoln: Ben Franklin, that proverb-meister, put "make haste slowly" into Poor Richard's Almanac in 1744. (credit to William Safire for the word play)<br />
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In the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered school segregation to be abolished "with all deliberate speed." A decade later, Justice William Brennan commented on the progress following the decision: "There has been entirely too much deliberation and not enough speed. The time for mere 'deliberate speed' has run out."<br />
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Both Lincoln and Brennan used the phrase to describe a cultural situation that was unbearable. The suggestion was that action needed to be taken, but the right action. Wisdom, but wisdom with forward motion.<br />
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Last Sunday, we sang a song in church and perhaps it was the passion of the worship team or perhaps the lyrics just penetrated my heart, but I was moved. The song was “Spirit of the Living God” and some of it goes like this<br />
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<i>Spirit of The Living God</i><br />
<i>Spirit of The Living God</i><br />
<i>We Only Want To Hear Your Voice</i><br />
<i>We’re Hanging On Every Word </i><br />
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<i>Because When You Speak, When You Move.</i><br />
<i>When You Do What Only You Can Do</i><br />
<i>It Changes Us, It Changes What We See And What We Seek</i><br />
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It changes us. It changes our priorities. It makes us uncomfortable with the status quo, similar to the desire to correct the injustice of slavery. Lincoln wanted to free those enslaved by humans. We want to see freedom for the spiritual captives.<br />
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Several years ago, Susan Ashton had a similar lyric<br />
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<i>Oh but you move me</i><br />
<i>You give me courage I didn't</i><br />
<i>Know I had</i><br />
<i>You move me on</i><br />
<i>I can't go with you</i><br />
<i>And stay where I am</i><br />
<i>So you move me on</i><br />
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So here is my confession. I am driven to study. I don’t want to be unprepared when I preach or teach the word. However, I am convicted that if I, as an introvert, see being with people as a distraction, pulling me away study and preparation time, I have missed the point of preaching. I cannot neglect the study of the Word, but I cannot neglect people either. One preacher said, “I have to be spending as much time with the living human documents as I am with the printed documents and the commentaries. They feed each other, both are central.”<br />
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Jesus seemed to get this. He was aware that he was experiencing His last night on earth, His last moments before intense suffering, and His last season as incarnate Messiah made flesh. Yet, in Gethsemane, He told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” In a few verses, the Passion began.<br />
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So I need to move with deliberate haste. I want to be with people, hear their hurts, see their pain, pray through their fears. But I also want to seek what God’s Word says about it, and dive into God’s presence to the point that I have to be where HE is working, have to be where HE is moving, have to use the Words HE has spoken to speak in the excitement of the moment with the congregation of Dunwoody Baptist Church, the amazing people to whom God has trusted me to minister.<br />
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<i>I can't go with you</i><br />
<i>And stay where I am</i><br />
<i>So you move me on</i><br />
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Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-81034500613270495642016-12-24T06:27:00.001-08:002016-12-24T06:27:22.649-08:00On Gleaning and GraceA few weeks ago, our missions pastor, Jeff Reams preached at DBC and he made this statement about our benevolence, our mission outlay and our charity:<br />
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We are simply doing for others what has been done for us."<br />
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This startled me a little--I try to be "wise" about money I give to causes outside of my regular tithes and offerings to my church. I sometimes give money to people who are begging and sometimes I don't. Jesus said that the poor would always be with us and Jeff's comments made me feel more responsible than ever to stop long enough to hear a story and then try to discern what I should do.<br />
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Jeff also quoted the early church writer, Tertullian who said, “It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents, who say, ‘See those Christians, how they love one another.’” This love has to begin at home. It has to begin in the domestic church.<br />
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I came home and did a little rooting around and found that the early Christians were known for their charity, even leading an anti-Christian Roman emperor named Julian to take notice. The emperor so hated Christians and Christianity that he sought to "re-paganize" the Roman empire following the expansion of Christ's kingdom. Nonetheless, Julian noticed the benevolence of the early church, saying “The impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well. Everyone can see that our poor lack aid from us.” (see http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=17-04-038-f#ixzz4RhIJvwZu).<br />
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So now I am really intrigued. How are we supposed to help the poor break out of a lifestyle of poverty? Is is an act of faith to give money to a homeless man, even though you suspect he will spend it on something other than food?<br />
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I have been pondering the "boring" books of the Bible, the ones that often stymie our attempts to read through the whole Bible. I am talking about Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Genesis it great with all the stories, but then you get to Exodus and the adrenaline level plummets as you begin to read about "Sundry Laws." Leviticus 23:22 says,<br />
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"'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.'"<br />
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A quick search found more than 20 other verses which mention the idea of gleaning. The principle of gleaning is that a farmer is supposed to leave edible crops behind. When harvesting was complete, some of the stalks, grain, grapes--whatever was to be intentionally un-reaped so that a person in need could go through the field behind the workers who harvest and get food for them and their family.<br />
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Don't "amen" with an attitude of "if they don't work, they don't eat." Many are not able to adequately provide for their basic needs. As a church, we are called to help them. The Bible usually calls them widows and orphans and the signature verse is James 1:27, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Paul also implied of this responsibility: "Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." (Galatians 2:10).<br />
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I am provoked to do both. I am praying for a way to create microbusiness opportunities for underserved or marginalized who are willing to work and I am praying for wisdom in distribution of resources for the widows and orphans. Unfortunately, all who give generously have been taken advantage of by persons who played the system. I am praying for my attitude that God forgives me for my attitude towards the con artists and gives me a spirit of forgiveness and trust that He sees everything. <br />
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Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-82557446940832287312016-12-24T05:54:00.000-08:002016-12-25T04:25:09.198-08:00On Christmas Eve<br />
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In Psychology 101, we learned the obvious: most people anticipate happy experiences. We look forward to marriage, to a job change, to a vacation, to school being out–to Christmas. We can’t help it. Anticipation part of us. It is actually a brain function, where a chemical called dopamine is released as a chemical neurotransmitter. It’s released from the brain’s frontal lobe and acts as a stimulant that prevents pain, stimulates pleasure and causes excitement. Dopamine stimulation happens when we experience and expect good things. Anticipating positive events sustains the output of dopamine into the brain’s chemical pathways.<br />
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Scientific experiments show that most people anticipate future positive events, as opposed to future negative events. It doesn’t matter if you’re an optimist or a pessimist; the brain is wired to anticipate positive experiences. And this is the way God made us. It is why the prophecies of the birth of Jesus are so important–they let us anticipate that God has been working all along, ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.<br />
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The Bible says that the whole earth–all of creation–is in a state of anticipation as to what God is going to do next. In Romans 8:18-19, Paul writes,<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.<br />
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The creation. We humans and the rest of this planet (and possibly others) presently face suffering, much of it of our own making. When Adam sinned, God sentenced all of creation: "Cursed is the ground because of you" (Gen 3:17 NRSV). Since then, the world has suffered decay and pollution, largely because people have forgotten or ignored their responsibilities as stewards of the earth.<br />
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As individuals, our pathway is reversed because of Christmas. Christ came into the world–God sent His only Son into the world that we would not perish, but have everlasting life. The Savior was born as an infant, and our gift-giving, extravagant as it is, is but a shadow of the worth of God’s gift to us.<br />
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Here, Paul uses a Greek verb to describe our anticipation of the time that the earth will be set right again. The word, is used other times in the NT and to describe the anticipation of followers of Christ that He will return again. Here it is used in connection with creation anticipating that day. In the meantime, the created order functions in spite of its flaws. Broken, damaged, sinful people, living in the marvelous grace of our loving Lord. Diseases, and suffering, depleted resources, unequal wealth–all constantly remind us that all is not right with us or with the planet. Poor choices, even among the followers of Christ remind us to lean on Jesus by realizing our need for forgiveness and grace. In this life, I have to confess, with Paul that, “In my flesh; the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Rom 7:18, Allen’s Paraphrase). I need Immanuel to be with me, to be with my family, to be with my church–to dwell among us that we might life forgiven and abundantly in the hope of His return.<br />
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Jesus came in a manger. He will come again in glory. “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Mt. 24:27, NASB)<br />
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So, there's just something about Christmas Eve. The anticipation...the wonder...the excitement about what's coming...the feeling that moves over DBC when we let the children light glow sticks and the adults light candles and we sing "Silent Night" at the Christmas Eve service...the memories of loved ones who are no longer with us...watching the DBC children who are beginning to understand the joy of this time of year. Thank you for letting me be your pastor. This season–this night–Christmas Eve is just special.<br />
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You see, I desire to wonder. I don’t really want to figure it all out, I want to embrace the crazy idea that a baby born in a manger is the very essence of God in our midst. I want to lay my pride and my troubles and my inability to always “make it all better as a pastor, a husband, or a dad. I want to rest in my heavenly Father and his plan. I want anticipate what He will do next, in this little community of faith called Dunwoody Baptist Church.<br />
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Takeaways<br />
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1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Almost all of us agree that we desire a plan that gives us hope. God’s plan is revealed through the predictions of the birth of Jesus which should assure us that God’s plans for us and for all of creation are not being made up on the fly. God is God and I am not, and He has got this.<br />
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2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When we gather for Christmas and enjoy the company of family and friends, exchanging gifts and stories, we get a picture of the harmony that God has in mind. Even those of us who are sad because of the absence of persons we love have a sense that the images of Christmas that we observe hint at God’s ultimate healing of our pain and our planet.<br />
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3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Christmas should remind us that God has a plan for us and that to walk in relationship with Him through following Jesus is the best path we can be on. Jesus says that He came that we might have an abundant life, yet so many of us continue to try to solve everything on our own. Can Christmas and the coming of a new year be an inspiration to reordering priorities in 2017 in such a way that your relationship with Jesus is the thing that changes everything?<br />
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I pray for you to take time today to stop in the midst of whatever is going on around you and soak it all in. Breathe in the smells, etch the faces on your heart, put the cell phones down, hug your loved ones an extra second longer, and remember the reason for all of this is not under a tree or down a chimney, but rather that God so loved the world that He gave us the perfect gift of love and hope: Jesus. I pray you have a wonderful Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas!<br />
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Anticipate Christmas. Anticipate Jesus. Anticipate Discipleship in 2017. <br />
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Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-12022789940862114252016-11-26T02:54:00.002-08:002016-11-26T02:55:49.723-08:00On the Magic of RomeI was privileged to go to Rome with Judi for a tour of churches, art museums, and generally to walk and take public transportation around this magical city.<br />
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It is an ancient city, with many layers. I got to reconnect with friends from New Orleans, and eat gelato and see things I had only heard about. <br />
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I came away with two impressions. First, we are chronological narcissists. We think we are the first generation to experience the things we are seeing in the world. Political unrest, economic hardship, social injustice, disrespect for God, and especially for the gift of grace in Jesus. But we are not. I saw three millenia of the same cycles, memorials in art, sculpture, buildings, and stories.<br />
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Second, we humans have tried forever to try to bring understanding of the vastness of God's grace through our social infrastructures--art, sculpture, governments, media, and stories.<br />
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I wrote a poem on the way home.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Mother Rome</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The vanity of pursuit</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Finding beauty but seldom meaning</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Art, love, lust, power, oppression</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Seeking to elevate man</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Seeking to enlighten</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Seeking renaissance</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">But God demonstrates his love</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">No longer on a cross</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">But in hearts of friends who are brothers</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">And in His Kingdom which has no end.</span>Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-36388658831172737302016-11-12T05:37:00.000-08:002016-11-12T05:37:12.456-08:00On Politics, Presidents, and Being a DiscipleI am processing the results of the election, and I am truly at a loss for words. The outcome was so unexpected for me. Like many persons who follow Christ, my dilemma in the voting booth was to choose between two candidates who each have many troubling issues or writing in a candidate whom I knew couldn’t win. I will not share what I did.<br />
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I know that the statements made by our president elect are unacceptable. Period. End of discussion. No part of my walk with Jesus allows statements that are bigoted and hateful towards any person or group of people who are created in His image. We live in a fallen world, and I do not agree with choices that some persons have made any more than others would embrace some of my choices. And yes, I have had to repent for many of my choices. I believe that the Bible is my guide for determining the rightness or wrong-ness of choices and that it is my job–all of our jobs to rightly interpret it.<br />
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So I have struggled for words. In my processing, I have discovered two voices that have helped me. I listened to Ernie Johnson calling Atlanta Braves baseball games in the early 90's and he has since moved on to a national microphone for several networks. His commentary helped me to frame my thoughts and maybe a way forward. Find it here.<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayU5kw7Kf5U<br />
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I also found help in Ed Stetzer’s take on the response that might be appropriate for those of us who are trying to passionately become more like Jesus. His blog post, “What do White Evangelicals Owe People of Color” helped me to balance my emotions following the election. Find his post here:<br />
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http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2016/november/what-do-white-evangelicals-owe-people-of-color-in-trumps-am.html<br />
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Like many of you, the emotional carnage of this election is not just theoretical for me. I have friends, family, and church members who fit into the categories of marginalized persons who have been verbally maligned by our new president. I have friends, family, and church members who have felt marginalized by the policies of the existing president. It is time to find some common ground. I hope to be a voice for the transformation that can come when we listen to each other–really listen–and make the personal adjustments of repentance, forgiveness, humility, acceptance that will create dialog and not dissension.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-19538424219257302962016-01-15T08:22:00.000-08:002016-01-15T08:28:14.972-08:00On TransitionsI have neglected my blog for quite awhile now. I have been keeping up with two places--my 22 year career as full time faculty at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is coming to an end and my new career as a full time pastor at Dunwoody Baptist Church is beginning. It has been all I do in the past year to keep up with both places. <br />
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I have finished the good-byes and the see you laters at the seminary--though I will stay connected through a part-time status--and it was more emotional than I predicted. I have a great team there. The best of leadership is that your team is strong where you are weak, and that has so been the case. Much of me has been invested in the work of the Youth Ministry Institute (YMI) which is the youth ministry training and equipping arm of the seminary. In my transition from leadership there, I feel a little like a person who has sold a house to a new owner, yet wants to tell him how to maintain the yard. I know that whatever legacy I leave is just that--what I leave. I trust that God will take my "baby" in the direction He wants it to go.<br />
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Humans don't like change, but I want to be an Abraham who is obedient to travel to a place yet to be known, yet to be predicted, not even close to being scripted.<br />
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I want to be Job--calling upon God (though grudgingly at first) in whatever circumstances come.<br />
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I want to be Daniel, Esther, Peter--trusting God for the absurd.<br />
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I want to be Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, knowing that Jesus is present in the fire.<br />
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I want to be a father in Mark 9 who cries out to Jesus to "help me in my unbelief."<br />
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I don't have it figured out as to what it means to be a pastor. I have discovered in my character flaw of acting first and thinking later ("ready, fire, aim") that my humility and wisdom need developing. I have discovered that the first chair is very different from the second chair, where I have sat for the entire 35 years of my ministry. I have felt a renewed love and admiration for my bride of 32 years who trusts me and trusts God to stay by my side in this transition.<br />
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I am thankful to serve a church that believes that my clay feet are ok for walking through this season with them. I am grateful for men and women who have faithfully served this great church both on stage and behind the scenes for the fifty years of its existence. I am strengthened by the members of the search team, leadership team, deacons and staff who continue to declare, "whatever it takes."<br />
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I am amazed that even through the painful journey of their beloved pastor's final years, they still have an expectation that Jesus desires people to be saved and discipled, that worship can be vibrant and deep, that missions start where they are and extend around the world. I would ask you to pray for me for wisdom, humility, inspiration, and sermon material...Sundays are relentless for pastors.<br />
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Stay tuned. <br />
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<br />Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-62426491733527222252014-09-01T20:10:00.001-07:002014-09-01T20:13:27.716-07:00On Mack Hannah and ProvidenceI was privileged to preach at Dunwoody Baptist Church, pinch hitting for Mack Hannah who is courageously battling liver cancer. Mack's instructions to the church, via his son David--"Each time you pray for me, pray that a person you know who is not a follower of Christ will become one." I preached from Psalm 121 and while sitting in a McDonald's drinking coffee and finishing up the sermon, I wrote this poem to close.<br />
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Where Do You Go?<br />
8/30/2014<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Where do you look when things go awry?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When the bad diagnosis brings a tear to your eye?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When your kids won't behave and your marriage is rocky?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When your standard response is "I guess I'm not lucky"?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When your focus is blurred and your vision is cloudy</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When your confidence is shaken and filled with self doubt</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When the goal of the day is to take one more step</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When the waters you're swimming have way too much depth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When your faith is in crisis and God seems far away</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When the words from your friends seem forced and cliche</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When the Bible is cryptic and the praise songs are hollow</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">When you lay down your head to sleep through the sorrow.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">It is a mistake to believe God is one among many</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> of solutions giving comfort and presence to any</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> of the problems you carry which trouble and drain</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">He is all strong and all comfort and all hearing to pain</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">It is a mistake to believe that God has forgotten</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> the big things and small things which weigh down your thoughts</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> the stories and crises which keep you from sleep</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">He too is awake as His love is that deep.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">It is a mistake to think that He can't understand</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> the pain, grief and loss that are common to man</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">His standard of care is the gift of His son</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">To demonstrate the absolute victory won.</span>Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-70089605313457796972014-05-11T12:33:00.002-07:002014-05-11T12:33:36.563-07:00On Mom and MathMy Mom is an amazing woman. She has been my Mom for all of my 56+ years and is also the Mom to my 2 sisters and 1 brother. I suppose you can now count Abby as her child–Abby is a miniature dog of some breed that Mom inherited when one of her best friends passed away. Abby is the miniature child Mom never had.<br />
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In a random stream of consciousness, I am thinking of my Mom, “by the numbers.” October will mark 59 years since she married my Dad and November will mark 14 years that he has been gone. She had children living at home either constantly or intermittently for 35 years. She has 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. There was a decade between birthing her first and last child.<br />
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She made dozens of dresses, slacks, curtains and dance costumes with her own hands and on a sewing machine that I almost ruined in an unfortunate incident that involved bubble gum placed strategically in the machinery (it looked kind of cool when the needle thingy stretched the gum out and back). She made seat covers for the cars, seat covers for the dining room chairs, accessories for the pop-up campers that we had. She would have recovered the pool table if we didn’t finally give it away to someone. She did make a cover for a bird cage inhabited by a noisy parakeet.<br />
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She grew bushels of fresh vegetables in our yard to give to 4 kids who hated vegetables. On waffle day, she made them by the dozens. On hamburger day, she made extra for the neighborhood kids. She made her own popsicles, ice cubes made of Kool-Aid and her beer-battered fried chicken would get everyone down the stairs or down the hall. She was Pinterest before Pinterest.<br />
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She made thousands of sandwiches. I think there was only one year that all four of us were in school at the same time (not counting college), but I somehow remember four lunches being assembled, usually the night before because that WAS the school lunch program. She would freeze the Chek cola and wrap it in aluminum foil. No thermoses for the Jackson 4.<br />
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She gave millions of hugs, applied ten thousand band-aids and rubbed close to a ton of Vick’s Vapo Rub on congested chests. We used whatever the 60's version of neosporin by the bucket and there is an urban legend that Mom was capable of setting broken arms or putting in a couple of stitches as needed.<br />
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She ran a thousand loads of laundry every year, bought 5 gallons of milk every week, kept multiple jars of peanut butter in the pantry and I imagine that she followed another famous person in recorded history in multiplying the loaves of bread. We ate cereal by the pallet load.<br />
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She drove two cars in all the time that I was at home, both station wagons made by Rambler (AMC). Four kids learned to drive in the 1970 model. Those station wagons rolled to hundreds of practices–baseball, band, football, basketball, cheerleading, plays, and spelling bees.<br />
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She had a quiet faith and a soft voice that would sing hymns over us. She read, laughed, and loved. She allowed us to learn from our mistakes even though she could have rescued us. She has an infectious laugh and a twinkle in her now 8 decade old eyes that light up a room when she is in it. She is an idealistic realist: “Allen, I kept all of the ribbons and trophies that you earned or won growing up. Now you are a grown man and I need you to get them out of my house.”<br />
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Mom is a Proverbs 31 woman in every way. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I love you.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-10924931076827589542014-03-31T10:22:00.000-07:002014-03-31T10:22:48.051-07:00On CivilityI am not happy with having to write this blog. God is beating me up pretty good about a character flaw of mine. I hate injustice. I don't like it when the playing field isn't fair or when "who you know is more important than what you know" or when the Golden Rule is really "the one with the gold makes the rules."<br />
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Then my pastor preaches a brilliant sermon on dealing with injustice. You can find it here <a href="http://www.fbno.org/sermon">www.fbno.org/sermon</a>. Pastor talked about the injustice in the world and the emotions of being the victim of injustice. He left us with some insightful questions: Will I still love God when I am the victim of injustice? Will I love my neighbor when they are wronged? Will I still follow Jesus or will my discipleship waver?<br />
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This hit me like a brick in the head because my inner four-year old screams "that's not fair" on a pretty regular basis. The gut check for me comes when I have to test whether it is injustice or whether I didn't get my way. The ones who scream the loudest about inequality are those who are "less equal" than others. I pray that in cases where I am "more equal" than others that I am still concerned about those who have less power, less status, less influence, or less resources.<br />
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Then I was watching an ESPN interview with a panel of basketball officials regarding the way coaches and players treat the referees these days. Commentary was also provided about the way the fans treat the players and coaches and referees as if the purchase of a ticket allows immature and even offensive behavior. They remarked that there appears to be a "loss of civility" within college basketball. It was an excellent piece, though slanted towards a favorable view of the officials. I couldn't find a link to it, but in my search I came across an article that ESPN senior writer Tim Keown wrote in 2004. Find it here: <a href="http://espn.go.com/page2/s/keown/040127.html">http://espn.go.com/page2/s/keown/040127.html</a> . The sad part is that over the last 10 years, it has gotten worse. My search <br />
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God has allowed me to have a pretty raw month of delayed flights, purchases that were "not exactly as advertised," un-kept promises by people I trusted, and even some youth minister/church brokering that didn't turn out as planned. I found myself becoming cynical and wanting to write letters and tweet complaints, because in today's culture a letter of complaint gets thrown away but a tweet gets a response. My wise and wonderful bride suggested that I go ahead and write them, and then to delete or destroy. Good advice. <br />
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Because when I see my words in print, I realize I failed the civility test. <br />
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So I apologize. I have asked and been forgiven for my pride and presumptuous attitude. I need to breathe--to write the letters and compose the tweets and then to stare at them and realize the lack of civility that my wording represents.I need to realize that something in print has no nuance--it is often a raw representation of a sinful human emotion. <br />
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I can still voice concerns. I can still cry "not fair" to my God and Comforter. I just need to realize that the referee is a husband or father or grandfather. The salesman is human with the dignity that God built into him. The call center operator may have an accent, but she is trying to make a living just like I am. The customer care department at the airline is not trying to make my travel unreasonable and I have to consider that the voice on the other end could have drama going on at home or at best is towards the end of a really long day.<br />
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The real golden rule comes from various renderings of Matthew 7:12. Jesus is speaking when He says, <span class="text Matt-7-12" id="en-NASB-23329"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum"></sup>“In everything, therefore, <sup class="footnote" value="[<a href="#fen-NASB-23329a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]"></sup>treat people the same way you want <sup class="footnote" value="[<a href="#fen-NASB-23329b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]"></sup>them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. May I add, "treat another persons' husband, wife, daughter, mother, son the way you would want your own loved ones to be treated? </span></span><br />
<span class="text Matt-7-12" id="en-NASB-23329"><span class="woj"><br /></span></span>
<span class="text Matt-7-12" id="en-NASB-23329"><span class="woj">Pray for me. I am a work in progress. </span></span>Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-18233251489927279172013-11-12T08:29:00.002-08:002013-11-12T08:29:25.349-08:00On the Strength of FellowshipI am sitting in a room with about 70 or so youth ministers from all over the state of Mississippi. I am struck by the "safeness" of this place. The Old Testament describes "cities of refuge" where a criminal could be protected against vengeance. While I hope that most of these guys do not need a city of refuge in the OT sense, it still seems like a place where persons can vent, weep, pray, eat and fellowship.<br />
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I won't go into the illustrations about the roots of redwood trees or that a "cord of three is not easily broken" but the results of true community across youth ministry and youth ministers is evident. We gather for Bible study, worship, a little teaching--and then the real fellowship begins.<br />
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I am struck by the tyranny of "the next thing." I don't want to be in a conversation with a youth minister and be looking over his shoulder for the next conversation. I repent from being in a dialog with youth ministers face to face and thinking about lunch plans or golf plans or other plans. <br />
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God, help us all to be in the moment when we have the treasure of face to face conversation. Help me to trust that You will take care of the "next thing" so that I can give and receive the blessing of fellowship in the now.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-43830725862962899842013-09-06T15:29:00.000-07:002013-09-06T15:29:11.735-07:00On Cape Fear and ComparisonI was at home grabbing a peanut butter sandwich today and I got caught up in a culture moment. On one channel was the movie Cape Fear from 1962 starring Gregory Peck as Sam Bowden and Robert Mitchum as Max Cady. Cady is an ex-convict who is seeking revenge on the lawyer who sent him to jail. Cady is psychotic–illiterate when he goes to prison but learns to read and becomes familiar with the law. The 1991 version, was directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis. Ironically, it also features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum (Peck is a policeman and Mitchum is Cady’s lawyer).<br /><br />I found a blog by Juan Ramos at http://amateurfilmstudies.blogspot.com/2010/09/cape-fear-1962-1991.html that talks about both films. His thoughts on the original were astute (emphasis mine):<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There are almost thirty years between the release of the original Cape Fear and its remake: the first film was released in 1962 and the second in 1991. Although, some details are different, the plot is essentially the same: an ex-convict seeks revenge from the man who sent him to jail. In the original Gregory <i>Peck plays lawyer Sam Bowden, a man who would go to almost any length to defend his family. I say ‘almost’ because, in the end, he does not kill the man who has been harassing him and his family</i>, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum), but, instead, sends him back to jail. Cady’s veiled threats to rape Bowden’s teenage daughter Nancy (Lori Martin) make the film at times, and even today, very uncomfortable to watch.</blockquote>
<br />Though I had seen both of the versions before, I had never had the ability to switch back and forth. It was a bit like a time warp. The older film was shot in black and white to make it feel like an Alfred Hitchcock production. The newer film was shot in color and was much more violent. In the 1962 version, the word ‘rape’ was removed from the script but the film was still rated as suitable only for adults.<br /><br />Ramos commented on the remake:<br /><br />
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In the remake, the members of the Bowden family are more coloured. Sam is played by Nick Nolte as rather edgy, and his chain-smoking wife, Leigh, is played by Jessica Lange. The couple are shown arguing and Sam, over all, comes across as temperamental, if not violent, a far cry from Peck’s portrayal. Their daughter, who is called Danielle in this version, and played by Juliette Lewis, is also very different from the Nancy of the original film. In the 1991 version, she actually meets Cady (Robert De Niro) and shares with him an overlong and ambiguous seduction scene at her high school, culminating in a kiss. While that scene is very uncomfortable to watch, I find its counterpart in the original far scarier: when Nancy sees Cady outside her school, as she is waiting for her mother, she panics and, after trying to hide in the school, gets startled by a janitor and runs back outside and is hit by a car. </blockquote>
<br />I am intrigued by the repositioning of the moral compass. An article entitled, "Cape Fear: Two Versions and Two Visions Separated by Thirty Years,” was written Gerald J.Thain and published in the Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 28, No. 1, Law and Film (Mar., 2001), pp. 40-4. His chief observation was the decreased perception of virtue of attorneys. Ramos commented on the “progress” of the plot from a clear contrast between good and evil to a less definitive separation.<br />
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In the remake, apart from the gratuitous violence, the postmodern conflict set up by the plot twist makes the viewer choose between bad and baddest. The members of the remade Bowden family are all sketchy enough to summon some sympathy for Cady. The suggestion that evidence was withheld makes the viewer “understand” the motives behind his rage but his over-the-top anger issues prevent complete emotional bonding (hopefully at least with most folks).<br /><br />We are all tempted to judge the rightness or wrongness of our thoughts, attitudes or actions on the basis of comparison to another human. Paul made sure that we compared ourselves not to each other but to the standard of holiness described in Scripture: <br /><br />
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What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, "there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God;… (Romans 3:9-11).</blockquote>
<br />In the most famous of all self-examination, Paul goes on to say in Romans 7 that:<br /><br />
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We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do (v.14-15).</blockquote>
<br />Thankfully, Paul concludes this section by reminding me that though the standard of holiness and purity is unwavering–sin results in spiritual death–the death of Jesus on the cross made a way for me to be declared righteous even though I have been judged as sinful: <br /><br />
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So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (v.21-25)</blockquote>
<br />Our culture, and perhaps especially the media wants us to believe that everyone has evil in them (Paul would agree) and that the way to sleep at night is to see yourself as less evil than someone else (Paul would not agree). I find the greatest comfort in a passage sandwiched between the two chapters mentioned previously. In Romans 5, Paul gives the declaration that allows me to sleep at night: <br /><br />
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You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (v.6-8).</blockquote>
<br />While I was a sinner. Not a sinner compared to someone else, but a sinner compared to God’s standard of holiness, yet a loving, merciful God loved me enough to come to earth as a man and die for the sins of humanity. I needed to stop for just a moment and marvel at the very thought of grace.<br />
<br />Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Even Cape Fear.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-36457678739174285102013-08-20T06:59:00.001-07:002013-08-26T07:20:51.308-07:00On Jesus, Justice, and the Garden of Gethsemane<br />
I have studied the Gospel of John for most of the summer. For the most part, my summer preaching came from one or more passages. I am winding the study down and one of the books I have enjoyed is Earl Palmer's "The Intimate Gospel." I read today of the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas betrayed, Peter had anger issues, Mark left naked and pretty much everything else was chaos--except for Jesus.<br />
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Ironically, as I write today, I have jury duty in Orleans Parish Criminal Court. Today, I will see persons who have been arrested and who will hear their future from a jury, perhaps one of which I am a member. Palmer describes the scene better than I ever could:<br />
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<i>The temple guards have come to arrest Jesus with the approval of the Pharisees. Jesus accepts the arrest. Each Gospel makes that fact clear, and John adds the comment concerning Jesus' inner feelings. Jesus rejects the sword of Peter as a defense of his honor. He will take care of his own honor.</i><br />
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<i>Peter's act is an act of panic--a sudden flash of impulsive desperation. Throughout the history of Christendom, when Christians have reached for the sword to defend the honor of Christ, the result has dishonored the gospel. </i><br />
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<i>But there is a deeper theological reality present here. Jesus and he alone is to be the world's Savior. The disciples are not able nor are they permitted by Jesus to intervene. . . Jesus has shown to history a new authority and power. He neither evades his captors nor destroys their meager authority of swords and lanterns and accusers. Jesus Christ will prove his kinship in the very midst of the Thursday-Friday intriques that have snared him.</i><br />
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I am a bit wired for justice. I think things should be fair with equal opportunity for everyone who is willing to work. I struggle greatly when powerful people abuse that power whether in government, academia, church or even circles of teenaged friendships.<br />
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When I wrap my mind around the identity of Jesus the Justice Giver, I get as excited as the first-century Jews who were sure that Jesus would eradicate Roman control and return the power to them. I want Jesus to make things fair, right, just and equal. But as he demonstrated in the garden, justice will come in his time, his way, and with his finality. <br />
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Lord, grant me Your perspective on justice. Let me see the bigger picture of Your Lordship. Let me see the pecking order through Your eyes.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-1557081235782292252013-07-25T06:33:00.000-07:002013-07-25T06:33:46.228-07:00On Flight and FightThis morning in the Spurgeon Daily Devotional, the idea of flight is explored.<br />
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<i>"He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out." (Gen 39:12</i>)<br />
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Spurgeon writes,<br />
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<i>In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.<br /><br />This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me to-day than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!</i><br />
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I am also studying my way through the Gospel of John this summer. In John 12, the season of miracles and signs in Jesus' earthly ministry comes to a close as He enters Jerusalem. Jesus models what it is to face the world with the extravagant grace of sacrifice. He speaks clearly about the hour that has come. In this chapter, it is "decision time" for followers, pretenders, foreigners, and haters. Mary declares her devotion as she anoints Him, the Greeks "wish to see Him" and the Pharisees want to kill Him.<br />
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As I reconcile two ideas in tension: that we are to flee from sin with abandon while confronting our culture with the Gospel, I think I see the very heart of discipleship--<b>God leaves us here to make a difference in our world, not to have a difference made on us by the world. </b><br />
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Father, help me to discern when it is time to flee and when it is time to face.<br />
<br />Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-2733064511209776462013-05-10T08:19:00.002-07:002013-05-10T08:20:06.486-07:00On Cultural Faith ShiftsThe excerpt below is from a thoughtful blog by an Episcopal priest regarding the mindset behind the trend of youth leaving the church. Rev. Haverkamp writes that our youth find meaning in participating in worship with their families and communities of faith even if they do not plan on being "religious" when they are adults. Comments on the blog included a thought that if we "train up a child in they way they should go, when they are old they will not depart from it" which we now translate to "they will come back to it when they have children of their own." Her insight into one of the cultural factors behind students choosing to "leave church" is valuable since it has nothing to do with efforts by church or youth ministry to "keep them in church."<br />
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<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="background-color: black;">"I think our culture is what’s changing. Institutions—whether churches, schools, municipalities, or nations—locate authority and knowledge in very specific places: a book, a leader, a set of bylaws, a governing structure. But our world is becoming a place where sources of authority and knowledge are disparate and diverse: internet searches, social media, self-produced and self-promoted novels, music, and films. We are becoming a Me and My Smart Phone World. Many of us navigate the world through a narrow portal held in our hands or laps, a portal for personal experience, perspective, and tastes. Self-reflection and expression, at least in the culturally dominant White middle and upper class, are valued more highly than ethnic identity, group membership, or institutional participation. More and more, technology is encouraging us to explore meaning, knowledge, and transcendence as individuals rather than as members of communities or groups.</span></span><br />
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Full article found at <br />
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<a href="http://collegevilleinstitute.org/the-seminars/insights/why-congregations-shouldnt-work-so-hard-to-keep-their-young-people/">http://collegevilleinstitute.org/the-seminars/insights/why-congregations-shouldnt-work-so-hard-to-keep-their-young-people/</a></div>
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If she is right and I believe she is to a point, then allow me to make several observations concerning youth ministry practices:<br />
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<li>We should double down on creating meaningful interactions and significant responsibility in family and faith community. I am excited about stories of family mission trips and projects, of parents teaching the Bible in small groups, of students participating in adult choirs and of work and worship that is intergenerational.</li>
<li>We should also help students and families see how they can continue to have meaningful conversations and experiences about their faith. I like a big deal made of Christmas Eve services and Mother's Day services and Easter services when young adults are likely to be home. We can craft ways during these times where families are brought together around Word and Worship without beating young adults up about their church attendance when they are away.</li>
<li>We should keep the Scripture central and relevant. If students are taught to memorize, comprehend, and embrace the Bible--and to <i>how to study it on their own</i>--they will at least have tools in the toolbox when they do not live with us anymore. The Gideons have helped us to see that the presence of the Scripture in a hotel room is enough to help people come to faith in Christ. Think about a young adult who is emotionally beat up or facing a huge decision and yet remembers where in the Scripture to look for counsel! </li>
<li>We should help parents see how important their continued faith journey is for their adult children. When the "home base" of parents and church continues to be real. There is a big difference in "now that my kids are grown I can sleep in on Sundays" and "God I celebrate another season of my journey with You" as these young adults search for solid ground in their fast moving techno-centric world. They want us to be the dependable model of faith and substance. It gives them a picture of what it is to grow old in the faith instead of outgrowing the faith. </li>
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I am thankful for youth ministers who continue to invest in lives. Don't grow weary of doing good!Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-3374788889174271372013-04-23T20:26:00.001-07:002013-04-23T20:28:20.457-07:00On Youth Ministry and InfluenceI am attending an annual conference of youth ministers called METRO youth ministers, pretty much guys from the largest churches in our world. I was humbled and honored to be asked to address them in a devotional. Each of the ministries that they shepherd has a minimum of five hundred students involved and some have thousands. The theme of the meeting is "Influence" and to look around the room at these people--my friends--I am blown away in terms of the impact that these men and women are having on lives of students across the country and in a couple of cases around the world.<br />
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I often think of influence in terms of legacy, replication, generational discipleship and so forth. It seems intuitive that we should leave a mark of influence. But should influence be the primary goal of our relationships with students? Not according to a relatively recent book by Andrew Root. He challenged the notion of relational ministry as we have practiced it in our culture. The book is entitled<i>, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation</i>.<br />
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Root recasts relational ministry as an opportunity not to influence the influence-rs but to stand with and for those in need. He implies that a motivation by a youth minister to influence a student through relationship is a faulty one. True relational youth ministry shaped by the incarnation is a commitment to enter into the life and maybe suffering of students with no other agenda.<br />
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In <i>Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry</i>, Root explores the prevailing youth ministry model for evangelicals, showing how American culture has influenced our understanding of the incarnation. He draws from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose work with German youth in troubled times shaped his own understanding of how Jesus intersects our relationships.<br />
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His point is well taken, but I believe he is off base on at least a couple of things. I look around this room and see very busy people. It is a worthy admonition to "live in the moment" and not see students as numbers or pieces to move around the game board. Each student has a story and a soul and a future. Relationally speaking, some of the stories are messy and require careful attention. I admit that as we get busier in ministry on such a large scale that it is easy to hear someone without really listening because the mind has moved on to the next task.<br />
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But to say that relational ministry that desires to have influence is invalid or somehow less than a "relationship that connotes presence devoid of agenda or further goal" is going too far. Students should be challenged, exhorted, encouraged, to be more like leaders, more like missionaries, more like critical thinkers--more like Jesus and that sounds like influence to me. I often say in class that "your influence always trumps your liberty" as Jesus had harsh words for anyone who would cause a little one to stumble. As a teacher, parent or youth minister, we relate to students in a way that helps them move towards spiritual maturity. <br />
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I am fine with the idea that we celebrate the influence of youth ministers as they help students become. I agree that we should not base our "like" or "don't like" on whether a student is progressing towards goals, but Jesus seemed very intentional in His conversations with disciples. He seemed to have an agenda that they become more kingdom minded and less earthly minded. He seemed to be urging first and twenty-first century disciples to live lives counter to the culture in which they lived or live.<br />
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I'm okay with influence as a goal. Dr. Root gives an important takeaway that we shouldn't barter our affection in relationship. However, I think I will examine my motives and try to influence as many as I can to think, act and be like Jesus.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-73154221069236689792013-03-12T18:44:00.002-07:002013-03-12T18:44:45.375-07:00On Less is MoreI was asked to publish the devotions that I led in faculty prayer meeting last week. We gather each Tuesday-Friday morning at 7:45am in order to start the day with reflection and prayer. We take turns leading the 15 minute devotion and it was my turn. <br /><br />Faculty Devotions <br />March 5-8, 2013<br /><br />Theme for the week: Less Can be More<br />Series Theme: Each day, we will look at a “cannot make this stuff up” story (which I call NOTW) in light of lessons that can be learned from the connection between the story and a Scripture passage.<br /><br />Overview: <br />
Tuesday: Careless Association<br />Wednesday: Groundless Anxiety<br />Thursday: Mindless Presumption<br />Friday: Needless Narcissism<br /><br />I am a bit of a collector of things bizarre. I love stories that come from real life but that are so surreal, so unbelievable, so funny that the usual reaction is “you just can’t make this stuff up.” I call my collection of stories NOTW (Not Of This World). Each devotion will be introduced by a NOTW story and hopefully make an association with a truth from Scripture. Be sure to follow the link to get the story!<br /><br />Tuesday: Careless Association<br />NOTW: Pharmaceutical Fish <br />Text: Psalm 1<br />Main Idea: Are we influencers or are we influenced?<br /><br /> According to a story in the New York Times, fish behavior is altered when humans take anti-anxiety drugs and when nature takes its course, these drugs end up in the ecosystem via wastewater and ultimately into the habitat of fish. The residual of those drugs causes an environment that makes the fish. . .well relaxed. This makes their natural instincts dull and more susceptible to predators (“look perch dude–it’s a shark”). Read about the study here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/science/traces-of-anxiety-drug-may-affect-fish-behavior-study-shows.html?_r=0" target="_blank"> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/science/traces-of-anxiety-drug-may-affect-fish-behavior-study-shows.html?_r=0</a><br /><br />The Psalmist speaks of the impact of environmental influence. <br /><br /> 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! <br />
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. <br /> 3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. <br /> 4 The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. <br /> 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. <br /> 6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.<br /><br /> I sometimes get careless with my environment, my association. I don’t change the channel even when I know that what I am watching is not helpful or edifying, even if it is not vile or vulgar. I don’t always walk out of movies that just aren’t good, walk away when someone starts in on a joke that I know will not end well. I don’t always associate with pure people. Sometimes that gets me in trouble (volunteer at fraternity at Tulane and there was a drub bust there this past week. Even though only one of the guys was truly doing and dealing, the DEA arrested 8 young men just because they were in the frat house. <br /> Unlike the pharmaceutical fish, I have a choice and a will and a calling. I may choose to associate with some folks and not with others, invest time in some things and not others and I feel like part of our calling is to take some risks in relationships. We cannot be careless in our associations, but we cannot refuse to go where Jesus might go. <br /> Are we influencers or are we influenced?”<br /><br />Wednesday: Groundless Anxiety<br />NOTW: Felix Baumgartner (ultimate skydiver)<br />Text: Matthew 6:25-34<br />Main Idea: Will we miss out on a God thing because I insist on the safe thing?<br /><br /> I was coming back from the Youth Specialties National Youthworker Conference in San Diego back on October when the pilot of the plane told us to look out the window if we were on the left side of the plane. I was and I did and I saw a silver speck that was high above us. It was the balloon that Felix Baumgartner would jump out of to become the record holder for the highest parachute jump (128,000 feet) and the only human to break the sound barrier without the aid of machinery. We could see the balloon even though it was far, far away because it was really big. Once the daredevil jumped from his capsule (which weighed as much as a VW), the balloon automatically deflated and drifted to earth, landing 50 miles from where he did. It took crew members 45 minutes to gather the 40 acres of material weighing 3,708lbs and load it into a large open truck. <br /> The jump, however, almost didn’t happen. The pressurized suit that Baumgartner had to wear in order to survive at altitude caused him to become claustrophobic. Now I am not saying that a fear is invalid just because I don’t have. I am saying that it is strange that a guy who wasn’t afraid to jump from a balloon was afraid to be in the suit. Read about it here: <br />
<br /> <a href="http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/10/felix-baumgartner-claustrophobia/">http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/10/felix-baumgartner-claustrophobia/</a><br /><br /> 25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? 26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? 28 "And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. 30 "But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? 31 "Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' 32 "For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. 34 "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.<br /><br /> Sometimes I worry groundlessly. I have no legitimate reason for my anxiety, but I worry about traffic or bills or imaginary opponents. My wise wife says I “borrow trouble.” I wonder if my anxiety keeps me from taking appropriate risks. Do I hesitate when I should act? Do I stand pat when I should take another card (hypothetically speaking of course). Is there some thing I need to try that I HAVE to see God at work or do I go through ministry doing things that I admit (if I am really honest) that I can do on my own strength? <br /> Will I miss out on a God thing because I insist on the safe thing?<br /><br />Thursday: Mindless Presumption<br />NOTW: Penelope Soto (flipped off a judge)<br />Text: Luke 12:13-21<br />Main Idea: Will we learn to be more respectful for those who lead us, and for God as our ultimate authority?<br /><br /> Penelope Soto was a young lady who forgot her boundaries. When brought before a judge in Florida on drug charges Ms. Soto (maybe still a little stoned) was too flippant (pun intended) when she appeared for a bail hearing. The video of her giggling, playing with her hair and ultimately dropping a profanity bomb and giving the judge the universal hand signal of disrespect went viral on the internet. The judge responded by calling her back and giving her a much stiffer sentence. Read her story here: <br /><br /><a href="http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Penelope-Soto-Woman-Who-Flipped-Off-Judge-To-Appear-in-Court-193015821.html">http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Penelope-Soto-Woman-Who-Flipped-Off-Judge-To-Appear-in-Court-193015821.html</a><br /><br /> 13 And someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But He said to him, "Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbiter over you?" 15 And He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." 16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a certain rich man was very productive. 17 "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' 18 "And he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' 21 "So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."<br /><br /> I need to apologize occasionally for offending people because I have ignored boundaries of respect, courtesy or decorum. Sometimes I forget that I am not the center of the universe (though I touched it in Jerusalem). I am probably not alone and if you are a pastor, you have a church full of people who are pretty sure they can do your job better than you. Any leader of any organization must live with the knowledge that many of the people in the food chain, and especially the really little fish, believe that if they were in charge, things would be different around here. I repent. I deserve to get called back to the judge and be given a stiffer sentence. I blur boundaries and occasionally have to be reminded that I am not in charge. I need to admit that God is God and I am not. I need to learn better how to “lead from the second chair.” Fortunately the story of Penelope Soto ended with grace when she sobered up and had dialog with the judge. <br /> Will we learn to be more respectful for those who lead us, and ultimately to honor God as our ultimate authority?<br /><br />Friday: Needless Narcissism<br />NOTW: Professor Emlyn Hughes (stripped to his underwear)<br />Text: Matthew 12: 35-37<br />Main Idea: Will we carefully weigh whether the words we speak are the right words for the moment?<br /><br /> How far will we go to make a point? How much will we subject our words–especially our illustrations–to the lens of discipleship? A professor at Columbia University went a little far in his attempt to try to say that we had to get rid of our old preconceptions in order to learn new things. In his words, we have to strip away our prior thoughts to make room for new ones. And strip he did. In front of his quantum mechanics class, he stripped to his underwear to prove his point. I am not making this up. Read his story here:<br /><br /><a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17029224-nyc-professor-strips-to-underwear-shows-911-footage-during-class?lite">http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17029224-nyc-professor-strips-to-underwear-shows-911-footage-during-class?lite</a> <br /><br /> 35 "The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. 36 "And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. 37 "For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned."<br /><br /> I may need some latitude with the NT scholars, but v.36 has always haunted me. These verses are found only in Matthew. Jesus just talked about “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” which I am pretty sure I will never understand. Now He talks about our words. We know we are not saved by our words, but because of what our words represent (Rm 10:9, “if we confess with our mouth...). “Careless" refers to words that we might think insignificant--idle or worthless words. I believe the teaching is that we should self-examine our words spoken, promises made, vows exchanged, and commitments verbalized.<br /> But I don’t think it is a stretch to ask a room full of wordsmith preachers to think about the impact of our words as much as the words themselves. Are our words necessary, appropriate or edifying? Do our words represent Applied to our preaching and teaching, I used to regularly have a conversation with a friend and accountability partner. When I ran an illustration idea by him, he asked, “Is that the best way to communicate what you are trying to communicate? Is the meaning lost in the story? Will they remember the biblical truth or the edgy illustration?”<br /> I am a lifetime youth minister who knows that nothing gets a middle schooler’s attention like setting something on fire or showing a video clip of which their parents wouldn’t approve. Yet, when I have said something in the interest of being “hip” it rarely turns out well. It might not cause damage to a teenager (or it might) and I might not lose my job (or I might), but I am usually left feeling like I chose a path of mediocrity rather than a road of excellence. <br /> Will we carefully weigh whether the words we speak are the right words for the moment?Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-5202662044206338112013-01-12T10:51:00.001-08:002013-01-12T10:53:35.473-08:00On Limping and the Contradiction of GraceI am reading through Genesis right now. I would like to say that it is the beginning of my "read the Bible through again" in 2013, but for now it is just Genesis. I am newly impressed at how unimpressive the people in Genesis are presented. These people are deceptive, selfish, and mean. Most of them lie to each other and attempt to lie to God. Adam and Eve blame each other as well as the snake. Noah gets drunk and then blames his son for seeing him naked. Abraham passes his wife off as his sister to protect his own skin, Sarah laughs at God, Rebekah conspires against her husband, Jacob deceives his brother, his brother promises to kill him, Laban deceives pretty much everybody, Rachel lies to her dad after she steals his stuff. And so it goes.<br />
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I don't believe it is an accident that the very first part of the Bible that most people read features enough intrigue for a mini-series and if a true-to-life movie was made out of Genesis, we couldn't let our children see it. I am reading of violence, sexuality, treachery, and broken promises. Except that God keeps His promises. Every time God pronounces a covenant, it comes to pass.<br />
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I believe that a person who reads Genesis without much background as to the rest of the Bible--particularly the New Testament--is being prepared for the reality of grace. One cannot read of the adventures, exploits, and not-niceness of the "people of God" without wondering why God doesn't just drown them all and start over. Oh wait, He did that. Once. Then He promised never to do it again.<br />
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And after the flood--or for us whatever challenging or tragic event causes us to understand that God is Who He says He is--people returned to being mean, deceitful, promiscuous, and downright sinful. But instead of wiping clean the dry-erase board called Earth, He continues in relationship with them. He acknowledges their contentious spirits, but continues to be their (and our) God.<br />
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For me, an incident from Genesis and a verse from Romans helps me to get some perspective. Jacob is one of Isaac's sons (and the one who stole both birthright and blessing from his brother Esau). In Genesis 32, Jacob is getting ready to confront his brother (whom he assumes is pretty ticked off) with a goal to reconcile. He sends some herdsmen ahead to grovel a bit, then moves away from his family in case it goes badly.<br />
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Now, in his prayer time, he wrestles with God. Jacob has spent most of his life scheming, and I suppose he intends to bargain with God. Wiersbe suggests that "before we criticize Jacob, we need to examine our own hearts to see if we've ever been guilty of praying piously and then depending on our own schemes and resources." Instead, in what I believe to be an element of grace, God comes as a wrestler to help Jacob see that his pride and self-reliance are the stumbling block, not his relationship with his brother.<br />
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Jacob leaves the encounter with a limp. I don't know how long he limped. Maybe he limped for the rest of his life, a "thorn in the flesh" to remind him of his dependence. In Genesis 32:30-32, the scripture says,<br />
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<i>So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved." 31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. </i><br />
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Isn't that how God is gracious to us? We make our plans and ask Him to bless us, then we cry out to Him when our plans go awry. I promised you a verse in Romans. <i>But God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us</i>. (Romans 5:8). While we insist on our way, God knew from the opening words of Genesis that He would have to wrestle us down with His love and mercy because we are too mean, deceitful, promiscuous, and downright sinful to realize that we cannot fix our lives apart from His mercy and grace.<br />
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A limp is not an entirely bad thing if it is a reminder of God's power and grace. A limp is okay if it helps us see that we are pretty messed up. A limp is okay if it makes us aware of God's presence.Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-36753596761704155592012-12-19T09:42:00.003-08:002012-12-19T09:43:33.908-08:00On The Greatest GenerationToday, December 19, would have been my Dad's 84th birthday. He was a member of what Tom Brokaw called, "The Greatest Generation." If you haven't read the book, make it a Christmas priority. The opening lines of the book are as follows:<br />
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<i>THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES<br />
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"This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."<br />
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The year of my birth, 1940, was the fulcrum of America in the
twentieth century, when the nation was balanced precariously between
the darkness of the Great Depression on one side and the
storms of war in Europe and the Pacific on the other. It was a critical
time in the shaping of this nation and the world, equal to the
revolution of 1776 and the perils of the Civil War. Once again the
American people understood the magnitude of the challenge,
the importance of an unparalleled national commitment, and,
most of all, the certainty that only one resolution was acceptable.
The nation turned to its young to carry the heaviest burden, to
fight in enemy territory and to keep the home front secure and productive.
These young men and women were eager for the assignment.
They understood what was required of them, and they
willingly volunteered for their duty. </i><br />
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Yesterday, I took a youth minister friend to the National World War II museum in New Orleans. If you come visit me, I will likely take you there as well. Dad was an aircraft mechanic on the small carrier <i>Boxer</i> in the Korean conflict, as he missed WW2 by a few years. While I always get a little weepy about my dad, it was another serviceman whose story caught my attention.<br />
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<a href="http://brandflair.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/eisenhower-d-day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" id="il_fi" src="http://brandflair.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/eisenhower-d-day.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="320" /></a>This picture is in the museum and the caption identifies the soldier that Ike is addressing as the jump captain of aircraft #23, one of the thousands of planes that would drop the airborne divisions of US soldiers behind Hitler's "Atlantic Wall" to reinforce the troops that landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. What caught my attention is that the jump captain's age was given in the caption. <i>He was 22 years old</i>. As a 22-year old, he was already entrusted with the lives of the soldiers in the squadron who would parachute out<br />
of his airplane, and when they were all out, he would follow. A 22-year old had seen enough action, experienced enough crisis, made enough decisions, and led enough men to be appointed as a jump captain.He would sense the responsibility for the lives of the soldiers he commanded to jump.<br />
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I think back on Brokaw's words describing my Dad's generation, who grew up with an understanding that they would do the right thing because it was the right thing to do. I get that not everybody in that generation was great, but I stare at the picture of a 22-year old and I feel like I need to apologize to my own children--and to the generation that I have served as a youth minister and a youth professor.<br />
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I wasn't mean enough. I didn't allow them to do enough. I wasn't silent enough. <br />
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Let me clarify. I believe with all of my heart that the current generation is capable of all of the accomplishments of the greatest generation--if people like me would let them. They are smart, industrious, creative, social and clever...if they were baseball players, they would be five tool athletes. Too often, however, we have not made them think. Their critical thinking skills have been stifled by the twin maladies of "rescue" and "instant." Parents and teachers have rescued them from their own bad decisions rather than forcing them to figure out the recovery plan. Websites, ATM's, search engines and smart phones have allowed them to access information without really thinking through the possibilities.<br />
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My Dad's legacy to me was the "MacGyver Syndrome." MacGyver was a secret agent on TV in the late 80s who could create/invent/repair pretty much anything with a paper clip and duct tape. I think MacGyver built a nuclear reactor with a ball point pen on one episode. My Dad never threw anything away, never considered it broken beyond repair and was into the "re-purpose" fad before it was cool. He gave me enough of it to where I have a shed which is my "shop," and it is full of stuff that I need to fix or figure out how to use for something else. Or throw away. NOOOOOOOO!<br />
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How do we help our kids learn to think critically again? First, I think we have to help them rediscover reading. Not the "F" pattern of reading a website, but reading a book from cover to cover and figuring out what the author was trying to say. Second, I think we need to pause before rescuing. If they have broken something, will their world crumble if we don't replace it and allow them to feel the consequences of their actions? If they fail a science fair project because we didn't pull an all-nighter building a volcano, will it ruin their future or teach them to plan? Third, I think we need to pause (maybe a day or two) before we answer a question that they could figure out. Perhaps talk through possibilities, but reserve advice/opinion/solution until they have formed a solution of of their own. Fourth, I think we need to travel with them. Even travel around town lets them see the wonders of their city. Then move on to their state, their country, and their world as time and finances allow.<br />
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Let them go through a museum that describes science, industry, or art or even what a 22-year old can accomplish if he has to. <br />
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My children are grown and even now, I resolve to help them to think more critically so that they can launch more productively. It scares me to death as a parent because there are constant reminders of how evil some people in our world can be (think Sandy Hook Elementary). Still, they will be better if they have been coached to apply critical thinking, discernment, judgment and reason.<br />
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Mostly, they will see the balance of grace and justice that is the nature of our awesome and loving God. <br />
<i> </i>Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201803673984206141.post-18595379234029268082012-11-16T13:18:00.000-08:002012-11-16T13:18:50.164-08:00On God Sized Challenges and the Valley of Elah<br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I am blessed to be on a trip to Israel with a group of men at the seminary. We will go to various sites, some familiar and some not. It is an amazing opportunity to experience the Bible. We have spent our first two days in and around Tel Aviv. Unfortunately we are. Also here at a time of heightened tension between Hamas in Gaza and Israel. There have been reports of rockets being launched towards Tel Aviv, but we have not felt threatened in any way. We heard some explosions but we believe they were quite a ways off. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Today we ended up in the Valley of Elah and on the ridge forming one boundary of the valley. Valley. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khirbet_Qeiyafa" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Khirbet Qeiyafa">Khirbet Qeiyafa</a>, southwest of Jerusalem where Yosef Garfinkel (a friend of my colleague Jim Parker) has discovered a fortified Judahite city. The reason Qeiyafa is kind of cool is that it is likely where Saul tried to get David to wear his armor for the battle with Goliath. We were where the Bible introduces the story in 1 Samuel 17. </span><br />
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<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them. Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze. (1 Samuel 17:1-5 NASB)</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I was asked to do the devotion at this particular site which is timely because of what God is teaching me on this trip. The truth is that I do a lot of ministry things, but maybe not all that many of them really need God's help. I am pretty competent in some things and reasonably adequate in others. I can preach and teach and administrate and be a husband and father--in my own strength. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">David sneaks up on this idea as he approaches the battle, initially to bring food to his brothers. The word among the troops is that the person who could defeat the NBA shoulda been in battle would receive fabulous riches for doing so. David appears to inquire about the promised loot:</span><br />
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<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" (1 Samuel <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">17:26</a> NASB)</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But what David was really saying is that it wasn't about reward since the task was humanly impossible. Goliath was too big and too strong. David had experienced being overmatched before as he had apparently protected his sheep against a lion and a bear. </span><br />
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<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you."</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So David gave credit where credit is due. God accomplished the impossible through His servant in battles with lions, bears and giants. Oh my! David is so confident that The Lord had his back that he traded a little smack talk with the giant:</span><br />
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<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come</i><br />
<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. </i><br />
<i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, (1 Samuel <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">17:36</a>, 37, 45, 46 NASB)</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Did you see it? The actor in all of the triumph is God. The Lord will deliver. I will strike down and remove your head because this thing which is humanly possible is a day at the office for an omnipotent God. My prayer is that all of us in the faith community will quit attempting mediocre things and saying we need God to help when we really don't. What if we pick up some rocks and charge towards the giant like we've been there before?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Keep praying for us on this trip. I am concerned about mortar fire from Gaza but I am terrified at the thought that I would only attempt Allen-sized tasks. Now where are those smooth stones?</span><br />
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Allen Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10988425666901066442noreply@blogger.com0