Christmas Spirit!?!

This is going to be an angry rant. I am just warning you ahead of time. Reading through the news yesterday, I noticed two stories about how absolutely idiotic mobs can be. In the first story, a Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey reported some pushing and shoving as people entered the store to begin shopping on "Black Friday." Pushing and shoving, to go shopping. That is idiotic, childish, and deeply sinful behavior. One woman had to be transported by ambulance for an injury to her leg. People - people just like you and me - regular, everyday people who have jobs and families and all the rest behaved like animals simply in order to shop. But wait, as they say in the infomercials, there's more. Just when you thought that we have not become depraved enough (yes, I used the word depraved), comes a story out of New York, where a Walmart employee was actually trampled to death by customers in pursuit of bargains. When told about the employee's death, some shoppers said they needed to keep shopping. My only hope is that those who were responsible were caught on videotape and will be persecuted for their crime. While I am sure that these stories are aberrations, while I know that they are exceptions to the rule, they say quite a lot about our national character. Blame falls first and foremost on the Christian Church itself. We have allowed our sacred holiday to become completely commercialized. We were only too happy to see our nation celebrate "our" holiday. We didn't question that the holiness of the holy day of Christmas was eroding away. And now, we are reaping what we have sewn. The church needs to wake up and realize that the holiness of Christmas is not derived from our ability to get nativity scenes placed in public squares. That is a meaningless and empty gesture. The only way that we can win Christmas back for ourselves is to keep it truly holy, to not buy into the assinine idea that the appropriate way to celebrate the birth of our Lord is to go into debt. I challenge all Christians, myself included, to try something different this year, to actually make an effort to keep Christmas holy. Gifts are fine and good. But, gifts are not the true meaning of Christmas. Neither is "being nice" or "family" as we see depicted in so many sappy movies. God incarnate in the life of a small child - and the great mystery that that event represents - this is the true meaning of Christmas. What does it mean for our lives that God not only became one of us, but became a child and submitted himself to our care? That is the real question that we should be asking oursleves during the season of Advent. Not, where is the best sale? The church has abandoned one of its holiest days to the world. It is time that we take Christmas back, at least within our own lives. Maybe then we can serve as a true witness to others to the love of Christ. Thus ends my angry rant. God bless us everyone.

"Lately It Occurs to Me..."

Jerry Garcia once sang, "lately it occurs to me, what a long, strange trip it's been." I have had similar sentiments lately, but perhaps for different reasons. My six year-old son broke his leg on October 18 while playing soccer with his cousins. For five weeks, he wore a cast and got around in a wheel chair. Last Tuesday, he was liberated from the cast and now has a walking boot. Either way, he has lost a step (which, for Corran, is a big deal). His mind still wants to move at his regular pace, but his leg says "no," at least for now. But, as I have observed Corran these past weeks, and as I have observed people's response to him, I have realized that we do not like to be slowed down in our society. I know, there is nothing earth-shattering in that revelation. But, we need to think about it for a moment, and truly consider what it means. We are all heading somewhere in life, and if you live in Southern California, you recognize that most of us are in a hurry to get there. So much so, in fact, that we often times lose sight of what is going on around us. My son will walk again (and he will probably break something else somewhere down the line). But, what of parents whose children will not walk - ever. How do they fit into the mainstream of our society? I don't mean do we make sure they have good parking, or good seating. Those are important. But, more important, how do we allow for the opportunity for others to take their place in the world. If we are going somewhere fast, everything that we encounter is an obstacle, not an opportunity. That is a terrible way to live, and I am pretty sure it is not what Jesus would do.

Fire Update

I know that, at this point, I am probably being redundant since we have sent out an all-church e-mail, posted something on our church web site, ad made numerous phone calls to members of the church family, but I want to put the word out by as many different means as possible so that everyone will know what is going on with the fires in Yorba Linda, Anaheim Hills, and Corona. I am sure that many of you are watching closely the news to find out about the status of the fires in Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills fires. Right now, some of our church family have evacuated, some remain at home for the time being. Cindy was at the church for a while making phone calls, but was told to leave (by her husband) after I was turned away at Weir Canyon Road and again at Festival Center on Santa Ana Canyon. What do you need to know? Our house, as well as several others, is available for visitors who have been displaced. Second, I do not know if we will be able to worship tomorrow morning. I am asking everyone to check out the web site after 8:30 a.m. for details. If I am able to get through, I will be there to lead worship. If I cannot get through, I will post times and places of nearby sister churches. Whether we worship tomorrow morning, or not, we will gather on Monday or Tuesday evening for a time of prayer. Stay tuned for details about that. Finally, pray for the residents of Yorba Linda, Anaheim Hills, Corona, Sylmar, Santa Barbara, and others that have lost or are in fear of losing their homes as well as the brave men and women fighting the fires. Remember, my friends, God is good and God is with us. Stay tuned to the web site for more updates. God bless.

Pastor Jon

Here I Stand, Part 4

I have been the beneficiary of so much love from the church, that I cannot talk about where I stand without core principle #4, "God is relational." I know, I really went out on a limb on that one, didn't I? But, even though this truth is a very simple one, it is also very important. And, if you have read any of my previous blogs, you probably know that most of being a faithful Christian does not involve coming up with new and radical ideas, it is simply playing very close attention to that which has already been revealed. God is relational. All throughout the bible, God revealed himself in the relationships that he developed with people. God chose a covenant people so that his love and grace might be revealed through them. Put simply, God's love and grace are most powerfully revealed through the Holy Spirit in the midst of the beloved covenant community. It is through Christ's church that the kingdom of God should be manifest. That means we (the church) do not exist in order that we might win our ticket to heaven. We exist to be put to use by God so that his "kingdom come," and his "will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." God is relational. Here I stand.

Nor For Sale...Another Thing

One of the most inspiring parts of the Not For Sale presentation last night was the music that was played by a young man named Brant Christopher. He sang several songs, but you have to check out this video from youtube. The song is called "Shoes for Margaret." I am going to play this video in worship some time. It is very moving. Check it out. God bless.

Not For Sale

I just spent an absolutely inspiring evening listening to David Batstone (a fellow Westmont College alum, by the way) talk about the Not For Sale campaign. If you have not heard about this, you must check it out. We studied this briefly at Light of the Canyon in 2006 in connection with the release of the movie "Amazing Grace." But, to my shame, we did not do a lot of follow up on it. I think we will in 2009. The campaign is a modern-day aboltionist movement. Upwards of 27 million people (mostly children) are enslaved all around the world, even in the United States (even in my area of sunny Orange County, California). As David Batstone told stories of slavery and exploitation that people must endure, he challenged the audience with the question, "who speaks for these people?" He challenged us all to - in our own way - become abolitionists. We do not have to travel to dark corners where people are being bought and sold. But, we can find ways to support organizations like Not For Sale, or International Justice Mission, or some other organization onvolved in freeing people from captivity. We need to stop thinking about what we cannot do, and begin to think about what we can. They don't know it yet, but I am going to challenge my church's youth group to get involved in the abolitionist movement. Maybe we will sell bracelets and stickers that say "Not For Sale" and send the money to the campaign. Maybe we will do something else. I don't know. But, we will do something. And, after I get the youth involved, I am going to get the church involved, as well. This is a righteous cause if ever there was one. Check out David Batstone's book. It is a great read. And then visit the web site. Get involved. I am not for sale. You are not for sale. Nobody should be for sale.

Here I Stand, Part 3

There should be nothing shocking in these "guiding principles" that I have talking about lately. They are all relatively simple. They are not radical on paper necessarily, but they are certainly radical when we seek to actually live them out in our lives. That is sort of the point. In fact, the remaining principles deal more with the practical aspects of faith. However, today we are looking at principle #3. It is, "Jesus saves people to/for abundant life." This might seem rather simple (it is!). However, there is one aspect about this that I think we really need to look at as Christians. Jesus saves people to and for abundant life. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is about SO much more than just getting to go to heaven. In fact, you can scour the gospels, how many times do you think you will read that Jesus died on the cross so that you can go to heaven (go ahead and check...I'll wait). You get the idea. Faith in (e.g. personal allegiance to) Jesus' sacrifice on the cross leads to a right relationship with God (justification to use Wesley's term), to personal transformation (sanctification), and transformation of the world. In Luke, when Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 with the quote "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." he is outlining the nature of salvation. It is about the life we live in the here and now just as much as in the great hereafter. Read about what happened to Zaccheus in Luke 19:1-10. It talks about salvation, but the word heaven is not even mentioned. Some other scriptures that might illuminate this principle are Luke 15:11-32, and John 10:10 to name a couple. This is all very "extreme center" kind of stuff. Jesus saves people to/for abundant life. Here I stand. How about you?

Halloween Carnival

We had a great time at the Halloween Carnival last night. The evening started when our the fog machine from our haunted maze set off the fire alarm and we received a visit from Anaheim Fire Department. The guys were very nice about the whole mix-up (thank you, by the way), and the rest of the night went off without a hitch. There was a scream, or two, a shout of joy, maybe, but no hitches. Here is a little slide show.