My Top 10 Super Bowls

It's Super Bowl Sunday, one of the great USAmerican holidays! Parties are thrown, beverages are consumed, and MILLIONS of chickens sacrifice their wings as we enjoy the championship game of the NFL. I am old enough to have watched at least part of all 46 previous games, and the Super Bowl has always been special to me. Among other things, I am among the very few youth pastors to have ever had the actual Lombardi Trophy visit my office, back in 2003 (see picture) and I will be headed to Winners Sports Bar again tonight with my family and our friend Lisa Jewett to watch the Ravens and the 49ers do battle. This being the 10th anniversary of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only Super Bowl victory, I thought it might be fun to look back and share my 10 favorite games. You will notice right away it is MY list- no mention of a Patriots victory to be found anywhere! So here we go...

10) III- The New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in a game that Broadway Joe Namath guaranteed they would win. (1969)
  9) XXXI-  The Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots 35-21 and Brett Favre get his only Super Bowl win. (1997)
  8) VII- The Miami Dolphins finish the season 17-0 with a 14-7 win over the Washington Redskins. (1973)
  7) XVI- The San Francisco 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 in the game that turns Joe Montana into a legend. (1982)
  6) XXV- The New York Giants beat the Buffalo Bills 20-19 in Tampa as Scott Norwood missed a game winning field goal on the last play of the game. (1991)
  5) XLII- The Giants bring an end to the Patriots run at unbeaten immortality, 17-14, in a game featuring the unbelievable "helmet catch" by David Tyree. (2008)
  4) XLVI- The Giants take down the Patriots again, 21-17. That's 3 Patriot losses on my list.  That is not an accident!  :)  (2012)
  3)  XIII- The Pittsburgh Steelers hold off the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 in one of the first real Super Bowl thrillers! (1979)
  2) XXXIV- The St. Louis Rams and Kurt Warner defeat the Tennessee Titans 23-16 as the Titans game winning drive falls one yard short as time runs out. (2000)
  1)  XXXVII- The Bucs win, dominating the Oakland Raiders 48-21 and getting Jon Gruden and company their rings.  (2003)

So there's my list- I'd love to hear yours. Enjoy tonight's game.

A Moment With Mullins

Happy Groundhog's Day, and happy birthday Carl Semmler and Patsy Hill!

I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems like my life is full of turmoil. It doesn't seem to matter how much I seek God and try to find inner peace, the circumstances of life rise up and smack me around on a regular basis.  In the midst of such turmoil I have often found much peace in the words of the great Rich Mullins (pictured) song Sometimes By Step (street name O God You Are My God).  It was a song we sang often at youth; or at least the chorus was sung often:

O God You are my God and I will ever praise You

O God You are my God and I will ever praise You

I will seek You in the morning,

and I will learn to walk in your way

and step by step You'll lead me

and I will follow You all of my days

Step by step.  So often we want to move in leaps and bounds in our walk with God, and we forget that the path is narrow and the road is hard.  This chorus has always been a prayer for me, and we sang it with youth at every stop since Springfield Friends Meeting.  We seek God.  We learn to walk- in baby steps so much of the time.  And it is when we allow God to lead, and we follow, that we actually make progress.  Step by step.

As moving as that chorus is, it is the verses to the song that have so often reminded me that we all struggle with faithfulness and righteousness on this side of heaven.  From the first time I heard Rich playing the song on his hammer dulcimer while it was being written at Guilford College in 1990, there was something almost haunting about it.  The lyrics take you on an adventure, drawing you closer to God and then reminding you just how tough the journey is as we seek to truly be Christ-followers.  Read this amazing bit of poetry, and find yourself in the journey:

Sometimes the night was beautiful

Sometimes the sky was so far away

Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close

You could touch it but your heart would break

Sometimes the morning came too soon

Sometimes the day could be so hot

There was so much work left to do

But so much You'd already done

Sometimes I think of Abraham

How one star he saw had been lit for me

He was a stranger in this land

And I am that, no less than he

And on this road to righteousness

Sometimes the climb can be so steep

I may falter in my steps

But never beyond Your reach

That last line- "I may falter in my steps but never beyond your reach"-  has carried me through some of the darkest days of my life.  The knowledge that no matter how far we fall in our sinful lives we are never out of God's hands is such a comfort.  The reminder that there is much work left to do- in our own hearts and minds as well as in the world we live in- is also a reminder that we cannot do it alone.  We need Jesus.  As Rich once said, "God is right.  The rest of us are guessing."

I survived (and my family survived) my world collapsing because we never forgot that the grace of God is present in our lives no matter what we might have done.  I am not defined by my sin; I am defined by Jesus.  I hope all of you have discovered this truth as well.  We often think of praising God from the mountain tops.  Sometimes we must praise Him from the deepest valley.  And when we are at that place, there is no better refrain than this:  "O God, You are my God and I will EVER praise You..."

Because of Jesus,

I'm Going To Hell (Or How Not To Do Evangelism)

Yesterday afternoon my door bell rang, and I peered through the peep hole to see two well dressed middle-aged men standing outside my door.  My house is often visited by local Jehovah's Witnesses, and so I opened the door expecting to receive some literature and a few words of encouragement. I was surprised to be told that they were instead representatives of a local Baptist congregation that I am not familiar with (You should know that I  married a Baptist and have lots of wonderful Baptist friends, and that what follows should in no way reflect poorly on the denomination as a whole!).   They said that were in the neighborhood to invite people to church and offer them the good news of Jesus.  They asked if my family attended church, and relied that we were a part of Van Dyke United Methodist Church.  I expected that to be the end of the conversation.  I was so wrong...

The shorter of the two gentlemen said that he was sorry to hear that I attended a Methodist church.  He asked if I knew that I was being taught an evil, Satan-inspired theology.  When I replied that I did not know that, his partner said that it saddened them to know that I was going to hell.  Just like that. Didn't even ask my name before condemning me to hell.  These men didn't know me at all, but they had already passed judgement.  When I asked how they could be so sure of my eternal destination, they again parroted back the words that I was being taught a Satan-inspired theology and therefore was going to hell.  I have to admit, they seemed quite certain!  I then asked them if they considered what they were doing to be evangelism in the name of Jesus.  When they said yes, I explained to them that I disagreed.  I mentioned that I had read somewhere that Jesus came to save to world, not to condemn it, and that if we people to know him then we need to show them love, because God is love.  This staggered them a bit. I then threw another "punch," suggesting that they might want to check the Bible for more information- specifically suggesting that they read 1 John 4:7-8.  I said I would pray that they understand the part where John writes that "if we don't love, we don't know God, because God IS love."  I finished by saying that while it is important to tell people about Jesus, that Paul pointed out to the church in Corinth that evangelism without love in just noise. I then simply smiled and waited for a response.

None came.  Apparently I had scored a TKO by quoting scripture, and so they wished me a good day and left.  I didn't even get my copy of the 4 Spiritual Laws or the address of their church.  I went back inside and thought and prayed about what I had just experienced, and then I tweeted a short version of the story. I received numerous responses from people who shared my assessment of the situation- that evangelism without love is empty and weak.  Many mentioned bad experiences of their own with church folks trying to "scare the hell out of them."  Labeling people and denominations, seeking to shock people into relationship with God and judging people we don't know is not what Jesus had in mind when he told to tell the world about him.  It scares me to think that these men left me and wandered my neighborhood representing Jesus in such a way.  There is simply no telling how much damage was done.

So while they think I am headed to hell, I have work to do in the meantime.  If love is the answer no matter the question, then I need to get out there and share the love of Jesus in every way  possible.  I need to do random acts of kindness, invite people to the wonderful church I attend, and be the best neighbor I can be. And for our churches, I have a suggestion.  In our teaching and training, let's just drop the word evangelism and just start talking about reaching out in love. It's not a program, it's a lifestyle. Just a thought...

And as for my fellow Methodists, I suppose we should all find out how we wound up on a list of "Satan-inspired Christians."  My guess is that teaching that the love of God whose name is Jesus is for EVERYONE just rubs some people the wrong way! :)  Have a blessed weekend!

Because of Jesus,

A Church Music Conundrum

Prepare for some rambling with no definite conclusions- unless you can provide them!  I have been thinking a lot lately about the songs I have sung in worship over the years.  I am old enough to have been through several generations of church music, and I have loved them all.  I grew up singing from hymnals, and those hymns still have a profound influence on me today.  I was exposed to the early years of praise & worship music which we called "camp songs," and I find myself singing those great old songs on a daily basis.  In the 1990s we began incorporating praise choruses and more modern music into traditional worship settings. Then came the advent of praise bands and contemporary worship music.  I have been in churches that sang each and every style of church music, and before we go any further you need to understand this- I love them all!

I also love the church my family currently attends, and the very contemporary music is a crucial part of worship- and it is awesome!  The quality of the musicians is at a professional level, and the vocalists who lead worship are gifted in so many ways.  But there is one thing that has been gnawing at me lately, and today I wanted to see if any of you might share my concern.  I am bothered by the way we have segregated the music in our churches, because I have come to believe that in doing so we are damaging the foundations of our faith. Let me explain.

The hymns that I grew up singing were already very old when I learned them, but they were the songs that everyone sang at church- and had for a couple of centuries.  Great hymns like It Is Well With My Soul, Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, In the Garden, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and Amazing Grace were songs that pretty much every Christian knew. It was part of a bond that united us.  Those lyrics still resonate with me today.  Growing up in  North Carolina I also learned to love the old country/bluegrass style hymns like When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, I Saw the Light and I'll Fly Away.  I just purchased the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band version of Will the Circle Be Unbroken? for my I-pod.  None of these songs are contemporary, yet they still stir my soul in so many ways. As I was exposed to newer music in the late 70s through Young Life, youth group and Quaker Lake Camp- songs like Pass It On, In His Name, The All Day Song, Seek Ye First and Sing Alleluia- I loved the more modern feel, but I never forgot the music of my childhood.  It was never either/or, it was always both.  In the 90s, as more and more contemporary praise music was introduced into traditional worship, I learned to love songs like Majesty, Lord I Lift Your Name On High, Awesome God and Shout To the Lord.  But they didn't replace the old stand-bys, they were simply added to the playlist.  When Third Day released their Offerings album in 2000, followed my Michael W. Smith's Worship in 2001, everything changed.  Worship music went mainstream.  I wore those CDs out, along with everything from Chris Tomlin, Delirious, Starfield and David Crowder. Rock and roll worship was the new thing, and I was into it big time.  But again, in my mind, this was all an addition to the great hymns of the church and all the music that had come before- not a replacement for it.  I led worship at youth group nearly every week, and always included songs from nearly every generation of church music- because they were all important to me.

And therein lies my concern.  In many of our houses of worship, including the one I attend, the old songs have been replaced and often forgotten.  So many of the old hymns and songs of praise are etched upon my heart and offer me comfort and hope when I need inspiration.  I wonder if my son will have that.  He loves the style of the music we sing, but has little attachment to the actual songs.  We seem so intent on singing the "flavor of the month" that we seldom really commit songs to memory anymore.  It seems every time I fall in love with a song we quit singing it. A few of the true classic hymns, like Amazing Grace, receive new arrangements and new life.  But most have been shelved. Those early praise & worship songs have suffered a worse fate- they have been completely abandoned. I remember with great affection the zeal of our congregation in Kissimmee singing Lord I Lift Your Name On High, the young and the old doing the hand motions and singing praise to God.  I cannot remember the last time I heard that song in a church.  We have segregated the music.  If your church sings traditional hymns, then you ONLY sing traditional hymns. If you sing contemporary music, anything written before 2000 is very suspect. In doing this we are cheating ourselves and our churches of one of the great bonds of the faith- shared music.  And we may be cheating our children as well.  My life would be much different if I did not know the words to It Is Well With My Soul AND Rich Mullin's Bound To Come Some Trouble. What great songs of faith will our children have to lean on? Classics only become classic when given time to age and grow.  Are we allowing that in the modern church?

Let me close with a story from my friend Michael Bridges of the band Lost And Found.  He was asked one time if he and George knew any praise and worship songs.  Micheal's response was that yes, they did. In fact, they were part of a church that knew over 500 worship songs, so many that they had put them all in a book. His tongue-in-cheek dig at musical segregation often rings true to me.  Songs that praise God and fill our souls should not have expiration dates or be confined to any one generation. They need to be sung and to be recorded in our hearts and minds as "A very present help in times of trouble."  It's all God's music.  And it is time to start singing...

And BTW- I have no idea how Pharoah Pharoah fits into this discussion! :)

Because of Jesus,

Some Nights

The group FUN. (yes, the period is part of the name!) exploded onto the pop/rock music scene in 2012 with their huge hit We Are Young and the even bigger follow-up, Some Nights.  My son turned me on to their music and I love it.  A portion of the lyrics to Some Nights keeps resounding in my brain. making me ponder some of life's deepest questions.  The band sings:

"Oh Lord I'm still not sure what I stand for, oh

What do I stand for? What do I stand for?

Most nights, I don't know...anymore."

It is a question I struggle with often.  What do I stand for?  I know I want to stand for Jesus, but is that really the part of my life that speaks to the people I encounter everyday?  Do they feel his love and grace flow through me, or am I just another "Christian," wearing the name but not the bearing the cross.  And the truth is most days, I don't know. I am so weak, so often tempted and so often selfish. I should be amazed that anyone can ever see Jesus in me.  But that is the miracle of faith. We don't have to be perfect, because Jesus is.  He uses us and shines through us even when we falter and fail. If we stand for him, he will stand with us through the hard times and the dark nights.  I may doubt myself, but he never doubts me. He loves me, cares for me and lifts me up when everything else may be putting me down.  

So what do I stand for?  I stand for a Savior who loves me even when I don't know exactly what I stand for, because it's not about me. It's all about Jesus.  How cool is that?

Because of Jesus,

The Ash Tray Kid

The city of New Orleans is getting lots of attention this week as they prepare to host the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXXVII.  I have been to New Orleans once, in 1979, and found it to be a very interesting city.  It was the first major stop on the cross-country road trip I took with my old friends Carl Semmler and Alan Brown, and like pretty much everything about that trip my memories of the Big Easy are, to say the least, unusual.  Today I'd like to share a few of those magical moments with you...

We took a tour of the Superdome, home to many great sporting events before and since, and were impressed by the enormous size of the place. They were cleaning up from a home improvement show of some sort, and as we walked to the top of the building the tractor-trailers on the floor looked liked ants.  We tried to imagine what it would be like to watch a football game from that height, and decided that TV was a MUCH better option. Walking to the top row was scary. The stairs were so steep, and we were out of breath by the time we got there. Years later, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and building, I could not get that image out of my mind.

We also decided that we wanted to pay a visit to the New Orleans Jazz Museum.  Being 19-21 year olds, we were ill-prepared to do sight-seeing, but we found a map at the motel we stayed at and set out on an adventure. The museum was on Rampart Street. I have forgotten many details of that trip, but I will never forget that street name.  We found Rampart Street and began searching for the address listed for the museum. We drove the full length of the street, and then back again.  We searched every street number and turned around and searched again.  This went on for a very long time- and we NEVER found that stinking jazz museum.  This would be the first of many tourist misadventures during May, 1979.  Remind me to tell you the story of the Grand Canyon, malted milk balls and warm root beer someday...

But my favorite story from New Orleans has always been the tale of The Ash Tray Kid.  We were there in early May, but the weather was very summer-like.  The temps were in the high 80s during the day, and the humidity was just awful.  On our last night we were turning in early, preparing for the long drive to San Antonio the following day.  As part of a rotating system, Alan and I were sharing a bed and Carl had one to himself.  The air conditioning was set on cool as we tried to fight the smothering humidity and heat. Carl's bed was closest to the AC unit, which was a bad mistake.  At some point during the night, he got cold and tried to turn off the AC.  It was dark, and so (as he would confess to us the next morning) he just started pushing buttons until he felt warm air.  Alan and I awoke in pools of our own sweat trying to discern what had happened to us.  It seems that Carl had turned on the low heat and opened up the event to let in the 1000% humidity!  As we sorted out the disaster, Carl refused to wake, comfy as he was wrapped in his blanket.  So after a few attempts using conventional methods, Alan grabbed the glass ash tray on the table between the beds- and threw it at him!  This woke him up and made him mad- but not nearly as mad as we were for him trying to kill us with heat! We eventually laughed about it all, and we tried to saddle Carl with the nickname The Ash Tray Kid. Sadly, it never caught on...

We did other things while in New Orleans, including a strange and embarrassing night spent wandering the French Quarter.  It was the start to a very memorable trip. I would have loved to have stayed and found that jazz museum, but we were on a schedule. We needed to get to Texas so we could set up out tent in some poison ivy. But that's a story for another day...  

Happy Super Bowl Week!

Forgiveness & Grace

I used to tell students that I only needed forgiveness for two things in my life- the things I do and the things I don't do!  With that in mind...

In case you missed this while reading your Bible, Jesus was big into forgiveness.  His mission statement- "I came to save the world, not to condemn it"- is all about offering us grace and forgiveness, because God knows we deserve to be condemned.  Jesus came and died on the cross so we wouldn't get what we deserve.  He told the following parable in Matthew 18:21-35 (The Message).

At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, "Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?"   Jesus replied, "Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven.
"The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.   "The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.'  Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

"The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'   "The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king.

"The king summoned the man and said, 'You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn't you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?' The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

Over the past few years I have encountered both the king and the servant from this story.  The kings- of which there are many- have seen the sin and failure (the debt) in my life, and have forgiven me anyway.  Paul writes that sin will always be with us on this side of heaven.  My past sins serve as a reminder of how much I need Jesus, but the debt has been erased by the sacrifice of Jesus and these "kings" I have encountered along the road.  The servants- of which, thankfully, I have encountered but a few- have seen the sin and failure in my life, and they seem determined to make sure those things are never forgotten.  They feel hurt and betrayed by my actions (and I don't blame them) but they just can't let it go.  My sin seems to effect them more than their own.  And if I am not careful, their actions and attitudes can cause me to sin again- because they make me want to not forgive them.  But I must.  I cannot experience the abundant life that Jesus came to bring unless I can forgive myself and others.  People who are otherwise faithful Christians seem to carry around an unhealthy bitterness and resentment that one would think should be absent from the body of Christ.  And that is their prerogative- as long as they never need forgiveness themselves.  This parable is not the only scripture that makes this point very clear.  In the LORD's Prayer, we are told to pray for God to "forgive our trespasses (debts)  as we forgive those who trespass against us."  Jesus said "Judge not at all, or you will be judged."  He said "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."  In other words, Jesus makes it clear that we will all be held to the same standard that we hold others to.  If we forgive and offer grace and mercy to the people who wrong us, then that is what we shall receive from God.  If we don't- well, I'd prefer not to find out what refusing God's grace feels like. 

We all seek forgiveness in our lives, and those of us who call ourselves Christ-followers know that we can repent and ask for grace, and that it is a gift given freely by our God.  Far too many people, however, struggle when it comes to personal grace; we want forgiveness from God but are not willing to offer it to those around us.  I hope that this parable will inspire us all to be like the King- both the one in parable and the One we worship.  He understood the debt, he hated the debt- but he erased the debt.  Many of you have been "human erasers" in my life, and I thank God everyday for your mercy- and His.  Have a blessed Sabbath, everyone!

Because of Jesus,