Nook

Kim and I decided to buy a Nook Color for ourselves for Christmas. Yeah, just one to share. It was an agonizing decision deciding whether to buy a Kindle or pay $100 more for the Nook. But I was sceptical about the whole ebook thing anyway so I wanted something a bit more versatile.

So far I love this thing. I love reading on it. I like being able to set the text size and I really think I read faster with it. Maybe it has something to do with the page size. I turn the page sooner than I would in a dead tree book and that seems to keep me going. I was worried that reading a screen would give me a headache but I don't even notice.

I also like the web browser. I don't have a lot of experience with mobile web browsers but this has been fine. I also enjoy the extras like the crossword puzzles and the Soduku. I haven't messed with the music player yet but I'm not sure I will use it for that.

I do have some concerns. It definitely needs a memo app. It just seems obvious. You can write notes in books so I could put all my notes in one book as a work around. I am writing this post from my Nook so maybe I'll just set up a private blog dor notes. But then I have to be inwifi range for notes. A bunch of apps are promised soon so we will see.

I am also hoping the battery lasts. I am getting at least the 8 hours they promised but I use it a lot. Yeah, I know that since it is for Christmas I shouldn't be using it yet but I have to get in as many hours as possible under warranty you know. Kim is finishing up a paper book before she starts using it. I'm not sure how the sharing will work. She may need to get her own.

Pushing

Note to Christian organizations who are trying to start a movement to save the world.

I may be all for your effort until you call me offering to send me a box of materials to look over with the option to buy if I like it, or send it back at my expense if I don't. Something tells me that if you really did have the ultimate evangelism strategy, and if you really had a heart to make it happen, you wouldn't be using this method to get it done.

Confused

I don't think I'm dazed yet but the Mole is being chased by Jack Spratt and Mary Mary of the NCD because of his heretical view of Jesus and his desire to be a part of an organic house church movement in Ankh-Morpork.

(I used to read several books at the same time with no problem but maybe I'm getting to old for this.)

Core

Jesus summed up 613 laws with just two. Love God and love others. Most Christians know this very well. I try to proclaim this every Sunday morning in one form or another. I think this is the absolute core of everything we should be about. But do we get it.

I'm in love. I'm in love with my wife. I remember first falling in love with her and the giddy feeling I felt in those early days. Our love grew and matured and changed over the years but it is still great. Giddy gave way to a little less expressive but even deeper inner joy. After nearly 25 years of marriage her voice still brings a smile to my face and a sense of excitement to my whole being. I love being in love with her. I've invested a ton into our relationship and it is very dear to me.

I love Jesus. I fell in love with him when I was 6 years old. I can remember the giddy feeling at the beginning of our relationship. This relationship is different than the one with my wife though. Obviously there is not an eros component to it but even more drastically, I am the only one in this relationship whose love grows and matures and changes over time. But I have invested a lot in it and it is very dear to me.

A few years ago I began being more intentional about thinking about God's love for me. I can't really go into the process of it all but whenever I do it I get a similar feeling. I feel incredibly loved.

But I want to grow deeper in my love for God. I was looking at my book shelves and I've found very little help. A few offer practices that are intended to help of which only a few I think actually work. (More on those in a minute.) But most of the advice are just exercises that can be done by anyone and have very little to do with growing in our love for God. And that's a big problem.

In fact most of our church activity doesn't require a relationship with God at all. Sometimes people are surprised to learn that there are a lot of Bible scholars in the world that do not believe in God. The fact is that learning about God does not require that we be in love with God. We do a lot of kind deeds for people but again, those can be done by anyone. They don't require a relationship with God.

I recently read a suggested mission and vision statement that came out of a conference. All the point that were made in both documents were excellent. But then I asked if a relationship with God was really necessary to accomplish this mission and vision and the answer was no. Granted I don't know why anyone would do those things if they weren't in love with God but I don't think it would be a requirement. Maybe that would be a good screening question. Do we need to be in love with God to accomplish this mission and vision?

I actually think there are a lot of people like that. They believe in God, they are moral people, they do good works, and they even pray with the best of intentions. But I'm not sure they actually have a relationship with God and that is a fatal flaw in their faith.

So how do we develop our love for God? The only suggestions that I thought actually worked were those that helped establish communication with God. Journaling, writing letters, meditating, and conversational prayer seemed to push me toward a loving relationship. I also think that stories about other people's relationship with God are also helpful. This would include biblical characters like Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and most of the Old Testament prophets. (Try reading the prophets to learn about their relationship with God rather than Israel's sin a time or two.) It would also include non-biblical characters like Augustine, Brother Lawrence, Francis of Assisi and a number of more contemporary people.

In the end I always come back to this: How do I answer the question, "What does Jesus mean to me?" If I can only answer that question with doctrinal statements I think I am in trouble. (Salvation, Cross, Risen, Lord, etc.) In fact if that's where my mind first goes I'm probably missing the boat. I think a description of a loving relationship needs to be at the core.

Churchweb

In the last 10 years we pastors have heard from a variety of voices that our churches needs to have great websites. Well, I think it started out that we just needed to have a website. That gave rise to a whole raft of awful looking websites that would have made Miss Pacman proud. So then the call came for good websites. Along the way it was pointed out that our websites were static and uncool. We were left with the impression that it needed to be interactive with up to date content. Now I'm getting calls telling me that, for a monthly sum, I can be provided with a product that will be like Facebook for just my church.

My current opinion (I reserve the right to change my mind) is that church websites should provide basic information about your church and leave it at that. I want my church website to be a place where people can get the information they need and nothing more. It shouldn't be ugly but I would even be pretty lenient with that.

I figure that if the online lives of the people in my church revolve around my church website we have a problem. If you want to use a Facebook like product for your church why not just use Facebook? I suppose some may use safety as the reason but my inclination is that it has more to do with power and control. It also supports the refuge theology so prevalent in churches today.

So I prefer the people in my church to get a life and be salt and light in a world that needs it. If they need info on some church activity then visit my church website. If visitors need information about us, have at it. Other than that I'm just not going to waste my time.

Church

As a pastor I get to listen to people and read about church all the time. I hear they are to be biotic, organic, purpose driven, lay led, lead pastor led, governed, administered, community, house, small, medium, large, mega – and that’s before turning around to look at my bookcase to add even more adjectives to the list. Nothing excites me more than getting into a rousing discussion about this. (Can you hear my sarcasm?)

On the other hand, Jesus mentions church 3 times in two different instances. I think Pascal gets credit for saying, “God made man in His image, and man returned the favor.” Maybe we have done the same thing with the church by creating an institution that was never intended.

I understand that the Bible has a lot to say about church in passages that aren’t quoting Jesus. I also do believe that church is a valuable and worthy thing. But I believe that the church of our creation has done, and is doing, incredible harm to both followers of Jesus and the commission to make even more followers of Jesus.

The problem is that we make the church the center of a spiritual life instead of Jesus. Jesus followers are told by their church to invite non-believers to church. Some of these people will enjoy church and will eventually join the club. They will start hanging out with a lot of good people which will cause them to improve their behavior too. They will do more good things and less bad things and before you know it they too will be inviting people to church.

This strategy works. Huge churches have developed using precisely this strategy. The lives of large numbers of people have been changed. And a few have even developed a relationship with Jesus.

What we are actually told to do is make followers of Jesus. Of course church plays a part in that but the focus is supposed to be on Jesus. I know it may seem like I’m nit-picking but this is a case where first-things-first really matters.

I’m a fan of the Detroit Lions football team. I like communing with other Lion’s fans. We suffer a lot and misery really does love company. We like talking, complaining, spreading rumors about, and analyzing the Lions.

In a small town not too far from here I see a bunch of motorcycles parked outside a little bar. They aren’t part of some hard core biker gang. They’re just ordinary people with a passion for motorcycles. If I had a bike I would probably join them. I don’t drink but there is something about being around people who are in love with the same thing you are. It’s encouraging, uplifting, educational, and gives us a sense of belonging.

Maybe that’s the way it is supposed to be with the church. Maybe it is supposed to be a bunch of people who gather together, NOT because someone invited them, NOT because the church sign had a pithy little saying that convicted them, and NOT because the worship team rocks and the pastor is a great communicator. Maybe church is supposed to be that place where people who have fallen in love with Jesus gather to hang out, tell stories, learn, encourage, and commune with each other.

When we put the church first it’s like inviting someone to join us because our club house is cool and not because of who Jesus is. I think it would be better to simply tell people about Jesus and know that as they fall in love with Him they too will seek out other Jesus lovers to hang out with.