Fixing the Floor Part 2

The new developments in the "fixing the floor" concept...

First, I was reminded while working on our float for the Golden Days Parade here in Fairbanks about who the carpenter is... It's not me. Jesus, most people assume, grew up learning the trade of his father, Joseph. But in the spiritual sense, Jesus is the carpenter and also the cornerstone. So to think we could build or rebuild anything without Jesus would be foolish. It has to be about him or nothing else matters.

Second, when handling the wood necessary to rebuild, one tends to get splinters. Smaller pieces break off and lodge subcutaneously causing irritation. The splinter that has been stuck since just this morning reminds me that this rebuilding, fixing the floor, is larger than just one congregation. Perhaps it means planting a church or opening a satellite or just a coffee shop, not sure yet.

Third, there are many talented, gifted, Spirit-filled people that need to be involved in this project. A team needs to be brought together to share this vision and help with the building up of God's kingdom.

From fixing the floor to building another house, Jesus is the carpenter and the Holy Spirit is the foreman. More to come as time goes by...

Fixing the Floor

When we lived in Michigan, we lived just north of the city of Detroit. We read in our church bulletin one Sunday that a mother about four miles to the south of us needed a crib for her new baby. Our son had just outgrown our crib, so we decided that we could give it away. We took it apart and I drove down to 5-mile road to deliver the crib. As I approached the house, I noticed that the stairs were in need of repair and had to choose carefully how I walked up to the door. The porch was the same. As I entered the house, meeting the owner who was a wonderful woman, dedicated to her family and very loving, I noticed the floor had holes and loose boards all over the place. She directed me to follow her to where she wanted the crib. I followed her every step, knowing that if I ventured off the path, I'd be through the floor in no time. But she had learned how to walk among the loose boards and nail pops and holes in order to get from point A to point B, in her own home. She was unable to fix the floor, so she normalized the damage and navigated accordingly.

Our church has learned to navigate a broken floor. We struggle with Christians who are inactive and unresponsive to the needs of the community and even of their own house. How have they become inactive? They didn't used to be. In fact, they came to the church very excited, eager and willing to be part of the community. But once they were in the house, they discovered that no one was moving. Why aren't they moving? Because the floor is broken and if you move, you might fall through. There are some who are moving, but they are moving very carefully, deliberately and slowly. You have to be that way because the floor is not safe.

How did the house fall into disrepair? I'm not sure. I have my guesses and maybe historically, there are a lot of reasons, but honestly, that's not important. The important thing is to consider whether you want to teach people how to walk on a broken floor or do you want to fix the floor? Which is going to be more work? In the short term it might be easier to teach people where to step, but that limits movement because you can't have everyone moving at the same time. It also limits creativity and the path that is prescribed by safety is the only way to go. If you go outside that path, you run the risk of injury. This path is marked by words like: we don't do things like that here, if you want to get things done you have to do it this way, it's just not a sure thing, so we probably shouldn't do anything, someone tried to do that before and got hurt. Have you heard these things? So the short term solution is limiting, prescribed and boring.

We need to fix the floor. We need to create a place for exploration, creativity, excitement, movement. How do we go about creating or re-creating an environment where God's gifts can be given the freedom and energy they need in order to accomplish his work with joy and excitement?

Celebrity Worship

In light of the recent passings of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon, among others, there is a great need to be reminded of the created-ness of man. We tend to worship with our gossip and our attention those who have attained some imaginary status of celebrity. Remember all of the others who have passed on, saints in the eyes of God, that no one has remembered or have been splashed across the newspapers.

Acts 10:25-26 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”

Have you ever met anyone really famous? I mean, a super-star celebrity or great statesman, world leader? Chances are that not too many of us have met someone that holds high worldly status. But even when meeting someone of mild worldly status, we tend to behave differently. We might smile a lot, gush about how great they are and how we’re such big fans and we might even get a little nervous. But it grieves my heart when I see people overflow with emotion and worship of a person that should only be given to God.

Cornelius is a gentile who was held in high esteem even by the Jewish authorities. He was given a vision by God to call Peter and listen to what Peter had to say. But when Peter shows up, Cornelius treats him as if he were God. The scriptures use the word worship. He worshiped at Peter’s feet. A sign of respect is one thing, but out and out worship is another and Peter won’t have it. “I’m just a guy like you.” Peter wants to be sure that Cornelius and all of those in the household know that he doesn’t think more highly of himself than he ought, to quote Paul.

There is a lot to be read here. Some proverbs might come from this. Don’t get a big head. Don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Beware of those who fall at your feet for they may be tying your shoelaces together. Peter wanted everyone to know that it was the message from Jesus that was of utmost importance, not necessarily who it was that brought it.

Our worship is reserved for the King of kings and Lord of lords, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No one else and nothing else is deserving of our worship. In the Psalms, the writer talks about things made from stone or wood or metal that can’t hear, see or speak. We don’t worship those. We don’t worship anything that is in creation. We only worship the Creator. We don’t worship anyone who needed saving. We only worship the one who is able to save.

So for all of those celebrity worshipers, keep in mind that they are only men and women, just like you and me. They are no more deserving of our worship than you are deserving of being worshiped. And if you feel like you deserve to be worshiped, try your hand at creating life from nothing and when you can do that, we’ll talk.

Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us. We praise your wonderful name and are blessed to be part of your creation. Through your Holy Spirit, help us to be mindful of the difference between Creator and creation. Help us always to keep our worship focused on you and only you. In your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

women/mothers are more attentive to the spiritual than men/fathers.

20am June 23

That it's more often women than men who decide to involve their family in a church and/or assume the responsibiliy to follow thru with that commitment.

Why do you ask?

 Joe Baumgarten at 9:29am June 23

Curiosity. It's a quote from someone in leadership. Who is it that gave men permission to not be "spiritual?" This is an issue God's been working on in my head and heart.

 Joe Baumgarten at 9:31am June 23

or is it that men are spiritual on a different level or wavelength and we have forgotten that?

 at 9:57am June 23

I think people tend to equate spiritual with church involvement... this muddies the waters

 at 10:08am June 23

To some, the two are one in the same. No muddy water here.

 at 10:22am June 23

Joe, to answer your follow-up questions... I don't think men are considered off the hook to be spiritual beings. Maybe there is something to your speculation that men are spiritual in different ways. I just think women have taken the lead for so long that some men have just become comfortable with their secondary role.

 at 10:31am June 23

I think women/mothers feel the need to be a part of a church in order to be valitaded and try to show themselves and their children that there is a world around them that shares the faith

 Joe Baumgarten at 11:28am June 23

great discussion, keep going. I agree with Andy in that people feel by serving the church they are serving God. While for some this may be where their gifts are used, but not necessarily. I also agree that men have in many areas of the church fallen into a complacency created by women filling the vacuum left when men stepped down. That may be a chicken and the egg thing, which happened first? For Danielle or MIke, is the social network replacing the spiritual side of fellowship?

 at 12:12pm June 23

I work with Community Theater. We always have more women available for involvement than men.... is this a spiritual thing? Again, I would submit that one can easily mistake scheduling availability ... with spirituality. Also, I think it is a mistake to assume that all spiritual things are tied to the church. People always say that 20 percent of... Read More

 Joe Baumgarten at 12:44pm June 23

I'm with you. An us vs them or a he vs. she approach is asking for trouble. However, I think there is a distinct male/female design for a spiritual life. The church has since the 60's catered to a feminine spiritual approach that has discounted, discouraged and disenfranchised a majority of men from service in the church.

 Joe Baumgarten at 1:10pm June 23

maybe I read too much into the statement in the first place...

 at 1:14pm June 23

I think people can take and interpret a statement like that in a lot of different ways.... that's why I think it should generate a discussion rather than a conclusion.

 Joe Baumgarten at 1:22pm June 23

and I love the discussion.

‘nuff said

Proverbs 17:27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

Someone once said, “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Those two sound really similar. I think I’ll take their advice today. How about you? God’s peace to you.

Baptism and Hygiene

Luke 13:10a Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.”

 Customs and traditions of hygiene are different in our culture than they were in Jesus’ time. A person did not bathe very often back then. Not like today where some people take two or three showers per day. No wonder that there are so many skin moisturizers out there and a million varieties of soap and shampoo. We have a culture of cleanliness, I suppose. But it wasn’t so much of a concern for those in Jesus’ day.

 I am going to attempt a metaphor here, so if you’ll follow along, we’ll see where it takes us.

 Jesus washes his disciples’ feet in order to demonstrate an act of love, humility and service to each other. He sets that as an example of what we ought to do for one another. Peter wants his entire body washed, but Jesus tells him that he has already washed and is clean and just needs to have his feet washed. For the baptized Christian, he has been washed, cleansed and does not need to be washed again. However, there is a daily need for confession and forgiveness, a daily need to have your feet washed. Baptism happens once. For me as a pastor, the sooner the better. When someone gets sprayed by a skunk, you want the smell to be gone as soon as you can. Original sin has us all smelling like skunks and so, the need to be baptized is urgent right from the start. Baptism cleanses us from the eternal effects of original sin. Then the daily problems of sin has us smelling like skunks over and over again. But we don’t run to the baptismal font each time we sin. We run to the forgiveness of Jesus, the confession of sin and the absolution that comes from one Christian to another. “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.”

 We bathe in the waters of baptism. We wash our feet through confession and forgiveness.

 Peter said to Jesus, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Forgiveness is important. Regular forgiveness is essential for a healthy life, as is good hygiene.

 The question for us to consider is: In our hyper-hygienic world, do we treat baptism the same way as we treat a shower, two or three times a day?

 Just some thoughts as you walk along the road. This is a work in progress as more of the word picture comes to light.

 Heavenly Father, thank you for the washing of baptism, the cleansing of water and Word. Help us not to neglect the daily washing of feet, the regular confession and forgiveness that is necessary for our health, both now and eternally. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Jesus

Luke 22:67-69 (They said to Jesus) “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

Has anyone ever told you something that you simply couldn’t believe? I’m not referring to any sales pitch or time-share scam. I’m just talking about your regular friends sharing something with you that is just too hard to believe. Maybe they tell you something about their past or something that’s going on in their lives right now and you just can’t believe it. Perhaps the problem is not with their story, but with our preconceived notions, our made up images about the person. Or even more, it’s about our denial of the reality of their lives. We just don’t want them to be who they are, but who we want them to be.

The Pharisees and the scribes, the religious know-it-alls of the time, wanted the Christ to be something in particular. They had good reason. They had studied the scriptures and had a detailed description all laid out. Plus, they had in their minds what they wanted this Christ, this savior, to do. So when Jesus shows up, he doesn’t fit their mold. This Christ is not the Christ they were expecting. When he reveals who he is through his words and actions, it doesn’t flow with their preconceived notions and thus, he must be a lunatic. Their interrogation of him is pointless because it can’t possibly give them the answers they are looking for.

“Tell us,” they say. But Jesus knows better. He has studied humanity from the very beginning. He knows that his words don’t mean a thing to them because they’ve already closed their minds to him. “Even if I tell you plainly, you won’t believe me.” What’s the point?

Why do we do it? What’s the point of us talking about Jesus or sharing his message with people who have essentially closed their minds to the Gospel? For the most part, I can’t begin to answer these questions. But one thing I do know is that sometimes there is a chink in the armor of those hard-hearted people. You just don’t know when even one word of the Gospel can penetrate their defenses. When the words of Jesus enter the ears, the Holy Spirit does wonders. And that’s not up to us.

Jesus’ death on the cross was as much for the Pharisees as it was for you and me. It was as much a sacrifice for the atheists as it was for evangelicals. Some have realized it sooner and it is their privilege to share the Gospel, to speak those words of forgiveness, to serve others in humility, to show them with words and actions who Jesus is.

Heavenly Father, words often seem to fall on deaf ears. Keep us steadfast in our faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we may continue to share the Gospel of your Son Jesus with those around us. In Jesus’ name, amen.