Less Mouth, More Limbs

I start this entry mindful of a pastor’s wise instruction to begin every prayer by asking forgiveness for our own self-righteousness. I’m sure there’s self-righteousness in what I’m about to write. Forgive me, Lord.

A few nights ago, two messages landed in my inbox at the same time. One was from a Christian organization decrying the use of the term “holiday sales” in Walgreen’s Thanksgiving ads and their triumph when Walgreen’s announced they would switch to “Christmas” in the coming weeks. The other message was from a Christian ministry describing the jobs, accessible transportation, affordable housing, and the hope they are providing for the poor in inner-city Phoenix.

One group of Christians is offering a list of “Naughty or Nice Retailers” and where they stand on the “War on Christmas.” For a suggested donation of $150, you can buy a pack of “It’s OK to Say Merry Christmas” buttons. I wonder what the group of Christians in Phoenix could do with that $150? How many families could that feed? How much gas could it buy to get people to work? Beyond that, I wonder which would speak more to a watching world that is skeptical—even sick and tired—of Christians?

Rick Warren writes in the book unChristian:

“My passion is to help the next generation of church leaders guide their congregations in taking on the world’s biggest problems: spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and rampant illiteracy. [Notably absent: winning the “War on Christmas.”] All governments, businesses, and non-profit organizations combined have failed in solving these. The only group large enough to handle these problems is the network of millions of local churches around the world. We have the widest distribution, the largest group of volunteers, local credibility, the promises of God, the power of the Holy spirit, and the inevitability of history.

My dream is that thirty years from now, the church will be known more by what it is for than what it is against. For some time now, the hands and feet of the body of Christ have been amputated, and we’ve been pretty much reduced to a big mouth. We talk far more than we do. It’s time to reattach the limbs and let the church be the church in the twenty-first century.”

Preach it, Pastor Warren! We’re listening.

My New Favorite Holiday

I have always been a Christmas girl—love the lights, the music, the ornaments, the parties, the presents—but I’m considering switching my allegiance. I’ve decided to make Thanksgiving my new favorite holiday.

There are things I’ve always enjoyed about Thanksgiving. Days off school are good for any reason. A holiday that always falls on Thursday is quaint. I like turkey. Being together with extended family is always a blessing. (I especially enjoyed that when I had little babies, having so many people around increased my odds of sneaking in a mid-day nap.) And I’m a huge fan of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I don’t think I’ve missed it since I was 4 or 5. I used to dream of performing in the parade with the Rockettes—not knowing, of course, that I would grow up to be a short-legged, rather inflexible five-foot-three.

But the real reason for my switch is that I think Thanksgiving just might be God’s favorite holiday. Is there anything that delights Him more than our thanks? Sure, He changed the course of history by intervening in our world, which we celebrate at Christmas. And yes, we remember at Easter how He revealed all His power and glory by raising Jesus from the dead. Those were mighty displays of love by God toward us. But a day dedicated to giving thanks helps us display our love toward Him.

Like all our traditions, Thanksgiving has gotten mucked up with our cultural entrapments, football games and Black Friday shopping, and even parades. But everyone is at least aware that it’s a holiday that exists for the purpose of giving thanks. Our economy may be dismal and our politics may be a mess, but we Americans know we still have more to be thankful for than anyone else in the world.

“And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God.”

—Hebrews 12:28b, The Message

Service

“Our future reputation as Christians is intricately connected to our passion for justice, service, and sacrifice.” —David Kinnaman, unchristian

I believe this. Representing the Christian faith by not swearing, dancing, drinking, smoking, or sleeping around may have worked in previous generations—maybe—but a younger generation will only be drawn to Jesus by what we do, not by what we don’t do. Did I grow up with a passion for justice, service, and sacrifice? No way. But I’m trying to get there. If these are the things that keep the faith relevant to the generation behind me, I want to get there. More important, if these are offerings that please my Father, I want to get there.

But service is tricky. Of course there are hundreds of opportunities every day to serve the people around us, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m looking for consistent, ongoing ways to serve alongside my family. A few years ago, Kevin and I tutored some disadvantaged kids, but we had to pawn off our own kids in order to do it. That doesn’t seem right. Our church has opportunities, but they’re often not little-kid friendly, either. We have loads of Christmas opportunities, which we dive into, but what about the rest of the year? We’ve taken our kids to sort clothes at the homeless shelter, but there were more volunteers than clothes, and we ended up just sitting around. We volunteered to work with families at the Salvation Army, but no one showed up. We were team leaders for an elaborate Thanksgiving dinner our church planned for the homeless, and only a handful of families came, ate quickly, and left. We’ve also been involved with the poor individually, but again, this turns into me investing hours into someone while my kids sit at home without me.

I want to model for our children the kind of service, sacrifice, and justice that requires all of us working together. I want them to know the joy of serving with others in community. I want them to see that it takes priority; it happens whether we have piano lessons or a basketball game or not. I want them to see it as a lifestyle—not as something you only do at Christmas or when you board a plane to go overseas.

So I’m praying. God, please show us the way.

Passing It On

My purpose for this blog is to share the things God is teaching me—and I feel like I’m on the brink of something big. Have you ever had that experience where every book you read, every person you talk to, every message you hear seems to be pointing in the same direction? That’s where I am right now, and the topic is passing on real faith, faith that lasts, to our children.

Of course this is something we’ve been thinking about for a long time. We try to follow the instructions in Deuteronomy 6, talking to our children about the ways of God as we walk alongside them every day. But I’m starting to think hard about how we’re doing this. Are we passing on a passionate, life-transforming faith, or just a lot of information about God and the way He wants us to live? Have my children seen firsthand what it means to live out the Gospel? And if they have, do they know they have?

The book unChristian by David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group, and Gabe Lyons came out in 2007. I’m just getting around to reading it, though it’s been sitting on my shelf for nearly five years. When the book came out, I was pregnant and my oldest was just 7. I couldn’t have received the message in the same way then as I do now. Now it’s very relevant to our lives as we walk through the doorway of adolescence with our son, with our daughters following close behind. This quote from unChristian, which I read just last night, is ringing in my ears as I contemplate the kind of faith I’m passing onto them (I’ve added the italics):

“Eight out of ten students participate in church during their teenage years, but most of them will take a permanent detour from active faith at some point soon after they get their driver’s licenses. . . . The vast majority will cross over to the other side; pronouncing Christianity boring, irrelevant, and out of touch. We’ve tried too long to educate their minds instead of engaging their lives.

“Some of us are convinced the system [of church] is fundamentally flawed because we don’t know what our goal is. We creatively market our programs, design innovative and relevant productions, and organize events that will capture the student imagination so that we can get them into church. What if our goal should not be to get them into church? What if the same energy could be applied to mobilize them to be the church? We have discovered a short window of time during the teenage years when students need to experience something beyond church as a spectator sport. If a young person is not challenged by hands-on personal ministry, their faith will likely be sidetracked and even sabotaged. . . . Faith grows when our faith is challenged to do something.” —Reggie Joiner, Rethink

Pastor and speaker Louie Giglio chimes in with this thought: “I think that is what this generation wants—an action-based worship. There is nothing wrong with jumping to a David Crowder tune and telling God he is great—that is worship. But worship is also doing the right thing and sharing with others in need.”

OK. I’m convinced. And I’m re-evaluating. With fairly consistent church attendance and seven years of AWANA under their belts, I have children who know large quantities of scripture by chapter and verse, who understand the grand “metanarrative” story of the Bible and can answer detailed questions about it, and who absolutely know right from wrong, even if they don’t always practice it. But do I have children who can recognize faith in action, who realize it comes at a cost and are willing to sacrifice for it? Who understand that it is only Jesus who can allow you to love your neighbor as yourself? Who comprehend that worship is more than singing a song and church is more than a building? What am I gonna do about that?