Happiness For Blessing

We who say we love God: why are we not as anxious to be as perfect in our art as we pretend we want to be in our service of God? If we do not try to be perfect in what we write, perhaps it is because we are not writing for God after all. In any case it is depressing that those who serve God and love Him sometimes write so badly, when those who do not believe in Him take pains to write so well…

The fact that your subject may be important in itself does not necessarily mean that what you have written about it is important. A bad book about the love of God remains a bad book, even though it may be about the love of God. There are many who think that because they have written about God, they have written good books. Then men pick up these books and say: If the ones who say they believe in God cannot find anything better than this to say about it, their religion cannot be worth much.

- Thomas Merton, from a meditation set down on 14 August 1947

(with thanks to Jeff Childers)

This is a sermon I preached this morning at New Life Church of Christ in Cleburne, Texas. Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Words are important. Everybody sitting in this room knows the power of words, whether you realize it or not. You can lift somebody up with words, whether you tell them that they look nice today…or you could be bringing good news – “You’re hired!” “You’re going to be grandparents!” “I’m happy to say that the tumor is not cancerous.” “I’m proud of you.” “I love you.” “You look nice today.” Words can lift us up. It’s why we answer the telephone when it rings, or get happy when we receive a hand-written letter, or yes, even a text. When I was a young person I couldn’t understand why the old people wanted to sit around at the table after eating and talk. I didn’t want to talk; I wanted to go play. But now I know that growing up doesn’t mean you no longer enjoy playing – it means you enjoy talking to people that you love that much more. Words are important, and we know that in the church. It’s why we don’t just sing tunes (although I think that might be nice to do now and then), we sing songs that glorify God and encourage one another. We dedicate 20 minutes OR MORE (but not much more, right?) to a sermon – again, something I wasn’t quite on board with as a kid – because we think it’s important to hear a word from God.

I have a ministry mentor that I have learned a lot from, both about life in church and about making my way through this world, and he loved to say that words create worlds, that preaching and teaching and just talking to people about Jesus is way more than just a casual conversation, but that we all take the place of the prophets when speak a word from God. Have you ever stopped to think about what that means? We dare to say that we speak God’s word. It makes me nervous just thinking about it. I get nervous every week that I preach as I prepare my sermon, not because I’m afraid of speaking in front of people, though that still grips me sometimes, but because I’m speaking on behalf of the God who created a world through his own speech. And I know that you know by now that ministry is not just done by those who wear the title, it’s done by every one of you, and I encourage you once in a while just to have a sense of wonder and awe about speaking about God. This God who was hovering over the waters and spoke and all of a sudden things began to happen and matter came into being all because of a word.

Words can hurt, too. James reminds us of that when he tells us that the tongue is like a rudder on the ship, controlling the whole thing. He says that words are sparks that can ignite an entire forest fire, that’s how important words are. “I’m sorry, we think you were a very qualified candidate, but we decided to go in a different direction. We’ll keep your resume on file.” “I have bad news. The cancer is very advanced.” “I have bad news. You are unable to have children.” “Did you see what she’s wearing? There’s no way she can pull that off.” “I think maybe we should just be friends.” “Your mother and I love you very much, but we’re not going to be living together anymore.” Words can hurt. Sometimes, we don’t want to answer the phone, because it could be bad news. Sometimes, all it takes is one or two words to bring us down – maybe for a long time. Maybe forever.

It’s good to be reminded of this as well in the church, isn’t it? Not only are we responsible for comforting those who are hurting, but beyond that, sometimes we forget that we are the ones bringing others down. We gossip about each other – it’s one of those things that we all say that we hate, but we all do it anyway, every single one of us. Your words could be hurting somebody, even if they don’t hear what you say. I think it’s very important for all of us to stop once in a while and realize what kind of power we have. It’s the kind of power that once we notice it, it’s very tempting to use for our own selfish purposes. Just like words have power to create worlds, they have power to bring them crashing right back down. I’d like to believe that we’re the kind of people that would interpret that power as a responsibility.

I believe I’ve made my case. Words are important. They have power, they have weight. If you can speak, you have the power to life people up and tear people down. Let’s read some more about words.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

[James 1:22-27; 2:14-19, 26]

Okay, everything I just said about words? Words are useless if they’re not backed up. James spells it out real simple for us right here. If somebody has no clothes and no food, and you tell them, “God be with you, I hope you find your clothes and food that you need”…what have you done for them? Absolutely nothing. Your words are empty and useless and void if they’re not accompanied by some sort of action. If I say that I’m going to give you something, and then I keep it for myself, I’ve done you no favor. In fact, I might have actually hurt you a little bit, because you were counting on me and I let you down. It doesn’t just have to be about giving. If I say that you can call me any time of day if you need to talk, and then whenever you call, I let it go to voicemail because I don’t want to talk to you, what good has that done? There are a million examples. If I say out loud that Christianity has called me to live a better life, but the only difference between me and any other person out there is that I have someplace to be on Sundays and Wednesdays, what have I done? I pointed out just a little bit ago that we do a lot of talking here…and that’s a GOOD THING. When it turns into a bad thing is when we let it be all talk and no action. Did you know that the original word for church implies action? It means that we have a mission, and it’s not just to go into all the world and invite people to our thrice-weekly services. We go and make disciples, people who follow Jesus and do and act and speak as he did, helping the widows and orphans and hungry and needy and thirsty and imprisoned, standing up for those who can’t stand for themselves, giving hope to the hopeless, doing acts of justice and mercy. Faith is not just about words. It’s about giving up on ourselves for the sake of others, and it’s something we talk about a lot, but I bet if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit we never actually get around to doing a lot of it.

I guess you’re wondering how I’m going to tie this into New Year’s. This is the third year in a row I’ve preached here on or around New Year’s Day, and that’s mostly just a coincidence. Last year I got up and I said, all of these resolutions that we do, it’s all about ourselves. I want to lose weight. I want to be in better control of our finances. And so on and so on. But the Gospel isn’t about self-improvement, and it’s not a self-help manual. I said those things last year, and I had a couple of people say to me, “I can’t believe you’re against New Year’s resolutions.” Well, that wasn’t really the point. Of course it’s great that you want to get your life in order, and if New Year’s is the motivation you need to get into gear, then that’s fantastic. I do get a little bothered, though, that some of the resolutions we spend our time and energy on don’t really reflect what we’re all about. I hear people say things like, “I need to get my relationship with God right,” and what they really mean is that they should spend more time praying and reading their Bible. That’s great – please don’t hear me say it’s not. I happen to know that there are more than a few people in here that spend hours every day reading Scripture and praying, and you know what? We could probably all still stand to do that even more. There’s a little tiny part of me, though, that wonders if that’s really the point. Are we really called to do more reading and praying? I would argue that’s the part we don’t have a lot of trouble with. With the amount of time we spend reading God’s Word, you would think that we would get the message, which is to get out and be a part of our Father’s business in this world, but we’re so focused on our objective, whether that’s spending an hour on it every day or finding new insights we’ve never noticed before or reading the whole book in 365 days, that we forget that the very words we are reading are telling us to GO. BE. JESUS. IN. THE. WORLD. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

I want to play you some audio. This is a story about a man who is mugged, and instead of fighting back, gives up his coat. You may be surprised to hear where the story goes. It’s a beautiful tale.



I don’t know if Julio Diaz is a Christian. He doesn’t say. I do know that on that day he acted like Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us this instruction:

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

[Matthew 5:38-42]

Most of us are familiar with these words, and honestly, we treat them like hyperbole. Jesus doesn’t really mean to give up your coat or to walk two miles. Let me tell you something. In Jesus’ day, in Roman occupied Jerusalem, it was a law that a Roman soldier could force any citizen to carry his gear and equipment for a mile if he so chose. And the Jews in that day, proud as they were, thought that it was within their right to refuse, especially on the Sabbath. After all, this was Jerusalem, the land founded on YHWH’s principles (sound familiar?). Jesus goes the other way with it. Don’t just walk that begrudgingly, plotting or imagining your revenge the entire way. Be gracious. Go an extra mile, and in so doing, you will reveal yourself to be a Christ-follower.

That is my New Year’s resolution. I want to be like Julio Diaz, or more specifically, I want to be like Christ. Maybe you’re at a point in your spiritual journey where what you need is more time spent in God’s Word. God be with you. We want to walk alongside you if that’s what it takes. I’ve been putting together some Bible reading plans for our kids as they work on their LTC projects, and I’m happy to share those with you as well. However, I suspect that there are some of you who need to be challenged. If you’re reading God’s Word already, then you know what it says to do. Maybe you just haven’t gone out and actually done it yet. Make that your resolution. You know, a popular resolution is lose weight, and that’s a noble goal for sure.

It’s a long story about why Jodi and I watch this show, it has to do with one of our old neighbors, but we watch The Biggest Loser every week. I don’t necessarily recommend it. It’s trash TV. Manufactured drama, the challenges each week are exactly the same, sometimes the whole show is just a huge advertisement for a certain brand of turkey or treadmill. But I found some truth in it. They were showing one of the contestant’s before videos, where they basically talk about why they’re overweight and what their favorite foods are and all of that. Well, this man loved double cheeseburgers, and he would regularly eat 2 or 3 of these big huge burgers with grease falling off and everything, and he stopped eating for a second, looked at the camera, and he said, “I know this is bad for me, and I know I should be healthy, but I don’t want to start working out because I’m afraid that I’ll lose the taste for this burger, and that’s not something that I want.” The man didn’t want to let go of his cheeseburgers, even though he had diabetes and heart problems and he was way too overweight, and the thing is, he knew in his head that it was bad for him, but he wasn’t willing to give it up. Have you ever felt that way with sin? You know, the reason sin exists and is so prevalent is basically because it’s fun. You’re supposed to want to sin; that’s how The Accuser works. Maybe you’ve got a favorite sin, and sometimes you say to yourself, “I know this isn’t right, and I know I should stop, but I don’t want to because I’m not willing to let go of this.” Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

[INVITATION]

Here is a sermon I preached on Sunday on Matthew 7:24-29, based on the premise that Jesus' impossible teachings in the Sermon on the Mount can only mean that the solid foundation he asks us to build on is grace. (I actually accomplished this without making the obvious reference to a certain Caedmon's Call song in the process.) Comments welcome.

The Sermon on the Mount by happinessforblessing

This is the third year that I've reviewed all of the movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but the first that I haven't dedicated a separate blog post to each one. I'm rather busy, what with the job and the upcoming baby and all. Oh, and did I mention that I now blog for a real website?

In any case, I did watch all 1o movies again and I've provided a short (in most cases) review for each one. In my opinion, this is one of the strongest years for nominees in recent memory, and I honestly liked all of them. The reviews, therefore, can sometimes take a negative tone, but that's because I'm nitpicking. I've ranked them all from #10 to #1 below. All you have to do is follow the jump.

A sermon I preached this morning on Revelation 13:1-4:

Stockholm Syndrome - Revelation 13:1-4 by happinessforblessing

So many "um"s!

Every year, I do my best to present what the MLB All-Star rosters should look like. Let me know what you think in the comments.

NL

Catcher
Miguel Olivo, Rockies

Brian McCann, Braves

First Base
Albert Pujols, Cardinals

Prince Fielder, Brewers
Joey Votto, Reds
Adrian Gonzalez, Padres

Second Base
Chase Utley, Phillies

Martin Prado, Braves
Kelly Johnson, Diamondbacks

Third Base
Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals

David Wright, Mets

Shortstop
Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies

Hanley Ramirez, Marlins

Outfield
Marlon Byrd, Cubs
Andres Torres, Giants
Josh Willingham, Nationals

Andre Ethier, Dodgers
Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
Colby Rasmus, Cardinals
Ryan Ludwick, Cardinals
Michael Bourn, Astros

Starters
Roy Halladay, Phillies
Josh Johnson, Marlins
Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
Tim Lincecum, Giants
Matt Cain, Giants

Relievers
Jonathan Broxton, Dodgers
Luke Gregerson, Padres
Sean Marshall, Cubs
Brian Wilson, Giants
Tyler Clippard, Nationals
Carlos Marmol, Cubs
Heath Bell, Padres

AL

Catcher
Joe Mauer, Twins

Victor Martinez, Red Sox

First Base
Justin Morneau, Twins

Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
Daric Barton, Athletics

Second Base
Robinson Cano, Yankees

Orlando Hudson, Twins

Third Base
Evan Longoria, Rays

Adrian Beltre, Red Sox

Shortstop
Derek Jeter, Yankees

Alex Gonzalez, Blue Jays

Outfield
Alex Rios, White Sox
Carl Crawford, Rays
Magglio Ordonez, Tigers

Shin-Soo Choo, Indians
Josh Hamilton, Rangers
Nick Markakis, Orioles
David DeJesus, Royals

Designated Hitter
Vladimir Guerrero

Starters
Francisco Liriano, Twins
Cliff Lee, Mariners
Jon Lester, Red Sox
Ricky Romero, Blue Jays
Jered Weaver, Angels
Phil Hughes, Yankees
Justin Verlander, Tigers

Relievers
Joel Zumaya, Tigers
Matt Thornton, White Sox
Darren Oliver, Rangers
Joba Chamberlain, Yankees
Grant Balfour, Rays
Frank Francisco, Rangers
Rafael Soriano, Rays

I posted this a couple of weeks ago (right before the Rangers vs. Cubs series in Arlington) on a message board where a couple of friends could see. I now offer it up to you.

Let's talk about Milton Bradley, shall we?

You will all remember that he spent the 2008 season in a Rangers uniform. He had a great season. He got a well-deserved invite to the All-Star Game. He was even well-behaved, something that has been attributed to Ron Washington's superior clubhouse mojo, or some other spectacular lie like that. (Separate rant: I want Wash out as manager. He has the in-game management skills of celery, to borrow a quote from Dave Barry. The thing that's got him holding on is that he is a players' manager. Players just love playing for the guy, which is worth something I guess, but not really a whole lot when he orders his leadoff man who has an OBP of .420 to sacrifice bunt IN THE FIFTH INNING. Anyway, I blame Milton Bradley that he's still around. He behaved here, then continued to act a fool when he left. So of course that's got to be Washington's influence, and so now he can do a line of coke if he wants and still hold on to his job, despite the fact that he is literally losing us games out there. Okay, separate rant over, at least for now.)

Anyway, that 2008 season was nice (at least for Bradley; it's pretty sad that the one thing people remember about the 2008 Rangers season happened during All-Star Weekend), but for whatever reason, Bradley walked. I'm not complaining about that; we got Tanner Scheppers with his compensation pick. What's important in this story is that Bradley went and signed with the team we begin a series against tonight: The Chicago Cubs.

If you know me, you know that I have a history with this team. I wrote a post last time the Cubs were in town trying to explain my sports bigamy. Well, a funny thing happened when Uncle Milton landed in Chicago: he turned back into himself. In an interview he gave after arriving in Seattle, Bradley attributed his behavior problems to the city of Chicago, which is of course laughable. Maybe, though, this is closer to the truth than it seems.

Most people who don't follow the Cubs very closely think that Bradley's problems began after that game when he threw the ball into the stands after miscounting how many outs there were. (Sorry for the crappy video quality in the link, blame MLB's outdated policies on sharing video) The fact is, his problems came long before that. You see, what I wasn't fully aware of was the reputation of the Bleacher Bums at Wrigley Field. Sure, I knew they were bad. Put a bunch of drunks out in the sun and crude stuff is going to happen. What I didn't know was all of the racist stuff that went down, even against Cubs players themselves. When I read that article (seriously, click on the link) last April, I was blindsided. It was like the air was let out of my little balloon. Do you realize that Torii Hunter has the Cubs on his no-trade list because of that nonsense? I told myself that the article referenced isolated incidences, and I moved on. However, I found myself caring a little less about the team. I probably wouldn't have even noticed, but being a fan of two teams you start to realize that one team's wins and losses mean more than the others. Not a huge deal, but I wasn't exactly switching between FSN and WGN on Sunday afternoons like I used to. Yet, I hung on to my Official Cubs Fan Card (I don't actually have one of those). Then, this happened. It probably wouldn't be a big deal in my mind, because after all, it was just one guy throwing a beer - there's an idiot in every crowd. But when I got home and watched the game back, I realized something - the rest of the fans cheered after that happened. Not cool. So I did what any good fan would do - I tried to put it out of my mind.

It's not the team, it's the fanbase. But you know what? We're all cheering for laundry out there. The second Vladimir Guerrero put a Rangers uniform on, I was in love. I hate Mark Teixeira now. It's not just about the players. Our love for team transcends players, and if the rest of the fans really really suck, I think you eventually have to give up.

Besides, isn't it true that being a fan isn't just about rationality? I mean sure, hate the Yankees and the Red Sox because of who they are, but I didn't root for the Cubs because I wanted to root for a team that hasn't won a title in 100 years, it's because there's an emotional attachment there. But that attachment for me is gone. If I flip over to WGN and see the Cubs playing, I get excited because there's Wrigley Field and the 7th inning stretch is awesome, but I don't really care that much whether or not they lose, and you can't rationalize yourself into caring.

So, I'm making it official. It's a breakup. I am renouncing my fanship of the Chicago Cubs. It's actually been this way for a while, I just haven't been able to admit it. I still think Wrigley Field is the greatest venue in all of sports. It's just the drunks in the bleachers that I'm renouncing. I'll still keep my Wrigley Field poster on my wall, and I'll still jump at every chance to go visit. If I had to do it again, I'd still name my dog Wrigley. Lots of other things will stay with me, too, like my affinity for the late, great Harry Caray and my fanship of individual players, like Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee. And you know what? If the Cubs were to go to the World Series and they played someone besides the Rangers, I'd probably still cheer for them, just not the same way. Oh, and one more thing: I'll always hate the Brewers and the Astros. That will never change.