Irreplaceable

The casualty

So, this was the damage done.  We recently had a hot dog roasting at church.  It was a chilly day and my seven-year old was wearing his best big coat -- a red and black jacket with logos from his favorite team, the Georgia Bulldogs.  Somewhere in the process of roasting a hot dog, he brushed  up against the metal fire pit.  Thus, the melting began.  It burned this whole in the jacket.  As some of the men gathered around and I found out from my wife about the incident, one of them said, "At least it was just a Georgia jacket."  I said, "What do you mean?" thinking that was a knock on our team.  He responded, "And not a kid."  And that's right.  Jackets can be replaced.  Kids can't.  Jackets can be patched up.  Kids can't.

As parents, it's so easy to fall prey to the materialism of our culture without realizing it.  We ascribe value to things that essentially have no value.  1,000 years ago if you burned a hole in the cloth covering you wore as a coat, that was a good reason to make you another one.  People have value.  Things really don't.  Every parent knows this, but we forget it -- easily.

This Christmas, some child is going to break something that was very expensive.  They're going to drop the iPad or iPhone.  They're going to step on the new train set.  He's going to rip a hole in those new jeans playing touch football at Grandma's.  She's going to get glitter-glue all over that new sweater.  They're going to throw a baseball through the new 3D HDTV.  Some kid is going to lose a toy they just got.  It's going to happen in the next three days somewhere.  It might happen to you.  Our temptation is going to be to get furious.  "Don't you know how much that costs?!"  But it can be replaced.  We live in a culture that decided those things are expensive.  But they're not.  You can go right down to the store and buy another one just like it.

Now, responsibility and accountability are important life lessons.  Kids need to be taught to value things and take care of stuff.  Money does not grow on trees, and being responsible for the things that are ours is an important part of growing up.  However, understanding the things on which you cannot put a price tag is a more important lesson.  Technology is a wonderful thing.  Advances in engineering and media have made our lives better, simpler and faster.  But they are just things.  Things that will break. Things that will be repaired.   Things that will be replaced.  I struggle with this at Christmas, when it seems like a competition between parents as to who can get their kids the most valuable toys.  I struggle with the expectations of my children because at a young age they already have an appetite for things the world says are valuable.  I want them to have nice things.  I want them to go crazy when they open a present.  I want them to be proud of and responsible with their things.  But more than anything else, I want them to know that they are valuable.  People are valuable.  People -- not iPads, not HDTVs, not the latest lego set, not designer clothes, not Kindle Fires, not cars, not houses, not even red & black UGA jackets -- are made in the image of God.  We don't believe Jesus died for things.  Jesus died for people because people matter.

What I wish would have happened with Phil-GQ-A&E-gate

(Sigh).  Do we have to keep doing this?  Do we have to keep hurting each other?  There is a divide in our country.  Well, there is more than one.  But, more than ever (probably because of social media), the divide between Christian and non-Christian seems like it's a mile wide.  And we've forgotten how to react and respond.  We've forgotten how to be kind.  We've forgotten decent respect for others.  And those of us that call ourselves Christians seemed to have forgotten how to read the Bible.  Homosexuality seems to be one of the big issues in the middle of that divide.  I'm not here to go into that.  I wrote a lengthy blog about it during the Chick-fil-a ordeal that you can read here.  It's a very complex issue.  I'm an evangelical Christ Follower and believe homosexuality is a sin, but I also know that Christians have handled the issue so poorly that we've judged others, when that's not our place.  We are to offer life.  With that in mind, here's what I wish would have happened through each stage of the mess.  This is what I wish was true of our country and our Church.

• I wish that GQ reporter had just said, "No."  If you haven't read the article, you need to if you're going to discuss the issue.  I wish the reporter had decided that he just wasn't going to do it the way he did it.  "Sure, I'll go spend a day with Phil and interview him, but no, I'm not going patronize him, I'm not going to bait him into controversial issues, and I'm not going to make a mockery of Southern culture.  No sir, I won't do it."  There was an obvious snide-ness to the interview that was unnecessary.  I'm a proud Southerner.  We've got our demons from the past, namely in the treatment of minorities.  We've come a long way.  I wish a reporter from a national magazine didn't feel the need to cartoon a good man.
• I wish Phil had said, "You know, I've got some ideas about homosexuality, but I'm most interested in introducing people to Jesus."  You see, telling people they're wrong has never worked.  That's never been our role.  In 1 Corinthians 5:12-13, The Apostle Paul wrote, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside."  All those letters that Paul wrote were to Christians.  They were written to churches.  They were for, essentially, discipleship.  In Acts, when Paul went on his missionary journeys, he was preaching one thing:  Grace.  Christ crucified for us, risen to give victory over sin and death.  Paul's letters were to help those that had received that grace figure out how to live in tune with God's heart.  When we start with "how to live," we get it wrong and the world tunes us out.  Me telling a homosexual that I think they're sinning isn't going to convict their heart.  Jesus is in the conviction business.  Christians need to offer people Jesus and TRUST JESUS to change people and convict people.  My life was not in line with God's teaching when I came to Christ, but I have learned over the years as I've gotten closer to Jesus that He wants what's best for me.  So I've learned to trust him and change.  You don't have to be straight to come to Jesus.  You don't have to be sober to come to Jesus.  You don't have to be holy, non-cussing, church-going, or generous to come to Jesus.  You just have to come.  Listen, I'm not saying we have to hide what we believe about issues.  We need to be honest, yet we need to preach truth in love.  I don't think homosexuality is the best God has planned for anyone.  I don't think it's in His plan.  But I'm not going to convince anyone of that.  I want to invite people into a relationship with Jesus and invite them to study the Bible.  God does the changing.  And, Phil's a smart guy.  I wish he'd known that you can't say things like bestiality, anus and vagina and expect that it's not going to cause a stir.  I don't think that's the route Jesus would have taken in the conversation.
• I wish Phil wouldn't have said what he said about African-Americans.  I'll bet he was telling the truth, but that doesn't make it generally true for all.  That last thing we White Southerners need to do is trivialize the experience of African-Americans in the segregated South.  It was ugly.  Our ancestors were wrong.  We repented, and we've found a better way.  Just because one prostitute doesn't think it's that bad doesn't make prostitution okay.  Phil could have said, "You know, the African-Americans I knew were happy people that I counted as friends, but I know that what was happening wasn't right, and the experience of most was horrific."  
• I wish Phil would have apologized.  "You know, I got out there on my four-wheeler and started talking and things kind of came out crude.  I have strong Biblical beliefs, but they didn't come out the right way.  I apologize for the crude language as I know it hurt some people's feelings.  That's not really how I want to represent myself, my family and my faith.  I just want to sell duck calls, be a good husband and introduce people to the Jesus that changed my life."  
• I wish people understood Free Speech better.  Phil's freedom of speech was not violated.  Freedom of Speech means you don't get arrested (which happens in other countries).  Any of us can say whatever we want, but if we work for someone that writes us a check, they have to right to say, "Well, if you want to have that opinion, we're not sure that you're the kind of person that should work here."  My guess is that if Phil had been a little less crude and a little more gentle, even if he'd have espoused the same values, that he'd have been fine.  It's not like A & E didn't know what the Robertson family thinks about homosexuality.  It's how he said it, and I'm not convinced that his statement about African-Americans wasn't the bigger deal to the network.  If you work for someone, you're accountable for how you behave and speak.  If you're a public figure (and I'm one, so I take this very seriously), the ante is upped.  If you own your own company or you're a politician, you can say what you want, but the customer and the voter have the final say.  If you say something stupid, that doesn't mean there aren't consequences. It just means you don't go to jail for it.
• I wish we had a better way to talk about homosexuality.  I'm not sure what the answer is.  It's a deeply painful subject.  The Church has long deemed drunkenness, extramarital affairs, pre-marital sex, greed, lust, selfishness and a host of other things as sin.  But this one subject gets so emotional.  People on one side feel like it is an issue that is ripping at the fabric of society while others feel like their entire being is being de-valued.  We need to find a better way, and I'm not sure the answer.  I do know that we need to be known for what we're for rather than what we're against.  The Church is FOR people.  I think that's a starting point.  All people are made in God's image.  Let's be people that show them a mirror and let God recreate them into what they can be.
• I wish people had responded unpredictably.  Instead of one side saying, "See there, I told you all those Christians are crazy" I wish people had said, "You know, the Christians I know who are opposed to homosexuality don't talk about it like that."  Instead of posting scriptures about how Phil was right because homosexuality is an abomination, I wish my brothers and sisters in Christ would said, "We love a lot of people that we don't agree with, and that's the main point I would want anyone to know.  Oh, and come to church with me on Sunday...because we love you."
• I wish Christians would begin to see homosexuality as one part of a list of issues related to sexual immorality that includes lust, pre-marital sex, pornography and adultery.  This is why we need to point people to Jesus.  There's lots of folks in our churches messed up.  Most of us have messed up.  We need to get people to the cross and let Him sort out the mess and bring healing in the brokenness.  It's not saying it's okay.  It's making sure we get them to Jesus first.  If we are going to reach a broken world, that's the only way. 

May God bring us all closer to Jesus this Christmas season.

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (12.19.13)

I hope you are experiencing the Joy of Christ's birth this season as we prepare for Christmas.  I don't know about you, but really jumped up on me this year.  I'm so excited about our Hassle-Free Christmas and our Christmas Eve Experiences.  But, we've got one more Sunday before Christmas to finish up our "White Elephant."  This week, we'll be talking about "Peace."  I know I could use a little more in my life, especially this time of year.

Also, don't forget that this Sunday is our big Christmas Offering.  Our goal is to raise $10,000 this Sunday for three main ministries:

• The Masana Mission to feel street kids in Mozambique
• Advertising for our marriage series in February
• Local missions and outreach

It's not our birthday, it's Jesus' birthday.  Let's give him a present!

Thought for the Week
"The seed sprouts and grows -- he doesn't know how."  Mark 4:27

A changed life is nothing more than a beautiful miracle.  Today I ran across an old friend.  I say 'friend,' but we met under auspicious circumstances.  He was drunk, maybe high, and contemplating suicide.  I was watching Monday Night Football at a Sports Bar and drinking a Diet Coke.  We talked until 1 a.m.  That was probably five or six years ago.  He was a mess.  I just tried to love him.  We exchanged phone numbers, which I worried might be a mistake.  In the coming months, I'd get occasional calls at 3 a.m.  I tried to love him.  I wasn't sure what to say, but I loved him.  I just tried to be a friend and spoke truth in love.  His life was a roller coaster for a while.  I tried to get him to come to church, but I don't think he ever came.  Then I saw him one night with his fiance...and he looked great.  Then he called me to marry them.  Then I ran into him today...and he looked like a million bucks.  Whole.  He'd been back to church.  He's working a good job.  And I just tried to love him that one time late that night.  Just one seed.  Seed's are mysterious.  We're not sure how it works.  We just see little leaves sticking out of the dirt.  But you have to plant it.  Keep loving people.  Keep planting seeds in lives that seem lost and hopeless.  Keep speaking truth in love.  Keep being present with people.  That's our call -- to plant seeds.  We don't do the growing part.  That's God's deal.  We plant.  Be a seed planter.  When you do, every once in a while you run into a green leaf at a coffee shop and remember when you put that seed in the dirt.  Thank you, Jesus, for the miracle of growing.

In Christ,

Carter 

What Churches and Christians Can Learn from WestJet

By now, I'm sure you've seen the WestJet Christmas Miracle video.  If not, take a moment to see a pretty special scene.  We'll be waiting afterward with some tissues for you:

It's awesome moment, isn't it?  It's beautiful, generous, and kind.  And people wonder if there is such a thing as beautiful, generous and kind anymore.  It's also genius marketing.  The power of that marketing is this.  When the time comes for you to fly, especially if it's into, out of, or around Canada...I'll bet you check on WestJet's flights.  And that's all they can hope for.  If it fits your price or schedule, you might pick them.  But what their generosity and hard work have done is put in our minds that WestJet is worth checking out.  They have given WestJet a good name in the cyber-world by this extreme act of Christmas cheer.  And there's a lesson in there for Christians and churches.

• We need to be generous to outsiders.  Churches often want to make money for their mission trip to a foreign country by the yearly BBQ in which they expect the community to buy it for $6/plate.  This sends the perception that the church exists to bleed the community of already strapped resources so they can fund ministries which their people are interested in.  Same thing with a car wash or yard sale.  What if we had a BBQ and gave it away and fed the community?  What message does that send?  This kind of mindset will cost money.  It's expensive to be generous to outsiders.  I happen to think people's souls are worth it.
• We need to give Jesus and the Church a good name.  Too often we are guilty of actions that give Jesus and His Church a BAD name because of scandals and sin.  More often, though, we are obsessed with results.  We want an outreach event to immediately produce increased attendance.  That can't be the goal because it's short-sighted and uncontrollable.  But, we can guarantee that we give God a good name, and we can do that on a consistent basis through our ministry in, with and to the community.  If we do that long enough, we give our local church a good name.
• We need to embrace the power of recommending.  How many people will recommend WestJet to a friend now?  What about the people that were on that flight?  We need to understand that we can't get people to turn to God and come to church.  What we can do is be in the business of recommending that this church might be the kind of church that they might be interested in.  We CAN help people say to themselves, "You know, if I ever DID go to church, I think I'd go to that one."  And, the vision is even bigger than our local context.  Our goal is to help people turn to Jesus so that people say, "If I ever did need help, I think I'd turn to the God of those people who always do so much in our community."
• We need to not be fair.  What if WestJet had spent the same amount of money and discounted ever ticket for holiday travelers by $5?  That would have been more fair.  Would you have watched that video and pretended you weren't crying at work?  Radical hospitality and outreach are key to giving God a good name and raising awareness of God's goodness.  Jesus didn't heal everyone.  He healed some, and word spread that God was on the move.
• We need to tell stories of hope.  What if this had not been videoed?  We've got to find ways to share stories of the good things the Church is doing in the community.  If people don't see and hear the stories, we missed the opportunity for it to impact them.  And do you think these people will ever forget what happened to them?  What will be their story?  They'll tell this story forever.  When we reach out in radical generosity, we create stories that people will tell for generations.
• We need a plan.  This flight.  These people.  This is what we're doing.  That was WestJet.  Whether it is one person we're going to invest our lives in personally or one community that we're going to love on as a church.  We need a plan to express kindness and love.  For WestJet, that took one flight, but it was laser-focused.  For us, that plan might take years.  We can be an example of God's love to a few, over and over again.  That's not manipulative, it's smart.  Jesus said to be smart (as wise as serpents).  It's just saying, "This is my spot where I want to make sure that we're doing it right."  That means we need strategies.  WesJet had a plan

Let's be churches that radically love our community.  Let's be people that ooze generosity and hope.  After all this is too important.  We're not selling airline tickets.  We're giving away Life.

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (12.13.13)

I hope you've had a great week.  It's been a great week of ministry already as we've been ministering to families at New Hope UMC through Family Promise.  Thank you to those of you that have served!  Here's a couple of things to know for this Sunday:

• We'll be continuing the series "White Elephant" as we talk about "Joy."  Hope to see you there!
• Don't forget to hang out and watch the Flag Football Super Bowl.  We'll have fires to stay warm by and roast hot dogs.  Feel free to bring some cookies or chips with your lunch.  Hot dogs, buns, condiments and drinks are provided.
• Don't forget about our Hassle-Free Christmas Service on Dec. 23 if you're working or out of town on Christmas Eve.  It's also a great opportunity to invite friends are who new to church.  It'll be very laid back, and we've got 2 locations north and south of Archer High School.  Click here to send an e-card to someone.

Thought for the Week
"...showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands."  Exodus 20:6

I was reading through the Ten Commandments the other day and this part stuck out to me.  It's not a commandment, it's a promise.  And it's an important one.  God blesses our grandchildren's grandchildren...to a thousand generations.  This happens for those that follow God's commands.  I think everyone knows that that their kids and grandkids are watching them.  We set the standard for what is acceptable in the house.  If we treat people poorly, then our kids will think that's okay.  If we're kind, our kids will be kind.  If we lose our tempers, our kids will have a short fuse.  We all know our little ones are watching.  What I think we underestimate is that we literally set the tone for generations.  Our grandchildren will teach their grandchildren things their grandparents taught them.  Some of those things will be very important.  Some of those things will be about faith, family, values, and beliefs.  Some of those things will define their way of life and families.  And those little ones will teach their grandchildren.  When we follow God's ways, we find blessing.  We'll make better decisions about relationships, our finances, our work/life balance and a million other things.  That will have an impact on family members that we will never meet.  I don't know about you, but that's motivation enough for me.  I want to be a blessing to my great-great-great-great-great grandchildren.

In Christ,

Carter 

The Pressure of Christmas

I love Christmas.  Love it.  My parents did (and still do) Christmas big.  It was magical at my house growing up, and looking back, I got a ridiculous amount of stuff.  I love getting Christmas presents for my family.  I love when you think of the perfect thing or get a great buy on something you shouldn't be able to afford for them, but somehow found it 70% off.  Or you think of something really creative.  It's a great feeling to do something heartfelt for someone you love.  It's better to see them open it.  I love it.

But there is also pressure at Christmas, and I'm not sure where it comes from.  You know, it's the feeling of knowing you've gotten most people in the family something really awesome and you bought their presents in, like, July.  But you're driving around the whole week before Christmas trying to find those last one or two people something.  And you're not satisfied because you got them something made by the Totes company that was in the center aisle display with the wallets, earmuffs, and piggy banks.  But it's all you could find.  And you couldn't show up with nothing.  And you're embarrassed when they open it.

Then there's the feeling like you wish you could do more, but you just can't.  You want to spend more on presents for loved ones, but you can't.  And you feel guilty.  Then, you look under the Christmas tree and want there to be more presents for your children there.  You're not sure there are enough under there, but you're not sure what enough is.  You know they have more than most children in the world, and you also know they will have friends who have the latest technological gadgets that they don't.  So, you find yourself strolling through the store to buy one more thing for them to make sure it's 'enough', even though they have rooms full of toys that they don't play with now.

And it makes you hate Christmas.  I hate what it does to me.  This year, underneath our tree is a little more bare than usual.  I'm going to back to school and that's a huge expense.  We're remodeling our kitchen.  Don't ever do that.  Listen to me:  don't ever remodel your kitchen. It is a black hole of expenses.  We've got two kids in preschool, and four growing boys, and it's just a little tighter this year.

Don't feel sorry for us.  My children have more toys than they could ever play with.  They have nice rooms decorated for them.  They eat good and go to great schools.  We are able to travel as a family together a lot.  We tithe to our church and see our money make an impact for the Kingdom.  And we have enough money to do things like (slowly) remodel our kitchen.  And still, I'm wondering if I should buy them one more thing to make sure it's enough.  Or worrying if I need to get one more family member one more thing so that it'll be enough, when they, like us, have more than enough.

This is what Christmas has done to us.  I'm a pastor.  I want to say that I know what Christmas is all about.  It's Jesus' birthday.  Of course I know that.  We celebrate that in my house and with our church.  We know He's the reason for the season.  But why do I feel this way every year at the Holidays?  Why does the over-commercialization get to me every season, telling me that I should get more and buy more for people who don't need any more?  How do I figure out what 'enough' is?

I think the answer is Jesus is enough.  He's enough so I don't need more.  Having Him is enough.  And my children and family won't remember what I got them for Christmas.  They won't be able to recall if they had 'enough' each Christmas.  (They might remember the year I got them those electric socks -- they seemed like something useful at the time.)  If I am Jesus for them, that will be enough.  If I serve them, love them, care for them, love them as Jesus does, that'll be enough.  If I die to myself for them as Jesus has, that'll be enough.  I can't wrap that and put it under a tree.  I can afford it because it's totally free, yet it will cost me everything.  That's what I want to give others all year.  That's how we get out of this crazy mindset we've let takeover Christmas.  And that's enough.  If we are Jesus for others, the gifts we buy will have little impact on their lives.  Being Christ for the world is enough.

Nelson Mandela didn't do labels, and we shouldn't either

Last week saw the death of Nelson Mandela, and we'll see countless specials and documentaries about him in the next week.  His story is certainly one worth telling.  He was at times controversial but always compelling.  He was a complex man with complex politics, but certainly a hero in the fight for freedom for all people.  I read a quote by Mandela that stood out to me:  "A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones."  That sounds like it ought to be in the Bible.  It is.

My brothers, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.  For example, a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor man dressed in dirty clothes also comes in.  If you look with favor on the man wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor man, “Stand over there,” or, “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,”  haven’t you discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?  -James 2:1-4

We live in a world obsessed with labels:  rich/poor, famous/ordinary, athletic/uncoordinated, smart/challenged, computer geek/computer illiterate, black/white/olive, male/female, lower class/middle class/upper class, public/private, corporate/local, republican/democrat, liberal/conservative, progressive/evangelical, SEC/Big 10, Sporty/Artsy, educated/working class, churched/unchurched, saved/lost, Army/Navy (especially this weekend), American/European, first-world/third-world, boomer/millennial, vegetarian/vegan/carnivore, android/ iPhone, traditional/contemporary, Ford/Chevy, baptist/methodist/presbyterian/lutheran/pentecostal/anglican/roman catholic/non-denominational, liturgical/charismatic...that's all I could come up with.

We want our shoes to have labels and our phones to have labels.  And we label people.  But, people are just people.   People are made in God's image.  That means that God looks like everyone of us.  There are not some that are valued more because they're wealthy, athletic, brilliant or beautiful.  God looks like movie stars.  God looks like migrant workers.  God looks like those standing in line at the welfare office.  God looks like Olympic swimmers.  All are image-bearers.  God has dreadlocks and a shaved head.  God wears a $2,000 Italian suit and a Nike T-shirt, God plays video games and baseball, God drives a BMW and rides the public transportation system.  

The Church ought to be the best at what Mandela hoped for and the Bible demands.  We are the ones who believe that people are made in God's image.  Labels mean nothing to Christians because labels won't last.  They are not eternal.  The deepest part of our theology is that labels don't matter.  The inside matters.  Hearts matter.  Souls matter.  Spirit matters.  If there is a gift that Christians could give to the world, it is the feeling that their we can see through their labels.  The rich and famous wonder if anyone sees them for who they really are.  The poor wonder if anyone sees their potential.  The middle class wonder if anybody notices them.  I want you to know something:  there is One who sees who you really are, sees your potential, and notices you every day.  You are not your label.  You are not a skin color, a logo, a job title, or any kind of adjective.  You are a person who looks just like God.    This has been a dream of our Heavenly Father long before freedom fighters took up the mantle.  This is the way things are supposed to be.  What a gift we could give to the world if those that follow Christ could see God's children as He does.

Sunday Preview & Thought for the Week (12.5.13)

I hope you're having a great (rainy) week!  It's starting to look and smell like Christmas around my house, and that's certainly the season at Church of the Way.  This Sunday, I hope you'll get into the spirit as we continue to talk about getting from Christmas what we really need in the series "White Elephant."  This week, we'll be talking about 'Good News.'  I'm looking forward to sharing that news with you!

Thought for the Week
"For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat...I was a stranger and you took Me in."  Matthew 25:35

This time of year I get a lot of calls about whether or not we're sponsoring families.  Sometimes LIFE Groups are able to help.  Simply, there are lots of people in need in our community, and the holidays bring that to light.  This coming Sunday we start another week of hosting homeless families through Family Promise of Gwinnett.  We'll be sharing in hosting them with our sister church, New Hope UMC.  It's a big job.  There are lots of things that have to be done and lots of volunteer spaces that must be filled.  But it's a week...to help families...who don't have a home.  It's children who sleep in Sunday School rooms every night.  It's moms that don't have a stove to cook their kids a meal on.  It's families that don't have a Christmas tree because they don't have a corner to put one.  And all God needs from me is to cook a meal, share some fellowship, set-up some beds, or sleep overnight?  And when I do that, I'm not just ministering to people, but Jesus said I'm ministering to Him?  That sounds like a no-brainer.  There is no relationship with God that isolates us from community.  Relationship with God means a relationship with others, for we are all made in God's image.  So, when we serve others, we serve God.  When we love others, we love God.  When we feed others, we feed God.  When we welcome others, we welcome God.  There are lots of ways to serve others this Christmas season, and Family Promise is a simple and profound way to do that.  Let's be a people who take seriously our relationship with God by serving the ones made in His image.  You can find out what opportunities there are to serve in Family Promise by contacting Jim Ramsdail or Kim Navarro.

In Christ,

Carter

Christians & Santa

I can remember when I first heard it.  I was standing in my dorm room in Amsterdam while I was on a mission trip with the college campus ministry with which I was involved.  My roommate on the trip had grown up in a vastly different church world than I had.  He had come from a much more charismatic background.  I had been raised Southern Baptist, so we had both come from fairly conservative traditions.  I was on my way to becoming a United Methodist pastor as well.  But I'd never heard anything like it.  He told me that he would not be teaching his (yet unborn and unconceived) children about Santa Claus.  He said that it would confuse his children and that they might think he was lying to them about Jesus, too.  He said that it was a worldly idea and not what Christmas was about.  He said that right from the get-go he'd let his children know that there was no Santa Claus and that Christmas was about Jesus' birth, not some imaginary fat guy in a red suit.  He proclaimed that it does children a world of damage when parents make children think that a fairy tale is true.  Children will end up thinking Jesus is a fairy tale, too.  Same goes for the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy in his house.  I spent the next hour thanking my Heavenly Father that my roommate was not my dad.

This issue has become particularly poignant for us this year because my two oldest boys (7 and 9) are asking a lot of questions.  They've got friends whispering in their ear about Jolly Ol' St. Nick.  They're saying that some of their friends don't believe in Santa and that they think their parents put the presents out.  When they ask the right question or make the right comment, we'll have a good talk about it.  They're on the fence.  It's a curious time around the McInnis household, and more and more, I hear this conversation popping up among Christians.  And I want to be honest -- I don't get it.

I grew up in a house in which my parents just didn't make a big deal of things.  When an inappropriate scene came across a video, they fast-forwarded the VCR (remember those?!).  We went to parties or tailgates where people drank, a lot, and my parents simply chose not to drink at all instead of avoiding the gatherings.  My youth pastor would play secular music on the church bus and turn it down when a phrase came up that wasn't 'youth group friendly.'  That means he actually knew the songs.  And when I finally learned the truth about Santa and his reindeer... well, it just wasn't that big of a deal (except to the girl I broke the news to in Ms. Moon's 4th grade class.)  In fact, it was mind-boggling to me to realize that my parents had gone to all that trouble all those years to make Christmas special.  And Santa still came long after I'd gone to college.  It was just as special even after I 'knew.'

I never thought Jesus wasn't real because my parents lived Jesus.  We went to church every week, I saw them studying their Sunday School lesson, and saw our tithe check on the corner of the counter every Sunday morning.  Santa was a once a year deal.  It was fun.  I made lists and sent them to Santa because I was a kid.  And kids do fun things.  Kids dress up and say they're Batman.  Kids think they're going to play in the NFL when they're six.  Kids pretend to be princesses.  Kids think Lightnin' McQueen is a real car.

I fear that we have forgotten how to be fun as Christians.  We have an Elf on the Shelf because it's fun, but I remind my children all the time that God is always watching us, and our biggest motivation to behave and make good decisions is to please and honor God.  But for three weeks, the Elf (Russ, in our house) is fun.  Christians have different convictions.  Some people feel really strongly about Santa and anything secular at Christmas.  That's okay.  But I hope those Christians know how to have fun.  I think God smiles at good-natured fun.  Moreover, I think the world looks at us like we're weird and shuts the door on a conversation with us when we can't have fun.  Now, as Christ-Followers, we are weird.  We are ruled by radical hospitality and amazing grace, something strange to the rest of the world.  However, when we call 'everything' that didn't originate from the Church worldly, evil or "secular," outsiders begin to wonder if they can even be our friends.  It just seems to me that it's okay to have fun.  And I think kids like fun, and I think they understand the difference between fun and the Solid Rock upon which we have built our family.