Sports Crazy

     The orange dust cleared out, but not before the shouting began.  First it was the umpire yelling, "out!"  Then it was my coach rushing the plate, "You must be blind!"  Then it was a coach from the other dugout screaming, "You're crazy, he was out!"  I was seven, and all I knew was that my coach told me to run, I ran, my knees were bleeding, and all of these grown ups were really angry.  At that moment I wasn't sure whether I wanted to continue my first season playing baseball. 

     Unfortunately, every season there are children left wondering why they are playing ball when it doesn't seem to be much fun and why a game makes so many "grown ups" behave so badly!  It's not only baseball that elicits the poor behavior of adults.  This behavior can be found in any youth sport.  The questions this kind of behavior raises in me are, "Why are these games so important to these adults?" and "Why is there so much pressure on kids to win?"

     Now that my son has begun playing baseball, and my family and I are learning to juggle 2 practices and a game per week, I'm also wondering how much is too much when it comes to youth sports.  Other parents at my church in Sanford, Florida have told me how their kids are required to practice 5 days per week and spend their Saturdays at the football field.  Really?  Do we demand our kids spend that much time on their homework or their spiritual lives?  Does this time bring our families closer together or pull them further apart?  All of my questions lead into one big one:  "How important are youth sports anyway?"

     I love sports as much as, if not more than, anyone.  I love the life lessons about the importance of practice and team work, about the joy of accomplishment, and about learning how to win and lose in life.  Yes, I love winning and hate to lose.  But somewhere amidst the shouting matches and the overscheduling of our kid's lives I have begun to feel like we are taking them too far.  Surely, I am not alone.  Yet very rarely have I heard anyone question why we place such a heavy emphasis on youth sports.  Do that many parents truly believe that their little Johnny is going to make the pros and supply them with retirement cash and prestige?  Is that Little League win really going to be reviewed by the college scouts?  And do we really believe that if we don't push our kids to give so much of their time and ours to these sports during the fleeting days of childhood that, no matter how talented they are, they will miss out on their only opportunity to make it big in the sports world?  The truth is that very few kids will ever make the college or pro levels.  The other truth is that kids pretty much enjoy sports because it is fun, they make friends, and it feels good to learn something new.

     There is an old word that may be useful to reclaim as we consider the role of sports in our world:  recreation.  It is true that sports teach us many valuable life skills, but the sports themselves are not life or death issues.  Sports are opportunities for re-creation, times to be renewed, refreshed, to have fun and to break from work.  Doing surgery, caring for the hungry, educating the next generation, raising children, these are life and death issues.  Maybe when we get a more clear perspective on the role of sports, we'll question why it costs so much to buy a ticket to the game, why we're willing to spend so much of the precious time we're given watching the games, why athletes get paid as much as they do, and why so many adults find themselves yelling at the youth fields.  I think we're pushing the kids too far.  What do you think?
    

What Do I Say Now?

I communicate for a living.  That's a scary thought given some of the things that come out of my mouth.  My wife, who is a speech therapist, catches me sometimes when I say something stupid.  She then makes her eyes go different directions, twists her lips sideways, and pokes fun at me by saying, "I am a communications professional!" 

In 16 years of ministry, 4 years at the church in Sanford I currently serve, I have noted how dog-gone hard communicating is.  I want to vary your literary diet here on my blog, so today I am giving you one of my poems about the challenges of communicating.  It came to me during a "discussion" I was having with my wife one evening.  I was having trouble expressing myself so I stepped away, gave myself a time-out, and this came to me.  Enjoy it! 

What Do I Say Now?

There are things I want you to know,

But I cannot speak them, only feel them.

Words don't adhere well to these emotions.

Like weak magnets slide off the fridge they go,

Unable to define the margins that make

Reason useful to feelings.

So my tongue flops like a dying fish,

Making a slimy, bloody mess on the floor,

Where we stand together for now.

I don't know what to say.

I dont' know how to say it.

I feel deeply but don't know what, why, or how.

So I look away, lost in the deeper pools of myself,

Away from you and the mess I have made.

Hopefully, if I swim for a while here,

Breathing fully in the water,

I will revive and understand

How all I've done and been and felt

Tell me what I'm missing

And where I do and do not want to go.

Then I may return to you

With feelings that have grown the handles of words,

With hope of making peace,

You knowing me fully,

Me, empty, but full of you.

Cameron Lashbrook January 2, 2010

This week's sermon will be about a man named Jeremiah who was a master communicator.  This week he communicates about having faith in spite of circumstances.  You can keep up with Lakeside Fellowship United Methodist Church on Facebook as well!

Joy on the journey!

Holding It All Together

 
     Integration.  This word has always interested me.  When something is integrated it has parts that are pulled together into a seamless whole.  We get the word "integrity" from it.  A person of integrity is a person who has their social, emotional, physical, mental, spiritual parts working together in one direction.  In Biblical language we might say that a person of integrity is a person who is experiencing "salvation."  Salvation is when a person's relationships to all things (God, others, and all creation) are rightly connected with justice, grace, mercy, and love.  When that happens a person and all they are related to experiences peace.  In the Christian worldview, we believe that salvation is a gift from God given through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, a gift received and put into action by faith.

     Lately my eyes have become more open to some ways in which our American culture dissects us into many individual parts without a clear concept of how those parts need each other for good living.  Our medical system often approaches healing by trying to isolate the troubled parts of a person's body so that those isolated parts are treated.  Thus we have developed a wide range of specialists who have are proficient at treating parts of a person but sometimes struggle to articulate how the disease and treatments affect the whole person.  Our politics are frequently paralyzed by so many special interest groups who fight for attention and resources, while the whole of society suffers because little thought is given to how one part affects another or how one part depends on another.   Families face greater struggles to stay together because technology draws our attention away from each other to focus on distant relationships and global issues, because our work pulls us away from the home, because our recreation is individualized, and because we travel for just about everything.  Finally, our economy has become dependent on big businesses operated by people who often lose awareness of the effects their business has on local communities and local ecology.  And we wonder why we often don't feel close to our neighbors, we often feel like a number to the businesses we support, we often feel squeezed for time, and we often struggle to hold ourselves and our families together.  Like a thin napkin soaked with water on a table, we feel softened, torn, and pulled apart.  We try to find wholeness, integration, indeed, salvatin in our lives, but we find it increasingly difficult to "hold it all together."

     I point this out not because I wish to be a pessimist but because it has helped me understand some of the larger issues behind the malaise I see in people I work with and in my own life.  If you really want to read some penetrating social criticism I encourage you to read an author by the name of Wendell Berry.  Art of The Commonplace is a book of his essays that really clarified for me the effects of some of the social forces we face in American culture.  I point this out because I am trying, with God's grace, to creatively find ways in which I can tie back together the things that are disconnected to be more integrated again, to find greater wholeness.  Here are some things I'm learning:

 1.  Trust in the grace of Jesus to make me whole.  I can't do it on my own.  I need forgiveness and the strength of the Holy Spirit to be saved.  All creation needs the grace and strength of Jesus to be saved!

2.  Give priority to local relationships, starting with my family, including patronizing locally owned and operated businesses.

3.  Buy locally grown food.

4.  Find ways to network people and businesses together locally.

5.  Be an interested, involved, and helpful neighbor.

6.  Find ways for my local church in Sanford to be the center of building relationships in our community through worship, recreation, education, business, and service.

7.  Learn about the history of the community I'm living in.

     Jesus said in John 10: 10b, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  How do you "hold it all together?"  What ideas do you have?

     If you want to learn more, try looking at the latest sermon series or facebook. 

Jesus And Other Religions

  Ok, here we go...You knew we had to get into the sticky, gooey, messy issues sooner or later didn't you?  There is a church in Gainesville, Florida that, unfortunately from my point of view, is getting world-wide press because they are sponsoring an event to burn as many copies of the Koran as possible on September 11th.  I have been getting asked about this at my church in Sanford Florida, so I think it is time for me to begin addressing the issues presented here.

     This event raises many questions.  How should people who claim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior relate to people of other faiths?  What are the differences between faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and other faiths?  How should people relate to each other when they disagree about their fundamental views of reality?  There's no way I can tackle all of that here and now, but I want to give you a few thoughts to chew on, and then I'll look forward to reading your responses (I think). 

     Because there is often a slippery, non-commital approach in America to truth, and because we live in a time when people are often creating their own religions by borrowing a little of their faith from one religious website and a little more from another religious website, it is important for me to say that truth matters.  There are right beliefs and wrong beliefs, beliefs that lead to good life and wholeness and beliefs that lead to death, confusion and destruction.  What we believe as true directs the decisions we make and the quality of lives we experience.  Some people believe it's true that their God is pleased that they fly planes into buildings, killing thousands of people.  Some people believe that it's true that their God encourages them to amass great wealth while ignoring the poor and weak of the world.  Some people believe that their God will be pleased if they attack other religions and burn what is sacred to them.  Interestingly, these beliefs can be found in all different kinds of religions, including Christianity.  Truth matters! 

     Here are some basics of what I believe.  Though I have not studied all of the details of every other religious faith, what I have studied and been exposed to has led me to believe that salvation (wholeness of self and everything created) is through the life, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ.  Furthermore I believe that as I learn to live in and for Jesus Christ and his Kingdom, I will be made whole, and I will be more fully living a life that will help others find wholeness in him.  That is the truth that I am pursuing.  This God who loves his creation so much that he is willing to die so that it can live is who I understand to be the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

     So how should I and other people who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior relate to people of other faiths?  What record does the Bible put forth regarding this?  As I read and understand the Bible, God emphasizes the importance of God's people remaining completely faithful and devoted to God alone, being living examples (witnesses) of God's way of life, and challenging/inviting others to embrace the one true God from whom all life comes.  The emphasis is not on actively pursuing and destroying other faiths, it is on finding life in the one true God.  Even in the Old Testament where there are troublesome instances of  "Holy War," the emphasis seems to be on keeping God's people pure in their devotion to the one true God, not on actively pursuing and destroying other faiths. 

     In the New Testament, Jesus is shown eating with, healing, teaching, exorcising, and inviting into his Kingdom the pagans and prostitutes and vulnerable of the world.  Any time Jesus is harsh and judgmental is when he addresses his own people!  Even if some people go beyond being different to being our enemies, Jesus commands that we love and pray for them so that the world might see the same love the Father has for us (Matthew 5: 18-38)!  Jesus instructs his followers how to deal with people outside of the faith when he reveals the reason he came "not to condemn the world but to save it (John 3: 16-17)."  Finally, Jesus says, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them (Matthew 7: 17)."  These are some strong clues about how Christians are called to relate to people of other faiths!

     Early Christians, like Paul, are shown to be actively sharing their faith that salvation is through Jesus Christ with people of all other faiths or no faith at all by preaching, teaching, inviting, and living in such a way that the quality of their lives reveals the one true Kingdom of God.  Yes, conflict ensues because their understanding of truth opposes what others believe.  Christians are even put to death.  But in witness to the belief in the life-giving power of the resurrected Christ, Christians aren't shown actively seeking to destroy other faiths, they are shown witnessing to the truth that Jesus is the living, resurrected Lord who has conquered sin and death and evil.  Christ-followers are called to live differently, teach differently, and invite people to find life in Jesus. 

     Because this is how I view God's teaching to Christians about how to relate to people of other faiths, I have a hard time accepting the burning of the Koran as a practice consistent with Jesus' way of doing things.  It makes more sense to me that we host open forums to foster peaceful understanding of other faiths or find ways to work together with people of other faiths to promote peace and wholeness in our communities.  In the context of these relationships we can present our differences and give an invitation to people of other faiths to find life in Jesus.   

     Today, if those of us who call ourselves Christians spend more time and energy on following Jesus by feeding the hungry, releasing the captives, helping the blind to see, caring for the poor and widows, and proclaiming good news that salvation is through Jesus and less time burning what is sacred to others, I wouldn't be surprised to see more people drawn to the new life of forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, love, and service that Jesus came to bring.  May God give us grace to live differently, teach differently, and challenge and invite people to find salvation in the love of Jesus. 

     I'm still learning and growing too, so I welcome your comments and thoughts.

     To see and hear more on other topics, visit my video sermon archives.

     To stay up to date on what's happening at the church in Sanford, Florida, see us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/lakesidefellowshipumc.

Have You Enjoyed Your Work Today?

     As I was heading out the door, children grumbling about school, stumbling into their mother's car, my computer case bashing into the side of my car as I fell in, I heard my wife say, "Hope you have a busy day today!"  I know it was intended as "a productive and fruitful day," but I pondered that all of the way to the office.  Hmmm...a busy day...is that anything to wish upon a person?  I think people in our culture often equate busyness with productivity and productivity with value.  In other words, you are a more valuable person to our society the more you produce.  So, whether we are being productive or we have passed the point of diminishing returns, we'd better look busy so that we can feel important and valuable.  "Quick, look busy, the boss is coming!"  What we miss in this equation is the conversation about what constitutes quality work, good work, work that makes a life-giving, life-sustaining difference for people, creatures, and the environment we live in, work that allows you to sit down for dinner, give a great sigh of satsifaction, and know that what you did was good!
     Genesis records that God's favorite thing to do after his work of creation was to stop and say, "It is good!"  It's as though God pulls his chair back from some great banquet, satisfied and pleased.  Work, for God, is creative, life-giving, and downright joyful!  And since we are made in the image of God, we too are called to work creatively in ways that promote good life and that give us joy.  So what happened?
     The minute Adam and Eve messed up God's order of creation, even work began to be a joyless drudgery.  "Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground...(Genesis 3: 17b-19a)."  Human sin has even messed up our work, go figure!
     Since Jesus came to restore us to the fullest quality of life God originally intended, it makes sense that his followers, by grace, begin to do work and experience work differently.  We look for ways that our work sustains or restores good life to people and the creation we live in.  We work hard, with passion, creativity, and love.  We work as an act of worship.
     Now look, you'll find me mumbling and complaining about my job some days too.  I, like you, work in a damaged world with a mixture of wonderful and broken people who struggle with greed, addictions, hopelessness, and downright meanness, but I ask Jesus to give me eyes to see ways in which my work works with his work of salvation, restoring wholeness, peace, love, and joy to his creation.

How do you find satisfaction and joy in your work?

If you don't what can you do differently that may help you find it?

I'd enjoy hearing from you.  Check out the messages at my church in Sanford, Florida, watch the video series, or check out more on facebook.