[tentblogger-vimeo 72840026] Eric Yelsma, founder of Detroit Denim shares his thoughts on calling as it pertains to his work as a blue jean designer. God not only calls people to be pastors and missionaries, but God also calls the assembly-line workers, the stay-at-home moms, the blue jean designers, the construction workers, the graphic designers, and so on. No matter what the work is that you do, God has called you to use your gifts, to do your work, and to serve the people around you.
[This is an excerpt from a sermon preached on June 9th, 2013.]
It’s probably no surprise if I tell you that virtually anything could be outsourced as a parent. Anything that is essential to your job as a parent, anything that you feel is integral to what it means for you to parent your child, any of those things could be outsourced. If you wanted to give up the first year of your kid’s life – because we all know how exhausting the infant years can be – you could give up the thousands of diapers, the sleepless nights figuring out if your kid’s sick or if they’re teething, figuring out why they’re crying, the burping, the cuddling, the swaddling – if you wanted to, you could outsource that. For $170,000.00, you could find a professional to come in and handle it all for you. You’d never have to change a diaper during that first year.
Now, maybe that’s a bit extreme. So, maybe we’d tame it down a notch. Let’s say child-proofing overwhelms you. The idea of crawling around your housing, going to every nook and cranny, and trying to figure out which areas of your house are the most unsafe. You could hire a child-proofing consultant to come in and let you know which electrical outlets really need to be covered up, to let you know that the Drano should be locked up, and the medicine cabinet out of reach. For $1,000.00, somebody would come in and be happy to share with you what should be done to keep your child safe. If you had a child who struggled with thumb sucking – that, for a while, was cute, but now they’ve gone beyond the cute stage of thumb sucking – you could hire a thumb sucking guru from the city of Chicago to fly in and provide their consulting services. For $40,000.00, they would be happy to let you know how to correct this problem, and even throw in two phone consultations for no extra charge.
And the young years are hard and cause a lot of sleeplessness, but as you’re kids get older, you start to lose sleep for all kinds of other reasons. Don’t you? If you wanted, you could outsource discipline, teaching your kids to respect your authority, teaching them manners. In fact, there is such a thing as etiquette experts. In The New York Times, a journalist said,
“Etiquette experts say that new approaches are needed because parents no longer have the stomach, time, or know-how to play bad cop and teach manners. Parents no longer have the stomach, the time, or the know-how."
And so, this key job of teaching etiquette, discipline, teaching authority can be outsourced to somebody else. We can outsource throwing our kids’ birthday parties and buying our kids’ birthday gifts. Anything that is the job of the parent could be outsourced to somebody else who claims to be an expert or a professional.
And while we talk about these things, and while we list these things, many of them may be disturbing to think about, many of us do this very same thing when it comes to the spiritual influence in the lives of our children. Many of us have relied on an hour-and-a-half on a weekend to be the complete sum of the spiritual development of our kids. Now don’t misunderstand me, what we do when we gather is important. What the children’s ministry does on a Sunday is very important. And what the student ministry does is very important. But it is nothing compared to the lifetime that you spend with your kids, teaching, shepherding and influencing them. There is no greater spiritual influence in the lives of your kids than you are as parents.
Sitting, walking, lying down, and getting up
In Deuteronomy 6, Moses is preaching to the nation of Israel and says:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
When you sit down, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up. What Moses realizes, and what Moses is trying to preach to the nation of Israel is that this is an all-of-life kind of thing. It’s not a once-you-have-time-for-it kind of thing. It’s not if-we-can-fit-it-into-our-busy-schedules kind of thing; it’s an all-of-life. It’s about building our kids’ relationship, their love for God with their heart, with their soul, with their mind. And he doesn’t list out all the things that they need to squeeze into their life. Instead, he lists their schedule.
He says, “When you sit, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up.” He doesn’t list new things for them to start doing. He lists things that they’re already doing, and he says just think differently about the things that you’re doing and use those to impress these on the lives of your kids.
As Christian families, God desires that all of our life, the times when we’re in the Scriptures and the times when we’re going to the baseball game, to be all about Jesus. It’s very easy to have opinions about what being a Christian should look like on a Sunday morning. But what does it look like to be a Christian family at dinnertime? And what does it look like to be a Christian family on Tuesday, on the way home from baseball? Or on Wednesday, when your daughter tells you about the boy who broke her heart? Or on Thursday, when you’re packing up your son or daughter to go off to college?
Your little church
The preacher, Jonathan Edwards, said, “Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church.”
In your homes, in your little churches, what would it look like if everything we did was shaped by what was actually most important? Because as Christians, we believe that Jesus lived the perfect life that none of us could ever live. And that by his death, he paid a price that none of us could pay. And by his resurrection, he conquered sin, death, and the devil. And if we believe that that changed our lives, shouldn’t it actually change the way we live? If we believe that we were slaves to sin, but now we’ve been made sons and daughters of God, shouldn’t that change the way we relate to our sons and daughters. And Moses says, “Talk about this. Talk about this when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.”
I will continue posting excerpts from this sermon; to listen or watch the sermon online - check it out.
This week has brought about some interesting news and helpful blog posts that you might find valuable. The crazy Westboro Baptist Church no longer has just Christians and human rights activist as their opposition, but they now also will feel the wrath of One Direction fans. As with any news, the George Zimmerman verdict regarding the death of Trayvon Martin has caused lots of controversy. One of the best posts I've read about this has nothing to do with who's right and who's wrong, but instead with "weeping with those who weep." And lastly I learned that indulgences didn't disappear after Martin Luther, they just aren't sold anymore… they are given away to twitter followers.
Westboro Baptist Church to Picket One Direction Concert
"WBC will picket this perverted pop boy band from the UK who claim to be the world's #1 band. Indeed, they are a perfect representation of this filthy world and the sin-chasing...God-hating, Christ-rejecting UK who has banned WBC from preaching within her borders." - quoting WBC from Huffington Post
The George Zimmerman Verdict and the National Anthem
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (v. 13)
It is only through conversations with others that I:
- Began to feel the weight of what it would be like to talk with my son about the dangers that can come with how others may perceive you because of your race and the dangers that can come if you respond to their suspicion with frustration or aggression.
- Could feel the uncertainty that emerges from events like the Zimmerman trial when people of your ethnic background’s personal freedoms have changed radically in a single generation and court decisions were a major factor in those changes (sometimes for the better; other times for the worse).
The fact that my reaction to this case did not echo any highly-personal historical events or immediately draw me back to a formative conversation with my parents means I have work to do (in the form of listening) in order to “weep with those who weep.” - bradhambrick.com
How You Can Save Your Soul: In 140 Characters or Less
The indulgences, which Catholics believe can reduce the time a soul spends in purgatory, will be available to Francis' nearly 7.5 million Twitter followers in all languages — if they tune in to World Youth Day broadcasts or take other spiritual actions. To get an indulgence, Catholics must have already had their sins absolved by a priest.
Pope Francis issued a decree about indulgences and social media on July 9, according to the Rome-based Zenit news organization, which covers the Vatican. - USA Today
The hardest part of any project is not the beginning or the end of the project, but the middle. Whenever I start a new project, the beginning stages are filled with excitement. My whiteboard gets filled with ideas and possibilities; my conversations are filled with passion as the potential of my new idea is virtually limitless. When I finish a project, there is again great excitement as I get so see a project come to fruition; there is a sense of pride and ownership as a new creation is done. But what about the middle?
Every project will inevitably face the project plateau; that moment when the motivation and excitement quickly fade and the finish line starts to seem like it will never come. The middle of a project is the most difficult. But it is also the part of the project that separates those that succeed and those that don't. It's the part of the artistic process that separates the occasional one-hit wonder from the art legends. It's easy for us to see the allure of creativity - whether that be creating music, sermons, events, films, or something else - and completely overlook the blood, sweat, and tears that are required to make great art.
"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." - Thomas Edison
The project plateau is the moment in your project when you start to hit the wall of resistance. It stops being exciting and you actually have to discipline yourself to work another two hours. It stops being endless amounts of creative ideas and instead requires you to force yourself into editing mode. The only way to survive the project plateau is to persevere through it. It sucks. But it's making it through those moments that allows you to not simply be somebody full of great ideas without ever delivering. It's making it through those moments that allows you to not simply have a decent idea, but something that you can be truly proud of.
Photo Credit: reillyandrew
I've had a love for the theological depth of great hymns lately. Because of that I put together a Spotify playlist of some of my favorite arrangements of some great classics.
Matt Chandler is one of the best communicators of the Gospel and if I could ever sit down with someone and talk preaching, he would be at the top of my list.
Theology and Doxology are deeply intertwined. Theology isn't exclusive to the business of pastors and doxology isn't exclusive to the musicians and rock stars.
"Fear. It was fear that killed my parents. On the far side of the world, I tasted fear in it’s purest form and thought I’d conquered it. But, fear followed me home...” - Batman
I have to make a confession; I am afraid of most animals. I think they are all cute and stuff, but at the end of the day I want to keep myself at a distance and be ready in case they attack. Perhaps my fear of animals is silly and I just need to get over my dog destroying my G.I. Joes when I was a little boy, but don’t we all have fears?
What do you fear?
Fear will always cause a person to react. If you are afraid of getting pulled over by a cop, you will drive slower. If you are afraid of getting caught cheating, you will either avoid cheating or be more secretive about it. Fear might cause you to run away or it might cause you get ready to fight. Depending on how you view God, you might look at him with fear. If the thought of God causes you to be afraid, it will cause you to react. You might react by rebelling against him, you might react by ignoring him, or you might even react by doing what he says with hopes that you might appease him.
If you are afraid of God, what do when something bad happens? Certainly fear would lead you to think, “Perhaps God is punishing me.” In 1 Kings 18, there are a group of prophets worshipping their god in hopes that they will get him to pay attention. They shout, they dance, the cut themselves. But nothing. In their view of god, what do they do? Was their god too tired? Was he busy dealing with somebody more important? Did they screw something up and he didn’t care anymore?
“In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” - 1 John 4:17-19
We don’t need to be afraid of God. We can approach him confidently because of what we know about him. While we are certainly sinners, because of the fact that Jesus suffered and died to pay the price for our sins, we can approach God confidently knowing that our relationships have been made right with him. Because of Jesus, we don't need to be afraid. The sacrifice of Jesus drives out this feeling of being afraid that might creep into our relationship with Him.
At the same time, Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” This is another kind of fear. This is the fear that looks at God in awe and reverence. This is the fear that doesn’t cause us to react in a way that’s afraid of God but in a way that trusts God. The devil seeks to drive us to being afraid. He seeks to make us afraid, which might lead us to react in anger or rebellion. But God seeks to drive out that kind of fear and instead drive us to a fear that trusts because “He first loved us.”
My wife is a stay-at-home mom; I have no doubt that this is one of the most significant callings in the world. What if women who stayed at home with their kids understood the significance of the calling that God has given them as a mother?
We live in a world that is all about having more stuff. We want more apps, more music, a new phone, a new video game, more friends, and so on
[tentblogger-vimeo 24715531]
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not." - Ira Glass
HT: Echo Hub
God. Religion. Consumerism. Confession. Sin. Truth. Marriage. Money. If these were the words of a preacher, it would be no surprise. Ben Haggerty, commonly known as Macklemore, has made fame rapping, or should I say preaching, about topics which often are undiscussed in the genre of hip-hop. He writes words like, "The greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing women that they looked better in makeup" and, "When I was at church they taught me something else, if you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed."
Macklemore is a preacher. He may not have the same agenda, the same source of truth, or even the same beliefs. But he is a preacher. He has set out to proclaim a message; he has set out to inspire people and start a movement. He wants to change culture. And I think preachers could learn a few things from the way he approaches his art.
1. People want to talk about spiritual things.
For Macklemore, spiritual topics are not off limits. He has no problem getting into spiritual discussions in interviews or in the lyrics of his songs; whether to proclaim what's wrong with religion or to point out what's wrong with society, spirituality is a frequent component of his music. People want to talk about the things that matter. Macklemore's album calls out the problems with commercialism and the dangers of money, he preaches about his beliefs about gay marriage, and he talks about his confession habits as he goes to the bar. These are all topics that preachers talk about…and people want to talk about it.
2. Put yourself in the seat of the listener.
"I put myself in the place of the listener when editing my writing. The last thing that I want to do is be preached at and told who to be or what to think when listening to an artist. However, I do want to be inspired. There's a fine line." - Macklemore from Interview Magazine
When Paul preaches the Gospel he understands the people that he is preaching to. The content of the message doesn't change, but the context of the message does. When he preaches to the Jews, he preaches in a way that resonates with a Jew. When he is preaching to a group of spiritual people who aren't familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, he quotes pagan prophets and poets to share the Gospel. In order to preach the scriptures faithfully, we must be committed to both the content of the Word and the context of the people.
[tentblogger-youtube gAg3uMlNyHA]
*note: this video may have some explicit lyrics
3. Inspire people to something better.
In the song Wing$, Mackelmore boldly calls people to leave their lives of consumerism:
"It started out with what I wear to school That first day, like these are what make you cool And this pair, this would be my parachute So much more than just a pair of shoes Nah, this is what I am What I wore, this is the source of my youth This dream that they sold to you For a hundred dollars and some change Consumption is in the veins And now I see it's just another pair of shoes"
Macklemore preaches by pointing us to the reality of what consumerism does and tries to inspire us to live differently. This is not all that different than what happens on a Sunday morning - just what we do on Sundays tends to not be nearly as artistic or memorable. Macklemore points people to the reality of consumerism or whatever other issue he is rapping about. Preaching points people to the reality of their sin and the consequences of it (which could even be the sin of consumerism). Macklemore tries to inspire people to live differently. Preaching proclaims the Gospel, which sets people free and in turn inspires people to live differently.
What lessons have you learned about preaching recently?
Who are you? My first instinct, if I’m trying to answer that question, is to start by describing myself. I might describe the roles that I have - a father, a husband, a youth minister.
[tentblogger-vimeo 59474340]
Riet Schumack, mixing her passions of gardening and children, has been living out her calling in the city of Detroit by making community gardens. Brightmoor moved to the city of Detroit in 2006 and this is how she has been serving her neighbors.
Church is weird. And don't worry, I'm not suggesting we change that. Acknowledging our weirdness can be helpful for those of us who have become accustomed to the way church is done.