Merry Christmas!

Hey all,

Merry Christmas from a wet, cold, snowy, laugh-filled, peaceful, joyful, cider drinking, present opening and beautiful Boston Botsis day. Christmas has been great with family, friends, calls and gifts shared together with the requisite tears of course. It feels as though the King has been present.

I hope yours is filled with Christ too.

Doghouse

Food Lines

I was engaged in one of my favorite practices - watching Christian television and shouting angrily at the stupidity of some of the preachers and shows. It drives Ingrid crazy! Many of these shows seem to be more about giving money to their shows - "sowing seeds" they call it - than about actually sharing the gospel or doing good in the world. One of the shows I was watching often ends with an appeal to help their relief work in Africa. They show lines of children waiting for their food and then appeal to those watching to become partners in their effort. It is a pretty standard and effective appeal.

While watching this I was struck by a saddening and angering thought. Here were children of all ages, toddlers to teenagers, standing in line waiting for food. They had little by means of clothes, some barely had clothing covering their nakedness. Most had no shoes. They were standing in line holding out used plastic or metal bowls hoping to get a handful of maize meal (like corn or grits). They were getting this food from old beaten pots in open roof kitchens or just outdoor fires. For some this would be the only food they would get. And here's the sadness and anger - this was being shown as a relief operation working successfully because these children were getting fed.

Why do we think so small? Why do we look at the enormity of need and settle for things so basic and so tiny as to be almost inconsequential? Yes, for those being fed it meant life instead of death, but what sort of life - hardship, suffering, nakedness, disease and poverty! Instead of settling for just feeding, why don't we get the best minds, alongside those with the capacity to give large amounts of money and solve this massive problem? This is not a criticism of this show. It is a criticism of our small thinking that just feeding children is acceptable relief work. How can we think that we are doing good by providing one meal a day for naked, starving and hurting children and then throw more food away from our own plates at home. Even more than just that problem, why should children in Africa (or any location for that matter) not receive all the possibilities that life has for them. Why should they grow up with nakedness, pain, suffering, starvation, lack of education, and no opportunity to improve their station? This should not be! Children of all races, in all locations should have equal opportunity to improve their lives. And for those critics that would like to remind us all that Africa is filled with corruption and evil and theft - let me remind you that Africa (and other third world regions) were systematically raped and plundered by conquering nations. This problem is not the result of recent evil men and women, it is the result of generations of oppression and domination. And the critics who would cite sin and God's judgment on these nations as a reason for their suffering (the same critics would say that America is blessed by God because of it's godliness) do not understand the true nature of the evil that was inflicted on Africa by colonization, slavery and oppression. The progress of the first world is directly the result of oppressing the third world.

So how can we fix it? I don't know, but I think it needs to be more than just food. There needs to be a concerted effort to bring resources, education, training, and opportunity to these third world countries and allow the intelligence and capacity of the great minds of third world people to blossom and grow. Even the most intelligent person in the world would find it hard to think when dying of thirst and hunger. Even the most intelligent person in the world would find it hard to write and read if they don't have paper or books. Even the most intelligent person in the world if fed would find it hard to work if there are no opportunities to work.

So, how do we fix it? Let's start by getting as many people together as we can to brainstorm, discuss, plan and then act to make difference beyond more than just food. Do you want to join me? Email me at info@hammerchisel.com to get involved!

Advent

This Christmas is kind of weird! Thanksgiving is so late that it lands on the first Sunday of Advent. It felt strange to preach at Grace Point today on a topic unrelated to the worship songs. The worship was great, but the songs were traditional Christmas songs, while the series was on dealing with conflict. Please don't get me wrong - there was nothing wrong with the service, and I am not suggesting that anything should change. It just felt strange for me to be singing Christmas carols while preparing to speak about living as a body.

In fact I gained some new appreciation for the old standard Christmas songs as stand alone worship songs. It was great to see the bedrock of unity within songs like "O Come All Ye Faithful" and the rapture of worshiping the Great Yahweh in "In Excelsis Deo". So, it was not a bad service, actually it was quite good, just strange.

Alone in the office!

Well, it truly is amazing how quiet and peaceful the office is when everyone is gone. Office closes at 3pm, and most people are on their way out or gone. So, why am I here? This happens to be the perfect time to work on my sermon for this week. Quiet reflection, no interruption, reading, study and listening to God is helped best without the constant tap on the door.

Sermon focus is on interpersonal conflict. Probably not the best sermon for me to be giving. My way of dealing withe interpersonal conflict is to use a bazooka! Well, I guess Wayne Corderio's message of preaching to yourself first is going to come in handy this week. So, time for me to start listening to how I need to grow.

Favorite Pizza!

Well, pizza, (pitsa as my best friend Pete would say) is just an awesome food. In our family it is a Sunday dinner standard. We discovered a great new topping: chicken, onion and cheese, whatever herbs you want and for me tobasco sauce.

My wife, Ingrid's, favorite topping is banana and bacon.

What's your favorite topping? Cheese does not qualify.

What type of base - for us thin crust, even better, homemade dough, homemade sauce and fresh toppings cooked to order. Now we're talking!

What's Next?

Well, talk about getting in the game late.

I read The Purple Cow sometime ago. In it I was introduced to sneezers, early adopters, late adopters and the rest (don't remember now). I always thought about myself as an early adopter. However, I think I really am a late adopter. I resist cell phone use, slow to adopt new ideas and thoughts, and one of the last to enter the blogging world.

So, where will this go...I have no idea. But I guess it will be open for thought. I plan to use this blog irregularly to just talk, share thoughts, say whatever is on my mind. Really just random thoughts on the page,with hopefully the occasional and rare insight.

It is quite an auspicious time - first black president in America, the ever shortening lifespan of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president. The demise of apartheid, the rise of terrorism, the beginnings of another Depression. What does the future hold for me, my children? Where will it all go and what will be the result? Who knows?

As I left work tonight I said to a colleague, "I think I need to trust God more". With impending cutbacks around the world in work, declining income, perilous future I am left with only hope in God as a resort. It sounds depressing and despairing, yet I think it is where God would have me, holding on to Him for dear life, asking Him what's next?