Holy Week

It's Holy Week! The annual observation begins on Sunday (4/1) with Palm Sunday. This entire week we will remember, reflect, mourn, confess, celebrate and renew our hope as we commemorate the week of Jesus' passion before He ascended to heaven. As you move through this week, take time to reflect on the magnitude of what Jesus did for every one of us! Read Paul's hymn to Christ (Philippians 2:5-11) or the Gospel accounts of Passion Week and be reminded the depth to which Jesus went to prove God's love for us.

Easter is unapologetically Christ-centered. There's no confusion like Christmas with efforts to appease and include every single culture or faith tradition. Easter is Easter only because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His life and death is a historical fact. His impartation of God's eternal grace through His sacrificial death is a spiritual reality for those who call and claim Jesus as Lord. Salvation is through Him alone (John 14:6). You can't earn it, work for it, or buy it. It's all gift!

So enjoy this week, but while the culture emphasizes bunnies and candy to fill baskets, remember WHO made it Holy, Jesus Christ!

Heavy yellow dust descended upon Carolina houses, cars and driveways two weeks ago. It's a sure sign of Spring accompanied by an increase in Claritin and Allegra pharmacy sales! Low Country has been under the "pollen assault" for a few weeks now. The pollen count in the Upstate is high right now (10.6), and it's going to be that way for awhile. I won't bore you with a biological lesson in pollen. Read about it for yourself at Wikpedia. I washed our cars Saturday evening and they were both covered in yellow dust before Sunday worship was over!

While the yellow "sneeze and sniffle" dust reminds us that Spring has arrived, it also serves as a reminder that God is in control of creation and nature is following His bidding. You and I are not in control! For control types, let me repeat that, you and I are not in control! I need to be reminded of that from time to time. The world may be a small place thanks to technology, but God isn't. He's absolutely huge and creation is His handiwork. His painting is on display for the all the world to see. As we approach Holy Week, I'm going to try and focus more on the buds, flowers, bees, and warmer temps than I am on my allergies and the annoying yellow dust. May our earthly focus share the heavenly perspective of the psalmist who wrote:

You care for the land and water it;you enrich it abundantly.The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. (Psalm 65:9-13)

Go Dawgs!

Okay, please forgive the personal liberty I'm taking with this entry. But my beloved Butler Bulldogs (my college alma mater) take on SEC powerhouse and reigning NCAA champs, Florida tomorrow (Friday, 3/23) night. Their arrival at the NCAA Sweet 16 is no small achievement. This team was picked at the beginning of the season to finish in the basement of their conference! While they didn't win the conference tournament, they maintained a national ranking the entire season and beat some very good teams like Gonzaga and Tennessee to earn an at large bid to the big dance. The irony is that there's no major star on this team. The star is the TEAM! Head Coach Todd Lickliter was interviewed after the Maryland win last weekend:

I like to go and watch guys make the extra pass, I like to see guys cheer teammates, I like to see guys play without concern for themselves," said Butler head coach Todd Lickliter after defeating Maryland last Saturday. "So as we recruit, we want people that are somewhat selfless. That's a hard thing. We all have egos.

Coach Lickliter is being modest. What he's done with "team" play is just short of a miracle. And when you consider the huge cash disparity between Butler and the major conference schools they are facing in the tournament it's just staggering. ESPN's Kyle Whelliston described this David v.s. Goliath financial disparity in a recent article about the team play of Butler and Southern Illinois who barely lost to national powerhouse Kansas tonight:

And on Friday, Butler's program and its $9.6 million athletic budget will go up against national champion Florida and its enormous $78 million coffers. But already having defeated schools like Notre Dame ($55.4m) and Tennessee ($66.1m) in November, and Maryland ($46.2m) last weekend, the Bulldogs aren't going to be scared by a few extra bucks." For more go to: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney07/columns/story?id=2807490

I love an underdog. I love "team" effort any day over superstar obsession. Nothing against Durant, Oden and other superstars, but I love teams where no one remembers individual players' names, just the uniform color of the school. I hope these Butler Bulldog's remember the scene from the movie "Hoosiers" that was shot years ago in the very venue where they play their home games (historic Hinkle Fieldhouse) and remember the scene when Coach Norman Dale (played by Gene Hackman) measured the floor and showed his team from a rural small town that the floor at Hinkle where they were playing the state championship was the same size as their little school's gym floor in Hickory. That team had a great shooter, but it would take a team effort for the boys from the fictional "Hickory" to win a state title. By the way, the movie was loosely based on the 1954 victory by rural Milan over a big city school from Muncie.

For those who are regulars on this blog and need a "church" parallel it's simple. We achieve so much more for God when we focus on our collective strength and mission as the church (note a small "c") universal, instead of focusing on building a single mega-church, or promoting a mega-star pastor who takes the "show" on the road to large urban arenas pushing books, CD's and promoting their publishing wing. Think about it. Thousands and thousands of anonymous people are touched each week in communities of faith where unknown and unpublished people are simply living out their faith and pointing people to Christ while ministering in His name. Their focus is on the kingdom of God and less about building their church. That's a team or community approach. Jesus reminded two of his disciples that it's not about your position, order or title, when they were arguing and campaigning to sit at His right hand. It's about the kingdom and when we work together as a community of faith God wins every time!

Here's to the DAWGS! Win one for the late, great coaching legend Tony Hinkle and all those teams and students who struggled through the years to get you to this place! We'd like to see a win, but if you play your hearts out and leave it all on the floor and somehow still lose, hold your heads high because you will always be winners to the many who've called 46th & Sunset our academic home over the years! Go Dogs!

Bono at the NAACP Awards

Andrew Jones' blog brought this recent video of U2's Bono to my attention. Check out Andrew, a global voice for the missional church at: http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/.

The Irish born rocker's words at the recent NAACP awards show are an incredible challenge to the global church and Christ followers every where. The last minute of his acceptance speech sounds more like the sweet sermon refrain of famous African American preacher's like Gardner C. Taylor; J. Alfred Smith; Tony Evans and Krbyjon Caldwell. Bono's efforts to address AIDS and world poverty have Jesus DNA all over them. His challenge to the 21st Century church at the end of his speech is one worthy of our pursuit. Here's a mega-star who has publicly admitted that he is a struggling Christ-follower calling us to BE the church.

Bono has invested his own wealth, calendar and significant influence in these global human causes and missions. Will the church rally and join God where He's working, or will we look on through the skeptical, arrogant lenses of false piety and criticize the messenger because he doesn't measure up to our concept of what a Christ follower looks like? It's time we joined "Rev. Bono", and followed his lead investing our time and resources to right the human injustices of the world. Preach on Rev. Bono, preach on!

Alcohol A Sacred Cow

Today the American Medical Association is taking out full page ads in several college newspapers calling on university leaders and athletic conferences to ban alcohol marketing from college sports. The ad entitled, "Stop the Madness" is aimed at the conflicting messages schools send by chastising campus binge drinking and simultaneously accepting money from the very companies who provide the product. The timing of the ad during the NCAA's March Madness is intentional. You can read about the story at: http://www.wkrn.com/nashville/news/ap-alcohol-ads-in-ncaa-sports-targeted/82218.htm

Kudos to the AMA for standing up against an industry that no politician will touch! While the tobacco industry has been fair game for the courts, politicians and state legislatures, acohol is never addressed. When's the last time you heard a state politician or governor promote raising the sales tax on alcohol sales to apply to healthcare, road improvement, etc? You won't. Like a sacred cow, no one will touch it because they fear a constituency backlash because it's something that cuts across every social and financial demographic.

I'll give you $52 million reasons why the NCAA won't touch this topic! That's the amount the AMA claims the industry spent last year to promote its products on televised college sports. The University of Wisconsin alone, reportedly receives $425,000 a year from Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing for ads in their game programs and broadcasts. How a college president or Board of Trustees can say with a straight face that they are addressing one of, if not the largest single student health issue and simultaneosly pocket these ad dollars is laughable, were it not so serious. Here's a suggestion. What if universities and colleges used just half of the total money received from alcohol ads in programs, broadcasts and signage for on campus alcohol education, counseling and recovery programs? While such a ban won't stop college binge drinking, $25 million would go a long way to educating students and curbing the problem. To be fair not all, but most major college programs accept alcohol ad dollars.

Okay before you throw your beer bottle at me, I am not advocating a ban on the sale or use of alcohol. Those who are of legal drinking age and act responsibly with the product are not the issue here. Banning alcohol ad money from college sports will not injure, or bankrupt the alcohol industry either. Professional sports would gladly receive the additional ad revenue and that's not inappropriate because unlike college athletics, the mission of professional sports is not to graduate students, or reach an under-21 audience. That is the mission of college athletics isn't it? Besides, the NFL has had such success with alcohol abuse that nearly all stadiums now offer plastic bottles so drunken fans can no longer hurt players, officials and other fans. And some teams even offer tickets for "Family" seating areas with no alcohol. Sarcasm? Surely not!

If such a ban, or minimally redirecting the funds for alchol abuse prevention and education keeps one college student out of the local Emergency Room for alcohol poisoning, or prevents one on campus sexual assault related to alcohol it will be worth it! Just ask the parents of any son or daughter who has suffered from either situation.

I'm a diehard college basketball fan and March Madness is like icing on the cake. However, we need to admit that college athletics is BIG business. And there's not a athletic fund, or athletic program in the country that does not feel increasing pressure to raise more and more funds. But what's the price institutions of "higher learning" are willing to pay for those sports dollars? The fact that so many coaches of major Division 1 teams are paid way more than college presidents speaks volumes about our educational priorities. One is responsible for an entire academic institution, the other is responsible for a single department or team that wouldn't exist without the larger institution! Um, and we wonder why students in other countries are excelling in math, science, and engineering way beyond the average American student. Okay that's another argument for another day. Thank you AMA for risking your political clout and popularity to address a serious national issue!

Who Are You?

I love "The Who's" and Pete Townsend's classic song, "Who Are You," which was popular on the radio long before it became the opening song to the CBS smash hit television show, "CSI". You know the chorus:

Who are you? Who, who, who, who? I really want to know who are you, who, who, who...

There's a tendency in our culture to forget who we really are. Many people are one person at work, but different in their small group, or with their friends or neighbors. Some play it closer to the vest than others and never reveal who they are. Others reveal more than some of us want to know. A lot of people live compartmentalized lives as far as their identity is concerned, switching hats like a Ringling Bros., clown in the center ring depending on their setting. Some of this is normal due to the nature of various relationships. You feel more comfortable around your family and that's a much more intimate relationship than the "arms length" distance of the office. Besides, it's highly unlikely the boss, clients or co-workers want to see us in our old sweats, favorite t-shirt and the ballcap we haven't washed since our team won their last championship or bowl!

I don't care how transparent you are, EVERYONE is on guard to a certain degree in certain settings. It's not hypocritical. It's perfectly normal to be more open and transparent around people with whom we're more intimate and have a history of established trust. But I worry about the growing number of people (many Christ followers) who seem to have fewer and fewer relationships where they can unplug, unwind and just be themselves without the fear of losing a sale; being judged by the "PC" police; criticized; or just misunderstood.

Who knows the real you? Who accepts you no matter what you say or do, how you feel, or even when they disagree with your opinion? Who beside your spouse or family really know you? We all need people like this in our lives. Jesus had a brother and two sisters who I believe fulfilled that role in His earthly ministry. The home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in Betheny was a safe place for Jesus to retreat, relax and refresh after the often unrealistic demands of a very public ministry. His closesness to this family was revealed in his reaction when they came and told him the news of Lazarus' death before Jesus raised him from the dead. It's the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept".

I'm probably too transparent to make a great poker player because I don't hide what I'm thinking or feeling very well. In vocational ministry it has been both a blessing and a challenge because some people want their "pastor" to act, or react a certain way. They may say they want his outright opinion, but they really don't, if it disagrees with their own view. Some can't handle it if their spiritual leader acts just inches outside of their "preconceived perception" box. They are often quick to pronounce moral and spiritual superiority. I've got too much PK in me and ministry mileage to let the unrealistic and often unbiblical views of the self-appointed "keepers of the flame" determine how I behave, respond or act. I also affirm the Priesthood of the Believer, so my conduct, relationships, atittudes and comments are always in subject to Christ, not a self-appointed super spiritual watchdog. Now that doesn't mean it gives us a right to behave in an ill-mannered or non-Christ-like manner either. That said, there are still relationships and situations where I guard my heart because of previous wounds of doing so that backfired.

I'm blessed. I've got a couple of friends and partners in pastoral ministry who let me be myself without fear of judgment, ridicule or criticism. When I'm with them, I know that I am accepted with unconditional love. I know that despite my little behavioral quirks and habits, and even our honest differences they will be there. And they know it's the same with me. Each year the three of us take a pastoral golf retreat at the beach. The golf is great, but is secondary to what happens in the conversations, meals, walks on the beach and just hanging out together. I trust these two guys because like me they take their "calling" seriously, but don't take themselves too serious. They both have incredibly tender, shepherd heart's. The prayers, tears, laughter, confession, and even debate over intensely held beliefs or views are always shared in the context of encouraging one another. Even when there is disagreement and accountability.

The three of us owe a huge debt of gratitude to our churches, spouses and family for encouraging and blessing these relationships. Our spouses know each of us initimately and they not only recognize the need for such relationships, they encourage them as we do with those relationships in their lives. The things transparently shared together with those who walk in the same shoes, but different contexts is nourishing, encouraging, and often ministers to the soul in ways that cannot be articulated. I thank God for this blessing and "Betheny" in my life.

So does anyone know "Who" you are? With whom, outside of family do you bear your sins, soul, heartaches and joys? Everyone needs a Betheny, a Mary, Martha or Lazarus. Without it you can become so jaded, cynical, withdrawn, negative, burned out and reclusive that your heart begins to shrink. If you are a Christ follower, God has placed people in your life for this purpose. Look around. Who knows what you're like when the lights are out? EVERYONE needs at least one authentic, totally transparent relationship. God wired us for community. I'm grateful for family, these fellow shepherd's, and a faith community that encourages me to be a better me. Better yet, who encourages me to be a better me "in" Christ!

Thanks Chuck and Tim! Your brother with the highest handicapped of the three! Hey, you guys play more than I do what can I say!