So This Is Christmas?

This time of year is bitter sweet for me. As a fat guy it is awesome because it is the only time of year I can eat lot’s of junk and not feel bad about it. It is also a great time of year to be around people you love and enjoy fellowship with one another. It is also a time of pure angst towards most everyone else because we have to go to these dens of suffering known as malls to shop for gifts. There are lines full of angry people wanting nothing more than to go home and escape. There is traffic, there is hot stores, cold weather and all of this to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ? What are we thinking? We are truly crazy people!

So this brings me to my point. So this is Christmas? So this is the celebration of the birth of the greatest man that ever lived, our King, our Lord and most importantly our Saviour? Who are we kidding? Just looking at the surface it looks pretty much the opposite. We as Christians can blame this on the Liberals for taking prayer out of schools or banning Nativity scenes from public parks. We can blame the politically correct masses for whining about being indoctrinated by  Judeo-Christian values because their school has a tree or a Christian pageant. We can point fingers at all the X-Mas and Happy Holidays signs that replace our Christmas banners but at the end of the day I don’t care about that! That is not the problem with Christmas at all! The problem is we let Christmas become something else. We did. The followers of Jesus Christ have allowed it and we despite our best efforts to pass the buck need to face it. Before you get red in the face and call me a heretic just hear me out.

Now we as a body come from many traditions with in the church. Some of us worship one way while others do it different. We are a true melting pot of people who love God. There are a few things we all celebrate together and Christmas is one yet do we really understand what we are even celebrating. Advent is a time to reflect on the way Jesus came to us, why he came and how amazing it is that we benefit from it. Advent also is a time of preparation for the coming of our Lord. It is a time to get the bridegroom ready for her wedding. This is a joyful time of year not because we get presents and consume calories guilt free but because it reminds us that Jesus does not lie and he is coming back for his church! Every year we get to share in a season of waiting, hoping and being rest assured that Christ is going to make good on his promise. Yes it is a celebration of his birth, but it is more so a celebration of his return to us. There is no greater gift than our salvation and we will not experience how great that is until we are with Christ forevermore. That is the true meaning of Christmas.

So while we fall into the materialistic trappings of the holiday season let us remember that it is a time of great anticipation. We need to be like we were as kids on Christmas day, up early and alert, waiting to tear open our gifts. The moment we open them we want to use them even before we read the directions. That is the kind of excitement we should have for the coming of our King and the gifts that he has given us. We are a bride waiting for her lover to enter into marriage and become one with God. This excitement should fill us with joy all year round. For we do not know the day or time but we do know that we will one day be with God. It is this time of anticipation that trumps the headaches of Christmas. I mean let’s face it there are two holidays that make up the 25th of December. There is the celebration of the coming of Christ to earth and the looking to his return. Then there is the other holiday which is about spending money, giving gifts, getting gifts, eating until we can’t see straight and just having a blast with the people we love the most. Both are important and both are okay. They are part of our tradition, our culture and our lives year after year. Enjoy them both and make sure that in the midst of it all we are loving each other as God loved us. This is a time of year to show the world that God loves us, all of us, so much that he gave us his son.

So when some guy complains about the tree in the town square, BLESS HIM. When you see someone protesting a Christmas play at your kids school, PRAY FOR THEM. When that person cuts you off on the way into the mall, no matter how hard it is to do, LOVE THEM. Because when God saw us turning away, disobeying his laws, worshipping other Gods, and generally spitting in his face He loved us. Let all the politics, all the network news stories and everything else that makes this holiday aggravating or even downright disrespectful to our faith go, and focus on that love of God. We will be persecuted, we will be made fun of, but at the end of the day what good are we if we aren’t loving those people who hate us? Is our God not bigger than those insults? Is our God not bigger than the jokes? Jesus did not come to save a bunch of self righteous, whiney, overly offended babies. He came to save a bunch of disrespectful, foul mouthed, hateful, and otherwise undesirable people who were that way because of sin. He not only came, he died and rose again to give us a way out of that. The best part is he then promised to return to us and restore us back to what we were created to be! That is love! That is a love that is bigger than anything the world can throw at us. It is what made us triumphant over sin and death. That is the perfect love of Jesus and that is what Christmas means to me!

Amen

My Top 50 Albums Of The Decade

1. The Argument – Fugazi
2. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven – Godspeed You Black Emporer
3. Relationship of Command – At The Drive In
4. You Are Free – Cat Power
5. American III: Solitary Man – Johnny Cash
6. Love Is Love – Lungfish
7. Elephant – The White Stripes
8. Plans – Death Cab For Cutie
9. Consider The Birds – Woven Hand
10. Rock Action – Mogwai
11. Secret South – 16 Horsepower
12. A Rush Of Blood To The Head – Coldplay
13. Catch for Us the Foxes – Mewithoutyou
14. In Your Honor – Foo Fighters
15. Musicology – Prince
16. Demon Days – The Gorillaz
17. Standards – Tortoise
18. Quality – Talib Kweli
19. Cold Roses – Ryan Adams and The Cardinals
20. After the Eulogy – Boy Sets Fire
21. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below – Outkast
22. Get Lifted – John Legend
23. The Rising Tide – Sunny Day Real Estate
24. World Waits – Jeremy Enigk
25. Figure 8 – Elliott Smith
26. Last Days of Wonder – The Handsome Family
27. Van Lear Rose – Loretta Lynn
28. New Favorite – Allison Krauss & Union Station
29. Alright, Still – Lily Allen
30. Come Away with Me – Nora Jones
31. The Rising – Bruce Springsteen
32. De-Loused in the Comatorium – The Mars Volta
33. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
34. One Bedroom – The Sea and Cake
35. The Creek Drank The Cradle – Iron and Wine
36. Tennessee Pusher – Old Crow Medicine Show
37. Third – Portishead
38. Take Offs and Landings – Rilo Kiley
39. Growing - Sleeping People
40. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
41. St. Elsewhere – Gnarls Barkley
42. Like Water For Chocolate – Common
43. Four Cornered Night – Jets To Brazil
44. American IV: When The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash
45. The Ringing Bell – Derek Webb
46. Hot Fuzz – The Killers
47. The Delivery Man – Elvis Costello
48. If I Could Only Fly – Merle Haggard
49. A->B Life – Mewithoutyou
50. Control – Pedro The Lion

Hope Lies In The Desert

I recently took a week long trip to California to speak at a great little church called Tithemi. My good friend Eric Gregson is the pastor there and what I found upon arriving in Redlands CA was a community of believers that are hungry for God. It was a week filled with hopeful conversations, spiritual awakenings and fellowship. I was able to spend time discussing ways to improve church unity as well as ways to defeat spiritual strongholds with in the body of Christ. As I went through the week I took in the scenery of Southern California and though beautiful I could see the desperation and poverty that resides there. Not just a physical poverty but one of spiritual emptiness. The town of San Bernadino seemed to be a desperate place. It cried out from it’s barren landscape in a way that was all to clear. The immense poverty mixed with pockets of consumerism and promise made me feel for this area. It is a place of hardship and of dispair. Luckily I saw signs of hope on a spiritual level.

I had many discussion with Eric about the strongholds that seem to effect this town as well as many throughout the United States. It was something about the dry heat mixed with a barren landscape that made this place an even more vivid reminder of how much God’s love is needed in our world. There was real beauty in it. The people I saw carried weights on their backs but also a glimmer of hope for tomorrow. Then there was the community of believers which makes up Tithemi and another church called Savior’s Place that reminded me there is something good happening here.

I was blessed to be able to share my stories with the people I met and also preach on Sunday evening to a larger crowd than normal. It was not me they came to see but actually the premiere of a video made by the band Sleeping Giant who are from Redlands and Tithemi. The funny thing is while this particular Sunday was set up for a special event we had no idea that God would show up in such a real way. During the worship time, a band called Winter/War started playing. Their music was heavy, instrumental and intense yet it was meant for worship. After a few minutes people realized that this was a worship band and not just a performance. It was very moving. What happened next was something that changed me in a real way. The churches normal worship leader challenged the church to forget about what the normal worship style is and just be free. In this moment I must admit I was a bit leery of what could take place but in the end I saw the beauty of pure worship. Though most people were singing or dancing or playing drums, which I found quite tribal in it’s sound, there was a sense of community. This was not the chaotic worship I have witnessed in other places, this was a time of praise to our God that was individually displayed but in total agreement with each other. I have never seen anything like it.

After about an hour of just beautiful honoring of God I was asked to share. I did and God used my words to bring hope, encourage and I believe bless some people. It was a night in which I believe God showed up, his spirit was in control and people were touched. I was completely spent by the end of the night but felt a bond with those I shared my faith with. I felt a oneness that I often pray for with in the body. In those few hours I feel I could see what the church could be if we put aside our differences and just let God take control. It has little to do with the style or the way this all went down but in the fact that everyone seemed to be in agreement about what we were doing. There was no judgement of those who sat quietly and worshipped or of those who were crying out. It was just a unified effort to honor the Father.

So I returned to Pennsylvania with a new outlook on many things. I felt I was able to leave a lot of my struggles, fears and burdens in California. My soul felt lighter and I experienced real joy. I had some amazing encounters with God and with the people I met. There was just a feeling of contentment. I was blessed beyond what I had dreamed.

So in closing I would have to say that I saw the desert in which man can wither away but in the midst I saw a hope that shines brighter. I saw in the eyes of my new friends a passion for God’s love and it’s transforming power. There was more than just church going on. The time of playing church and building Christian empires seems to be winding down at least with in the few of us that were able to share in the beauty of God’s presence that weekend. The Kingdom of God was evident and made very real. It was a glimpse of Jesus but a vivid one at that. Perhaps it was just a fleeting moment or maybe it was a spark that could create a fire with in not only Southern California but perhaps in the world? Maybe on that Sunday night many more around the world experienced God in a very similar way and his out pouring of Grace and Love was overpowering many? I can only hope that was the case. This is not a testimony of how we should all become charismatics or seek signs and wonders. No! This is a testimony of how awesome our God is and how if we put aside our petty disputes about theological matters and just focus on the one true God we can become one. Maybe even for longer than a 3 hour period on a Sunday night? That seems like a great idea to me? May God continue to challenge, encourage and strengthen us as we walk through this life of ups and downs. Jesus is real and we need him more and more. Lets begin to unite under his name and leave the rest behind. Praise God for what he has given us and for the way he makes himself available to us.

Amen

Have we lost our way?

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” – Collossians 2:8

Unfortunately this pretty much describes what has happened to Christianity and the culture that surrounds it today. Look at what is going on in the name of Christ. How our faith is marketed, packaged, politicized, nationalized and put into boxes. How pride and greed have taken over. I think we all are guilty of it. We are a church of “me” and we do what we want. We don’t like the way God was taught to us when we were coming up so we change it. This is not always a bad thing because this corruption of the Gospel has been around since Jesus left this Earth. The issue is that we as a body have become selfish little brats who want to make our faith about us and not about Jesus. We are foolish and prideful people. I am not talking about pushing morality on our beloved church, that is already being done. I question those who do that as well because the morality that is American by design is not the morality of the Bible necessarily. To say no more sex, drugs and rock n roll is the answer is not changing a thing. The answer lies more in what we are offering than in what we are prohibiting. Lets look at some areas we might be as a body have become dependent on human traditions and the principles of this world.

The first most obvious one would be our dependance of pride that drives us. We are a country built on individuality and personal gain. Our entire philosophy in America is be the best at everything we do. It is a competitive model that drives us to achieve the highest we can and to make us focus more on our own personal gain than that of our neighbor. This is a system that has made the United States the power that it is today. It is a great system for building personal wealth, building a company and for building a nation that is powerful. It however is not a model for the Kingdom of God nor is it a good model for the church. We are not called to be individuals as much as we are called to be a body. We are not told by Christ to strive to be the best and to get all we can while we are here. No, we are told to love one another, be humble servants of each other and of God. The idea of being the best and leaving the rest behind is everything Jesus was not. He was not a fortune 500 guy at all. Jesus was a simple and humble person. The example of Christianity yet we have allowed pride and greed to fuel our lives. It is not even a conscience thing anymore. It is our way of life, the rat race so to speak. Who can get through the maze to the prize first. We are taught this in school, in college and in the work force. While it works for business it is not working for the church.

Than there is politics. This is a dirty word when it comes to Christianity. Throughout time our faith has been hijacked by politics and also attacked. Since the time of Caesar until today our faith has had a bad reputation with sleeping with political ideology. It was Rome making Christianity a state religion and thus allowing corruption to flow freely in the name of God. It also happened in England, in Spain and throughout Europe. Whether Protestant or Catholic, politics have brought corruption, greed and violence in the name of God. In Northern Ireland peace is a shaky thing due to a political fight that has been going on for years. At the center of the fight is religion. It is a fight between Catholic and Protestant political groups. It has nothing to actually do with God but it is what holds the too sides together. It is a sad example of politics ruining our faith. Then in our own country we are in political turmoil. The church has become a divided and very nasty place because of politics. The terms conservative and liberal are now rallying points and also used as insults. The Bible has become a weapon against one another and it is tearing our beloved church apart. One side is clinging to morality and traditional values that are soaked in nationalism and patriotism. The other side is pushing a jumbled message  that sounds more like a 1960’s hippie rally than the gospel of Jesus Christ. The problem is bot sides are wrong because they have let political ideology and man made ideas corrupt their approach to the Gospel. Is morality important? Yes of course but biblical morality and cultural morality are different. I do not cling to American values but I do cling to Biblical ones. The point of being a solid Christian is not based on prohibition but in obedience. It is not the job of the Christian to legislate morality to a secular world. Our morality as Christians is based is our devotion and worship of our God. We do and don’t do things out of an act of worship and love. It is not a set of regulations and laws, Jesus already came to fulfill that. Paul spent his whole ministry fighting to get people to wake up to the fact that we are no longer slaves to the law. Yet we are allowing Pharisees to push legalism with in our church today. Paul would have a lot of harsh words for both sides of the Christian political game. Whether it is morality, health care, poverty, war, or other things we as Christians are looking in the wrong direction and have been for centuries. We are so untrusting of God that we still look to men to solve our problems. If you read 1 Samuel 8 Israel whom God had rescued over and over still wanted a king to rule over them. Samuel was against it yet God told Samuel to give the people what they want but also to warn them that once they have a king the problems that come from it our theirs and he is not gonna step in. They got their leader and they got plenty of problems and as I look at politics today those problems still exists. Even so God’s people still rely more on politics than they do on God, instead they simply ring the name of God into the political realm and thus make it Christian. That is not what I think God had in mind for us. We are the kingdom of God . Our devotion, allegiance and obedience should lie there. God has already told us to take care of the poor, the widowed, the orphaned and the sick. Yet we as a church have passed that on and here we are years later hoping man is gonna bail us out.

The other areas that the church has seemed to fall into captivity is by making God who we want him to be. We have created our own versions of God based on many variables. Sometimes we have nationalized God by putting his name on our country. We have decided what God looks like by rendering him a certain race. We have taken scripture and used it to justify or condemn groups of people, lifestyles, sins, theologies and truth. Christians have split over theories instead of unifying under one truth. We debate over things to the point that churches have split, pastors have been fired, and ultimatley individuals faith have been damaged. Now we have a church that is splintered into a billion denominations and sects. There is nasty words thrown between Calvinists and Arminians over things that only God can know. Theologians debate and at times make some lofty accusations towards those who do not share their conclusions. We have movements that come and go that often times elevate people to God status and we see Christians ollow them right into dissilusionment. Whether we are from a mainline denomination or a new emergent style church I guarentee you have seen the way man messes up things.

The problem is simple and yet complex. The simple part is that we are no sticking to the word of God and we have not been obedient to God. That is just the facts. None of us are good at being good when it comes to our faith. We like God to be what we want and we do not like being wrong. This makes us a bit selfish in our approach to how we present, accept and view the Gospel of Jesus. I run a church because I saw a need to reach people who don’t like church. Bottom line is I am walking a thin line between doing what God wants and doing what Jeremy wants. I also am struggling always with doing what God wants and doing what my congregation wants so they will love me. I beleive it is a struggle for all pastors. When we speak the truth about Jesus someone is gonna get mad at you. When you compromise to make people happy someone is gonna get mad at you! It is a catch 22 but in the end I would rather some people  get red in the face over what I do than my father in heaven. We are living in a poeple pleasing society preaching a Gospel that is not in line with how the world works. The world is not about loving people, lovng enemies, forgiving, sacrafice, suffering, hope, serving others and being humble. The problem is the church has become less about those things too, it is time we start fixing that.

Here is were it gets complex. The fixing of it is hard and is often times painful. It requires obedience to God, forgiveness, love and admitting we are wrong. We have to first realize that while we were pointing out how off base this new hipster church is we were losing members like a civ because we lost focus on what we were doing. It is important also that while my church is saying those mean old churches don’t like us outcast types we are so close minded to them that we become judgmental. Just because we are uncomfortable with someone praising God loudly doesn’t mean that everyone should sing hymns reverently. The same goes for the other side. There is a place for us all in the body because while there is truth in the word there is also room to worship in our own way. There is not a set way to do “church” but there is a very set Gospel of Jesus. This is where I do tend to agree with the more stuffy believers out there. We must agree on the Gospel of Christ which is Jesus is the only way to salvation. We must agree that he came, died and rose again. We must believe that his death was the sacrifice for all human kind so that we can become reunited with God in heaven. We must believe that to be saved one must ask forgiveness of our sins. Now after this we can argue about what Grace really means, what is repentance, what is heaven and so on. The main place we must return is to where we can agree that man was separated from God by sin, that we were pretty much screwed. Then God sent is only son Jesus as a sacrifice as ransom for our souls. That he rose from the grave as a symbols of hope for us that we too shall live again and through him we are saved. Everything else can be debated and picked over but that must remain the center.

So in closing I would like to encourage all of us to examine our spiritual lives. Are we being obedient to the word of God or are we following mans philosophies and traditions? Have we lost our focus on being humble servants and become prideful success driven people? Are we offering the world hope or just complaining about how bad it has gotten? In the end we believe we know the truth so we should be living like it. We need to turn off our cable news shows, stop focusing on the negative and start living lives of hope. We need to start encouraging others to get back to their faith but do so out of love not through accusations and belittling. Stand up for what is right but also pray for those who do wrong. Forgive the people who hurt us sincerely.Do not buy into the trends that come along in our faith. Do not buy into those who attach politics, nationalism or any other religion, creed, or idea to Christ. Christ stands alone and we should also stand alone with him. Do not become bitter or angry with the world instead have empathy, sympathy and love for it. Do not worry yourself with the troubles of the day because we are living with hope of better days. Finally admit you are wrong about some things and try to humble yourself. Pray for clarity, question Church leaders and pray for them. We are no different than you, just a bunch of sinners in need of grace and mercy, we need your prayers. I love my church, Hold Fast Ministries and the global church, and I hope that even when I am wrong my core is right and when I am right that I do not come off arrogant or prideful. I pray that God builds in me and in you all a fire for his truth and a passion for his mercy. This is a dying world and Jesus is the only hpe it has. The awesome part is we are his hands on earth and it is our job to share that hope. So while we are off base, wishy washy, too political, prideful, stupid, arrogant and full of ourselves God loves us anyway and he uses us everyday to do his will. That is awesome!

May God bless you throughout the days of your life!

Amen

A Couple Shows For You!

These are two shows I filmed. the first was the first one I ever filmed and the second was filmed by my video company Floating Boy Media.

Crashdog at Cornerstone 1996

NIV, A Love For Enemies, Bloody Sunday and XLooking ForwardX from 2005