Barberland

The majority of my adult life I have been a moviephile. I love watching movies and engaging in their story. I especially love it when movies explore issues of spirituality and challenge me in my thinking. As I have grown older, and hopefully more mature, I have begun to appreciate documentaries more as well. I am assuming that around the time that the switch gets clicked where parents begin to look smart is around the same time that documentaries begin to offer some appeal.

After finishing some of my schoolwork for this week and next, I watched a documentary called “Barberland” about the barber profession. In my lifetime, I have known two barbers personally. One was the father of an elementary school friend and the other was a church member in my former church. Thinking back on them both now, they seemed to have been cut from the same mold: both gentle, kind, warm, compassionate, and easy to talk to.

The film was fascinating as it highlighted barbers in the United States from coast to coast. Interestingly enough, a number of the barbers were from San Francisco. Not sure what it is about San Francisco, but their barbers were not afraid to talk on camera. Many of them told their stories, how they came to become barbers, what they liked about the profession, whether or not they would ever retire, and various other things. The turning point for many of them in the barbering world was when the Beatles came on the scene in the 60’s. From that point forward, they needed to adapt to a changing society. Flat tops and crew cuts became passé and “Beatles cuts” became standard.

The barbers talked about how they loved what they did, they loved their customers, and they didn’t feel that they were simply customers, but family as well. They see their jobs as low-stress. A number of them highlighted a statistic that said that among professions with the longest life spans, barbering was among the highest. They love what they do and as someone once told me, “Find a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Towards the end of the film, many of the barbers expressed their opinion that barbering is a dying profession. They encounter barbers in their 40’s and 50’s and older, but there are no barbers in their 20’s and 30’s. As I heard that statistic, I wondered to myself whether or not any of them had seen the movie “Barbershop” or “Barbershop 2” with Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer. While they are fictitious movies, the majority of the barbers portrayed within the film were in their 20’s and 30’s.

It seems that barbering is headed in the direction that so many things go in our fast-paced society. It may be destined for distinction. That concept keeps emerging in my life lately as I look around. After spending some time on the phone speaking with someone in a similar predicament, I recalled “The Shawshank Redemption” and the character of Brooks. Here was a man who had been behind bars the majority of his adult life and when he was finally released from prison, the world outside the bars had not stopped. He was ill-prepared to meet that world and was unable to face it and cope.

Change is hard. While I do know some “change junkies” in my life, they are the exception more than the rule. More often I encounter people who loathe change and while they may not say it this succinctly, they fear it. The world changes and they want nothing more than to find stability somewhere. Ironically, this attitude continues within the Church as well. I say ironically, because as followers of Jesus, change is who we are.

Transformation has become a buzz word within the Church. We are called to be transformed by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2. Many books on preaching emphasize that preaching can be informative or transformative.

Jesus was all about the “new.” He came to make all things new. In Luke 5, Jesus speaks these words in verses 36-39, “He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” This passage is sandwiched in Luke between accounts of Jesus challenging the “norm” of the day. All of the laws that had been held to were being challenged. Jesus was changing everything.

And that’s how it should be when we encounter him too, everything should change. We are no longer the same, everything is different. I’m reminded of a song by Jason Gray called “I Am New” of which the lyrics of the chorus are, “I am not who I was, I am being remade, I am new. I am chosen and holy and I’m dearly loved, I am new.” Jesus came to make all things new, that includes us.

So, the question is, will we be open to the transformation? Will we be destined for distinction because of a refusal to change or will we be open to the change that God has to do in us?

In Between Days

I was listening to the Cure the other day, and my brain was sparked by hearing their song "In Between Days." I feel like I am always between things, coming and going, never ceasing or resting. Right now I am between school quarters, gearing myself up to start into another quarter within the next 10 days. Until the other day, I was between Christmas and New Year’s, and we have traveled many miles in the past 5 days on our way to visit family.

When I find myself “in between” it seems that I always want to be here or there. I find it hard to exist in the in between. I feel unsettled and unresolved, waiting to move backward or forward. At the same time, this tension of the “in between” is something that I feel like I am being forced to embrace. The reality of life is that we are always somewhere in between. We find ourselves to be students and teachers, givers and receivers, children and parents, beginners and experts.

Considering that those transitional and in between states are where we spend most of our lives, should we not embrace them? Instead of quickly wanting to rush to the next thing, should we really stop and embrace the process? After all, growth happens through process, not through an instantaneous happening.

I am reminded in the midst of these “in between” days that I am between worlds as well. I long for my eternal home and yet need to find solace where I am. I am an exile, one who is without a home and I need to heed the words of Jeremiah to the exiles from Israel to “seek the peace and prosperity” of the place where I am planted at this moment.

Worrying over my “in between” state will not get me out of it any faster. Ignoring what is happening around me will do more damage than good. So, I find myself having to embrace the “in between.” I need to keep my eyes fixed on things in front of me and yet live in the moment, realizing that yesterday was the day before’s tomorrow, and today was yesterday’s tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, it will be today, and the days will continue to pass. Do I lament the passing of those days or do I embrace them as they come, regardless of whether I feel “in between” or not.

Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” If we persist, we will reap a harvest for what we are doing. If we do not give up, we will see the rewards of our labor.

Rather than going into the New Year making resolutions that I will never keep, I would much rather move into each new day with the expectation that I will make the most of it, whether I’m “in between” or not. May you find rest and solace in today and seek out the peace and prosperity of wherever you are. May you realize that the work that God has begun in you has made a little bit more progress today and that it will continue to do so. May you seek to live your “in between days” without dwelling in the past or getting lost in the future.

A Broken Toy Christmas

One year, when my brother and I were probably about 11 and 7, respectively, we had been pretty terrible in the months leading up to Christmas. We were constantly fighting and getting at each other and my parents had constantly warned us that if we didn't stop, "Santa" would be bringing us nothing but broken, old toys for Christmas. As was usually the case, we assumed that our parents were kidding and that they would never even dream of withholding presents from us at Christmas. After all, everyone should get presents, right?

Well, Christmas morning approached and there was no improvement in our behavior. So, when we woke up on Christmas morning and went out to the Christmas tree, all that we found underneath was a pile of broken and old toys with a note that said something to the effect of, "You've been naughty, and here's what you get!"

Needless to say, we were devastated. Me being the younger of the two of us, I think that I was probably more so. I remember whining and crying and trying to convince my parents that this was unfair and unjust (trying to capitalize on the biblical notion of justice). Finally, after my parents had felt that their point had been sufficiently made, they went to a closet and pulled out all of the "real" presents. We were overjoyed with this gracious act, telling our parents that we knew all along that they would never do this to us, while secretly taking in a deep sigh of relief.

My parents just sent me a bunch of pictures from that Christmas and the one here shows my brother and me in our state of dismay and disbelief, me wiping the tears from my eyes. The funny thing is, I had just recounted the story to some people at our work Christmas party the week before. It has always stayed with me.

Now, parenting experts may call the exercise cruel and unjust, some people may think that it was harsh, and to be frank, I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about it. My leaning is towards the fact that my parents showed my brother and I an incredible amount of grace. What we deserved, based on our actions and behavior, was the broken toys. What they gave us were the presents that showed that despite our imperfections, they loved us.

I didn't have to go through years of counseling to get over this and yet I still remember the Christmas vividly. In a lot of ways, I can't help but connect what my parents did to what God did for us when he send Jesus to the world. The history of God's people is full of stubborn and obstinate people who thought that regardless of their behavior, a loving God would never turn his back on them and would never mete out justice on them. They were right, but someone still had to pay the price. That someone was Jesus. He is the gift of grace that God gave to us. When we deserved nothing but "broken and old toys" God gave us the best thing that he had to offer: his only son.

As I raise my boys, I hope and pray that I can instill in them the fact that Christmas isn't about getting what we deserve, it's about receiving the gift of grace from God. Christmas isn't about all the commercialism that is preached at us from Black Friday on, it's the realization that no gift could ever compare to what we receive in and through Christ.

May we come to the realization that the best thing that we can get and give is the news of this gift of grace. May our hearts always be reminded of what we deserve and be thankful of what we receive instead through grace.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas

I listen to a lot of music. That's probably an understatement. Since it's a good part of what I do in my job, you might say that I get paid for listening to music. Of course, it's so much more than that, but I do have to preview music to see whether or not I can appropriately introduce it to our church congregation.

As a kid, my brother and I were forbidden to listen to music that fell outside of the realm of "Christian." Consequently, my brother and I are now complete music "freaks." He has a vinyl record collection that continues to grow daily and I have a CD collection that is ever inching towards the three millenium mark. Both of us have grown to be "music snobs" in some ways and I think that we are comfortable enough to be willing to admit that.

The best musicians that I have encountered are ones who are fairly diverse in their taste. I always enjoy asking people what they listen to and hearing the response, "Anything." I take that as a challenge! Do they like metal? Rap? Hip hop? Classical? I usually find out that "anything" means, "anything but that." I truly listen to a wide array of music: classical, soundtracks, Broadway, folk, rock, folk-rock, classic rock, heavy metal, hip hop, and the list continues.

When I was growing up, music was a big part of who I was. My mom introduced me to the Carpenters who got me through a lot of difficult times in my freshman year of college. I loved listening to the Andrews Sisters sing "Mr. Sandman." Although my mom's collection wasn't vast, it introduced me to some classic music which I still embrace.

As my love for music grew, I was particularly moved every Christmas at the sheer volume of music that was available. Everyone who was anyone had released a Christmas album, which is not to say that they were all good, but they were there nonetheless. Because of the sheer volume of music that was available, it was easy to get sidetracked into some pretty bad releases. Looking at my Christmas music collection, people who know me would not be surprised to find Bob Dylan's Christmas album or the Carpenters Christmas album. But there are some gems in there like Kenny Loggins' "December" and the soundtrack for "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

I pretty much start listening to Christmas music in July or August. It again goes back to the nature of my job in that if I don't get a jump on Christmas during the summer, I'm pretty much going to be "winging it" during the months of Fall. In fact, one of the songs that we are working on for Christmas this year is a song that I discovered a few weeks before Christmas last year. Music is always on my mind and while I love the classics, I am always anxious and interested in hearing something that's new and different.

When my wife and I lived in Asheville, North Carolina, we had friends from Connecticut who had migrated to Charlotte. My wife was finishing her Master's degree in counseling at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Charlotte, so we would spend a good deal of time in Charlotte for my wife to take classes and for me to spend time with our friends, searching the used CD stores around Charlotte for deals.

As my friend, John, and I were driving one night to the store, he had a CD in his car that we were listening to. Now John is not a singer (sorry, John) but this CD had him wanting to belt out the music. As I waded past my friend's slightly off-key singing, I listened closely to the music and was struck by the sheer musicianship of the artist. John is pretty critical, like me, and I knew that if this was something that he embraced, it might require a second look. So, I asked him who it was and he told me that it was an album called "Behold the Lamb of God" by Andrew Peterson. It was a song cycle about the birth of Christ.

Like me, Peterson is a pastor's kid. So, I feel a connection to him immediately. I went home and ordered the CD. When it arrived, I listened to it from start to finish (unheard of in these days of iPods and MP3 players). After I finished it, I listened to it again, and again, and again. I was captivated by the power of story and how Peterson had weaved the story of Jesus together, incorporating the Old and New Testaments. I'm fairly critical of music (although some would question that as I am a Bob Dylan fan....but whatever!) and beginning to end, this album was superb. The lyrics and melodies were well-crafted, the songs all connected with each other and with me. The album immediately became a staple in my Christmas music collection.

I eventually found out that every year, Peterson tours the country and as Christmas approaches, he plays through the entire song cycle of "Behold the Lamb of God." He also plays at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with special guests. I purchased a DVD of one of his Ryman concerts and watched in awe with tears coming to my eyes, moved by the sheer power of story, especially the life-altering and world-changing story of Jesus.

Tomorrow night I get the opportunity to experience "Behold the Lamb of God" with some friends. I hope that I have not talked it up too much, but if it has near the impact on them that it has had on me, then I expect nothing less than transformation for the Christmas season for all of them. Aside from the lyrics, music, and incredible talent of all who play and sing, the most important part of this album is that it helps me to remember why I am celebrating Christmas. It's not to get lots of presents, to make sure that my kids get everything they want, or to see some fat guy in a red suit. I celebrate because God saw fit to bring Shalom into my world by offering his son, Jesus, as the greatest gift that anyone could receive. A baby was born, and that baby changed the world. "Behold the Lamb of God" is all about that baby, but more importantly, about how that baby turned everything upside down when he became a man.

As you go into this Christmas season, if you are a lover of music, I would seriously encourage you to check out "Behold the Lamb of God." I would be very surprised if it didn't have an impact on you. After all, it's not necessarily about the music, it's about Jesus!

Here's the link to the album:

https://store.rabbitroom.com/music/behold-the-lamb-of-god-10th-anniversary-2-disc-set

Stop and Listen

I was reading through 1 Thessalonians 5 this morning and I came to verses 16-22. I laughed to myself because it almost seemed as if Paul had gotten so caught up in his letter-writing that he realized he had to end the letter and was saying a lot in a short amount of time.

Paul writes in those verses, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”

As I read it, I thought that I could probably park on these few verses for a long time because they say so much with so few words. What does it mean to be joyful always? How do we express that? Why do we seem to confuse joy and happiness? How would it look if we allowed ourselves to be joyful verses forcing ourselves to be happy?

Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to pray continually. What does that mean? How does that look when I am driving my car? If we look at prayer as communication, isn’t the most effective communication consistent communication? What happens when we try to pray sporadically?

We are to give thanks in all circumstances. That means we’re not to reserve our thankfulness and gratefulness for one holiday each year, we need to be continually thankful and grateful. When we are thankful and grateful continually, we will have a much different experience when we encounter difficulties in our lives than if we only mustered up thankfulness and gratefulness once in a while.

“Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” What does this look like? We don’t mindlessly accept everything that comes our way, we instead test it in light of what God says to us. We also don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, when we encounter something, we seek the Truth of God in the midst of it, and we hold onto that Truth. We avoid every kind of evil, even the appearance of evil.

Advent has always seemed to be a fairly reflective time of year for me. As we await the coming of our Savior, do we wait with anticipation, being joyful, praying continually, and giving thanks? When he comes, how will he find us? Will he find us expecting him or hoping that he would show up a little later? During this Advent season, prepare your hearts for the celebration of the coming of Jesus. We celebrate his coming the first time and we await his return. Glory to God in the highest!

Remembering

I have the privilege of preaching next weekend as we kick off the Advent season. We are starting off talking about hope and the gift of fulfilled promises. As I have been contemplating the message and what God wants me to communicate, I have been reminded of the necessity to remember where we have been in the past to see hope for the future.

As I have been reading and researching, I came across Elie Wiesel's lecture that he gave in 1986 when he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Having survived the Nazi concentration camps, Wiesel had quite a story. It was difficult, he said, to conceive of Auschwitz with God and equally difficult to conceive of it without God. He said that they could have forgotten the past, but that was not an option. He said:

Remembering is a noble and necessary act. The call of memory, the call to memory, reaches us from the very dawn of history. No commandment figures so frequently, so insistently, in the Bible. It is incumbent upon us to remember the good we have received, and the evil we have suffered. New Year's Day, Rosh Hashana, is also called Yom Hazikaron, the day of memory. On that day, the day of universal judgment, man appeals to God to remember: our salvation depends on it. If God wishes to remember our suffering, all will be well; if He refuses, all will be lost. Thus, the rejection of memory becomes a divine curse, one that would doom us to repeat past disasters, past wars.

Now, I have not had near the experience that Wiesel did. I cannot even imagine the horrors that he and so many others experienced at the hands of merciless human beings. I am grateful though for the insight that he has, for having gone through what he did and sharing it with others. My difficulties seem so small in comparison, yet my difficulties have shaped me to be who I am.

I was remembering back to when my oldest son was just born. His bilirubin numbers were low and he looked a little jaundiced, so we had to get a bilirubin light for him to "cook" under. He remained under the light for a good portion of the day. As new parents, we were unable to pick up and hold our new son, except to change him or feed him. As my wife and I stood there with our days-old infant and our days-old experience of parenting, we held each other and cried. Everything was new to us and this seemed far from normal. How could we get through this?

Of course, hundreds of thousands of parents had experienced situations with their newborns that were far worse than ours were, but we had not had those experiences. Although we knew that there were many who had experiences that were far more severe and extreme than our own, in the midst of experience, it's hard to get that kind of perspective. All that we knew was what we were experiencing at that moment. We held on to each other, to our faith, and finally, to the assurances of people who had walked this road before us, that everything was going to be fine.

I wonder what we would have done had we not had the luxury of people who had walked the same path who were willing to share in our journey. Part of our maneuvering through these "rough" waters was through the remembering of friends and family who had stood where we stood. We learned the importance of community and sharing life together, but we also learned the importance of listening to the experience of others. We also counted ourselves fortunate and blessed for the fairly minor issue that our newborn was experiencing, much more minor than what some of our friends and family had experienced with their own little ones.

As we look into this Advent season, the season of waiting and expecting the coming Messiah, are we remembering what God has done in the past? Do we see his provision and faithfulness? Do we realize, in the midst of dark days, that others have negotiated these waters before us and survived? God's word through the prophets to the exiles was of hope, of a future, of redemption. May we never forget that God has made a way for our redemption, are we willing to receive it? We have a hope, we have a future, if we rest in the One who has provided us with the means to redemption, for us and the world.

Emotional Health, Part II

This is Part II of a two-part post on emotional health based on a paper that I wrote:

There will be sometimes when, despite his love and mercy, God will allow us to be afflicted and encounter difficult situations. The psalmist finds himself surrounded by bulls and roaring lions, poured out like water, weak, thirsty, and near death. These crucibles in our lives can bring growth and maturity. The psalmist asks the question of the Lord, "How long?" Only the Lord can determine the length of severity of our trials, but he will use them for our benefit. As James says in his letter in the Bible, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Despite his difficulties, David controlled what he was able to and released what he could not. McCloskey writes that David "dealt with his pain by embracing it and moving through it, not denying it or going around it." God uses these times in our lives, although we may not be aware of it, and sometimes these difficulties are the very things that are necessary in order for us to do the work that is required for a change to occur in our lives.

In the midst of these difficulties in our lives, we also must realize that others see us and our reaction to difficulty. The psalmist knows that there are those who are seeking his demise and who know of his relationship with the Lord; he has become a testimony to the One whom he serves. We see in Psalm 22 that David does not cease praising and worshiping the Lord even during his difficulties, He continues to revere the Lord and shows us our final lesson.

The essential way to move through difficulties is to find our hope, our strength, and our confidence in our relationship with God; we put our faith, trust, and assurance in God. In Psalm 6:9 the psalmist knows with confidence that his cry has been heard by God. Psalm 22 ends with a song of God's faithfulness to the afflicted ones. The psalmist acknowledges that his soul is downcast and his inward being is disturbed, but he is encouraged to put his hope in God and to praise him in Psalm 42.

Successful leaders realize that God has given them a certain amount of ability and strength but they also know that he is their greatest asset, for without him they can accomplish nothing. The psalmists in these three Psalms speak of God's faithfulness, God's listening ear to cries for mercy, and their own history of faithful worship. Elsewhere in the Psalms, Asaph writes, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

The Psalms give us a picture into the emotional state of those who wrote them. We see them expressing their emotions, unafraid of being authentic and transparent. There is a stark realization within the psalmists that they are testimonies to God's grace and faithfulness, even in the midst of difficulties. As they lead people, it is not only through their own personal victories and success, but also their failures and difficulties. The way in which these difficulties and the emotions that are felt during them are handled can measure our emotional maturity. The difficulties have the ability to not only shape those who are going through them, but others who observe as well.

Despite difficulties and what may sometimes appear as a God who is not listening, we must find our hope in him; He is the source of our strength. The psalmists always came to rest in this truth, finding comfort and assurance there and reminding themselves of the history of God's faithfulness to his people.