Merry Christmas!

The Millers wish you all a Merry Christmas. May the peace of Jesus Christ reign in your life.

In the picture above, you see my beautiful family. My amazing wife is surrounded by the four cutest kids in the world. This picture was taken at Christina's parents' home in Loachapoka, AL. The kidos are (from left to right) William, Phoebe, Wesley, and Brasher.

ONE...

One Year of Your Life....One Focus....One God....One Person Can Make a Difference.

We've been dreaming......A college student takes a year to be in a mission setting and charts a course for the rest of his life. The student could work at the Mobile Inner City Mission in Mobile, or the Bell Street Mission in Montgomery, or First Place in Pensacola. The idea is for the student to experience a life given away. Nine months would be spent living in unfamiliar surroundings, helping to transform lives and make a difference.

However, the mission work isn't the only purpose. A key to the entire program is a mentor relationship that is established by a pastor of a local church. This mentor serves as a guide, an encouragement, and a sounding board for the student. The covenant is that every week the pastor spends five hours with the student, and the student does eight hours of ministry each week at the local church.

From this experience, the students will be uplifted, inspired, and maybe given more direction and freedom to follow God's lead. They will also be taught leadership and ministry skills.

The students' experiences will be valuable for the church as well. For many decades, the church has farmed out the basic ministries of healing, caring for the poor, and disciple-making to "extension ministries," so that the healing was done by rehab centers, the caring for the poor was done by extraordinary people like Fred Toland and Charles Fail in extraordinary places like the Mobile Inner City Mission, the disciple-making was handed off to youth rallies and college ministries. The church needs to reclaim her ministry. These students can help us find ways to incorporate their mission experiences into the everyday life of the local church.

This is not a new concept. It's done by many organizations in a variety of settings. Can we not do it in the Alabama-West Florida Conference?

More soon......

The Rhythm of the Heart

This post is being inspired by Bach, played by Colleen Kelsey Morton. Colleen is the organist at Dauphin Way. She is phenomenal. She has put together a CD of selected works. One of the selections is Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze."

Now, I'm no conoissuer of fine music. Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, Brad Paisley, John Mayer...that's my speed. I even like Kanye West's "Gold Digger." But, it seems to me that some music is simply anointed by God. I don't know how that works. It wouldn't make sense that God would "like" one song more than others. However, it seems that there are songs in various musical genres that appeal to a variety of people. These songs can even be worshipful, even if that isn't the intent.

On the one hand, you have a song that was written as a song of worship, "Fairest Lord Jesus." The words were written in 1677. The tune for that song which is most familiar to us is ST. ELIZABETH, which was written in 1842. Many, many, many bad songs have been written since then. Yet, "Fairest Lord Jesus" doesn't simply survive. It still evokes tears. It must be anointed.

On the other hand, you have a song that was never intended to be for worship, "Why, Georgia" by John Mayer. It's a simple song about a guy who is not satisfied with where he is, who knows that there is something more out there. It was released in 2001. Yet, it is incredibly truthful and timeless. It must be (dare I say it) anointed.

The church is less and less getting caught in the traditional versus contemporary war. Could it be because we all recognize timeless music. We all recognize that "Fairest Lord Jesus" is anointed, as is Chris Tomlin's "Be Glorified."

Well, what music inspires you? What music do you believe to be anointed?

We've Got a New Neighbor

Last week, we received a letter in the mail from the Police Department. It was a notice that a sex offender was moving into the neighborhood. Right there in front of me was his picture, his description (born in 1975, blonde hair, etc.), the date he was released (end of Sept.), and the crime he committed (rape - second degree). It even says that the victim was 15 years old.

My heart broke when I opened it. For the rest of his life, this man will be known by his neighbors as the rapist. I think that it is wrong that we know this. There are many levels on which this seems wrong to me.

Let me say that I do not intend to trivialize or diminish the harm that done to this victim of second degree rape (probably statutory). However, why do I need to know this? This is not a case of pedophilia. I understand that the overwhelming evidence is that a pedophile cannot be rehabilitated. This case is a rape. As terrible as it is, rape is a crime of power. It is not a sickness.

Also, I know our tendancy as humans is to demonize individuals that scare us. Having the neighbors look at you with contempt must be detrimental to the rehabilitation or healing of this man. Surely, that will only reinforce what the courts have already told him. He's a rapist. That's all he is.

In fact, it's already happened. Not three days after we received the letter, a copy was stapled to every power pole in the neighborhood. Below the picture and description, someone had written, "Are your children safe?" Could we be any more cruel? Every time this man walks out to get the mail, he sees these signs. Actually, he saw these signs. I've taken them down.

We do not live in a Christian nation. If we did, instead of putting signs up to scare my neighbor away, we would invite him to share life with us. In that way, we could offer justice and grace. We could hold him accountable and offer opportunity for healing.

As it is now, we simply tell the monster to go away.

Help me with this. Please.

Eternal VBS

Why can't everyday be like Vacation Bible School?

There are many kids at Dauphin Way this week for VBS at the "Circle G Ranch." There is incredible excitement from the children, from the parents, from the youth who are helping. It seems that it is one of the most focused times of intentional theology that we have. Sure, it may simply be "God loves you" or "Jesus is the way." But VBS is unapologetic in the message and is very intentional about how the message is presented: through song, through hands-on crafts, through focused mission, through creative storytelling.

Some churches have done a great job of taking these various ways of sharing the message and integrating them into the regular program of children's discipleship. That is phenomenal. Create VBS all the time.

Here is my question, though: Adults love VBS, too. Why can't we make VBS for Adults a part of our regular Adult discipleship?

Theological Spectrum

Guy had an interesting post about a week ago. It was about results of test that gauged a person's theology. I took the same test. Below are the results.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 93%
Roman Catholic 79%
Emergent/Postmodern 64%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 64%
Neo Orthodox 64%
Classical Liberal 54%
Reformed Evangelical 54%
Modern Liberal 36%
Fundamentalist 25%

It's fairly interesting and without much surprise. I will say that some of the questions were difficult to answer. For example, I believe the 25% mark on Fundamentalism came from one answer. The question was if I agreed or diagreed with the statement, "God says it. I believe it." I agree totally with that statement. But I might disagree strongly with someone on what God says!

Still, it's an interesting activity.

Technological Jesus

Does Jesus like all of our technology? Does he really care? We have spent thousands of dollars on video equipment. It will do some good stuff. But there is feeling inside of me that the community of Jesus believers should be stripped of everything, except his spirit, his word, and his community.

Hotel Rwanda

We just watched Hotel Rwanda. I know...it's about time. There are two questions that pop up time after time in Hotel Rwanda. Just a short reflection on each.
1. Why would people do this to one another?
After looking at just the past 60 years of history, it seems to me that genocide is a part of our human condition. Well, we'll just start with Hitler. Of course, we also had Idi Amin. And during that 60 years there have been two different cases in the Baltic. This is just to name a few. We are a fallen people. Lord, have mercy on us.

2. Where was the Western world (Europe and US)?
This is an extremely interesting question. I'm not sure that I like the answer, though. We might say that our overall policy was to allow two groups to work out their own problems. Whether we agree with that position or not, it doesn't seem true. Just one year after the genocide in Rwanda, United States planes were bombing Serbia.
Certainly, there are alot of differences between the situations. However, I believe that the biggest difference was the race of the people. Eastern Europe is worth much more to Americans than Africa.
Of course, my first question when anything like this happens is, "Where was the church?" With all of the talk about the movement of the evangelical church in Uganda and other central African countries, where were God's people?

The Radical Moderate

Reading Stanley Hauerwas and listening to Tony Campolo in the same week will get you in trouble.

I've been thinking about how the church is viewed in the world. The world constantly tries to hold the church by its own standards and get the church to buy into its lies.

How about this example: The church says that in a world with such vast resources and with such affluence, no one should be hungry. For that, the church gets labeled "communist." That same church says that children are constantly bombarded by images and language that are unhealthy. The church seeks to do something to put an end to the liscentiousness and crudeness. For that, the church gets labeled "facist." So, which is it? Are we "facist" or "communist?"

I hope that we are simply people who tell the truth. Unfortunately, we have tempered the truth based on the comments of the world. To be seen as a "facist" greatly disturds someone who wants to feed the world. To be seen as a "communist" greatly disturbs someone who wants to call others to holiness. So, the church buys into the world's lie that the two are mutually exclusive.

The Radical Moderate stands in the midst of that tension, seeking to proclaim the truth of the Gospel as revealed in Scripture, through the witness of God's gathered people, and through the movement of God's spirit.

A Community Set Apart

Since I have no idea what to post first, let me start with my last sermon. The following sermon was preached at Dauphin Way United Methodist Church on May 22, 2005.

1 Peter 2:9-12
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

"Once you were not a people; now you are the people of God. Once you received none of God's mercy; now you have received his mercy."

Dear brothers and sisters, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world.

I’ve got to confess: There have been times when I’ve found it hard to tell the truth. My first speeding ticket was earned just blocks from the church. It was just about 14 years ago. Me and my little MGB were going 47 down Dauphin Street (35 was way too slow according to my 16 year old mind). The officer flashed his lights and pulled me over on Homer Street. Hoping that he would show a little leniency, I told the officer that I was just on my way home from church. That was the truth. He didn’t care. My ticket was 80 dollars. But the 80 dollars wasn’t what I was worried about. I had a record! I had been caught breaking the law! Nobody can find out about this!

My parents especially could not know about this. See, I had tickets to a concert, and I was sure they wouldn’t let me go if they knew about the ticket. So, every second of my life for the next four weeks was about trying to find a way to pay for this speeding ticket and not let my parents find out about it. (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!) It wasn’t summer quite yet, and I wasn’t working, so finding 80 dollars was tough, tougher than I thought. Even if I had the money, I wouldn’t know where to take it. Then, I realized that on my ticket, a court date was given. Again, not knowing how speeding tickets got resolved, I thought, “I’ve got to stand before a judge?! For a speeding ticket?! What am I going to do?” To complicate matters more, the court date was the day after the concert!

So, after much contemplation and deep thought, I devised a plan. I would tell my parents about the speeding ticket (this is just perfect) when I got home from the concert. Let’s see, if I got home at midnight…and the court date was at 9:00….I’d still have nine hours.

That’s exactly what I did. When I got home from the concert, they were up, and I laid it
out on the table.

Some of you who know my parents recognize that they are not here this morning. Well, some memories are just too painful. Through the grace of my parents, a judge, and a day’s worth of driving school, all turned out well.

At the heart of the issue was my unwillingness to confess who I was, a sixteen year old who got caught speeding. I was afraid of what the consequences would be. And, yes, I got grounded (the MGB was put up for a while). And, yes, I had to pay for driving school. But, in the end, telling the truth was so much more valuable to me. I experienced a kind of cleansing. Telling the truth will set you free. I recognized, too, that I didn’t have it all together. This 16 year old didn’t know everything.

What got me into real trouble was not the ticket, it was my fear of telling the truth about who I was.

It sounds a little bit like the church to me. I believe that the church has been afraid to tell the truth about who we are. And, we’ve been afraid to claim truth in a world where the greatest sin is narrow-mindedness.

So, what is the church? Well, there are volumes and volumes of work on Ecclesiology, but I believe that the best source for finding out about the purpose of the church can be found in the letters of the New Testament. In those letters of the New Testament, we learn “how to be the church.”

The writer of our text this morning hits on a key understanding of the entire Bible, “The people of God are separate.” They are “foreigners and aliens,” as 1 Peter puts it, in their own land. When we hear the word “holy,” righteous, sinless, spotless are words that usually come to mind. That’s fine, but add to that understanding “holy” as meaning something that is separate, other, set apart for God. The church is, then, God’s community set apart. We have different values from the world, different traditions from the world, different understandings of what is true and what is fulfilling. It is important that we tell the truth about those values, traditions, and ideas of fulfillment.

Nearly everyday, someone will tell me what they have found not to be true and fulfilling: professional success, status, alcohol, the next sexual encounter: these are the lies that the world sells. It is important, then, for us to come together week after week, just as we are now, as an enclave, reaffirm what we know to be true and prepare ourselves for lives lived in a world with a different understanding of fulfillment.

But, we have difficulty telling the truth about who we are. The church (and, in fact, throughout salvation history, God’s people) have always been at their best when they seemed to be the weakest. Relying on God and his victory was imperative to Moses in Egypt, the Israelites when battling the Philistines, and the early church when they were being martyred. We don’t do quite as well when we have some sense of power other than God. The Crusades are an example. Even today, we won’t tell the truth about who we are because we fear that the small place that we have at the cultural table now will be taken from us. Instead of saying that we are a community set apart by God in order to (as 1 Peter says), “show others the goodness of God, for he called us out of the darkness into his wonderful light,” instead of telling the truth about who we are, we seek to look as much like the culture as possible, thereby supporting the lies of the world.

Our churches run on business models that make perfect sense and are highly successful in the business world. No wonder the history of embezzlement in the church is no better than that in the business world. Nevermind the fact that the church’s financial stability is based on faithfulness and discipleship.

For centuries, the church has looked to the sciences to evaluate its own faith story, attempting to explain extraordinary stories like creation and the flood by the world’s avenues. Nevermind that we have an extraordinary God who has an extraordinary story for us to be a part of.

In recent years, the church has become more consumer driven, so that in worship, in book stores, and in movies, what people see in church looks like what they see in the world. Nevermind that the assumptions of the church challenge the assumptions of the world.
I’ve always thought that the world was supposed to look more like the church. Well, it seems that the church is continuing to look more and more like the world.

And God cries out, “You are my chosen people, a kingdom of priests, my holy nation, my very own possession. Once you were not a people; now, you are my people.”
We need to tell the truth about ourselves, set ourselves apart.

So, Brian, are you suggesting isolationism. No, not at all. I’m simply saying that we must be better about breaking down the lies of the world and speaking the truth.

We have an example here in Mobile. Too many teens die in automobile accidents where alcohol is involved, too many. Yet the church is silent. Sure, we prayed for William Mitchell while he was in the hospital, and we continue to pray for his family in their loss. But, we fail to speak truth and shine light on why parents continue to suffer and children like William Mitchell continue to die at such a high rate.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to get over our fear of being discounted so that we can fulfill his promise of being relevant and life changing.

My problem when I was 16 wasn’t my speeding ticket. My problem was my unwillingness to tell the truth that the ticket belonged to me. In the church, the problem isn’t the gospel message. The problem is our unwillingness to tell the truth that the gospel message belongs to us.

So, our invitation from God is to be his church, his community set apart. Stephen Everett Greenleaf IV and Ellen Clarke Doyle are being baptized into the church today. Our invitation is to live before them the truth of the Gospel so that they will recognize the lies of the world. Our invitation is to tell the truth about who we are, “for he has called us our of the darkness and into his wonderful light.”

And here is the good news: Truths are like lies in one way, the more you tell, the easier they get.

Let us pray: Oh, Lord, source of all wisdom, teach us to tell the truth about who we are and about who you are, so that others will see your goodness and so that the world might look like your church. In Christ’s Holy Name we pray, AMEN.