It’s no secret that this world is in a bit of a messy place. From natural disasters to a global pandemic to racial issues to concerns about violence to political betrayals and the list goes on and on. It’s no wonder the world is more divided than ever before! It’s no wonder that everyone is feeling the effects of this past 12 months in some way, shape or form.
But how do we fix it? How do we heal this broken land? How do we right what is wrong and turn this ship around?
This week’s music monday is about the healing that’s needed in our land and an idea for how to move beyond where we are to a place of healing. I’m going to let this song speak for itself. I hope you enjoy.
What in the world is happening? We were all hoping that 2020 would end and the stupidity, division and fear that it brought would end as the ball lit up on New Year’s Eve. We hoped that 2021 would bring change. That different would come. Well we got change. We got different so now what?
As a culture we’re bent on violence and destruction. Yes both sides of the aisle. All of us will gravitate to our version of right and wrong. We’ll side with the people who express our views most clearly. We’ll find wrong in the people who look different than us. We’ll condemn those who don’t react the way want them to react. But really? Is this the world we want to hand to our children?
Where do we go from here?
In 2020 men and women who were upset with the way they were treated rioted in the streets and burned down homes. They killed people in broad daylight as their means of protesting. As the calendar changed to a new year, we were met with another group who didn’t like the answer they received and gave into the temptation to move from a protest to a riot. Neither are right. Neither are American. Neither depict being one nation, under God, indivisible.
This country is not perfect. We have broken leadership on both sides of the aisle. The very ones calling for peace today were silent when violence destroyed cities across America this summer. Those who are silent today decried the violence all year. You can’t have it both ways.
You can’t destroy the lives of men and women, terrorize their families, and burn down people’s livelihoods. You can’t sit idly by until the story line shifts to your agenda then start to speak. But honestly where do we go from here? Can this whole thing be redeemed?
The short answer is yes and no.
No, we can’t change what happened. We can’t change the devastation wrought on our country by thugs and evil doers whether in the summer months through racial riots or last night in political ones. Whether they are organized in movements or in ad-hoc groups of people or just proposed random acts of violence – it all is downright evil and we need to stand up for what is right.
Where do we go from here? To be honest there is only one way to fix what’s broken. And it’s going to sound cliche to say the very least. The answer is prayer. Now before you write me off as some bible thumping right wing pastor who’s trying to capitalize on this moment give me a second.
When we pray in a moment like this, there’s no room for blame. When we pray in a moment like this there’s no earthly savior to whom we can pledge our allegiance. In prayer we bend to the ground. In prayer we humble ourselves. In prayer we don’t see one man or woman as better or worse than another. In prayer we are the broken, we are the problem and we can be the solution.
Prayer is the act of bending our will to God’s plan. On January 20, 2021 we will witness the inauguration of the next president of this nation. Some of you will be elated because you think this man will save America and unite this people. Some of you will be upset that your guy didn’t get in. Well let me tell you something. Neither one will do anything that God doesn’t allow him to do. Your “guy” won’t save America.
So what’s the answer? Where do we go from here? Down, on our knees and pray. We need to stop the finger pointing and starting the hand folding. We need to stop looking at our neighbors like they’re the enemy and love them like they’re people too. The only answer now is prayer. Not a prayer to have your man become president. If you pray that prayer you’ve missed the point! The prayer we pray is for God’s will to be done no matter what we think.
So friends put on the knee pads and pray. Get down and humble yourself. Stop throwing social media bombs at one another and I told you so’s and he could have done better or she would have handled this differently. You’re just as much the problem as those who tried to burn our country down this past 12 months.
What part did you play in the problem? Where did you not love your neighbor? Where did you fail to see someone different than you as your brother or sister? What can you do better to fix the little slice of the world in which you live? Pray for that.
A New Year typically brings time for a reset. We start a year with goals and ideas and images of the new you that you’d like to see in the new year. But this new year I imagine is a little different. We all made plans for 2020 and most of them really didn’t pan out the way we had planned!
As we kick off 2021, we’re slowing down a bit here at Living Word and looking back to see forward. Our series in church as we kick off the new year is all about getting a fresh reset. Sometimes we reset because there’s a problem. Sometimes we reset because we just feel the need for a fresh perspective. Whatever the reason, doing a little reset is a very good way to start a brand new year.
The first stop in the reset series is to compare old verses new. There’s nothing wrong with the old. And you don’t want to move onto something new just because you are easily bored. But evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of where you’ve been will better prepare you for what adjustments you need to make moving forward.
Jesus did something similar in Mark 12. He took the people of his day back to the Old Testament so they could better see why he was there and what he was going to accomplish. Our first message in this series looks at the rules of the Old Testament then gives them a fresh perspective. Perhaps this was the original intent to start with and we missed the point all along? Perhaps the reset was needed to help bring deeper meaning to the truths they had known since long ago?
Whatever the reason, Jesus brought a hard reset to the way the first century followers of God saw life. And I think we’re due for that same reset today!
As we begin a new year it’s time to bury the old and put on the new. The old said we weren’t enough. The old said we didn’t have what it took to thrive. The old said we’d never measure up. But what does the new say?
The bible tells us to put off the old and put on the new. To let the old ways die the pitiful death they deserve. But we are then to clothe ourselves in new things. The new things are the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God. The new says that even though the world will tell you that you’re not enough, Christ says you are His and that’s more than enough.
This week’s MusicMonday is all about reminding the old ways, reminding the devil, and reminding yourself that none of that stuff has any hold on you. Today is about losing the chains that once held you back and striving for what lies ahead.
Enjoy the first MusicMonday of 2021! Lose the chains. And live the life Christ has in store for you today!
I know this song is an annual hit for me. On this Christmas Eve, I want you to know how important this song is to me. Every year for Christmas I listen to this song over and over and this version of it just takes it to a whole new level.
The song Little Drummer Boy is pretty simple and there’s not a lot to it to be honest. It started out as a song that was a little boy playing a drum and singing his simple song because that’s all he had to offer. Over time this song has been filled with a lot of extra fun stuff but the gist remains. It’s about a simple song with a crude instrument that some find annoying.
The joke in my family whenever someone has a child is that we’re going to buy that child a drum set just because you can’t turn a drum volume down and getting started it’s just a lot of pounding that makes very little sense.
But the song Little Drummer Boy reminds me a lot of who we are at Christmas time. We decorate our homes and turn on the extra lights. We make a mess while we make cookies and wrap our presents. But all of that, no matter how great you are at baking or wrapping or any of it. All of it is nothing if we don’t just play our drum.
Playing our drum means that we use the gifts God has given us to the best of our ability. We lead. We sing. We dance. We preach. We work on cars. We play sports. We paint. We love on people. Whatever it is use it. Play the drum. It may not sound like much but it’s your song. It’s the song He wants to hear from you!
So turn up the volume. Crank up the bass. And listen as these guys play with everything they have the song God gave them to play.
There are some songs that just push you over the edge. Songs without which you would have a hard time seeing the season of Christmas in its fullest. This song is probably one of my favorite songs for Christmas. But not just any version of this song. Every year on Christmas Eve at the church I serve we are gifted with this song by one of our members.
Now, you have to understand most churches can’t get Amy Grant to sing for them every Christmas. And we are one of those churches that can’t have this pop Christian singer songwriter with us in person. But what we do have is far better in my book. Susan has been with Living Word for longer than I have been here. She’s been gifted with the ability to sing like no one I’ve met. She’s one of those talented people that drive you nuts because she doesn’t need to practice and still sounds better than most people who practice all the time! I only wish I had her recorded singing this so you could enjoy it as much as I do! But if you join us for our Christmas Eve services, you will get to hear her sing. And if you’re lucky she’ll sing this song.
The song Breath of Heaven is sung from the perspective of Mary as she travels to give birth to the baby Jesus. She is in awe of her chosen status. She’s terrified to be a mom. She’s fearful of being the earthly mother to the Son of God. She needs the breath of God to breathe into and for her so that she can have peace on the very first Christmas.
I pray this very Breath of Heaven falls upon you and fills you as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus. May you offer to God all that you are as He fills you with all that He is.
Every day this week I’m going to highlight a Christmas song that is either a favorite of mine or one that’s been suggested. Today’s song is really outside of my genre of choice, but it was suggested so here you go. Let it be Christmas! Who wouldn’t want the magic of Christmas to last all year!
I mean really if you think about it something happens in most people at Christmas time. They get happier. People are more kind. We show our love more intentionally. We’re generous. We’re more together. Who wouldn’t want that?
Now before some of my Jesus following friends go too far with the whole magic of Christmas idea. No I’m not saying the magic of reindeer and jolly old Saint Nick. I’m not talking about some weird form of sacrilegious magical incantations. I’m talking about the magical way that Christmas makes us feel! So let it be Christmas!
Let is be Christmas in your home and all around the world. Let the magic of Christmas transform your sadness to joy, loneliness to the company of all the family and friends. Let it be Christmas wherever you are!
Have you ever experienced one of those moments that you didn’t want to end? We call those forever moments. They happen once in a lifetime, or if you’re lucky you’ll get a few of these. They start off simple and yet something about those moments make you never want to let go. What’s your most recent forever moment?
This year as we make our final push toward Christmas, we know that things in our lives have been different to say the least. Even Christmas this year is sure to be something different than in every year past. But what would it take for this Christmas to be one of your forever moments? What would it take for you to see past the disturbing events of this year, beyond the disruption to your Christmas normal to find something truly worth holding onto this year?
Today’s MusicMonday is a new song to me but the message is important enough that we need to hear it today. Forever Amen. Christmas was God’s forever amen moment. It was the moment when everything he had promised throughout the Bible came to fulfillment. Christmas was never just about Christmas. The point of Christmas wasn’t just about a baby’s birth. It was so much bigger! It was the start of a forever moment that would be God’s gift to you and me.
Simply put media can suck the life out of us. I don’t mean mainstream media necessarily. I’m talking media of all sorts! From movies to tv shows and social media to games on our phones and computers these things can be colossal time sucks! And time is our most precious asset. We can’t make more of it. When we squander it, it’s gone. And we have a limited supply of it.
Be wise in how you use your media time. Today’s weekly habit is to create a system to organize and monitor how much media time you’re actually indulging in. Then setting healthy boundaries and limits on what is right for your particular situation.
Now I can hear some people saying that they’re not doing anything wrong on their devices or when they watch tv so why is it a problem? Well, think of it this way, you don’t have to be doing something wrong to be missing something good.
Practical Steps
Use your screen time function on your cell phone or tablet to help you see how much time you are spending on different forms of media.
Make a list of your go to forms of media and how much time you think is reasonable to spend on each one. Add up all the times to see how much time you’ll be giving to your technology.
Turn off autoplay on your video streaming devices.
Set timers for how long you will be on a device and stop when the timer goes off. No excuses.
Our technology is a wonderful tool and a great asset. These things can really provide the breaks in our day that we need and allow us to shift our focus to something mundane for a needed break. But they can also be a terrible waste of time that we will never get back. Be mindful of who and what you’re giving your precious time to!
For the past week or so we’ve looked at four different daily habits we can start right now to help improve our outlook on life and help us manage some of the challenges we face. Now we turn to some key habits that aren’t really feasible to be done daily but more on a weekly basis. All of these eight habits in total can be started in whatever sequence you’d like. None of them are magic, but they are all things that can be very beneficial if done intentionally.
One of the greatest blessings in life is having good friends! A really good friend can be a rock to lean on when times are tough. A shoulder to cry on when sadness strikes. Someone to laugh with at the good times. Someone to sing off key with to the favorite song on the radio. And someone to just talk to who will help keep you grounded in life. That’s today’s habit actually.
Time to Talk
Having a good friend is great but making time for that friend to share your good times and bad times is really important. Today’s habit is about intentionally setting aside time to talk to a friend for about an hour a week. This can be one friend for an hour or a couple of friends for shorter times, but don’t cut these conversations too short!
Practically speaking you can do all sorts of things. You can schedule this as a time to talk face to face over coffee or supper. You can make this conversation happen while exercising. If you’re married, then you can have this weekly conversation as a couple. However it works best for you is how you should do it.
The point of this weekly conversation with a friend is to just talk and catch up on life. So take a few minutes to list out the friends who you truly value. Then set times to call them to catch up. You can talk to the same person each week or a different friend each week. Just feed your soul with a good conversation with a great friend and enjoy all this life has to offer as you do life together.
