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movin’ on up
im moving again, my newest blog can be found at http://mikecelebrating.wordpress.com/
Cheers!
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On Being Santa
It’s funny. I was not at all excited to don the Santa suit and head over to our adopted elementary today. It was a push for taking pics with the teachers (which is why we were there) but watching the looks on the faces of the kids was priceless. Several stood out to me.
The ESL (English as a second language) class amazed me. They were totally excited and saying all sorts of things to me in Spanish and I didn’t understand a word, but I understood what my costume represented to them. When I said “Feliz Navidad” to them, they gave me smiles I’ll keep forever.
The Special Ed class was the most over the top glee filled bunch I’ve ever seen. A high five and picture with Santa looked to be the most amazing thing they’d seen. Pure, unfiltered, joyfully happiness.
The cool kids who didn’t believe in Santa cracked me up. They all had some snarky comment like “where’s the reindeer” and “oh that beard is fake” but you could see a look of doubt when I waved and said “Merry Christmas.” The cool calm exterior cracked just a little bit and most of them actually smiled.
The itty bitty’s. The Kindergarten and Pre-K kiddos were my favorites. One was so transfixed on the big guy on the stage that she almost ran into a lunch table. The belief. The hope. The excitement building. It was the essence of Advent and Christmas and made my day.
All in all it was a great trip. Even if you don’t think a guy lives at the north pole and sends toys to everyone, I’ve seen the power of what Santa represents. Its a beautiful thing.
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Los Whit →
This post has been stuck in my head for days. too good not to share.
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law and gospel
At least once a week, pastor comes into the office and has us pick a number between 1-150. Its a fun exercise and the number is the correlating psalm that we read. This week was Psalm 31.
He began reading:
“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does he not see my ways and count every step?”
Now, I love the Psalms but after another 35 verses I felt like God not only was bringing his judgement, but I needed to get my act in gear. I felt convicted in a way the law convicts our hearts to make very evident that we are royally screwed without the grace of God. Turns out, he read Job 31 instead.
I’m glad he did. I focus too much on the happy clappy side of Scripture. Truth is, on my own, I am up the proverbial creek. My weakness and my shortcomings and all of the shit that builds up is overwhelming. Every day I look around and I know in my heart that “ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong” is coming my way, because its deserved.
Then I got curious. I looked up Psalm 31 and the first verse said this:
“In you, Lord, i have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.”
Amen. How beautiful a verse to remind me that even in the midst of my own brokenness, I am made new in the refuge of the Lord. We are given the promise of grace that reminds us that while we totally deserve all of the punishment we got coming to us, Jesus justified our sins. Ephesians tells us “By grace you are saved, this is not by works but it is a gift of God so that no one can boast.”
Thank God we have a savior who walks with us. In my own darkness and sin, we can still be in the light. Happy thoughts today folks. Be convicted. Be redeemed. Be you.
Cheers, Mike.
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Question
A friend asked me “What’s the first thing you’d ask god when you get to heaven?”
My first response was IF I get there, I’d want to sit down with God, have a cold beer and rehash some things. Let’s assume I’m not in heavenly bliss and don’t care about Earthly things anymore, but rather Earth life still mattered and I had questions. Here’s the questions I’ve come up with.
Why am I so blessed while others have so little?
Why am I strong in mind and imagination and creativity, but so weak in the face of temptation?
Why am I chosen to serve but remain so selfish?
How in the hell did you allow boy bands to happen?
Is the answer to life, the universe, and everything really 42?
Could I have done more to make the world a better place?
How did I wind up so torn between the world and your kingdom?
The list goes on, but I’m curious friends. What are your questions for God?
Cheers, Mike.
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Music
Carlos Whittaker (ragamuffinsoul.com) inspires me as a blogger. I wish I had the insight to take all the things swirling in my head and just put them on the screen. Today, he has moved me to action.
His post was about taking the world’s music back from the devil. His post was about music being a gift of god that people can either create beauty or create filth. It made me think about music.
As a worship leader, i deal with music every day. As a person, music is central to how I express myself, how i handle my mood, how I relate to the world around me. And its funny. As a Christian and as a musician, I’m not a fan of Christian music.
I listen to “Christian” music all the time for work, I play it for worship and here’s my main problem. I tend to think that if the word “Christian” is attached to anything other than people, it’s probably there for marketing. I know good, faithful Christians that make great music that has language you wouldn’t use in church. There’s songs about God, there’s songs about love, there are songs about hating someone so much that you can only scream, but they’re still Christian people making the music. Does that make it “Christian” music?
What about “Christian” musicians who preach and sing but don’t live out their message?
What about people who just write music to a “Christian” audience because they know it will sell but they don’t believe what they’re writing.
It’s such a complicated topic because I don’t want to presume to know somebody’s motives or intentions or their soul. But I say play on if you are called to play. Sing from your heart if you are called to sing. Make a joyful noise because you are called to be noisy.
I don’t know why I keep writing things that Luther already said best:
““Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our hearts, minds and spirits. A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs!”
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Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.
– Martin Luther (via friaronfire) -
Forward
We got an e-mail from the bishop today that talked about a survey we took as synod leaders. It asked about our relationship with the synod and its leaders. I like our synod staff. They’re good people. I believe they have the best interest of our congregations at heart and always try to do what is best for the collective.
In the email he talked about leveraging synod trust to “carry the Lutheran movement in this area forward.” I don’t know what this means. At the Exponential conference we talked a lot about movements. I love the idea of being a part of a movement but what is a Lutheran Movement?
I know this. As a new, post-modern Lutheran mission congregation we were encouraged to explore, but had to report back using the same files and forms of everyone else. We look ahead to amazingly new things but seem to approach them in the same way. I’m hoping this talk of new movement becomes something real and not just an idea. I hope people don’t confuse this. Maybe I’m the confused one, but I hope it will be our synod leading the rest of the church into the future.
Our church is constantly bleeding out members and will continue to do so if we don’t start embracing the world in which we live. I hope this synod and others will begin the growing process and truly begin a movement. I’m ready to move forward. -
tired.
I’m tired of arguing about the death penalty. I’m tired of this being a political issue. From now on, if you’re “pro-life” you can’t be for the death penalty because it takes away the sanctity of life. From now on, Christians can’t use the “Eye for an eye” argument because Jesus told us to offer our other cheek to be slapped. (Mt. 5:38) From now on, we can’t say that God is a God of justice and is pleased when justice is done because we are imperfect. Only God can dispense true justice, and we know that God does not take pleasure in the death of anyone. (Ez. 18:32)
Those are just my rules. I know they don’t apply to anybody, but in Mike World, thats the way it is going to be.
I understand that there will always be a political decision to be made when it comes to justice. My prayer is that our bloodthirsty country can elevate itself to a place where we stop making statements about the error of killing by killing.
May peace be with all of those involved. Victims. Murderers. Families. Friends. All.
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Friar on Fire
Everyone go check out the newest Tumblr blog, your favorite and mine, Friar on Fire! http://friaronfire.tumblr.com/
