The Bible ...postscript

It's Easter Sunday, and there are so many things I would like to write about today!! But, I don't think I will. I think today is a good day for each of us to reflect on our own about the crucifixion, the resurrection and what God really means in our lives. So, I think I will just leave it at that.

I have been meaning to add a quick postscript to something I wrote a month or two ago, though. I made the observation then that in all my years of business travel (over 2,000,000 on American Airlines alone) I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen anyone reading a Bible. Well, just a week or so after that post I could no longer make that claim.

I was sitting on a plane in San Diego waiting to take off when a group of about ten young men boarded the plane. These young men were wearing normal clothes for that age group, but something about them really stood out. For one thing, they all seemed unusually well groomed. I probably noticed the group because the first one who walked in was carrying a Bible. Then, as each one passed by I noticed that most of them were carrying Bibles, and it made me wonder what kind of organization they belonged to -- maybe some kind of Christian youth camp or something, I thought.

I admit it, I can be pretty slow sometimes. The first thing that popped into my head was how ironic it was that I had just written a blog about never seeing Bibles on planes, and now I was seeing seven or eight of them on one flight. Like I said, I can be a little slow sometimes, and maybe some of you have already figured it out. But, these young men did not work for any youth camp -- the were United States Marines!

Good Friday

The last couple of months I have really been focusing on Jesus as a teacher. In fact, I have deliberately tried not to think about the virgin birth, the crucifixion and resurrection -- which in my mind are the things that pop into the heads of most Christians when they hear the name "Jesus."

Today, though, my disciplined meditation on Jesus as teacher came crashing down. Given that it's Good Friday I decided to read through all four of the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection on the plane back from San Diego. And then I wondered: Why did the the sacrifice that God made for us have to be so dramatic? Why did Christ have to go through that kind of torture, that kind of violent death, to save us? Maybe part of the reason is that the magnitude of our collective sin just took a really big sacrifice. The perfect sacrifice.

But, maybe there is something else there, too. Maybe, God knew it would take that kind of sacrifice and that kind of drama to get our attention. Peter saw first hand Jesus do many things that were beyond amazing and beyond comprehension. He saw Jesus heal those who were beyond healing. He saw Jesus feed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread. He saw Jesus bring a man back from the dead. And yet, despite having been a witness to all of that (and so much more) Peter denied even knowing Jesus three times in those last hours.

I know that Jesus wants all men to believe in Him -- but not just to believe. He wants us to hear His voice and to follow His commands. Maybe the crucifixion and resurrection weren't just about dying for us. Maybe these events were about getting our attention. Maybe in the torment and the death there was also a plea. And the plea was that if Jesus was willing to die for us, the least we could do is listen to what He had to say. The plea was that we should listen to Jesus the teacher.

Dear Heartland Church

Dear Church Family,

Since I became the Executive Pastor of Heartland Church three years ago I have been blessed with a schedule that somehow has allowed me to balance my "other job," my family life and my work at the Church reasonably well. Not that there haven't been times when I felt overwhelmed -- there certainly have been. But, somehow God has always found a way for me to get it all done.

Lately, though, I have to say that things have gotten a little out of hand. Due to my schedule, Pastor Dave and I had to delay the start of our Wednesday night class series on the "Parables of Jesus" (which I have really been looking forward to) and it now looks like things are not going to let up for a while. In fact, you probably won't see me around the Church much for the next couple of months, which is really heartbreaking for me.

Sunday morning is my favorite part of the week. It is such a huge blessing to serve the Lord -- to work with our staff and our many volunteers to minister to whoever God sends us that particular day. I love catching up with everyone and just having a chance to say "hello." I love meeting our guests, and the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with someone new.

I really don't like to miss any Sunday, so the prospect of potentially missing a couple of months of Sundays is pretty tough to take. But, like everything else, I have to believe that God has a purpose here. And, whatever that purpose might be, it's something that I just need to embrace.

Whenever I complain about my "other job," Pam is always quick to point out that my calling doesn't somehow fade away whenever I leave the church building. In fact, I think Pam would argue that my ministry might even be more significant when I am at my other job than it is when I am at the Church. Think about that for a second. Do you think that might be true of you as well? Could it be that God's calling on your life is more significant while you are at work, or home with your kids, or even hanging out with your friends than when you are serving at the Church? See Luke 15:8 - 10.

Anyway, the next couple of months are likely to be a challenging time for me. If that is how things end up, it will definitely be hard to be away from Pam and the kids and from my church family. But, I am praying that God will use this time for His purpose. I am praying that somehow the trial that I will be going through will glorify God and better prepare me to serve Him in the future. I am praying that in the midst of the long hours and the press of business God will show Himself and allow me to minister to others.

God bless you and keep you,

Pastor John

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Luke 15:8 - 10.

FACEBOOK!!!!

Hey, if you are on Facebook and you haven't already hit the "like" button for Heartland Church it's time to do it!! It's "Reveal" weekend and from what I hear God is doing some great things in the lives of about 400 high school students. Very cool.

Anyway, as some of you might know, I am extremely busy with my other career for the next couple of months and am feeling a bit disconnected at the moment. So, I thought I would take a minute to blog.

I do actually have a purpose in writing beyond plugging Heartland's Facebook page and maybe looking for a little sympathy. This might not be all that relevant to the younger crowd, but for those of you who are, say, thirty and up, see if you can relate.

One thing that has been really cool about Facebook is how many people from high school I've "friended." I haven't communicated directly with most of them (although there have been a few). But, I think it is pretty neat to get a little insight into the lives of these old friends and acquaintances; to see how they are doing and at least get a glimpse into how their lives have evolved since we were in school together.

One thing that has really struck me is how many of the folks who graduated with me took the time to identify themselves as "Christian" or "Christ follower" or the like on their information page. Maybe I missed something, but I just don't remember having any awareness back in 1978 of very many people in my class who went to church on a regular basis or, for that matter, who did anything at all to suggest they were people of faith. And, by the way, I am not casting stones at all. I was at best an C&E Christian myself in those days. (That is, "Christmas and Easter").

Honestly, I really don't think many of us had any interest in Christianity back then. We lived in Southern California. Need I say more? So, I have two questions. First, what happened? Second, what does it really mean to identify yourself as a Christian on Facebook?

It is entirely possible that as we have gotten older, and particularly as we approach or pass the 50 mark, the illusion of invincibility of youth has been battered down by life to the point where, somewhere along the way, we were basically forced to look beyond ourselves and revisit the meaning of life. Faith seems to be a pretty natural bi-product of mortality recognition!

Or, maybe we just all started back at church when we had kids of our own. I know that Pam and I thought taking the kids to church was just the right thing to do. I think many of us believed either that church was supposed to be part of the family experience, or maybe that church would help keep our kids grounded (or at least increase the chances of them finding a safer group of friends).

But, then again, I have to wonder what identifying yourself as a Christian on Facebook really means. Apparently the percentage of Americans generally who identify themselves as "Christian" is still in the high 80% range. But, I don't think for a minute that 80% of Americans see themselves as committed to a relationship with Christ. The data certainly shows that self-identification as "Christian" is often similar to national origin -- it's more of a historical fact than a reflection of attitude, belief or worldview.

Still, I don't want to be judgmental, skeptical or pessimistic when I see so many of my classmates identify themselves as Christian -- even if it is on a simple Facebook page. Honestly, it excites me. It gives me hope. In a funny sort of way it makes me think that maybe my class is not alone and that Christianity in America is stronger than the media reports would have us believe.

If you are a La Serna graduate I hope you will weigh in on this. Go Lancers!