language...

I read about orthomyxoviridae. Those pesky little viruses that have been visiting so many of our homes. Flu. “Hemagglutinin and neuraminidase molecules cluster into a bulge in the cell membrane.” I know that because I read it on Wikipedia.

No wonder some of us didn’t feel good our hemagglutinins were clustered with our neuraminithingys! Nothing good can come of that.

Reading the about the common flu is like reading the list of possible side effects of a prescription. Intimidating. Read the possible side effects for a prescription for an antibiotic and you may need an antidepressant too. Frustrating. Read the possible side effects of an antidepressant and you need a vacation. Overwhelming.

I don’t understand the language.

Super Bowl! Just the word will cause some to salivate and others to yawn. And let’s be honest, drop the male female stereotype here - both do both. Forget the intricacies of the game, the strategies of timeout management, the passing game and running game, penalties, shots on goal, birdies, double dribble, and what partner’s best even mean.

If the voice wasn’t on the commercial most wouldn’t even know what in the world a Super Bowl XLVI was! How do you even pronounce Xlvi?

There’s a language issue.

When people don’t understand the language they tend to devalue what isn’t understood. “It’s only____________. It’s not that big of a deal. I really don’t care.”

Think this through - the last thing that you “devalued,” was it something that someone else valued and you didn’t understand why? The last time someone devalued something you valued was it possible that they didn’t understand the code?

Now think about being someone who is walking into your church as a guest. We just talked to them about our “hemagglutinin and neuraminidase” or our “half back option.”

I think we should keep the good news real. I think we should keep the good news reachable. I think we should not get too big for our own religious britches. I think we should be sure we are there for those who might not know our language.

Dave.

Excited

I got a couple new books this week.  I thought it would be a good idea to read from this author since he will be leading the Doctoral program I intend to start later in the year.  I just picked a couple titles from the long list he's written.  One was recommended to me and one that I… I just picked because I couldn't get the one I really wanted.

I write this on Thursday night (which is troublesome for the literalist and the "friday thought" thing) because I have a funeral to attend in the morning and it is my intent to spend most of my evening in that "other book."  It turns out that the one I "just picked" is the closest book I have see in years to communicating my heart for the church and pastoral ministry.  As I thumb through it, it makes my heart race!

It also turns out that it is on the very word that I have been preparing to preach on for over two weeks now.

I'll give you a hint to the key to your call and mine.  I'll tip my hand.  Brace yourself.  It's all about following Christ.

Yawn.

We are good at believing in; we love knowing about; we will even dabble in talking about Christ.  But following is rare.  At least Biblical following is.  Maybe it's time for us to be honest about it.  If we don't have the fruit of Christ it's safe to assume we are not following too close.

I think we've misunderstood what that means.  I think I'm going to spend some time getting into that topic.  It'll be a good book only to the degree that it draws me to the Word.  I'll let you know what I find out.

Excited,

Pastor Dave