Andy McKee - Guitar - Drifting - www.candyrat.com

Could this be a way to share the gospel? I think so even if it doesn't come right out and say JESUS!!! God bless

The Day Before the Day Before Christmas

It is December 23rd and I am getting ready to go to a Tae Kwon Do Christmas Party. NO that is not an oxymoron! The school I am a part of is a traditional TKD school, but it is run by followers of the way. Don't get me wrong, we are not the fundamentalists type of people who think we have to change everything into a "Christian" thing, but we are all learners of the Master, so we are having a Christmas Party. I am looking forward to it.

But on this day before the day before Christmas, I am working on my sermon for Christmas Eve and Day. I don't expect too many on Christmas Day, but tomorrow I have two services at two different churches and they should be packed. I have been thinking about my homily for a week or so now and still don't know where I am going, or more appropriately, where the Holy Spirit is leading me.

I want to start out with the words for you. That is what all the stores tell us. You need a new car and now is the time to buy. YOU could get those year end tax rebates and YOU could be driving home in a new Chevy. YOU could have this one of a kind Ginsu knife set for only 5 payments of $39.99. It cuts, it chops, it even does the dishes! What a bargain. YOU could be the next contestant on the Price is Right! I know that the Gospel lesson for Christmas Eve says that TO YOU is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, but somehow that sounds too Fundy for me. The Fundamentalists always turn the good news into a personal salvation event and I DO NOT want to sound like one of them. There are already too many of them out there and they have almost cornered the market on what people think about Christians. Furthermore, the good news is for the world. For God so loved the WORLD . . and the like.

But sometimes we forget just who God became flesh for. YES it is for the world. YES it is for the cosmos. YES it is for every living thing that God's love came down, but it is also personal. God's love is big enough for the entire world, and yet God still loves me. God became flesh for me. Little old me? That is truly amazing, and I stand in awe of it.

Even more than that, the for me savior continues to live through me. God's love came down and took on flesh so many years ago so that I could take on flesh for others who need to see God today. The old country song is true, I might be the only Bible someone else gets to read. So through me, the world can either see God or see evil. Today, I choose to let God work through me so the word can become flesh again. Merry Christmas!!

I love Christmas

Well, it is Advent, and with this season, the liturgical Nazis come out. They tell me "you can't sing Christmas hymns during Advent!! It is not proper." HOGWASH! I would sing Joy to the World every Sunday if my parish would let me.

It is not that I am a rebel, well maybe it is, but I love this time of year. I love the sights of snow slowly falling on the ground, or for that matter a major snow storm blanketing the landscape. I love the sounds of bells ringing, of laughing children, of contentment being had, and good guitar music being played on my Ipod. I love the joy of expectation--the expectation of seeing grandma at her house on Christmas Eve, of celebrating the Holy Day with loved ones, and of coarse of opening presents. This time of year is awesome for me.

But, people tell me not to sing Christmas hymns during the worship service because it is Advent and we should sing Advent hymns. Now I understand the reason--We don't want to over do Christmas now do we? We don't want to people to start thinking it is Christmas in October like the stores do do we? We want to put the emphasis on the right thing in the church don't we? We need to sing Advent hymns, but have you ever tried to sing those Advent hymns? Some of them are the reason no one wants to come to church anymore! I love "O Come, O Come, Immanuel." That is one awesome Advent hymn, but some of the others . . .well let's just say NO!

But what would happen if we did celebrate Christmas every day of the year? What would the world be like if we lived out in our daily lives the Word incarnate in us every day? Would that be such a terrible thing? What if we sang Joy to the World every morning when we woke up? Would that change our out look on the day? What if we lived out "What Child Is This" as we drove to work every morning? I think the world needs a good dose of Christmas every day. I think the politicians need Christmas every day. I think the war mongers need a good dose of seeing the Word made Flesh in their enemies.

Christmas every day would be a world changing, heart breaking, love making event. I am all for it. Merry Christmas today, tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that, and . . .

Doing Things Differently

As a recovering alcoholic, one of the phrases I love best is "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result." That is what I tried to do to "tame" my addiction. I kept trying the same old things that people who are addicted try thinking I would be different. I got the same result as everyone else did. I needed to completely change my thinking, completely change my route, do something different or I would never be sober. Hence, the 12 steps.

The church is in the same position. The church has been doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Over the entire existence of the ELCA, some 26 years, leaders have been doing the same thing hoping against hope that a different result will happen. What is even worse, if we look at the churches that make up the ELCA, for 20 years before the ELCA was formed, they were doing the same thing.

Statistics show that for the last 46 years, attendance and giving has declined in the Lutheran church. We have been losing people and money for almost a half of a century. What does the church do? Does it look at what it is doing? Does it think critically about how it works and what it says and the behavior of the people? NO! We simply try the same old thing hoping for a different result. Another stewardship drive with a new tag line. Another confirmation curriculum with fancy slides and a power point ready slick design. Another committee with a new leader. None of these things have solved the problem in the past, why do we think it will all of the sudden solve the problem now?

Now some will say that this is what we get for not following the Bible. They say "the ELCA has thrown the Bible out the window, so they get what they deserve!" or "that is what you get for letting those homosexuals into the church!" What these people don't realize is that is has been going on longer than just a few years and that we in the ELCA have not thrown the Bible out. We take the Bible and the call of God very seriously.

What is the solution? Well, we have to be radical, just like those in 12 step programs do. We have to realize that our church has become too set in its ways, it has become tame when Jesus calls us to step outside out comfort zones in new directions every day. We have to realize that God stills speaks today and sometimes that voice of God leads us down a new path, a new interpretation, a new direction. God's radical, alien grace tries to get us outside of ourselves, outside of the norm, outside of our human-ness into God-ness.

I hope and pray that the church of God active in the world today will stop doing the same old thing and listen because God is calling! Listen, God is calling. Through the WORD inviting. Offering forgiveness, comfort, and Joy.

I Won't Do It Anymore!`

Well, I am going to make a commitment today. I am not going to do it anymore! Nope, I am going to stop. I am going to quit. I will no longer partake of the argument anymore. Well, I am going to try.

That is my pledge to myself. Bishop Spong has decided the same thing, only his is a commitment not to partake of those who are homophobic. He pledges not to argue with them anymore because the argument leads to no where. Those who try to argue that homosexuality is an abomination, is a SIN, is something that is a choice, Bishop Spong will no longer talk with. I totally agree, but I am going to take it one step further.

I will not argue with those who want to polarize politics or religion. I will not get into a verbal spar with those people who want to turn everything into an us versus them, who want to say they are right and everyone else is wrong, who say God is on their side and not on the other's side. It is a useless endeavor. Anyone who is so certain about their opinion and God's position are the new Pharisees and will only cause hate and discontent.

All the argument does is bring me to their level, and that is a level I don't want to go to anymore. Their negativity is killing me. Their hostility raises my blood pressure. Their belligerence darkens this world, and I used to help them bring the in the darkness. I don't want to anymore. The light of Christ gives me hope, gives me strength, gives me power, power to live, power to love, power to not partake in the garbage anymore. I believe if more people would stop the negativity, the world might become the place where God wants it to be. Wouldn't that be an amazing transformation? If more people would allow the Holy Spirit of God to transform them into the people God desires, then the victory of God might be complete! That would be, well, there is no adjective that would describe it. I might be nieve, a dreamer, but I think that is what God is calling us all to be, a dreamer of God's love.

This is my pledge to myself and to others. I might be hard, in fact, it will be a challenge, but by God's grace, I will be victorious.

A Pipe Dream

I go to a lot of meetings. A week does not go by without at least one meeting! The meetings include pizza and discussion, a weekly gathering at the school with the senior high talking about faith and life, Cooperstown Community Activity Authority board meeting, a group of people trying to make sure there is a fitness center in our small rural town, and synod functions including synod council, bishop's convocation, or synod assembly. It never seems to fail that at all of these meetings, we end up talking about money!

Money is a false god. Humans think that money will bring them peace. Humans think if they have a large enough IRA for their golden years, everything will be OK in life. Humans tend to think that if their bank account is full, then problems will cease and life will be grand. Humans tend to think that with enough money, everything will be OK, but someone, somewhere today will die from a hunger related illness or from a disease that they had no money to get the proper treatment for or from a war because of someone else's desire to have more money or more oil or more land. While we try to fill our IRA or bank accounts, the money monster will continue to rape and pillage people unless we do something soon!

People often think that taking an offering for the less fortunate will suffice, but that is an outright lie! That is feel good liberalism. That is trying to ease our guilt without asking for forgiveness or even repenting of our corporate sin. What needs to happen is a complete change in the human heart and way of life.

What would happen if we all, including all the leftist progressives and the militant neo-orthodox right, decided to change the system? What would the world be like if we all decided to stop using money as our trade system? What would happen if we used love instead of money as the system of compensation for goods? What would happen if everyone, everywhere had what they needed, nothing more, nothing less? What would happened if God's alien righteousness, infused into the heart of everyone, was enough? Wouldn't that be a neat trick?

A New Day

Good Evening all!



It has been a while since I have written anything on this blog. Sometimes I get lazy, sometimes I get busy, and sometimes I just don't remember to do it. I am not too good at writing, but I enjoy reading blogs so I am going to try to write something every week. Don't hold me to that, but I will try.



I just returned from the Eastern North Dakota Synod fall leadership conference. A friend told me at the conference that we here on the plains are embarrassed to admit that we have bishops so we refuse to call the conference a Bishop's Convocation, as other areas of the ELCA do, and I tend to agree.



At the conference, the bishop always gets a chance to tell us about the shape of the synod and the ELCA in general. This time Bishop Rindy spoke of a new day. The Churchwide organization is restructuring and basically cutting programs. They are doing this because people are in chaos. The chaos caused by a recession, more wars than we really understand, a right wing political and theological take over of the airwaves, and a walk out of wallets from some congregations. With all of this, we in the EaND have a choice.



Will we let the programs that were once sponsored and paid for by the Churchwide organization end, or will we do anything about it? Will we let the nay sayers who are angry about everything in the world win, or will we show them the door and do something new, something unheard of, something amazing? We in the EaND will not let the right winger have the last say. We will not let the ministries that are important to us die. We will support them. We will dig down in our own pockets and give what needs to be given so that the ministry of Jesus can go on. We will go the extra mile for ministry.


I hope that as we in the EaND start something new, the entire church will take it as a way to help the ministries that are important to them. Show the right wingers the door and God will pick up the slack through the hearts and hands of those who know the love of God. Amen.