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• Walk around the sanctuary with a microphone, spot unfamiliar faces and ask, “And you sir, why do you only attend church on Christmas and Easter?”
• Have an invitation at the end, but keep holding out for “one last sinner” until the nice restaurants have stopped serving brunch.
• Announce that we are going to continue our yearly tradition of crucifying one attendee. “We’ve been successful at raising them from the dead all but twice. Any volunteers?”
• Deliver the entire sermon in a bunny costume for no apparent reason.
• Throw the offering money back, angrily denouncing it as “blood money.”
• Refuse to begin preaching until the Holy Spirit shows up either as a dove or as tongues of fire.
• “Ladies and gentlemen, our Sunday school teachers have hyped your kids up on sugar. They’re outside paving the parking lot and will be released to you very shortly. Now you’ll know how their teachers feel the Monday after Easter.”
• Have an Easter egg hunt in the middle of the service.
• Lock all the restroom doors in the church and inform the congregation that the church is under budget and we would appreciate their help watering the lawn.
• When a parent is unable to control their small child, accidentally let it slip that the Easter Bunny isn’t real.

So, I’ve finally caved and joined Twitter. I didn’t want to do it, but I realized that sometimes I have thoughts and ideas I want to share, or questions to ask that aren’t worthy of an entire blog post, but might be interesting to some readers. You can find this blog’s twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/realfaithblog/ or, just read my most recent tweets in the right-hand column of this blog.

Of course, I would appreciate it if those of you who are on Twitter would follow me. If you follow me, I’ll follow you. Then we can just be a happy family of fellow followers.

TeenSite.Net— one of our sister sites— is asking its visitors, “If you could ask God one question,  what would it be?” What puzzles you the most about the nature of God or about these mysterious ways in which God chooses to do His work? When we asked the question on TeenSite, we made the presumption that, for most people, those questions would begin with the word “why.” I don’t think that is the case for me. Mine would begin with “how.”

I have faith enough to accept that God is good. I know God sets the standard for what is good and if He says it is good, it is good. I believe what God calls “good” is ultimately what is best for His people. Accepting that reality and understanding it are two different stories. My question begins with “how” and it would look like this:

“How are some of the things You ordain good?”

I may be cheating the one question rule a little, but, how is a global recession that puts people out of work and families on the streets good? How is a man who dies of a rare terminal illness leaving behind a wife and young children good? How are these seemingly bad things we encounter day after day actually good in the grand scheme?

That’s my question. What’s yours?

I saw this a few months ago and thought it was moving. Then I saw it again this weekend and it seemed more moving. So, even though it seems to have made its rounds around the interpipes a couple of times, I still thought I would share it. My cardboard testimony would probably look something like this:

Couldn’t love myself.
Loved unconditionally by Christ.

What’s yours?

It was an innocent comment made in private to my wife during a moment of irritation. I said it
and forgot about it, until this evening when I learned the truth and was left feeling foolish and remorseful. I’d like to say I learned a lesson, but I’m sure I will repeat this mistake often.

We donated clothes to one of those charities that comes around and picks up bags off the doorstep this morning. The charity called last night to confirm, but we weren’t answering our phone, so they left a message. Within 20 minutes they called again. When the phone rang the third time, I answered, knowing the only way to end this madness was to take the call.

I am not the most articulate person, especially in conversation but I do know that all sentences need verbs and subjects should come before predicates. The person on the other end of the phone did not. When I hung up the phone I mentioned the conversation to my wife and talked about what horrible public relations it was for a charity to have their primary point of contact with the public sound so unprofessional.

Today, I found out that the Charity helps homeless people and then employs them so they can get back on their feet and build their resume’. Words cannot express how horrible I felt. So, the lesson I learned was to give people the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully, I’ll actually take it into tomorrow.

photo credit: plenty.r.

Admittedly, I spend quite a bit of time on this blog motivating Christians to serve. (read: complaining about folks not serving.) I realize there are a number of people who would like to do more and who are willing to exercise their faith, but maybe they don’t know how, or aren’t aware of all the opportunities to serve in their area.

So, in the spirit of putting my money where my mouth is, of actually helping instead of just kvetching, I’d like to take a moment to introduce a unique website I discovered recently. The site is ChristianVolunteering.org, by TechMission. Simply go to their website, choose a type of service and your geographic location and you will be presented with a list of opportunities in your area.

The website connects your gifts and talents with organizations looking for volunteers. So, if you have a heart for mentoring, you can connect with a ministry looking for mentors with just a few clicks.

Shortly after writing the “15 Songs Every Christian Needs to Hear” post, something struck me about a few of the songs chosen in that list.

Steven Curtis Chapman, who has at least 10 more Dove Awards than days and nights during the Great Flood, released a song titled “For Who He Really Is” in 1988. The song contains this lyric:

He slips into church and he puts up his guard;
They look so happy but his life’s been so hard.
He keeps his distance so they won’t see the scars;
It’s just a religion that’s all dressed up in white,
And God is love as long as you’re living right.
But does he know that Jesus also has scars,
And His love can reach Him no matter how far.

The song then asks if others can see God for who He really is when they look at us. Fast forward about two decades to the present, and we have Casting Crowns. Here are some lyrics from “Stained Glass Masquerade”

Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

That’s not all. Take a look at “Does Anybody Hear Her” also by Casting Crowns.

Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even knows she’s going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?

And one more from Casting Crowns called “If We Are The Body”

It’s crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girls teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

Each song addresses issues of isolation in the church as well as the inauthentic aura that covers the vast majority of church attendees. What kills me, is that these songs are 20 years apart, and these are not unknown artists— or songs for that matter. Every self-respecting Christian in the 80’s and 90’s owned at least one Steven Curtis Chapman CD, and Casting Crowns has been the top of the Christian charts since they debuted a few years ago. These artists are among the most influential in the church.

It’s been two decades and our top Christian song writers are still writing about the same unresolved issues in the church. This is heartbreaking. It means that not only are we aware of the situation, not only have we been told about it, but we’re not dealing with it. We continue to be fake, we continue to build walls, we continue to pretend we have it all together, we continue to exclude others, we continue to put on a self-righteous front and we continue to ignore this problem.

Where did we lose our ability to relate to other people? What does it take turn this around? Will another 20 years pass only to see a world of changing values and technology but the same issues plaguing the church? We need to love and serve one another and the outside community better, I know that much. I’m not sure exactly how to do that, but I’d definitely be willing to try.

Lent has already started, and being the procrastinator I am, I missed the start of it. Since at this point I would only be giving a partial effort, there really isn’t much reason for me to actually give anything up. Afterall, that would be cheap and artificial and I’m all about costly and authentic, so it would not be “above reproach” for me to pick something to give up this late in the game. (Not buying it? O.K. how’s this… I’m afraid of failure, so I seldom give anything up for lent.) At any rate, if I were to participate in this yearly rite, here are a few things I would like to give up for lent.

• Television weather reports. I can look outside and I can feel if it’s hot or cold.
• Worry. I’ve become a bit of a worry wart lately. Don’t get me wrong, I know and love the fact that God is in control. But, I’m having some trust issues and the result is I worry more than I think I ever have and I don’t like it.
• Saturday Night Live Reruns. What is the deal with SNL this year? They have had more repeats than actual shows, and they’ve willingly missed some important events. A new president was elected and the next Saturday, they aired a rerun. Obama was inaugurated and the next Saturday they had a rerun. How about we try to go 40 days with new episodes? That’s not even 6 weeks. You can do it.
• Stress. Or at least, I think I’d like to give up stress. There’s a part of me that thrives on it and—sadly enjoys it.
• Neck pain. I must have pulled a muscle I didn’t know I had in my neck. It’s been annoying me for about half-a-week now. I want it to go away, but I suppose it’s better to feel my neck than to not feel it.
• Facebook. Surely there are more productive ways to spend the time I have already planned to devote to using my trusty laptop. I could do something productive. But alas, I am weak and lack the willpower to ditch this addictive social network.
• Feeling drained. My energy level has been though the basement for longer than I’d care to admit. I don’t feel as though I have any energy-sapping illness, so I’m either doing something wrong or aging before my time. Aging too fast might explain the crankiness.

Well folks, I’m feeling tired now so I’m going to go to bed. Maybe I’ll hibernate for the remainder of lent, apparently I have some sleep to catch up on.

1. “If We Are The Body” by Casting Crowns
2. “Stained Glass Masquerade” by Casting Crowns
3. “Heart to God, Hand to Man” by Geoff Moore and The Distance
4. “Live The Life” by Michael W. Smith
5. “For Who He Really Is” by Steven Curtis Chapman
6. “The 21st Time” by Monk & Neagle
7. “Until All Have Been Served” by Ray Boltz
8. “What If I Give All?” by Ray Boltz
9. “A Lot Like You” by 4Him
10. “I’ve Come to Serve” by Ray Boltz
11. “Take Me To Your Leader” by Newsboys
12. “Who Cares” by Steven Curtis Chapman
13. “Heartbeat of Heaven” by Steven Curtis Chapman
14. “Friend of The Poor” by Leeland Morring and Andy Park
15. “There Is Always A Song” by Martin Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman