The Season of Forgiveness

(From the Flora Christian, December 21, 2007 edition)

Christmas is the season when we celebrate miracles: the miracle of birth, the miracle of the heavenly host cracking the sky and bringing a message of glad tidings and joy, and especially the miracle of God’s mercy, grace, and love. This past Sunday, I was reminded how stark the contrast is (sometimes) between God’s grace and my own unwillingness to forgive others.

Joni and I were in St. Louis all weekend, celebrating our 17th anniversary and doing some Christmas shopping. On Sunday, we decided to attend worship at a large church in the St. Louis area where a friend of mine works on staff. It was a very uplifting service with great music, challenging preaching, and even a baptism! But when it came to communion time, I was shocked to see the man who was walking to the pulpit to give the communion meditation. He was an acquaintance of mine from a former church where I served in the St. Louis area. In fact, the right word might not be “acquaintance,” but “nemesis.” I was young, brash (shocking, isn’t it), and idealistic about ministry, and this man represented what I felt was wrong with the organized Church. He seemed to go out of his way to challenge the authority of our elders, undermine the influence of our ministry staff, and generally cause problems whenever he could. Later, he served as an elder himself, and was constantly finding things about my ministry (and me personally) to criticize. I’ll admit it: I didn’t like him much at all.

I had forgotten about him until I saw him walking across the stage Sunday morning. I really struggled with the communion time, because I was focused on how much that man had hurt me (more than 12 years ago!). Then it occurred to me: I have a problem with forgiveness. I have since decided that it’s o.k. to let go of that hurt and pain from so long ago. If I saw him today, I would swallow my pride and go up and talk to him. Not to tell him I forgive him, but to prove to myself that I have done so.

This year at Christmas, maybe you know someone who you need to forgive. If you do, you will experience the true joy of Christmas. God sent to Son Jesus to extend His grace, mercy, and love to ALL of us. Maybe it’s time we all did the same.

See you Sunday! Rob

Happy Non-Religious Politically Correct Winter Holiday Season!

I got an email from my good friend Don Sanders from St. Charles, MO, with this video attached. I laughed when I watched it, but then it hit me that this guy was really "speaking my language." I have thought this a lot, especially this year. More and more companies are going out of their way to remove "Christmas" from their December advertising. Most of them say it's in an attempt to keep from offending anyone of other "faiths" than Christianity. But let's face it, most of the Christmas season doesn't have much to do with Christianity anyway, does it? I mean, as a kid, when we were watching Rudolph or Frosty, even I could figure out that this wasn't the true meaning of Christmas. I think there must be more to this Non-Religious Politically Correct Winter Holiday emphasis than just being non-offensive. I happen to believe that it is the true colors of a bunch of godless money worshippers coming to light. Anyway, I digress.

The following link will take you to a video on the Focus on the Family social action web site CitizenLink.com. The host of the video is a guy by the name of Stuart Shepard, a guy who apparently thinks a lot like me! Click on the link to get to the video page, and click on the red stoplight to watch the video.

Merry Tossmas!

Click here to go see the video.

Finding Your Way with "The Golden Compass"

There has been a lot of typical hysteria over the release of the movie, "The Golden Compass," based on the books by Philip Pullman. As in the cases of former perceived theatrical attacks on God, such as "The Last Temptation of Christ," the Harry Potter books and movies, "The DaVinci Code" and other stuff by Dan Brown, and countless others.

I don't believe that we should blindly accept whatever Hollywood tries to shove down our collective gullett, but I also don't think we (or God, for that matter) have anything to fear from the entertainment industry. I believe that God is bigger and stronger than any movie mogul or production company. So, rather than send out another email with a subject line which reads, "FWD: fwd: fwd: FwD: fwd: The Golden Compass Will Cause Your Kids to Hate God!!!", I decided to do a little research and find a rational, calm, sane approach to this film and these books from a Christian perspective.

At the bottom of this post, you will find a link to an article found on ChristinityToday.com. The article is by Jeffrey Overstreet, an author of fantasy novels (from a Christian point of view) and a regular contributor to Christianity Today. I think the article represents my own feelings about controversies such as this, and I decided to post the link rather than trying to restate all of his thoughts.

If you would like to post your own thoughts about this subject, please read the article first, and then come back here and respond.

Here's the link:
Fear Not the Compass
by Jeffrey Overstreet on Christianity Today Movies