An Example for All of Us to Follow

So often, when we hear about pro-athletes in an area of the news other than the sports, it has to do with an arrest, drugs, or some other misbehavior. It is heart warming, therefore, to find the complete opposite. The following is from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's website and is written by Michael Hunt. It made me think about the blessings I have been given and how I am using them. You can read the article below or follow this link: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/bucks/34862104.html

By:Michael Hunt
"Redd dishes out assist"

Michael Redd's teammates keep asking when he's coming back.

Soon, Redd assures them, very soon.

And, yes, the need is urgent for the NBA all-star and Olympic gold medalist to return to the floor with the Milwaukee Bucks.

But sometimes, and Thursday was one of those sometimes, the words "urgent" and "need" take on a little more perspective than a basketball game.

"An ankle compared to the economic situation? There's nothing to compare," Redd said.
Redd had just finished giving 250 turkey dinners to disadvantaged families at the House of Peace, a Catholic charity that has long served the city's poor. Inspired by Ray Allen's work with the mission, Redd has been donating Thanksgiving cheer there for four years. But never has he seen times quite like these down on Walnut St., along a needy section in a needy town.

"Some had tears in their eyes," Redd said. "These people have nothing. This is their meal for Thanksgiving. These are tough times. It's the least I can do. It gives you a reality check with what we're going through in this country."

Sharita Williamson was transferring the food she had received from a cardboard box to a roller bag for the walk home amidst snow flurries.

"I'm on a fixed income and it's hard to get food, especially in this economy," she said. "Gas prices are down but everything else is sky-high. That's why this is such a blessing this year."

She knew Redd played for the Bucks but was surprised to see him personally handing out the food.

"That made it a little something extra," she said. "He's doing so much good, and God bless him."
As much as the people who filled the House of Peace needed the food, social worker Linda Barnes said they needed something else from Redd.

"They asked, 'Is Michael going to pray with us?'"

He did.

A spiritual man who lives his convictions, Redd bought his father a church back home in Columbus, Ohio, a few years ago.

"Part of it is that both of my parents are preachers," he said. "They were the perfect example. They were giving away cars when we could hardly afford a car. For me, this is only natural."

There is a Bible passage that goes something like, "To whom much is given, much is required." So sometimes, people get cynical about stuff like this. They know Redd makes $16 million a year, so what's the big deal about giving away turkey dinners?

To know, all you had to do was look in those wanting faces. Sure, a lot of wealthy pro athletes give back, but not many show up at a mission on a bad ankle on a day off just hours after getting in from Salt Lake City.

"No, not everybody," said Brother Mark Carrico, the House of Peace's executive director. "He likes us, and we sure like him."

Jim Van Hoven, regional director for the Capuchin ministry, said the House of Peace's distribution area now includes three Milwaukee ZIP codes, so great is the need. With help from many, it will continue to donate Thanksgiving dinners throughout next week.

Maybe by then, Redd will be back on the court. The Bucks really need him, but on a cold Thursday in the inner city, there were those who needed him more.

"This is what it's all about, right here," Redd said. "I look at it like this: I've been absolutely blessed, so I should give back. It's a genuine pleasure to give, especially in times like these."

A Christmas Alternative

One Black Friday in Orlando, Florida, several years ago, customers in a national discount chain store got into a brawl over laptop computers. The story made it to the national TV news: two men tackling another man and pulling him to the ground, because he had cut ahead of them in line. “It was absolute pandemonium in there,” said one observer. “They were throwing these laptops 20 feet into the air, and people were collapsing on each other to grab them.”What would Jesus make of that scene? Imagine him standing off to one side, in his robe and sandals. What sort of expression would he have on his face, knowing that all that brawling was set off by his birthday? That why those shoppers were doing it, wasn’t it — because they wanted to be first in line to honor Jesus’ birth?Of course it wasn’t! Sadly, the sort of holiday that issues in department-store riots has long since lost any resemblance to the celebration of the Messiah’s birth. Not only has the commercialized Christmas lost touch with its roots; from what we can see on CNN of the laptop wars, it’s even become demonic. How easy it is to get caught up in the rush, and end up, as Paul says, “doing the very thing we hate”!

This year my church will have an alternative to the commercialism that has come to dominate the secular celebration of Christmas. The alternative is our Alternative Gift List. Instead of buying gifts for family members and friends who already have everything they need, our alternative gift list will give people an opportunity to give money to a charity in the name of a friend or family member. For each donation in someone else’s name, you will receive a certificate stating that a donation was made by you in their name, and the name of the charity.

Giving a gift from the Alternative Gift List is a great way for us to remember and participate in the true meaning of Christmas. When we give to the poor and needy at Christmas, those gifts remind us that Jesus came to save the least, the lost, and the neediest in our world. We may not win the war with our culture over the true meaning of Christmas, but we can certainly choose a faithful alternative.

God's Abundance

Parker Palmer, a Quaker theologian, once told a story about abundance. Palmer was a passenger on a plane that pulled away from the gate, taxied to a remote corner of the field and stopped. You know the feeling: The plane stops and you look out the window and see that you’re not on the runway and the engines wind down and your heart sinks. The pilot came on the intercom and said, “I have some bad news and some really bad news. The bad news is there’s a storm front in the West, Denver is socked in and shut down. We’ve looked at the alternatives and there are none. So we’ll be staying here for a few hours. That’s the bad news. The really bad news is that we have no food and it’s lunch time.” Everybody groaned. Some passengers started to complain, some became angry. But then, Palmer said, one of the flight attendants did something amazing.She stood up and took the intercom mike and said, “We’re really sorry, folks. We didn’t plan it this way and we really can’t do much about it. And I know for some of you this is a big deal. Some of you are really hungry and were looking forward to a nice lunch. Some of you may have a medical condition and really need lunch. Some of you may not care one way or the other and some of you need to skip lunch. So I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. I have a couple of breadbaskets up here and we’re going to pass them around and I’m asking everybody to put something in the basket. Some of you brought a little snack along — something to tide you over — just in case something like this happened, some peanut butter crackers, candy bars. And some of you have a few LifeSavers or chewing gum or Rolaids. And if you don’t have anything edible, you have a picture of your children or spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend or a bookmark or a business card. Everybody put something in and then we’ll reverse the process. We’ll pass the baskets around again and everybody can take out what he/she needs.“Well,” Palmer said, “what happened next was amazing. The griping stopped. People started to root around in pockets and handbags, some got up and opened their suitcases stored in the overhead luggage racks and got out boxes of candy, a salami, a bottle of wine. People were laughing and talking. She had transformed a group of people who were focused on need and deprivation into a community of sharing and celebration. She had transformed scarcity into a kind of abundance.”After the flight, which eventually did proceed, Parker Palmer stopped on his way off the plane — deplaning, that is — and said to her, “Do you know there’s a story in the Bible about what you did back there? It’s about Jesus feeding a lot of people with very little food.”“Yes,” she said. “I know that story. That’s why I did what I did.”

Even in the midst of what we think is scarcity, many time God has already given us what we need.

Something to Play With

Well, Johanna had her 20 week ultrasound about a week and a half ago and we found out that we're having a little girl. I don't know whether I was surprised or not. I do remember thinking a little bit later, "Man, a girl. I may be in trouble." Growing up in a family of all boys the prospects of having a daughter are a little daunting. Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to be having a baby daughter . . . but I just question my capacity to raise a little one with two x chromosomes.

Grady was a little disappointed that he wasn't having a little brother (although, I think that disappointment lasted a whole 10 seconds). He was with us for the ultrasound, but his grandma took him out for a walk shortly after we found out that he was having a sister because ultrasounds aren't really that exciting for a 7 year old. After I caught back up with him, Johanna went to talk to her mom and I took that opportunity to chat with Grady about his feelings.

I asked him, "So, are you still excited about having a little sister?" To which he simply replied, "No."

A little concerned, I asked, "Your not?" And he said, "I'm just happy to have something to play with." That just cracked me up!

There is a larger truth to his sentiment, as well. When I worked as a hospital chaplain, I quickly learned that one of people's biggest fears is dying alone. We all have a deep seeded desire for relationship . . . relationship with one another and relationship with God. That is truly the Good News of the Gospel. Through Jesus Christ we are able to have a genuine relationship with God and with one another.

In Genesis, God created human beings, look and saw that it was good. Maybe God was just happy to have something to play with.

Brett Favre, the Packers, and Relationships Gone Wrong

The Brett Favre-Green Bay Packers ugly divorce is almost over . . . thank goodness. I don't think I could listen to one more day in the "he said, he said" drama that has taken place over the past couple of months. As separations go, this has to be one of the most ugly, painful separations that has taken place while I've been alive. For some reason, the national and local sports media has covered this to the point that has made me want to scream, "Please, talk about something else!" But, like watching a car crash, nobody has been able to take their eyes (and ears) off of it.

Unfortunately, this current situation reflects the pain and struggle we all feel at different times in our lives when relationships fall apart. Maybe it starts with something small. An action that leads one person to believe that they're not cared about like they thought. A harsh word during a disagreement that's allowed to fester. Unresolved disagreements, though small, tend to build over time. Then, we talk to friends who support us and take our side, as all good friends do. Tensions build. Small hurts get picked at until we have open wounds. And before we know it, a relationship winds up being wounded beyond repair and we get a divorce, don't speak to a friend, a parent, a child, or another family member for years, we drop out of the church, or end up being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The truth is, no one ends up winning or being better off in such situations. In the end, many such break-ups sound petty, despite the fact that their is true pain and hurt at their core.

Jesus knew that broken relationships with people we love is a painful reality in our world. In fact, he experienced this reality in his life. One of his 12 disciples, those who were closest to him, betrayed him to his enemies (many Biblical scholars would argue that Judas did this because he misunderstood what Jesus was about. He might have expected that this would force Jesus to start a rebellion against Rome with God's angels on their side, so that God's Kingdom would come immediately. So, in other words, the broken relationship between Judas and Jesus may have come about because of a misunderstanding--something we know a lot about). Peter, one Jesus' closest three disciples, lied about knowing him publicly out of fear. His mother and brothers tried to silence Jesus in his ministry because they were embarrassed.

And yet, Jesus preached about a world free of such broken relationships. The will of God is to live in a world, not free of conflict or disagreements, but in right relationship with God and neighbor. That means we are called to engage each other in ways that cares for both ourselves and those we are at odds with. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "If your borther sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the brother listens to you, you have regained that one." To me, this is meant to urge us to take our grievances to one another in person so they may be resolved. If we take a hurt to someone who truly loves us in a loving manner, they will listen, and we are likely to find that they have been hurt as well.

Just imagine how this Brett Farve fiasco would have turned out if Brett would have said to Ted Thompson (the Packer's General Manager), "Look Ted, I really want to play again. I just don't feel like you want me around or appreciate what I do for the team." Ted would have had the opportunity to say, "I understand that Brett. I have a hard time doing my job and preparing for the future of this team when I don't know if you're going to retire or not each and every year." And the conversation, beginning from their, may have had a different outcome.

Of course, the truth is, no matter how hard we try or how we engage in disagreements, sometimes relationships are broken beyond repair. At such times, we need to lean on those who care for us, and to remember that God loves us through such situations. The pain will eventually fade, we can learn from past mistakes, we are forgiven for our wrong doing (and we need to forgive ourselves), and God always provides second chances for us in life so that we can experience loving relationships with others (even if it is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

The Beginning and the End

I really don't understand why debates about how the universe/world was created and about the "end times" garner so much media attention, debate, and conflict in our culture and in the church. From my perspective, there really isn't much substance to the debate.

Take the creation, for instance. One side argues that God created the world in seven days, that the earth is only a few thousand years old, and that the theory of evolution is anti-Christian. The other extreme says that things have come to being over millions of years through the process of natural selection and evolution and God had nothing to do with it. It is mere chance. In the middle we find all types of blends between the two poles--allowing for the fact that God may have guided the creation through any number of processes, including evolution.

Likewise, in the church there are two extremes to understanding the end times. One popular view is that the world will come to a violent end, there will be a rapture, a period of hell on earth, a thousand years of peace, and so on and so forth. This point of view is captured in the Left Behind series of books. On this one, there usually is no other side to the debate because Christians who disagree with the Left Behind paradigm really don't know what to do with the end of time and Christ's return.

My take on the whole discussion is that, it can be interesting to speculate on the creation and the end times, but in the end it is a rather pointless and meaningless debate. It doesn't affect our lives as Christians today and is often used to distract us from considering issues of faithfulness that strike closer to home . . . such as the use of our money and faithful stewardship, engaging in an active prayer life to grow closer in our relationship with God, and what it really means to love our neighbor in a violent and divided world.

In the end (no pun intended), the church teaches that God was there in the beginning and will be there in the end. Just as he created all there is out of love, he will be there in the end calling creation back to himself in that same love. As long as we don't remove God from the process in either scenario, how it happened is of little consequence. If we begin to focus on what hits closer to home in our own lives, however, there is opportunity for true growth for us as Christians.

One quick final note: If you would like to study an alternative to the Left Behind model of the book of Revelation, check out Dr. Efird's Bible study on the subject. It can be ordered at: http://efirdbiblestudies.com/. Dr. Efird is a retired professor from the Divinity School at Duke University. His study takes a close look at the Biblical text and he shows where the before mentioned model comes from (a lawyer named John Nelson Darby who lived in the 19th century) and shows that the book of Revelation is really not about Jesus Christ's second coming and the end times, but rather a book of hope to all Christians facing persecution.

Why Write a Blog?

To tell you the truth, I don't know. My wife, Johanna, has been on me for about a year to start blogging for the sake of someone. I just don't know who that someone is. There are tons of blogs out there (it took me 45 minutes to pick a name because so many are taken) and who really cares about my thoughts and opinions? I don't know, but I figured I'd give this a try.

A quick bit about me: I'm 32 years old and am a pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church in Kenosha, WI. I've been serving churches for the past 12 years, dating back to when I was a supply pastor while going to school at UW-Whitewater. I have a wonderful and talented wife named Johanna, a step-son named Grady (who's a really cute and smart little guy), and a son or daughter due to arrive on December 24th. I went to seminary at the Divinity School at Duke University and am a huge Duke Basketball fan, although they've been breaking my heart in the tournament over the past couple of years.

I've picked the name faithful alternative for my blog because there seems to be a lot of polarization and bickering in the church as a whole in the Church's recent history (although the Church doesn't have a history of being of one mind on much for very long) and I think there is a different way to come at things that resemble less of what is known as the right and the left in the Church and the United States. I believe that if this Faithful Alternative is considered, we may find more on which to agree than disagree. In fact, I believe that Jesus came to offer up a type of radical discipleship that was quite different than what Judaism and his contemporary culture had become. This is true today as well. It is very likely that Jesus would not be found in either the liberal or conservative camps in today's culture. I grow more and more convinced that we (including myself) wouldn't recognize Jesus if we ran into him out on the street or in our churches.

And so, I'd like to use this blog as a forum to discuss (not debate) the faithful alternatives that we may often miss in the church and in our culture. I hope to update my blog each and every day Monday through Friday--although if I'm successful at updating a blog daily, the church secretary at Wesley will start to expect me to turn in my newsletter articles on time (which I'm usually at least two or three days late in turning in).

Finally, a quick note--all posts to my blog are my personal opinions and in no way represent the ideas and/or theology of my congregation. I will probably be writing things that I wouldn't preach because I plan to be a bit more provocative here than in my sermons (we'll see how smart that is soon). Likewise, I want to say that I hold no monopoly on the "right" answers. In fact, my opinions and thoughts are likely to change as well as anybodies are through the days, weeks, and years.

That being said--I guess I've finally written my first blog post. See Jo, it only took me a year. :)