"Table for Four Please.."

There is a local restaurant that my family loves to eat at. The restaurant will remain nameless to protect the innocent; me. The food is good, the service is always consistently hospitable, and atmosphere pleasant. The only thing for me is I don’t particularly care for the food. If I were to choose the ideal place for me to eat, to enjoy the type of food I like, I would choose to dine somewhere else. I would go to the place that fits my peculiar appetite. I could have the type and quality of food I prefer, but I would be eating at a table for one. I would either be dinning alone or at the uneasiness of my family.

It you reread my opening statement you will find the hidden truth. It is the place my family loves to eat. For me, my family is the most valuable gift God has granted me. I actually enjoy, cherish, and love being around my family. For me dinner time is much more than food consumption. To eat is the “reason” we have gathered but not “why” we gathered. We dine together because of the conversations we have around the table, we pray, we laugh, we communicate, we share our problems, our achievements. In our hectic lives, we check in with one another. We listen to one another sympathize and support one another. We are teaching our children that family is important. Our dinner time instills the value of family. We provide examples for our children to model with their children. The preference or quality of the food is really very insignificant to the whole dinning experience. I choose to dine with them, at their favorite place, because they enjoy it and I love them.

Our church family is no different. In order for us to reach our fullest potential of following God’s vision, we must be willing to focus on the whole dinning experience and less on the food. Yes, food is important, but what is vital is the people we dine with. Christ calls us to put others first, to enjoy each others company, to show mercy and grace to others. Christ calls us as his body, known as a church, to extend that compassion to everyone. If we can not do it to the ones we profess we love; those in our own family or church family, how can we do it for others? As a faith community the choice is ours. Do we dine alone, consuming the food we prefer or do we shift our focus to those who have gathered around the table with us? Our future depends upon it.

Hope to see you soon but until take care of yourself and one another,

Shalom,
Tommy

Worship in Redeo Drive Style

During our recent vacation, we had the opportunity to go to down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. I first quickly realized that it is not pronounced the way it is spelled. It has nothing to do with horses, cowboys, or bull riding. The street is lined with many stores all white sparkling buildings. I was told of all the famous designers that had stores along the strip. I must admit because of my limited knowledge of high fashion design, I am sure everyone else was impressed. I only felt like I should have been impressed. Rent in on store was almost half a million dollars a month. We witnessed hundreds of shoppers walking down the street, million dollar cars aligning each side, and people stopping and taking pictures. We were told it was a shopper’s paradise. Within a few minutes, I could tell I was out of my comfort zone. It was everything one would imagine it would be or seen on television.


The street was bustling with excitement, flair, and luxury. But then upon a closer look, we noticed something peculiar. Out of all the hundreds of people, walking down the street, no one was carrying any bags. We did not see one person that had made a purchase. The crowd was just window shopping, taking photos, and pointing. No one was actually buying anything. It would be impossible to determine why all the people lined the streets, but what was evident was they were not there to actually shop, purchase anything, or spend any money. They were present to either be seen or see what Rodeo drive was all about.

In reflecting on our Beverly Hills experience, I wonder how many of us are like that in worship. We come to either be seen or to see what is going on. We come to get away from the routine of our daily lives; a life that can be full of pain, sorrow, stress, and anxiety. We come to share our joys, celebrations, and information with our faith family. We come to be around others who are better defined in their spirituality. We show up to window shop, take pictures, and recall precious memories. We come and experience the presence of Christ. All these things are awe-inspiring, but are we leaving empty handed or d we actually make a purchase. Are our bags full or do we just window shop. What do we take away from the sacred holy time we spend in worship? Are we there to just witness Christ’s words, or are we here to actually take something away that will benefit both our lives and the lives of others. Christ love for us illustrates his desire, wants, and wishes, for us. He wants us to make a purchase. He wants is to exchange our currency for something greater. Maybe less emphases need to be on why we show up, and more on what we take away.
See ay in church but until then take care of yourself and one another.
Shalom,
Tommy

Excuses! Excuses! Excuses!

In the midst of the spring heat I took out with our son Will on a run. Will rode alongside on his bike as we headed out. About a half mile into the jog, Will asked, “Dad, why are you breathing so hard? We just started.” I quickly between gasps for oxygen shouted, “Because I am old, fat, out of shape, have a bad heart, and it’s hot out here.” To which Will responded, “At least you are really good at excuses!”

His comment snatched me back to reality. Why was I out there running if all I was doing was making excuses for my inadequate athletic ability? How often do we spend time and energy on reasoning why we can not do something than putting our efforts in just getting the task completed.

In our relationship with Christ we can come up with a million excuses not to do something. It is really easy to do. Many people have a burning desire to serve Jesus, and they know exactly what to do but can quickly become fixated on the things that keep them from serving. Not enough time, it’s too hot, we don’t have enough money, it is not at a good time or location, there will be others there they can handle it; are all easy excuses on why we don’t do all we can to serve Christ. Many people also understand that their presence in worship is a gift to our faith community and to God, but Sunday mornings can be filled with excuses on why they can’t attend.
Jesus understood our short comings. Luke tells us a story of Jesus as others ask to follow him. To be apart of his ministry on the road to Jerusalem, someone asked if he could go along. "I'll go with you, wherever," he said. Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know." Jesus said to another, "Follow me." The person said, "Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral." Jesus refused "First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God's kingdom!" Then another said, "I'm ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home." Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day." Christ understands we all have excuses or other things that keep us from serving others. Many things in our life that can distract us, hinder us, distract our attention from where it should be. He also wants us to fully understand that following him is not easy. It takes commitment, dedication, and determination, which are all qualities that are not easy to overcome but the rewards are greater than anything we can imagine. As opportunities provide themselves, it is time to step up: Call that person whom you have missed in worship, send a card to someone who is ill, go visit that person in the nursing home or confined to their home, pray daily for someone, lend a hand to someone, buy a bottle of Gatorade and give it to someone who life has no retreat from the heat, cook a meal for someone, etc. We hold the power to make our life one that is awesome at serving Christ by tending to all God’s children or as Will puts it, we can be a person good at excuses. In finding ways to rid ourselves of excuses we might just find our true self. The choice is yours.
Peace,
Tommy

WHO IS MOTHER?

Sunday we will celebrate Mother’s Day. It gives us time to reflect and wonder just who is mother. A mother can but does not necessarily be the woman who gave us life, but the one who loves us unconditionally, nurtures us, and influences who we are as adults and who we will be as parents. Mother is half of the parent team, the one who gave birth to you as a child. When she first held you in her arms, she fell madly in love with you! She is the one that changed your diaper, gave you your bottle, bathed and dressed you. She is the one who tended to you when you were sick, wishes she could have bore your pain, but unable to even share it with you. There is none like a Mother.

If you have children, then you know what it's like to be a Mother. Often, it's a tough job. A mother puts her children’s needs before her own, only to prepare them for the world in which they must live. Sometimes a Mother is lucky and through love, commitment, and dedication produces well-adjusted teenagers and later adults. Mostly, no matter how her child’s life turns out, a Mother sits and worries that she hasn't done her best with her children, especially if they don't turn out as she thought they should, with all the guidance she had given them.

Mother is a human being, capable of making mistakes. She is not perfect, just as none of us are perfect. But she is the one that we picture as being perfect during our childhood. As we become older, we realize that Mothers are capable of right and wrong ways of doing things, missing the mark, just as much as the next person. But she is still Mother. The thing that sets her apart is her everlasting love for her children and her goal that we lead normal, well-adjusted lives.

Not until we become adults, do we really begin to appreciate WHO Mother really is. She has nurtured us through our childhood, put up with our playful and rebellious ways and times of being lazy during our teenage years, and cried through each stage as we transitioned into becoming an adult. But Mother was always there to encourage us when we made a mistake, feed us physically or spiritually, reassure us tragedies in our own life are temporary, and give us comfort and peace. As we grow older and have our own children, we realize that Mother was a very strong person, full of wisdom, and influential in how we parent. It is here we begin to truly appreciate her dedication, love and commitment. When we become parents, we realize Mothers are special gifts from God.

If you Mother is still living it is not to late to tell her how much you appreciate all the love, support, and guidance she has given you all these years. Reminder her of the times she was there for you, tell her how you appreciate and realize all her sacrifices, and cherish the time you have. If she has passed, lift up a prayer to her, as her soul listens. Let us all lift up a special prayer of thanksgiving to God for the special gift of Mother, whom ever she may be..

Happy Mothers Day..

Tommy

“Transformation by the Spirit”

Lately we have been talking a lot about the power of God and how that power can transform us. Spiritually, many of us want to know and experience God more powerfully. We may hear a lot about "personal transformation” or “congregational transformation” but sometimes when we look at our own feeble attempts to improve ourselves or our circumstances, we wonder just who truly changes and how this transformation can happen. We may also feel frustrated and disappointed that God doesn't seem to be doing more to help, and we desperately want to know if there is any hope for us.
Many of us want a better relationship with God and a more fulfilling life, but are we also willing to admit our limitations, struggles, disappointments, and longing? Spiritual growth is truly possible; God is already at work drawing you closer to him and transforming you, whether or not you can see or feel it. The love, joy, and peace you are longing for is not reserved for a few special people but is available to you as well, as you learn to better recognize God's activity in your life and how to flow better with the Spirit's leading day by day.
What can we expect to have for a Spirit-led living and personal transformation? I read recently an article on how we should think of the Spirit as the wind of God it may help us in our perceptive of the Spirit. As a cool breeze may bring relief in the summer, or as a strong air current may fill a sail, the Holy Spirit can suddenly change our perspective, our feeling, or our capacity to respond to any given situation. Through the Holy Spirit, our experience with the grace of God becomes active, and we are able to sense what was not accessible to us otherwise, and to respond in often surprising and life-giving ways to others.
The Holy Wind breathes new life into us, transforming our thinking, feeling, and behavior even while our basic nature remains flawed and limited. Spirit-led living means just what it implies: we live out our God-given purpose in life by virtue of the Spirit's ongoing work within us. This happens moment by moment, as we follow the Spirit's leading, and not by becoming permanently and irrevocably transformed. Our basic human nature is not changed as much as we are enabled to grow in our ability to let the Spirit have its way in us and to keep in step with the Spirit's prompting. We do in fact mature, but we never stop being flawed, limited human beings. Over time, we will become more gracious toward ourselves and others, accepting our human limitations and failures better. We will learn how to become more attentive and responsive to the Spirit's prompting and leading, more helpful to others, and, as a result, more fruitful in our ministries. Spirit-led living provides us with a way to move from unhealthiness to the life God intends for us not as a permanent, complete transformation, but as a tool for living out of our best self in the moment.
Feel the breeze, see ya in church but until then take care of yourself and one another.
Peace & Grace,
Tommy

Love vs Action

It has come to my attention lately that I use the word "love" a lot. I freely express my love for my wife, my children, my family, our church, music, my dogs, ice cream, BBQ ribs, and even basketball. I think there is nothing wrong with verbally expressing my love for things. But it comes with a danger. My father would say, “Don’t tell me you love me, show me.” What would my relationships look like if I only said I loved things? How would my relationship with my wife if I just said I love you. What kind of adults would my children become if I only said I loved them? No actions, no hugs, no time to listen to their struggles, pain, confusion, and thoughts. Not attending their sporting events, school functions, and walking through each transition in their life with them. What kind of marriage one would have if you never celebrated your spouse’s accomplishments, spent time talking, dreaming, and planning for the future. I believe what my father was saying was that if we say we love someone or something we must be willing and ready to do whatever it takes to back it up.
Jesus asks the same question. In the gospel of John, we hear the words of the resurrected Christ ask Simon Peter do you love me. After seeing the risen Christ, after experiencing the realty of our risen Lord, Peter quickly returns to fishing. As soon as the Easter lilies were taken back up into the attic, Simon Peter has returned to the life he left to follow Jesus. He went backwards to the life he knew before he met Jesus. Instead of reading him the riot act, Jesus just ask Peter one question three times: Do you love me? When Peter replies a resounds Yes! Jesus responds that it is our actions that declare our love, not mere words. Jesus elegantly asks each of us, if you love me, your actions will illustrate to all that you are willing to do whatever it takes to back it up. If you recall I stated over two years ago the secret of getting people into the church. I said it is not a real big secret it is just hard to do. I said you love them, you love them into the church. Maybe the question in light of the risen Christ is not “Do you love me?” but “Who have you shown it to?”
Peace & Grace,
Tommy

Life is in the Details

Life is details -- phones that keep ringing, email that has to be returned, computers that crash, copy machines that jam, and children who are sick when we need to be at work. We struggle with the details of bodies that don’t work as they should, with doctors, specialists, medical tests and pills. Our children juggle homework, athletics, orthodontists and guitar lessons. Then we all go to church on Sunday, and what do we find but more details? Duties of the church has to be done, Sunday School roll, offering counted, bulletins folded, teaching children's Sunday school, and many more unseen details have to be done. Worship is filled with hymns and prayers, sacraments and readings, more details. How can we become more spiritual with attending to all these details?
Luke describes Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as full of details. We are given specific details, the exact location: the Jerusalem suburbs of Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives. Jesus then pulls two of his disciples aside, gives them specific detail instructions that fulfills the exact Old Testament prophesy. He knows exactly what type of colt he wants -- one that had never been ridden. He knows exactly where the colt is. He’s even worked out a response to the public relations problem of swiping a colt. "If anyone asks you . . . just say this, ‘The Lord needs it."’
During Lent we all feel the need to become more spiritual. We tend to think that spirituality means escaping the concern with detail. Spiritual people, we think, live simple lives. They don’t worry about mortgages and dentist appointments and going to church committee meetings. They wear sandals, meditate and feed the birds. But that is not the biblical understanding of spirituality. According to the Bible, the hindrance to our spirituality is not that we pay attention to the details of life, but that we pay too much attention to the wrong details.
There are a lot of details that Jesus ignored. He didn’t worry about the detail of urgency. He didn’t worry about the detail of effectiveness. Jesus didn’t worry about the detail of recognition. He didn’t worry about the detail of popularity. He didn’t worry about the detail of tomorrow. Details that consume us never crossed Jesus’ mind. And we easily overlook the details he was concerned about. Our souls are dried out because we have tried so hard to save ourselves by controlling the wrong details that we have no energy left for the detail of finding a savior.
We know the details of Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, Good Friday and Easter. We’ve gone through them year after year. Why do this again? For the same reason that we go through the details every Sunday. It’s the only way we can take our eyes off the things that do not matter and set them upon the arrival of the Savior. The best news is that once we’ve learned to look for Jesus, we’ll find him in every detail of our life.

May God Bless you during this time of self reflection and self examination known as Lent.

Do something nice for someone and take care of yourself and one another!

See ya at Wrestlemania- Tommy