Just Another’s Response to Orlando

As an ordained minister, father, husband, and a guy who lives in America, I feel a painful needed to write a brilliant response to the tragedy that occurred Saturday night in Orlando. I wish I had great words of wisdom that I could pen that would give everyone great comfort, hope, and a renewed since of peace. But I have no words. What we witnessed was unspeakable incomprehensible evil.

 I ask that we as a society for a moment turn down the volume of rhetoric that is increased by the media, politicians, and religious leaders. We must realize everyone has an agenda and it is not necessarily to comfort those who are hurting and whose lives have been devastated. We can all cast blame when we cannot conceptualize such an act of terrorism. If we are courageous enough to silence our own agenda we will find many families that are devastated, hurting, confused, and in a state of shock. We will find a community of liked individuals that were singled out as a target in a state of fear. If we have the bravery to turn down the rhetoric, we will hear a nation that is fearful of the stranger and a trust that has been destroyed. I concede that there are many questions that need to be answered and action taken. But now is not that time.

So let us only look at the facts without any agendas. A disturbed individual filled with hate systematically planned, orchestrated and maliciously murdered and injured a group of innocent people.  That is pure evil. Evil is evil no matter the weapon used or its availability, no matter the religious affiliation, no matter the lifestyle of the victims, no matter the nationality of those murdered, and no matter our government’s effectiveness to protect us. Evil has no empathy for the victims but we as a society should. We should turn down the volume of rhetoric and listen to those hurting, confused, devastated, and in shock in losing a loved one to a senseless act. We should comfort the families that will have to bury their loved one due this repulsive act. Any act of terrorism has two vital components. First is to cause death and destruction with the greatest of impact and causalities. The other is to incite fear, mistrust and divide. The first has happened and we have no control over. The second as a community we have total control over. So let us pray for those who are burying the innocent. Let us support, encourage, and uplift a community that was singled out as a target. Let us stop the rhetoric, finger pointing, and grandstanding because people’s lives have been forever destroyed.  There will be a season to reevaluate, dissect, and analyze if this could have been prevented but now is not that time. We must realize that hate was the catalyst that ignited this massacre. So let’s try to love more, pray more, empathize more, trust more, and listen more. Let us be open not to rhetoric but to the spirit of God and the spirit of humanity. There will be a time we can get back on personal crusades, agendas and debate the issues but now is not the time. Let us as a nation mourn for those that evil took away from us. Let us listen less to the social media and pray more for comfort. We might never know the why but for now remember those who are hurting, confused, scared, and devastated. They are the only thing that matters.  

What can we do? As a community, let us cry with those who are mourning and with those who are hurting.  Let us have the have courage and unity exclaiming to all who will listen exactly what this act is: evil. Evil: unadulterated, pure, and simple.

You can be the light in our dark world.

Tommy 

What Makes You Happy? Pleasure & Happiness

For the past several weeks we have been spending a lot of time talking about what makes us happy. Many have wondered why so long about one topic. For me it’s personal. The one single thing that totally breaks my heart as a pastor, a family member, or a friend is to witness someone I care about undermining their own happiness. I watch from the sideline as they make decisions that will eventually undermine their own happiness. Maybe you have experienced this as well. You see it coming, it’s not a sixth sense or physic powers, but you witness people constantly doing things that undermine their own happiness. It is tragic to watch. We dare not say anything. The truth is there are enough unavoidable things in this life that causes us pain. It is truly heartbreaking when something that is 100% avoidable but somehow people don’t avoid it. There is one thing in this life that is consistent and that Jesus even speaks about. Jesus says in this life everyone will have trouble. So with all the unavoidable trouble why would anyone create more trouble? So it breaks my heart to witness people make decisions or do things that I know will cause them pain and trouble which all is totally avoidable. These people are not immediately but eventually undermining their own happiness.

The reason we undermine our own happiness is confusion about two ideals: pleasure and happiness. And the relationship between these two words: pleasure and happiness. The biggest part is because of the dynamics between pleasure and happiness. God created us with the capacity for pleasure and happiness. God wants us to experience pleasure and happiness. Pleasure is a word that has gotten a bad overtone especially in religious circles. God is not against pleasure. It’s not an either or. The problem is our priority. When we place pleasure a higher priority over happiness, we have a problem.  When we choose pleasure over happiness you get neither. Truth is one leads to the other but the other ultimately undermines the one. Happiness can lead to pleasure but if you only pursue pleasure and forget the principles that lead to happiness and the end of the day you have neither. If you are an adult,  you will know already that pleasure will eventually lose its pleasure and instead becomes a prison. Over time pleasure loses to pleasure. A pastime becomes a pathway to a habit, to an addiction. These are not things that are necessarily illegal, immoral, or dangerous. Pleasure eventually loses to pleasure. The Apostle Paul when writing to the church in Rome about this says when you continually say yes to pleasure over and over again you eventually become a slave to it. It begins to own you. We may say “I’m not a slave I have control over this.” But if we keep saying yes over and over again to our pleasure we are no longer choosing. We have given up control. We become a slave when it becomes something we have to do not something we want to do. Paul’s says you can be a slave to sin, what every separates us, or obedient to the Good shepherd. Happy people already know this. Jesus says sow happiness, sow and sow some more and you will eventually reap happiness. But it’s not immediately but it reaps better. Our trouble is when we are unhappy we want to do something that will immediately make us happy. We go straight to the pleasure to feel good. We feel like we need to do something now to quickly change our status from unhappy to happy but Jesus says is takes time and we got to sow happiness not pleasure.

 Is there any pleasure that is undermining your happiness? Again it doesn’t have to be anything illegal or immoral. You might not want to admit it, even to our self, because you may feel you may have to do anything about it. You don’t have to do anything but you might want to start by being honest with yourself. Is there a pleasure that you have given into that undermines your happiness or undermines the happiness of those you love? Have you ever had a child ask you: "why do you always buy shoes, be on your phone, buy a new car, drink and act that way?" Is pleasure undermining your happiness? If you say yes to your pleasure you are rejecting Jesus’ offer for an extraordinary life. I’m not implying anything was intentional. Without meaning to, have you placed a pleasure over your pursuit of happiness? Only you know the answer. You never ever have to share it with anyone else. But if you continue the path you are on, you will one day look back and wished you would have tried something different. If that’s you, you’re not a bad person, just a sheep that needs a good shepherd and a life that doesn’t drain you but gives you more life. That exchange is one you will never ever regret.

Peace, Love and Happiness

Tommy 

What Makes You Happy?

This week we begin a new exciting sermon series on what makes you happy. What makes you happy can either be a question or a statement.  Some of us already know and have a clear picture of exactly what makes us happy.  We are content, joyful, and at peace with our daily lives. However for most of us we are not too clear on exactly what makes us happy.  We might not be totally miserable but there just seems to be something missing from our lives.  Over the next six weeks we are going to try to inform you of exactly what will make you happy. Please do not take offense to this outlandish statement as what right does someone else has to advise you what will make up your happiness. But for some of us, many of us, we don’t really know what makes us happy. It’s sort of a hit or miss kind of thing. But here is the litmus test: if you keep trying different things to make yourself happy and you’re not happy. If you haven’t reached your goal of happiness then it is possible you are missing the mark. Everywhere we look, TV, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, companies are spending trillions of dollars to tell us or sell us something that they guarantee will make us happy. We have all fallen for it. If we are honest we have all said or thought  if only I had, I drove, I wore, I looked like, I achieved, then and only then will I be happy. Most of the time when we get there we find out what we thought was going to make us happy failed to fulfill us. Even when we have acquired the thing we put of hope of happiness in, we still might not be happy. We might feel accomplished and proud of our achievement but not happy.  Many of us have forgotten either temporary or chronically, what makes us happy. True happiness cannot be marketed or sold. So in the consumer driven world in which we live, you will not hear advertiser tell you this simple fact. You will not hear them talk about what truly, honestly, unequivocally will make us happy. We have all heard the truth that happiness cannot be bought. So if happiness can’t be bought how do we obtain it? Join us for this exciting six week adventure as we look at what makes us happy. Happiness just might be closer and easier to acquire than you think.

Peace, Love and Happiness:

Tommy 

“How Do We Forgive Someone Who Hurt Us?”

We believe in a Messiah that tells us to turn the other cheek but we live in a world that tells us to hit back harder on their cheek. Our society wants us to turn to revenge and retaliation. Make them pay for what they did to us. The problem is that even if we do seek revenge or strike back, the pain of what they did to us is still there. The emotional scars of what happened to us are still there. Even after vengeance, it’s not over, there is still lost we have to work through. So what if there was another way of dealing with those who have hurt us? It brings us to our big question for today: How can I forgive those who have hurt me? In many ways forgiveness is at the core of Christianity. If there was no forgiveness then none of us would be here nor would we be worthy enough to call ourselves followers of Jesus. It is one thing to receive forgiveness but it is another to give forgiveness. The disciples asked Jesus that question how many times should we forgive someone? This indicates that forgiveness has traditionally been at the center point of our religion.

Forgiveness is one of those topics that it is easy to talk about but hard to put into practice. We all can preach forgiveness and agree that forgiveness is essential to our relationship with God and others until we are hurt. When we or a love one is hurt we want revenge. We want the person or persons to pay. There is a huge difference between wanting or demanding justice and wanting revenge. Wanting justice is fine and normal but if we are honest we want more. We have an instinct for justice. That is who we are as humans and God promises justice. Without a system of consequences for wrongful acts then chaos and anarchy rules and peace and security evaporates. We live in a world where there are some messed up things and messed up people who mess with our minds, our security, and our safety which makes it very hard to forgive. Especially when there is physical and sexual abuse it multiplies and when children are abused it goes off the scale. Forgiveness does not mean the perpetrator should not have legal consequences, relationships boundaries and consequences, or letting people off the hook for their actions. Forgiveness is not letting any one get away with something. It is just the opposite. Forgiveness is the hardest thing to do as a Christian. Seriously, feeding people, serving people, clothing people, that is all easy compared to forgiving people. Anger and resentment feels right at the moment but eventually it eats away to you. We feel we reserve the right to be mad. True. But anger reveals a flaw in our understanding of what forgiveness is. It is not letting people off the hook but it is letting people know that their actions or inaction's resulted in pain and hurt. It is letting them know that what they did to you will no longer define who you are or hinder your love or trust for someone else. When it comes to forgiveness, we cannot do this by ourselves. We need help from God, from professionals and the power of the Holy Spirit. We need the encouragement of others. We need to fully understand that forgiveness cannot happen overnight. It is a long process with many stages. Join us for this last part of our sermon series as we lay out the steps and stages of forgiveness so we may all experience the peace in life we all deserve.

Peace, Love & Happiness:

Tommy 

Can American Christianity Stand Up to Persecution?

One of the questions asked by Christians can American Christianity stand up to persecution? If you are a believer and follower of Jesus in American culture it may seem you are under attack. Social media paints Christianity as extremist, judgmental, racists that are only self-serving and closed minded. We are portrayed as agenda pushing radicals. Some in our society view the church as a money hungry financial machine that prey on the weak and vulnerable.  Others view Christianity as talk and no action. Movies have reduced the Christian to sad stereotype. There once was a time in America when attempting to follow Jesus was honorable, noble, respectable, and a good thing. Today Christianity in our nation has been reduced to a bad label. Who is responsible for our current condition? Both sides: while mocked, made fun of, our abilities questioned, and having to stand in the face of opposition, we haven’t really helped our cause out much. Any opposition or attack on our abilities or character can be seen as persecution. The true meaning of persecution is more than an unpopular view or negative post on social media.

Today in 2016 Christians globally are being truly persecuted in a variety of settings. The onslaught of ISIS it is happening daily. ISIS has been around for many years and no stranger to the American government. But in the last year they have gone to a higher level. ISIS has taken over Syria. They have destroyed all Christian artifacts from the city of Nineveh. They have destroyed every Christian tombs, church, ancient artifacts that have been preserved for thousands of years.  On Easter Sunday 69 people were killed and 341 Christian were injured in bombing at a neighborhood park in Islamabad, Pakistan as children and families gathers to celebrate the Easter holiday. Christians and Jews are being systematically raped, burned, drowned, and killed on the spot for their belief in Jesus Christ. This is not 1000’s but 2016. Is it coming to America? Why wouldn’t it? The fear of intolerance has opened the front door. This is not about spreading fear or hate. It is not about Islam as a whole. This is not some type of outlandish psycho prophecies saying there will be beheadings in American streets. Nor is this a political statement about the US leadership. However it is not out of the possibility that Christians will be ouster sized, ridicule, and loss of finances, censorship of our voice.  In Houston a judge ordered a pastor to turn over his sermons. So why should we be shocked to see a pastor arrested and imprisoned over a sermon they have preached in the near future.

Brings us back to our question which has not been answered? Can American Christianity stand up to persecution? Simply No! Not in its’ present state. Persecution can’t stop the gospel from spreading, but it can discourage God’s people if we are not prepared to face it. Join us Sunday as we attempt to address our current predicament in relevant ways. We will uncover things we as followers of Jesus can do to lovingly endure in the face of persecution, not fold under fear and intimidation, and stand graciously in the face of opposition, and not embarrass God in the process.  Real answers to tough questions is the only way we can grow, learn, and share the gospel of love, grace and hope.

Peace, Love and Happiness:

Tommy 

What If The Tomb was NOT Empty?

What if the tomb wasn’t empty? Can you imagine if those who went to the tomb of Jesus on that first Easter morning and found his body just as they laid him three days earlier? No stone removed and the soldiers standing guard.  If the tomb is not empty then Jesus was just another guy like many who proclaimed to be the son of God. If the tomb is not empty we can just chalk up Jesus’ life as a lunatic who helped people. If the tomb is empty Jesus’ words of grace and mercy are just broken promises like a politician’s speech. If the tomb is not empty then we must wait for the real Savior and the authentic Messiah. If the tomb is not empty the crowd and public opinion wins out over truth. If the tomb is not empty then the religious leaders were right and by killing Jesus as they protected the authority of the church. If the tomb is not empty then justice was served and a public nuisance was eliminated. If the tomb is not empty then Jesus is just another martyr who died for what he believed in. Noble yes, but that only has minimal affect. If the tomb is not empty then the stories of Jesus are just a factious fairy tale that entertains us. If the tomb is not empty then miracles are just magical illusions.  If the tomb is not empty then we would just be eating peeps, hiding eggs, and getting together with family to celebrate the coming of spring time.

However, those of us who have faith believe the tomb of Jesus was empty. Jesus rising on Easter morning was more than a showy miracle to shock and awe his attackers and followers. The empty tomb is more than a miraculous illusion to end the protesting or validate Jesus’ followers. When Jesus rose, he turned the entire order of the universe on its head. The Resurrection shows us that death does not have the last word. The empty gives us hope that there is something greater than the life we have now.  The empty tomb is the pathway between a brief life and life eternal. The empty tomb is a symbol that truth wins out even in the messed up world in which we live. The empty tomb shouts to all who will listen that your sins will no longer exclude you.  The empty tomb reminds us that grace is more powerful than obligation. The empty tomb reminds us that love wins out over hate. Because the tomb was empty we are shown the power in forgiveness. The tomb was empty declaring to all that this Jesus truly is the son of God. The tomb is empty which ignites the fire in the hearts of all who believes that we too can change the world in which we live little by little. The tomb is empty which gives an eternal resting place for our souls and the legacy we leave in the hearts and minds of others. The tomb is empty which gives us peace and hope as we stand at the graveside of our loved one. The tomb is empty that shouts that good wins over evil and that darkness cannot drive out light. The tomb is empty as a reminder that our story will not end. The tomb is empty that allows us to be a vital piece of God’s work and a part of something bigger than ourselves. The tomb is empty and our God defeated our worse fear: Death. The door is open, the tomb is empty, and the truth rings loudly. So let is celebrate that the body was not there and He is risen! 

Be Kind to One Another 

Tommy 

Giving Up Popularity

Popularity is something that has changed over time. The way in which we measure popularity has drastically changed with modern advancements. In one era popularity was measured by how many names on a dance card. In another era, the lunch table or the group of people one socialized with determined ones level of popularity. In today’s culture our popularity is measured objectively by the number of friends, hits or downloads one receives on social media. The internet has replaced the dance card and the lunch table as been replaced by re-tweets. Regardless of the method of calculating ones popularity there is a deep intrinsic need each of us possess and that is to be liked and accepted. Either on a small scale or the larger scale of celebrity status, each of us on some level wants the approval and recognition from others. That in its self is not a bad thing, but at what expense are we willing to go to for that acceptance. It feels good when it’s there and can be heartbreaking when it is absence.  Ministers and religious leaders are not immune to this need for popularity. We see it all the time as religious leaders are exposed as their need for popularity is greater than their commitment to following Jesus.

So how does our need for popularity fit in with our relationships with Jesus? We begin by understanding that Jesus knew something about popularity. As we celebrate what is known as Palm Sunday, we are reminded of Jesus’ popularity. Jesus knew that Jerusalem was packed with over two million visitors there to celebrate the religious holiday. His choice of animal to ride was deliberate as described by the prophet Zechariah. The people singing and shouting “Hosanna” this means “Save us now!”  In the minds of the crowds Jesus was the one to defeat the Romans and throw off the yoke of bondage under which they had suffered for many years. At that moment, Jesus was the most popular man in the city. He would have been elected king and he could have gotten anything he ever wanted. But that was not why he did this. Popularity was the last thing Jesus wanted. Jesus purpose was to save us all from ourselves. Besides Jesus knew how popularity works. Today you are popular and everybody loves you. What about the next day? How will they feel about you then? Popularity was not Jesus’ purpose. Jesus knew that popularity is a very fleeting thing. Jesus knew that popularity is determined by the whims of the masses. Jesus knew that popularity has nothing to do with truth, purpose, and vision. Jesus knew despite the crowd’s parade for Him, Jesus knew he had a larger purpose to fulfill in Jerusalem. To give something up as popularity for a bigger purpose takes tremendous courage. Maybe as we approach Holy Week we too can try to give up our popular status for something even greater. Jesus doesn’t call us to be popular, just faithful. May we all have the courage to distinguish the difference?

Peace, Love and Happiness:

Tommy