Kids To The Rescue

What a fantastic idea! As reported in the St. Paul Pioner Press, two Twin Cities schoolgirls came up with the idea for Kids To The Rescue, a fundraising effort to aid Katrina victims.

What's so unique about that? First off, their goal - $54 million. But more important, the way they came up with that goal - it represents one dollar for every K-12 student in America. The girls hope to get every single student in the land to donate a single dollar to help the relief effort. They figure that every kid can afford $1 of their own (they want the effort to be KIDS to the rescue, not their parents).

The girls have partnered with the Salvation Army to help organize what's sure to be a massive project. They've already raised more than $10,000 (that's 10,000 kids who have pitched in), and have set up a web site at www.kidstotherescue.org to get the word out, and help schools set up the program locally.

As one of the girls, Rachel, says: "Just because we're younger doesn't mean kids can't make a difference. Kids can do almost the same things as adults; they can make a difference. It makes me feel really good."

This just in from the "Why?" dept.

Behold, the Pee & Poo stuffed toy set! The questions raised boggle the mind: Whose idea was this? What sort of people would buy this? What store would possible carry this? Most simply of all - WHY???

On saving Christmas

It's the middle of November in Litchville. The town museum's had its wreaths and garlands up for almost a month, now. This weekend the men were out by the water tower setting up the town's lighted plastic creche. Before too long, the few stores and businesses we have will be switching into Christmas mode, if they haven't already.

There's no evidence to be found of a plot by fiendish secular humanists to take the "Christ" out of "Christmas." Even those of us who aren't especially comfortable with the creche (which, displayed on its own as a community symbol of faith, would probably not stand up to a legal challenge) generally keep our mouths shut - the reality here is that the backlash is not against religious folk, but against folk who would dare speak concerns about the tricky weave of religion and our life as a community. If there's a "war on Christmas," as fundies like Pat Robertson and Bill O'Reilly like to claim, there's no evidence of it to be seen here.

As this excellent article in Salon points out, there's really no evidence to be seen of it anywhere. There's far too much good stuff in this article for me to summarize - just go and read it (for free, if you're willing to watch a brief ad) for yourself.

One of the fundies' most bizarre bellyaches to me has always been the complaint against stores that aren't "properly celebrating Christmas." This usually is code for using the expression "happy holidays" in any context, but can be far reaching, getting applied to store decoration, merchandise and its display, music on the PA, and so on.

The ever-astounding Bill O'Reilly seems to have latched onto this trope bigtime the last few - dare I say it? - "holiday seasons." Last December,

O'Reilly began running a regular segment called 'Christmas Under Siege.' 'All over the country, Christmas is taking flak,' O'Reilly declared on Dec. 7. 'In Denver this past weekend, no religious floats were permitted in the holiday parade there. In New York City, Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg unveiled the "holiday tree," and no Christian Christmas symbols are allowed in the public schools. Federated Department Stores -- that's Macy's -- have done away with the Christmas greeting "Merry Christmas."' Instead, Macy's was using the malign phrase 'Happy Holidays.' Noting this, Pat Buchanan wrote, 'What we are witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity.'

"Hate crimes against Christianity"??? I may be wrong, but it seems to me that more damage has been done to the celebration of Christ's Nativity by the wholesale appropriation of the day by stores (secular, capitalist instutions if ever there was such a creature). Christmas means big business to these operations, and with each new Christmas sale and Santa display, the stores maximize Christmas' profit factor... if at the same time taking it from the realm of "holy day" and turning it into mearly one more "holiday" to capitalize on.

Not enough celebration of Christmas in our stores? Good grief! I'd be delighted if I never saw another Christmas display again - not because I'd like to kill Christmas, but because I'd like to save it. It's disgusting to see the birth of Jesus turned into an opportunity to make hordes of money. It's appalling that our excitement as December 25 draws near has more to do with what's under the tree than with the steadily-spreading light of the Advent wreath and the Light-of-the-World baby it foreshadows.

The single greatest threat to Christmas is not the ACLU, "happy holidays," or some imaginary secularist cabal: It is the long, profitable descent into irrelevance. Rightists want more Christmas in the public sphere; the conundrum is that the more some version of "Christmas" worms its way into our cultural milieu, the more it comes to take on the flavor of all the other stuff that is part of that stew-pot. Perhaps it gives a faint dash of generic "religious" seasoning to all the hodgepodge of stuff in the mix, but it loses its distinctiveness - and in the process, its only real significance - by getting stirred in with everything else.

In other words, the more something called "Christmas" is public property, the less it belongs to the Church. And removing Christmas from its proper place in the Church is not only blasphemous, it is also its death sentence.

As a pastor and as a Christian, my job isn't to try to inject Christmas into all these things around me that have nothing to do with Jesus, and might in fact be thoroughly opposed to his kingdom (in practice, if not in words). My job is exactly the opposite: to keep Christmas from being co-opted by a culture that doesn't understand it and doesn't wish to; to keep our consumer society from injecting itself into the faith life of the Church.

It is well and good for the Church to seek to influence the world - that is, after all, very near the heart of our mission to tell the Good News. But the Church, the body of Christ, would do well to remember that the Jesus whom we proclaim prayed for us to be in the world, yet not of it (John 17:11, 15-16). We have this great Good News that God put on human flesh and became one of us, in order to mount the greatest rescue operation the world will ever see - it all began in Bethlehem with a God-baby. The Church cannot afford to either compomise this Good News by allowing all the cultural garbage to shape our Holy Day, or to assume that getting Macy's or Wal-Mart to use the phrase "merry Christmas" is somehow the same thing as "making disciples of all nations."

Christmas must be saved, yes. But it's the capitalists and of-this-world Christians who are threatening to deal it a knock-out punch... not the "secularist conspiracy."

Sermon Sampler: November 20, 2005

It’s not about who they are. It’s about who we are.

[W]hether we love or not has very little to do with the person we’re loving. That’s easier to understand when you turn it around – whether or not someone loves you has very little to do with you. We all understand this inherently; it’s impossible to cause someone to love you if they don’t. Whether they love or don’t love has to do with who they are, with what’s inside of them.

All this was driven home hard for me the morning of September 11. I had watched the towers fall, seen the destruction unfold live on TV, felt my stomach clench in a knot as I watched in horrified wonder. And then I retreated to my room; sat on my bed; and prayed.

I began, of course, in prayer for those who had died, for those who had lost someone, for those whose lives were in danger at this very moment, and for those who would not want to continue living after this moment. But as I prayed, a very strange thing happened to me – a thing I can’t explain. I became aware that I must also pray for the very people who had caused such terrible pain today. It revolted me. “Love your enemies!” Jesus commanded me. “Pray for those who persecute you!” If ever I’ve felt as though he were speaking directly to my heart, it was in that instant.

I was convicted.

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...

Sermon Sampler: November 13, 2005

The third servant [in the Parable of the Talents] doesn’t fare so well; he’s gone and buried the money for some reason, and the only gain he’s able to give his master is the dirt clods falling on the lord’s floor. He makes some excuses about his master’s reputation for being a tough, ornery son of a gun – as if that’s going to help – but he makes no apologies. It’s all there, not a penny missing. He’s done no wrong.

This servant gets no reward from his master beyond the print of the lord’s boot on his behind, as he’s kicked off the estate and into the dark night to wonder what he did wrong.

Let’s answer his question for him, shall we? What was it about those first two servants that pleased their master so much? What was so good about them, which was lacking in Servant #3?

First of all, those two servants knew who the goods belonged to. It was a fortune they were sitting on, yes…but it was the master’s fortune. They didn’t dare squander that money or blow it on themselves, because the master would demand his fortune from them when he returned. If he’d wanted to give them a gift, he would have given them a gift; he had not. Instead he trusted his wealth to them. All that money was in their hands, but it would be dangerous to think that it was theirs. No matter what they did, the good servants remembered that the money remained their master’s money.

That third servant, though, seems to have had other ideas. What sort of person buries money? A pirate. A thief. A man with something to hide. A cautious man would put his money in the bank where it is safe, and even earning a tiny bit of interest. A dishonest man – a man who chose to forget whose money it was – might just dig a hole.

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...

Sermon Sampler: November 6, 2005

Most of you had no trouble figuring out who my brother was the first time you met him. And when Mom came up to Litchville a week later for my installation, you probably recognized her immediately. It’s a standing joke at our family gatherings that if you’d taken Mom, my brother and me, and our aunt Nancy, to a Twins game, spread us around the stadium, put a picture of Mom and Nancy’s folks on the big screen and offered a prize to whoever could find all four of their descendents, no one would have any trouble at all rounding us all up. We’ve all got that Jorgenson blood – we all share that Jorgenson look.

All the way back to the maternity ward, most folks are good at seeing how the newborn baby has his mother’s eyes or his father’s chin. We marvel over how much she looks like her sister, or how he’s the spitting image of his great-uncle Charlie. And it’s true – each newborn’s face is a family history, written in dimples and jawlines, there for everyone to read. The secret language of genes gets translated birth after birth into this open book of family likenesses, generation after generation.

But here’s something odd: There’s a likeness to be seen in families who share no blood.

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...

Sermon Sampler: October 30, 2005

See, the spiritual buzz [you confirmands] get today isn’t a forever thing. I remember my own confirmation fourteen years ago – I felt wonderfully close to God…for about a week before and after Confirmation Sunday. But it doesn’t take long before sin pokes all kinds of holes in our balloons, my friends, and pretty soon we see through our religious feelings – even at their very best (and yours are very good, indeed), they’re still just feelings. And we see through our religious promises, too – even at their best (and yours today will be very good, indeed), they’re still made by broken people like you and me. We sin, and don’t keep the promises we make to God or to one another. You’ll fall short of your confirmation promises, just like your parents and sponsors fell short of the promises they made when you were baptized. No matter how good and faithful we are, even our best intentions fall on their faces sometimes.

But as much as we talk about “your” promises and the promises “you will make” today, the truth is that today isn’t really about any of that at all. Sure, those are important parts of what will happen today, but the heart of confirmation is the promise God has made to you – the one promise in all the world that you can count on with your whole heart. God has promised you that you are his, and that he has set you free from your sins. He set you free the very moment you were baptized, when that water poured over your head and all of a sudden you were sharing in Jesus’ death and burial. He set you free so that, no matter how well or how poorly you do keeping your confirmation promises, you can be sure that God will keep his baptism promise to you – you are his, his Son has set you free, and whoever the Son sets free will be free indeed!

As good as today is – and no matter how rough some of the days to come may be – you’ve got God’s solid promise that the best is yet to come. God’s free gift to you is so much better than you can possibly imagine, and it’s the surest thing in the world, thanks to Jesus Christ. You are God’s children, brothers and sisters with our Lord Jesus and with all of us here around you. And God will not let anything come between him and his children. Just you wait and see.

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...

Sermon Sampler: October 23, 2005

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” Jesus taught the crowds that day. With all your heart, yes. With all your soul, of course. But when was the last time you loved the Lord your God with all your mind?

Has it ever happened? Is there any time in your life you can point to when every last one of your neurons was firing with the love of God? When 100% of your brainpower was focused on God? When your whole nervous system was ajangle with the intensity of your love for the God who created you? Have you ever loved the Lord your God with all your mind, even once?

There’s an unfortunate tendency among Christians today to exalt experiences of heart and soul, seeking them out and reveling in them as true spirituality, while at the same time denigrating the mind as some sort of poor cousin to these two when it comes to matters of faith. Real experience of God, we’re told, comes in those moments when our brains get out of the way and we’re open to the things of God that are far beyond understanding. Think too hard, the message goes, and you might just miss the whole point of life. It’s an ugly anti-intellectualism that runs deep in many Christian circles.

But this idea surely doesn’t come from Jesus!

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...

Sermon Sampler: October 16, 2005

Truth be told, idolatry isn’t big on our radar anymore. For all the talk it receives in the Bible, few of us spend much time worrying about false gods. Take a look at all the other commandments being broken around us – the abuse of God’s name; sex everyplace but within marriage, for which it was created; theft in big and little ways, on the tax forms and at the boardroom table; an entire culture based on envying what the Joneses are driving around in, or wearing to school, or taking out a second mortgage on. There’s so much sin to be seen, and the Ten Commandments litter the scene like so many shattered boughs after a windstorm. Really, the only highlight is that idolatry seems to be at an all-time low.

I mean, when was the last time you saw your neighbor kneel down and pray to a little carved elephant? Can you even think of a time when someone you knew prayed for you to a god you didn’t know? Sure, we know that there is freedom of religion in our country, but when the huge majority of Americans talk about God, we know that they mean just the same God as we do, even if they understand him a bit differently. Really, it’s hard to think of anyone at all who worships any other god besides our God, isn’t it?

So why trouble ourselves with idols – false gods? Why spend any time at all worrying about the First Commandment when that seems to be the one commandment we’re pretty close to golden on?

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...

The Original Zombie Infection Simulation

Because it's good to be prepared.

The Trinity Project

It takes a lot of guts for everyone involved - "Trinity" is Michelle, who up until recently starred in porn videos as "Trinity James." The project is a ministry of the two crusading pastors behind XXXChurch.com, a site that ministers to people whose lives have been damaged by pornography (both inside and outside the industry), and works to raise awareness of the issue in the Christian community.

(Heck, let's be honest - they work to lift the "untouchable" stigma from Michelle, her coworkers, and the people who download her videos. People caught in any form of sexual sin are the modern-day lepers, and XXXChurch is all about turning the church around to minister to them in just the same way Jesus reached out to the rejects of his own society with some really good news. But enough about that, already... what about the Trinity Project?)

The "Trinity Project" is at once painfully simple and breathtakingly difficult - Michelle is leaving her life as a porn star behind, and making a new start for herself hundreds of miles away from the California studios, with her husband and young son. Criag and Mike, the pastors from XXXChurch, have used their site to raise over $12,000 to help the former "Trinity" make the move, find a place to live, and plant the seeds of a new life in Indiana. They've promised to continue supporting her personally - they've personally befriended her family - and through their site, with finances, prayers, and whatever other help the family needs to make their new lives work.

In exchange, Michelle is taking maybe even a bigger chance. She's agreed to put her all into leaving the dirt behind her, yes. But she's also committed to sharing her story - piece by piece, as it happens - at the blog linked above. Going public this way is mighty brave, and it's already making waves, in both Christian circles and porn circles. There are thousands and thousands of people rooting for Michelle to succeed in her new life... and there are probably a few who will be watching for her to stumble, too.

It's got the feel, in some ways, of a "reality" TV show - except this one isn't a contest, or a stage show, or a scripted, edited fraud. And the opening of Michelle's life is more about ministry and accountability than about exhibitionism. It's got the potential to really open people's eyes, and to humanize the actors and actresses whose body parts fill our screens, in a way that few other endeavors could. At the same time, I'm more than a little nervous that perhaps private, personal accountability is the best arrangement for such a difficult transition, and that the heat of the spotlight is better avoided - at least until the bumps and pits of a life-changing event are a little ways in the past.

Regardless, I'm in awe of the way Mike and Craig continue to stick their necks out to minister among the lepers.

And I'm even more in awe of Michelle and her family, at the guts it's taking to do something like this, to make this transition so suddenly, so completely, and so publicly. I don't know whether or not it's well-advised yet... but I'm confident that it's being done with an awful lot of prayer by everyone involved, and in the end, I suspect we'll see God powerfully at work.

Blessings and prayers to Michelle and her family - count me among the many, many folks who are pulling for you!

If you'd like to financially support the "Trinity Project," you can do so here. Prayers, of course, are free.

Happy Halloween, a little bit late!