The King is Dead (#2)

Each summer while I was in high school our marching band would spend one week in the summer at Band Camp at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. This was always one of the highlights of the year for us band geeks. We stayed in college dorms and thought we were big stuff. We stayed up too late, goofed off, worked, marched, sweated and more. And something significant always seemed to happen. For example, one year I fell in love for the first time. Another time there was something of more consequence: Elvis died.

That is why it felt like deja vu two weeks ago while attending my church's Annual Conference, at Ball State, when I learned that Michael Jackson had died unexpectedly: First the King of Rock, now the King of Pop. I better stop going to events at Ball State.

There has already been too much said and too much written about Michael Jackson in these 13 days, but I want to add a little more to the pile. These are some observations I have made about Mr Jackson and his musical and cultural significance.

• There are many sins forgiven and forgotten when a person dies. It seems that all the controversy and negativity toward Jackson have disappeared. It is almost like there were never accusations of abuse, eccentricity and just plain weirdness. Never mind that his face changed with every album or that his skin kept getting lighter. Now that he is dead, people are truly focusing on only the good things.
• Jackson's influence in the world has been almost exclusively cultural. He changed the way people thought about celebrity. He was literally world famous. And in some places he was that rare celebrity who is famous for being famous. He came along at the perfect time. His product was perfect for MTV at a time when MTV needed a product. The two were a match made in heaven. In this way, MJ was a lot like Elvis. He was in the right place at the right time.
• Also like Elvis, Jackson's musical contribution was somewhat minimal. There was not much new that Jackson brought to contemporary music. He was successful in taking R&B to a white audience, but that was more marketing that innovation. If there had never been a Michael Jackson music today would still sound pretty much the same.
• The one way in which Jackson's influence has been profound is that before Michael singers did not have to be dancers. Today there is an expectation that people who sing will also be people who dance. I am not sure that this is a good development.

Weekly Prayer Thought

As He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” Luke 11.1

As we have been learning in the past several weeks, there are several good and helpful prayer methods. These can help you as you learn to pray more effectively and more extensively. The frequency, length and satisfaction of our prayers can all be improved by using a pattern, or a system, to give our prayers consistency. One of these methods is based on the Lord's Prayer.

Developed about 20 years ago, this pattern will take that familiar prayer and help you use it for your spiritual growth and consistency in prayer. The Lord's Prayer is broken into an outline that gives guidance for prayer. Try praying in each of the following areas:

• Our Father in heaven hallowed be thy name. The basic idea behind this prayer element is praise and worship, but we can also emphasize the name of God. There are several names given to God in the Old Testament. You can do a study of those Hebrew names and their meanings to get a deeper understanding of how you might praise God.
• Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done. This is not a mark of resignation, but rather a faithfulness to the will of God. We should understand that God's kingdom is the most important thing and pray for his will in our lives and the lives of those that we know and love.
• Give us our daily bread. We all need to be reminded that all we have comes from God. He is the one who sustains us in everything. We need to ask him to meet our needs and the needs of others. This also implies a dependent relationship. Christians, and others, too often try to live life on their own. We need to realize that we need God.
• Forgive us as we forgive others. An important and significant part of all these prayer models is repentance. Jesus reminds us to repent and turn from our sin. But he also charges us to forgive others as well. Notice that he does not say anything about whether are not they repent to us...
• Lead us not into temptation. There are many Christians who stumble every day simply because they were not prepared when temptation came. Ephesians 6 discusses the Whole Armor of God and how important it is to protect yourself from attacks from the enemy. Pray that you will be protected from all sorts of temptation in every form that comes along.
• Thine is the Kingdom... Jesus model prayer ends where it began, with praise to God. Tell God how great he is and remind yourself of how valuable he is for your life. Worship him with your whole heart.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Strengthen me this day that I may faithfully serve you. Cleanse me that I may be a blessing to the world. Anoint me that others may see you through me. Amen.

Weekly Prayer Thought

"Are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?"
Mark 14.37

A number of years ago a man named Dick Eastman developed a great prayer pattern. He based his work on Jesus question to the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Could you not tarry one hour?" His implication is that one hour must be the amount of time that a Christian should pray. Before you freak out, let me say that most Christians, even most Christian leaders, do not pray for an hour at a stretch. However, most Christians would agree that an hour is a noble goal.

That's why Eastman came up with his "Hour That Changes the World" prayer wheel. You can see the wheel and read an expanded outline at http://www.globaldayofprayer.com/downloads/247/One%20Hour%20Prayer%20Model%20-%20Hour%20that%20changes%20the%20world.pdf. For our purposes, let's briefly look at each of the 12 areas of prayer. If you spend five minutes praying in each of them, you will have prayed an hour.

• Praise and Worship. Begin your prayer time by telling God how great you think he is and how much you love him.
• Wait on the Lord. Do not spend all of your time talking. After you talk to God, allow him to talk to you. Wait for his leading for your prayers.
• Confession. Be sure to spend time repenting of your sins. We all have sins and we need to give them to the Lord so we can be forgiven.
• Pray the Scriptures. Use the Bible to guide your prayers. Some times you may just want to read God's word to you. In other times you may want to pray one of David's Psalms.
• Watching. This is when we are aware of what is going on the world around us. Pray against evil, for protection and about world events.
• Intercession. When we intercede we are praying for the needs of and on behalf of others.
• Petitions. This is when we pray for our own needs.
• Thanksgiving. Never forget to thank God for all that he has done for you, today, in the past and always.
• Singing. I know that this is not every one's favorite thing, but spend some time singing to God. Find some privacy and sing a hymn or song of praise to the Lord.
• Contemplation/Meditation. When we meditate we are examining our relationship with God, the claims of God and the goodness of God.
• Listening. After all of this talking, be sure to listen to see if there is anything God calls to your mind. He might want to remind you of something else to pray about.
• Praise. At the conclusion of your prayer, be sure that God is in charge of your life. Make him the Lord of all you have and all you are.

Don't get stressed out and upset if you cannot make it for a whole hour. But, use this outline to expand your variety of prayer, and the consistency of your prayer. You will never be sorry for praying more.

Prayer: Help me to pray, o Lord. Give me patience, consistency and perseverance. Show me how to be creative in my prayer time. And meet me in prayer, God, so that my time will always be new. I pray that in the name of Jesus my Lord. Amen.

Preference or Prejudice, Part 2

This year we have had an exchange student living with us. Maarten is from the Netherlands, and very proud of that. At the end of the year his family, mother, father and sister, came to visit for the weekend. We had a wonderful time with them. It is always exciting for me to learn about another culture. This was especially good because Maarten's family turns out to be a group of wonderful people.

We talked. We learned. We played. We ate. There were three days in which we spent most all of our time together. But it was not always comfortable for me. I learned of ignorance in my own life. Ignorance that certainly makes it appear that my prejudices have made me a racist.

But here is the hard part: I don't believe that I have those prejudices. I plead ignorance completely. However, my ignorance, not realizing what I was doing, saying, believing, was offensive to my guests. For that I apologized and apologize.

My problem was that I did not realize how often we Americans refer to the Dutch in derogatory ways. I did it a couple of times without realizing, but there are so many other ways we do it. Here are some phrases that we use without even thinking about them. Everyone of them can be seen negatively.

• Double-Dutch- Although we may associate this with a jump rope game, it's origins come from a kind of double talk or gibberish. The jump rope game is called double dutch because the rhymes that are used are hard for the uninitiated to understand.
• Dutchy- People with speech impediments are sometimes referred to as dutchy.
• Dutch auction- This is a sale where prices are set to begin artificially high. The implication is that the Dutch are dishonest.
• Dutch treat, or going Dutch- Usually referred to on a date, this means that everyone pays their own way. This implies that the Dutch are cheap.
• Dutch uncle- A person who is painfully honest, sometimes harsh, is called a dutch uncle.

There are dozens more of these slanders, but you get the idea. These are phrases that we use regularly without even thinking about them. I did it because I never thought about it. I never realized that they could be offensive to anyone.

So now I realize that I must...

• Think about my language and attitudes. I can no longer be careless about my speech. Every word, phrase and thought needs to be carefully considered.
• Be proactive in changing my attitudes, even when I think I do not have attitudes.
• Research ways that I talk and think.
• Discover how I may be offensive to someone else.
• Encourage those around me to be thoughtful and considerate with their speech and attitudes as well.

The Boy in Striped Pajamas

This was one of the most heart-breaking movies that I have ever seen. I will try very hard to not divulge the gut-wrenching twists in the film, but the story put a face on the holocaust for me like nothing else has. It is a wonderful, terrible film.

To give you an idea of the impact of the film on me, I watched it two months ago. I have been meaning to write about it since then, but I have not been able to bring myself to. It was hard. It still is hard.

I have always had an interest in the holocaust. It was, and continues to be, one of the great tragedies in human history. It may be the greatest tragedy in history. It is nearly incomprehensible that so much evil can be expressed and acted on in such extreme ways. This entry is not about the holocaust, not even about a movie about the holocaust, but about a movie about a family who was impacted by the holocaust.

The Boy in Striped Pajamas is about the family of German officer who is transferred to the countryside. His children are protected from the fact that their father is the commander of a concentration camp. The "death" camp is barely visible from the sons room and it causes questions, explorations and changes to the boy, his family and ultimately their entire perspective on life.

As the parents try to protect their children from what they must believe to be an awful truth, we learn that issues are not so black and white. Those who hate others often struggle with their decisions and actions. Bruno, the son, begins to sneak off to explore the countryside, much to the consternation of his mother. Finally, Bruno meets and befriends a boy in the camp who wears pajamas all the time.

It would be easy to be distracted and put off by the production values of this film. It is a British production that sometimes look like a television movie. Do not give up on this film. I promise that it will make a difference in your life. You will be changed. If you are not deeply affected by this movie I will give back all the money you paid to read this blog.

Go rent The Boy in the Striped Pajamas right now.

Preference or Prejudice??

I heard someone say a profound thing the other day. "Everyone is prejudiced, but not everyone is a racist." I hope you caught the significance of that statement. We all have our ideas about the way people behave and live. There are some things that I prefer more than others. It does not necessarily follow that my prejudices will cause me to behave in a racist manner.


For example, if I am in a group of people where conversation is required, I usually tend to gravitate to women. I am more comfortable talking to women than I am to men. Conversation is easier with women. I have more in common with women than men (as a general rule). This does not mean that I do not like men, or that I cannot or will not talk to men. In fact, some of my best friends are men. I talk to them a lot. But when given the choice, I prefer to talk to women that I do not know rather than men I do not know. I have a prejudice toward men.


It would be helpful, I believe, to work on some definitions. These are my definitions and I hope that my intentions will become clear.

• Prejudice- An opinion, usually negative, about a person or subject based on no evidence or experience.
• Preference- To rank a person or group above another. This is often the consequence of a prejudice.
• Bigotry- A person who is fanatically committed to his own ideology and opposed to any that differs.
• Racism- The practice of being opposed to others and their beliefs based only on their ethnic heritage.

It is important that all humans, and especially those who follow Jesus, never allow their prejudices and preferences to become grounds for bigotry and racism. Recognize where you are prejudiced. Learn to see your preferences without letting them consume you and rule your life. Make allowances to ensure that you never become a bigot or racist.

One final thought: There are many times when ignorance becomes an obstacle to peaceful interaction among people. I will write more about this in a later post, but for now hear this warning: Ignorance about what offends someone else is no excuse. It is not acceptable to offend others with your ignorance. To the one offended it still seems like racism. It is racism.

Educate yourself. Learn where your prejudices are. Treat all others fairly and without preference.

The Practices of a Christian: Bible Study

I almost hesitate to write about the importance of Bible Study. Everyone, Christian or not, understands the importance of the Bible to the faith. We understand that it contains the history of our founding as a faith movement. The Bible includes the laws by which we live and organize our lives and relations. The Bible contains the building blocks for our faith, the very doctrines that we hold and cherish. We all know that we are supposed to be studying the Bible, and yet we do not.

Let’s skip right over the reasons that we do not study (or even read) the Bible. We know why we do not. We should focus on why we should read the Bible, or the benefits of it, and how to do it.

• We should read the Bible because God says we should. We ought to be obedient to the Lord and his Word teaches us that we should read the Bible.
• We should read the Bible because from it our relationship with Christ can grow. Getting to know Jesus is one of the greatest benefits to reading the Bible.
• We should read the Bible because it offers us guidelines for living. When faced with dilemmas, answers can often be found here.
• We should read the Bible because reading it will bring you peace of mind.
• We should read the Bible because spending time with the Scripture will teach you more about life than any other source.
• We should read the Bible because it is the primary driving force behind all of western culture.
• We should read the Bible because it offers us a great overview of creation, history and culture of the Middle East and beyond.

Here are some suggestions to help you get going on your Bible reading adventure.

• Find a Bible that you can read and understand. Every house has a Bible. The problem is usually that the Bible was written 400 years ago. The English of the King James Version is very difficult for the modern reader to understand. The most popular current Bible is the New International Version. It is very understandable. This year I have been reading the New Living Translation. I am enjoying it very much. You can get a very good Bible for less than $10 at most Christian stores.
• Don’t over do it. Sometimes you can get tempted to try and read the whole thing at once. If you are just starting, do not do it that way. Start by reading just a few verses or a single chapter a day. This will help to keep you from getting overwhelmed by how much Bible there is.
• Don’t start at the beginning. This suggestion does not seem to make sense, but if you start at the beginning of the Bible you will get bogged down pretty quickly. Start by reading the Gospel of Mark. Then try Jonah, Acts, Philemon, Ruth and Judges. After you have conquered some stories then try the larger books.
• Get a partner. Find someone who would like to read the Bible with you. You do not have to read aloud together, but accountability will help you stay focused and on-track.
• Keep going. Sometimes the Bible seems very dry and lifeless. There will be days when you will not “feel” anything from reading. You will get bored and want to quit. Keep reading anyway.