Marc's Musings

I’m watching BBC’s “Pride and Prejudice” and I was just told by my 2-year old, “Dad, you cry like a baby!”

She’s right.

But I wail alot less.

Thanks to Mark Nakumara for pointing this out to me. This 4 minute video will hilariously show you how to give a man to man hug and avoid any uneasy moments.

VideoJug: How To Give A Great Man To Man Hug

I’m REALLY excited about my sermon series for January and February!

Click on the image to see the January Sermon titles.

Just had my annual “ScoreHealth” done.

I weigh 20 pounds more than I did this time last year. And my cholesterol is 30 points higher.

Sheesh. I knew I’d put on weight this year but didn’t realize I’d basically maintained the same weight for three years and then packed on 20 this year!

The biggest lifestyle changes this year seem to be

1. brewing my own beer and
2. DirecTV.

Now I don’t believe DirecTV makes me fat. Although I’d like to believe it. I’m still exercising very regularly and drinking fluids. But while watching TV, I must be grabbing snacks or desserts. Or beer.

On top of that, they now tell me that now that I’m in my mid-30′s my metabolism is probably slowing down.

Just when I need it more than ever, it leaves!

Oh well. Looks like I need to do some of that good-ol’ portion control and limiting of processed foods in 2008.

*sigh* Self discipline sucks.

But it’s gotta be better than type-2 diabetes.

I’m in the process of writing out my “100 dreams and goals for 2008.” (I use my own MagnetGoals program.)

This year, I started with a fresh piece of paper and my “life” and “5-year” goals. In 45 minutes at Starbucks, I’d jotted down about 50 things I want to do in 2008. Some of them are off-the-wall dreams. But it’s still half the list.

This morning, I’m going to go over my 2007 list of 100 things, see how I did and see what I can add to my 2008 list.

In the past, I’d started with the prior year list. It helped fill up my sheet but it didn’t exactly get me off to an “anything’s possible” beginning. It was more of a,”Sheesh, I accomplished a lot but there’s still a lot that didn’t get done” sort of beginning. More of a “downer” feeling.

So if you get the chance, I highly recommend going to a comfortable place with a clean pad of paper and letting your dreams go wild. It’s somewhat embarrassing. I often find myself thinking things like, “Gosh, I hope people don’t find this list or read over my shoulder! They’ll think I’m really stuck on myself.” Even “Would God be that good to me?”

But it’s really invigorating.

[For what it's worth, when I find myself asking if God would be that good, I know that thought or idea is almost assuredly from Him. It's just my concept of Him that's too small. Afterall, He gave His own Son for me. What would He hold back?]

My iPAQ is down again. I had to reset and reload it. These things simplify life, right?

At least I get to catch up on blogs. Here’s a quote from Jon Swanson:

Much to the chagrin of churchy people, the standard that Jesus established was not dying for our faith. It was dying for each other. Too often we get all stuffy about standing up for our beliefs. Seldom do we get celebrated for laying down our lives or our livelihood for others. (However, it happens. All the time)

He’s writing about peas and a fundraising effort for a breast cancer patient.

But this is so true, isn’t it?

We’re so much more likely to say, “Yes Lord! I’ll die for you!” than we are “Yes, Lord! I’ll die to that area of my life for this person.”

That’s why so many marriages fail. Dying for Jesus (in North America) is largely conceptual. But dying to myself for my spouse means I really have to change. And if I don’t my spouse will let me know!

Dying for Jesus can happen at some unspecified time. Dying for others happens NOW.

I think that’s been the most incredible thing about pastoring for three years now. Often, the people that don’t stick with us are the ones that

1. say they’ll die for Jesus and say it loudly and
2. want every single part of life to conform to their own preconceived notions.

Then they go and justify their inflexibility by their passion for Jesus.

And as a recipient of their “you’re-not-doing-it-like-I-would-so-you’re-not-doing-it-God’s-way,” I get to die to myself. Their myopic vision isn’t something I need to chastise them for or vilify them for. Once in a while I’ll get to call them on it. And it certainly is stress producing. But we keep reminding ourselves we’re all myopic in some areas.

I’m not ranting. Really. This is just how it is. This is community. It’s not hanging out with people you love 24/7. It’s living life with people and doing it whether it feels comfortable or not.

If you’re a pastor, I bet you know it’s true.

If you know a pastor, ask Jesus to help them live in this tension. Ask God to help them have a thick skin and a tender heart.

And if you call the Vineyard Church of Waterville your home, thank you! We have an amazingly committed crew of people that are committed to dying for each other. You guys keep short accounts (not letting things fester). You keep communication open. And you’re just as honest when you’re going through a crappy patch of life as you are when you’re living in praise-land!

You guys are the best.

[Hallelujah! My iPAQ just binged at me!!! It's fixed!]

It’s happened!

In a pluralistic world, it’s increasingly hard to know what to say at this time of year.

“Merry Christmas” is great but not everyone is a Christian. Having lived in Jerusalem, I know that 12/25 is just another day for Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians. I find people are happily surprised to have a pastor recognize their traditions too.

“Seasons Greetings” is safe. “Holiday wishes” sounds somewhat contrived.

But I just heard myself say, “Happy year-end!” to a board member.

Happy year end?

Yikes. Can you tell I’ve been answering year end giving questions all day?

And it has nothing to do with the yearend 20% off sale I’m having at Fundraisingcoach.com store for blog and ezine folks!

[A colleague just told me, "At least you didn't say 'Happy rear end'! ]

It’s hard to believe the four weeks of Advent are coming to a close!

This week we’re collecting Paper Products: paper towels and all things paper.

You’ll probably never know how much this impacts the homeless shelter. I’m loving how it’s shaping my Christmas preparation too! I like getting, but there’s something really powerful about giving.

I’m so glad we have cool people like think of initiatives like this (and organize it without me!)!

I bet you felt something different in the air today, didn’t you? A tingle, an electric aliveness that wasn’t there yesterday, right?

That’s because today is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. It wasn’t the first, Charlestonians claim to have done it earlier. But it was ours.

I think I’ll go dump a little tea down the garbage disposal in homage.

Today we had the second ever snow day of VCW. Maybe the third. Not bad for being in existence for three years here in Maine!

When I started, nothing was going to hinder a Sunday service. Nothing. I was going to be like the postman-pastor: not sleet, nor snow, etc. And our first year, I was extremely proud to be one of the only churches open on a Sunday. Good rep to have.

But I’ve grown.

Many Sundays I say when Jesus comes back on the white horse, his first question to you probably isn’t going to be “Did you have perfect Sunday attendence?” So why was I holding that measure to myself?

Well for one, I wanted people to know that they could count on VCW being open. I guilted myself into thinking that I might screw up someone’s eternity because we shut our doors.

But that’s a bit hard on me, my family, and my team. We have people driving from 45-60 minutes in good weather to get here. If they were like me, I’d have driven through it all to get to church. Not always a wise decision.

Plus, in a church our size, most people are “on the team.” It used to be that I’d just go to church, sing some songs, hear a lesson, hang with people, and go home.

Now I know how much work goes into a service.

• The children’s time needs to be all planned out and materials ready if crafts are happening.
• The communion bread and juice need to be ready.
• Coffee and snacks too.
• Someone needs to get there early (in past winters it’s been me at 6 a.m.) to make sure the building’s warm and the walking area is cleared and de-iced. (I’ve even come to thinking of the sound the ice chipper tool clanging on ice and tar as a sort of 21st century equivalent to the monastic call to worship of banging on a log of wood!)
• The worship leader needs to have a worship set practiced and ready. And get to church in time for the sound check and warm up.
• The sound board person needs to be there to make sure the recording and audio levels are set and that the powerpoints are ready; the songs up on the computer for projection; and any videos I want for the sermon are loaded.
• I have to prep for the sermon and make sure the powerpoint announcements are up-to-date and ready to go. As well as have something for eyes to see while I preach.
• And the team is often listening in to God throughout the whole service. Asking,
  • “What are you doing Lord?”
  • “Is this technical difficulty human error or spiritual attack?”
  • “Did that person just bring in confusion and how do I neutralize it?”
  • “That other person seems down. Would they prefer to be left alone or should I pray for them?”
  • “Has that visitor been greeted? Or our we weirding them out with our friendliness?”
• The offering needs collecting, counting, signing off on, and storing.
• Numbers of people need counting.
• Trash needs taking out and the building needs locking up.
• And there there’s all the Sunday afternoon church stuff: entering counts into our records, adding visitors to the database, entering the offering and preparing the deposit, updating web sites and podcasts.

The day is full. And wonderful. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

But a snow day feels like a wonderful break for me and the team.

My family had a wonderful no-TV morning. Made wassail and popcorn balls. Played UNO. Did a jigsaw puzzle. Read. Right now there’s a fire in the fireplace.

Life is good.

It’s nice to not be bound by the legalism that held me in my first year. It did try nip at my heels last night and today when the snow wasn’t as much as we’d expected. And someone said they were surprised that we’d canceled. That fed into my firstborn-perfectionistic-legalism! I even (foolishly) found myself praying for the biggest nor-easter in decades just to prove I’d made a good decision. (God had me laughing at myself before I could even finish that one!)

But despite that, I enjoyed today. And God’s ok with that.

And I’m really looking forward to church next Sunday!!