Smell Good

There's nothing like a baby being plopped on top of you and the smell of ammonia rousing you into wakefulness. Being a dad has it's perks and lately they seem to come in especially pungent smells.  With the addition of cloth diapers into our family's daily parenting rituals, fatherhood has entered an all new state of nasal excellence!  

While on the one hand, being woke up by the smell of diaper death does not make for a happy morning, it was a sweet reminder that I am a dad.  I can think of a million more pleasant smells that remind me I am a dad - playdough being squished under my feet, a bowl of soggy cheerios, melted chocolate on the car seat, baby shampoo, macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes we can quite simply "smell" our kids coming from the other room.  


I wonder what we smell like to God. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, Paul says, 

 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life." 

He says that we are to God the aroma of Christ but then says we are the smell of death to some (those who are perishing) and the fragrance of life to others (those who are being saved). I once had a friend who looked down on Christians.  He would say things like, "that reeks of Christianity."  He had been burned by some Christian's and the deathly smell of smoke still burned his nostrils.  For him, the aroma of Christ was an unwanted scent that unfortunately was probably tied to a well intentioned Christian who just wanted to smell good.  We never want to be the smelly kid in class.  Sometimes the smelly kid was the one who tried too hard to smell good! In order for our aroma as Christians to be one that makes people salivate, it cannot be too overpowering!    


We underestimate our sense of smell sometimes.  It really is amazing how what we smell can give us cues about the world around us.  Walking in the door and smelling onions being sautéed.  Fight or flight mechanisms in our brain going into alert mode when we smell smoke. We say "something smells fishy" when we feel unsure. Smells remind us of familiar places and long lost memories. This morning I woke up with the smell of diaper death beating up the sunrise.  For some reason, it made me think of all the smelly situations we can get ourselves in and how the aroma of Christ is clouded by a foggy stench of our own sin at times. Paul says that when we smell good, God leads us in triumphal procession! We are the smell of defeat or the smell of victory. 


Smell good to those around you today!

Smell Good

A New Kind of Christian

I just finished reading Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian. I was not sure what to expect when I picked it up other than the fact the McLaren was rethinking how Christians think about things and sharing his insights with the world. After completing the first of the trilogy following the spiritual journey of Dan and Neo, I feel very similar to how Dan descibed himself at one point - very excited but mildly depressed. I am excited because I feel that McLaren has captured much of my own frustrations and anxieties over the current state of Christianity and the dialogue between Neo and Dan captures many of the questions I have had for some time and allows for dialogue - not necessarily answers - about them. The mild depression I find myself in is the result of a "now what" feeling I am left with. I think I am going to let McLaren's words marinate for a while before trying to move on to the practical side of things. Right now there are certainly more questions than answers.

A New Kind of Christian

Dear God and Amen

The practice of informal, spontaneous prayer contributes to an integrated spirituality in children in which they begin to perceive that all of life connects with transcendent realities; prayer is not compartmentalized but available and appropriate in everyday life needs and situations

~Mara Lief Crabtree, Nurturing Children's Spirituality, p. 90



When in history did our "Dear God" & "Amen" bookends become a part of our prayer life? More importantly, how did prayer become an aspect of religious life that is confined to the church walls and the dinner table? I admit that the type of prayer described above is very difficult. It wasn't until I was required to read The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence that I really began to see prayer as a conversation instead of a monologue. I have read much about the "Just a Little Talk with Jesus" ways of praying. It should be so natural that your speech sounds no different in prayer than it does when you call up a friend. I like this. Especially as my daughter begins to talk, which she does nonstop unless she is asleep or eating, I think about ways that I can help her make prayer her primary speech. How can I get her to see that everything she does can be shared with God. I am certainly not good at it myself and it is hard to branch out beyond praying for ambulances and firetrucks as they pass by to praising him for wiggly bugs and chances to share toys.

As Miriam and I learn to pray together, I hope that she can become as comfortable and excited telling God about the pizza made of sand as she digs in the backyard sandbox as she is with me. As Miriam develops her own prayer language, I learn from her. She listens to her heart and knows when God's voice is louder than all the others.

God, thank you for the informal and spontaneous moments when we are called to share our lives with you.

~JK

Dear God and Amen

Change in Communion?

I just started reading a new book, Nurturing Children's Spirituality: Christian Perspectives and Best Practices. At the close of the first chapter, the editor retells a story of a two year old girl, Elizabeth, who is "playing" communion in her bedroom. Elizabeth, a catholic, has a cup for the wine and small white disk representing the bread. The mom asks the her if she was hoping to change the small white disk into Jesus (catholic theology of transubstantiation - bread becomes actual body of Christ). The little girl replied, "Oh no, I change Wizbef {Elizabeth) into Jesus."

We meet each week to share in the communion with one another and with our Lord. While I do not believe the bread becomes actual body and wine becomes actual blood, I do believe the emblems represent Christ and his sacrifice. Sadly, we often put much more emphasis on how the bread represents Christ than on how WE represent Christ. I think it is important to focus on Christ's sacrifice each time we take the Lord's supper. Thanks to Elizabeth, I may start focusing on how sharing in the communion changes me to be more like Jesus.

~JK

Change in Communion?

God is Near

This morning I preached a sermon that has developed out of some spiritual awareness I have had recently. I have been thinking a lot about God's nearness. God has been much nearer than I have known and felt. As I was preparing my sermon, I began tracing God's presence throughout history in the Bible. I worked my thoughts into my sermon and thought I would share them here.

When God created the world. His desire for intimacy with his creation is seen as God walks in the garden in the cool of the day. God is near his People and now we claim that nearness as our own.

When Abraham feels as though the Covenant God made with him is being threatened by a command to sacrifice the very son promised to him. God’s story shows us a God that is so close He can halt a dagger as it pierces the air before it pierces the son of a covenant.

As a half million former slaves leave Egypt for a land promised to them, God’s presence leads them by fire at night and by smoke during the day, only to marvel this baby nation by paving the way through a mighty river.

As two rebellious nations make Israelites choose sides, God’s story brings us “in your face messages” ending with “thus saith the Lord” from reluctant prophets.

God’s story takes us into a foreign land where Jews mourn the loss of a Holy City. Other prophets emerge to help them know that while they are in a distant land they worship a not so distant God who shuts lion’s mouths and visits friends in a fiery furnace.

From the least likely places God shows just how involved he is by moving the heart of King Cyrus to deliver his people back to the promised land. His involvement guides prophets to expect an even more incredible deliverance from a coming Messiah.

Here God’s story takes the most exciting turn yet. Limiting the distance more than ever, God comes down to dwell in one man. Emanuel, God with us. The very God of creation walking and talking, breathing and hurting among those he created.


Just as quickly as God makes his dwelling on Earth, it appears that he makes an about face and leaves his own Son to die. In reality his ultimate attachment to you and to me is shown by attaching his own son to a cross.

When we think that God couldn’t get any closer to showing his love for us than a nail splitting wood, God’s own spirit splits our hearts and once again God’s dwelling place is not just among his people but now inside his people.

As we join God’s story we remember Jesus words before leaving his disciples. That as we go out into the entire world Jesus says, “Surely I am with you always.”

God is near.

~JK

God is Near

Empty Tombs

Mark 5:1-20

I wonder what Jesus saw when he looked at this man. As soon as Jesus gets out of the boat this man comes out of the tombs to meet him. Did Jesus know that he too would one day be spending time in a tomb? Perhaps he also knew that, like the demon possessed man, no one could bind him. Chains could not hold the demoniac, hell couldn't hold Jesus. The man knew who Jesus was instantly. It was as if all the evil in the world, bound up in this one man, knew the power of "Jesus, Son of the Most High God" to put an end to the suffering. As a fellow chain-breaker, Jesus knew what freedom would mean for this man. The man (or rather the demons inside) did not want Jesus to send them away, but Jesus - perhaps seeing in the man his own after death experiences, sent them away, leaving the formerly demon-possed man in his right mind. Later something interesting happens. Everyone around wanted Jesus to leave and the man, now without demons wanted to go with him. Throughout the entire book of Mark, Jesus is commanding people not to tell about their healing. Over and over again, he commands them to keep quiet. Here, but not only here, Jesus commands him to go and tell. The only other place in the entire book that Jesus commands someone to go and tell is after his own resurrection.

When tombs become empty, then people are told to go.

~JK

Empty Tombs

Focusing On Numbers for a Minute

I am not usually one who focuses on numbers. I tend to be more concerned with spiritual growth than numerical. Despite this, I think numbers are sometimes an indication of what areas need improvement or are going well. Today, for the first time since I began working as Children's Minister, I feel I have an acurate idea of where the children's ministry stands when it comes to DAH DAH DAH ...(*insert dramatic tension building sound effects here)...how many children we have in the Mesquite Church of Christ Children's Ministry.

Today I completed a painstaking process of collecting all the attendance forms from all 10 of our classrooms for both Sunday Morning and Wednesday Night and compiling them into one Super-Duper-All-In-One-More-Information-Than-Is-Really-Necessary-Impress-Your-College-Statistics-Professor-Microsoft-Excel Spreadsheet. Here are a few of the findings.

Based on somewhat incomplete information...From September 2007 to the end of April 2008 we had:

160 different children set foot into our children's classrooms.
50% of these are on our membership list. (That's about 80 kids for those who did as well at college statistics as me)
50% of these are visitors. (...The other 80 kids)
Sunday mornings we averaged about 28 kids in attendance.
Wednesday evenings we averaged about 33 kids.

What does all this mean?
I guess it means that now we can see that of the 80 kids who are members at our church 35% are coming on Sunday Mornings and 41% are coming on Wednesday nights.

Whether this is good or bad, I am not sure. Compiling this list helped me become aware of the fact that there needs to be more done as far as follow-up with those that visit. It also shows me which children and families could use more encouragement to be regular attenders.

Now we have to turn the information into transformation...

~JK

Focusing On Numbers for a Minute

Building Faith at Home

My blogging has been sporadic at best the last year. The blog posts I have created were not even meant to be for a blog but rather a church bulletin. Each week our church puts out an 11x17 three panel brochure we call a church bulletin. Oddly with a space that size, there is still no room for the happenings of an exciting children's ministry so part of my weekly ritual is to turn a different 11x17 page into three, front/back, inserts fully devoted to the children and families of the Mesquite Church of Christ. When I do not have enough activities to describe, the leftover room I have devoted to an article I have called, "Family of Faith." The goal of the article when written is to encourage families to deepen their relationship with Christ.

So what is the reason for this post (which will NOT appear in the Mesquite Church of Christ bulletin)? Today I had a parents meeting after church in which I unleashed the summer calendar full of events and activities designed to help enrich their children's summer with a deeper and growing relationship with Jesus. A common theme among many of the activities is that I am not planning them. I have delegated much of the responsibility of the summer's agenda to the parents. This is all in an effort to jump on the bandwagon of a movement affectionately called, "Faith at Home." I am not sure what is meant when it is referred to as a movement but the book I have been reading recently (Building Faith at Home: Why Faith at Home Must be Your Churches #1 Priority) has called it a movement. I prefer to think about it as God's grand plan for raising children.

There is a huge temptation as a children's minister to build the big bad children's program that is hugely attractive with lots of prizes and incentive for children. Especially as the minister of a congregation which has never had a children's minister before, I sometimes feel the need to make things great for kids at church. I want the children to enjoy being at church. Church should be fun. Children's Ministry programs like this grow in number. I can see what will eventually happen though, we will have children who grow up thinking church is fun, as long as there is an incentive besides spiritual growth.

I am becoming more and more convicted that my most fruitful efforts at growing children and families spiritually do not lie in exciting children's ministry programs with action songs, prizes, and creative object lessons but in changing the hearts of moms and dads.

This presents a huge problem on several levels. For one, "It is not the way Church is done." Meaning, the general model for how children gain spiritual knowledge is in the Sunday Morning Bible Class (an maybe Sunday evening or Wednesday night). It seems there is a general attitude that this is where the meat of children's spiritual meal is supposed to come from. The problem is that even churches with a long Bible class (1 hour or more - Mesquite's Bible classes last 45 minutes) that is only 2 hours a week of spiritual instruction! And that is IF the children come both Sunday Morning and Wednesday. We wouldn't tolerate this if the government said that they are only going to teach our children from 9:00-10:00am Monday morning and 1:00-2:00pm Thursday afternoon. A church based model for spiritual instruction is simply not enough.

The other problem with a "Faith at Home" model is that most of the parents do not seem to be wired for it. This is not to say that they are incapable of accomplishing the goals of a "Faith at Home" model, just that it is unfamiliar and there are likely some tools missing from the tool belt to make it happen. I could go up to any parent at church and ask them if they want their child to grow more spiritually and 100% of them would emphatically say, "YES!" I could ask those same parents if they felt like had all the resources they needed in order to make it happen and most of them would probably agree that they could manage popping out a devotional once a month or so. If I asked them how often they spend in spiritual activities as a family besides praying before meals each week, I fear the answers would not reflect their priorities.

I do not feel this is necessarily 100% the fault of the parents. I think both the problems mentioned above go hand in hand. The church has not stepped up to the plate to equip parents with what they need to make it happen and the parents have been comfortable in letting the church be the spiritual teachers of the children.

So where does this leave me?

I believe it leaves me with an incredible opportunity! We have some things in place for this summer (and hopefully the next school year) which will aim to equip parents to take charge of their children's spiritual growth and development. I feel like hiring a children's minister has lit a flame in the hearts of many of our church's families. I get excited when I see heads nodding at the idea of a class designed for parents to interact with their children AT CHURCH!! I hope that as a minister to these children and families I am able to find a pace that does not outrun the church or my own stamina.

Let me know what you think. If you have any ideas how to bridge the gap in helping parents be the spiritual leaders and build faith at home, share them.

~JK

Building Faith at Home

Pneumonia

Miriam has Pneumonia. I have been very challenged this week by illness. Since last Saturday, my wife was diagnosed with the flu, myself with a sinus infection and my poor little girl with a double ear infection and pneumonia. It is definetely the most sick our family has ever been at one time. God has blessed us so much with good health prior to this, now we are facing a number of new challenged.

Parenthood is one adjustment after another. Krista, who is a fantastic nurse practitioner, understands the human body and its health/illness so much more than I do. She is incredibly talented in what she does and you can see it in how she treats Miriam's sickness at home. I am sure that without her, Miriam would not be in as good of shape as she is. The challenge is when I am responsible for seeing to Miriam's care on my own.

This past Thursay Krista was working and I had to take Miriam to the doctor. This was when she was diagnosed with pneumonia. I do not mind taking Miriam to the doctor one bit. The difficult part is that Krista knows all sorts of probing questions to get more information than I do. It is amazing how much more confident I feel about what is happening medically when Krista and I both go to the doctor together than when I go alone. I feverishly try to recap all the important bits of information with the doctor before leaving the examination room so that I will not forget anything that needs to be relayed to Krista when I get home. When she begins to question what happened, I provide for her a well-rehearsed summary of the doctors visit, waiting for my pat on the back for being such a good dad and husband. Then more questions I should have asked 2 hours prior are asked and I am left thinking that I didnt even know to ask those questions.

This leads me to visit WebMD. I go there to get another professional summary of what is happening. Going there and typing, "pneumonia" into the search engine provides me with the following results:

Pneumonia is a lung infection that can make you very sick. You may cough, run a fever, and have a hard time breathing. For most people, pneumonia can be treated at home. It often clears up in 2 to 3 weeks. But older adults, babies, and people with other diseases can become very ill. They may need to be in the hospital.

This is where I begin to panic slightly. What does "can become very ill" mean? How do I know when they need to go to the hospital? This raises even more questions than I had when I first did the search. In the end, I am left to trust in my wife's discernment regarding what course of action is needed hoping that I will continue to receive step by step instructions on what to do and when.

It seems that I am called more and more each day to trust in God and his working hand in the lives of those around me. The truth he created in how our bodies function and dysfunction and how he has led his creation to discover treatment for these dysfunction continues to leave me in awe of his redemtion. I cannot wait for the day when every illness and disability is vanished and every tear is wiped away because of our reunion with him. I sincerely believe that sickness is the result of mankind's sinfullness. When God banished Adam and Eve from the garden and they suffered pain and sickness for the first time, the separation from God was felt in their bodies. As we walk away from God, God is walking toward us, leading us and redeeming us. He guides us toward wellness, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

Please pray for my family as we battle illness. Please pray for our world as we battle separation from God.

~JK

Pneumonia

Fan the Flame

There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passersby only see a wisp of smoke coming through the chimney, and go along their way. Look here, now what must be done? Must one tend the inner fire, have salt in oneself, wait patiently yet with how much impatience for the hour when somebody will come and sit down - maybe to stay? Let him who believes in God wait for the hour that will come sooner or later. ~Vincent van Gogh

This was quoted by Henri J.M. Nouwen in The Way of the Heart. He is talking about silence. He uses this quote to reflect on how we seldom tend the inner fire of our souls. We want others to be warmed by it so badly that we stand with the door open saying, "Come inside and get warmed!" Yet, all this really does is cool the inside which was once warm. Instead, we ought to stoke to fire and get it roaring. You can tell about the warmth inside by looking at the chimney. A wisp of smoke means a weak fire.

Henri Nouwen says that, "The word is the instrument of the present world and silence is the mystery of the future world." By choosing not to speak, we keep the door closed and wait patiently for the hour to come when someone will see the billows of smoke escaping from our chimney, and then - sooner or later - someone will knock on the door and find warmth inside.

~JK

Fan the Flame

My Clinging Fears and Single Minded Attention to Christ

"Only in the context of grace can we face our sin; only in the place of healing do we share our wounds; only with a single-minded attention to Christ can we give up our clinging fears and face our own true nature. As we come to realize that it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us, that he is our true self, we can slowly let compulsions melt away and begin to experience the freedom of the children of God."

~Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart

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I saw this painting, Mathias Grünewald's Isenheim Altar, a long time ago. I did not realize what it was until reading Nouwen's Way of the Heart and googling it to see what he was talking about. It illustrates the above passage. It seems we often try to fight our "demons" in a context where there is no grace and forgiveness. I often will ask for forgiveness knowing that I do not deserve it but also feeling like I cannot really have it. I am not sure why I do this, perhaps because I often fail repeatedly and do not want to feel that the grace being offered is cheap. I think it probably cheapens the grace even more when I do not ask for forgiveness in a context of grace with only Christ in mind. If I could think about Christ and becoming like him when I am in need of forgiveness, then perhaps I would not feel that the grace being offered is unattainable. In Grünewald's painting, St. Anthony is in need of help and Christ is right there to provide it.

~JK

My Clinging Fears and Single Minded Attention to Christ

Good Advertising?

I came across this interesting article the other day. Entitled, "Are we sinning yet" it talks about one Canadian website's attempts to create spiritual dialogue about subjects that perhaps non-Christians do not often think about. I am interested in this because the website has placed ads in magazines in newspapers which take a different approach to advertising. I will let the ads speak for themselves below. What I want to know is would this approach be tolerated in the Bible-Belt, where it seems that advertising tactics have mainly included quippy sayings on marquee boards. Tell me what you think. I included the picture and cited the caption underneath because the font text is too small in the picture!

-Would you still take your kids? After all, isn't Christmas supposed to be about Him, not the guy in the red suit? Or can it be about both? Share your opinion at http://www.wondercafe.ca/, the home of lively discussion on spiritual topics, moral issues and life's big questions.

"Does anyone object?" - What do you think? Let us know at www.wondercafe.ca, the home of lively discussion on spiritual topics, moral issues and life's big questions.

Green Tag " __ Agree", Red Tag " __ Disagree" - Want to explore your spirituality in a place that's as open-minded as you? Drop by www.wondercafe.ca and join the discussion.

"How much fun can sex be before it's a sin?" - Moral issues, spiritual topics, life's big questions - they're all up for discussion at www.wondercafe.ca. So drop by and pull up a chair.

On tag, "WARNING: some re-assembly of priorities and beliefs may be required." - Parenthood changes everything - including how you view the world. Every day at www.wondercafe.ca people like you explore and discuss spiritual topics, moral issues and life's big questions. So drop by, pull up a chair and join the discussion.

"__ Funny, __ Ticket to Hell" - What do you think? Let us know at www.wondercafe.ca, the home of lively discussion on spiritual topics, moral issues and life's big questions.

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Tell me your thoughts.

~JK

Good Advertising?