Last Weekend's Trip

We took some family time two weekends ago (the one before Memorial Day weekend). On Friday night we took in a Pirates game at PNC Park, and thoroughly enjoyed it! It was fireworks night, and after the 11-5 win over the Diamondbacks (we ultimately lost the series) the night was particularly festive.

I snapped a few pictures with my phone, but I confess I didn't know how to send them to my email until I humbled myself and asked my son's help. That's why I waited so long to make this post. Ben was very patient and even served as my training wheels until I was confident I could do it myself. Here is a picture of the Pittsburgh skyline after dark and an example of the fireworks.

The next day we dropped Ben at his girlfriend Stacy's to help with a fundraising dinner she had organized for a little boy she takes care of. The boy was born with water on the brain (hyrdocephalus) and the dinner was to help defray some of his medical expenses. The dinner was a great success, with more people showing up than expected. The makeshift sign on the door tells the story.

We're really proud of Stacy for her hard work and compassionate heart.

What Makes the Church of God the Church of God?

Starting this Sunday I will be teaching an adult class entitled What Makes the Church of God the Church of God? It is an ambitious undertaking--not only for me, but for class participants, as well. We have so many people in our congregation who have come to us from denominational churches and independent holiness churches, as well as Roman Catholic and Orthodox backgrounds.

A pastor I know once told me of his growing congregation, "I don't have any trouble bringing people into the church, but I do have trouble bringing people into the Church of God." By Church of God he was referring to the Church of God (Anderson). There are over 200 denominations called the Church of God or some variant thereof. To avoid confusion about whether we speak in tongues or handle snakes in worship, many of our congregations have dropped the name Church of God and gone with something more generic. But in an attempt to avoid confusion, what exactly does the name Connellsville Community Church tell one about who we are or what we believe? We just trade moderate ambiguity for profound ambiguity.

Of course, maybe in 21st century America the church name isn't what people are going to look at. Many persons check out a church's Internet presence before visiting in the flesh. We have people who love our church who checked out our web page and listened to some of my teachings before deciding they wanted to join us for worship.

Getting back to the church name thing; this is the post-denominational era of the American church--and some would even say the post-Christian age of America itself. The Church of God has always stood for unity--a unity based in our relationship with Christ. In some ways, the church in America has achieved this very thing. Here in Connellsville we have a wonderful ministerial assembly and a group of pastors who gather every Thursday at lunchtime for fellowship and prayer. We are a cohesive group, and I know these brothers in Christ (there are no women pastors who join us at present, though they would be welcome) pray for me throughout the week. We encourage one another and hold each other to a certain level of accountability (even though it's not technically an accountability group). But in spite of the cooperation between Christian groups (and I would agree that ecumenicity should only go so far), I fear this post-denominational age of the church does not result from the desire for Christian unity, as much as an apathy toward Christian doctrine.

Hence, What Makes the Church of God the Church of God? What about this class is so ambitious? Here's the 13-week outline:

06 03 -- Session 01 -- Introduction / What You Can Expect from this Class
06 10 -- Session 02 -- Survey of Church History (Beginning to 1500)
06 17 -- Session 03 -- Survey of Church History (1500 to Present)
06 24 -- Session 04 -- Survey of the Old Testament
07 01 -- Session 05 -- Survey of the New Testament
07 08 -- Session 06 -- Catalysts of a Reformation (How the Church of God was Born)
07 15 -- Session 07 -- Basic Beliefs in Common with Other Christians
07 22 -- Session 08 -- Distinguishing Doctrines of the Church of God (Part 01) -- Holiness
07 29 -- Session 09 -- Distinguishing Doctrines (Part 02) -- Unity
08 05 -- Session 10 -- Distinguishing Doctrines (Part 03) -- The Kingdom / Christ's Return
08 12 -- Session 11 -- Distinguishing Doctrines (Part 04) -- Church Membership
08 19 -- Session 12 -- Church Governance (Church and Church of God Structure)
08 26 -- Session 13 -- Wrap Up and Review

This is revised from the same class I taught last summer. I think it will be great fun, and I'm looking forward to every Sunday.

Why don't you join us?

Weekend Report

This morning was weird. Some wonderful stuff happened, but some of it was weird.

We had our Heaven Holds the Ones I Love Memorial. Some beautiful music was playing as pictures scrolled of loved ones who've passed on. Each picture included a caption that explained who the person was, and told who in the church that person was related to and how. It was very emotional, and very well done. My thanks to the team that put it together.

My mom sent me these pictures of my dad through my nephew Bryan. The first is in the early 1960s in front of First Church of God in Erie, Pennsylvania. I barely remember this view of him. I was probably six or seven years old when this picture was taken, which would have made him around 43... five years younger than I am now.

The following picture is in the early 1940s, long before I was ever born. My dad spent most of his service time in the hospital. He was hit by shrapnel in manuevers, and developed a severe infection. He was allergic to sulfa drugs, so finally the doctors had him sign the paperwork to try a brand new experimental drug... penicillen.

This is a picture of Janelle's dad Paul A. Freeland when he was at Anderson College preparing for the ministry. We really wanted pictures of how we remembered our dads, but the pictures we were sent were of how our moms remembered their husbands. In a sense, we were not only honoring our dads through including their pictures, but honoring our moms, too, by using the pictures that spoke to their hearts.

Following that was a short skit by two of our seniors, Don and Effie Clark. They were an old married couple (type casting?) doing some gardening. Don was not into it, and Effie explained that taking care of a garden reminded her of the way God takes care of his children by keeping the bugs away (temptations), weeding us (from the busy-ness of life), and fertilizing us (with the Word of God). They did a great job, but brought some friends... ants... big black ones... thousands of them... well, maybe three or four.

As I was preaching about the Holy Spirit (this was not only Memorial Day Weekend, but Pentecost Sunday as well) I was suddenly aware of something crawling... ON MY FACE!!! In a very manly way I screamed like a little girl... and gently removed it. Five minutes later it was back! Most of the time I can ignore little distractions, but by the second ant I was having trouble keeping my thoughts in line... I don't know, something about coming this close to being eaten alive on stage?

My family and I are going on vacation, but not until Tuesday, so I don't know if there will be any posts tomorrow or not. Just in case, have a great Memorial Day.

And by the way, we're doing some camping on Presque Isle in Erie. We're also going to fish and do some sight-seeing. I usually drive the boys past where I grew up, that kind of thing. Last year we were kept awake by racoons and skunks foraging in our campsite after we were in bed. The first night we were there something was growling just outside the tent ever so close to my head. I think it may have been an ant.

365 Forum

I absolutely love our 365 Forum. This is a group of people reading through the Bible, and then gathering to discuss what we've read. We ask questions and make comments. I do my best to answer questions as best I can, and I give an introduction to what's coming up. We're in Job right now, and moving into Psalms before our next gathering on June 9th.

What a beautiful group of people hungry to learn more about God's Word.

Father I pray for these who have chosen to read through your Word this year, and have set aside weekend time (is there any other kind that is so precious?) to get together and learn. Thank you for their teachableness, and help me to be teachable, too. Amen.

Hey! Tomorrow is Memorial Day Weekend. I'm really excited about our worship celebration. One thing that we're trying is a Heaven Holds the Ones I Love Memorial. We've asked people for their pictures of loved ones who have passed away, so we can honor our memories of those who laid the foundation for us to build on. I think this is going to be extremely moving, an intimate time of worship and remembering with our church family.

This memorial was my wife Janelle's idea. She's wanted to do this ever since a friend gave her a copy of the song Heaven Holds the Ones I Love after her dad passed away a few years ago. She's put a lot of time into this, and so have Richard and Laurie (Guth) DuMontier. Richard and Laurie are two of my favorite people in the whole world. Richard lost his wife to Wilson's Disease (a rare liver disease that only affects 1 in 1,000,000), and Laurie lost her husband to an accidental death at the hands of a drunk driver. I have had the double blessing of baptizing them both, and joining them in marriage--all in the last few months. Richard has spent hours and hours doing the detail work of putting this memorial presentation together. I just can't say enough about what his hard work means to me. I thank God for Richard and Laurie (and Chrystal, too).

Not only is tomorrow Memorial Day Sunday; it's also Pentecost Sunday. In keeping with my commitment to stay truer to the Church Calendar than the American Calendar, my teaching will be Walking with the Spirit. I wrote the title wrong, and for the first half of the week our marquee said Walking the Spirit. My bad.

The Best Wife in the World!

Most of you know I just completed my Masters Degree in Theological Studies. I have worked harder than you can imagine to achieve that goal in my life while at the same time trying to be a good husband, father and pastor. There have been times when a church visit was missed here or there, but the ones who really paid the price for my education commitments were my family. They were great, but I know Janelle, Ben (almost 15) and Will (almost 12) really felt it.

I received some money gifts to celebrate my graduation. Believe it or not, I was going to spend most of the money on books. Janelle looked me dead in the eye and asked, "Did it ever occur to you to buy some new golf clubs?" I got a sleepy, far away look in my eyes and immediately started drooling. "Golf clubs? Golf good... books bad."

You see, I love golf. I'm not very good at it, but I love being out there. It doesn't matter who I'm golfing with because they are not my competition. I compete against myself, and how well I know I should play the course. When I lived in Georgia I only golfed about once a year because I didn't have anyone to golf with, but since moving to Pennsylvania I've been involved in a golf league where we play nine holes every Monday evening. Four other guys from my church play in the same league, plus a pastor friend of mine (but he's a Calvinist, so his score is pre-determined -- I don't even know why he plays).

I bought my first set of golf clubs at a garage sale. None of the clubs matched; even the grips were all different. When I lived in Nashville (during the early 90s) I bought a brand new set of golf clubs (the cheapest clubs Wal-Mart had available), and they've served me well. Anyway, back to my wife (did I mention she's a goddess?): When Janelle suggested golf clubs might be a good present for graduation, she didn't have to coax me very much. We went to Dick's Sporting Goods yesterday and picked out a nice set of Adams irons and Orlimar woods. The retail price was over $1,000, but they were on clearance so I got the entire set for under $400.

Mind you it's very difficult for me to spend money on myself (athough back when I used to drink Coca-Cola, I think I probably spent close to $100 a month at the McDonald's drive-thru; I just didn't feel it because it was spent incrementally). I just want to make it clear how difficult it was for me to spend that money on golf clubs... but back to the story. This morning I was abducted from my office at knife-point by two crazed church members who forced me to go golfing (okay; they invited me and I said, "Yes."). We went to a golf course I had never played and went to work.

My opening drive was terrible, into the right rough (barely past the women's tees). I was uncomfortable using my new fairway woods from the rough so I chickened out and used my 3-iron. I dug the clubhead into the sod and the ball scooted forward maybe 20 yards. I laughed it off and tried again with practically the same results, exept that the ball was finally lying in the fairway. It's terrible to be laying three and still not have reached the 150 yard marker. All I could think was, "What have I done? I spent $380 on golf clubs that don't work!"

My next shot was a nice long shot just to the left of the green, and from there I went to work. I've never had a lob wedge, so I'm going to have to learn how to use it, but the rest of my game came together pretty well. In spite of a slow start, I finished with my second lowest score ever! (It was high enough that I'm not going to admit it here.) I was really smacking the ball from the tee, and I had the best fairway wood shots I've ever had. The irons have heavier heads than my old set, and that really made a difference. I would say I'm hitting my woods a good 25 yards further than my old ones, and I'm hitting my irons further, too.

Anyway I had a great time today. My new clubs and resulting score were a big part of it, but it was also the fellowship with guys whose company I thoroughly enjoy. Some days I finish a round of golf, and all I can think is, "I hate this stupid game!" Today I'm feeling like maybe I should join the PGA tour (if you saw me golf, you'd know how ludicrous that is).

Now, as far as my wife is concerned, the improvement in my game is from the clubs. But just between you and me, "I'm pretty sure I'm just a lot better than I thought I was!"

24 - A Defense

Hey! What's going on with the 24 bashing? I already said the last few hours weren't as good as the first 18, but come on! Some of the bloggers I'm reading sound like they want to send Jack back to China!

I had to draw attention to a quote from hour 23. Vice President Noah Daniels is reflecting on the arrogance he'd displayed toward the handling of difficult situations by injured President Wayne Palmer. Speaking to his Chief of Staff, he says: "You know, Tom, it's easy to think you've got all the answers when none of the ultimate responsibility lies with you, but sitting in this chair... until you sit in this chair you don't know anything; you can't know."

I know lots of lead pastors who are too nice, but would like to say something just like that to the armchair quarterbacks who second guess their decisions.

Job and His Friends

Our Bible in 365 reading has brought us to Job. In an off hand sort of way, Job reminds me of an old Mel Brooks movie The Twelve Chairs. Set a few years after the Communist Revolution in Russia, it pits a former nobleman against an Orthodox priest. Both men are scouring the Russian countryside looking for a chair, into the lining of which has been sewn a fortune in jewels hidden from the new government. At one point the priest, played by Dom Deluise, thinks he has the right chair, smashes it and paws his way through the cushion’s stuffing. When he finally acknowledges it is the wrong chair, he looks up to the heavens and voices a prayer of defeat, “Oh God, you’re so strict.”

There are different streams of wisdom writings in the Old Testament. A cursory reading of Proverbs leaves one with the idea that good will result in blessing and evil will be answered with curses. A reading of Job, on the other hand, refutes such immature thinking. One can almost hear Job sobbing from the loss of his children, his riches, and his good health: “This isn’t supposed to happen to me; I read Proverbs.” And then there is Ecclesiastes, which leaves the impression that being good or evil doesn’t matter—everyone dies.

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 is the famous passage where Moses, in his farewell address to Israel, charges them to “choose life.” It seems so clear cut. Do right and you will be blessed. Do wrong and you will be cursed. This is the basic message of deuteronomic retribution theology. This is the same kind of thinking that fills the pages of Proverbs.

Job makes it clear that the problem of evil has no easy answers. It’s easy to ask, “If God is good and at the same time all-powerful, why does he allow evil?” The implication is that a truly good God would not allow evil if he was strong enough to thwart it, so either God isn’t good or he isn’t all-powerful. According to this thinking he cannot be both.

How brave of the biblical writers to pose the question through the story of Job.

Let’s talk about Job’s friends. His friends saw his suffering and came to be there for him. They sat there for seven days and nights without saying a word, so aware were they of his emotional, physical and spiritual suffering. Then Job speaks, sharing his pain and confusion. That might have been a good time for his friends to continue their silence, but that was not to be.

Eliphaz spouts off the age-old retribution wisdom. If you’re suffering, it must be because you sinned. God is correcting you. Humble yourself and be restored.

But Job could not humble himself. He had nothing to confess. To feign guilt just to gain relief would not have been right. Job was not about to let God off the hook just to ease his own discomfort.

What’s the lesson here for us? How often do we fall on our own sword, when we know we are not in the wrong, just to make peace? If Job is a theodicy, a defense of God’s justice in the face of seemingly contradictory evidence, then it is also a study in the ethics of conflict.

How many times have I taken one for the team? While that sounds noble, it may be no better than a prizefighter taking a dive. Even though it might be easier to avoid conflict by falling on my own sword, is that the ethical thing to do? Am I really doing my opponent a favor by throwing the fight? What will he/she learn? Where is the opportunity for that one to bow before God’s convicting power, and experience God’s healing presence? Standing our ground may be more Christian than retreat. Winning a battle for my own glory certainly does not display a proper Christian attitude, but falling to the mat just to avoid the unpleasantness of a conflict doesn’t either.

24

The three saddest days of the year: 3) When the Masters PGA Golf Tournament is over, and I have to wait an entire year for the next one; 2) When the Superbowl is over, and I have to wait seven months for the next regular season Steelers game; and 1) When 24 is finished for the season, and I have to wait until January to find out what sort of international intrigue Jack Bauer is going to get mixed up in next!

I have to say, though, this year the first 18 hours were much better than the final 6. For those of you who haven't seen it, I won't spoil the storyline, but probably for the first time ever I thought the last few episodes were anti-climactic. At any rate, Jack is still the man.

Sweet People

I was blessed Sunday in that my congregation wanted to congratulate me on attaining my Masters Degree. We already had a carry-in dinner scheduled for right after church, and it was shifted into a dinner in honor of my graduation. I knew nothing about this, and was really suprised that my kids did such a good job of keeping the secret. Makes me suspicious of what other secrets they're keeping from me;... hmmm. Several people remembered me with cards and gifts (totally unnecessary, but very much appreciated), and many expressed their love verbally. Some of the sweetest people in the world attend C'ville Church of God.

This Weekend

What a week! I already wrote about Refresh!, which Janelle and I enjoyed the first part of the week. Tuesday I got back into town with less than 15 minutes to spare before a Trustees' Meeting. Wednesday I was up at 5:15 to head for Latrobe Hospital to be with a church family undergoing surgery. Then it was most of the day spent on my Sunday teaching, and another meeting after Family Factory. I spent most of Thursday morning in the office, and then took a couple hours with some pastor friends for fellowship and prayer. After that it was a home visit to another family recovering from surgery. I turned everything off about 4 p.m. to rest my body for the first time all week.

Then when Ben (14) walked Sparky (a little random-mix dog we rescued after its long-time owner died) last night, we all heard an unmistakable yelp that signalled something was wrong. Somehow, as Ben was bringing Sparky back inside, she tried to step up from the grass onto the driveway pad and apparently sprained the elbow on her left front leg. I was convinced it was broken from the way she was holding it, but this morning our vet, Doctor Contir of Mt. Pleasant Animal Hospital, said he thinks it's just sprained, or I think his word was "tweaked." She'll be on anti-inflammatories for a week and then we'll re-evaluate.

I am often concerned about how time spent pastoring other families takes away from my own. I'm trying to do something about that tonight and tomorrow. Tonight we're taking in a Pirates game with Will's (11) PAVCS (Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School) class. Following the game we're driving to Emlenton and our church's state campgrounds (they graciously allow pastors 7 nights free lodging every year) so we can be close to Cooperstown, where we will be attending a fund-raiser dinner hosted by Stacey, a friend of Ben's.

That will get me some time with my kids (maybe even win me some "parenting points"), but get me home kind of late Saturday night. Fortunately I've known for at least a couple weeks what I'll be teaching about Sunday morning. I'm borrowing my theme from Mark Batterson's book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. My teaching is entitled Becoming a Lion Chaser. It's gonna be a good day.

Refresh!

Janelle and I returned home last evening from Refresh!, our Western Pennsylvania Ministries of the Church of God retreat for pastors and their spouses. We had a blessed time. Props to the organizers, Jodi Poorman (our worship leader); and Ken Wiedrick (our speaker) was phenomenal. We had four sessions together, and after the third I shook his hand and told him, "You've nailed my problem; now you have 60 minutes to solve it... but no pressure."

Whitehall Camp has been in the Church of God family since 1892 and is a magical place to those of us who have been connected with those grounds since our childhood. It was great to spend a couple days there being "refresh"ed with Janelle. The whole experience left me spiritually refreshed and physically tired -- the perfect combination.

God's Anger and Ours (Day 129)

At the beginning of this year I made available to everyone in my congregation a Bible in 365 bookmark.


It is my strong conviction that believers should be reading the word. Recently Mark Batterson wrote, “When you open the Bible, God opens his mouth. When you close the Bible, God closes his mouth.” That entire post is well worth the 90 seconds it will take to read, and the 90 minutes (or more) it will take to digest.

Every couple weeks we have a gathering of Bible readers, called 365 Forum, who bring their observations and their questions over the previous readings, which we discuss, and then I share a short introduction into what’s coming. From time to time I also want to use my blog to share some thoughts from our daily readings.

In 2 Chronicles 28 King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father and all around bad guy, repeatedly chooses to reject God in favor of Baal, even sacrificing his own son. His God-ordained multi-stage punishment, according to the Scriptures, was defeat at the hands of Aram with many prisoners taken to Damascus, followed by defeat to the Northern Kingdom. In one day Pekah’s army killed 120,000 of Judah’s fighting men. The Israelites took plunder and prisoners back to Samaria, where they were met by Oded the prophet. This is the only mention of Oded in the entire Bible. He admonished them, “Because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren’t you also guilty of sins against the Lord your God (2 Chronicles 28:9-10)?” Oded was telling them that just because God was angry with Judah, that was not license for Israel to be abusive.

I was stung by the words of the prophet. How many times have I used God’s anger as an excuse to inappropriately express my own? That’s not to say that it was wrong for me to be angry but, like Israel, it’s easy for anger to slip into rage. In his insightful work The Prophets, Abraham Heschel writes: The prophets never thought that God’s anger is something that cannot be accounted for, unpredictable, irrational. It is never a spontaneous outburst, but a reaction occasioned by the conduct of man. Indeed, it is the major task of the prophet to set forth the facts that account for it, to insist that the anger of God is not a blind, explosive force, operating without reference to the behavior of man, but rather voluntary and purposeful, motivated by concern for right and wrong. [1] He goes on to say: There is no divine anger for anger’s sake. Its meaning is, as already said, instrumental: to bring about repentance; its purpose and consummation is its own disappearance. [2]

Read Paul’s charge in Romans 12:17-21. With the help of the Spirit, we are not to respond as our human natures urge, but to respond just the opposite. If someone has hurt us and is in need, even though we might be tempted to relish their position, we are told to reach out to them and relieve their pain.

Again, God’s measured, purposeful anger is never an excuse for our uncontrolled rage, which will result in, at the very least, our own need for repentance. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Ro. 12:21).

[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (New York: Harper and Row, 1962), 282.
[2] Ibid., 286.

Celebration

My sons in whom I am well pleased, Ben (right) and Will, honored me with a picture together following my hooding ceremony Friday evening May 4th.

This weekend a long awaited dream finally became reality. When I was seventeen I enrolled at Anderson College, our church's main educational institution. I studied sacred music, but left after my third year to marry Janelle, the joy of my life. I always intended to finish school, but got sidetracked with life, a career, and family. After five years as a paramedic, I answered the call into ministry, serving for fifteen years as a worship pastor, and then becoming a preaching pastor in 1999.

As a worship pastor I got by fine on musical ability, but when I started preaching on a regular basis, in order to preach the Word with integrity, I really felt the need for more education. The opportunity presented itself and I finished my BA through Warner Southern College's (another of our church's schools) Church Ministry Online Degree Program. By the time I finished my BA, Anderson (now) University was accredited to offer an online MTS (Master of Theological Studies) Degree. After six semesters finishing up my BA, I figured what's another five completing my Masters? Hey, the three years would have passed anyway, right? Celebrate with me my joy at completing my Masters Degree.





I also want to honor the other members of my School of Theology cohort: Bob Highlands MTS 2007, April Lopez MTS 2007, Craig Haney, Ryan Shockey and John Sieg. Craig, Ryan and John could not take classes full time, but they will finish up soon.

Revival

Wow! God is doing some cool things in my life. I'm in a period of revival. Something I never really reflected on before this is that the times of revival in my life have always been birthed out of difficulty. Imagine that! Mountaintop experiences are great, but it's the valleys that motivate me to climb.

I just finished reading (actually re-reading) Henri Nouwen's In the Name of Jesus. It's one of those deceptively simple little books that looks like a good read while waiting for your son to finish his guitar lesson, but in reality it runs over you like a freight train and leaves you wondering, "What hit me?"



Thank God for writers like Henri Nouwen, and for books.

In Matt Damon's and Ben Affleck's Good Will Hunting, bad boy Will, played by Damon, expresses derision for some aristocrati mama's boys from Harvard. He remarks that the ivy league education, which cost them countless thousands of dollars and an investment of four plus years of their lives, he'd gotten for $2.50 worth of fines from the public library.

Friends, I'm so grateful that God has carried me through my Masters of Theological Studies degree program, especially after spending almost 20 years in ministry before even starting it. It's nice to have the formal education and the degree to go with the OJT. I graduate this weekend, but God is not finished educating me. People ask if I'm going for my doctorate, and props to anyone who goes that route (and by the way, big props to any kid who finishes high school and then goes right on to compete a 4-year degree -- I didn't have the determination or the discipline to finish back then, so I really honor those young adults who do have what it takes!). But, regarding the doctorate, I really don't think I have another degree in me right now. And even if I did, at my age I would never make the tuition costs back in salary, not that the personal satisfaction of completing a doctorate wouldn't be worth much in and of itself.

Whether I go on with school or not (this is really the wrong time to be making such a decision), I'm definitely not done learning. There are still a lot of good books out there.