Remembering to Forget about Me

Spirituality Column #225
March 1, 2011
Current in Carmel - Westfield - Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Remembering to Forget about Me
By Bob Walters

How often we sit in church during a worship service – I know I have – imploring God for a way out of, through or around life’s cataclysms.

God’s glad we’re there talking to Him, and we’re glad He’s there to talk to. God’s available anywhere, yet sitting in church is where most of us feel closest to God’s ear.

But worship isn’t supposed to be about us or our present situation, good or bad. Worship is about God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not about “me.” We lose the best part of worship if we focus on our problems and desires rather than immersing ourselves in the true, powerful heart of worship, the heart of Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is about loving God and loving others. Jesus Christ is our example of what a Godly human life looks like. His love, peace, mercy, forgiveness, service, grace and more are outwardly directed manifestations of a life dedicated to God and humanity. For us those virtues can become vices if they are instead directed inwardly, selfishly … truly impeding our ability to worship God.

We don’t put a lamp “under a bowl,” says Matthew 5:15 (also Mark 4:21 and Luke 11:33). A “lamp on its stand” – Christ’s light in a Christian believer’s life – “gives light to everyone in the house.”

Christ’s life, death and resurrection are His light shining on us and bringing mankind back into communion with the Creator God. Our worship should reflect that light, remembering Christ’s unparalleled Kingdom gifts of defeating death, erasing sin, and restoring us to heavenly relationship. That’s bigger than anything I’d be praying for.

The bread and the cup of communion represent the closeness and reality of our covenant relationship with God through Christ, and with the community of believers with whom we share it. It’s a meal of love, a meal of remembrance, a meal in the here and now that attaches us to the eternity of God’s love, and to the eternal gift of Christ’s obedience, sacrifice and fellowship.

The fastest way to richer worship is spending more time outside of church praying. St. Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Amen. We should praise, pray, ask, thank, confess and witness in all that we do, all the time.

And when it’s time to worship, forget yourself and free yourself.

It’s all about Thee, not me.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that if one’s approach to worship is “What’s in it for me?”, by all means, go and find out.

Famously Favored, or Just Famous?

Spirituality Column #224
February 22, 2011
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville – Current in Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Famously Favored, or Just Famous?
By Bob Walters

Thoughtful author and music reviewer Neil Strauss recently described a common theme he hears when interviewing the hyper-famous and highly talented.

Those occupying the top echelons of their craft and celebrity, whether a musical artist, movie star or pro athlete, typically express profound belief that his or her place and purpose are determined by God, or a higher power … or something.

Strauss also noted that those less inclined to identify a Godly sense of purpose as the source of their talent and position, have lesser career trajectories. Exceptions notwithstanding, believing that God wants you to be famous actually improves your chances of being famous.

Strauss wrote, “…from the standpoint of traditional theology, even in the Calvinistic world of predestination, God is much more concerned with the fate of an individual's soul than his or her secular success … So what's helping these stars is not so much religion as belief – specifically, the belief that God favors their own personal, temporal success over that of almost everyone else.”

The Super Bowl, Grammys and Oscars – events glorifying people, not God – all happen this month. Each is replete with exactly the folks about whom Strauss writes, prone to either thank a God they barely know, or to cite generic “belief” for success.

At issue is whether God’s purpose is to fulfill their human glory.

Purpose and belief and faith obviously are not all identical concepts, but they share the similarity of driving and undergirding our confidence in our ability to perform. “There is a higher power that wants me to succeed” sounds much more compelling – to others as well as to us – than simply, “I want to succeed.”

While it’s ill-advised to pick apart the sincerity of any person’s faith, it is nonetheless interesting to compare, say, Eminem’s expression of purpose, “God sent me to [make people mad],” which he rapped on his first hit record, juxtaposed with the Jesus-believing, ego-bridling humility of the average Christian.

All people – celebrities too – experience a mix of earthly successes and failures. The Christian walk teaches that God is not keeping track of what we or other people say, think or believe about ourselves. God’s Book of Life keeps track of what we say, think and believe about Jesus Christ.

Misplaced glory, you see, is misplaced faith. Earthly applause fades.

The lesson for all is this: The glory is always God’s, never ours.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) respects NASCAR’s Daytona 500 because unlike these other February mega-events, “The Great American Race” begins with a sincere, public, God-honoring prayer.

Sold on Faith, Not on Sales

Spirituality Column #223
February 15, 2011
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville – Current in Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Sold on Faith, Not on Sales
By Bob Walters

Looking back on the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day, are you at all weary from being in the cross-hairs of America’s high powered marketing mechanism?

Be the MVP, we’re told. Everybody’s a VIP. Sit on the 50-yard line. Buy a big TV. Win love with a gift. Say it with flowers. And on, and on.

Back in the late fall there was all the election hoopla, followed by Christmas. More marketing. Vote now. Buy this. Consume that. Experience the magic.

As consumers we are bombarded with sales messages encouraging us to maximize our personal feelings of importance. That’s the coin of the realm these days – personal esteem – and oh how it’s laid on thick, aimed at our hungry egos.

Is it any wonder that churches often struggle to create effective marketing plans? The whole world is telling people how to buy personal specialness and importance, and the message of Jesus Christ – of humility and service – is just the opposite.

Our world, or at least our nation, is filled with people whose profession it is to make sure we have fun and they make money. Through a trade, purchase, transaction or “deal,” our personal prestige is a commodity vigorously sought, bought and sold. We learn to be savvy, to trust no one, and to look out for Number 1.

Antithetically, Jesus Christ tells us to have faith, love God and love others. Our faith and love become our Christian life, loving the Christian community and serving mankind as best we can. No marketing, just trust.

For a consumer, that’s not much of a deal. But salvation is a gift, not a transaction. There’s nothing in it for the marketer; you can’t make money on free gifts.

In Philippians 3:20 we read, “Our citizenship is in heaven …” I haven’t always “gotten” what that scripture meant. But I recently read an interesting theological/political commentary which described “consumers” and “citizens” as opposite sorts of creatures. A consumer waits for the best deal and looks out for himself. A citizen focuses his or her own life on selfless service to others.

The difference is the basis of relationship. As a consumer, it’s money, pride, “me” and maximized value. As a citizen, it’s love, truth, service and the right thing.

Our relationship with Christ is a tough sell, because it’s not a sale; it’s a gift.

No purchase necessary.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) spent most of his career in public relations, frequently at odds with marketing people.

Love Starts with God, Not Us

Spirituality Column #222
February 8, 2011
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville – Current in Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Love Starts with God, Not Us
By Bob Walters

I love my wife, my kids, my family, my community, my church, my work, my home, my country.

I don’t love my sin, my debts, my mistakes, my thoughtlessness, my impatience, my pride, my fear, my selfishness.

Everything – and more – on the first list is a gift from God.

Everything – and more – on the second is a function of my fallen humanness.

As for the vagaries of health, wealth, family dysfunction, natural disaster, political turmoil and other things that blow hot and cold in our world, I think they provide context to learn when to call on God and when love matters most.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, love is in the air. But what we should learn about love from God’s word, the Bible, is far different from the playful rituals of human romance celebrated on February 14.

The “love chapter” in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13 – recited often at weddings (Love is patient, love is kind,” etc.) – is lovely to read. Indeed, the chapter describes the necessity, characteristics and permanence of love.

But parts of it make little sense unless we realize it’s not about marriage; the chapter is merely one part of St. Paul’s larger argument sternly warning the first century Corinthian Christians to knock off their pagan-like worship involving tongues and prophesy. It’s an argument for the sufficiency and totality of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ (read Burton Coffman’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 13 for a most interesting perspective).

Then of course there is the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) in the middle of the Old Testament (just after Ecclesiastes). This is first rate poetry celebrating wisdom and love as gifts from God. It’s typically read as a steamy allegorization of human sex, or a description of God’s relationship with Israel, or even a story of a maiden choosing a shepherd over King Solomon (he of 900 wives).

I don’t favor allegorizing so much as a single word in the Bible (another topic for another day), but Song of Songs lyrically tells us that God beautifully authors both the emotional and physical joys of love.

Perhaps the Bible’s clearest, simplest, shortest discourse on love is 1 John, especially chapter 4. Nothing in it about chocolate or flowers though; it says “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 4:16).

Love starts with God. It’s His gift to us that we can share it with others.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com), noting that Valentine’s Day is about human romance, is reminded he needs to go buy a card.