Blazing a Path to Christ

"What's frightening about listening to John preach is that he puts you in the presence of God. And that's what everybody wants, and that's what everybody doesn't want. Because the light at the altar is different from every other light in the world. In the dim lamps of this world, we can compare ourselves with each other, and all of us come off looking good. We convince ourselves that God grades on the curve, and what's the differenc…

Each year, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, a great number of people find delight in the marvelous story written by Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. There is something in the story that lures us back to it year after year; we never seem to grow tired of hearing its message. The main character in the story is a surly old man named Scrooge, who lives a miserly existence. He sees no benefit in being generous with the poor, or even providing a living wage to dedicated workers. He clutches onto his money and despises the thought of parting with any of it. But it is not only his money that Scroog…

Henri Nouwen once said, "If we do not wait patiently in expectation for God's coming in glory, we start wandering around, going from one little sensation to a…

If you ask a travel agent how to get to Bethlehem you'll be booked on an El Al airlines flight to Tel Aviv, ride on an air conditioned coach up through the hills, probably pass through Jerusalem, and then into the tourist trap called Bethlehem. 

Ask anyone in the New Te…

Let us pretend that you are a young lieutenant, part of the military, part of a presidential honor guard. Every day the President walks into his office, and you snap to attention, click your heals and salute the President. The President nods. Every day, this same procedure occurs. The President walks in; you snap to attention, click your heals and salute. The relationship is stiff, formal, technical, with eyes never looking the President in the eye but eyes always straight ahead, frozen like a stiff wo…

In a "Peanuts" cartoon strip, good old Charlie Brown says to Linus, "Life is just too much for me. I've been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we're thrown into life too fast. We're not really prepared." And Linus asks, "What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?"

The Advent season is supposed to be our chance to warm up. It's that time to prepare our hearts and …

In a book on preaching by George Sweazey, the author reminds us that "Christianity is not something you talk about, it is something you do. Sitting through sermons can become the major Christian activity." And, of course, that is not all that we are called to do, is it? "What we want is deeds, not words," we sometimes say. But Dr. Sweazey says that that is a false dichotomy. Indeed, says he, words are deeds! The ancient Greeks had a saying, "By words alone are lives of mortals swayed." Sweazey writes: "the talkers are the doer…

When I baptized my three children I did a new generation kind of thing. We made a DVD for each of our kids so they can celebrate their baptism birthdays. They can see it, th…

Sarah Jo Sarchet is a Presbyterian pastor in Chicago. A 10 year-old boy in her congregation named Cameron, walked into her office and said he needed to talk to her. Fresh from soccer practice, and wearing his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, he had a request for her. "I'd like to be baptized," he said. "We were learning about Jesus' baptism in Sunday School. The teacher asked the class who was baptized, and all the other kids raised their hands. I want to be baptized too."

Using her best pastoral care tone of voice, she said, "Cameron, do you real…

Father Damien was a Belgian missionary in Hawaii. Hard place right? Back about 150 years ago, he began to plant churches on the island of Molokai. He planted several churches on the main part of the island, but there is another part that nobody ever went to, willingly. It's a small Peninsula that juts out north from the island and is separated from the rest of the Molokai by an almost sheer cliff 2,000-3,000 feet high. The only ways to get to that peninsula were to jump off the cliff or go by boat in the open ocean. That deserted peninsula was where the …

Norman MacLean in his wonderful book, A River Runs through It, has this tremendous phrase: "I am haunted by waters." This Sunday in which we remember the Baptism of our Lord, is haunted by waters. Reminders and symbols, such as in the Prayer of Thanksgiving over the Water, which reminds us of all the way…

I just read about a certain preacher, a recent seminary graduate, who was appointed to his very first congregation. He and his wife went to visit his family one Saturday afternoon for lunch. This preacher's mother sensed that her daughter-in-law was not all that happy, but not wanting to be one of tho…

To avoid offending anybody, the school dropped religion altogether and started singing about the weather. At my son's school, they now hold the winter pr…

The message of Christmas is that God intrudes upon the weak and the vulnerable, and this is precisely the message that we so often miss. God does not come to that part of us that swaggers through life, confident in our self sufficiency. God leaves his treasure in the broken fragmented places of our life. God comes to us in those rare moments when we are able to transcend our own selfishness long enough to really care about another human being.

On the…

In Alex Haley's book, ROOTS, there is that memorable scene of the night the slave, Kunta Kinte, drove his master to a ball at a big plantation house. Kunta Kinte heard the music from inside the house, music from the white folk's dance. He parked the buggy and settled down to wait out the long night of his master's revelry. While he sat in the buggy, he heard other music coming from the slaves' quarters...…

In our Lord's Prayer we are often puzzled by the traditional words: "Lead us not into temptation." How can this be? The Letter of James says that "God tempts no one." (James 1:13) Many of us much prefer the more modern ecumenical version of the Lord's Prayer. I'd like to know what you think. Do you find it helpful to understand the words, or would you rather use the mo…

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking gas meters in a subdivision. They parked their truck at one end of the street and then worked their way to the other end, checking meters along the way. At the last house, a woman was looking out her kitchen window, watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.

As they finished checking the meters,…

Many years ago a Philadelphia congregation watched as three 9-year-old boys were baptized and joined the church. Not long after, because of dwindling membership, the church sold the building and disbanded.

One of those three boys was Tony Campolo, who became an author and Christian sociologist professor at Eastern College in Pennsylvania. Listen to this short story as he tells it: "Years later when I was doing research in the archives of our denominations, I decided to look up the church report for th…

Most of us are familiar with Mahatma Gandhi (the great spiritual leader of India). As you know, he walked barefoot most of the time, which, I am told, produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet…

Experiences have the effect of changing the direction of our lives. These experiences are so casual they are frightening. They are critical experiences because they are life-changing. Albert Schweitzer casually walked into a library and sat down at a table to study. He picked up a magazine that some…

There is a school run by Catholic nuns in Cleveland, Ohio. I don't know the name of their Order, but they have committed their lives to working in the Catholic schools in Cleveland's inner city. Day after day after day, they focus their faith and energy on the education of inner-city youngsters, youngsters whose lives are at risk in so many areas.

One day, out of nowhere, a wonderful gift was given to these nuns. The gift was to pay for the entire Order to go on a vacation. Vans were supplied, and all the necessary money for their trip was contributed anonymously. So, that summer, the nuns closed their Order house and headed to the vacation spot of their choice, the Rocky Mountains.

Most of them had never seen the Rockies, except in their imaginations. They were awed by the glory of the …

The twentieth century provided numerous examples of prophets who have blazed paths for others to follow. In India, Mahatma Gandhi, through a method of nonviolent resistance, led his people to throw off British Imperialism and bring freedom to the sub-continent and its peoples. In the 1960s, using similar tactics, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of the dream he had of a nation where people would not be ju…

In Princeton, New Jersey, there is a legendary tale about the eminent scientist Albert Einstein walking in front of a local inn and being mistaken for a bellboy by a dowager who had just arrived in a luxury sedan. She orders him to carry her luggage into the hotel, and, according to the story, Einstein does so, receives a small tip, and then continues on to his office to ponder the mysteries of the universe. True or not, the story is delightful, precisely because we savor from the beginning a secret…

"When I consider the briefness of my life," mused Pascal, "swallowed up before and behind it, the small space I fill, or even see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces which I know not, and which know not me, I am …

Pastor Joel D. Kline writes:

"Some years ago I read a novel by Jan de Hartog entitled Star of Peace. It's the story of a ship's captain transporting 250 Jews from Nazi Germany to Montevideo, Uruguay, the last port in the world willing to receive Jewish refugees. When the ship arrives there, however, it is soon discovered that all of the passengers' visas are forgeries, and authorities tell the captain that his only option is to return the Jews to Germany, regardless of the fate facing them there. The captain, recently converted to Christianity, cannot in good conscience do so. And so he hatches a plan to unboard the passengers by night along the coast of the U…

Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash some years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They were tussling playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son's…

The painter Lundwig Richter, tells in his memoirs of how he and three friends set out to paint the same landscape. They each were committed to produce as accurately as possible what they saw. Nevertheless, the result was four different pictures, as different as the four personalities of the artists.

The same thing happened when four well-known artists painted the portrait of the United Nations hostess, Maria Lani.…

There is so much noise in the world today. There are so many voices competing for our attention. If you want to be heard, you almost have to shout.

During a typical lunch hour at the University of California at Berkeley, spokesmen for a dozen different causes can be found on the plaza, trying to outshout one another. One day a lone figure sat down defiantly in the middle of the crowd and held up a sign which said, "SILENT PROTEST." Someone tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "What are you protesting?" The defiant figure held up another sign whic…

We live in an age of immediacy instant foods, instant winners with our lottery mentality, instant information in the computer world, instant gratification in the drug culture. There is little loyalty to the past nor sacrifice for the sake of the future. Christopher Lasch in his classic, "The Culture of Narcissism," notes the forgetful character of the late twen…

Charles L. Allen tells about an outstanding businessman, J. Arthur Rank. Mr. Rank has an elevator straight up to his office, but he does not use it. He prefers the stairs, and he calls them his "Prayer Stairs." When he walks up those stairs in the morning, he takes each step separately and deliberately, and he prays to God to guide him every step he takes that day. In the morning he walks up …

At the beginning of this century there were many learned people from all the disciplines of academia that were predicting the death of Christianity. Not only the death of Christianity but the doing away with religion in soc…

In Minnesota you can step across the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It is no more than a tiny stream. It is amazing that a river so mighty can begin in such an inconspicuous way.

Perhaps we have a similar experience as we read the first chapter to the Gospel of Mark. The message of Christ has raised up nations and brought th…

Certainly Mother Theresa was one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time. Many years ago Mother Theresa was to open a mission in New York City. A building was chosen and the diocese had it renovated. They had it spruced up with a fresh coat of paint. They put in new carpeting. They put in a large hot water heaters for the nuns. On the day the bishop drove up to visit Mother Theresa and the ne…

Philip Yancey tells the story of a friend of his who went swimming in a large lake at dusk:

"As he was paddling at a leisurely pace about a hundred yards off shore, a freak evening fog rolled in across the water.  Suddenly he could see nothing: no horizon, no landmarks, no objects or lights on shore. Because the fog diffused all light, he could not even make out the direction of the sett…

His name was John. People knew him locally as the Baptist. Some would say of him that he was a religious eccentric. Others less kind would dismiss him as being simply a flake. He definitely did not seem to be the kind of "How to win friends and influence people" type of personality to usher in the news of the Messiah's coming. He just somehow doesn't seem to fit in with shepherds and wise men and the other characters that we traditionally associate with the Christmas story. Yet, this was God's unlikely servant chosen to herald the spectacular events that would soon follow. A most unlikely promotions man to be sure, but God's man nevertheless.

From the very beginning everything about John was unique. His mother Elizabeth was related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Elizabeth conceived six mon…

In a Family Circus cartoon, the little girl sits her baby brother on her lap and tells him the story of Christmas. According to her version: Jesus was born just in time for Christmas up at the North Pole surrounded …

It was Christmas almost forty years ago when Rex Pickett was stationed in Korea as a young Marine lieutenant. His wife and baby daughter, whom he had never seen, were home in the United States. On Christmas morning the thermometer hovered around zero with several inches of snow covering the ground. Outdoor worship services were planned for that morning. Although no one was required to attend services Rex went out of respect and "to set a good example for the even younger Marines." Nearly two hundred marines turned out for the servic…

The line at the Post Office was of a December length, too long really to wait for such a simple errand. But there he was. When he got to the window he asked for a sheet of Christmas stamps. The clerk proffered a brightly colored set showing lots of candles and emblazoned with the word "Kwanzaa." "No," he said, "I'd like some Christmas stamps." The clerk did a sort of ‘oh-h-h yeah' thing and rummaged around in the suppl…

The story is told about a fellow who loved to read mystery stories but he didn't like to be kept in suspense. He would read the last chapter first. That way he could read the book in the assurance that in the end good would triumph over evil. To the villain he would silently announce, "Don't get too sure of yourself. …

Many years ago a pastor was invited to preach at a nearby country church he had never been to before. As he set out he was uncertain which road to take since most rural roads are not clearly marked and the directions he had been given left something to be desired. He stopped to ask directions along the way. The person he asked tried, but mistakenly steered him down the wrong road.

The morning was pleasant and although the road seemed a little longer than the pastor had expected, he cheerfully continued on his way. Finally he arrived at a little white church just as the Sunday School lesson was concluding. The pastor entered the chur…

A man once owned a large and expensive clock crafted in Switzerland. He kept the clock in a window, where it was seen by passersby who set their watches by it. But something was wrong with the clock. Its hands habitually showed the wrong time. So the man spent considerable energy every day, 3 or 4 times a day, turning the clock's hands to the ri…

Time is important. And time is in short supply. Dwight L. Moody preached on Zacchaeus with great fire and conviction. The whole story of Zacchaeus just came to life right there on the platform. But he called him, "Zacchus." And on the way home from church his children would chide him. "Pa," they'd say, "it isn't Zacchus. It's Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus." "I don't have time to say Zacchaeus," Moody would bellow, "there's too much work to be done!" And later on in his life, his heart began to play tricks on him while he was in England. He had a checkup there, and the doctor told him to t…

Sue Monk Kidd, in one of her books, recalls her youth and how she would prepare for Christmas. In early December, she would sit by the wooden nativity set clustered under their Christmas tree and think over the last year of her life. She would think deeply about Christmas and the coming of Jesus.

She remembers, one time, visi…