Category: faith (Page 6 of 7)

Of course I formed an opinion…

December 20, 2013 / Michele Minehart

… and I think we need to calm the $%^& down. Seriously, fellow Christian-folk. Shhhh. Shhhhhhhhh.

Yay for Phil, or whoever his name is, for “standing firm” in what he believes and not letting a Hollywood life, lived in the deep south, change him.

BUT. I just saw this whole debacle framed as “preaching the gospel.” My friends, a stance on homosexuality is not the gospel. Telling others they are sinners is not the gospel.

Jesus is the gospel. His life, death and resurrection is the gospel. The hope and love and joy and peace and all those other things plastered to our mantels this time of year – that’s gospel message.

We want to be impressed when someone quotes some Bible verses because we believe it’s furthering our cause. Take a look at Jesus’ encounter in Matthew 4 – even the devil can quote a lick or 2 of scripture. I’m not calling Phil Whateverhisnameis “Satan.” I’m saying that mentioning a view, a chapter and a verse doesn’t give him permission to speak for all of Christianity.

Ol’ Phil-ster will be just fine. He has millions of dollars. He’s not hidden away reading his illicit Bible in an underground cave for fear of his life. “Persecution” is a stretch. Instead he has cameras watching as he pulls out his leatherbound, perhaps duct-taped, beloved Bible. I’m sure Zondervan will start marketing a camo-clad version next week. He’ll be fine.

But after our reaction, it’s the world that gives me pause for concern. How will we reach others with the beautiful news that God is With Us, especially in this season, with all of our whining of persecuted lives. Not getting to watch our favorite rednecks on our 42″ flatscreens hardly constitutes a hard life, and perhaps we should get off the couch and find out what the world really needs.

#endrant

After the rain dance

July 13, 2012 / Michele Minehart

Few occupations in the world have the built-in position of dependency on God quite like the farmer. When the rain comes, the crops grow. When drought appears, they don’t. But very little can be done to change which of two occurs on a given day or season. Most farmers fret and worry together, filling conversations with what their crops are currently doing and what they need in order to make the harvest worthwhile.

Dad’s friend, C, no longer owns a rain gauge. “Ever since 1988 I stopped keeping one. There’s nothing I can do to put more rain in it.”

My eyes just went buggy.

At the end of the year, when the beans are cut and the corn is shelled, C knows within him that the crop is a direct result of what God did and provided, not necessarily his good work. Don’t get me wrong: the farmer’s job is to get the seed in the field. To make sure the ground is healthy. It’s all preparatory. And then to harvest when the plant is ripe. What actually grows, however, is out of the hands of the farmer.

C’s rain gauge has changed the way I view an offering.

Today I read Romans 12, a chapter that I could nearly recite by memory because I enjoy it and it retains a popularity due to the imagery. “Offer yourself as living sacrifices…” usually comes partnered with the reminder that “living sacrifices can crawl off the table.” Thus we who offer ourselves up to God must continually choose to be there.

But what if we didn’t put a rain gauge on our lives? What if our offerings – both of our time and talent, but also our checks and support – were a result of the realization that God did something, as opposed to the typical what we have to offer? What if we stopped looking at ourselves and our lives as something that we somehow made good in the first place?

Later in the chapter, it says (MSG), “…it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you.” When we show up to fulfill our volunteer duties, when we make good on supplying educational bags for poor children, when we do our part to make sure the lights stay on and the pastor is paid, this isn’t our goodness. We might be portraying an element of obedience and faithfulness. But our offering isn’t from our goodness. It’s a reminder of God’s goodness that we even have something to bring.

I imagine the farmers who for a few years had nothing to offer due to drought. But the year the rains came? He bundles up the first round and takes it to the temple. “See God? This is what you did this year. Thank you.”

Take that in comparison to the farmer who surveys his crop and says, “Well, God, if you need it, you can have *this much* as I do enjoy coming here and I’d like to see a bigger feast.”

The farmer without a rain gauge knows that it doesn’t matter how much is in there; what’s important is that God was good enough to send rain in the first place. His offering is a reflection of his gratitude, not an attempt make things right. His offering exemplifies God’s goodness, not his own.

“The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” (12:3)

Going to the chapel

June 16, 2012 / Michele Minehart

It’s T-2 hours until the bride walks down the aisle and I’ve had a sense of excited-nervous for at least half the day. I can’t help it. I. love. weddings.

Not all weddings, mind you. I am of the camp, based on the divorce rate, that we’re having too many. Or, at least too soon. But not this one, the next one or the last few I’ve witnessed. I’ve had a string of beautiful, amazing couples stand before friends and family who I believe embody the spirit of love and marriage.

Sometimes it’s that look of adoration by the groom when he sees his bride for the first time. Sometimes it’s the hiccups of ceremony and how the congregation graciously forgives nerves. Now that I’ve crossed a big age barrier, it could be the hopeful youthfulness of the couple. The last wedding it was the vows the couple penned, which made a statement of how they had watched and learned from their own parents’ and grandparents’ marriages, most of which were in attendance, relationships in full bloom. Not often today can a couple find a heritage of lasting marriages on both sides of the family, and JJ and I consider ourselves fortunate to be counted in that group.

Mostly I love weddings because I love marriage. It’s beautiful. I don’t buy into Jerry Maguire’s “You complete me” philosophy – I see each person complete in his or her own shape. I once gave a talk and shared the imagery of shoes: young people often go around feeling like they’re a shoe looking for its match. But no, we are, by ourselves, a pair of shoes, perfectly capable of running and completing a race.

Marriage means tying your laces with another pair with a huge honkin’ knot. The bigger and tighter the knot, the better. The more secure.

Of course, this means you’ll have to slow your pace a bit to learn how to run in sync. And the only way out is to cut the laces, which means that though you can tie them again, there’s still a piece missing.

So why do it? Why be bound up? Where’s the beauty that you mentioned two paragraphs ago?

I love the faith of it all. The trust. My cynical nature needs a drink of love water from time to time and a good wedding is like a fountain. Marriages become statements of faith, and saying “I do” to another person resembles the decision we made at one point in time or another about Jesus. No one is making guarantees about the ease of the road ahead. Indeed, we can be sure that our circumstances and even our personalities and who we are at our core, may (and probably will) change over time. But faithfulness rises above circumstances.

It’s been several years now since I watched this young man raise his hand to indicate that he was ready for God to move into his life. And today I’ll watch him slip a ring onto the finger of a beautiful woman and promise to never leave or forsake. I believe that as each of those oaths are lived out, they will strengthen the other. And the process of seeing them grow will be nothing less than a beautiful struggle.

Category: faith (Page 6 of 7)

After the rain dance

Going to the chapel

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