Rob Prince's Blog, page 60

Alzheimer’s and Faith

Last night as I watched a basketball game played in the Boston Garden, it reminded me of the time I sat in that arena and watched the Celtics defeat the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2008 NBA Championship.  Even though I am not a Celtics fan (Go Pistons!) and I could have lived my entire life without the hugs from the mostly drunk, elated Celtics fans on the way out of the arena that night, it is one of my most favorite memories.  I was able to go because my friends, Larry and Lynne, were generous with their tickets and my father-in-law offered to pay my airfare to Boston.

Sadly, Arling doesn’t remember his generosity these days.  He frequently doesn’t know me or Karla or even Mary, his wife of nearly 60 years.  Alzheimer’s disease has robbed him of so much of his life. He is unable to share his cherished memories with anyone most of the time.

This past Sunday, like every Sunday, my in-laws were at our house for dinner following church.  Typically, Karla or I ask the blessing for the meal, but this week she asked her dad to pray. Arling’s Alzheimer’s doesn’t allow him to have too many meaningful conversations. His words aren’t always coherent. Real communication is more guessing what he might be saying and thinking than knowing what he is actually saying and thinking.  But at Sunday’s dinner, just like he has so many times in his past, when asked to pray, he had a conversation with our Heavenly Father.  Just like old times he prayed for protection, direction and peace. He prayed for God to help us and be with us. It was a beautiful prayer except he forgot to say “Amen.”  He just kept praying and praying, repeating his words while continuing to pray.  Eventually, more hungry than blessed, we finally helped him out and said, “Amen, let’s eat.”

Later I was reflecting on Arling’s prayer and concluded:  Maybe, just maybe, Arling didn’t “forget” to say “Amen.”  Maybe he just didn’t say it.  Maybe in his Alzheimer’s state, Arling is living in constant communion with the Father.  Maybe he’s in a fellowship with Jesus where no hellos or Amens are required. Just because he can’t communicate with us like he once did, that doesn’t mean that he has stopped communicating with the Father. Moreover, I’m convinced the Father is still conversing with him.

My father-in-law has lived his life serving Jesus. He can’t express his faith to us most days. But it’s still there. His communication with the Jesus is different now than in days gone by, but maybe it’s better without the clutter of this world’s chatter.  If you heard Sunday’s prayer, there would be no doubt of a sweet fellowship that is shared between Jesus and Arling.  Jesus words are true for Arling and all those who suffer, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).

 

 

Offering the Benediction at Olivet Nazarene University’s Commencement

Nearly four years ago, in August 2013, we were on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University dropping off Ben and all his earthy possessions (minus a few old baseballs, video games and other assorted “treasures” still in our basement). We unloaded his belongings into a Chapman Hall first floor dorm room on a hot Friday evening. Sometime during that weekend, University President, Dr. John Bowling, told a room full of parents of freshmen that the next four years would pass in a blink of an eye and that we would gather in May, 2017 for graduation. At the moment, I thought it was college president speak for “time flies unless you don’t pay your tuition then time comes to a screeching halt and your scholar will be flipping burgers at Cheeseburgers-R-Us for the rest of his or her life.” But it wasn’t hyperbole.  The last four years have flown by and on Saturday morning I will join the throng of misty eyed parents, grandparents, and loved ones in the Betty and Kenneth Hawkins Centennial Chapel on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois as my youngest cherub walks across the stage and receives his college diploma.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Bowling’s assistant, Marjorie Vinson, contacted me to inquire if I would offer the benediction at the commencement ceremony.  I am so incredibly honored to do so. What began four years ago, on that hot August evening will end with my utterance of the final “Amen” on a cool Saturday morning in May.

Not wanting to melt into a blubbering puddle of pride and gratitude, I decided I had better write out the prayer.

Here it is:

Our loving Heavenly Father:

We have been so excited to celebrate with our sons and daughters on this day.  We thank you for them and for their achievements of which we are so very proud.

We thank you for Olivet’s faithful administrators, professors, and various personnel and we ask you to bless and keep them and may your light continue to shine upon them.

Lord, beginnings remind us that an ending will one day come.  And every ending promises a beginning.  Today is such a day.

May these graduates go forth with a passion that inspires us,

May your Word both comfort and challenge them,

May injustice trouble them,

May hope encourage them,

May servanthood define them.

May gratitude constantly be on their lips.

May they get things right from time to time.

And may they laugh when they don’t.

As they leave this remarkable place filled with friends and mentors, having been given knowledge and wisdom and dreams—  may they continue to ask the right questions, and may they give much more than they have ever received.

May they always look for the good, never glory in the wrong and trust you continually.

May these graduates on the threshold of so much promise and opportunity never confuse success with fame and wealth, but may they discover that true achievement lies in pleasing you and finding their God honoring places in our world.

May they go in peace. Act justly. Love mercy.  Speak truthfully. And walk humbly before you. 

May the love that overcomes all obstacles, that heals all wounds, that chases all fears, that brings courage to all who are burdened and heavy laden be found in them and us now and always.

May all of this occur in Jesus’ name,

  Amen

Parents, Dr. Bowling was right.  Time flies. It’s just a blink between sending them off on their first day of kindergarten and praying the benediction at their college commencement.  Enjoy each moment with your son or daughter and always keep them before our loving heavenly Father!

 

 

 

 

8 Reasons to Come Back to Church on the Sunday after Easter.

If you are more than a casual observer on the American church scene then you know the Sunday after Easter (aka “Black Sunday”) tends to have fewer people and even fewer tumbleweeds than your average old western ghost town.

Here are a few reasons to attend church on the Sunday after Easter.

1)  No parking problems. Park close to the door even without a handicap sticker.

2)  Sit in your own pew.  This is not a statement regarding the results of the lack of personal hygiene, but with fewer attendees you have your choice of seats in sanctuary and plenty of elbow room.

3)  No lines in the café for your coffee. No barista either.

4)  Passing of the Peace is called “Say Hi to the old guy up front.”

5)  Congregational Singing in the bulletin is listed as “Ensemble Practice.”

 6)  Half off tithing.  NOT TRUE!!!!

 7)  The Pastor can personalize the points to each person in attendance.  i.e. “…and Joe I think I heard you gossiping last week.  Stop it!”

8)  You just might have a Divine supernatural encounter.  Thomas showed up a week after Easter and he met the Resurrected Jesus (read all about it in John 20:24-30), you might too!  In fact, that’s our prayer—that you and Jesus will show up this week!

 

How to Invite Someone to Easter Services

 

Dress up like a giant Easter Egg, hide in your neighbors’ bushes and when they come out jump from your hiding place and yell: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.  Which really bummed him out because he wasn’t able to attend Easter services at all.” (It’s kind of poetic and just might “crack” them up — bad pun intended).

Quote from memory John 18 and 19 (the section of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion) but not John 20 (the Resurrection account), then say to your friends: “If you want to hear the rest of the story you have to come to church on Sunday!”

Hide an Easter basket under the third pew on the center aisle (do not place a basket filled with candy under the first pew, I can’t promise it would still be there), then give your friend a treasure hunt type of map approximately 30 minutes before one of the services is to start and yell, “Go!”

Purchase a small airplane, take flying lessons and get a “Sky-writing-made-easy” kit then write in the sky above your neighbor’s house: “Come to church on Easter.”  (You might have had to start a little earlier than now to make this idea work).

(Speaking of airplanes) Take a lesson from United Airlines and drag your neighbors kicking and screaming to church.

Or simply say, “Hey friend, would you please join me at my church on Sunday for Easter services?”  You might be surprised at how many affirmative replies you receive.

Everyone you know needs to be in church on Easter!   So plan on getting as many friends and family to join you as possible.  There will not be a prize for the person who “fills the most pews with their friends and family,” but what a joy it is to worship the Resurrected Lord with the people you love!

 

There is no Holiness but Social Media holiness (Thank you John Wesley for the slightly modified quote).

Are holiness and social media compatible?  If holiness can be described as Christ-likeness, then how would Jesus have used (or not used) social media?  Jesus gathered millions of followers long before Twitter started limiting people to 140 characters. I just can’t imagine Jesus posting pictures of empty and then full wine jars at the wedding in Cana on his Instagram account.  Would Jesus have made a Facebook status like this one?  Fed a lot of people today.  Pete and the boys estimated the crowd at 5,000 men. #kidgaveuphislunch #belliesfullofbreadandfish Does anyone really think Jesus would have been obsessed with the number of “likes” he received from any social media outlet?

Would Jesus have used social media to cast cyber stones at people?  I know of a guy who loves using social media and blogs to point out the sins of pastors and others that he has determined behaved in a less than holy manner.  Of course, based on his slanderous, gossipy and “fake news” (read: lies) postings it’s a wonder he can even see his keyboard to type with the giant plank in his eye (see Jesus’ story in Matthew 7:3-5).  Unfortunately, that guy is not sitting alone in his pew.  I’ve seen hurtful, racist, insensitive, offensive, vulgar posts… all put there by church folks and people who have claimed to be following Christ.  There are days I wonder if to be truly sanctified doesn’t means “set apart for God purposes” but “set apart from social media.”

Hebrews 12:14 applies to social media too.  It reads:  Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  I know a few Christians who apparently have never read that verse as evident by the way they exercise their social media self and post comments as if the author of Hebrews wrote: “Make every effort to make your point and be right; without correct politics no one will see the Lord.”

John Wesley wrote this tweet worthy post years ago:  There is no holiness but social holiness. He meant that our holiness should be reflected in the way we respond to poverty, hunger and other social issues.  I think if old John were tweeting today, he might add just one word to his famous quote and write: “There is no holiness but social media holiness.” If holiness matters and apparently it does (see the above Hebrews 12 reference to no one seeing the Lord without holiness), then holiness standards apply to our Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Snapchat and Instagram postings too. Love should rule our social media content.  Purity should guide what we search for on the internet.

With much thanks to John Wesley’s quote, there is no Holiness but social media holiness.

Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and _________ Thursday.

Fat Tuesday was two days ago.  It is the day before the season of Lent begins.  On Tuesday I ate a Pazcki from Donna’s Donuts (a polish jelly donut—twice the fat, twice the calories, and twice the yumminess of a regular Donna’s donut). Fat Tuesday is supposed to be the end of our self-centered outlook on life.  Maybe we should call it FAT CHANCE TUESDAY.

Ash Wednesday was yesterday and is the first day in the season of Lent.  Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of a Christ-focused 40-day journey to Easter. Many people attend services where the imposition of ashes is to remind the worshippers of the words from Genesis 3:19:  “For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”

But for the Thursday following Ash Wednesday there is no special name.  So I will offer these choice describers for today:

WASH YOUR FOREHEAD THURSDAY

If you attended an Ash Wednesday Service, and haven’t washed your forehead yet you might be calling tomorrow FACIAL BLEMISH FRIDAY.  Wipe off the ashes but don’t wipe away the fasting commitments and sacrifices you have promised for the next 40 days.

FIND-A-BOOK-TO-READ-THROUGH-LENT THURSDAY

I am using Walter Brueggeman’s:  A Way Other Than Our Own.  My friend Jeren Rowell wrote: These Forty Days: A Lenten Devotional.  I will be using Dr. Jess Middendorf’s I Am for a Lenten Wednesday Night Bible Study (please join us starting March 8).  Any of these books would work great for your Lenten reading.

MAKE-A-REAL-LIFE SACRIFICE THURSDAY

Do you remember God’s words to the people during the prophet Amos’ day who were into showy worship and offering phony sacrifices to God while at the same time they were oppressing the poor?  So God bluntly told them:

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, 
I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.  But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream (Amos 5: 21-24)

The warning from Amos applied to to the first Thursday in Lent is this:  Don’t just fast candy or coffee during Lent so you can tell your friends what a wonderful Christian you are because you gave up chocolate for seven weeks. Care for the poor. Give to the needy.  Help a widow or orphan.   I wonder if Jesus would look at our “sacrifice” and say: “Chocolate?  Seriously? I don’t want you to give up Nestle bars, I want you to give up YOU!”  Paul wrote what I am talking about this way: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

The bottom line is this: let today (and every day) be known as I’M-GIVING-MY-ALL-TO- JESUS THURSDAY!  It might not be as catchy of a title as “FAT Tuesday” or “ASH Wednesday” but I think Jesus might like it even better.

Electing a General Superintendent? I’m voting Pedro!

There are a few unspoken rules in the selection process for a General Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene:

No Politicking. (yeah right!  Well, no visible politicking signs or buttons like Napoleon Dynamite’s VOTE FOR PEDRO).

We expect the Spirit to move (of course).

We believe that General Assembly delegates will discern the Lord’s choice and vote accordingly.  (Unless they vote for a university President who discerns that the vote is not the Lord’s will but the result of the delegates’ indigestion from eating too many meals at Indy’s finest restaurants).

We want a General Superintendent to be around 45 years old with 40 years of experience.  We want a General Superintendent who understands how to speak to the millennial generation and spends all of their time with the Baby Boomers. They should be a strong Wesleyan in an American Holiness Movement sort of way. We want them to attend all the important functions and meetings 52 weeks a year, yet be a devoted family person.  They must be culturally relevant while being true to all of our historical positions.  They must like camping in the BIG TENT of the Church of the Nazarene, but only if they are in my corner of the tent. We want the impossible in other words.

Does the way we’ve always picked our leaders provide for the the best candidates?

There are 674,414 Nazarenes in Africa but can you name two qualified leaders from that continent?  Surely there are many more qualified African leaders, but do you know them?  What about qualified candidates from the Asia Pacific region?  Can you name even one person?

How about this novel idea:  Let’s move to some kind of vetting process.  In the local church, we interview prospective pastoral candidates.  We don’t just have the congregation vote until someone gets a required number of votes.  More and more districts have the regional director assist in selecting a district superintendent candidate.  Why can’t we institute some kind of process that is actually thoughtful and thorough?  Why not have the regions nominate a candidate or two? Why does voting for our most important leaders have to be a popularity contest fueled by rumors under the guise of being spirit led?

The coming decade will bring much change in the Church of the Nazarene.  With an aging clergy and an aging American church that provides 95% of the funding for the global church, one doesn’t have to be a meteorologist to recognize a storm is on the horizon. We need new ideas, clear vision and a fresh perspective.

I understand that it is too late for this summer’s 2017 General Assembly.  The election of our leaders will once again be a popularity contest. Hopefully the most known is also the most qualified.  I’m just not convinced that is the case.  And I pray that the ones elected will have courage like the university president a few years ago to reject the popularity vote, if she or he is convinced that the popular consensus is not God’s choice or God’s will.

As for me, I’m voting for Pedro.

 

 

A “Snow Day” because of Slippery Roads? Are you kidding me?!

Schools are closed today.

There is not two feet of new fallen snow. There were no terrorist threats. The teachers aren’t on strike. The roads were a bit slippery, so they closed the schools. A tad slippery?!? I feel like I am obligated as a person with grey hair and born during the Kennedy administration to offer the following statement:

In my day they never cancelled school because the roads were slippery. I remember walking in snow that was over the rooftops. For two miles. With subzero temperatures. Wearing nothing but sweatpants, a windbreaker and my Keds. And I loved every minute of it!”

Of course, I never did the above things.

Our memories are a funny thing. Sometimes people like me get our memories a little skewed and “good old days” weren’t as good as we remember. Others are stuck in the “bad old days” that have happened in their life and everything has been colored by those events. I have found that many people tend to forget the things we should remember and we remember the things we should forget.

One of the hardest reminders in the Bible is hidden in the Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13) when Paul writes that love… “keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Corinthians 13:8). I think he was saying to have a heart filled with love we can’t hold onto the past (either real or imagined). We need to release those burdens to the one who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:38).

Remembering those things we should forget and keeping record of wrongs produces a burden that imprisons us, but Jesus’ love can set us free. His love empowers us to overcome those memories and experience a new day. His love produces a joy similar to learning that there is a “snow” day at school because of slippery roads!

I hope you can experience that joy! And I hope the kids and teachers enjoy their day off today too. Play. Dance. Sing. And in true grey haired, born-in-the-Kennedy-Administration form remember this: STAY OFF MY LAWN!!

Kmart’s demise. Is the Church next?

Garden City, Michigan is my hometown. When people asked where I was from I would proudly declare that my hometown was home to the very first Little Caesar’s Pizzeria (on the corner of Venoy and Cherry Hill Roads) AND the home to the very first Kmart (on Ford Road just west of Middlebelt).  I’m not quite sure if people were jealous of me or pitied me when I told them, but I was always proud of my home town.  We didn’t have many gardens in Garden City, but we were the first to give America cheap pizza and the blue light special (anyone remember that?).

Yesterday the Sears Corporation (Kmart’s parent company) announced that they were closing a bunch of Kmarts, including the store in Garden City.  It’s a sad day for my hometown and I was a bit sad for the news too. I have good memories of “the saving place” (one of Kmart’s slogans).  Getting a sandwich from the Kmart deli as a kid was always a treat.  Once I bought a Kmart hamster and it died two days later.  So I rode my bike back to the store with my dead hamster in a paper sack to return it.  The merchandise return lady didn’t quite know what to do with a dead hamster (and why did my mom let me return a dead hamster instead of just taking in the receipt?  Why did she let me ride my bike as an 11 year old all the way to Kmart and return the dead hamster by myself? I don’t know but I digress). The merchandise return lady gave me a new hamster. That hamster didn’t live long either (I’m sure riding a mile and a half in a paper sack on the bike ride home had nothing to do with its demise).

I haven’t been in a Kmart in years.  My guess is that a lot of Americans haven’t been shopping there either and that’s why the stores are going under.  But that got me thinking of another “saving place.”  Isn’t that what the church is supposed to be?  I know people can find Jesus anywhere, but isn’t the church supposed to offer the saving grace of Jesus.  If the church was the original “saving place,” could we ever find ourselves in the same position as Kmart?

I’m not a business expert and I suppose students in business classes will be discussing “why Walmart and not Kmart.” But my guess is that somewhere along the way, Kmart lost it’s focus and message.  People thought that better deals were at Walmart or on-line.  Kmart was no longer “the saving place.”  It was just “another place” that sold lousy household goods.

When the church loses its focus and becomes just “another place” for people to see old friends, share old stories or remember times past then we might as well put a “going out of business” sign in our front yard too.  We must always be the “saving place.”  We must carry out our mission of making Christ-like disciples.  We must fight against turning the church into anything but the place where the saints are equipped and empowered to share the good news and love of Jesus.  Being the “saving place” is our mission and our #1 priority.

In the minds of many, Kmart was no longer the saving place and its doors are being closed.  When the church is no longer the saving place, you might just as well close our doors too.

 

Remembering the Central Church Fire (1996) and rejoicing on Christmas Eve (2016)

Twenty years ago tomorrow (December 23, 1996) is a day that many at Flint Central will always remember. Not for a Christmas Eve Eve (the day before Christmas Eve) service or for impressive feats of strength or the airing of grievances for Festivus (Seinfeld reference) but it’s a memorable day because a fire swept through Central Church. The inferno destroyed nearly the entire structure.  Only the Chenoweth Family Center was spared.  People who have been around for the last twenty years know exactly where they were when they heard the news that Central Church was on fire.

The exact cause of the fire was never determined.  It was probably some electrical snafu somewhere.  Following the fire, the decision was made to rebuild on the same location.  Carmen Ainsworth School District allowed the church to use its auditorium for Sunday morning services and South Flint Church of the Nazarene opened its doors to Central Church for its Sunday Night service. The church rose again from the ashes and on April 18, 1999 they dedicated the new facility.

In 1996 many thought that the fire would destroy Central Church and she would never recover, but God had other plans.  In the twenty years since the fire, the church not only rebuilt but is stronger than ever. Central Church reaches into the community and around the world in great and wonderful ways.  Countless people have come to the Lord through the ministries of Central Church in the last twenty years mostly led by former pastors Rev. Gavin Raath and Dr. Glen Gardner.

The fire in 1996 was horrible.  Still it’s a good to remember that fateful day as we step through the sanctuary doors on Saturday night for the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. The glow of 1500 lit candles while singing Silent Night twenty years and one day removed from the fire reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the World and His plans overcome anything this old world might throw at us. Life might give us unexpected circumstances (no one thought the church would burn down), but God is still in control. His Light still shines. He overcomes!

There are so many people that need a similar reminder this Christmas. Many people are lonely and have been beaten down by life.  2016 has been a rough year for a lot of people.  Hope is needed and Hope is what Jesus offers!  Can I encourage you to invite your family, friends and neighbors to join you on Saturday Night (or for Sunday’s Christmas Day Service or, better yet, invite them to both services!)  The services (while different in content) will proclaim the message that the Light of the World has come; Jesus overcomes; and with Him we can overcome our troubles too!