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We are loading up the family wagon and taking the kids to Denny’s for a free meal today.  It just so happened that they are off school for a snow day and I didn’t go to Louisville for a seminar on the Passover meal.  We have been excited since seeing the Ad during the SuperBowl about Denny’s free meal offer.  Why?  I ask myself…Why?

We never go to Denny’s.  Don’t even think about it as a matter of fact.  Don’t really like their food even.  But there is something about a free deal that is compelling us to go out in the snow and rain and face what will surely be a huge line of people.  Oh yeah. I don’t like to wait for a meal either.  So why are we going?

We are drawn to a gift.  That is all I can come up with.  We are drawn to receiving something.  We will go out of our way for a cheap or free something or another.

So why is it that God’s free gift of grace not perceived this way?  Could it be that we as the church have conveyed it with strings attached?  Do people see God’s free gift of forgiveness as some false advertising strategy or a too good to be true offer?  The old bait and switch where we receive something and then 12 things are required from us afterwards that make us wish we had never accepted the offer in the first place?

God’s gift is free to all who receive.  John 3:16 speaks to God as the giver of eternal life and that God requires nothing to be earned…believe and be freed…too good to be true?  No…but for some of us it is too good to be believed…

But places like Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv are created by a confluence of cultural forces, not money. The surrounding nations do not have the tradition of free intellectual exchange and technical creativity… NY Times Editorial

I love this quote that cultural forces are far more powerful than money in creating communities.  Culture is defined as the “totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.”  It goes beyond the definition to a vibe, feeling, and very nature of a group of people.  It is “who we are” that produces “what we do.”

As someone who is charged with encouraging / building a culture of love, honesty, acceptance, respect, and compassion, I can tell you that it takes time and a great deal of consistency.  What I can also tell you is that when a group finds it’s voice in terms of “who it is”, it is a beautiful thing to behold.

Walter Brueggemann suggests that culture is built through liturgy, narrative, and commands.  In other words culture is built based upon shared beliefs, stories, and directives.  As we repeat these ideas over time and in different contexts a funny thing happens:  we become the very things we repeat.

That is why services of worship can be powerful times of creating culture.  As we meet regularly and repeat the traditions of singing, praying, and preaching (among other things) we are formed by the truth that is contained within them.

I read a FaceBook post this week from a Mom who said it was so wonderful to see her young daughters reciting the Lord’s Prayer during worship on Sunday.  It hit my hard that those little girls are being formed in ways that God will use for the rest of their lives.  As they learn the words and see their peers and elders join together with them, they become a part of a community that becomes “home”.  A small, and imperfect at times, version of the “home” they will see when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

As you prepare for services this weekend, I encourage you to pray for God’s forming power to be at work in your place of worship.  May the truth that is sung, read, and shared be a force more powerful than all the money in the world to change our world for the better.

And you just thought you were going to church!

Where are you going?  Really.  We are all going somewhere.  Where is it that you are heading?  And who is helping you get there…

Let me suggest that if you don’t have a “who is helping you” then you are not getting to half the place you could otherwise.  From the Christian perspective, God is the major “who” in our lives.  The unshakeable, unmovable, ever present, steadfast loving force that has our best interest in mind at all times.

In addition, God places us in communities of people who are to be our “who’s” as well.  It is these people that God calls upon to walk with us in the tough times and good times.  It is these people who pour into our lives and make us more than we could ever be on our own.  Independence is a figment of our imagination.  It is not biblical.  It is not good for us.  We were created to be dependent upon God and live interdependently with others.

Let me suggest that the Church (with all it’s flaws and difficulties) continues to be God’s chosen “who’s”.  It is not because we are any smarter or better or gifted, but it is because we are partnering with God that we are uniquely qualified to be “who’s” for each other.

If you are not part of a Church, I encourage you to begin the search this weekend.  If you are…I encourage you to take the next step in being available within those sacred walls.  Who-ville needs you.  And to be honest, you need Who-ville.

As one who stands before God’s children each week and hopefully provides an empty vessel and conduit for God, I am continually amazed at how God uses the sermon.  Most of the time, it is not in a way that I would have ever imagined.  Someone may have picked up a line that I just glossed over and it changes their perspective.  Other times, what I think is the heart of the message does not connect with anyone!

What I have come to realize is that the sermon is a dialogue and the meaning is placed on it by those who listen and God.  And for that I am ever grateful.  This weekend, realize that, as you sit in the pew, the chair, or even your couch while on the internet listening to a sermon, you are an active participant in a holy moment of God’s activity.  God is speaking…even if the preacher is making little sense…keep listening!