"What This Church Needs is a Good 5-cent Cigar."

community  

^{[ kuh-myoo-ni-tee ]}: 

a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists

The plan was pretty simple: Sell a successful restaurant (and the adjacent property that housed twenty tenants of a variety of businesses) to an investor who would tear down the properties and build a senior high rise that would overlook the Mississippi River.

In an effort to accommodate the sale, the twenty businesses that occupied the site were given notice that they would need to vacate and relocate elsewhere.

The tenants responded by securing new locations, packing up, and re-establishing their businesses in new locations with the hopes that their loyal patrons would follow them.

Within a few months all of the businesses found new locations and started once again to establish roots. Notices were sent out and patrons such as Cathy and I continued to support their favorite business by following them over to their new locations.

Or I should say most clients followed the businesses to their new location.

One of the businesses that needed to relocate was a cigar and pipe tobacconist store. Over the past forty years it has been recognized as one of the premier spots for aficionados and provided its patrons with a space both indoors and outside to satisfy their passion for enjoying cigars and pipe tobacco.

 

In the past, I have stopped in the shop to look through their ever-growing pile of cigar boxes to see if any of them would meet my need for manufacturing my next cigar box guitar.

I should note that although I tend to prefer to use antiques cigar boxes to build my cigar box guitars, the shop was a great place to search for a box that would inspire me. I also liked the sense of community that I observed and the hospitality shown to me, even though I was only (occasionally) purchasing a used cigar box.

In time, the shop relocated to another city, but they left behind a bunch of displaced patrons who continued to gather in the evenings to sit outside of the (closed) shop to smoke their cigars and pipes like they had for many years. Almost every week for the past eighteen months I would see this group of patrons sitting outside in the evenings no matter what month of the year it was.

Just this week, while driving past the site in the evening, I saw a group of them gathered as though the shop had never moved.

Now, I'm relatively certain that these patrons still purchase their tobacco from the shop in the new location which is only ten minutes away. But their need to gather seems to far outweigh the fact that the temperatures are dropping as the season is transitioning into winter (as they did last winter when these people sat outside).

My observation is that the need for community is stronger than we may realize and in many respects is part of the answer to what ails us.

For many years, some pastors and churches have thought that the reason that people didn't attend was due to a lack of interest. I disagree and submit that perhaps the visitors didn't return because they didn't find what they were really looking for; community.

In fact, when the church was established, the members gathered “daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart…” (Acts 2:46)

The problem is, the church doesn’t have a corner on the market for community.

Community is found in many other venues besides the church such as bars, beer leagues (bowling, softball, hockey, etc.), hunting clubs, coffee shops, support groups, barn raising, sewing bees, potluck dinners, sporting events, and many other venues. It can even be found in dark places such as sharing a needle for drugs or sultry affections under a bridge. 

These patrons of the (former) cigar shop found each other and a place to gather and they appear to have no plans on leaving until the bulldozers raze the buildings and they are forced to find a new place to gather.

If the church would capitalize on this, I know of at least ten people who would relocate on their property.

No, I'm not suggesting that churches build a smoking lounge.

I'm merely suggesting that if community is what attracts people to gather, then that might be part of the formula to keep them in church.

Then, and only then will the main message (the Gospel) be heard by individuals in which relational equity has been established through meeting their need for community.

Perhaps it is time to get back to our roots and once again be the church in which others can find gladness and simplicity of heart through community.

Tommy O's Guitars can be found on Facebook

Amazing How Well It Works When You Follow Instructions

I was standing in the shower at the cabin and I became very grateful for the hot shower after doing some construction outside (during which I had gotten very sweaty and dirty).

While standing there, I realized an important milestone: It had been at least twelve years since we had replaced the heating element in the water heater; something that we used to do every other year if not sooner.

The water heater is electric and generally takes less than three minutes after the electricity is turned on for the water to go from well-water cold to (almost) scalding hot. And over the years it has been a very faithful appliance.

But, for whatever reason, every spring when my father-in-law and I would open up the cabin, we would inevitably burn out the element and have to replace it.

Basically the problem happened due to user error. We would fire everything up BEFORE the water heater was completely filled with water; which we had drained when we closed up the cabin for the winter.

I am guessing we replaced at least ten elements before we decided to write down and follow instructions every spring.

Shortly after my father-in-law died, I decided that it would be prudent to write down instructions for how to open and close up the cabin. This way other family members would learn from our mistakes.

So, I assembled a "Maintenance Notebook" that would have all pertinent information; especially now that he had gone to heaven.

In the notebook, under the section "OPEN-ing the cabin for the Spring/Summer" I wrote in BOLD letters:

 "VERY IMPORTANT":

·  Confirm that the WATER HEATER breaker is turned off!

·  This will prevent burning out the element.

NOTE: Gene and Tom had to learn the hard way over several years.

·  ONLY AFTER THE WATER HEATER TANK IS CONFIRMED TO BE FULL OF WATER CAN YOU TURN ON THE BREAKER FOR THE WATER HEATER.

·  If these instructions are ignored, the water heater tank will need to be completely drained and then the element will need to be replaced.

Needless to say, this has proven to work because (to my knowledge) not once has the element had to be replaced over the past twelve years...

Or else my brothers-in-law who now open up the cabin each year may just be smarter than Gene and I were.

In other words, those who opened up the cabin each spring and closed it up each fall were successful when they followed the instructions…

And learned from others’ mistakes.

So how do we apply this truth to our everyday lives? Where is the “Instruction Manual” for our everyday lives?

I’m glad that you asked; or at least thought about asking…

The Bible is filled with pearls of wisdom written by men who had gleaned wisdom from their mistakes. Story after story has been written down to show what happens when instructions are followed.

And, story after story has been written down to show what happens when instructions are NOT followed.

One person who did this was King David. He wrote down instructions for his sons to follow so that they would learn from his mistakes and avoid them. 

David wrote in Psalm 1:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Simple instructions and yet none of David’s sons followed them.

And the results were that they, too, had their “elements burned out” because they didn’t do what they were instructed to do.

One of David’s sons, Solomon, after not following instructions and messing up, wrote down for his sons what he had learned from his mistakes. 

Solomon had at least one thousand women who were connected with him; and also had wealth beyond belief.

And yet it still wasn’t enough for him to be satisfied or to be happy.

Or to keep him from making the same mistakes.

So he wrote down wisdom that he received for the Holy Spirit so that others who came after him wouldn’t make the same mistakes. The Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes were two of these books.

He concludes near the end of his life:

“Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
Before the difficult days come,
And the years draw near when you say,
“I have no pleasure in them”:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14)

My friends, the Bible is full of great instruction that (when applied to our lives) can save us from burning out.

The Holy Spirit wants to breathe fresh life into the words written so very long ago so that they can be fresh truth and instructions for each and every day of our lives; not just spring and fall…

Where should you start?

Start by grabbing a Bible, sitting down, and ask the Holy Spirit to instruct you. 

When you first start reading the Bible it may not make complete sense to you; that is why you need to ask Him:

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

The Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father to help you understand the instructions. This is true for those who don’t yet know Him:

“And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:8-11) 

This is true for those who have already received Jesus as their Savior and have surrendered their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ:

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-16)

God wants to instruct us; He simply wants us to ask Him…

Because it is amazing how well it works when you follow the instructions.

Psalm 119 says;

“Your word I have hidden in my heart,

That I might not sin against You.”

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Boasting Weakness

“How was your game?” Cathy asked me when I came home from hockey this week. “Not great”; I told her.

I went on to say; “I played good defense and stopped and blocked several shots. At one point my goalie said thanks for saving some goals by taking the hit. But offensively, I didn’t score a goal or an assist and we seemed to be off as a team.”  

And, when I couldn’t play as well as I wanted to, I had to stop myself because I could feel self-criticism creeping into my vocabulary.

Yes, in the big picture, I will survive to play another and better game. And yes, it’s OK if I lose, but I don’t like to play and not make some difference to my teammates.

The fact is, parts of my game were out of my control and even though I did my best, I needed to admit that I had weakness in my game.

So, I have been pondering that word “weakness” this week as around me things have been beyond my control. People I have been working with have been making dumb decisions and seemingly throwing away all my sage advice.

All around me seemed (with my distorted lenses on) to be people whose lives were in chaos. Some of them ended up (actually) dying by drinking themselves to death or continuing to kill a relationship that at one point meant something to them.

Weakness is translated in the Bible:  feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty: - disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness. more feeble, impotent, sick, without strength

None of us like to admit we have weakness in any part of our game or our lives. We want to believe that we are the superstar, the champion, the one who still has it (whether we had before or not).

And yet we all have weakness, no matter how hard we try to change the circumstance, and we all have areas we still struggle in or that are out of our control in our lives; and in the lives we try to help put back together.  

Simply put, this week I needed to admit that I had weakness in my life if I was going to survive this game of life.

I remember 22 years years ago when I was a young pastor some counsel that another older pastor gave to me. He said that IF I was going to work with people who wanted to kill themselves, I had to be “ok” with the fact that they may end up killing themselves no matter what I said or did. The same was true with people pondering an abortion or a divorce or struggling with an addiction.

The apostle Paul wrote about his weakness saying that he BOASTED in and about his weakness.

He had an area of his life that wasn’t as he wished it to be and prayed that the Lord would heal him so that he wouldn’t be weak any more.

He wrote that he prayed to be healed three times and that the Lord said to Paul; “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 

Paul’s responds (this amazes me) by writing; “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Earlier in that same letter to the Church in Corinth he wrote;“Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger? If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.” (2 Corinthians 11:29-30)

Boasting in his weakness? How??? Because Paul came to realize that his weakness was a conduit for the Lord to show His glory (through) Paul’s life. He didn’t have to have every area of his life working perfectly (as he thought it should be) for the Lord to use him.

Simply put, he could do his best and trust that God could still do great things through his best attempt; even if it wasn’t his best “game”.

Paul responded to this revelation by writing; “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)

Paul is saying; “I just let Christ take over! And so, the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”

That is the kind of man I want to be, whether playing in a hockey game or in the game of life. A man who boasts in his weakness that the power of God and the glory of God may be seen by others who observe my life!

All Scripture Taken from NLT Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Hey, I Made That!

Recently, I was talking with a new acquaintance and we were sharing about each other’s past employment to get to know each other better. We discovered that each of us had worked in both residential and commercial construction during part of our employment history.

He asked me what I used to do in commercial construction and I said that he had probably already seen my work… since most of the projects were very large in nature and easy to make a reference to; knowing that he would know what I was talking about…not meaning to imply that I had built the whole thing by myself!

But when you tell the story of what you did on a large project such as a stadium or amusement park, it is easy to talk about the project as though you were the only person who did all the work!

In fact, if you tell the story enough times, it is easy for others who know you to retell the story as though they too believe that you built the whole thing by yourself!

Yes, I am guilty of sometimes driving past a project that I worked on and saying out loud; “Hey, I made that!”

When you work on large scale commercial construction projects, it takes a team of thousands of workers from many different trades. That is not even including all the people who spent many years planning, designing, and coming up with the finances MANY years before the work was even started.

And oftentimes, when the large-scale project is completed, the final project gets exalted way above the individual who did the work. We see it and exclaim how beautiful (the building, stadium, freeway, amusement park, etc.) is and exclaim to others how magnificent it is; not the one who created it.

So, the work of an individual is easily over looked; especially the one who had the idea in the first place many years before.

I was pondering my conversation with this new acquaintance one morning as I was walking up to the second floor in our house. I looked out the window in the stairway and saw a beautiful sunrise in the east.

Brilliant colors lit up the morning sky in red and gold and blue as the sun was coming forth, breaking the dawn. I stood there saying how beautiful it was.

Wanting to share this with someone else, I called to Cathy to come here so that she could see the sunrise. Cathy also exclaimed how beautiful it was and returned to downstairs with a smile on her face.

When I got upstairs, I realized that I had spoken of how great the sunrise was; not the One who made the sunrise. I had ‘worshipped’ the creation, not the Creator (see Romans 1:25).

A passage from the Bible came to my mind;

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known.” (Psalm 19:1-2 NLT)

Did you catch that; The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.

HIS work was being displayed; HE is the ONE who should have been praised…not the sunrise or the sky. Let’s not get the two mixed up.

He is the One who made everything we see. He is the One who deserves our attention. He is the One who is calling out; “Hey, I made that!”

“This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer and Creator: “I am the Lord, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with Me when I made the earth?” (Isaiah 44:24 NLT)

 

He is displaying His glory (goodness) for us to get to know Him. He is longing for us to be with Him and it is easy to miss out on Him calling to us as we get excited about the final product.

“But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.” (Hebrews 3:3-4 NLT)

So here is my exhortation to you (and me):

“Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor Him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” Remember Him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky.

Remember Him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember Him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.

Remember Him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.

Remember Him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember Him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.

Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 NLT)

Turn today to the One who is calling out to you and me; “Hey, I made that!”

Scripture from The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Scripture from New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.