I Have Become a Televangelist
A few weeks ago I decided that a quarantine was inevitably going to come upon us, so I bought a bunch of home video equipment that would allow me to broadcast from my home office.
Tomorrow, I make my debut as a televangelist. [3/15/2020 at 9:30 AM, CDT—here’s the link.] Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be buying a private jet any time soon, so I have a long way to go in my new career.
I’ve done a few live test videos so far, and everything seems to be working perfectly, though the lights make me sweat! The photo above is from this morning and is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the glamorous life of a startup televangelist.
I’m planning on releasing as many videos and blog posts as I can crank out in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Pray for me!
![[Here’s a screenshot from a video I did this morning. From the viewer’s perspective, everything looks pretty good.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d70f59aefca59000162e4e6/1584208202892-JXVDAADGU69ECB742S4W/Screen+Shot+2020-03-14+at+12.48.12+PM.png)
[Here’s a screenshot from a video I did this morning. From the viewer’s perspective, everything looks pretty good.]
How to Watch
We’ll be using Facebook Live. Here’s the schedule for Sunday, March 15, 2020
09:30 AM - Live Music
10:00 AM - Live Message
Watch at www.mungerplace.org/watch. We’ll post some documents with the scripture passage and song lyrics there as well.
Login to Facebook and watch at the Munger Place Church Facebook page.
The Equipment I’ll be Using
An Open Letter to Leaders in the Midst of the Coronavirus Crisis
Friends, it is our time to lead.
By definition, leadership means going first.
Going first comes with tremendous risk. But, why else has the Lord given us our positions if not to use them?
In a time of crisis, we cannot wait for others to lead our people: it is our responsibility, and we need to take it up.
I know we are facing unprecedented challenges, and that people’s livelihoods are at stake.
Do we close?
Do we pay employees?
How will our organization survive?
When or will life go back to normal? Etc.
Many of those questions have neither easy answers nor any answers right now.
Lots of what’s going to happen is out of our hands, but what is not out of our hands is how we will react.
The Lord has given us everything we need today to be strong and courageous, to reassure our people, and to lead them well.
I really believe that: God has given us everything we need today to lead well. Do we have everything we want? No! Do we wish circumstances were different? Yes!
But, nevertheless, we have everything we need.
Sometimes, all we have are five loaves and two fish. What are they among so many?
Sometimes what we have seems woefully inadequate.
But, when we put what little we have into the Lord’s hands, it becomes more than enough:
“Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” [John 6:8-11.]
We have what we need today to lead our people well.
Let’s do it.
All Public Worship Services Temporarily Cancelled at Munger for Sunday, 3/15/2020
We are *temporarily* canceling all public worship services at Munger Place Church on Sunday, March 15, 2020.
Here’s why:
“Doing Nothing” and Staying Home Will Make a Difference In Our Community!
What the research and expert opinion shows is that the single most effective way to slow down the spread of the coronavirus is to practice social distancing, i.e., to stay home. [More info here.]
We are at a tipping point in our city with regard to the spread of the virus, and we have the ability to slow its spread by “doing nothing”! That is, when we stay home, we make a difference.
This Is About Our Hospital System and About Loving Our Neighbors
We know the virus will spread, and many of us will get sick. The concern I have (after reading lots of reports) is lessening the strain on our hospital system, so that the people who are sick or injured from whatever cause will have a safe hospital bed in which to be treated and recover.
This is not about you or me avoiding getting sick—this is about us caring for others and thinking proactively about our hospital system by deliberately slowing the virus spread, thereby keeping more people healthier longer.
I Do NOT Want You to Come to Church
For the first time in my entire pastoral ministry, I feel that the most faithful leadership I can show and the most love of my neighbor I can practice is to tell you not to come to church this Sunday.
NOW Is the Time to Act
This is a temporary measure because NOW is the time to slow the virus. Once it breaks out among us in as severe an outbreak as in Italy, e.g., it will be too late.
This Is Not About Giving Into Fear
It is not giving into fear to be prudent. Fear and panic is buying all the Doritos at the grocery store and stocking toilet paper for the next 4 years! Prudence is the opposite of panic—prudence is boarding up your windows when the hurricane is coming. Prudence is preparing for the future.
How You Can Make a Difference
You know that I’ve committed to be candid with you, even if what I have to say makes people angry.
The following is what I strongly believe:
Out of love for our neighbors, we need to cancel our travel plans and our social activities immediately. I am doing this personally.
We want to slow the spread of this virus, and that is how to do it. Don’t wait for anyone else—LOVE GOES FIRST. Do it now. It is not brave or loving to persist with normal social activities. Life will resume and life will go on, but NOW is the time to act.
By definition “too early” is “not too late.”
Here’s What Our Church Will Be Doing
We will resume public worship services ASAP.
In the mean time, our Munger staff is working hard to prepare to deliver content to our people on a regular basis. We will definitely do a livestream of some sort on Sunday morning, March 15, 2020. Stay posted for the exact details.
In addition, we are making plans now to best care for the poor and vulnerable among us who will be hit hard financially when they miss work, etc. More details to follow.
There IS No Reason to Be Afraid
Friends, preparing and prudence are not panic. They are wise. We have no reason to be afraid because Christ is King.
Here’s What I AM Asking Us to Do:
1. Spread this message. Tell all the Mungarians you know that church is temporarily cancelled for this Sunday. Tell everyone you know to stay home.
2. Spread PEACE through your networks. We have no reason to be afraid—Jesus has overcome the world!
Love and courage,
Andrew
P.S. If I am wrong about this, then we’ll all be able to laugh at my expense in a few weeks. I’ve never wanted to be more wrong in my life! If I’m right, however, but refuse to take responsibility to act, that will also be clear in a few weeks, and God will hold me accountable for my leadership failures.
Here's What We're Doing at Munger About the Coronavirus
At all times, we want our folks to feel as safe as possible when coming to church; in times of crisis and with fear whispering in our ears, it’s more important than ever that the Church comes together on Sundays.
No one knows the future, and no one knows exactly how the Coronavirus will affect our city.
That being said, there are some prudent steps we can take to be prepared, starting this weekend.
Here’s What We’re Doing at Munger About the Coronavirus:
All doors will be propped open, so no one will have to pull on a doorhandle.
Instead of passing the offering plate, we’ll have big offering baskets near the exits into which folks can drop their offering. (Giving online is always an option!)
We will NOT be serving doughnuts at our morning services.*
We will not pass the peace or shake hands. Elbow bumps it is!
We will clean and disinfect all surfaces after each service.
*Don’t worry, in place of doughnuts we’re going to have individually-wrapped treats of some sort for those of you who can’t sit through church without a treat! And, because our local doughnut shop depends on our church’s business, though we will not be actually asking them to make our usual order, we will keep paying for it for the time being.
Here’s What You Can Do To Help
If you’re sick, stay home!
If your children are sick, please keep them at home.
Bring your own hand sanitizer. (We have supplies for a couple of months, but our suppliers are unable to restock at this point, so if you bring your own sanitizer, it will help our supplies last.)
If you’re not sick, come to church!
No one knows the future, and we are all in the hands of God. But that’s always true, isn’t it?
We have an opportunity here to show our neighbors the difference faith in Jesus makes.
Let’s do it.
Don’t be afraid; just believe. (Mark 5:36)
How to Have a Great Lent
Lent is about preparation.
Will you be ready?
Beginning Ash Wednesday and ending Holy Saturday, Lent is the 40 day period leading up to Easter.
Here are 3 ways to get yourself ready for the raucous good news of Easter Sunday!
Fast
Before modern times, virtually all Christians spent time in fasting. Why not try it this Lent?
Give up a certain type of food for a certain period, e.g., skipping lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Pray
Make regular prayer a Lenten habit.
Here’s how: Sit in the same place each time. Put your phone in another room. Focus your thoughts on the Lord. (I find a prayer rope helps me.)
And any Mungarians reading this should definitely take a shift in our Easter Prayer Vigil.
Worship
Attend Sunday worship every week—NO MATTER WHAT. Unless you are sick, don’t miss Sunday worship—and being out of town is not a reason to miss—other towns have churches, too.
If you are a Mungarian, attend Wednesday morning communion (7:30-8:00 AM). I lead it every week in the sanctuary.
Plan now and schedule your life around Holy Week services.
Easter is always good news, but when we prepare—when we remember that the Cross comes before the Crown—Easter becomes ELECTRIC.
Will you be ready?
Only at Munger, #27
We have this thing we say at Munger in our staff meetings when something crazy happens:
“Only at Munger!”
For example, the time we had to ask some of our greeters not to smoke on the front steps:
“Only at Munger!”
Well, today I might have had my most “only-at-Munger” moment yet, as I had to say to someone:
“Please put your lizard down, and then I’ll serve you communion.”
Only at Munger.
(Wouldn’t have it any other way.)
Oscar Grace
A moment of grace can change everything.
I remember watching the Academy Awards in 2004. Bill Murray—one of my favorite actors—had been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar that year for his movie Lost in Translation.
At the Oscars, the camera lingers on the faces of each of the losing nominees after the winner has been announced. (We like to see the pain and disappointment of others, I suppose.) I remember Bill Murray looking particularly crushed when Sean Penn was announced as the winner. He had to have known that he’d never get back there again, particularly as he has made a career as a comic actor and not as someone who takes on the sorts of dramatic roles that are like catnip to the Academy.
I was reminded of that moment when I saw the award given for Best Director at last night’s 2020 Academy Awards. The Korean director Bong Joon-Ho was announced as the winner, and then the camera lingered on the faces of the four losing directors: Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarentino, Sam Mendes, and Todd Phillips. (I thought Mr. Phillips looked particularly disappointed.) Seeing the real-time disappointment of men who have been working their entire lives to win something made me uncomfortable; I felt sorry for them.
And then Bong Joon-Ho made his speech, and the entire feel of the moment changed. The whole thing is worth watching.
Mr. Bong first deftly recognizes Martin Scorsese in such a pure and heartfelt way that the entire audience gives Martin Scorsese a standing ovation. Then, he credits Quentin Tarentino with generously promoting his films in American when no one had heard of him, and then he tells Todd Phillips and Sam Mendes that he wishes he could cut the Oscar statuette in pieces and share it with them. Todd Phillips grins. It’s as if grace has been poured out on the entire theater, with everyone just grateful to be there and experience it.
It’s such a beautiful moment.
Grace changes everything.
This Is Forty
Today is my fortieth birthday.
The picture above was taken thirty years ago, when I was ten.
Ten years ago, I was thirty.
Ten years from now, I’ll be fifty.
FIFTY.
Folks have always been telling me something that I’ve now found myself to be true: life moves fast.
Today, I'm reflecting: What am I learning? What is my life about? What do I believe?
Three things.
There are three truths that I’m holding onto these days. Three insights I’ve learned not from books or from others but from my own experiences (experiences that are of course shaped by books and by others).
I believe my life is about these three things. This is what I believe, and because I have the privilege of leading and teaching others, this is what my ministry is about.
These three things are my mission, my focus, and my direction. I really believe that.
First, I believe in silence, stillness, and solitude.
In stillness is my strength. I know that anything important I will achieve will come from quieting my soul and just sitting before God. I have learned that John 15 is both a promise and warning: “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Creativity comes from silence, and hope from from stillness.
The biggest challenge of my life, though, is learning how to be still. Nothing else comes close.
Second, I believe in responsibility.
I’ve become more and more convinced that passivity is the primal temptation lurking in the heart of man. I face that temptation toward passivity every day, and my forties will be defined by my decisions to either take or shirk responsibility for my life and my family and for the people around me.
Third, I believe in the simplicity on the far side of complexity.
The simplicity this side of complexity is naive and foolish. This kind of simplicity wants neat answers with no remainders, shuts its eyes to inconvenient truths, and trades in polite lies.
The simplicity that is on this side of complexity is not worth a bucket of warm spit.
This is because life doesn’t easily provide neat answers, is full of inconvenient truths, and resists pat answers and platitudes.
It’s good, therefore, to move beyond the simplicity that lies on this side of complexity and to make your way into complexity itself.
But it’s not good to stay there. When you reach complexity, you need to keep going until you come out the other side.
You see, there is a simplicity on the far side of complexity that acknowledges that while life is certainly grey—not black and white—and certainly mysterious, there is still solid ground to stand on once you reach the other side.
You’ll know when you’ve reached the simplicity on the far side of complexity when you’ve examined all the hard questions and inconvenient details and come up with an answer that includes those things and yet provides clarity and a way forward.
Hot water from the tap is a simplicity that lies on the far side of complexity. Think of all the difficulties that have to be acknowledged and overcome to produce that everyday miracle of civilization.
The Constitution of the United States is a simplicity that lies on the far side of complexity. Think of all the insights into human nature that had to be acknowledged and overcome to produce that remarkable document.
“Here I stand: I can do no other.” Martin Luther’s famous declaration is a simplicity that lies on the far side of complexity. Think of all the wrestlings with God through an untold number of sleepless nights it cost Luther before he had the kind of clarity for which he was willing to die.
The simplicity on the far side of complexity can be big or small; it can be life-and-death or just a bit of everyday insight; it can be the result of centuries of slow technological advances (like the iPhone) or it can come flashing forth from revelation (like the Great Commandment).
But in whatever form it comes, it’s always beautiful and compelling.
And the simplicity on the far side of complexity is worth whatever it costs to learn.
This is forty, and this is what my life is about: learning and leading to the simplicity on the far side of complexity, where we experience the beautiful grace of God.
Wanna Go to Israel With Me in 2021?
I’m going back to Israel in 2021. Who’s in?
The dates are January 26-February 5, 2021.
You don’t have to be at member at Munger Place Church to go, so feel to invite family and friends.
Info Meeting: Sunday, January 26
We’ll have an info meeting at Munger immediately following the 11 AM service on 1/26/20, noon to 1 PM.
Initial Thoughts on the Proposed Methodist Split
My phone was blowing up today with folks asking me if I had seen the news of a proposed split for the United Methodist Church, and what my thoughts were. Here is my initial reaction, along with some clarifying information as to what today’s news actually means.
Facts Are Our Friends
The facts are that the United Methodist Church is an extremely divided denomination, and not only as to the definition of marriage: there are wide divisions in the denomination over nearly every other theological category one could think of.
It is good to recognize this fact. We may wish it were different, but it isn’t, and we’ll never make progress unless we acknowledge the stubborn uncomfortable facts of the present. The fact that we are divided is sad, but sadder still would be our refusal to acknowledge that these divisions are deep and irreconcilable.
Life Requires Trade-offs
Because the UMC is so divided, no interest group or caucus or theological camp will ever be able to get 100% of what it wants. It is good to acknowledge this, even if it’s painful. So, a mediated plan for amicable separation is, at this point, a good thing.
Leaders Make Hard Decisions
I’m impressed that the proposed plan has signatories from many of the relevant camps and caucuses. There is no other way forward. No doubt there were parts of the proposed plan that were hard for any individual signatory to stomach. Good for the folks who hammered out this plan for knowing that ANY successful solution will have distasteful parts to their respective constituencies. I have a lot of respect for those sorts of leaders, leaders who make hard decisions.
It Is Better to Part Than to Remain in a Wrestling Match to the Death
When Abraham and his nephew Lot can no longer live together (see Genesis 13), they decide on an amicable separation. Lot chooses his direction, and Abraham goes in the other.
Although it would have been better if we could live together in unity and love, since we can’t, then it’s good for us to part peaceably.
IMPORTANT: The Proposed Plan is Just That: a *Proposal*
The plan of separation will need to be passed at the 2020 General Conference for it to actually mean anything. The General Conference could pass it or reject it or modify it. Until then, the plan is an idea only. Let me say again: literally anything or nothing could come out of General Conference 2020. That said, it is significant that the 16 signatories represent such a wide array of caucuses and camps, and presumably these signatories will be working hard between now and the May General Conference to get buy in from the elected delegates with regard to the plan of separation.
Local Churches And Pastors Have No way of Affecting the General Conference Outcome At This Point, Apart from Prayer
The only people who will have a say at General Conference 2020 are the 862 elected delegates, who were elected last year from around the world. (General Conference 2020 will be held in Minneapolis in May.) The United Methodist Church is organized into regional bodies called Annual Conferences; I am a member of the North Texas Annual Conference. [Bishop Michael McKee—our bishop, put out a helpful and informative statement on the proposed plan.] The North Texas Conference was allotted 8 delegates to General Conference 2020–4 clergy delegates, and 4 lay delegates. At the North Texas Annual Conference meeting last June, I was able to vote for 4 clergy delegates, and the lay members of the Annual Conference were able to vote for 4 lay delegates. After the voting, neither I nor any other pastor who is not an elected delegate has any say whatsoever on the outcome of the 2020 General Conference.
What Does This Mean For Munger?
Munger is officially a part of Highland Park United Methodist Church. There is no way to know at this point what these proposed plans mean for Munger—it all depends on what happens at General Conference, and what the North Texas Conference and then Highland Park UMC do in response. What I do know is this: for over 10 years now, the leadership of Highland Park has always worked hard to do whatever it takes to set up and then help Munger to flourish as a congregation in East Dallas, and I am confident that that won’t change going forward.
Fear of the future has no place in the people of God. Instead, we should all be grateful that our denominational leaders have put in the required hard work toward a necessary way forward, and grateful that God has permitted us to be in ministry at this place and time—there is lots of ministry in the name of Jesus to do.
The future is inherently unknowable, which is why Jesus tells us to only focus on today. As I write this, e.g., it seems that the United States will be at war with Iran; I have no idea what that means for the future, nor did I have any idea 48 hours ago what the geopolitical news would be today. My point is that there is no point in worrying over the future, which is out of our hands. What I do know is that God tells us to be faithful, to love our neighbors and our enemies, to trust him with the future, and to carry on.
Let’s do it. See you Sunday.
Here's to the Roaring Twenties
It’s going to be a great decade—the Roaring Twenties!
I’m not naive, and I know there will be hard times ahead. But I also know that life is what you make of it, and I believe these next ten years will be the best ten years of my life.
Why Not?!
Every year I pick a One Word theme for the year, but since it’s a new decade, I’ve decided to be extravagant and also pick a 2 word theme for these next 10 years.
My two-word theme for the Roaring Twenties is, “Why Not?”
Last year, just after Dabo Swinney led the Clemson Tigers to their 2nd National Championship in 3 years, he gave a postgame interview—all of which is worth watching—30 seconds of which have stayed with me since I first saw it. Over the past year I’ve gone back to that clip often.
Some background: Dabo, who grew up poor in Alabama, was a walk-on for the Alabama football team while he and his mom shared an apartment, because she had nowhere else to live. Dabo’s Clemson beat Alabama for both of its recent national titles. Here’s the clip:
I love that!
It’s going to be a great decade.
It’s going to be the Roaring Twenties.
It’s going to be the best 10 years of my life.
Why Not?!
P.S. What’s your One Word (or two or three) for the Roaring Twenties?
Leave me a comment below.
These Past 10 Years
Ten years ago today, December 31, 2009, I was in a snowstorm in Boston, Massachusetts. In the picture above, taken on that afternoon—New Year’s Eve 2009—you can see me and my wife, along with my parents and my youngest brother, posing outside of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which was offering free admission for the holiday.
I stumbled across that picture today as I was reflecting on this past decade, and I’ve been struck this evening with the memories of all that has happened since.
These past ten years have been something, let me tell you.
I officially started work as the pastor for Munger Place Church on January 1, 2010, so I’ve been the Munger pastor for exactly 10 years, or 3,652 days. Munger didn’t exist as a church when I punched in that first day of 2010 (we launched worship in October of that year), and as excited as I was for the opportunity to help bring life back into our old building and into our neighborhood and launch a new church, I can honestly say that what has happened at and through Munger over the past decade far exceeds anything I could have imagined 10 years ago.
One of my strongest desires was to be the pastor of a church that people wanted to attend; one of my greatest blessings these days is to know that in those of us who call ourselves Mungarians, that desire has been realized: we love coming together as a church on Sundays (and other special days).
The video taken below is from this past Christmas Eve 2019. We opened our doors for our services 30 minutes before the services were to begin; when we did so, there were crowds of people already lining up to enter church. Here’s the video of the doors opening at 4:30 PM for our 5:00 PM service. How great is that?!
You can’t see it in the Boston NYE picture at the top of this post, but my wife was 4 months pregnant with our son on New Year’s Eve 2010, so I’ve officially been a father for the past 10 years, as well as being a pastor, though both son and church were embryonic when 2010 began!
I’m at home with my little family this New Year’s Eve, and though I always knew I wanted to be a father—I wanted a whole gang of kids— I can honestly say that being together with my family is the source of my greatest joy and that marriage and fatherhood and family have far exceeded what I could have imagined 10 years ago.
One blessing I didn’t imagine was the blessing that comes from being the father to a daughter. I came from a family of boys and I first became a father to a boy, so princess dresses and pink stuffed animals were not things I had personal experience with before my daughter was born. Having a little girl—and a very girly little girl, at that—in the house is a source of constant delight and amusement for me. I love being the father to a daughter!
I don’t think I would have believed, if you had told me 10 years ago, how blessed my life has been and how many beautiful people and experiences would be a part of my life, 12/31/2009 to 12/31/2019. These past 10 years have really been something.
Of course, these past 10 years have not been without pain and difficulty, too.
Being involved in any kind of start-up venture is stressful, and being part of a new church start is no exception. I’ve aged a lot in the past 10 years, and no doubt some of my grey hairs (I have some on my temples these days!) are due to my work at Munger.
And being a pastor is not an easy job. My job is worlds easier than many of my pastoral colleagues in my city and around the world—I have nothing to complain of—but even at a cushy gig like Munger there are the difficulties that come from leading and loving people. This past year, e.g., has been by far the hardest I’ve had in ministry. As a pastor, I’ve pressed my forehead into the living room carpet in anxious and desperate prayer, had relationships severed, faced serious opposition, and tasted despair for the first time in my life.
I have learned lots about love and grace this past year and this past decade, and even now I can say I’m grateful, though the learning has come with a cost. (As does anything worth having.)
But, as is always the case in life, the most difficult and painful times have come in my personal life. About a year after the birth of our son, my wife was struck with constant and inexplicable vertigo. For several months in early 2011 my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came to live with us to help care for Elaine. Over the course of several years of medical explorations, we finally ended up at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. After that, my wife had a serious of inexplicable miscarriages. When she finally did become pregnant with the baby who would turn out to be our little princess, she had a series of catastrophic events happen afterwards.
I will never forget being up all night in the waiting room, kept company by some men from our small group, and wondering how I was going to wake up our son and tell him his mother died. Through the grace of God, that didn’t have to happen, but I don’t think I’ll ever think of the birth of my daughter without a sick feeling in my gut.
We won’t ever have any more natural children: that door is now shut forever. If I could wave a magic wand and change anything from the last decade, that’s what I would change. But I can’t, and so we won’t.
Which is not to say that I’m unwilling to accept that things might be exactly as God needs them to be. And also not to say that I am not joyfully grateful for the life and family God has given me.
As I’ve written before, I think the difficulties we’ve had together has made me more grateful of my wife and family than I would otherwise have been.
The 2 Words of Advice I Would Give The Me of 10 Years Ago
I don’t want to know the future—I think I would be too terrified of the difficult times and too likely to mess up the good times. The future needs to be sealed away until its proper time.
So, I would not want to go back to New Year’s Eve 2009 and tell myself in that Boston snowstorm all that was going to happen. But, there are 2 words of advice that I would like to have given to my 2009 self, and 2 words about which I’m reminding myself tonight.
Pray. It is only prayer than can prepare us to face the hard times. I wish I had prayed more and prayed more deliberately and habitually this past decade. God gives peace and poise through prayer; prayer is preparation.
Because life is hard, I would like to have told myself to pray.
Praise. I wish I had rejoiced and praised more this past decade. Every breath is a gift from God, and every day I get to see is a blessing. Praise is the only appropriate response to all that we’ve been given.
Because life is sweet, I would like to have told myself to praise.
I couldn’t have imagined in that Boston snowstorm all that God would give me these past 10 years, and I can never be grateful enough for all my blessings.
I don’t know what the next 10 years will hold, but I strongly suspect that on New Year’s Eve 2029 (if God allows me to see it), that I’ll be saying the same thing:
Thank you!
One Chart That Proves the INSANITY Of Constant Digital Connection
What is the first thing you do in the morning?
What about at stoplights? In the checkout line? Waiting for your flight?
Most of us are digitally connected every waking moment, which raises the question:
What is the content of the news we’re consuming?
It is INSANE to begin your day by looking at your phone or turning on cable news, and INSANE to fill your mind and heart with news throughout your day. The chart above was put together by the folks at Axios and it shows how our media’s constant push of the latest and loudest, and our constant consumption and craving for news, means everything is urgent and nothing is important. Each month there is something THAT EVERYONE MUST HEAR ABOUT AND TALK ABOUT AND WORRY ABOUT…until the next month or next week or next day or next hour, when something else IS THE THING THAT EVERYONE MUST HEAR ABOUT AND TALK ABOUT AND WORRY ABOUT..
The news event that saw the largest single spike in Google interest compared to any other event on the list was Hurricane Dorian, which ravaged the Bahamas in early September.
The runners up:
1. Game of Thrones final season
2. Government shutdown
3. Jeffrey Epstein and impeachment (tie)
More:
Greta Thunberg, who was unknown at the beginning of the year, received surges of interest in late September and mid-December, giving her more search interest in the last three months than the China trade war, the 2020 presidential election or Brexit.
Allow me to state the obvious: not everything that we’re told to worry about is actually worth worrying about. Not everything we’re told is important actually is.
As you can see illustrated in the chart, the media moves like a pack of wild dogs to the latest news event, and then over to the next event before the previous kill is even cold.
All consumption, no reflection.
Everything urgent, nothing important.
And constant anxiety, because non-anxious people don’t crave novelty
What is this doing to our souls? No wonder our young people are the most medicated and anxious generation in history.
But, there is another way.
I’m aware that the 24 hour news cycle must be filled with something and I’m aware that bad news sells. So, I don’t see any change coming any time soon to our media ecosystem.
But, I don’t need the media to change. I just need to change myself.
The First 15
The single most important thing I can do in 2020 to lead a life of peace and purpose is to spend the first 15 minutes of each day in silence, prayer, and scripture.
(I call it the First 15.)
I’m recommitting to make the First 15 a keystone habit of my life in 2020.
I’ll spend my First 15 with God, and then let the day come, come what may.
Instead of reacting to fear and anxiety and breathless urgency I’ll be receiving peace and gratitude and the breath of God.
And I’ll be ready for anything.
In 2020 at Munger we’ll begin the year reading slowly through the Book of Genesis. Wanna join me?
Pick up your Genesis reading booklet at Munger on Sunday, or else email me and I’ll mail you one. The readings are 5 minutes a day and only on weekdays.
Having a reading plan helps give structure to your First 15.
To help you get the most out of your reading, I’ll be writing a brief daily post that gets emailed to your inbox at 4 AM every weekday. Sign up here. (If you are already on my Gospels mailing list for 2019, no need to re-subscribe.)
The single most important we can do in 2020 to lead a life of peace and purpose is to spend the first 15 minutes of each day in silence, prayer, and scripture.
Let’s begin our days not be reacting but by receiving.
Who’s in?
(Comment below to make your commitment have more teeth.)
Merry Christmas and Christmas War
Preaching on Christmas Eve is difficult. For me, it’s the most difficult occasion I preach all year. The reason is that I feel as if I’ve already said everything interesting about the Incarnation and used every good illustration and analogy I can come up with in prior years. I’ve honestly been worried about this year’s Christmas sermon for months. (I really liked my Christmas Eve sermon from last year and I knew I couldn’t top it this year.)
At Munger we put on a Christmas Travelers Service the week before Christmas for folks who can’t be at our church on Christmas Eve, and I preach my Christmas sermon at that service as a kind of dress rehearsal. This year’s Travelers service was on Thursday, 12/19; I ended up being disappointed with my sermon, so I threw the whole thing out and started over!
My new Christmas sermon never came together the way I wanted it and I changed it a lot over the course of the day, from service to service, but I can honestly say it wasn’t like any Christmas sermon I’ve ever heard or anything I’d preached before, so that’s something.
Merry Christmas to you all. Love and courage in 2020.
[My Christmas Eve 2019 sermon is called “Christmas War,” and I’ve included the video below, recorded at 7 PM on 12/24/19.]
Christmas War
Christmas means war. Brothers and sisters, here’s how to fight.
Sermon Links
Scripture: Luke 2:13
References:
Painting: Washington Crossing the Delaware
Poem: New Heaven, New War, by Robert Southwell
Watch: Linus and his blanket [it happens at 1:01]
Churchill and FDR, Christmas Eve 1941
3 Questions for Your Thanksgiving Table
![[Munger Staff Thanksgiving Luby’s Lunch 2019. I am so blessed to work with these folks.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d70f59aefca59000162e4e6/1574870732037-8X6EPOD179F47BT3KJXR/IMG_8675.jpeg)
[Munger Staff Thanksgiving Luby’s Lunch 2019. I am so blessed to work with these folks.]
It’s become a Munger staff tradition:
Every year before Thanksgiving we have lunch at Luby’s (thank you, Jesus, for Luby’s!). We sit at a big long table and go around and answer three questions. Everyone answers the first, then we all go around and answer the second, and then everyone answers the third.
I’m telling you: these questions would change the tenor of the conversation around your Thanksgiving table.
Three Thanksgiving Questions
Where have you seen God at work this past year? What’s one thing you’re grateful for?
What is an unexpected blessing you’ve received in the past year; in other words, what is something that happened to you that wasn’t what you wanted but has resulted in a surprising and unexpected blessing you couldn’t foresee at the time?
What do you want to be thankful for next year, sitting at this table; in other words, what are you praying for?
My favorite of the three questions is #2—it is really moving to hear people talk about a difficulty they endured that has produced something good in their lives. Just thinking about that question helps reframe your past year and give it a redemptive perspective.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” [Romans 8:28]
What about you? Leave a comment below and let me know how you’d answer question #2.
My Uncle, 50 Years After Vietnam
The Thanksgiving after my grandmother died, I remember we went back to my grandparents’ house and were visiting as a family around the dining room table. For some reason, I asked my uncle if he ever thought about Vietnam. His answer: every single day. That answer surprised me, because like most veterans, my uncle never really talked about his experiences over there.
It’s been 50 years since my uncle came home, and this past Monday (Veterans Day) his local newspaper did a short piece on him. My cousin sent it to me yesterday. I’ve attached screenshots of the the article below.
God bless you, Uncle Robert.
Texas Hill Country Wedding
I traveled down to my favorite part of Texas on Saturday: that part of the Hill Country that stretches from Burnet down through Utopia. I was officiating a wedding for some good friends of mine at their family’s ranch in Burnet.
The wedding was on a hilltop that was only accessible via a rocky path; the view made the remote location worth it.
With my great friend Cleve, proud father of the groom.
As I drove away from the ranch, the moon was rising behind me…
While the sun was setting in front of me.
A great day.
Red Orm and the Long Ships
The Long Ships, by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
This may be the most enjoyable and compellingly readable book that I’ve ever read. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read, but it’s certainly close to the most fun. Michael Chabon wrote the introduction to the New York Review Books Classics edition, and I like how he begins his essay:
“In my career as a reader I have encountered only three people who knew The Long Ships, and all of them, like me, loved it immoderately. Four for four: from this tiny but irrefutable sample I dare to extrapolate that this novel, first published in Sweden during the Second World War, stands ready, given the chance, to bring lasting pleasure to every single human being on the face of the earth.”
It’s now five for five, because I love this book immoderately, too. I first read it about 10 years ago, and read it again this summer; the second reading might have been even more enjoyable than the first one. Particularly for men who struggle to read fiction, this is the first book I’d prescribe. Among other qualities, the novel is remarkably funny in a dry, understated way.
The Long Ships tells the story of a Viking named Red Orm and his adventures in the years AD 980-1010. He travels widely over Europe and lives at a time when Christianity and the pagan religions are in conflict in Scandinavia. Orm is a hypochondriac, brave as a lion, widely-traveled, and, most of all, remarkably lucky.
As is anyone who get to read his story.
(I dare you not to make it six for six.)
Highly recommended.
★★★★
The Long Ships, by Frans Gunnar Bengtsson
Note on My Rating System
I use a 5 star system in my ratings to signify the following:
★★★★★ life-changing and unforgettable
★★★★ excellent
★★★ worth reading
★★ read other things first
★ not recommended
MungerFest 2019: stats and pictures
![[We are so blessed to be right across the street from Garrett Park—it’s like having a huge front porch.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5d70f59aefca59000162e4e6/1572451454897-MODJ6YXNTWYUFF7U5EFZ/mungerfest2019-6.jpg)
[We are so blessed to be right across the street from Garrett Park—it’s like having a huge front porch.]
Like a narcissistic Hollywood celebrity, at Munger we throw ourselves our own birthday party the last Sunday in October every year, and we modestly name it after ourselves: MungerFest.
This past Sunday was our 9th birthday, and the whole day was PERFECT:
Sunny, clear, and cool. Thank you, Lord!
We had our biggest MungerFest turnout yet: 1,978 people! (Couldn’t our counters have found 22 more from somewhere?!)
We baptized 11 people and joined 69 new members.
After the service, our congregation stepped up & donated a total of $3,284 so that every single one of our homeless neighbors could eat for free from one of the food trucks!
At MungerFest we have one service in the park under the big tent at 10 AM and close the service with cardboard testimonies, which are always so moving. Then food trucks and trunk-or-treat afterwards. What’s not to love?
It’s been 9 years since members of Highland Park UMC donated $4.5 million to launch Munger and 9 years since the Rev. Paul Rasmussen invited me to be the Munger pastor. I will never stop being grateful. I can’t believe I get to be here!
[Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see some great pics.]
Munger Stats and Charts
I shared the following statistics at MungerFest, and when you see on paper what’s been happening, it is obvious to me that God is blessing Munger.
The question is, how can we be good stewards of all that God is giving us?
Our adult worship attendance is up 12% over last year. (We count noses in worship every week so we feel good about the accuracy of those numbers. The above stats are YTD through the 3rd quarter of each year.)
Our kids attendance (birth-5th grade) is up 20% over last year! (Again, these are YTD numbers through the 3rd quarter of each year. We had some IT issues with check-in in 2017, so we don’t have good numbers from that year.)
Our annual giving is up almost 14% over last year (13.7, to be exact). This is AMAZING, because it means that Munger is growing in generosity faster than we are growing in people. Thank you, Jesus! (Again, these are actual YTD 3rd quarter numbers, not projections.)
This is my favorite stat of all. 54% of our members (we don’t have data on our attenders who are not members) didn’t have a previous church affiliation before they become Mungarians. That means that 54% of our members either joined through baptism or through profession of faith. AMAZING. (These membership stats do not include the folks who joined at MungerFest 2019.)
Let me say it again: It is obvious to me that God is blessing Munger.
The question is, how can we be good stewards of all that God is giving us?
To All Mungarians
I feel like Munger is at an important inflection point. Are we going to push on for more, or are we going to accept the status quo? Remember what happened in the week before Pentecost:
“All the disciples with one passionate heart were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers”
And then, one week later: BOOM. The Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, and the world was never the same again.
I believe God is calling us to be united with one heart and to be praying with passionate intensity for MORE in the years to come.
Will you join me? Here’s our shorthand prayer:
“Today, Lord!”
My MungerFest 2019 sermon
MungerFest in Pictures!
There are too many great pics for me to post all of them, but here are some fun ones. What a great day!
