The Good Lie: Substitionary Atonement (DVD Review)

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

In Huckleberry Finn, Huck lies to keep the ex-slave Jim from being discovered and recaptured. This is a “good lie,” one which doesn’t actually benefit Huck but which is committed selflessly to protect someone else. It’s the ‘hook’ or spin of Margaret Nagle’s (Red Band Society) screenplay about some of the Lost Boys of the Sudan who were brought over to the United States as refugees in the early twenty-first century. Mix that into a concoction with survivor’s guilt, lively acting, and humor, and the end result is a feel good film with heart and soul.

The headline here is Reese Witherspoon as the job placement manager who ‘receives’ three Sudanese men, Mamere (Arnold Oceng), Jeremiah (Ger Duany), and Paul (Emmanuel Jal), who have survived miles of barefoot travel, the death of their families, and degrading survival tactics to arrive there. But it’s these three actors who make the movie shine – two of whom actually were LBoS. It’s these men who show us what it was like to survive lions and guerrilla warriors, drinking carbonation for the first time, and adapting to the capitalistic nature of American society.

It’s these three men, as characters and actors, who show us that our moral compass might need to be retuned.

While the film itself was slow at times, the build of this thoughtful indie reaches a point where it’s nearly impossible to ignore the palpable tension, the sadness, and the joy, that these men, and their displaced sister (Kuoth Wiel) experience throughout their time in America. And there’s a twist that comes in the fifth act of the film that brings ‘the good lie’ to the forefront, that makes us recognize that the choices we make, the people we help, and the people we care for are more important than the trivial things we often grasp onto in an attempt to control our lives.

Like the moment when Katniss steps forward in The Hunger Games for her sister, or Louie Zamperini allows himself to be hammered relentlessly to keep others from being hurt by the Bird in Unbroken, or the way that Jesus takes our sins to the cross, characters in The Good Lie must choose how they are going to take someone else’s pain (or not) to save them.

In the end, the film shows us a side of the world we don’t often get to see, with a story that will have you considering whether you’re living for yourself or living … a good lie.

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My New Year’s Wish (Mustard Seed Musing)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

I wish this year…

That the Christmas season would extend into the new year, and people whose hearts grew ten sizes last month would find that their expectations can’t be put back in the box.

That the spirit of discord that seemed to infest our small towns and big cities, based on race or class or sexual orientation, would be driven out of the shadows of confrontation by the bright light of those things which we have in common.

That the love we claim to have would be a lifestyle, a reality, a burning bush of sorts that would so illuminate our lives that we would be forever changed.

That the kingdom of God would be a reality, not just something we mouth when we recite the Lord’s Prayer, but that we would actively be participating in exploring it in the here and now.

That while we might not individually impact the arc of global peace, that we would work toward it in our individual lives, with our spouses, our friends, our children, our parents, and our sphere of influence.

Truth be told, this isn’t really a wish- it’s my New Year’s Prayer for what God might do in you and me.

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Now What? Part I (Sunday’s Sermon Today- Luke 2)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

It’s that time of year again for….

You thought I was going to say New Years Resolutions, right? Nope, I’m going with the NFL playoffs! My two favorite teams, the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, are in the playoffs although they have a bye this weekend. They’re in the playoffs but they don’t have to play anyone. They can do whatever they want this week.

Like go to Disney World. Or travel the world. Or staying at home and eating all of the potato chips they want to.

But when it comes to next weekend, when they have to play again, when the road to championship continues, they’d be in trouble. It’s not just enough to get to the playoffs; these teams need to keep competing, keep growing, keep moving forward toward perfection. For approximately twenty-four other teams, it’s something completely different: they didn’t achieve what they hoped for, and they can choose to work to get better or assume nothing will change.

Two-time AFC champion and one-time Super Bowl Champion (with my Patriots!) Benjamin Watson wrote this about football and a new year:

I can tell you that it is easy to absolve one’s self from the challenge to change. After all, if I am not part of the “problem,” [C]oach must not be talking to me! The teams that rise from the ashes to greatness, however, are the teams that consist of teammates who understand that they ALL have a role in correcting problems because the apathy, complacency, pride, envy, indiscipline or laziness of one teammate or coach can have a devastating impact on the whole organization. So the challenge, as the coach continues to speak, is to discover your role in this change that must take place, and to make a decision to bravely carry it out. Whether it’s leading by example, leading vocally, changing a position, competing harder in practice or following team rules more strictly.

The New Year is upon us and many of us will be considering different New Year’s resolutions. Many will vow to eat healthier, work out regularly or restore an estranged relationship with a loved one. My hope is that the reality check of 2014, springs us into a 2015 where we, like a defeated football team, discover OUR role in the change we want to take place. We all have a specific platform and sphere of influence. Maybe your role is to forgive. Maybe it’s to ask for forgiveness. Maybe it’s to be vocal and take a stand for truth…New Year’s Resolutions usually fizzle out after a few weeks because actions, no matter how well intentioned, will eventually reflect the condition of the heart. [Full post here.]

The truth is that sometimes, as Christians and sometimes, as a church, we get to a place where we can sit back and get comfortable with our success. Or we can assume that there’s nothing we can do to change anything. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to reflect on what we’ve seen and experienced so that we can see God moving in our lives, but we don’t want to get stagnant.

We don’t want to think “oh, well, we’ve made it,” and then settle for where we are. We need to keep growing.

Jesus is in that position in the second of the two stories in our Scripture today. First, we see two old and faithful people, Anna and Simeon, who have been waiting for the Messiah to be born, and then we see the experience of the teenage Jesus himself in Luke 2:21-52. Sure, it gives us an idea of what it might’ve looked like to be waiting and waiting for Jesus to show up, and how excited they must have been. It’s a reminder to me that those who have been faithful are often faithful for a long time without ever seeing signs of fruition- who don’t always get to see the fruit of their work but they persevere anyway!

Pretty awesome stuff.

But in my reflections lately, I’m struck by what Jesus does – from a very young age. Jesus, fully God and fully man, wants more. He doesn’t settle; he’s not complacent. Jesus, fully God and fully man, is found by his parents “in the Temple, sitting among the teachers of Law, discussing deep questions with them and amazing everyone with his understanding and answers.”

Jesus could’ve settled. His birth was pretty awesome. Babies don’t normally get kings to come see them or angels to sing pronouncements of their birth. They don’t normally have a star stop over their birth house; they don’t regularly receive the kinds of accolades before their birth that Jesus did.

Jesus could’ve done anything with his life, right? But he took the time to sit and talk to the wisest people he knew, to ask and answer, to explore the questions of faith and the universe that challenged the smartest people of his day. Jesus wanted to grow.

His parents, Mary and Joseph, two beloved servants in our faith, didn’t get it. They weren’t immediately thrilled by his dedication (or the fact that he missed curfew) and didn’t understand why he would be there. It’s another reminder that even when we’re doing the right thing, sometimes not everyone will get it.

Jesus didn’t settle. He didn’t settle at twelve, and he didn’t settle on the cross. He didn’t grow complacent in his own relationship with God the Father or with other people or in his own wisdom. And that sets us up to push toward perfection ourselves, to grow toward being the best of what God could do in us and through us. It’s a reminder that even when you’re the Son of God, you still learn, you still want to learn. And if Jesus could want to learn…

I’m sure it’s easy to settle in and get complacent. I look back over the last month and I’m thankful and proud of our church, and our friends, and community. You can check out the video/powerpoint here: OhWhatAGloriousNight. We did good! But it also means that we can do… more.

It’s the question that pushes me on the days when I get tired. It’s not about doing more for the sake of being busy but recognizing that if God could use us the way he did in December, that if we’re faithful to the purposes God has for us, we have absolutely no way of knowing what he’d use us for next. 

End hunger in Prince George county?

Bring parenting classes to families struggling with how to educate their kids and teach them how to be good citizens?

Provide self-help groups through our church, like Alcoholic Anonymous or cancer support groups?

Something we can’t even imagine yet?

What if we realized that our story and our witness, sharing the story and remaining faithful in prayer and actions, would impact others to get onboard with us?

I want to tell you a story that happened to me a little over a week ago. We’d been done with Christmas Eve for a few days, the coats, the toys, and the turkey baskets all given out. Last year was done, the miracle was over, the work was filed away until next year…

And then the phone rang. Rather, the phone had rung and rung several times over the course of the week but I hadn’t been able to handle the call. A man I’ll call Ed Rose, a man from Wilmington, DE, who travels to South Carolina several times a year, had stopped in our church on November 23, and had heard about the kids who needed coats, and the work our church was doing. And he told me I’d be hearing from him… and then I didn’t hear from him.

Until after church last week, when I was sitting at home and the phone rang. And it was Mr. Rose, calling me at home because he looked up my name in the whitepages online and figured he’d give it a shot. He tried one other name similar to mine and it wasn’t me… and then he thought he’d try one more, and suddenly, we were talking.

Mr. Rose told me about how the stories he heard at our church, and seeing all of the children, and meeting some of our people had this impact on him. And he wanted to help – to be part of what was going on here. He told me about how he wanted to donate five hundred dollars in stocks so that the church could use the funds to help out, and he wasn’t sure how that money would make a difference but he felt like he should.

We talked for a half hour, and he asked several questions about our church and the funds. He said we looked like we were doing well (he read the bulletin and its weekly financial report!) and I explained that once a month, we get a supplement from our district. I shared with him that we were actually a bit over ten thousand behind in 2014- something that sets us back with our Conference. I told him that I believed that we were supposed to keep doing what we were supposed to – to be faithful, to pray, and to work- and that at some point, the financial dam would break, and we would have enough to pay our bills.

And then Mr. Rose said he wanted to double his donation, to a thousand dollars in stocks. And that he’d see me in the spring when he was returning again.

Mr. Rose heard a story, heard about miracles, and he wanted more. He wanted to be part of it. It wasn’t a completed thing for him, but rather a “now what?”

A moment where he could move forward.

So I want to ask you today to reflect on what you’ve seen and heard, and consider your life. What steps are you being called to today? Whether it’s a New Years Resolution or a “now what,” what do you need to step up and step out on faith about?

Losing a few pounds or giving up swearing seems too easy this year. I want to challenge you to ask yourself how God is going to use you and how you’re going to grow. But I know some of you will say “I don’t know what you mean,” so I’ll give you some options (grin).

So you’re coming to church but you’re not really committed to Jesus… maybe it’s time you actually let Jesus into your heart. Whether you’ve been baptized or not, become a member or not, your relationship with Jesus is the one that must pass the test. Are you committed? Are you standing still or pushing ahead?

So you’re coming to church regularly… maybe it’s time you actually participated in Sunday School and got to know some of your fellow brothers and sisters. You’d be surprised how those friendships can be a support in time of crisis or in joy.

So you’re coming to church all of the time… maybe it’s time you stop and pray every day or read your Bible at home or start harassing the pastor or someone else with the questions you have about faith, and life, and God’s call on your lives to figure out how God can use you. You’d be surprised how much we can learn if we’d open our minds – Jesus was fully God and he kept learning, too.

So you’ve been giving to church on the Sundays when you come… maybe it’s time you consider what you should give back to God (we’re encouraged to tithe ten percent of our income) regularly- even if you’re not here. You’d be surprised by what God gives us when we let go of what we’re holding onto.

So you’ve been coming for months but you aren’t really involved… maybe it’s time you start finding out ways to serve as a Sunday School teacher in rotation, or an usher, or a greeter, or sing in the choir (that we don’t currently have but we could). Or get involved in the Empty Bowls event to feed the hungry or the Auction to raise money or … something we don’t even do yet. You’d be surprised by what God will do with a servant’s heart.

Mr. Rose doesn’t even go here but he saw something so incredible that he wanted to be involved – to know he was part of the story. Do you desire God’s favor and participation that way? Do you want to give God your money that badly- that you’d call every day for a week and track down the pastor? Do you want to know you’re making a difference like that, even when it’s not Christmas?

Maybe all you need in 2015 is to pray this simple, four-word prayer:

“Okay, God. Now what?”

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My [Definitive] Best Of 2014 (Movies, Books, & TV)

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

One friend challenged me to read fifty books this year; another asked me what my movie-to-book ratio was- said there was no way I actually read that many books with the movies I review regularly. So this year, I kept track of what I read and watched, in and out of the theater. [For the record, it was 87 books, 48 movies, 60 DVDs, and at least some of 49 different TV shows.) But here are the best for your consideration for reading or watching over your Christmas/New Year break, and what I’d recommend you spend your hard-received Christmas money on.

Unbroken: Whether you prefer books (by Lauren Hillebrand) or movies (directed by Angelina Jolie), the extraordinary life of Louie Zamperini, Olympic runner, WWII P.O.W., and Christian philanthropist, deserves your undivided attention. I took the book to the beach (it’s not a beach read) and have reflected on it since; the film served to excellently put visual images to what my heart has been considering. There’s no better example of what it means to be “light in the darkness” this year than Unbroken, and it’s gripping enough to keep the casual filmgoer interested.

Films:

Guardians of the Galaxy: (Superhero) Comic book films, I’ve seen ’em all. This one was an unknown to me, and proved to be the most fun film I’ve seen this year. Or in the last ten. “I am Groot!” proves to be hilarious- and visually provocative. [Captain America: Winter Soldier came in a far second.]

The Lego Movie: (Animation) Toys are for playing with. Everything is awesome (or not). Adults and kids should see, reflect, and then go play. (Yes, Big Hero 6 was good, but not great.) [Runner-Up: How To Train A Dragon 2]

Edge of Tomorrow (Live.Die.Repeat): (Sci-Fi) I don’t like Tom Cruise but his movies ARE entertaining. What would you do if you wouldn’t stay dead? (This is much better fleshed out than ABC’s Forever.) Hit Netflix or Redbox and check this one out.

Fury: (Drama) War movies aren’t my cup of tea, but my proximity to an Army base and the men and women who serve that attend my church have made me attentive. This film highlights the camaraderie, risks, violence, faith, and sacrifice of those who protect our freedom in a wonderfully acted film. If it wasn’t for Unbroken, it’d be my number one. [Shocking, I know, but Lone Survivor gets my other nod- strange for not liking war movies but Pashtunwali makes it a must watch.]

The Overnighters: (Documentary) A truly insightful film by director Jesse Moss, the camera follows Pastor Jay Reinke as he houses displaced migrant workers in North Dakota, and fights for their acceptance. Gritty and powerful, the final twists will shock even those who figure they have it all worked out.

John Wick: (Thriller) My sleeper pick, this one proved that Keanu Reeves might have something left. I’m still not saying he can act, but it proves once and again, you should never mess with another man’s dog. [Liam Neeson’s A Walk Among Tombstones gets runner-up.]

Noah: (Biblical Epic) In a year ripe with attempts to suck the Christian audience in (Gimme Shelter, Left Behind, Heaven Is For Real, Exodus), Darren Aronofsky’s mid rash about the farmer and his ark still has me thinking about what it means to be called by God, and how we listen. While strange to some and infuriating to others, this is the one I could actually watch again. [Gimme Shelter isn’t an epic but it’s my second favorite film in the major category.]

The Song: (Indie) A modernization of the Song of Solomon, this one comes from Kyle Idleman’s (Not A Fan) company, and stretches the parable to reach around into our comfortable lives, and challenge how we see marriage.

Books:

The Wake: (Graphic novel) This takes my favorite current author (Scott Snyder) and lets him spin an original, futuristic tale about danger in the deep ocean and what humanity can do about it with spellbinding illustrations. Snyder’s Batman run is also epic.

Red Rising: (Sci-Fi) A futuristic first novel in the trilogy, this one captivated me and I couldn’t put it down, as a slave rises anonymously to enter the elite and exact his revenge. The sequel debuts for Pierce Brown in a few weeks.

Making Sense of the Bible: (Religious) Adam Hamilton’s moderate, middle path through reading the Scripture is an interesting discussion starter, and one that had me thinking about how I historically read the Bible or not.

Hands Free Mama: (Inspirational) This memoir/printed blog highlights the pitfalls of a technology-doused world, and what we’re missing as parents. It’s made me re-evaluate my own use of technology in regards to my kids and my wife, and a book that can make me change? That’s a book worth reading.

TV: 

True Detective: Gritty and crass, this one follows three timelines as detectives played by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey investigate a series of murders. Not for the faint of heart, it’ll reboot with all new detectives this coming spring.

The Divide: Civil rights, the wrongly accused, revenge, and family drama collided in this miniseries I was surprised to enjoy, and too captivated to look away from.

Black-ish: Kenya Barris is a masterful scriptwriter/creator and Anthony Anderson makes music, poetry, and lots of laughs as Dre, the patriarch of a family exploring parenting, marriage, race, class, and history in 22-minute shifts once a week. Love it.

What did you love? What did I miss? Recommendations? Leave them below in the comments!

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Lessons From Christmas (Sunday’s Sermon Today)

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

This year, Christmas hasn’t quite played out like I dreamed it up.

My brother-in-law and his family tackled the flu.

My wife’s grandmother was hospitalized.

I had a crazy ear-related virus give me a case of vertigo less than 24 hours before Christmas Eve.

Our family’s expected celebrations didn’t happen, were delayed, or seriously impacted by some illness or another.

I even ended up standing in the to-go room of TGIFridays on Christmas for forty minutes after they misplaced our order. (But we got it 50% off).

And yet, Christmas happened. In so many ways, I felt God-with-us, Immanuel, even in the midst of the craziness. I seriously have no idea how people who believe in nothing cope; faith is what keeps me moving on the dark days.

A doctor who accelerated me through the process, and made sure I received the medicine I needed early because, “ya know, Christmas Eve is your Super Bowl.”

A friend who invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner, knowing that at the last minute, we had no plans, and no celebratory food to share.

Good reports from family about health – children who remind me about the wonder and grace of our faith- A church that has shown me time and time again that you can label us “small” or “country” or “family sized” … and the expectations keep getting tossed on their head.

Whew, that was Christmas.

So, Christmas has come and gone, and I look back and wonder, did we see everything there? Did we get all of the messages? Did we receive Jesus into our hearts? If Christmas is God doubling down on us, saying a list of ten rules isn’t the foundation of what he wants, then what does Christmas leave us with?

#1 God uses people we wouldn’t expect – virgin teenagers, unassuming carpenters, lowly shepherds, and foreign astrologists to be part of his plan. One of my favorite billboards says, “Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and murderers; there’s room here for you, too.” The Christmas version might say, “God used a bunch of left out and forgotten abouts to herald in his own son, he can use you to share grace, too.”

#2 God is with us, Immanuel, and that means that we are not alone. Even when life is baring down on us with insane fury, and we want to cower under the weight of death, debt, work, and expectations, God is here. God is doing the heavy lifting and we need to pray and hope and have faith.

#3 Because God is with us, we do not need to fear. What would you do if you operated without fear? I’m not talking superhero brave but simply not worrying about what other people think or who you might offend. Just being the person boldly living selflessly for Christ?

#4 This news is not just for us but for all people. We’re supposed to share. sharing is something we do at Christmas but what if we did it all of the time? If we gave with no fear, no worry of being without, our perspectives and world would change!

#5 God wants peace for you and me. Christmas Eve isn’t the end but the beginning. God wants us to wrap our hearts around the message and be changed. God wants all of the broken up stuff in our lives to be knitted back together correctly and fully not “well, that’s the best that we could do,” but the way God always wanted it.

We must be actively participating in the way that God works in the world. We must be acting toward peace, being peace, doing peace.

Take the latest example from Australia: after the hostage standoff in Sydney, where the kidnapper waved an Islamic flag, people of the Islamic faith were scared to ride the subway for fear of violence. So – God bless social media! – someone tweeted: “you reg take the #373 bus b/w Coogee/MartinPl, wear religious attire, & don’t feel safe alone: I’ll ride with you. @ me for schedule,” and followed it up with “Follow
Maybe start a hashtag? What’s in #illridewithyou?” One hundred and fifty-thousand people used the hashtag within twelve hours and a movement was born – to remind people at Christmas, in crisis, living in fear, that they were not alone. [Sorry to those folks who read this in my Christmas Eve sermon — I didn’t use it and am capitalizing on that on Sunday!]

I hope over the next few days, the last ones of 2014, you will pause and reflect on Christmas. Too often, it doesn’t happen during the holiday but maybe it should happen now.

God is with us. Everything is different.

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A Christmas Prayer (A Mustard Seed Musing)

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Holy God,

This Christmas, like the first Christmas, there is enough darkness around to fill up the night. We watch the news and experience the gloom; we visit the hospitals and sick rooms and see those suffering; we see the dwindling bottom line of our checking accounts; we miss those who are away from us, those serving this night and many others around the world to bring peace. We stop momentarily at the sight of the Christ Child, illuminating the manger, but sometimes, the darkness can border on overwhelming.

And then we remember. We remember that this year, you showed up in ways we didn’t expect, that the promises you made years ago continue to be evident in our lives, and we pray again, to make the light shine a little brighter, a little warmer, a little bigger.

This Christmas, we pray that you would sweep into our lives like a tidal wave and wash away our doubt. We pray that you would smooth down the rough edges and make evident your glory, that we might see and know.

But in the darkness, in the middle, in the midst of life, we pray that you would give us just enough hope to make it day by day. That you would help us rest in the peace that you give us what we need when we need it, that you have governed our days and our nights, and you watch over our living and dying as well.

Help us celebrate that in Jesus in the cradle and on the cross, that the darkness has not won- that it cannot win. Help us to take joy and hope that this baby in a manager changes everything, that our lives are made right and that new birth brings new life.

Lift up the manger and the cross, shine them for the world to see, to forgive our sins, to bind up our hearts, to make our relationships repaired, and to give us the faith to wake up on Christmas day and the day after and the day after that, and proclaim:

“God is with us. We are not alone.”

Amen.

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The Miracle On South Crater Road (Christmas Eve 2014)

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

The Christmas Eve sermon for Blandford UMC 2014. 

I must admit it- I haven’t always enjoyed Christmas as much as I do now. The traditions, the preparation- sometimes I just wanted to get to the good stuff.

But there’s always been a Christmas ritual that I loved to do: putting out the nativity scene. We had this wooden one where all of the pieces interlocked, like a puzzle lying flat, and then when we stood the pieces up, they represented Mary, Joseph, the manger, the wise men, and the shepherds. There was even a camel! Now, we have several nativities – one I even preached from last Christmas Eve – and they remind me of the story, the beauty of what Christmas is and what it’s all about it. The stories that were so simple to me as a child but that reflect such deeper meanings now.

It’s amazing what we see differently as we grow older, and what we learn from the wisdom of our elders. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put as poignantly as it was in Donna VanLiere’s The Christmas Shoes (known by some because of the movie starring Rob Lowe). VanLiere’s narrator explains:

“When we were little boys, Hugh and I helped my mother set up the Nativity. She had bought the hand-crafted Nativity years ago at a yard sale. Though my mother’s home was filled with magnificent antiques, she always claimed the twenty-dollar Nativity was one of her most prized possessions. As kids, my brother and I saw the set as little more than a collection of large wooden dolls, but each year Mom would explain the meaning of the Nativity to us.

“This is the most miraculous thing about Christ’s life, boys,” she’d say. “The most miraculous thing isn’t that he rose from the grave. He’s the Son of God–you’d expect God to be able to raise His own son from the grave. Don’t you think?” And we would eagerly nod our heads in agreement.

“But that’s not the most spectacular thing at all. What’s spectacular and mind-boggling is that God would want to leave the beauty of heaven to come to live here as a man. And you’d think that since Jesus was the King of Kings that he’d at least be born in a castle somewhere, not in some dirty barn. That’s what’s amazing!” she’d exclaim, turning Joseph ever so slightly toward Mary.

“That’s why Christmas is so special. Jesus came as a baby to Bethlehem–a baby that would grow up to live as a servant, not as a king.”

Do you ever stop and think about that? That in our story, in our understanding of God, that God sent his son, sent an outpouring of ourself to live within our world, to explore life as a human baby?

The band Downhere put it this way in “How Many Kings”:

Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe after all we’ve projected
A child in a manger

Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl
Just a child
Is this who we’ve waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
How many Gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that has torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

That’s a miracle, friends, that God came to be with us. I read somewhere that “A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law“. Miracles…

That God came to love with us, to love us – even though God knew what we were like, having watched humanity for thousands of years.

Humanity – the depths to which we sink sometimes. From Ponzi schemes to domestic violence, from racial conflict to war in the Middle East. We can watch the news, and see the real world, and we can think that miracles are in short supply.

Charles Dickens knew a little something about human nature. His father was thrown into debtor’s prison when he was a boy, and he watched people struggle and scrap to make ends meet. He also wrote about church that we should “Look into your churches- diminished congregations and scanty attendance. People have grown sullen and obstinate, and are becoming disgusted with the faith which condemns them to such a day as this, once in every seven. They display their feeling by staying away [from church]. Turn into the streets [on a Sunday] and mark the rigid gloom that reigns over everything around.” Doesn’t sound too far away from today, does it?

But Dickens also recognized that humanity with its struggle and grind has the capacity also for great good. Dickens recognized that it is not at any one moment of a person’s life that they are judged but by the culmination of that life. Dickens saw that we could change – often with the miraculous intervention from outside forces, and so he wrote A Christmas Carol.

Whether it’s the Disney version with Mickey (or Jim Carrey), or my favorite, George C. Scott one, you’ve probably seen how Mr. Scrooge, a selfish, miserable curmudgeon of a man is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve. No, make that four – if we count the initial warnings of Jacob Marley, the one-time business partner that Scrooge made money with. But Scrooge, in the course of one Christmas Eve, sees his past, his present, and his future – he recognizes the kind of harm he’s done by what he’s done selfishly, angrily, meanly -and the harm he’s done by not caring for others. Finally, the last ghost shows Scrooge what his whole life has culminated as after years spent pushing others away, seeking only power and money for himself, and ignoring community. All of this leaves him broken – til of course he awakes Christmas morning and vows to make a difference.

It’s the story of Zacchaeus, the story of repentance, the story of a Christmas miracle.

The beauty of Christmas is that God does miracles – and continues to do miracles – and not just in written parables. That’s right: I believe God is doing miracles, right now, today.

There once was a little church – not too unlike this one. Okay, fine, this one. It struggled to pay the bills; it didn’t always know how it could relate to a growing, changing world around it. But that church kept praying for a miracle, kept doing the things that churches are supposed to do, pushing forward to find ways to follow God.

And then a dilemma problem impossibility opportunity presented itself. See, this woman and a few of her friends kept being faithful to bring kids from her neighborhood to church. Sometimes, their parents came; sometimes, they stood in the cold, in the rain, for a ride. But they kept coming, and the church kept finding ways to wrap their arms, and Jesus’ love, around them in Sunday School, and in meals, and in little ways.

But the kids were still standing in the cold.

So people prayed- and they realized that the kids needed coats. So, the people shared with others that the kids needed coats, but that they didn’t know where the money for coats would come from? They knew that the kids needed coats, that it’s generous at Christmas to give gifts, that the families needed food to celebrate Christmas dinner…

It kept me up one night, so I did what I do: I wrote about it.

Because I operate under the assumption that the writer of James was right: “You don’t receive because you don’t ask” (James 4:2).

I have to admit that the Christmas miracle – the birth of Jesus – and the miracle of fifty-one kids who needed coats seemed pretty far apart. Seriously, what could we do? But an hour after the post published – the first person wrote, the mother of a friend of mine, and said they’d give three new coats. Then I heard from my mom that a check was in the mail. Then friends shared the blog with others, their family and their friends, and complete strangers got involved. And Blandford people shared the blog. And people from Blandford heard from people who’ve never been here, who live in other states, and Jason Wright who wrote Christmas Jars shared the story and someone sent in a donation. And Peakland UMC collected coats and toys, Christian rapper KJ-52 chipped in, and Target became our only corporate sponsor, … and by the end of the first week, we knew we had forty coats.

Matt Damon’s character in Interstellar says that the only thing we (as humanity) haven’t been able to get people to do is care about people who they’re not related to or in relationship with. This miracle of Christmas we’ve had front row seats to proves that’s not quite right. People did care and were willing to sacrifice time and money to make this happen.

But then more kids came. And the list grew. By TWENTY-FIVE KIDS in the next two weeks. There was no way the donations could keep up…

We received more donations but the list of kids grew again…

And people came forward and donated so that all of the ninety-five kids, even ones who walked in here a week ago, received coats and toys for Christmas. And we had so many more coats donated that we regifted them to kids and adults, like the man who wandered in the day we were wrapping up the coat matching– and was riding his bike from Florida to New York to liquidate his deceased mother’s estate, and asked if we happened to have any coats.

Meanwhile, we applied to Toys for Tots to be a recipient, not a donor, and were approved for nearly fifty kids. A friend of mine, a Presbyterian minister, borrowed his father’s truck a few towns over just to help us collect the gifts; and some of you helped deliver, unload, and wrap them! And individuals and families from the church ‘adopted’ kids to donate gifts to, and other people from the community donated, and before too long – we had gifts for all of the kids on our coat list! So a few days ago, those kids received wrapped presents from a church that loves them and people who care.

It’s almost overwhelming sometimes, to think about it. But the miracle wasn’t over.

No, the church started giving out turkey baskets a few years ago – eight of them. Then it grew to twelve and stayed in the teens. But this year, we had a list of twenty-two families who needed help to make Christmas dinner fantastic. We had nine turkeys with a week to go – but then, something happened. A few trickled in and we doubled overnight; then at a company party, another ten turkeys were donated – and suddenly, we fed twenty-three families, and provided two meals for the homeless shelter.

Folks, I want to be clear that this isn’t about our church. Or what we’ve done. It’s about recognizing that at Christmas, anything can happen.

I wonder sometimes whether it’s bigger that a financial miracle happened, that the little church in Prince George stirred the drink and all of this could make a difference, or that sharing a dream and story about these kids would do open heart surgery on us – and we would actually be changed. That we would actually be more generous. That we could show, in the midst of a world under siege by all of what’s wrong with the world, that we could light a candle and say, “there’s good still to come.”

That is the miracle of Christmas. That anything can happen.

That the Creator of the universe would stoop down low to be like us, to be with us, to be us, to love us. To set in motion a series of events where the peace on earth and thy kingdom come that we pray about would be a reality because Jesus was here.

It may surprise some of you, but this pastor needs to be reminded sometimes that Jesus is here. That the world, regardless of what the news might say, is redeemable. I even asked a friend incredulously one day, “what were we doing wrong? What’s different about this year?”

And it came to me that the difference was in the way we prayed – and the way we boldly shared the story. We didn’t know how it would work but we believed it could.

Pope Francis has said that we must pray – and then go feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless. We are to be prayer in action – asking God’s direction and blessing, and then going about the work.

We must be actively participating in the way that God works in the world. We must be acting toward peace, being peace, doing peace.

Take the latest example from Australia: after the hostage standoff in Sydney, where the kidnapper waved an Islamic flag, people of the Islamic faith were scared to ride the subway for fear of violence. So – God bless social media! – someone tweeted: “you reg take the #373 bus b/w Coogee/MartinPl, wear religious attire, & don’t feel safe alone: I’ll ride with you. @ me for schedule,” and followed it up with “Follow
Maybe start a hashtag? What’s in #illridewithyou?” One hundred and fifty-thousand people used the hashtag within twelve hours and a movement was born – to remind people at Christmas, in crisis, living in fear, that they were not alone.

Sometimes, sadly, it can seem like Christmas is just a blip – a day, a season, a moment. What good could it really do? What could really be accomplished? Why would the birth of a little baby on a quiet night two thousand years ago matter?

Because that miracle still matters. That miracle proves that God isn’t done with the world he created, that miracles still do happen. That miracle proves that God loves you and you and you. Regardless of what you’ve done, or what’s been done to you, you are loved. You can change – you can make a difference.

The miracles just keep coming in the proof of the baby born in a manger.

That peace on earth may be a miracle – but it’s not impossible.

That hunger and homelessness do not present impossible odds- but that they’re miracle opportunities waiting to be exposed to the world.

That our selfish desires and broken relationships are not irreparable- but that they can only be healed by the power of Jesus the Christ.

That the Christmas miracle doesn’t end with a manger, or even a cross,- but that it lives to be continued in our hearts and our minds and our actions. Tomorrow morning, and the day after, and into the new year.

What miracle will you be part of? What dream will God put on your heart?

Will it be for your own life? Will it be to make a difference in your own family? Will you make a commitment to church, or to your community?

Ask, pray, seek. Believe in the miracle that can be and remember, when your faith falters or you need reminded in the power of the miraculous, Blandford church, the people around you, will be right here to remind you.

Jesus is here. Everything is possible.

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Why Aren’t There Easter Lights? (A Mustard Seed Musing)

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Driving home one night last week, I passed a church that was wrapped in lights. Not lit up with a spotlight or a Living Nativity display. With actual, multicolored lights. It seems like even the church wanted to get into the feel-good festivities of the season, because, you know, everyone stops to look at Christmas lights!

And then it struck me: why don’t we have Easter lights?

If the church can ‘buy in’ to more secular celebrations of Christmas (most of which I have no problem with, for the record), why isn’t it equally as loud and crazy during Lent, or at least the few weeks leading up to Easter, in church?

Is it because Santa is an easier sell than the Easter Bunny?

Is it because at Christmas, we often get gifts, while at Easter, we primarily only get candy?

Does the progression round the rabbit hole lead us to two questions that probably have more truth than we’d like to admit: Is it because we can make Christmas about us while Easter is about Jesus, or is it because the baby Jesus (even to those who approach the holiday cynically) is more palatable than the bloody and bruised Jesus gasping for air on the cross?

At Christmas, we exchange presents – even co-opting it as a second birthday in some parts.

Baby Jesus is marketable but dying/dead/resurrected Jesus takes a leap of … faith. But separating them out makes for a lukewarm belief system, a faith stripped of devotion, sacrifice, or costly grace. Christmas shines bright, reflective lights that attract us, but without Easter behind it, Christmas’ power fades. Without Easter, do we celebrate the birth of Jesus? Do we even know who he is or reflect on the holiday at all? Is there a holiday called Christmas if there isn’t an Easter?

Probably not. But how ironic that we throw out the budget to celebrate the house party of Christmas and leave the leftovers for Easter.

Maybe you and I can change that. Who is up for hanging some Easter lights?

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Unbroken: Surviving The Darkness (or, How Angelina Jolie Made A Movie About Faith) (Movie Review)

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Louie Zamperini’s troubled childhood was saved by competitive running, a winding road that led to racing in the Olympics (Germany, 1936). But World War II tabled his running career, and after forty-seven days adrift at sea, internment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp changed his life forever. This is the period of Lauren Hillenbrand’s non-fiction bestselling biography of the same name that I found myself lost in one day this summer – and why I was ecstatic about a preview screening of Unbroken.

Louie Zamperini’s life has captivated me, and I’ve devoured anything I could, from his posthumous book, Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In, to interviewing his daughter, Cissy. From my seat, director Angelina Jolie delivered a topnotch film that covers Zamperini’s wartime experience and several vignettes of his teenage years in a way that captivates and encourages. In the world we live in, a film worth cheering for is just what this critic ordered.

The film itself has an old-fashioned feel appropriate to the context, with scenes of violence and danger that are tense (one scene made the majority of the theater jump) without being gratuitous. Jack O’Connell’s Louie may be prettier than the real Zamperini, but the casting works, as does filling out some other roles with Garrett Hedlund, Domhnall Gleason, and Jai Courtney. But the focus is on O’Connell primarily, except for the portions of the film that revolve around Zamperini’s two-time tormentor, Mutshiro “The Bird” Watanabe (Japanese rocker Miyavi).

Here, it’s a showdown between the tormentor and the would-be victim who refuses to give up. Several scenes from the trailer highlight the overall vibe in the POW camp and come straight from the book, highlighting the violence and degradation of the prisoners. My favorite theological image comes from the time when the Bird threatens a beating of another POW if the other two hundred-plus prisoners don’t punch Zamperini in the face. [In many ways, it echoes the moment when Katniss steps forward in the first Hunger Games story and takes her sister’s place… but that’s fiction.] This is servant leadership, and sacrifice, and it makes for a wildly motivating story for people of faith.

I haven’t been this sure or proactively encouraging folks to go see a film in… a long time. A protagonist who makes good decisions (refusing to stump for Tokyo Rose), who makes the most of his second chance (once he runs, he embraces the challenge), who encourages others  (in the lifeboat, in the camp, etc.), who others look to for inspiration – this is a story that I find exciting. And it’s a reminder that in the midst of our ‘first world problems,’ things could be much worse. If we want to be our best, then we should bring a better attitude to life’s curve balls – because if Zamperini could survive all of that… we should basically get over our petty problems and differences.

The film (and its press) have critics divided in their criticism. Some call Zamperini “too good” or unrealistic. Is that because he doesn’t fight back, but refuses to become what he hates? Is it because he forgives, or chooses a non-violent path? [For further head scratching on peaceable soldiers as POWs, check out To End All Wars, based on the first Princeton chaplain’s memoir.] I’d channel Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” It’s foreshadowed in the priest’s sermon in one of the film’s flashbacks to Zamperini’s childhood, about not fighting the night/darkness, but surviving it. And it’s why the film suddenly made sense to me for Christmastime.

If we believe, as Zamperini came to understand after a Billy Graham crusade, that Jesus came to Earth to be Immanuel, God with us, then we recognize that Jesus was in the dark with us but was not overcome by it. Yes, Jesus would go on to die on the cross and rise from the dead, allowing for salvation and the forgiveness of sins. But he also inspired because he suffered through the darkness. That is what this portion of the Zamperini story is about: surviving, encouraging others, inspiring them to believe they could make it through the war.

Other critics, mainly evangelical Christians from what I’ve read, are upset that the film isn’t more about faith. But this comes from folks who admit that they haven’t seen the film first of all, and secondly, seem to have skipped from the book to the movie. In Hillenbrand’s book, Zamperini doesn’t come to faith until 1949 (which we assume is actually what happened since it’s a NY Times bestseller in the non-fiction category), and only in the final third of the book after the events of the film. For Jolie to have included more faith than she did (regardless of what she believes) would have been to undercut the faithful story of Zamperini, a man she knew personally and loved from what all of the interviews with either of them said. What the film did set up was the way that God was moving in Zamperini’s life before he even really knew who God was (Methodists call that prevenient grace), hopefully made people interested enough to investigate his life and discover his faith after they’ve seen the movie, and apparently represents what Zamperini and his family wanted. In my reading of the book and watching of the film, it’s amazing that Jolie told a story with as much potential God-inflection in it as she did!

Maybe the real-life Zamperini was right that he was not a ‘hero’ in terms we’d use the word today; maybe instead, he was an inspiration. It’s that story, of stubborn, willful living – of existing through rather than explosively fighting (and dying) that mark the Zamperini movie that Jolie has made. We can’t control the dark, we can’t always see a way through it, but God is with us, we are not alone, and it is ours to survive, trust, and hope. That’s the story of Advent – and of any expectation we have of Jesus’ second coming – that God is moving even though the world around us is dark sometimes. That’s the kind of movie I can get fired up about in a world desperately looking for glimmers of light.

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Annie: It’s A Hard Knock Life But It Doesn’t Have To Be (Movie Review)

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

I knew we were going to Jamie Foxx’s Annie the first few bars into the trailer several months ago. My wife is a big fan of the 1982 Annie starring Aileen Quinn and Albert Finney, and she didn’t have to say anything. I wondered if a hard knock life with a black Annie and a black Daddy Warbucks could do anything different with the story.  (Of course, the New Deal isn’t really immediately relevant to kids today, but was it in 1982?) Could Foxx and Beasts of the Southern Wild’s Quvenzhane Wallis captivate audiences the same way?

I was pleasantly surprised. Then, I came home and found this was the ‘consensus review’ on Rottentomatoes.com: “The new-look Annie hints at a progressive take on a well-worn story, but smothers its likable cast under clichés, cloying cuteness, and a distasteful materialism.” Um, seriously, did we see the same film?

Annie (Wallis) escapes from the clutches of her foster parent, Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), weekly, attempting to reunite with the parents who abandoned her years before. She accidentally runs into phone magnate and mayoral candidate, Will Stacks (Foxx), and instantly becomes a ploy for gaining percentage points by his advisors, the sleazy Guy (Bobby Canavale) and the well-meaning Grace (Rose Byrne), which, of course, grows into something more. Those are all basically plays on the same points, right?

But ultimately, Annie teaches Stacks to care and to recognize that wealth and power aren’t the most important thing. If anything, the materialism gets condemned pretty well — and right before Christmas no less. The redemption isn’t left solely to Stacks though – even if Guy deserves more comeuppance than he gets – because Miss. Hannigan’s turnabout was, for me, the moment that the film mattered for more than entertainment’s sake.

I imagine, if you’re going to see Annie and you’re reading this ahead, that the point isn’t going to keep you from it. But Diaz’s Hannigan recognizes her errors, her own obsessions, and the belief that her admirer (David Zayas) has in her is rewarded. She recognizes that the bitterness and alcoholism is the aftershock of her own betrayal and abandonment; while Annie has been abandoned, she’s not bitter – she’s the one encouraging others.

Two points remained with me after the film. The first is that we can’t control our situations all the time, but we can control our reaction – and what we exhibit (it’s the same lesson we learn in Unbroken). The second is more specific: that there are kids in our schools and streets and communities who need love – and literacy. I’m aware that some of those kids have parents who are trying really hard amidst work and life to care for them; I also know that many of them are homeless or, in every regard that matters, orphaned. It’s up to us to recognize what we can do and do it. But we can’t imagine for a moment that Annie is just a cute story with music; it’s the reality of some kids’ situations and we can do something about it.

At Christmastime, people seem more receptive to the message that there is hope – that the dark doesn’t have to win, that it’s a hard knock life but it doesn’t have to stay that way. That’s the hope found in the baby in the manger, in the cross and the empty tomb, and in organizations like United Methodist Family Services that aid at-risk kids and children who need adopting. You can do something about it- everyone can make a difference.

To learn more, visit www.umfs.org.

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