Tell Me What You Really Think

Practically Speaking
By C. Wayne Childers

What You Really Think

I was with a group this week on a retreat and was introduced to one guy and later another man said to me about the guy that he "has no filters" that he had head trauma and it affected the part of the brain that contains social screens. Some might say that about Donald Trump during this political circus. No filters.

All the time, during my preaching ministry, most people going out the door said nice things to me. I always wondered what they really thought. "Great sermon pastor," they might say. "It was good to be in the house of God today pastor." "That was your best ever." I never believed all of them because I knew when I hit a home run and when I should have stayed in bed. I wish some of them would have been honest. "Good try pastor," they might say. "I have heard worse pastor." "It is going to be a great afternoon pastor, good weather." My wife always told me the truth.

I love being just in the crowd at my new church. You can overhear lots of things just walking the halls and listening (ease dropping). Last week a guy with his family behind Laurie and I, obviously a visitor, said about the preacher; "Boy you can't sleep during that guys sermon." I was having a laughing fit on the inside of me. It made my day. I was having to preach that evening and was scared to death but the humor settled my anxiety. It is just a sermon. That outburst gave me the idea for this article. By the way the sermon was great and I think the guy was giving the speaker a subtle compliment.

As you have probably noticed, I have fewer filters in my old age. I have learned in the last five years to say it like I see it. That is a bit arrogant some might think. Others may question my sanity. Still others might think it is about time. I am living with it and the consequences are tolerable so far.

Jesus used terms like "blind leaders of the blind," and "whitewashed tombs," and "den of thieves," and "hypocrites," and "get behind me Satan."That last one was to his best friend. He also did things contrary to the norms of his day. He talked with a woman at a well. He ate with "sinners" and "publicans" (not republicans). He healed on the sabbath, actually helped people on that "HOLY" day. He accepted a woman that they were going to stone but challenged her to her best self. He did the unconventional as an example.

Thinking more about Jesus, whom I seek to follow, I would say about Him what was said about John Stossel in the Miami Herald, "If he didn't exist, we would have to invent him." It is logical to have Jesus. Please don't consider this sacreligious. I would like my atheist friends to engage me on that thought. Jesus is the real deal, without filters. Take it or leave it. Please.

Now some things are better filtered. Water in the Philippines is one of them. Some things are subject to the situational ethics spin. If your wife asks you if you like her new hair cut, or if the lunch was good, or if you think she looks ok in her new outfit you guys know the routine. Ok, are you kidding me? You look fantastic in that new dew, those wonderful slacks, and the lunch was better than if we had been at Cattleman's (I am a south sider you know).

However we filter out some of the good stuff about the gospel. We also filter out some of the bad stuff. Some who are more didactic about the gospel filter out Jesus' statements about children. They think that the gospel is too deep for a child to understand and that we should wait a while before we baptize them. It is politically incorrect in our day of theological sovereignty to actually believe that God is sovereign when it comes to a child's understanding. For some reason we want to make sovereignty an adult thing. Children sometimes lead adults. That is the good stuff filtered out. (I know the other side of this so just humor me).

We also filter out the bad stuff. When the rich young ruler walked away because he was tied to his stuff, Jesus let him walk. I would have been begging him to come back if it were me. I am a rescuer. I think I can sometimes fix things myself. But Jesus did not pursuit him any longer in that setting. The bad stuff of the gospel is "turn or burn." We don't like that in our sophisticated world. Jesus was about that but with tears. It grieved him but he was not going to "filter" the gospel. Truth is truth.

My grandchildren usually don't filter stuff. Filters are adult appendages. Wrigley patted me on the stomach the other day and said, "Paw Paw you are fat." So I just slapped that kid to knock some sense into him? No! I am now on a diet and am walking with my brother three miles every day. Filters and grandchildren are mutually exclusive.

So please be honest. It is still the best policy. Tell me what you think. No! Tell me what you really think.

Invisible Visible

Practically Speaking

By C Wayne CHILDERS

Invisible Becomes Visible

I was born in Tulsa and grew up going to my grandparent's mom and pop store on Pine street. They lived there. They had no white customers. All were black. So I had an early introduction to black poverty and it stinks. My grandad gave people groceries and put the cost on a small tablet with the last name on the upper spine. When he retired from there I was informed later that many people owed him their "tab." That's what it was called. He survived and made friends. They seemed happy. Tulsa is sad right now.

Ralph Ellison was from Oklahoma City. He wrote a book about himself and the plight of a black person growing up in New York colored town. It is a celebrated classic and he eventually became an OKC favored son as a novelist, literary critic and scholar. He died in 1994.

"I am an invisible man." Writes Ellison in his book by that title. Not like ghosts he explains. But he continues that,  "I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination -- indeed, everything and anything except me."

Ellison helps us to understand from the perspective of what some would call the marginalized. He also wrote, " I do not know if all cops are poets, but I know that all cops carry guns with triggers." 

Interesting. That was written in 1952. Fear of law enforcement among blacks has been felt a long time. It is real. 

I want to make that point to suggest another one. In the same way law enforcement is blind at times to the black community could it be that invisibility has double vision? I ask author Ellison why he does not know if "cops" or in this case Betty Shelby is a poet. For some of you this is the first time you have seen her name. Most know her as the officer who shot Terence Crutcher in Tulsa. She has a name. She is not a uniform, or a badge, or a gun. She is a person and very well may be a poet. But you will never know until you ask. 

She is also invisible. She is perhaps fearful. Having a gun with a trigger does not take away the fear. It does not remove the fact that just this year alone 40 officers have been killed by guns in the line of duty. Another 51 died in auto accidents. We still have one quarter to go. So if you went to work every morning knowing that at least one person each week died just because they put on a uniform like yours you might just be a little tentative if a person you perceive is under the influence of something, or at least acting strangely is non-compliant at the point of a gun. Of course we don't know everything. We speculate. Charges are filed. Jury will decide. 

So if sanity wins, the invisible will become visible. We will see and seek to understand blackness with its rich but painful story. We will see and seek to understand blueness in its service to the community. Black and blue must not leave a bruise. Black is beautiful and so is blue. 

A friend of mine suggested that I read a book that was last years award winning offering entitled "Between The World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I will do that in an attempt to understand blackness better. I am also suggesting a read on the other side. One like "Behind the Badge, A Policeman's Legacy" by Michael Cover. 

Can we attempt to make the invisible visible. Elliott has helped me. 

Jesus did that. He came to make the invisible God visible. Paul described Him as the one "... Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:." 

He who has eyes to see let Him see. I know it's wrong. I know it's ears. Can I fudge on this one?

Sent from my iPad

Plan Ahead

Practically Speaking 

By C Wayne Childers

Plan Ahead

Someone years ago gave me a cross-stitch mural for my office wall the stitching read; "Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark." We have all seen the sign with the words "Plan Ahead" getting to the edge of the page and the letters "ad" appearing on the next line. Ran out of room. Where we start in the plan determines where we end up. 

The guys building rafters this morning on a new house across the street from me are looking down the edge of that first board because it will determine the strength and straightness of the roof. They have plans. 

My plans today are to mow the grass when it dries and pull the carbon filter smog unit from my 2002 Honda Civic. I have never pulled one before but I have YouTube. I will also put the final touch on my sermon I will preach at the 40th anniversary service of my first church. I am nervous/anxious about the latter. 

Speaking of the sermon, I am saying something from Philippians 1 that I want to say dogmatically but I sometimes doubt so I am trying to reinforce myself to say it honestly with at least some conviction. I am going to say that "God has a plan." Doubt? Yes, I have to admit that there are times I doubt that. It is usually when I weigh the burdens people bear, the unforeseen events that happen, and the pure evil that comes out of others and sometimes me. This church lost all of its buildings in the tornado at Bridge Creek. I am still swept away by that reality. 

The text says that God started a work in these people and that He is going to complete that plan with their help. Ok. I guess I have to take that on face value. God is at work. God has a plan. We join with Him in that plan. So, we start or start again each day. 

Faith says God says what He means and means what He says. I choose to believe today with His help. The Bible guy said it right; "I believe. Help my unbelief." So I choose to believe today that God has a plan and that He finishes what He starts. 

It is really all about if you believe the plan book is really the one and only plan. I do today. I have since age 10. I doubt but always seem to land back on my feet on the God's plan side. That is extreme for most to stomach. 

What is God's plan for me today? I don't know. I have plans and He is welcome to change them. He might. However, His plan and mine may just be a blend. We will see. Writing this was not in my plan book for me today it just happened as I watched the guys build the house across the street and their referencing the rolled up house plans. I got an idea and put it on my iPhone notepad.  A God deal? Yes.

He plans ahead. We join Him. He finishes. We follow. A nice arrangement.

Spectacles

Practically Speaking
By C Wayne CHILDERS 

Spectacles

I like church. I like worship. I like people on the fringe. I had a guy come up to me today in an Arkansas church, another active expressive grey head and he blessed me with a greeting filled with affirmation. He also informed me of my broken glasses, my spectacles, and I related Paw Paw abuse dished out by my 6-month-old granddaughter and eyeglass terrorist. We laughed together. 

"Spectacles" is an old term. It is from the word spectacular. It means to look, to see, to view. The purpose of spectacles is to see. The purpose of the spectacular is to provide an attractive view for others. 

Jesus was both private and public. He went to a solitary place to pray many times. He also went public and used the spectacular to communicate his message. The Olive Garden and the amplified boat assisted Sonic communication. 

Spectacular is not popular in my circles. It seems secular and man centered. Jesus seemed to not have a problem with spectacular. He fed people, healed people, displayed people as object lessons and challenged big crowds. He was comfortable with the mega! He addressed the masses. He was demonstrative. 

He made noise. He shook up the establishment. He drew attention to himself. He sought to attract. I know he went after the "ones" like the lost sheep, son and coin. I know he also focused on individuals. But his individual focus always had spectacular extensions. He raised Lazarus, an individual focus with spectacular application to people in Bethany!

Well I like the church in its many expressions. I like the mega church. I like the small church but if it stays small very long I wonder about its vision and work ethic. That is me. I'm never satisfied with small numbers. 

I love technology and the way it allows us to be Jesus-like in public displays. We need to use it to its fullest in spite of the criticism of those who would say it is just entertainment. 

Glasses, spectacles are for vision and for fashion. They let us see but they change how people see us. It is ok to be fashionable.  The church must be fashionable. It is not a sin. It makes for an attractive way to spin the gospel. The demands are still there but the spectacular attracts the seeker and gives them the opportunity to consider the demands. It's ok. Do the work. 

So next week I hope you notice my new spectacles. He who has eyes to see let him see.







Sent from my iPhone