 |
|
Pastor David Hewitt
|
Pastor David is Associate Pastor of King of Glory Lutheran Church. He blogs these devotionals every day (M-F) and looks forward to your comments.
Comments will be considered for posting for a period of 3 days from each blog entry date.
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
I was watching the Oscars the other night, and it's always heart-warming to see others get the recognition that they "deserve" for an especially amazing acting performance or, in other areas of filmmaking, an especially good bit of work. As I get older, I've become more and more interested in how the "winners" react in these situations. Do they remember to thank others? Are they humble? How much do they make out of winning the award? Do they think this is the greatest moment in their lives?
I caught the end of the last interview on Barbara Walters' show just before the Oscars. Sandra Bullock was talking about her mother, and how her mother would watch an awards' show and complain when a winner would say just that, that this was the greatest moment of their lives. "Why say that?" Sandra mimicked her mother's outraged voice: "Greater than finding true love? Greater than the birth of your child?"
I've been thinking about the whole concept of "recognition" recently because I'm working on a sermon based on the parable which people like to call "the Prodigal Son." (Luke 15) Near the end of the parable, the elder son hears about the party the father is going to throw for the return of the no-good younger son, and is enraged. He won't even go into the family home. Later, he tells his father, "Listen! For all these years I have worked like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends!" You can see, reading betweent the lines, these words: "Why don't you reward me for all that I have done for you?! Why don't you recognize my accomplishments by throwing a party for ME, as you are about to do for HIM?"
Jesus originally told this parable to explain his ministry to the Pharisees. They had derided the fact that Jesus "hung out" with "tax collectors and sinners," people who ignored following God's laws -- and here Jesus, the great prophet and teacher, giving them the benefit of His presence! Partying with THEM, and not recognizing or giving kudos to the Pharisees.
In fact, Jesus all along knew the hearts of the Pharisees...knew that what they wanted most of all was recognition: "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplaces." (Lk. 11:43) Of course, they are not the only ones with that trouble. Many of us fall prey to that problem, to that sin, from time to time. We may be helping others, but we want recognition for helping others!
I saw an example of this as well on Oscar night. I was not aware that a recently instituted Academy rule stated that if two people won, only one could speak. Well, what if two people won for a film they did together, but now they don't get along? Well, that happened. The winning film in the short documentary film category had two producers, one of whom had been suing the other. Upon learning of their victory, one ran down the aisle to get to the podium as fast as he could. The other had trouble getting out of her row -- she later claimed that the other producer's mom had tried to trip her - and when she got there she interrupted the first fellow as they struggled for the microphone. Both were trying to be the one to pay tribute to the star of the film, a remarkable physically handicapped young lady from Zimbabwe who had inspired her nation. At least one should have been gracious enough to stand aside.
How foolish we can be as we strive for recognition? I know there are times when I have been that foolish. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down in the place of honor..." said Jesus once. "But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (Lk. 14:7-11) Let us humble oursselves before our Lord and Master. Let us focus on God's Mission, and not worry about anything else.
David Hewitt
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
I've always admired the Osmond family. They have strong family values, and seem to have been a kind and close family even amidst the trappings of Hollywood. Not only were they nice, but they showed a kind of self-deprecating humor (toward themselves and each other) that was very endearing and fun. Plus, they were -- and are -- highly talented.
That's why it was shocking to see where Michael Blosil, son of Marie Osmond, committed suicide the other day. Yet he, like his mother Marie, had fought the demons of depression many times over the years. Not that anyone would have known it.
"That [suicide note] was a shock," said an unnamed pal of Michael. "He was always smiling. (He seemed) really happy, always making jokes. We hung out every single day, a group of us."
Yet in his suicide note, Michael reportedly said he felt lonely and friendless.
"It wasn't like he was a loner type." continued the pal. "If you were sad, he would be the one to make you feel better. He would find a way to make you laugh. He was there for you if you needed anything."
I know from my past before Christ really came into my life that I was nice, I was good, I was kind...but for not the best of reasons. I thought that trying to be nice would make people be nice to me in return, that if I were a friend, someone would be friends with me. Sometimes it works that way.
But sometimes people can see through you and see the selfish motives behind your "niceness." And whatever kind of "niceness" you get in return, it's never enough. Maybe that's what happened with Michael, maybe not.
In the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," George Bailey helps everyone around him, serving above and beyond the call of duty. But he doesn't like it; he doesn't like his life; he doesn't seem to get much out of being "nice" to everyone. Then, when it looks like he is going to be in trouble and go to jail for something he didn't do, rather than rely on his friends, he despairs and contemplates suicide.
Later he realizes that he DID have friends after all -- friends who were willing to help him, but he had refused to recognize that 'til the end. Too bad Michael didn't realize that in his life as well. But doing the right things (being nice and kind and loving) for the wrong reasons (getting people to like you) can take its toll. That's why the Apostle Paul said not to rely on the world, but to rely on God instead: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed, by the renewing of your minds; so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2)
As the old song says, "What a friend we have in Jesus!" We need not despair when our earthly friends don't live up to our expectations; we must look instead to God -- both as a friend and as someone who challenges us to go beyond being nice, to doing God's will...and not worrying about anything else.
David Hewitt
Friday, 05 March 2010
I have a Facebook account. I don't do much with it, but I know people who do, perhaps even you. Facebook is not the only "social media" out there, and social media, in one form or another, are here to stay. But in what form? How important? These are just some of the key questions.
I find it interesting that in the course of a week, I run into two thoughtful takes on the impact of "the Facebook Era" on our spirituality. Both decided, curiously enough, to use, as an example of what they were trying to say, the impact of Facebook on how we handle...death.
One author, Lisa Miller, Newsweek columnist, has a somewhat negative take. She notes that when famous (I guess he was famous; before he died I had not noticed him) British fashion designer Alexander McQueen committed suicide, over 80,000 people that following week became "fans" of McQueen on Facebook, sending in prayers and condolences by the score. She noted some of the shorter messages ("Genius" "It's been 5 days, i actually miss you as tho i knew you -- sleep well") left onscreen and wrote: "This is how we collectively mourn: Globally. Together. Online."
Is this good or bad? To Lisa, it's both. "One might imagine such virtual mourning is shallow," she writes, "but it's not. Here is a real gathering place, where friends can grieve together -- and where the deceased continues, in some sense, to exist." "You're creating something like a tombstone, anytime, anyplace, as long as they have Internet access," opines Brian McLaren, a leader in the emerging church movement and author of A New Kind of Christianity. "That seems to be a great gain."
Now that we live far away from close friends and family, Lisa points out, we don't have at our fingertips the old country church method of mourning-and-yet-still-connecting with the dead. "The Christian ideal of 'the community of saints,'" says she, "in which the dead rest peacefully in the churchyard, as much a part of the congregation as those singing in the nave, is something any 19th-century churchgoer would have instinctively understood." She thinks Facebook can stand in for that absence of literal proximity with the "virtual" kind.
Still, she asks, "Something is gained, but what is lost in this evolution from corporeal [physically present] grief...to the grief tagged with a virtual rose?" She notes that grief is "a physical event...the loss of a physical body," not a virtual one.
Yet, in a recent (Feb. '10) edition of The Lutheran magazine, Clint Schnekloth presents a positive example of "communal Facebook grieving": after telling others on his page that he was going to his 93-year-old grandma's funeral and briefly eulogizing her there, Clint accidentally bumped into friends in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the funeral was to be held. The friends, because of his Facebook page, already knew of his loss: "So sorry to hear about your grandma." By the time he got to his hotel room, his "page" was full of condolences from all over the nation. His point: "Facebook deepens rather than diminishes face-to-face relationships.
Clint goes on in this vein, and yet, off on a sidebar, shaded lavender, is another, shorter Facebook article by Andrew Lynch entitled, "Do's and Dont's: Say No to Facebook Excess." A couple of his don'ts: "Don't update every last thing you do," and "Don't get in the habit of obsessively checking Facebook. It can be a productivity killer." Here we get to the nub of the matter.
Building and keeping relationships healthy -- a key part of anyone's spiritual life as a servant of God and of one another -- takes two things: time and effort. And spending too much time on the computer/blackberry/iphone, etc. makes it difficult to find the amount of "face time" you need to keep your relationships properly fed and healthy. At one point the Apostle Paul (while in prison) tells the Philippian Christians, "indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it." (Phil. 4:10) By subdividing our time between people by knowing more and more and more people on Facebook, we end up being able to spend little time with anyone.
Andrew noted that obsessively checking Facebook "can be a productivity killer." It can be, if mishandled, a relationship killer, too, since relationships very often rely on face-and-voice time -- time to touch, time to show the depth of your love and friendship for that other human being you're with through a hug or good deed -- and time for them to show the depth of their love for you. Love needs to be "embodied" to be as meaningful as it should be.
David Hewitt
Thursday, 04 March 2010
Recently I watched a comic on a late night talk show make a point about the economic downturn. He said, "Maybe it's a good thing if things get REALLY bad -- like everyone having to go around, like the old days, riding a donkey with pots hanging from each side." Conan O'Brien replied, "Yeah, back to simpler times."
The comic related to the "youngsters" in the audience the days when you had to "dial" a phone -- and how you hated it when someone had, like two "zeros" in their number, and you had to wait for the rotary to dial those zeros. And how, when you needed money, you had to IN the bank (if they were open), and write a check, and get it cashed, before you could have ready money, and, if your account was at zero, then you had to say to yourself, "Well, I can't buy anything more then."
He said that now we have a bunch of "spoiled idiots" who don't appreciate the amazing stuff that they have, all the wonders of the most modern technology: "Everything's amazing, and nobody's happy." As a for instance, he mentioned how he was on a flight where everyone was told that, if they had a laptop, they could get internet wi-fi "hi speed." He said it was incredible; he was moving around the web fast, looking at some you tube, etc.
Then the plane's internet connection went down, and the guy next to him said, "Harrumph. This is bull---!" The comic couldn't believe this guy's attitude: "How quickly the world owes this guy something -- something that he knew existed, like, 10 seconds ago!!" The comic then turned his attention to flying in general, where we love to complain the most. "We like to say of a flight, 'it was the worst day of my life,' because we were delayed, and so on. I'd like to say, 'And then what? You flew through the air incredibly like a bird? From New York to L.A. in 5 hours? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight you ungrateful slob?'" He finished with this: "You know, everyone on every plane should be gripping their seats during every flight and saying 'Oh my gosh! Wow!'....YOU ARE SITTING ON A CHAIR IN THE SKY."
It's easy to overlook the amazing-ness of it all when we are on a big airplane in such an enclosed area. I remember recovering my awe of human flight when I sat in an open-seated single-engine plane one day while I was a summer camp counselor. I remember the air winging through my hair, and the thrill of "buzzing" the camp. I really felt like I was in a "skychair" then.
You know, gratitude is often a long-lost art. We stand on the shoulders of people who stand on the shoulders of people who stand on the shoulders of people who created human civilization. And faith? How could we get by without the legends of faith, the prophets and apostles, and especially our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? I love the old song, "Count Your Blessings":
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Refrain: Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
Oh, and I am grateful to Johnson Oatman, Jr., for writing the words to that song....
David Hewitt
 |
