The Pearl

Me - It looks like a genuine pearl. It's so cute, I want it. How much does it cost?
Him - Cute? I would never call it "cute". And yes, it's genuine.

Me - OK, it's beautiful. So?
Him - It's not cheap. In fact it's costly.

Me - But how much?
Him - I told you, it's very expensive.

Me - Do you think I could buy it?
Him - It costs everything you have, no more, no less. And anybody can buy it.

Me - I'll buy it.
Him - What do you have? Let's write it down.

Me - Oh, don't worry, I have $100,000 in my saving account. 
Him - Good, $100,000. What else?

Me - What else? I have nothing more. That's all I have.  
Him - Have you nothing more?

Me - Well, I have some dollars here in my pocket, but...
Him - How much?

Me - Let me find them. So, thirty, forty, fifty, eighty, one hundred, one hundred twenty... one hundred twenty dollars and 75 cents.
Him - That's fine. What else do you have? 

Me - I have nothing else. That's all. I swear to...

Him - Stop! Don't ever do that. Ever.

Me - Do what?

Him - Swear. Never mind. Where do you live?

Me - I live in my house.
Him - The house, too.

Me - You mean I must live in the shed?
Him - Have you a shed too? That too. What else?

Me - Do you mean that I must live in my car then?
Him - Have you a car?

Me - A little SUV and and old pick-up truck.
Him - Both become mine. Both cars. What else? 

Me - You keep saying "what else, what else"...  You've got my house, the shed, the cars, all my money, everything!
Him - What else?

Me - See what I mean?
Him - Are you alone in the world?

Me- No, I have a wife and two children.
Him - Your wife and children too.

Me - Wow, wait a minute here, this is like enslav... 
Him - I told you, everything you have. What else?

Me - I have nothing else, I am left alone now. 
Him - Oh, you too! Everything becomes mine - family, house, money, cars... everything. And yourself too. 

Me - ...

Him - Now you can use all those things here but don't forget they are mine, as are you. When I will ask you of the things you use, you must be ready to give them back because I am the owner. But for now keep them along with the pearl. Deal?

Covido Ergo Zoom

Would I Be Gathering if...

Would I Be Gathering if I Were Not a Pastor?

Most churches across the country which are open are running anywhere from 35-50% of the Sabbath morning attendance that they were a year ago. They’ve been gutted. What has surprised us pastors the most, I think, are not the pockets of elderly and vulnerable who have not returned. What has caught us off-guard is that for every person who hasn’t yet returned there is likely a unique reason for not yet returning. So, I have to ask a question for myself.

If I were not a pastor, would I be attending an in-person service Sabbath morning? Why would I come?

·  To hear the preaching of the Word? I can do that online.

· To join in corporate worship? I sing and pray anyways with my family. Does that count?

·  To be around other believers? 6 ft of social distancing makes it difficult to do much more than a wave and a “how you doing?” mumble. I can just as easily engage through a text message.

·  To exercise my spiritual gift? I can join a Sabbath school class on Zoom. I can send encouraging messages through Facebook (I’m doing it anyways). Do I need the Sabbath morning hour(s) to drive back and forth to exercise that gift? Can’t I serve and support the mission without being physically present in that church?

What is there at the physical gathering that I cannot do at home? On-site Church worship isn’t the same, I agree. But why do I need to show up whenever it’s a hotbed of controversy?

For some people, wearing a mask is a symbol of being a leftist or a fraidy-cat who doesn’t have faith. For others, not wearing a mask is a symbol of being a right-wing conspiracy theorist who cares more about themselves than other people. I’d argue few people fit either description, but still, the question remains. Why bother coming when your mere presence will offend somebody?

 

Because there is no such thing as mere presence. There is something which the generations preceding me understood that I believe has been almost lost today. And that is the power of being there part of the live happening (I didn’t find a better word). There are two areas here where our generation has swung the pendulum too far in an opposite direction.

 

1. First, in regards to the importance of a gathered body. I think there was an overemphasis in the past on the church building itself. One of my greatest pet peeves was when someone would here a teen say one of those banned words and the response would be, “hey, you cannot say that here in God’s house”. (By the way, I think that’s a misunderstanding, mixing up the temple – the real one is in heaven acc to Hebrews 9 - and the synagogue, which is the template for the NT Church services). BUT, we responded with a complete deemphasis of the sacred gathering. Now I understand that there is something special about the local gathering of the body of Christ. There is something to sacred space where God’s Word is opened and the Good News is preached.

 

2. Secondly, there were families wrecked years ago by patriarchs/ matriarchs who felt they and eventually their entire family had to be physically in the church building every time the doors were opened. There developed a somewhat legalistic checking of boxes on church attendance. BUT, we responded with a complete deemphasis of the power of personal presence. There is something powerful about you being there.

 

I can’t seem to keep Bonhoeffer’s “Life Together” on my shelves during this season. I keep pulling it down and reading it. The longer we find ourselves with our communities ever transforming due to COVID-19, the more I’m finding depth in his words. Consider this:

 

“The prisoner, the sick person, the Christian in exile sees in the companionship of a fellow Christian a physical sign of the gracious presence of the triune God. Visitor and visited in loneliness recognize in each other the Christ who is present in the body; they receive and meet each other as one meets the Lord, in reverence, humility, and joy. They receive each other’s benedictions as the benediction of the Lord Jesus Christ”. (page 10)

 

What Bonhoeffer is alluding to here is the fact that each believer is in union with Christ and has the Spirit of God residing within. You are blessed and you are a blessing for others when you are attending.

 

So… So this is my answer as to why, even if I weren’t a pastor and didn’t have any particular job to do as elder, deacon, Sabbath School teacher etc., I would still show up on Sabbath morning as long as I was able. It is because I believe the Bible promise from Colossians 1:27 – Christ in you (PLURAL) the hope of glory, and I believe the only together we can experience it.

 

And so, and please hear me well, I want to show up because to not do so would be to diminish Christ and rob Him from the worship He is entitled to. I know some could read that and say, “what about those who cannot attend?! You are making them feel horrible for something which they cannot control.” This is my response.

 

Whether it be because of a personal problem or health concerns, my aim here is to give words to the very pain which you feel. I’m sharing why we mourn with you that you cannot gather with us. Fellowship with other believers is a precious gift. You know this deeply and it’s why you ache, and toss and turn, and feel as if something deeply important is missing in your life. It’s because it is.

 

COVID-19 has given all of us an opportunity to mourn with our shut-ins. It has widened that number and opened our eyes to the value of in-person gathering. And the deep mourning which accompanies no longer being able to gather.

But this is also why I feel a deep conviction, as long as I am able, to gather with the body of Christ no matter what. To not gather, to consider it optional, would be like valuing the comfort of drinking my hot tea dressed in my Teddy Bears jammies from TJ Maxx, over the blood-bought community of the living God. 

Oh Pastor, it's not 100% safe! I hear you. Talk to Jesus about it. And while reading the Great Commission from Matthew 28, read one more time Jesus' promise granted to those who "Go ye" in contrast to those "Don't go ye yet", And the promise is this: "For I am with you always, to the very end of the age". Which in God's prophetical time is tomorrow. 

Happy Sabbath!

Why We Must Gather

Why We Must Gather

If we thought closing was difficult, reopening is proving to be even harder.

So much of our understanding of what is church is at odds with our current reality. Our style of church has been built on being a place that makes people feel welcome and loved. They can even belong before they believe.

We do what we do for the sake of reaching people who don’t know Christ with the Gospel. This is coupled with the Adventist foundation that still prioritizes time for studying the Bible in small groups gathered together - the Sabbath School, and the collective worship with music, prayers, sermon and call to dedication. Eventually followed by potluck with or without the traditional haystacks. 

It’s hard to make people feel welcome when we have to take their temperature before they walk in the door (in some places this is a big deal). Amid the pandemic, there can be no handshakes or hugs, no hanging out in the lobby. There are no warm smiles, since they’re hidden behind masks. We can’t sit with people who are alone, since they have to be six feet from everyone else.

There is no circle of prayers around someone requesting it. We no longer pass the offering plate as an act of worship or loiter in the sanctuary after services. Even singing is now regarded as questionable.

These jarring realities are forcing us to ask what all this is for. Have these practices become the essence of our faith? If they are not, why should we bother getting together at all?

This is a difficult time - not just churches, but for all industries and individuals. Every routine and relationship has been upended. Every family has been affected. Every nation has changed. Ours included.

It is the greatest disruption we have faced in our lifetimes, and there’s no sign of it letting up, an unexpected appendix to the time-of-the-end crisis. As the Church, we are blessed with the responsibility of being a place of hope and healing. But in this strange environment, where nothing can be as we have known it, why are we going to such great lengths just to gather?

Here are some of the reasons why, when it’s safe to do so, coming together for church still matters:

1. We come together to practice our faith. Many people remain hesitant to venture out, especially to unfamiliar places. That means this is not a time where we are seeing high numbers of visitors.

Perhaps the Church has become so visitor-driven, we have forgotten about the importance of the gathering of believers. We come together to do the things that strengthen us — to hear the preaching of the Word, to receive Communion together, to say the words of the creeds and songs that remind us of what we believe.

Our time together inspires us to live out our faith as a beacon of hope in a discouraged world. This is part of our freedom of religion; this is part of the practice of our faith. We don’t do it because it’s well-produced, or even well-attended. We do it as an act of worship to God.

2. We come together to be in His presence. I don’t mind leading worship on Zoom or FB. I have done it multiple times every week since we shut down in March. But there is still something powerful about coming together in person, in His presence. Jesus said, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them” (Mat. 18:20). This is true even if we are spread out all over the room. The gathering...

I looked out this past Sabbath and saw a couple of our faithful members wiping tears from their eyes as we sang the words "As we come to you in prayer"... The sheer act of being together in His presence brings a special kind of joy and strength to weary hearts. As Christians, the experience in His presence cannot be separated from the practice of our faith. 

3. We come together to see lives changed. When I worked in construction, I regularly invited my co-workers to our church. Some of them came and visited, and some even became a part of the church (in one case even after I left the place). I still doing the same thing, inviting people to come to church, although with less success because people expect to do it as a pastor.

I did some Bible studies during the week and they were people who always seemed interested, but never attending the church. Sending messages, phone calls, even small gifts, trying to compensate for the handicap that I cannot go visit them in person during this pandemic. But when we reopened, two of them came in person for the first time, mask and all. What a joy seeing them again.

I thought of Revelation 12:11: “They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.” Seeing these people there in person was a powerful encouragement to me to overcome. 

4. We come together to express our gratitude to God. More than anything, I hope this season is teaching us gratitude for what we do have: the people we love and hope to see the coming of Jesus together. Our praise takes on new meaning when we lift it up in the face of adversity.

Let’s look beyond the physical world and grab hold of the spiritual strength that comes from worshipping God together. Whatever the future holds, we can trust the One who holds the future.

As Romans 9:37-39 says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

"Shall We Gather at the River?"https://sdahymnals.com/Hymnal/432-Shall-We-Gather-at-the-River 

Yes, but before that, we must gather together as the Remnant - the Church of those "keeping the commandments of God and having the Faith of Jesus". Come!

(thank you Kristi Northup)

The Contemplative Pastor (1)

In my job description as pastor, I’m expected to solve problems. Wherever two or three are gathered together, problems develop. Egos are bruised, procedures get snarled, arrangements become confused, plans go awry. Temperaments dash. 

There are logistic problems, marriage problems, work problems, child problems, committee problems, financial problems, emotional problems. Someone has to interpret, explain, read the lines, read between the lines, read the small prints. That someone is the pastor, of course because he knows that people are emotional beings. He also suppose to work out plans, develop better procedures, organize, and administer. Most pastors like to do this. It is satisfying to help make the rough places smooth.

The difficulty is that problems arrive in such a constant flow that problem solving becomes full-time work. Because it is useful and the pastor ordinarily does it well, we fail to see that the pastoral vocation has been subverted. Gabriel Marcel wrote that life is not so much a problem to be solved as a mystery to be explored. That is certainly the biblical stance: life is not something we manage to hammer together and keep in repair by our pastoral wits; it is an unfathomable gift. We are immersed in mysteries: incredible love, confounding evil, the creation, the cross, grace, God.

The secularized mind is terrorized by mysteries. Thus it makes lists, labels people, assigns roles, and solves problems. But a solved life is a reduced life. These tightly buttoned-up people never take great faith risks or make convincing love talk. They deny or ignore the mysteries and diminish human existence to what can be managed, controlled, and fixed.

We live in a cult of experts who explain and solve. The vast technological apparatus around us gives the impression that there is a tool for everything if we can only afford it. Pastors cast in the role of spiritual technologists are hard put to keep that role from absorbing everything else since they are so many things that need to be and can be fixed.

But there are things, wrote Marianne Moore, that are important beyond all this fiddle. The old-time guide of souls asserts the priority of the "beyond" over "this fiddle." Who is available for this work other than pastors? They supposed to be super-qualified and under-paid, ready to embrace this infinite task of maxi/mini/stry.

If pastors become accomplices in treating every child as a problem to be figured out, every spouse as a problem to be dealt with, every clash of wills in Bible Class or committee as a problem to be adjudicated, we abdicate our most important work, which is directing worship in the traffic, discovering the presence of the cross in the paradoxes and chaos between Sabbaths, calling attention to the "splendor in the ordinary". 

And, most of all, teaching a life of prayer to our friends and companions in the pilgrimage.

(thank you Mr. Peterson)

The Blind Elephant of Relativism

Social media addicts are more apt to believe that no religion is the truth. This feeling is often illustrated by the favorite parable of college professors: the parable of the six blind men and the elephant.

This is where each blind man feels a different part of the elephant and therefore reaches a different conclusion about the object in front of him.

·       One grabs the tusk and says, “This is a spear.”

·       Another feels the trunk and says, “This is a snake.”

·       The one hugging the leg claims, “This is a tree.”

·       The blind man holding the tail thinks, “I have a rope.”

·       The one feeling the ear believes, “This is a fan.”

·       And the one leaning on the elephant’s side is certain, “This is a wall.”

These blind men are said to represent world religions because they each come to a different conclusion about what they are sensing. Like each blind man, we are told, no one religion has the truth. No one religion has the complete box top. Religions are simply different paths up the same mountain.

This, of course, greatly appeals to the minds used to cute but shallow Instagram slogan. In post-Pandemic America, truth in religion is considered an oxymoron. There is no truth in religion, we are told. It’s all a matter of taste or opinion. You like chocolate, I like vanilla. You like Christianity, I like Islam. If Buddhism works for you, then it’s true for you. Besides, you ought not judge me for my beliefs. Just wear your face mask - a psychological symbol of egalitarianism beyond the necessary physical protection.

The other problem with truth in religion is that some pieces of life seem to defy explanation - they don’t appear to fit any religious box top. These include the existence of evil and the silence of God in the face of that evil. These are especially powerful objections to anyone claiming that an all-powerful (theistic) God exists.

Many skeptics and atheists argue that if one true, powerful God actually exists, then he would intervene to clear up all the confusion. After all, if God is really out there, then why does he seem to hide himself? Why doesn’t he just show up to debunk the false religions and end all the controversy? Why doesn’t he intervene to stop all the evil in the world, including all the religious wars that are such a black mark on his name? And why does he allow bad things to happen to good people? 

These are difficult questions for anyone claiming that their theistic religion is true. (Hart, David Bentley, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashinable Enemies . Yale University Press. p.67) Nevertheless, Christianity is the only major faith built entirely around a single historical claim. It is, however, a claim quite unlike any other ever made, as any perceptive and scrupulous historian must recognize. Certainly it bears no resemblance to the vague fantasies of witless enthusiasts or to the cunning machinations of opportunistic charlatans. 

It is the report of men and women who had suffered the devastating defeat of their beloved master’s death, but who in a very short time were proclaiming an immediate experience of his living presence beyond the tomb, and who were, it seems, willing to suffer privation, imprisonment, torture, and death rather than deny that experience. 

And it is the report of a man, Saul of Tarsus, who had never known Jesus before the crucifixion, and who had once persecuted Jesus’s followers, but who also believed that he had experienced the risen Christ, with such shattering power that he too preferred death to apostasy. 

And it is the report of countless others who have believed that they also—in a quite irreducibly personal way—have known the risen Christ. Add me too here...

Everything is Relative

The Bat'n Ball Corona-Puzzle

Problem: “A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”

Take a minute to think about it…

Well?...

Many people respond by saying that the ball must cost 10 cents. Is this the answer that you came up with? Although this response intuitively springs to mind, it is incorrect. If the ball cost 10 cents and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, then the bat would cost $1.10 - for a grand total of $1.20, bat and ball,

The correct answer to this problem is that the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs — at a dollar more — $1.05 for a grand total of $1.10.

So why do so many people answer incorrectly? First of all, people often substitute difficult problems with simpler ones in order to quickly solve them. In this case, people seem to unconsciously substitute the “more than” statement in the problem (the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball) with an absolute statement (the bat costs $1.00). This makes the math easier to work with; if a ball and bat together cost $1.10 and the bat costs $1.00, then the ball must cost 10 cents.

Secondly, the bat-and-ball problem reveals how people are overconfident, prone to place too much faith in their intuitions. I got this problem wrong myself when I first saw it, and still find the intuitive-but-wrong answer very plausible looking.

Which brings me to the next point – the staggering number of Christians, mostly conservative ones, venting all kind of strange theories regarding the actual pandemic. Off course, the officials are adding up to this equation their incompetence (sometimes), political bias (most of the times) and the obvious “no one knows for sure” (every single time), in a time like this when people are asking for straight answers type 1+1=2. But the problem is not 1+1 but rather “1 bat + 1 ball = $1.10, find how much cost that crazy ball made in China”. Aha…

To complicate the matter, add Bill Gates stance on vaccines, 5G radiation, World Health Organization bureaucrats, Putin, Pope, Big Pharma, and ultimately 666.

• Of course we don’t have all the information,
• Of course we are going to see the reality through the lens of our own presuppositions, idiosyncrasies, expectations and anxieties,
• Of course we have to decide who is interpreting Revelation 13 for us, Rabbi Fulcrum 7 or Rabbi Spectrum Magazine? Who’s interpreting John 3:16 for us, Rabbi ForeRunner Chronicles or Rabbi George Knight?

Because it matters.

Because we must count for ourselves: 1 bat + 1 ball together $1.10 = $1.05 + $.05.

Because “keeping the commandments of God and having the faith/character of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12) is ALL that matters for Christians. The cacophony of pro or anti this and that, the media yadda-yadda-yadda and the conspiracists blah-blah-blah is nothing but diversion.

But pastor, how about the beast worship being enforced acc to Revelation 13 How can you be so laid-back? Don’t you see how our rulers are setting the stage for the prophesied beast-worship? Is not happening now? 

My answer, the short version - that issue according to the same verse, Rev.14:12 is about and around Christians having or not having the faith/character of Jesus + keeping the commandments of God, specifically the 4^th one. Nothing to do with 5G, Bill Gates, George Soros, Vitamin C, under-skin chip implants, wearing protective mask or suspending the church public services for a couple of months. 

To all my 5G-ers and antiV-ers friends - let's give the right answer to this life-&-death question brought by Christ in Luke 18:8 “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find… (choose one):

A.    compliance with stay-at-home policies on the earth?

B.    rebellion against WHO policies on the earth?

C.    not using social media and 5G technology on the earth?

D.    faith on the earth?”

Matthew 5:29-30 CIV (Corona Impartial Version)

Matthew 5:29-30 CIV (Corona Impartial Version) - read aloud with Romanian accent:

29 If your cherished conspiracy theory causes you to stumble, gouge it out from your Facebook posts and throw it away from your mind. It is better for you to lose the fake news path than lose friends and also for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna.

30 And if your unyielding confidence in mainstream media causes you to stumble, cut it off from your tweets and throw it away from your heart. It is better for you to lose a source of stress than lose friends and also for your whole body to go into Gehenna.

The Holy-Safety Religion

We are witnessing the rise of a new religion: the Religion of Safety. It has gradually, insidiously, established itself in recent decades when more and more natural things began to be considered dangerous.

Before having the weather channel online 24/7, a summer storm was a summer storm; now has hazard codes: yellow, orange, red. Same for wind, cold, heat, etc. We see risks everywhere in the natural events of life. Now, with the pandemic, the new religion has spread even more in our minds, at a faster speed than that of the coronavirus infecting New York City. 

It has its priests – those who cut out only the dangers of reality every day and show us how great they are (but, above all, they will be!) them. It has its inquisitors, those who can no longer burn you at the stake, but who can lynch you on social media if you have violated the rituals of (self)protection, an even your own militia, enforcing your before through shame and fines. I man shameful fines…

A natural need to feel safe has turned into a religion! it has more and more followers:

- some, because they can justify their own fears,

- others because through it they can shed their hatred and frustrations, and
- others, because they can obtain fraudulent but fabulous gains from it.

The excessive cult of safety, however, can be disastrous, both for the individual and for society. 

The more we choose safety over freedom, the slower we grow. We end up protecting ourselves, at increasing cost, an increasingly worthless lifestyle. Therefore, the transformation of safety from a need into a cult must be countered by critical thinking. And an invitation to an open public debate without being bullied by the political correctness entities, now disguised into a public health saviors.  

And we should do this now, before ending up into getting collectively an obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is going to ruins our lives, careers and meaningful relationships. 

The cult of safety undermines the Great Commission from Matthew 28 - Go ye and make disciple. "Oh Pastor, is this safe? Physically, intellectually, emotionally, totally 100% safe?" What kind of question is this one? Was this question inserted in Jesus' plan of save the world? Did He ever mentioned safety in relationship with salvation and Christian mission? 

The cult of safety slows down learning and innovation. To learn, we have to experiment, to have the courage to do things. Obviously, we will often be wrong. But as cognitive science tells us, we learn much more and faster from a mistake than from success. Mistakes are unpleasant but useful, because they are the basis of learning and innovation.

When you make an airplane with way too many safety measures, the plane becomes safe, but it can't get off the ground. People and societies are the same. Some want to be like tanks chasing out rabbits from a carrot patch. Others prefer to be like airplanes: to be able to fly, even if the risks are high. We have a choice ahead of us: what do we want to be, tanks or airplanes? 

I prefer flying.

Church vs Hollywood

Today because of the coronavirus situation, while Hollywood is virtually shut down, the Christian churches and institutions are ramping up media production to the highest levels in history.

From live streaming worship services, to producing short videos, to impromptu Facebook/ Instagram videos and webinars – churches and ministry organizations across the country are answering the call to reach out and connect through media.

While Walt Disney Studios, Universal, Fox, Lionsgate and other film studios sitting silent, churches and ministries are up trying to catch up with the demand in an unprecedented quest to share Christ to the post-Corona world.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church had already several aces in its "missiological sleeve":

1. eschatology - 2nd coming of Jesus,
2. lifestyle and heath-reform and
3. the 7th day Sabbath as an everlasting sign from God.

Combined with the power of the (4). media - quality movies (not just recording sermons and Revelation seminars), documentaries and fictional stories, courageous debates, and reality shows - it's going to be the ace-high straight flush or Royal Flush.

Movies? Yes. The tremendous power of this tool is undeniable. If the amateurish low budget "Tell the World" had such an impact on our people, imagine what a movie director like Martin Scorsese or Stephen Spielberg can do with a clever script on Revelation 14 or the Desire of Ages in reaching the entire world.
Or maybe I am the only one dreaming of reviving the Adventist Lazarus?

Soccer and Life

Soccer, in my opinion, it best represents life’s struggle between chaos and order, between pandemonium and what in the NT Greek is “telos”. 

A top soccer club has to have great organization, and players need to have a strong base of fundamental skills. But it’s the teams and players that are creative and thrive in chaos/ randomness that win game after game and finally the championships.

I’ve watched on Youtube a game in the English Premier league, a regular season game: Arsenal vs Norwich City, back in 2013. Arsenal’s on the attack, and Norwich has eight men back defending. A midfield named Cazorla slots a pass to the French player Giroud, who flicks it over to Jack Wilshere, who flicks it back to Giroud, who one-times it forward to Wilshere, who finishes. There were seven perfect passes in a row. Perfect creativity amid chaos and randomness, just pure beauty. All about being part of the team and helping the team. I just don’t see that in any other sport.

I don’t mind other sports, but they all have their issues in this area of creativity and team vs. individual. For example, baseball - it seems way too dependent on traditions and statistics with little opportunity for creativity. The spectators can almost predict every situation. 

I’ve watched only a couple of live baseball games and I was bored to death. Football is more spectacular but still plagued by these too frequent interruptions. Not even counting the fact that the coach tells the players what and when to do - if they suppose to use the #5C or #3B scheme at any given moment. Disclaimer - I do not want to offend any football fan. '

While soccer has to rely on a general shape and a team philosophy, the best teams operate freely inside of those structures. 

And this is a good illustration of our lives playing for a team called church. The Coach is there to motivate its players and the players are using their talents, energy and strong bond that unites the team for victory.

Help Is On the Way, Hope Is the Only Way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCjvXWmaCVU&t=65s

1. I remember that day, 9/11. It was chaos. Violence, shortage of food. For several days, it was uncertain if they would be more attacks, what kind, nukes? Chemical scare with a dangerous powder being sent in sealed letters to members of Congress and key leaders. Lines to buy gasoline and food, mosques targeted, Dow Jones losing half of the value… and nobody knew for how long or if we will ever recover.

I remember how bad I wanted that someone I trust, a pastor or a father figure, to appear on TV and look into the camera, smiling, to reassure all of us that everything is going to be all right. I didn’t want all the instructions and advices given by professionals of how to be safe if case of more terrorist attacks or riots.

All I wanted was someone, a charismatic figure, a FDR, someone looking like Roosevelt – what a great communicator – to show up and say – dear friends, be calm, in less than a month everything is going to be great. Just don’t panic and don’t assume the worse… We have nothing to fear except fear itself.

2. I remember the stock market crash of 2008, people panicked, confused and scared. All that prosperity, all that market buzz of more profit, buy, buy, buy, was a bubble that suddenly did burst spectacular. Maybe this is not a good word. Anyways, evictions, foreclosures, unemployment, panic.

I remember how bad I wanted that someone I trust, a pastor or a father figure to appear on TV and looking into the camera, smiling, to reassure me, to reassure all of us, that everything is going to be OK. I didn’t want all the instructions and advice given by professionals of how to stay safe in case of a shooting or riots.  

All I wanted was someone, a charismatic figure, a kind of Ronald Reagan – what a great communicator – to show up and say – dear friends, be calm, in short time everything is going to be all right. Just don’t panic and don’t assume the worse…

3. Now today our governor announced tougher measures in order to keep the coronavirus scare under control. Shortage of masks and gloves, zero toilet paper, even some foods not available like before. And people got tense. They’ve lost their smile, their patience, they’ve lost the hope that we will ever get out from this healthcare nightmare and economy collapse. They are turning to politicians only to hear statistics. They are turning to preachers only to hear clichés. And they panic.

I want so bad to watch on prime time TV a charismatic figure, a kind of Mister Rogers – what a great communicator – smiling while saying something I heard him say before, “dear friends, when I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.

1 Look for helpers. 2 Be a helper, yes. 3 Remember also that help is on the way, Christ is going to get us saved, out of this sin-quarantined place. Help is on the way; hope is the only way.  

I Am Not Legend

People are home because of the pandemic, watching movies about... guess what? Virus outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics... This way they are programmed to act like what they are watching, no question about.

Hollywood programmed for the last several years its worshipers with a tremendous power of suggestion in order to get them used to an idea or possible scenario.
Then actually stepping back to watch people acting accordingly, to translate that scenario in real life. The scenario is always the same, with little variations, has 3 points:

1- ignoring the threat
2- mass hysteria, scenes of horror
3- a changed world after total destruction

However, this apocalyptic scenario stolen from the Bible eschatology is wrong. God's plan of saving His people should get our attention, it must be our focus especially now.

So this weekend do not let the Hollywood inflict more anxiety and fear. Read your Bible. Follow its stories of grace and salvation. Enjoy its happy-ending: Revelation 22 - the total eradication of sin-virus, a new heaven and a new earth.

PS.Here are 3 movie trailers popular now:
"Last Days" https://youtu.be/-I7SduGdEUo
"Outbreak" https://youtu.be/Y5povsMKfT4
"I Am Legend" https://youtu.be/ewpYq9rgg3w

Ponder this

It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong.
It's not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich.
It's not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned.
It's not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.
It's not what we think how worthless we are but how much Christ paid for our salvation.

Coronavworld

The Coronavirus ordeal:

- Is going to change the world more radical than a World War.
- Is going to inflict more financial damage and emotional anxiety than 9/11.
- Is going to reveal the fragility of our earthly prosperity built on technology, trade and consumerism
- Is going to show that what was seen as another religious conspiracy theory, something that will never happen in our modern society - a worldwide shutdown – is now ready to become the norm as a desperate effort to control a crisis. “No one may buy or sell except one who has the mark…” (Rev 13:17).
- Is this one going to be the last one? I don’t know. What I do know is how unprepared we are to face a crisis and how motivated we should be to share the Good News about the Omega point of the history of salvation, the 2nd coming of Jesus.

Christians must share this hope now more than ever before to a world who is still dreaming of a Hollywood scenario where superheroes are saving the planet one more time.

Maybe not this time. Christ only have this prerogative.

Coronavirus in 3 PPPoints

The viral fear of virus may be worse than the virus itself. I’ll like to “score” three pastoral points about this issue.

1. We must be PRACTICAL. The health professionals I heard talking about the coronavirus pretty much say the same thing – prevention. Wash your hands a lot, use soap, take your time, don't touch your face with your hands, etc. Wearing a mask is not helpful unless you're actually sick. This is a time when the Health Reform that many Adventists did not carefully treasured, it’s paying its dividends. A plant-base diet combined with daily exercise builds a stronger immune system. One apple per day (add fresh greens, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts…) keeps the coronavirus away.

2. We must be PRAYERFUL, praying for people fighting the illness, praying for our families, for our neighbors and coworkers, for our church, for our nation. Do not let the fear of contamination take over the need of worshiping and praying together. The Lord can put a shield around us as a response to our prayers. Come to church, let’s worship and pray together, let’s encourage one other to aim for that day when the sin-virus is going to be eradicate once forever.  

3. We must PROCLAIM Jesus’ soon return, using the bad news around the virus’ panic as an opportunity to talk to people about the Good News. There are people freaking out around us and here's the thing – the Bible tells us in Philip 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The apocalyptic scenario in which “people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world” (Luke 21:26) that the Adventist evangelists for many years warned about it will happen as a sign of the end, is right here. Is more than same old fake news/ fear tactics - is like a sermon for all of us to really understanding the times we live in…

The followers of Christ who live for now down here, in this broken world, are fragile and vulnerable as everyone else, but on the other hand they are indestructible until God is done with them. 

I don’t know about you, but I don't want to walk around living in fear; I’m striving to live in faith. Isn’t that something you want also?