Vacations & a Faith Question

Two thoughts on vacations:

First, I just took one, a week in California around our middle son’s wedding. It’s my longest time away in several years. Don’t follow my example. Take your vacations. We need time off if we are going to be energetic, productive and steadfast in our time on. My wife and I are already planning a longer trip for next summer.

Second, we took a simple vacation and focused on doing little. I commend this approach. Sitting in a sunbeam and reading a book for two hours can be restorative. Walking down a hill to a Plain Jane restaurant was sufficient. Lying on a beach we just happened to spot at the bottom of a steep cliff was just right.

What do you think about vacations?

FAITH Q & A

Q: After a couple of generations of not attending a church how is the Christian message passed on to following generations?

A: To address this question, I think we need to get humble and in a posture of repentance. First, the “Christian message” probably has less to do with “attending a church” than we might think. Remember, Jesus taught outside religion, not inside. He taught primarily about wealth and power, the two subjects least likely to be addressed in a typical American church, especially with the content that Jesus conveyed. He spent little time on worship and symbolic actions, our two primary efforts in church, and a lot of time actually feeding and healing. He went 24/7 with his disciples, not 75 minutes on Sunday, and he took them far from their homes, rather than sending them home at 12:15pm.

Second, people still seek out the Christian message. They just don’t do it by attending a Sunday service in our churches. Many are convinced they won’t hear the “Christian message” in our churches, at least not what Jesus said and did.

That might feel unfair. But it should cause us to question our approach. Rather than blame people for not worshiping with us, we should ask how we could do a better job of serving people who yearn to know God.