Pastors with goatees and stylish glasses

Pastors with goatees and stylish glasses were considered on the cusp of ultimate "coolness" probably 2-5 years ago. Now, I think guys with goatees and glasses (i.e. me -- see picture to the right) mostly get made fun of. And probably rightly so. I've heard a lot of seasoned Pastors poke a little fun at Pastors who have a goatee, wear "granny-style" glasses and show movie clips during their sermons. These are the same Pastors who use candles in their worship service and drink beer and might even use cuss words from time to time. To be honest, all of that makes me a little self-conscious, because I've done all of those things (except cuss, that's just not my style). Actually, it makes me want to get new glasses and shave my goatee. But then, I would just be falling into the same trap: being too consumed by how I look -- just in the opposite direction. And quite frankly, I kinda like the way I look in glasses and in what I call a "goatee." (sidenote: I got my glasses at Costco. They have really good deals on glasses!)

Here are some examples of cool pastors/christians:

Exhibit A. Pastor Mark Driscoll: the unshaven, unbuttoned shirt look:


Exhibit B. Pastor Dan Kimball: the California, punk rock hair look



Exhibit C. Musician David Crowder: the classic old-style glasses with crazy goatee. a crazy 'fro too.


Here's my main point. I am a young guy, and I'm impressionable. I've spent the last five years probably getting too caught up in trying to be a "cool pastor." On one hand, I think it is a very important and good thing to try to understand our culture especially for the purposes of reaching it with the Gospel. On the other hand, I admit that young guys like me get really excited about the "newest, coolest, and most innovative" new techniques. I still have these tendencies. But I think I'm beginning to realize that the most important thing is not being cool, but rather the most important thing is getting your message right. If you're cool, and people think you're cool, and they're going to your church, but they aren't changed, challenged, and completely transformed by the Gospel, you've really accomplished nothing. I'm far from perfect, but I'm thankful that for the next two to three years, I am required to read books from theologians and saints from centuries past who did not have goatees or cool glasses. I doubt that St. Augustine or Abraham or Jesus or the Apostle Paul were considered stylish in their day. I'm trying to undrstand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The more I study, the more I realize how rich, complex and multi-layered it is. But my prayer for myself and all the other young cool pastors out there is that we will focus on things of first importance: understanding the Gospel, and taking it deep into our hearts and identities. Then, we can have debates about the coolest eyewear.

We Rocked the Vote

I meant to post this the day it happened, but never got around to it until now. But just so you know...

Ben did, too, but he was too cool for a sticker.

My German Friend Marty

I am reading a biography of Marty (Martin) Luther for my church history class. What an interesting dude. Luther came from a poor but hard-working peasant family. His father desperately wanted him to become a lawyer, but instead, he was struck by lightning and took it as a sign to become a monk instead, much to the displeasure of his dad. (at this point, I was wondering if Luther was actually an Asian boy born to demanding immigrant parents) For years, he tried with all of his might to live a Godly, moral life. He spent all his time praying, fasting, reading the bible. He attended Catholic mass and confessed his sins to priests about every little sin he could think of. Yet, he was tormented by the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he knew that even his attempts at becoming good actually just revealed how selfish he was: he wasn’t truly good for goodness' sake, he was just trying to be good to appease a righteous God and avoid hell. All of this led him to a great awakening in his life: that perhaps the Scriptures actually taught that the Christian life wasn’t about trying to be good…but perhaps that a life of faith was actually about admitting he could never be good and constantly trusting, believing and depending on a God who had died for him who had already made him completely acceptable before God; and being transformed from the inside out as a result.

Although today’s world is much different from Luther’s 1500s world, I can’t help but think of the nominal Christianity of America. Don’t most American Christians think Christianity is really just about becoming a better person and going to church so that hopefully their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds and they make it to heaven? Here are Luther’s words:

“You Lord Jesus are my righteousness, but I am your sin; you have taken on yourself what you were not and have given me what I was not.” (Luther’s prayer)

“The Christian life does not consist of being but of becoming, not of victory but the fight, not of righteousness but of justification [being declared righteous], not of comprehending but of stretching forward, not of purity but of purification.”

“The law says ‘do this!’ and it is never done. Grace says ‘believe in this man!’ and immediately everything is done.”

Lesson for Current and Future Married Men

I know that a lot of married men play with their wedding rings. They get bored or fidgety and start tossing it around, spinning it, etc. I saw my friend Jose do this at my last job and I also saw Conan O'Brien challenge himself to see how long he could get his ring to spin on his desk. Anyway, this is a minor pet peeve of mine because I am always afraid the ring will get lost. Ben does this fairly frequently and I tell him to stop, but he still does it.

So I wasn't too shocked when I came home one day last week and saw this on the kitchen table.

Me: "What is that?"

Ben: "Funny story..."

As you might've guessed, he had been playing with his ring and it rolled underneath the oven. So he crafted a hook device from some rolled-up magazines to get it out. 

*dramatic reenactment

Guys, please don't play with your wedding rings! Thank you.

Ultimate Kick-back Music

I don't know about you, but every time I listen to Jack Johnson, I immediately want to lay around and do nothing. It's the ultimate relaxation music. I got my copy of "Sleep Through the Static" and it's relax-erific. Artists I would like to see live: Jack Johnson, U2, Coldplay and Linkin Park.

On another note, Rachel and I saw "Waitress" last weekend and I would definitely recommend it. I owed Rachel a chick flick b/c we have been watching all action movies recently, but it is a very thoughtful chick flick and really captures some very real, human moments in lives of ordinary people. It also presents an interesting pro-life argument (though that is not its agenda).

Updates

Lately we've been posting a lot of thoughts on our faith and politics, but we haven't really blogged in a while about general things we've been up to. So here's a quick recap.

Early December - As you saw, we began learning (or re-learning, for Ben) how to deal with the New England snow. I feel pretty proud of the fact that we endured what was the Boston area's second-highest snow total in history for the month of December. Again, I also need to give proper appreciation to Ben for faithfully shoveling around my car and warming it up for me in the morning.

 What a great husband!

Late December - We visited with Ben's family in North Carolina and spent Christmas with them. In addition to eating, opening presents, and hanging out at home with everyone, especially the adorable Caleb, we helped out with a clothing drive at a local rescue mission, took a Pun family portrait, and had a fun double date with Pat and Brenda. I think Ben and I also watched the most movies in a five-day span of time that I've ever watched. Among the plane trips, the family time at home and the double date, we watched Rush Hour 3, Happy Feet (although I fell asleep - sorry, I was sleepy), The Great Debaters and The Simpsons Movie.

Fun with Uncle Ben!

New Year's Eve/New Year's Day - I had to work on NYE and we considered trying to find some "real" plans with friends for the evening, but no one seemed to be doing anything special. So we ended up staying home, falling asleep long before midnight, and toasting shortly after midnight with some sparkling apple cider. For the record, we were planning to have champagne until we remembered that we are not allowed to have alcohol in our home. Oops. Thankfully this came to mind prior to us buying any. We slept in on NYD, took a late afternoon walk and then went to see I Am Legend. (I think we're overdue for a chick flick. Especially after Ben got me to watch Unbreakable this week, too.)

Early January - I'm continuing to settle into my job, even taking on some new responsibilities after a colleague resigned to take another job. Ben has been enjoying the rest of his winter break while studying for a Greek exam and reading in preparation for his spring classes. We also enjoyed a fierce game of Monopoly with our friends Erin and Ryan, as well as a fun potluck dinner with our Citylife community group. We've gone through yet another major snowstorm (surely not the last for this winter), during which I managed to drive through what looked like Narnia and get to work ON TIME...perhaps a mistake, since even a good chunk of my co-workers, who are mostly native New Englanders, did not come in that day. But at least I made it to and from work without much trouble, and I'm pretty proud of and thankful for that. 

I know I keep blogging about snow, but it's just such an interesting learning experience for me, and sometimes for Ben, too. For those Southerners who haven't been through this - if you want to get a taste of what it's like to drive in an active snowfall, next time you're in the shower, turn and face directly into the showerhead. See all that moisture coming straight at you at a rapid pace? Fun, isn't it? (I'm being sarcastic, of course.) Also, I'm sure this seems really obvious, but if you must drive on a snowy day, the key is to drive either BEFORE or AFTER the snowstorm has happened. If you drive before, obviously the snow isn't there. If you drive after, you give the plows a chance to come through and clear the roads for you. If you're out there when the snow is coming down, you will always be driving on a significant layer of snow, unless you have the great fortune of being behind a plow truck. Folks, there's my lesson of the day for my fellow snow newbies. But enough of snow for now - although we would like to take and post some photos of Narnia soon. It is scary and beautiful all at the same time.

More to come!

Christianity according to a Porn Star

I read an interesting interview today between Willowcreek church and porn star Ron Jeremy.  Not surprisingly, Ron Jeremy is not a Christian.  But he made some interesting observations about Christianity:

I think Christians have a very chauvinistic attitude, and I don't think Jesus would go for that; 'If you don't accept Him as your Savior, you don't go to heaven.'  I think that's really mean...What He would say is 'You were a good guy that wasn't born and raised to believe in me.  I'll teach you about me when you get here.'  He's going to penalize you because you were born a Jew, a Muslim, Buddhist, or Confucianist?  He's going to blame you for it?  You spent your whole life working with kids and being a good person and being a teacher in the Peace Corps, but because your parents didn't teach you about Christ he'll say, 'Sorry, you ain't coming up here?'...So you're going to sit there and tell me that Jesus Christ wants it like that -- where you can be a serial killer and slice people's throats, but accept Him as your Savior five minutes before you die, you're going to heaven?

I love debating.  Sometimes with religious fanatics I just can't get a point across.  They say, 'Well, Christ doesn't like that.'  Great, then the argument's over, isn't it?  How am I going to argue with that?  They just throw the Bible at you.

First, Jeremy is right about several things.  Far too many Christians refuse to think critically and show that they really haven't thought through important issues.  It is much easier to just condemn non-believers then to really engage them in conversation.  

Ron Jeremy also poses the classic problems that most people today have with Christianity: it is narrow and unfair to say that Jesus is the only way.  It's a hard question that I think I've only recently been able to have anything close to an answer to.  But it is a flawed argument.  When you say that "all religions are valid" you are actually are being just as narrow as I am.  You are saying that your belief, that all religions are valid, is the right belief and everyone should convert to your belief.  You would have the same problem as a Christian would: if someone wasn't born in modern America where this belief is prevalent, that person would never have a chance to know the "truth" of your belief.  So your belief that all religions are valid and my belief that Jesus is the only way are equally narrow.  There simply is no way to have a belief/worldview that isn't exclusive.  The real question is which belief/worldview truly leads to peace and freedom in our world and from the human condition?

But I think Ron Jeremy misses what separates Christianity from all other worldviews.  He thinks that all religions including Christianity basically say that if you are a good person, if you practice your religion and beliefs, you go to heaven.  He rightly concludes that in his view, he is a good person and that therefore he will go to heaven as well.  Jeremy is right that all other religions assert that you are saved by doing certain things and practices.  But Jesus is radically different.  He says you are not saved by what you do.  Christianity recognizes that we are broken, and no matter how hard we try, we can't really solve our brokenness by joining the peace corps or helping kids.  I know that even if people might think that I'm generally a "good" person on the outside, I know my thoughts, my motives and my darkest moments.  I am always doing and thinking things that I wish I didn't.  I am always being too self-conscious or too materialistic.  I am not a good person, and no matter how hard I try, I can't get away from it.  But unlike all other religions, in Christ, God became man and died in our place: he saw that we could not fix our situation, so he came down to us, became a lowly man, was spit on, mocked and killed for us.  We are not saved by anything we do, we are saved only by trusting and receiving Christ's perfect record in our place.  Only Christianity offers freedom from our human brokenness because we no longer need to try to prove ourselves.  Only Christianity gives me the power to truly love others who don't believe what I believe because after all, Jesus loved me and died for me even though I constantly reject him.

  

Thanks Ron Jeremy for making me think.