Christianity is full of hard truths. For example:

• Eternal separation from God does in fact exist.
• When we say ‘Jesus is Lord’ by definition that means Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna and others are not Lord.
• Jesus’ followers are to tithe . . . which still means 10%.
• Sexual intimacy is blessed only in marriage.
• Jesus really will return one day to judge the quick and the dead.

In the eyes of modern culture, most of those assertions are delusional at best and evil at worst. In the eyes of many people in church, those claims are often met with skepticism and suspicion. Especially the one about tithing. But the question remains: how can a pastor or church communicate those kinds of difficult truths in ways that 21st people can still hear? Here are some guidelines we try to follow:

• Name the struggle: “I know this sounds almost crazy, but . . . “
• Acknowledge personal difficulty in accepting certain beliefs: “Sometimes I wonder how it is that a loving God would allow people to spend eternity apart from him . . . “
• Avoid cliches. Christian communicators are the least believable when they resort to tired cliches and insider lingo when teaching on complex issues.
• Embrace transparency. People do not like being talked at. The enjoy being taken on a journey as a fellow passenger. We are free with naming and confessing the ways we have fallen short in living out the very truths we try to explain.

Those are just a few of the principles we try to live by as communicators at Good Shepherd. I suppose when we get it right, we communicate hard truths in soft ways.  

Here's what's happening:   The United Methodists in metro Denver challenged the United Methodists in metro Charlotte to a food drive contest. Because, you know, our two cities are competing in the Super Bowl. So we at Good Shepherd are going to be part of these food drive shenanigans. You know what's even better?  We were going to collect food over the next week anyway!  Because our good friends in the Good Shepherd Scouting program are doing their annual "Scouting For Food" project between January 31 and February 7.  (You might remember our partnership last spring that collected more pounds of food than any other congregation ever had in Charlotte.  Ever.) So this Sunday (January 31), you'll see dozens of Boy and Cub Scouts giving you empty grocery bags.  Complete with instructions on how to fill them. Then you return your filled bag(s) on January 7 -- Super Bowl Sunday. Like I said, we were going to do this anyway.  Because the sermon series following PrayFast is called Three Weeks Of Love (Feb. 7-21), and we thought, "what better way to turn prayers into love than by collecting food?"  So we're doing what we were going to do anyway -- yet with some competitive juices fired by a Rocky Mountain challenge, I suspect we'll do bigger and better than ever. And now -- even better -- we get to join with the Scouts AND WITH OTHER CAROLINA METHODISTS to give an "In Jesus' Name Beatdown" to those Mile High Methodists from you know where.      

Not long ago, I began reading Paul's first letter to Timothy. I'd estimate that I have read through I Timothy between 25 and 30 times over the past 35 years or so.  (Interestingly, I've never based a sermon series on it.) But in spite of all that reading, I'd never seen what I saw on this particular re-read. Here's what happened.  Midway through what we know today as chapter one, Paul begins one of his "vice lists."  These lists are essentially epistolary pile ons: sin on top of sin on top of sin on top of sin, and the temptation is to skim through the list to get to the end. Here's how he begins: ⁸ We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ⁹ We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, get ready for the pile on to begin! the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, Ok, murder is sin; patricide even moreso. ¹⁰ for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, What we do with our bodies mentioned in the same breath as murder? for slave traders and liars and perjurers -- "Slave traders"?  Really?  Haven't we been hearing that the New Testament doesn't speak against slavery?   and for whatever else is contrary to the . . . At last!  The Vice List is over, Paul is getting off his ViceMobile and getting ready to wrap this conversation up.  And what's coming next?  "Contrary to the . . ."  The way of life?  The commandments?  The seven habits of highly effective people?  Nope.  Instead, it's contrary to the . . . sound doctrine ¹¹ that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. Do you see that?  Sin is contrary not to holiness and not to obedience but to sound doctrine.  When I read Paul's concluding thought there, it left me stunned.  I was skimming along, bored with yet another vice list, and then the Lord jolted me upright in my seat. Because the opposite of sin is not obedience.  It is solid, biblical, thorough, ancient TEACHING.  Sound doctrine prevents sin. Poor doctrine propels it. Are you listening, UMC?  In an era in which we blithely assent to the notion that doctrine and ethics are somehow disconnected, are you listening? And notice how Paul describes the origin of sound doctrine: "which he (God) entrusted to me." Meaning: sound doctrine is not something Paul invents.  It's something he inherits. May that be true of us as well.      

Last week, Julie and I spent a few days in a warm weather climate for a mid-winter vacation.  It's one of the benefits of marrying someone who for all practical purposes travels for a living -- she has all kinds of points piled up to make both travel and lodging blissfully affordable. Yet in many ways, this particular vacation was unlike any other we've taken in thirty-one years of marriage and in roughly four years of being empty nesters. Here are five reasons why . . .   1.  I remembered to pack my ab roller.  I forgot to pack my Fruit Of The Looms.  Thank God for Target.   2.  I will always remember where I was when I heard that the Eagles' Glenn Frey had died -- when our plane landed, my first message was from a good GS friend texting me the news.  Here's my favorite track that features Frey's vocals -- an much under-rated tune from his solo career, Part Of Me, Part Of You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5d0oo6eJhA 3.  Keeping with the music theme, while on vacation I read the new Tom Petty biography by Warren Zanes.   My favorite story?  Petty's lead guitarist, Mike Campbell, has long been in irrepressible composer of musical pieces.  He'd often build intricate tracks and bring them to Petty who would then write the lyrics and presto! a hit song.  Anyway, in the early 80s, Campbell brought one of the tracks to Petty, who was distracted with some personal issues at the time and didn't really understand the composition.  So Campbell took the tune to Don Henley who turned it into The Boys Of Summer.  When Petty heard that finished product he was so mad that he hit a wall with his fist, breaking his hand.  Petty's loss -- and subsequent fracture -- remains my favorite song of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6z_NfTe6SI     4.  Florida is the only place in the country where you can see a Millennial In A Man Bun alongside an Octogenerian In A Walker.   5.  We were originally scheduled to return on Friday, January 22.  Yet we realized on Wednesday night that with the impending Snowzilla in the Carolinas, that wouldn't work.  So we rearranged flights, checked out early, and landed home on Thursday night.  Good thing - the Charlotte airport was completely shut down all day Friday.

I have noted with many of you before the difference between people who "think to talk" and those who "talk to think." Think to talkers ponder, meditate, and plan what they are going to say before they ever say it. Talk to thinkers process their thoughts verbally.  They are the kind of folks who will talk for five or ten minutes and then declare, "and THAT'S what I've been trying to say all along!" On that continuum, I am an off the charts think to talker.  It's why I'm pretty good with a planned presentation -- say, a sermon -- and struggle with off-the-cuff dialog -- for example, a public debate. And yet yesterday, I was thrown into a situation in which by necessity I had to talk to think. How? Why? Well, the good folks at Abingdon Press had arranged an on air interview for me with syndicated radio host Bob Dutko, a faith-based personality broadcasting from Detroit. The interview was in support of the book The Shadow Of A Doubt. I quickly discovered that a live radio interview best suits people who talk to think -- and therefore, I had to change my modus operandi on the fly.  Something I'm rarely able to do.  So what happened? 1.  Three minutes before the segment is slated to begin, the show's producer calls me up.  In a very pleasant voice, she tells me to wait on the line and Bob will be on momentarily.  She also tells me that he has spent the majority of the morning talking about ISIS and the Paris attacks.  I die a little inside, fearful he is going to ask me questions about my view on American foreign policy, the rise of Islamic terrorism, or what I think of Mika Brzezinski's hair. 2.  At the exact right time, Bob gets on the line and we are on the air.  He pronounces my name correctly (sigh of relief).  He gets the name of the church, the book, and the publisher right (bigger sigh).  He immediately begins to ask me about the dichotomy of faith and doubt and not about the differences between Sunnis and Shiites (biggest sigh). 3.  Early on in the interview, I blurt out a line I remember from the book: 'Not many people doubt that God is great but a lot of them aren't quite sure that he is good.'  Which is a good line in the context of where I said it in the original sermon and where it's located in the book, but not such a good line in the interview.  Why not?  I don't have anything well prepared to say in follow up.  Which doesn't deter Bob, because he likes that line and continues to ask me about it.  I fumble around and am grateful for the first commercial break. 4.  By the way, throughout I am mindful of speaking through my diaphragm and not through my throat so my voice sounds like Chuck Swindoll and doesn't sound like Really High Voice Peyton Manning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyYc1Z9j948   5.  Towards the end -- after two commercial breaks -- I recover some of my mojo and begin to remember some of the book's strongest parts and some of my own best lines.  I even worked this one in:  in response to Bob's question about whether or not we're allowed to get mad at God I answered, "You know what God does with people who get mad at him?  He puts them in the bible.  Read the Psalms.  It's full of people shaking their fists in anger at God.  Because shaking a fist in anger is really just a prelude to raising a hand in praise."  Hey!  That one will preach!  Let me think about it for awhile . . .