No, You Don’t Know!

I know a man who responds to almost every statement with, “I know!”  It doesn’t matter if the subject is something totally unfamiliar to him, he still says, “I know!”  He knows (or so he says) about the upturn in the stock market, about the downturn in the publishing industry, and even why eggs are selling for twenty-nine cents a dozen.  I suspect that he spouts off as a reflexive compulsion so that he doesn’t seem like a dummy.

Most of us like to appear smart, maybe even smarter than we are.  We certainly don’t want to say something stupid.  This is especially true when the conversation veers into a range of topics that we are supposed to know something about.  From time to time, we even express an opinion that carries us past our solid knowledge.   That’s when we look around for a friendly face to back us up.

When you say, “I know,” you cut off the flow of knowledge into your brain.  There are thousands upon thousands of facts, circumstances and situations that would enhance, enrich and benefit you if you would only shut up and listen.  Your rush to appear intelligent confirms your stupidity.

When you say, “I know,” you make the other person feel unnecessary.  One of the incentives for good conversation is the opportunity to share one’s knowledge about his or her world.  Even if you really DO know something, wise interaction with others suggests that you keep quiet and allow them to talk about something they know about.  Constantly saying “I know,” makes them back off and go somewhere that they feel appreciated.    

When you say, “I know,” you ruin your ability to ask questions.  Terms need definition, nuances need exploration, people need identification and concepts need explanation.  A know-it-all forfeits the chance to learn more because the perception of appearing bright is more important than real knowledge.

When you say, “I know,” you deepen and prolong your ignorance.  I heard it said of someone, “He’s ignorant and proud of it!”  Let’s face it.  Automatically saying that you know something, probably means you don’t.  Your insouciant attitude about new knowledge guarantees that you will continue in your ignorance.  Critical information and salient advice will never enlighten your darkness.

When you say, “I know,” you operate as a fraud.  You know in your heart that you’re just blowing smoke.  Insightful people will soon figure out that you are superficial and won’t carry on meaningful conversations with you.  Even worse, sooner or later, your deception will backfire.  You will become a victim of your own scamming.

When you say, “I know,” people secretly laugh at you.  They probably know that you don’t know, and they lose whatever respect they may have had for you.  Sadly, your attempt to appear smart becomes the reason others think you’re dumb. 

If you don’t know something, admit it.  Let the other person be smart and tell you what you don’t know.  Ask questions.  Receive knowledge.  Praise others for their insight.  The smartest people I know challenge me with questions that force me to be certain of my facts.  Their voracious appetite for knowledge reveals their innate intelligence. 

The Politics of Race

Last week, an article appeared in Newsweek by Van Gosse entitled, “Why Are All the Conservative Loudmouths Irish-American?” The author evidently thought he experienced a eureka moment when the seed of this article exploded in his mind.  He must have equated it with the discovery of a cancer cure or the secret of time travel.  http://www.newsweek.com/why-are-all-conservative-loudmouths-irish-american-691691

Political discourse that is reduced to race takes civilization back to the dark ages.  It means that no one has a right to say anything unless he or she hails from the right race.  Ideas mean nothing.  Facts mean nothing.  Experience means nothing.  Only the right set of genes confers legitimacy on expression.  It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how educated you are or how insightful you are, if you don’t come from the right stock, you are nothing.

This might work in homogenous societies where few aberrations from the dominant race may be found.  Our society, however, boasts an unprecedented conglomeration of races, colors, sects, religions, tribes and ethnicities—far more than most other nations.  Because of this, racism of any stripe in America is lethal.  Unless we start celebrating unity instead of diversity, we will foment an endless civil war.  Why can’t we simply respect and admire all others rather than compare, evaluate, match, analyze and point out all the deficiencies and shortcomings between groups? 

Some say we cannot forget history.  To me, that means learning from past mistakes, so we don’t repeat them.  But, if it means that we have to rectify all historical wrongs, punish the children of all offenders in history, and judge the past by present standards, then we can guarantee racial strife in perpetuity.

The politics of race is grievance based.  Anyone who thinks our problems will be cured by recycling hurt through revenge, retribution and genocide, wishes the demise of this country.  I remind those who hold such malicious view of the words of Abraham Lincoln. “… that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Together, we live.  Divided, we die.  Journalists like Van Gosse may think they are bringing enlightenment, but they only snuff out the little lights that do exist.

Some Notes about This Blog

Hello!

Some of you have been perusing this blog for years.  Thank you for your interest.  You pretty much know your way around my fulminations.

If you are a visitor to this blog, however, its layout may confuse you.  I started it ten years ago when I had some down time due to back trouble.  At the time, I wasn’t sure what I was doing.  I just took a leap into the abyss and hoped it would be okay.  After a while, I wished I had set it up differently, but I just kept going.  I confess that it is not well-organized. I would call it a patchwork quilt, but I don’t want to insult all the quilting bees out there.  It’s more like an obstacle course!  Anyway, my posts follow current events, random thoughts and musings, assigned topics for periodicals, sermons I preach (or intend to preach), and responses to controversies raging at any given time.  I also include complete or sample chapters of forthcoming books.  Therefore, there is no overarching theme that informs or guides my material.   

The best way to navigate the blog is to type a topic in the search box.  Even that may not get you where you want to go.  It depends on how much time you have or how serious you are about researching a topic.  I have hundreds of postings, and many of them are analytical, cryptic and/or tedious articles mixed in with tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic or impudent rants.  Impulsivity triggers much of my writing, so you never know what you’re going to get.  That probably won’t change because that’s what makes it fun for me.  And, I’m not doing this if I don’t enjoy it. 

I’m often curious about the preponderous searches for certain subjects.  The subjects that spark the most interest are “alabaster box” and “spiritual power and spiritual authority.” (Okay, my computer says I should use “is” instead of “are.”  I don’t know.  “Is” sounds funny to me.)  I get the second topic, but why is there such interest in the alabaster box?  Maybe it’s the award-winning song, “Mary’s Alabaster Box” that my friend, Janice Sjöstrand wrote that inspires further study.  It could be the beauty of the story itself, but why this story out of so many in the gospels?  I don’t know.  Mysterious.  I guess it shows that people are greatly attracted to iconic or symbolic relics.  I heard one time that you could build a forest out of the splinters of the cross found in cathedrals all over Europe.  One would hope that the symbol is not as important as the theme it represents. 

Feel free to drill down deep into this blog.  Write me a note of response, whether it’s good or bad.  I do want to communicate my thoughts in a helpful and explanatory way—which is why I’m writing this particular piece.  (Did you know that the word “particular” is totally unnecessary?  So is the word “totally.”  My word processor fusses at me for using them.)  In the end, however, I listen to my own heart and write accordingly.  The enjoyment of the reader remains secondary to the fun of putting my thoughts into words. 

Race and the Church

I am heartsick.  The olive branch held out to an aggrieved race has been slapped down.  Martin Luther King’s soundbites have become clichés, rejected by activists as condescending, patronizing and phony.  Platitudes of love are out.  Peaceful coexistence is out.  Mutual acceptance is out.  We cannot merely debunk history.  We cannot just call out the founding fathers as shameful slaveholders.  We cannot offer conciliatory language, sanitized laws or affirmative actions. No.  The new campaign now embodies even more than the eradication of history.  It has gone far beyond that.  Now, it demands that we invalidate the very ideas, the basic concepts, the historic values of Americanism.  It seeks to rip the Constitution of the United States of America to shreds.  Reparations will not suffice.  America must be criminalized.

For me, a white man of a questionable age, my remonstrations are to be rejected out of hand.  I have no business offering my obviously biased opinion on race relations.  I get that.  But, let me ask a couple of simple questions that might affect all of us.  Where is this headed?  What does the endgame look like?  And one more question: how does the church deal with this? 

We are all aware of worsening race relations in society at large.  That cancer has now attacked the institution that ought to be its solution, the church. The evangelical church has traversed through a history of abhorrent racial hatred, to insipid tolerance, to outright embracing of diversity.  It has been a long, tortuous journey to this point, and I freely admit it is far from complete.  The last thing we need, however, is a general repudiation of the process.  Fred Clark and others like him preach a new kind of attitude.  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2016/11/09/white-evangelicalism-is-white-nationalism/.  In shock-intentional language, he impugns the ideas of “biblical inerrancy” and abortion as “clobber-texts” to condemn what he calls “white nationalism.”  But mad, malevolent spite only fuels the fires of grievance.  I searched for placatory language in his diatribe.  I found none.  Basically, he provides little else than the rationale for hatred.

Not only do Mr. Clark’s challenges frighten me, they dismantle all the progress the church has made to right the ship.  His views disparage all races alike.  In my lifetime, I have witnessed the purging and restructuring of offensive language, minorities’ ascendancy to positions of power and authority in the church, the celebration and pursuit of minorities’ talents in music, preaching and administration, and the recognition and blessing of interracial marriage.  I cannot speak for every individual, but, as a whole, the church has become colorblind. 

To all, let us remember that Jesus was not a white man of European descent.  He was not a black man with origins in Africa.  He was not an Asian.  Jesus was a Jewish man from the Middle East.  He was a man of color who belonged to a minority race.  He never intended the church He founded to be identified with or owned by any race, class or ethnicity.  “For God so loved the world …”  Further extrapolating that thought means that no race or class is to shape the church to its own liking to the exclusion of all others who have diverse characteristics.  Of course, depending upon where a local church is founded, any individual congregation will take on indigenous traits.  That does not mean, however, that they reject the existence of other nationalities.  In the bigger picture, we are all the body of Christ.  No one gets to re-write the doctrines of the church to suit any particular group. 

I understand that white is more than a color.  To other races, white represents everything evil.  I wish it were not so.  I deeply regret the sins of my fathers, and I denounce any tendency to give life to or continue their toxic views in any way.  As a leopard cannot change his spots, however, I cannot change my skin.  My heritage is mine.  I can’t trade it in for another.  I can only move forward—not in the documentation articulated in my political moorings—but I move forward in the love of Jesus Christ.  If we cannot work together, we will fall apart.  If we fall apart, we will destroy each other.  I do not ask for anyone to affirm me, or my views, or my race.  I humbly ask that we all affirm Jesus Christ.  In heaven, all are equal.  “ … Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Failing in this, none of us can survive.  If we blast a hole in the bottom of the boat, won’t we all drown?  Our best—our only hope—is to find common ground, however tenuous it may seem, and walk together.  There are eternal truths that transcend history.  Those are ideas worth fighting for.  Instead of expounding reproachful words and launching punitive actions toward each other, let us fight to preserve each other’s honor and well-being.  “Perfect love casts out all fear.”

Tweaks

You may not be in the market for a complete overhaul of your ministry.  The 105 insights you will read in this little book are labeled tweaks because you may only want a slight adjustment, a clarification of something that has become a little muddled, or a way to think about the job you’re doing.  After decades in the ministry, a preacher does learn a few things.  Sometimes, a shared insight on a puzzling problem can make a world of difference. 

No one stands alone.  We are all the products of other gifted people who shined a brilliant light on our pathway, often unaware of how much they were helping.  I owe a debt of gratitude to the many mentors in my life.  Because of them, I also want to be a conduit through which the wisdom of my elders can flow to those who come after me.  

“The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:9.

Leadership Is Largely Optics

Optics, a scientific term co-opted by the corporate world, refers to looks.  Leadership optics have an enormous effect on the demeanor of followers.  People are much more likely to pay attention to a leader’s body language, facial expressions and clothing style than those of his or her assistants.  Curious crowds gather by the thousands along the route of a presidential motorcade simply to see their leader.

In crisis moments, anxious times or corporate wars, a good leader displays a “take charge” attitude.  When the leader shows up, a calming influence prevails, and it’s more than words. Great speeches, in fact, have fallen flat due to poor optics.  Is it said that in 1960, Jack Kennedy won the first ever television presidential debate despite the superior performance of his opponent, Richard Nixon.  The difference was the appearance of the two men.  Noticeable beads of sweat formed on Nixon’s brow, making him look nervous and uncomfortable.  Kennedy, on the other hand, appeared “calm and confident,” according to TIME Magazine.  It is said that JFK won the election that night.

Spiritual leadership, of course, is far more than optics.  In our visual age, however, a leader cannot afford to ignore the way he or she appears.  Put inner trepidation aside.  Moses before Pharaoh, David before Goliath, Gideon before the Midianites, Paul before Agrippa, Peter before Herod—all of them found the strength in God to face down the opposition. 

People are watching.  They will feed off your strength if they can only see it.

Beware of orange fingernails.

No one dips into the experiences of life and comes away untouched.  Whatever engages the preponderance of your time and interest will manifest itself in your productivity.  If you read a great deal, you will share your knowledge.  If you travel widely, you will talk about the things you’ve seen.  If you meditate for long periods of time, you will speak thoughtfully with others.  The point is, you are what you do.  You can’t hide it forever. 

The corollary is also true.  Whatever you fail to do will also reveal itself.  Little reading produces an uninteresting personality.  Always staying at home limits your scope of experiences and makes for a humdrum existence.  Dislike of meditation leads to shallowness and impulsiveness.  Moses writes it another way.  “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23.

If you would rather play than pray, it will show up in your ministry.  If you would rather copy the work of others than dig deep into primary study, it will be seen in the way you preach and teach.  If you would rather escape rather than embrace the duties of ministry, the gaps will tell the story.  If you love ministry for what it gives you instead of what you give it, people will notice and pull away.  What you do or what you fail to do will tell on you.

Oh, yes.  Orange fingernails.  They let us know who’s been into the cheese balls.

Even More Tweaks for Preachers . . .

1. Humor is seasoning, not the main course.
2. Lone wolves get weird.
3. Trust your spouse.
4. Protect your voice.
5. College-aged sermons are lost on elementary level minds.
6. The more complicated your sermon, the less impact it will have.
7. Emulate, don’t imitate.
8. Real-life illustrations are better than Reader’s Digest stories.
9. A walk in the woods may do more for your message than quoting a Bible commentary.
10. An ethical spirit is more important than aptitude.
11. Don’t be co-opted by a duplicitous colleague.
12. Never be afraid of doing the right thing.
13. In competitive play, be lighthearted, not fierce.
14. Make every trip educational.
15. Treat everything thing you see, hear or read in the news media with healthy skepticism.
16. Never abandon your theme.
17. Under a microscope, everyone is ugly.
18. Learn the difference between a preference and a conviction.
19. Your ego may be your number one enemy.
20. Only the pastor, not assistants, should define and enforce church polity.
21. Keep your preaching from becoming haranguing.
22. Do not empower people without giving them specific parameters.
23. Finish strong.
24. All programs have expiration dates.
25. Always activate your word editor in public.
26. Sermons are like recipes: good ones are worth repeating.
27. Only full transparency makes your mentor’s advice valid.
28. Occasionally, ask yourself if you would do what you do if you were not getting paid.
29. Selfish leadership exploits people.
30. The antithesis of gratitude is greed.