Your tacos are better than ours!

I remember saying that one time to some friends who had us over for supper. The meal was tacos and they were the best tacos we'd ever had. But the thing was, there wasn't anything fancy about them, no special sauce, no magic ingredient, just tacos and fixings, and yet they were delicious. I wonder if the awesomeness of those tacos wasn't actually in the taco themselves, but rather in the gift of hospitality from some dear friends. I could've used the same meat, same seasoning, and same fixings and wound up with the same tacos- but they probably wouldn't have tasted as good because I had to prep them myself.

When it comes to serving and ministry, there's perhaps a correlation- there's all kinds of things that people can do themselves, but sometimes there's magic in serving others in simple ways, ways that they could have done for themselves (like making tacos), and when you serve them, there's a magical result (like the best tacos ever).

It's for the children

As long as there are under-resourced people, there will be opinions and theories as to why people are under-resourced. Some will argue that it's bad luck whether that's a medical disease or a natural disaster. Some will say it's the result of poor planning whether that's not having an 'emergency fund' or whether that's having skills in an area that's no longer needed (typewriter maintenance, for instance, or many American manufacturing jobs). Some will say it's the result of bad government, whether that's too many taxes (and thus not enough incentive for businesses to hire employees) or too little taxes (and thus not enough money to provide for unemployment and job training for those who are in between jobs). Some will say it's the result of attitude.

When people fall on hard times, or when 3,000 kids in the Sioux Falls School district don't have enough to eat on the weekend, or when billions of people live on less than $2 a day, it's natural to ask 'whose fault is this?'.

I'm not sure I can answer that question, but I know whose fault it isn't- it's not the children's fault.

It's not the Ethiopian orphan's fault that her mom and dad both died from AIDS.
It's not the Sioux Falls' first grader fault that her parents are recent immigrants here.
It's not the Sioux Falls' middle schooler's fault that one parent isn't in the picture and that one parent works two jobs just to make ends meet.
It's not the foster care kid's fault that mom, dad, or both made dumb decisions and thus can't parent him.

I think what motivates most if not all of our interest in serving the community- from Sioux Falls to Sudan- is this realization that there are children's lives at stake. Children who didn't take a drug, children who didn't drop out of high school, children who didn't contract AIDS, children who didn't commit a violent act, simply children. We can argue all we want about whose to blame for the world's ills, but we should be able to agree on who isn't at fault . . . and then do something about it.

Old Testament Speed Bumps

The Old Testament gets a bad rap, and probably deserves some of it. The weird laws in Leviticus, the nauseating censuses in Numbers, the explicit instructions for the Tabernacle and later the Temple.

But then you come across two of the more interesting chapters you will ever see back to back- 1 Kings 22 and 2 Kings 1. Both involve the ongoing struggles between prophets and their kings, both involve the kings getting prophetic words that they didn't care for too much, and both are colorful and downright entertaining (especially when read in the New Living Translation). It can be tempting to skim past the Old Testament, but doing so means you'll miss out on these gems.

SOPA? PIPA? LMNOP?

Confused about SOPA or PIPA or why there was a big black box on Googe the other day? I was too, so check out this video that explains some of it.

And, the TED site where this video comes from is an excellent site to learn about just about anything.

Riley's Science Experiment

Hi this is Riley! I'm doing a science experiment and would like you to read my story here. Thank you!

Sunday School

In my time at Hillcrest, we've offered different options that you'd consider Sunday School. We've had full Sunday morning programming, limited Sunday morning programming, and programming inbetween those the full and limited options.

With that in mind, here's a good article on Sunday School.

Incognito

An interesting book from David Eagleman called Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain reveals some new insights being gleaned from recent research on the human brain. One of the ideas- probably not surprising- is that the brain operates like a team of rivals. There's an emotional part of our brain and then a rational part. The rational part can answer a math question but can't begin a conversation with a coworker. Eagleman argues that the brain works better with these two competing forces, and then makes this insight concerning human morality and ethics:

When we talk about a virtuous person, we do not necessarily mean someone who is not tempted but, instead, someone who is able to resist that temptation. We mean someone who does not let that battle tip to the side of instant gratification. We value such people because it is easy to yield to impulses, and inordinately difficult to ignore them.

In this case our emotional brain wants the instant gratification. Our economy is full of examples from sub-prime mortgages to how much debt we carry on our credit cards. There's other examples too in relationships, in academics, our careers, etc. One part of us wants to take the short cut, to feel the pleasure immediately, to cater to our wants and desires. All of us deal with those temptations. The key is not give in to those things. And while those of who follow Jesus have known about this struggle and duality for some time (think of Paul in Romans 7), it looks like the science is catching up!

The Cost of Giving

There's an interesting passage at the end of 2 Samuel 24:

David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.”
22 “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. 23 I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.”
24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen.

I think this is an incredible passage when it comes to giving. David was the king- he didn’t need to pay for the threshing floor or for the sacrificial animal. In fact, it probably was an honor for Araunah to give it to the king. But David isn’t going to give God something that doesn’t cost him something.

The fact remains that very few Christians tithe (give 10% of their income). The last research I saw was 3% of Christians- all Christians in America- give 10% of their income to their churches. If you add in giving to other non-profits (food banks, United Way, other agencies), the number who give 10% of their income away jumps to 6% of Christians- an encouraging jump but still a depressing statistic.

Some will argue- correctly, by the way- that the tithe is an Old Testament principle never mentioned in the New Testament. And to counter that principle, prominent Christian leaders such as Tim Keller will argue- in my opinion, correctly- that “tithing is a minimum standard for Christian believers. We certainly wouldn’t want to be in a position of giving away less of our income than those who had so much less of an understanding of what God did to save them” (Counterfeit Gods, 62). Keller’s argument is that the Old Testament knew not of Jesus, a cross, a resurrection and gave 10% of their income to God. Today, we do know of Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection so his argument is that we ought to give more- not less- since we know the price God has paid for us.

When it comes to Christians and giving, there can be lots of energy placed spent the amount we give and not as much energy on whether our giving costs us something. Obviously, every time we give it literally costs us something, but does our giving represent a sacrifice being made in our life? And whether it’s our money or our time, I think the same principle applies to our lives. As the Matthew West sings, we can ‘throw a twenty in the plate but never give until it hurts’. And to circle back to where I began, the percentage or the amount one gives isn’t the point. For David, his gift had to cost something, even though he was the king. And when we give- be it to a church or nonprofit, it also should cost something.