“We’re All TV Preachers Now!”

“We’re all TV preachers now!”

I was laughing with some of my colleagues. Whether or not you were virus-screened regularly as 2020 and COVID-19 hit us hard, most churches were thrust into a love/hate relationship with video screens of all sorts. If a device had a screen, churches were scrambling for ways to beam their services onto it. We were suddenly tossed into the deep end of the video pool.

Many churches spent big bucks for equipment. Almost all churches spent some bucks. And we all spent a lot of time. Live-streaming is complicated. Even recording and posting later brought up all sorts of issues most of us had rarely considered.

 Yeah, and all of this video scrambling happened in the midst of pandemic mayhem of all sorts. Folks charged with trying to manage a mess no one would know how to manage. Pundits from the far left and the far right politically decked out with the unshakeable confidence crazy and foolish people always possess in spades and at high volume, doing their best to drive the rest of us crazy.

Yes, and in the midst of all of that—one pastoral colleague of mine did more than 25 funerals for members and friends, deaths directly related to COVID-19—pastors and churches were also trying to figure out audio-video. What a weird picture. But there we were.

The video might look good, but the audio was horrible. The audio might be okay, but the video was jinky. What cameras for live-streaming? Recording?

“Hmm, that thing I make phone calls with and allow to disturb my meals also has a camera . . .”

“Well, really my iPad does a pretty decent job.”

“I think I need an attachment to mount this phone to a tripod.”

“How many experts do I need to involve?”

“I think I need this cable and that adapter and fifteen dongles.”

“I’d like to try this brand of computer camera but they’re as scarce now as toilet paper.”

“I’ve tried four different microphones, and the only question is which is the worst.”

“Uh, oh! I just coughed! I wonder . . .”

I even remember learning about camera placement when, one Sunday, a viewer commented on my, uh, nasal hair.

Each day, each week, and each Sunday, we stumbled on. And, finally, most of us came to some resolution we could live with.

And now we’re stuck. Oh, maybe some of the craziness is a notch or two quieter. Or maybe we’re just used to it, and since we know which of our friends prefer which flavor of foolishness, there’s little point in blathering on.

But what I mean is, we’re stuck in video production. For good or ill, most churches will keep the cameras rolling post-pandemic.

It’s probably good to get our services “out there.” I’m glad that folks who literally aren’t able to come, or shouldn’t come in person, have this option. It’s kind of nice to see names pop up on the screen, folks who are friends from long ago or former members or family—or anyone.

Want to visit a church to see if you might want to visit in person? Video.

Genuinely sick or “shut in”? It’s not just that the dog seems slightly bilious or that the barometric pressure in Bolivia is not conducive to church attendance. I mean, you’re sick. Or confined at home. Video.

For a real reason that you need to prove to no one, you genuinely need to stay home that day. Video.

There’s that screen. Punch the right buttons and, if the folks on the other end have punched the right buttons, video!

But we’re friends here, so we can be real, right? For most Christians who are serious about faith, it’s time to suck it up and get back to church.

I mean, really. I like sleeping late and sweatpants and a leisurely breakfast, too. But enough’s enough.

Hey, you may say, I have a real reason to stay home and watch the video. You don’t have to prove it to me, of all people. Anyway, I trust you.

But I’m also sure you’ve probably noticed that most American Christians are more likely to die in their sleep than by any dangerous over-commitment to anything as brutal as, say, serious church attendance.

In any case, we’ll still beam out the video.

But here’s the deal: Christians really need more than that.

We need to bow in the midst of others who bow—and who think bowing together is worth some actual effort. We’re talking about worshiping the King of the universe, not just checking off a to-do list where “worship-lite” is a great alternative.

We need to bow with folks who also share hugs and smiles and needs and tears and meals and songs and prayers.

We need to lift our voices together, our spirits together, our hearts together, in a special place made holy by generations of worship offered and life lived together.

Not least, we need to worship together to remind us of our brothers and sisters oceans away who risk persecution and death to worship together.

A screen at need, okay.  But Sunday after Sunday?

For those for whom the church has never been a part of real life, not understanding this is understandable.

But Christians who worship the Giver of life should know better. And worship better.

Says a guy who is now also a TV preacher.

You’re invited to visit my website at http://www.CurtisShelburne.com, and I hope you’ll take a look there at my new “Focus on Faith” Podcast. At the website, just click on “Podcast.” Blessings!

Copyright 2022 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.

Knowing When the Time Is Right

“When the time had fully come, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4).

Ten words in English. Thirteen in Greek. Packed full of enough wonder to fill the universe. I’m baffled by even the first phrase, and that’s the easier part.

A quick Internet search for “discerning the times” (it has a religious/biblical connotation) turned up a few good articles on plotting a wise course in our lives and culture.

I should also report that the majority of articles the search brought up didn’t pass my smell test. I think it takes very little discernment to know to be wary indeed of self-proclaimed “end of time” gurus, esoteric seminar speakers, and prophecy conference advertisements. “Hold on to your wallet and back away slowly; the circus is in town!”

I always find myself backing away whenever anyone begins using “God told me” or “the Lord has revealed to me” language. I suspect that “taking the Lord’s name in vain” by verbally writing checks with his unauthorized signature is at least as serious as using his name in a curse or punctuating conversation with “Oh” or “My” and attaching the name of the King of the universe. Anyway, the folks in my life whose spiritual maturity I most respect almost never use “spiritual-speak” to signal spirituality.

For most of us, knowing “when the time is right” for life course changes, even in rather small matters, can require wisdom, reflection, study, good counsel, and, yes, prayer. Then we make a decision and take action.

For more than a few decades, one of my brothers and I have been editing a little monthly devotional magazine. (We’ve both been blessed to serve churches that are supportive in this.) My brother Gene will soon have been editor/senior editor for 60 years. Almost 40 years ago, he asked me to come on board as managing editor. We both have written many issues, edited a few jillion articles by others, proofread our eyes out, and much more. For 20 years, he did it all. In our work together, he’s done the fundraising, circulation, and all the business. I’ve done the issue themes, planning, editing, layout, and design. (The fun part.)

I remember Gene’s passing to me what is now a bona fide historical artifact: a large bottle of rubber cement, complete with brush. Gene taught me how to conceive issue themes, assign and edit articles, and lay out an issue completely by hand—creating dummy layouts, cutting and pasting, and indicating typefaces, sizes, etc., all in handwritten notes, marking galley proofs, cropping/sizing photos, indicating colors and screens, and sending it all in multiple mailings back and forth to our printer.

I once started developing some TMJ (jaw) issues and realized that I’d been holding pens in my mouth as I was working on the layouts.

Then came—oh, thank you, Lord—the days of computer page-making and QuarkXPress and then Adobe InDesign. The whole thing done on my computer screen. Rubber cement and dummy layouts retired. Almost heaven!

I enjoy creating pages, adjusting fonts and lines (kerning, tracking, and leading), working with photos (Photoshop), and playing with designs. Editing on-screen. I like this even though I’m reminded regularly of how much I don’t know about this craft.

Some simple math reveals that I’ve created around 475 issues over the years. That’s a bunch of deadlines. I’m usually late (in every sense). For some reason, I do most of my editing and layout work in the evenings, often late in the evenings, laptop computer in lap. My family has been understanding.

So here we are. Gene’s tenure, 60 years. Almost 40 for me. It’s been a blessing for us brothers to work together and work well together. It’s been a good thing. But even good things end. So, when? That was a hard question. We’ve wrestled with this, but we think 60 years of publication is a nice number. Our swan song will be the June 2023 issue. At least, that’s our plan.

Do I need to tell you that this is a bit like burying a friend? But that’s where this “discernment of the times” thing comes in. We began to realize that ending on a high note and with a great deal of gratitude to God for writers, donors, readers, and encouragers of all sorts is the best way to end. I won’t bore you with more of our rationale. But this decision, at a good and un-pressured moment, feels right and appropriate.

For all of us, it’s true to say that good things have beginnings, but they also have endings. Knowing “the times” is important. Who knows what amazing new beginnings the Publisher of us all has in mind for you and for me?

“When the time has fully come,” I’m confident that we’ll know.

You’re invited to visit my website at http://www.CurtisShelburne.com, and I hope you’ll take a look there at my new “Focus on Faith” Podcast. At the website, just click on “Podcast.” Blessings!

Copyright 2022 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.

In General, Americans Don’t Take Enough Time Off

Americans, in general, are rotten at taking time off. For decades, the statistics have been pretty clear about that.

Factor in the “Great Resignation” of the last couple of years, stupid (and ultimately cruel) government programs that pay folks more to stay home than to work, and “quiet quitting” (bad, I think, if you’re defrauding your employer; good, I think, if you’re establishing some boundaries employers should have to respect) . . . Factor all of this in, and, in general, Americans still don’t take enough time off.

I recently perused a Wikipedia article, “List of Minimum Annual Leave by Country.” It’s fascinating. And a bit depressing if you’re a U.S. citizen. You probably already know this, but we are one of the only industrialized nations in the world with zero “annual minimum leave.” I’m conservative enough politically that I’m not at all sure I want a Nanny State telling employers how much “paid leave” they must provide their employees. Having said that, it seems clear to me that most conscientious and valued employees in our nation deserve a good deal more of it than they get. And giving it, and encouraging its full use, would pay dividends to employers.

Why? Because we all work better if we don’t work all of the time. Most of the folks I know who are employed, or who are employers, work more diligently, harder, and more hours than they probably should. It actually takes more discipline for them to take time off than it does to just keep on shoveling . . . constantly. Working all of the time takes a toll on quality of life, health, productivity, creativity, and, ironically, quality of work. Even our Creator “rested” after creation, and we’re created to function best if we take regular time to rest.

Studies regarding vacations and “time off” are interesting, even if you don’t much factor in the type of vacation—a “let’s do a lot” or “let’s rest a lot” or an anything in-between vacation.

Folks have tried to analyze the number of vacation days it takes to really get rested. No surprise, the estimates vary. Some say five days is perfect, particularly with weekends on each side, and the middle day is the sweet spot. (Most vacationers are not preachers who must consider Sundays on each side.) Some point to a time closer to two weeks, saying that it takes the whole first week just to wind down and that the second week is heaven. I tend to think these folks are right. And I’d think a European-style three-week vacation would be paradise (though I’d likely need to work more hours to be away that long than I’d work if I just stayed home).

By the way, Departure Day and Return Day count in your official “vacation time,” but they do not count toward actual “resting” time away. They are usually brutal days, no matter how long you’re away.

And, yes, it’s quite true that anyone who is a business owner, sole proprietor, or manager, etc., knows that you generally work a ton of hours to get away for half a ton of hours. My younger brother, also a pastor, talks about the “pre-tripulation.” This is not a term regarding some “end of time” theory; this is the description of the exhausting work of getting ready to be away from work. One of the only times that I could wish I worked in a factory making widgets is when I realize it must be very nice to walk out the door knowing that widgets will still be effectively made while you’re gone, with no pre-vacation flurry of extra widget-making necessary.

Ah, well. Even, if before you leave, you find yourself wondering if the trip or vacation could possibly be worth the agony of the “pre-tripulation,” I’d suggest that it most certainly is. Press on. Get prepared. And get out of Dodge. More often than you do. And for longer times than you think you should.

Yes, that’s what the research says.

And, yes, I appeal again to a much Higher Authority and the Sabbath commandment. I think that command is full of meaning and mystery far deeper than just “You need to rest occasionally and you don’t need to work all of the time.” But those lessons are certainly mixed into the recipe. Regularly stopping and allowing God to spin the world without our help for a while means trusting Him in a very practical way. This takes more discipline than we’d think. It’s also worth a lot more than we tend to think.

Why not take a seat and ponder this a bit? It’ll be time well spent.

You’re invited to visit my website at http://www.CurtisShelburne.com, and I hope you’ll take a look there at my new “Focus on Faith” Podcast. At the website, just click on “Podcast.” Blessings!

Copyright 2022 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.

“Why Do You Call Me ‘Lord’ and Do Not Do What I Say?”

A fish out of water. It’s rather amazing how easy it is to be one of those finny creatures.

We’re not talking here about lip injections and a person (I’m avoiding sexism here) who paid good money to look like a largemouth bass.

What I’m talking about is being “out of your element.” That happens to all of us from time to time, maybe right where we live and right where we’re sitting.

You get called on to do something way out of your usual area of expertise or routine. You’re asked to make a speech at a civic club or, worse, a memorial service, and you never have done that before. You get a call from a doctor’s office. Just a few moments ago, you felt fine, but now you’re a cancer patient, and you’re pretty sure either the cancer or medical science is more than capable of making you feel anything but fine. A new world, and you’ve not even left your chair.

But sometimes, the “fish out of water” discomfort does indeed have to do with a change in geography and your place in it.

I remember years ago now (Was it really that long ago?) traveling to Uganda to see sons who were doing mission work there. When I saw bullet holes at the Entebbe airport left from the famous “Raid on Entebbe,” I knew we weren’t in Kansas. The guys weren’t kidding when they said we’d probably be better off keeping our eyes closed on the journey from the airport to Mbale. We didn’t, but, wow.

And then there was the day when I’d been teaching church history in a nearby village, my son was driving me back to home base, and a soldier with an AK-47 motioned for us to stop, and we didn’t. I was simply told, “Don’t look at him. He just wants a bribe, and I don’t want to mess with it. If he was wearing “XYZ” uniform, we’d stop.”

A few days later, I was rafting down Class V rapids in the Nile with another son. I listened really carefully at the “so you don’t drown” briefing.

Years ago, my wife and I spent a few days in New York. Talk about another planet. Interesting place to visit, but I looked out of a hotel window near Times Square and realized that leaving the hotel and joining that mass of humanity also meant leaving my comfort zone and making do with a lot less personal space.

I spent the night at a fire station in Amarillo recently. My son is that shift’s captain at that station. Do I need to tell you I followed his lead? When the “tones dropped” and we headed down to the fire truck, I was excited, but sleepy and completely out of my element.

In some of these cases, and others, my sons and those who knew the “territory” were not only helping guide me, they were keeping me in one piece. I knew that. And I listened. Only a fool wouldn’t. But I don’t need to tell you that fools who are sure they’re the smartest person in the room are not in short supply, a danger to themselves and others. Unable or unwilling to listen to folks smarter or with more experience than they are, and even undercutting the folks they hired or appointed for their expertise, the un-listening dimwit bumps into stuff needlessly. And folks get hurt.

A little (or a lot) more humility is a blessing to us all.

For those of us who say we follow Christ, folks who are citizens of his kingdom first of all, this means asking his help to learn kingdom ways, even if we find that they don’t come naturally.

In humility, we need to listen to our Guide. If he really is our Lord, we need to ask for his help and his power to do what he says.

You’re invited to visit my website at http://www.CurtisShelburne.com, and I hope you’ll take a look there at my new “Focus on Faith” Podcast. At the website, just click on “Podcast.” Blessings!

Copyright 2022 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.

“Let Us Also Go That We May Die with Him”

It was in winter, the Apostle John writes (John 10), “at the time of Hanukkah,” when Jesus was at Jerusalem and in the Temple.

“Surrounded” by some really religious folks who demanded that he tell them “plainly” whether or not he was the Messiah, he did. Well, what he really said was, “I’ve already told you, and you didn’t believe me.” But he went on to say some amazing things that all lead to one answer: Yes.

One thing you’ve gotta give Jesus’ detractors here is that they aren’t even close to spouting the oft-spouted modern nonsense popular with non-thinkers, “Jesus was just a great human teacher.” No, they heard him, understood at least this part of what he said, and charged, “You, a mere man, claim to be God.” And then, not for the first time, they “picked up stones to kill him.”

Irony abounds.

The Son of God is standing in God’s “house.” The most religious of the religious are those who hate him so much that they’re picking up stones to use to kill him, and, all the while, they are feeling holy about their actions. Their already high opinion of themselves is becoming higher as their murderous ire grows.

When they try to arrest him—I suppose being arrested is better than being stoned to death—Jesus eludes them, and he and his disciples get out of Dodge. Well, they get out of Judea, crossing the Jordan River into “the region of Perea.”

All of this sets up the events that precede Christ’s raising of his friend Lazarus from the dead. It would also be true to say that the dominoes falling now lead straight to the cross.

The place to go for the full account is John 11. Read it, and picture in your mind the astounding story. I’ll mention just a few of the many interesting points.

Jesus gets word that Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha, all dear friends of the Lord, is sick. John tells us more than the disciples knew at the time, that Jesus is well aware that Lazarus will die—and then live.

The disciples don’t understand the situation. They would like to send a nice “Get Well” card, but when Jesus finally says plainly, “Lazarus is dead. Let’s go see him,” they know what that means. Crossing back over the Jordan is a high risk move likely to result in arrest and death. They feel bad about Lazarus and sad for his sisters, but they fail to see how going back into the danger zone and adding more deaths to his will do much real good. Yeah, let’s send a card.

It’s good for us to notice at this point one of the greatest actions of faith recorded in the Gospels. Thomas, much maligned as “doubting” Thomas, says, “Let’s go with him [Jesus] that we may die with him.”

They will go. They will head out to the cemetery with the distraught sisters. Jesus will cry with these people that he loves. The Son of God, fully human, fully divine (nothing less than both will suffice) will shed human tears, divine tears. Then he will command that death work backwards and life spring forth. Lazarus will live. Jesus’ detractors will harden their very religious and murderous resolve, and the most innocent of Passover lambs, the best of men, God’s Son, will die on the cross. Then three days later . . .

Thomas, faith-filled, said even more than he knew, and many more disciples than the other eleven still hear in his words a challenge and an encouragement, “Let us go also, that we may die with him.”

Much modern religion is about “sending a card,” maybe attending a meeting of the club once in a while. But when we bow together, more than a few who bow together would truly rather die with the Lord than live without him. And die with him they do. Imperfectly in themselves, but perfectly in him. Daily. And live with him they do. Eternally.

Oh, yes, faithful Thomas said more than he knew and much we do well to heed.

You’re invited to visit my website at http://www.CurtisShelburne.com, and I hope you’ll take a look there at my new “Focus on Faith” Podcast. At the website, just click on “Podcast.” Blessings!

Copyright 2022 by Curtis K. Shelburne. Permission to copy without altering text or for monetary gain is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.