Would You Like Fries With That . . . Prayer?

Posted on April 25, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

I admit that when I first saw the headline about the Prayer Drive-Thru at the Fort Lauderdale church, I was prepared to heap scorn, judgement and cynicism on the concept.  But after I got some details and after I thought about it some more, I started to kind of like the idea.

According the an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Christian Life Center has been waving cars into its drive-thru on Friday afternoons.  The response has grown to about 25 cars during the 2 hours it’s open.

There are certainly worse places to stop for “refreshment” on the way home at the end of the workweek.

The prayer volunteers greet those who pull in, then  just listen to their concerns.  Even without the prayer, the church is providing an awesome service.  How many of us really get listened to these days?  Sure, we post all about ourselves on Facebook and Twitter (and in Blogs), but what’s missing is the person-to-person investment of presence, time, and attention.  That’s true even in the church, as more and more ministry is done electronically.

That’s true for me.  As a pastor, I visit folks in the congregation as much as I can.  But often there’s only time for a phone call, or an e-mail, or, if I want to reach lots of people, a post on the congregation’s Facebook page.  Opportunities for face-to-face ministry with folks outside the congregation are even more limited.

Despite my initial skepticism, I believe what the members of the Christian Life Center down in Florida are doing is a valiant attempt to take the Gospel to the people. There’s a lot to be said for listening to folks  and praying with them about their problems – whether small or supersized (sorry).

I agree with prayer drive-thru patron Montreuil, quoted in the Sun Sentinel article saying, “To a casual observer, it may seem like it’s cheapening faith.  But it’s truly an additional opportunity to connect with people at the time of their need.”

BUT . . . there’s also this quote from Fred Greenspahn, a religion professor at Florida Atlantic University:  “People don’t like institutional structures, especially those connected with religion.  They want spirituality, but they don’t want to pay for the lights and water.”

Greenspahn is speaking positively about the prayer drive-thru, but there is a real wake-up call to the church (not that particular church, the Christian church in general) in what he says.  In a post-modern, Gen-X/Gen-Y/Millennial  culture where folks are looking for “Spirituality without religion,” the church has to do a better job of getting the message out that it’s not spirituality OR religion that people need.  It’s Jesus.

And what the church can offer within an imperfect institution is something beyond the ephemeral experience of a drive-thru ministry.  What the church has to offer is relationship.  We were made for relationship – for relationship with Jesus certainly, but also for relationship with brothers and sisters in Christ.

So the question I’m pondering is this  – How can the church offer the outreach and accessibility of drive-thru prayer while at the same time fulfilling the Great Commission command to “make disciples” and ultimately integrating folks into relationship with Jesus Christ and with each other?

Posted in Christian Living, Christianity, Church, Prayer | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Small Sacrifices

Posted on April 23, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

While I was dusting the living room this morning, a book fell off the shelf and a small ID card fell out.  It was my dad’s Building Pass from the Seaboard Railroad building in Jacksonville.  My dad worked for the railroad from his early 20’s until he died in 1987 at 52.

My dad worked hard.  He  worked two jobs once my sister and I were both in college, but no matter what else he did he was always a railroad man.  At Seaboard he ended up in the accounting department.  One day he took me up to the Board Room where, before the executives gathered each morning, he would create charts of the previous day’s financial activity.  I was unimpressed; maybe he knew that later I’d be as proud of him as he was to show me.

The Building Pass reminded me of another time I went to that building.  The summer after I graduated from high school, my girlfriend’s father got me an internship in the computer department of Independent Life’s home office.  The Seaboard Building was right down the street, so on my way to my first day of that job I stopped in to see my dad.

My father’s office was a very uptight place.  I showed up in my khakis and dress shirt and tie; I thought he’d be really proud of me.  The first thing he said, though, was, “Where’s your belt?”

“Belt?! I don’t need no stinking belt!”

I didn’t say that, but that’s kind of what I thought.  I never wore a belt.

Before I said anything, he had his own belt unbuckled and pulled through the loops.  He handed it to me.  “You can’t show up the first day undressed.”

What could I do?  I put on the belt, thanked him (I hope) and went on my way to work.

It wasn’t a big thing, I know.  But I bet he felt half-naked the rest of the day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his colleagues didn’t razz him about forgetting his belt.

As I look at his Building Pass and think about how much I miss my dad (I can’t believe it’s been 25 years), I remember the lesson he taught me that day. . .

It’s the little things we give up that are important.  Big displays of self-martyrdom aren’t necessary.

Small sacrifices as a way of life show other folks we love them.

Posted in Christian Living, Christianity, Parenting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A-Broadening Our Horizons

Posted on April 20, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

We’re hosting an exchange student from France.  She’ll be here for 11 days.  Last month we had a student from The Netherlands in residence.  It is lots of fun to experience daily life through the eyes of someone from another place.  Supermarkets that stay open until midnight,  multiple chemicals in food ingredient lists, bike trails with speed limits, “cheese in a can” . . . those things we don’t normally notice can be sources of fascination and fun for foreign folks.

I asked our French student what was most different here in the US.  She said, “Everything is bigger.  The cars are bigger, the roads are bigger, the distances you travel are bigger.”  She also observed that everyone seemed friendlier.  But I was most happy when she said that church in France was boring, but our service last Sunday was fun.  I’m glad she happened to be here for Youth Sunday!

In June, my daughter will be heading for the Netherlands to stay with the Dutch exchange student for 10 days.   When my daughter leaves, there will be many tears at the airport.

Mine.

It’s worth letting go of and missing my daughter to give her the opportunity to experience life in another culture.  As soon as I could get out on my own, I traveled as often and as far as I could.  I want my kids to have the same interest in experiencing the world.  That’s why the first thing we did back in 2003 with the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire winnings (well, the second thing after tithing to the church) was to book a family trip to Iceland and England.  I hope that experience while my kids were young planted a lifelong desire to see the world beyond their backyard.  Since then, my son’s been to Italy and my daughter’s going to the Netherlands, so maybe it did.

Why is travel, especially international travel, so important?

Here’s my favorite writer answering that question in one of my favorite books:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. – Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

And here’s what a much lesser writer (me) wrote while on a trip to India in 1993:

Here I am at the Taj Mahal.  I’ve seen pictures of it all my life.  Symbolically, the Taj Mahal is India.  

I’ve found a bench in a corner to the side of the tomb itself; away from the crowds of tourists and away from the guides who want to show me the “best picture spot” for a few rupees.

I need some time alone to appreciate where I am and how lucky I am to be here.

The sun is hot, but a cool breeze is blowing.  The river that runs down below is very shallow but it provides a rest for the sparkling white herons and a host of chattering smaller water birds.  Unearthly (at least for my part of the earth) grunts and groans reach over the river from camels put to work in a field beyond.  They add to the cacophony of voices from the many laborers in that field.

I am at the Taj Mahal!

But the feeling I have of checking things off some internal list of “Places to See” is hollow, and reminds me that the reward of travelling for me is not what I see, but what I learn about myself, which most often comes from the people I meet.

From a Christian perspective, Jesus made it clear that our neighbors aren’t just those in our communities or our countries.  Meeting our neighbors around the world helps us to remember that and to develop empathy beyond our limited experience.

Who knows what equivalent wonders to “cheese in a can” await us in the far corners of the world?

Posted in Christian Living, Christianity, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Who Would Jesus Bully?

Posted on April 18, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

What if Christians spent less energy trying to control the behavior of others and put more energy into conveying the love of Christ?

That’s the question that came to mind as I read the heartbreaking  story of bullying and suicide in the Annoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota. (For a shorter summary, check out Slate’s update here.)

Very briefly, “In the last few years, LGBT and gender-bending students in the Anoka-Hennepin district have reported being mocked, urinated on, and physically harmed by their classmates, and nine students, four of whom identified as gay, took their own lives. In 2011, six students represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights sued the school district . . . The students’ lawsuit described an ‘epidemic of anti-gay and gender-based harassment within District schools’ that was ‘rooted in and encouraged by official District-wide policies singling out and denigrating LGBT people.'”  (From the Slate article linked above.)

I pounded out some questions and thoughts right after I read Rolling Stone’s account of the tragic events (first link above).  Usually I carefully polish what I write on this blog, but today I am going to post those reactions in their raw form.   I hope they express my disappointment – not so much with the kids who perpetrated the bullying, but mostly with the Christians in authority whose actions served to perpetuate it.  Obviously these are not fully formed thoughts, but I hope they will give you something to think and pray about . . . and to discuss, if you are so inclined.

  • Does bullying bring people to Christ, or does it necessarily push them away?  Is bullying our best response to the Great Commission?
  • Does bullying show people Christ?  What kind of “Christ” does it show them?
  • If we believe it is faith that saves, if we believe that the Holy Spirit creates faith, if we believe that it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin while redirecting and guiding us . . . why is it that we expect those who are not believers to act as if they are guided by the Holy Spirit?
  • We seem to pick and choose the “sins” on which we  focus.  Among Christians, our emphasis, at least publicly, is largely on things like keeping gay folks from marrying and keeping illegal immigrants out of the country.  Are we picking and choosing wisely?  Are we picking and choosing as Jesus would?
  • Is that where Jesus put the emphasis in His ministry?
  • It seems to me that Jesus, and the writers of the New Testament, were much more concerned with the behavior of those within the church.  Paul in particular worried about how Christians’ actions would reflect on the church in the wider community.  His concern was how that behavior would represent the faith of the ones who purported to believe.
  • I don’t read a lot in the New Testament about trying to control those outside the church.  What does Philip say to the Ethiopian eunuch?  “Your sex change is an abomination.  You’re damned!”  No!  He says, in effect, “Let me tell you about the Savior who has come who was prophesied many years ago by Isaiah to die for you.”  And what did Isaiah say about that Savior – what did Jesus read from Isaiah about himself?  “To proclaim good news to the poor . . . to set the oppressed free,”etc.
  •  What are our priorities?  What were Jesus’ priorities?
  • I volunteer to lead worship in a prison once a month.  There are those who I would bet would be less upset about ministering to murderers, rapists, and what-have-you than about a ministry outreaching to homosexuals.  The message in the prison is clear – “God loves you no matter who you are, no matter what you have done!”  THEN let’s talk about changing behavior.  Our message to gay folks comes across as “Stop being so gay!  THEN we’ll talk about whether God loves you.”  The implicit message is God will love you IF . . .
  • The bottom line is this – kids are killing themselves at least in part because of the way Christians treat them.  Would Jesus call those kids names? Would Jesus insult by saying, “That’s so gay”?  The only people Jesus called names were the “religious” folks, so afraid of losing their control-based power in light of the grace-infused message of Jesus Christ.
  • What are we so afraid of?  Losing power?  That our kids are going to catch “gayness?”  Is their sexuality so tenuous that it depends on their freedom to hit and taunt the effeminate kid in gym class?  What are we teaching our kids?????
  • How are we doing?  Are we trusting the Holy Spirit?  How are we fulfilling the Great Commission?

(And before you write an angry reply saying that I am “endorsing homosexuality” or something, please note that I did not in any way comment on the sinfulness – or not – of homosexual behavior.  That’s not germane to this  at all.  It’s about this – How do we treat our neighbor, especially our neighbor who is “different?”  And this – How do we best convey the Gospel to those who need it desperately?)

Posted in Christian Living, Christianity, Homosexuality | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Questions In Church?!

Posted on April 16, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

Where did we ever get the idea that Christians shouldn’t ask questions about their faith?

Not from Jesus.  Dozens of times (80 by one count) in the Bible, people ask Jesus questions.  He never rebukes the questioner; in fact each query is an opportunity to teach.  We should be grateful to the folks who had the guts to ask Jesus questions like these:

  • Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?
  • What must we do to do the works God requires?
  • How many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
  • Who then can be saved?
  • Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?
  • And one for this time of year: Is it right to pay taxes?

But somewhere in the last 2000 years, the power and authority of the church began to be threatened by questions.  Questioners were admonished,  shunned, or, at darker times in the history of the church, tortured and killed.

We may not be putting inquirers on the rack or burning their entrails anymore, but our spoken and unspoken attitudes toward questions are driving people away.

A few weeks ago, writer Rachel Held Evans posted a list of “Fifteen Reasons I left the Church.”  It’s an excellent and thought-provoking list which should lead churches to examine, if not their overt practices, the impression they give especially to those on the “outside.”  Two of her reasons have to do with the church’s attitude toward questions:

  • I left the church because my questions were seen as liabilities.
  • I left the church because sometimes I doubt, and the church can be the worst place to doubt.

As “The Unexpected Pastor,”  I am grateful that when I returned to church after my time away, I felt welcome to ask lots of questions.  And I did.  I never would have returned to church, and certainly never become a pastor, without the openness to inquiry I was fortunate to experience.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case in many churches.

I’m still asking lots of questions.  A faith that is unchallenged is a faith that never grows.  Do we really worry whether the Bible – if God! – can stand up to our questions?

I hope as a pastor I’m encouraging believers and unChristians alike to do what Paul writes in I Thessalonians 5:21: “Test everything.”

This week at my church, we’re starting an evening Bible study based on questions submitted by the congregation.  The next couple of  Sunday sermons will also deal with the most popular questions.  I’ve gotten some GREAT questions . . . it’s going to be a challenging Bible Study and sermon series to plan.  But, I’m sure it’s going to be a faith-growing experience for those who attend and for the teacher (that would be me).

Do you have questions?  What do you wonder about the Bible, or about God, or about the church?  It would be fun to bat around some questions on this blog.  You can post questions on the comments below or use the “Contact” button above.

UPDATE: On Friday I wrote about how a a missionary named Dan in Vienna  had planted some seeds of faith back when I was an unChristian.  That was 27 years ago, but after I wrote that post I wondered if it would be possible to locate Dan.  I didn’t know his last name, but I knew he had been a missionary to Yugoslavia and I thought I remembered his home state.  That information was enough to find him via the wonders of Google.  I have since corresponded with him, letting him know the part he eventually played in my return to faith and ultimately becoming an Unexpected Pastor.  He is still ministering in the former Yugoslavia . . . keep him in your prayers if you’re so inclined.  Sometimes technology can help do very cool things.

Posted in Christian Living, Christianity, Church | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Sowing Seeds in Vienna

Posted on April 13, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

Backpacking alone through Europe  in 1985, I watched every penny – or pence, or lira, or pfennig – I spent.  The couple thousand dollars of savings I had left after I dropped out of Duke Law School and took off for Europe  had to last me for three months – until the date of my return ticket.  So when an American named Dan I’d just met on a train from Salzburg to Vienna told me he knew of a place I could stay in Vienna for only $5 a night, I paid attention.

And that is how this travelling unChristian ended up in a guest room of the European Christian College in Vienna.

I wrote a few posts back about the seed-planters God brought into my life during my time as an atheist/agnostic.  Dan was one of those planters.

He was a missionary in Yugoslavia, but he was on some kind of break in Austria.  I had no idea he was a missionary when I met him,  It was only after we got to what I realized was a Bible College in Vienna (“Hey!  What is this?”) and I asked him what his connection was that he told me.  I thought about leaving and finding somewhere less . . . spiritual . . . to stay in my Let’s Go Europe book , but finding affordable accommodations was the biggest hassle of wandering from city to city.   I wasn’t going to find anything that wasn’t a hostel for the price.  So I braced myself for the inevitable conversion pressure and figured I could endure it for a couple of days.

Only it never came.  Not from Dan, anyway.  There was the head of the college who invited us to dinner and a short sales pitch, but mostly he had a lengthy discussion with Dan about Christian doctrine during which I was just a bystander.  The college leader was very much concerned with doctrine, while Dan intrigued me with his more open-minded approach.

I spent the next couple of days touring Vienna with Dan and had a blast.  Among lots of sightseeing, I saw my first opera at the world-famous Vienna Opera House (the Staatsoper).  We got “standing places” tickets for 75 cents each, and met a guy in line who was studying music in Vienna on a Fulbright scholarship who told us to “follow me” when the doors opened and all the standing places-people sprinted for the best spots.  After securing our places, he  gave us a tour of the opera house.

Other folks reserved their standing places by tying a scarf to the balcony railing.  Neither Dan nor I had a scarf so I took off my extra pair of wool socks – it was winter – and tied them there instead.  Our guide said he’d never seen that before.

I learned a lot from the Fulbright guy.  Everything I had known about opera before I had learned from Dick Motta (the Washington Bullets coach who famously said when behind in the playoffs, “The opera ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings”), so everything was new knowledge.  After the opera we learned more when we went out to dinner with the Fulbright guy and some of his friends.

Oh, and the opera was Faust by Gounod.  And it wasn’t a “normal” production – the director was Ken Russell who directed the Who’s Tommy movie.  So it was kind of weirdly wonderful.

Anyway, I had a great adventure with Dan in Vienna.  We also saw “Cats” in German, and lots of historic and touristy stuff.  And we did talk about religion some, mostly when I asked him about being a missionary and about his faith.  Here’s what I wrote in the journal I kept: “It was good travelling with someone for a couple of days for a change, and Dan was a good companion.  And he never tried to push his beliefs on me as some people of his persuasion might.”

I really believe that God used him – and a few others like him – to help keep the door open when I was looking for reasons to shut it permanently.

And one more thing . . . Dan told me that if I ever wanted to find out more about being a Christian, I should read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.  When I started back toward faith almost 10 years later, I remembered that.  Besides the Bible, Mere Christianity was the most influential book I read – or have read – on my journey back to God.

You really never know how you might impact someone else.  The important thing, I guess, is to be open to being a seed-planter, and not always worry about being the harvester.  After all, as Paul reminds in I Corinthians 3, it is God who makes the seeds grow, not us.

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A Pastoral Letter To an Abused Woman

Posted on April 11, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

Dear Child of God,

First, and most important, the abuse is not your fault.  It doesn’t matter what you have done or haven’t done, the abuse is not your fault.

Your abuser’s behavior is HIS responsibility.  HIS sin is between him and God.

No one “deserves” to be hit or used sexually or even verbally assaulted.  Nowhere in the Bible are husbands, boyfriends, or anyone else given a mandate or permission to abuse you.  You do not deserve to be hurt.

Which is why the first thing to do is . . .

GET SAFE.

If you are being abused by your boyfriend, terminate the relationship NOW.  Get out.  Get away.  Get safe.

Of course he promises that things will be different once you are married.  Of course he promises to change.  Of course he tells you that if YOU would just change then he could stop hitting/belittling/raping you.

Run the other way!  You CAN do better.  God loves you and wants better for you.  No matter what your experience may have been, not every man is an abuser.  Marriage is a sacred bond instituted by God.  Do you want to base that bond on an abusive relationship?  Do you want to bring children into the world with someone who is abusive?  Get out of that relationship and don’t look back!

But what if you are an abused wife?  What if you have already entered into that sacred bond?

My counsel is the same.  Get safe.  If that means going away, leave.  You know better than anyone if it is possible to be safe in your present situation.  If you’re not safe where you are – and a realistic evaluation will probably  tell you that you’re not – then go to a friend’s house, go to a relative’s home, go to a shelter.  Or better yet, get him to go live somewhere else for a while if you can.

Get safe.  Get out if you need to.  Not necessarily out of the marriage – not yet – but get out of the place or situation where your abuser can continue to hurt you.

Now, there are those who will throw bits and pieces of Scripture at you trying to convince you that God desires you to stay in the place where you are being abused.  “God has you there for a reason,” they will say.  Or, “There are only two Scriptural reasons for ending a marriage, and abuse is not one of them.”  These folks often have the best of intentions and are usually simply misguided.

“God hates divorce,” they will say.  Yes, that is a direct quote from Scripture . . . and I agree, that is indeed what it says in Malachi: “God hates divorce.”

But God loves YOU more than God He hates divorce.  How can I say that with assurance?  Because I know that God loves you with a love that is INFINITE.  God loves you so much that God sent God’s only Son into the world to die for you.  Jesus died so that you could have new life RIGHT NOW.  He died so that you could look forward to eternal life with Him.

Jesus died because He loves YOU.

God loves you with a love that is without limits.  Certainly, if your marriage ends because of your husband’s abuse, God hates that.  God will grieve for that.  But God hasn’t, and God won’t, stop loving you.  God won’t stop renewing you. God won’t stop forgiving you.

A God who loves you that much does not want you to be abused.

Yes, marriage is sacred.  But that sacredness has already been violated – by your abuser.

Throughout history one of the sins of the human institution that is the church has been to use Biblical directives to excuse men who are abusers.  The church has told women who are being abused that they must stay with their husband no matter what because, after all, he’s the head of the household.

How sad.

The Bible directs husbands to love their wives as Christ loves His church.  Christ’s love is, above all, sacrificial.  An abusive husband is displaying the opposite of Christ’s love – rather than absorbing pain on your behalf (sacrificial love) he is inflicting that pain (abusive “love”).

And the truth is, the Bible calls on husbands and wives to submit to each other.

By his abuse, your husband has broken the promises he made to you on your wedding day.  He promised to love you, to cherish you, to take care of you.  It is he who has been unfaithful – unfaithful to the promises he made to you, and unfaithful to the promises he made TO GOD.

Some will say, “But what about forgiveness?”  Well, certainly we are all called to forgive those who hurt us.  Sometimes that takes a very long time.  But, God does not require you to be a doormat . . . or a punching bag.  Forgiveness is not the same as opening yourself up to be hurt again.

Forgiveness is also not the same as letting someone off the hook for the consequences of their behavior.

The primary consequence needs to be your getting yourself safe.

If you have kids, then it is exponentially more important to get to safety.  “He doesn’t abuse them,” you say, “It’s only me.”  But how long before the same ticking time bomb that showers you with shrapnel detonates with your children?  Even if your children are not being physically abused, it is at least emotionally abusive for them to live in a situation where mom is being hurt by dad.

What are your children learning?  What are they going to take into their own relationships and into their own marriages?  Is your little girl learning that “love” means being abused?  Is your little boy learning that men are supposed to hurt women?

Jesus taught and demonstrated how much He loves children, and He warned about harming them.  Get them to safety!

Let me be clear, I’m not telling you that you should necessarily jump directly to divorce.  No.  Get safe, then perhaps by the grace of God your husband will repent.  Perhaps he will make the complete change of heart and mind God desires him to make.  Certainly pray for him.

But do not even consider reuniting until he has taken concrete steps and made tangible changes.  One such step is a spiritual commitment demonstrated through action.  Another is counseling.  Why counseling?  Can’t God change him?  Certainly, but God works through human means all the time.  Someone who has a physical illness needs both prayer AND medical treatment.  An abuser needs both prayer AND counseling.

Make sure that YOU get spiritual support – and counseling – as well.  This is also vital for your children.

The unfortunate truth is that your husband may not choose to change. He may continue to push away the forgiveness and new life that God offers.  You cannot control that.  Ultimately, the best available option may be termination of the marriage.  That is sad, that is a tragedy, but because we live in a fallen, sinful world sometimes there is not a “good” option, only the best of unfortunate, imperfect options.

No, divorce is not God’s intention.  But it is not “the unforgivable sin.”  It is a tragic reality in our sinful world where two sinners (we’re all sinners!) come together in a sacred union.

Thank God we live by Grace, not by Law!

Never forget that God loves you.  God loves you not matter who you are, no matter what you have done.   You are forever God’s child, and, like any loving parent, God does not desire that God’s daughter be abused.

Christ’s peace,

Pastor Dave

(I did not write this letter to any particular person, but I hope it might be some comfort to those in an abusive situation.  I would appreciate feedback, including suggestions for improvement.)

Posted in Christian Living, Christianity | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fishing for Salmon . . . and Faith . . . In the Yemen

Posted on April 9, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is the new movie from director Lasse Hallstrom.  He’s made some excellent movies – “Chocolat,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” and “The Cider House Rules” are some of my favorites.  He also made “Dear John.”  Nobody’s perfect.

“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is a light, enjoyable movie.  Perhaps it is too light at times, but there is something to be said for, as one character says, “a story from the Middle East that doesn’t involve things blowing up.”

Briefly, the story involves a Yemeni salmon-fishing Sheikh (Amr Waked) with the titular dream.  He wants to go salmon fishing in the Yemen which is, of course, pretty much desert.  Ewen McGregor is Dr. Jones, a fish scientist with Asperger’s who is pulled into the Sheikh’s scheme despite his insistence that it is impossible.  There’s also a sort of love story between McGregor’s character and a financial adviser played by Emily Blunt, and a sub-plot about a soldier missing in Afghanistan, and . . . in the movie’s best performance, Kristen Scott Thomas as a ruthless (at her job and with her kids) Press Secretary to the Prime Minister.

At its heart though, this is a film about faith.  The Sheikh has faith in the improbable, and the fish scientist has faith in only what is concrete. That conflict is encapsulated in a dinner conversation between the sheikh and the scientist.  (You can watch it here.)

Here’s the heart of that discussion:

Sheikh: It would be a miracle of God if it were to happen.

Dr. Jones: I’m more of a facts and figures man.

 Sheikh: You aren’t a religious man, Dr. Jones?

Dr. Jones: No I’m not.

Sheikh: But you’re a fisherman Dr. Jones.

Dr. Jones: I’m sorry I don’t follow.

Sheikh: How many hours do you fish before you catch something?

Dr. Jones: Hundreds sometimes.

 Sheikh: Is that a good use of your time as a facts and figures man.  But you persist, with such poor odds of success.  Why?  Because you’re a man of faith, Dr. Alfred.  In the end, you are rewarded for your faith and constancy. 

Dr. Jones: With due respect, fishing and religion are hardly the same thing your excellency.

Sheikh: With equal respect, I have to disagree.

Now I’m no fisherman (patience is a gift of the spirit that I need to pray for more of), but I love the analogy.  Dr. Jones’ journey from skeptic to believer is compelling to watch.  In that sense, even in its lightness “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is a film with some spiritual heft.  With so many “Christian films” having the depth of a dry Yemeni stream-bed, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is a well worth watching and thinking about.

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For You

Posted on April 6, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

(For Good Friday, here is an excerpt from a short story I wrote which ends when a present-day man finds himself transported through space and time to Calvary.  At first he does not know where he is . . .)

With my eyes closed, the first thing I became aware of was the smell.  The stench stung my nostrils.  The air was redolent of rotting meat, of the acrid stink of shed blood.

This all happened in an instant and my brain raced to make sense of it all.  The grass of the lawn had given way to bare ground.  Dirt and sand pushed by an arid, unforgiving wind buffeted my face.  I began to sweat in the heat.

I opened my eyes slowly.  It was no longer night.  The warm glow of the street lights had been replaced by the blaze of the sun.  I didn’t see anything at first – it was like coming out of a movie theater matinée – my eyes had to adjust.

I became aware of the groaning.

I looked down away from the sun and noticed something shiny beside me in the dirt.  I picked it up and felt the sharp point.  It was a large nail.

I looked up and as my eyes continued to get used to the sunshine I saw that there was a tree in front of me.

I heard the sound of weeping behind me, and further back the sounds of a large, angry mob.  In front of me was only the groaning.

My gaze was drawn up the trunk of that tree.  The sun was almost directly behind the top of it.  I blinked against the light.  For the first time, I saw HIM hanging there.

I could make out only his silhouette.  The shadow slowly, rhythmically, rose up and down.  He breathed in deeply with every movement upward.  Each time he eased himself down he let out a long, low moan.

I felt moisture on the wind now.  It picked up speed.  A storm was blowing in.  In the distance I heard rolling thunder.

Clouds began to blot out the sun and I could see him more clearly.  I wanted to look away but my attention was locked on his suffering.  I pushed the point of the nail hard into the flesh of my hand to fight the urge to faint.

I saw . . . everything.  His pierced wrists and feet and his blood and his sweat filled my awareness.  I was so alive, so awake to what was going on that I could hear the drops of blood that ran from his wrists and plopped into the dusty ground.

I dared to look him in the face.  He had the most beautiful, most knowing eyes I had ever seen.  As his eyes turned to meet mine I was first filled with awe.  But then I was filled with terror.

He knew me!  He knew me better than I knew myself.  He knew beyond my ability to condemn myself how many times I had let myself . . . let him . . . down.   I searched his eyes and all I saw was a hint of accusation.

His rise and fall was much slower now.  He seemed to have to gather up all his strength just to take in a breath.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of his.  I began to see that I had misread those eyes.  I had seen them through a gauze  of self-condemnation.  What was there wasn’t accusation  at all.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.

I felt myself fading away from the scene.  I had seen just what I needed to.  I cried as I drifted away, but they were tears not just for his suffering but also for my joy.  My last perception of that place and time was when he spoke what I saw in those eyes.  He pulled his body up, took in another deep breath, looked deep into my being, and said this in a harsh whisper that was all he could manage: FOR YOU.

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Opening Days

Posted on April 4, 2012 by pastordavesimpson

What an awesome convergence of hope – Holy Week and the beginning of Major League Baseball.    Please note that I have listed these events in their proper order of importance. (A reminder to myself, perhaps?).

It’s Opening Day!  Tonight the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami (formerly Florida) Marlins will play the first Major League Baseball game of the season.  Our two local teams, the Orioles and the Nationals, get started tomorrow.

In the past, I’ve packed up the family and journeyed to Camden Yards to cheer on the Orioles as they opened their season.  It has always been a festive, exciting occasion with much pomp and ceremony.

Why is Opening Day so special?  After all, in baseball each team plays 162 games, so one win or loss is a very small part of the overall picture.

But . . . the infield grass is never as green as it appears on Opening Day, the home uniforms never so dazzlingly white.  The first whiff of hot dogs and peanuts, the first sound of a vendor yelling “Programs!” and the first taste of an ice-cold ($5!) ballpark beer summon the senses to the start of another season.  The day exudes an aura of anticipation, as all fans can dream that this will be their team’s year.  On Opening Day, every team is in first place, tied at a pristine zero wins and, more importantly, zero losses.  On Opening Day, even woebegone teams like the Orioles can dream of pennant races and World Series rings.

 Opening Day is a celebration of HOPE.

 But it’s nowhere near the HOPE we celebrate this Holy Week.  On Maundy Thursday, we remember the first taste of the Lord’s Supper as the disciples shared the bread and wine.  By the blood of Jesus shed on Good Friday, we are washed clean, infinitely whiter than those Opening Day uniforms.  Our “records” before God are unblemished, and will forever be.

Holy Week culminates in the celebration of God’s “Opening Day.”  On Easter Sunday the tomb was opened and we were assured of Jesus’  victory over everything that would separate us from intimacy with God.

Easter is the ultimate celebration of HOPE.

Play Ball!  (I mean . . . AMEN!)

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