dancing cripples

I’ve lived in State College for almost 18 years.  I didn’t come to State College as a Penn State football fan.  My first significant introduction came in the 1986 season, mostly through the national championship game against Miami.  I was cheering for Penn State, but primarily because I hated Miami, not because I loved Penn State.  But as a former linebacker and at that time current college football coach, what wasn’t too love about Shane Conlan and Coach Paterno.

When I interviewed for the job of lead pastor at Calvary, part of the interview was public q&a with Calvary folk.  I remember someone asking the question of title, “Dan what do  you like to be called?”  My response — without thinking — was, “If I could choose, my preference would be for everyone to call me coach, as coaching is my favorite model for leadership and ministry.”  Bob McClaughlin, a long-time member and former pastor, was the first to respond.  ”Good luck.  In State College, there is only one coach.”

It seems like most everyone in State College has a Paterno story.  The last few days we have heard many of them.  Some of them have given us a peek behind the curtain.  Some have simply confirmed what we thought we knew.  Some of them have challenged us.  Some have caused us to laugh.  Many have in some way inspired us to look inside and ponder how we can make an impact in our world.

My Paterno stories are few and superficial.  In the first year or two that I was here a Calvary member invited me to a Penn State Quarterback’s Club luncheon.  That was probably the closest I got to Joe for any length of time.  I spoke at a football chapel or two, but he wasn’t in the room when I spoke.  I never shook his hand or spoke directly to him.  In the almost 18 years that I’ve been here, other than when I sat in the stands, I’ve seen Joe in person, just a few times.

But I think, better than a few momentary interactions, I’ve gotten to know a number of the people whose lives he impacted, mostly football players who attended Calvary, coaches who were a part of the staff, and a few Penn State leaders who worked with him.  As speaker after speaker, at the memorial on Thursday, reminded us… the legacy he left was in the lives he impacted far more than in the games he won.

That’s what has grabbed my attention the last few days, the legacy of influencing people for the good.  What does it take for us to leave that kind of legacy, live that kind of life?  You can’t live in State College for 18 years and be unaware of the impact of his life, but as his son Jay said it’s only in the evening that the full magnitude of the day can be evaluated.

As a coach, as a pastor, and as a leader I try to learn from those around me.  So as I was listening to the speakers at the memorial service, it was natural for my mind to be catching the lessons these men learned from the school of Paterno.  Perhaps some of you who read this blog and knew him far better than I will have far more lessons…but for the next few blogs I’m going to unpack a few of the lessons that I gleaned from those who went through the school of Paterno.

“Scientists at (RPI) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.”  RPI is a reputable university, top 50 in the country, often compared to the ivy league schools. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer, used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion.

Take a look through history and you will see that the culture of the normalized 90% is often shaped by the passion of the radicalized 10%. I guess that’s one thing we should make clear, for the 10% to make a difference, they must be passionately committed to an unshakable belief.

We see it in American politics.  From the tolerance agenda of a relatively small group of activists to the Tea Party, small groups of fully committed believers can change the culture of the majority.  We can see it in the closed culture uprisings in the Middle East.  For centuries no change, but then a small group of committed believers comes along and change begins.
We see it in the after-effects of two significant spiritual revivals in our own country.

And of course we see it in the book of Acts as we watch a tiny handful of mostly Jewish believers start a world changing gospel movement in less than 30 years without Facebook, twitter, texting, websites, or mass transportation.

How does a movement begin? With a radically committed 10%.

Now think about this. There are about 140,000 people in our ministry region — mostly Centre County, but a bit beyond that. What would it take to change the culture of 135,000 people. A fully committed 10%. Wow, that seems like a lot, but according to the Association of Religious Data Archives there are about 10,000 evangelicals in our ministry region. All we need to do is borrow 4000 from the mainline and Catholic congregations and we are there no problem.

But the obvious problem is that those 14,000 are not all radically committed to Christ and the gospel. So how do we get the 14,000 radicalized? We need 10%. That’s 1400. There are close to 1400 people in our region who call Calvary their church home. No problem.

But there is a problem. I know Calvary well enough to say that our whole congregation is not radically sold out for Christ and the gospel. So how do we radicalize 1400 people? We need 10%. 140 people. And to make sure we can get 140 people radically committed to Christ and the gospel, we can just start with 14. 10% of 14 is a bit more than one.

Maybe we should start there?

“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said RPI professor Boleslaw Szymanski, “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”

The great revivalist Gypsy Smith was once asked by a young pastor how he could start a revival at his church. The evangelist simply told him to go home, draw a circle on the floor with a piece of chalk, and kneel within that circle. He then instructed him to pray for revival for everyone on the inside of that circle and, after that, he would start to see revival on the outside of that circle.

After I draw my circle, I’ll loan you my chalk.

You’ve heard that phrase right?  Maybe even used it.  Someone does a good deed for you and as they walk away, you say the words, “I owe you one.” It’s not so much said from a sense of obligation as it is a sense of gratitude.  ”Wow, thank you! I owe you one.”

Can you imagine God ever saying those words to you?  The words thunder from heaven, “Wow.  Thanks Dan.  I owe you one.”

I don’t know about you but that’s hard for me to imagine.  God has given me so much, blessed me so much.  If he never gave me anything other than Jesus, the blessing is so huge that I can’t imagine God ever feeling like he owes me.

A year or so ago, I ran across a verse in Proverbs, chapter 19 verse 17. It caught my attention, because I have always believed — that when it comes to my stuff — that I am a steward, not an owner. I try to operate from the perspective that everything I have belongs to God. It all belongs to God, everything I have is a gift from God.

That’s why Proverbs 19:17 caught my attention.  It’s details the only way — to my knowledge — of hearing God say, “I owe you one.” Here is what is written,

If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord and he will repay you!

Help the poor and God sees it as an obligation to repay you.  When we feed the poor, give water to those who are thirsty, serve those in need, sponsor a child in Myanmar, Rwanda, or the Dominican Republic, God says, “Wow.  Thanks.  I owe you one.”

So let’s think about this for a moment.

1. Everything I have belongs to God. But when I use what belongs to God, to serve those in need, God so identified with those in need that he views my gift as a kindness to him that He wants to repay.  God says, “Wow.  Thank you for taking care of me.  I owe you one.”

That’s so amazing that I’m not sure I really get it.  Sounds too good to be true, but that’s just the Old Testament version.  It gets better.  In the New Testament, God sweetens the deal.  In Luke 6:38 Jesus says,

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.

So when we give, we lend to God.  He doesn’t just repay us.  He overpays us.  Perhaps the reason why, we — the American people — have so much debt is because we are trying to hang on to what we have rather than doing something that would cause a generous God to say, “Wow.  Thanks for coming through for me. I owe you one.”

Throughout the Christmas season, we (Calvary) are challenging each other to give ONE% of our annual income to serve kids in need around the world.  If you haven’t had a chance to read this year’s ONE% booklet, click ONE% and read a few stories of hope.  Our primary focus this year is on sponsoring children at a variety of orphanages in Myanmar, Rwanda and the Dominican Republic.

If you would like to sponsor or support a child ($40/month) go to Calvary Global Kids for more info.

Joy is not a very cool word. It’s only three letters. It doesn’t make the top 100 baby names. The only time you hear it in a song is at Christmas. But the Bible talks a lot about joy.  In fact it would be easy to argue from the Bible that joy is at the heart of God’s plan for humanity.  Scriptures like the following are all over the place in God’s Words to us.

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Psalm 19:8 The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.

John 15:11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

Tim Hansel tells the story of an 82 year old man who felt that his freedom to choose joy had been taken from him. He had served as a pastor for over 50 years. But in the last handful of years had struggled with skin cancer — a survivor of 15 operations. Besides suffering from pain, he was so embarresed about how the cancer had scarred his appearance that he never went out in public.

One day he was given the book You Gotta Keep Dancing. And he read the story of Tim Hansel’s long struggle with the chronic, intense pain he received from a near-fatal climbing accident. Hansel told of the day he realized that this pain would be with him forever. At that moment he made a pivotal decision, he knew that it was up to him to choose how he responded to it.  So he chose joy.

The elderly pastor put the book down, thinking He’s crazy.  I can’t choose joy.” Then later he was reading John 15:11 where Jesus says that joy is a gift. “I want to give you my joy”, Jesus said, “so that your joy may be complete.” He didn’t know what to do, so he got down on his knees.  He didn’t know what to say, so he said, “Well then Lord, give it to me.”

And suddenly, as he described it, this incredible hunk of joy came from heaven and landed on him. “I was overwhelmed,” he wrote.  ”It was like the joy talked about in Peter, joy unspeakable and full of glory. I didn’t know what to say, so I said, `Turn it on, Lord, turn it on.’”

Before he knew it he was dancing around the house. 82 and he was so filled with joy he just had to get out, too much joy to keep cooped up. So he went to the local fastfood restaurant to get a burger. A lady saw how happy he was and asked, “How are you doing?”

He said, “I’m wonderful.”

“Is it your birthday,” she asked.

“No honey, it’s better than that.”

“Your anniversary?”

“Better than that.”

“Well what is it?” she asked with growing excitement.

“It’s the joy of Jesus. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

The lady shrugged, kind of deflated, and answered, “No, I have to work on Sundays.”

Joy. Can you find joy if you have to work on Sundays? Can joy be a part of my life, if my life is filled with pain? Can joy be a part of my Christmas, when Christmas falls short of hopes and expectations? The very first Christmas, the angel’s announced, “Don’t be afraid.  I bring good news of great joy for all people.”  That’s where it starts.  It’s a gift given in spite of circumstances.

Joy is our theme this Christmas Eve at Calvary.  You are welcome to join us at 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, or 9pm at 1250 University Drive, State College.

Christopher Hitchens died last Thursday in the midst of a painful struggle with cancer.

My first solid memory of Christopher Hitchens came when he released his book, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”  It wasn’t so much his arguments that angered me, so much as what I perceived to be his attitude.  His arguments were not new: God is the wish-dream of irrational people; all religion causes all war; religion causes a dangerous repression of sexuality; you don’t need God to be moral; God can’t explain our origins; etc, etc.  There are many execellent Christian scholars throughout the years who have given credible responses to all these arguments.  In fact it wasn’t uncommon for Hitchens to be bested in public debate.  But his attitude seemed to be bombastic, vitriolic, condescending, argumentative…and the list could go on.

But over the years as I studied the man — really only a bit — I saw other things.  He was a father who loved his daughters.  He once wrote,

“To be the father of growing daughters is to understand something of what Yeats evokes with his imperishable phrase ‘terrible beauty.’ Nothing can make one so happily exhilarated or so frightened: it’s a solid lesson in the limitations of self to realize that your heart is running around inside someone else’s body. It also makes me quite astonishingly calm at the thought of death: I know whom I would die to protect…“

I can understand that heart.  He was also a man who had doubts.  In fact he made much of telling people that if he came to the end of his struggle with cancer, and in a dark night of the soul he cried out to God for help, please be assured that he would not be in his right mind.  Doug Wilson — a friend and Christian who occasionally debated Hitchens writes,

This is interesting, not so much because of what it says about what he did or did not do as death approached him, and as he at the same time approached death. It is interesting because, when he gave these interviews, he was manifestly in his right mind, and the thought had clearly occurred to him that he might not feel in just a few months the way he did at present.

In other words, Mr. Hitchens had doubts that his atheism would be enough for him at the end.  I can understand “doubts.” There is more that softened my view of Hitchens.  His mother committed suicide when he was in his 20′s.  He had a long relational conflict with his brother Peter — who at one time was also militantly atheist but later became a committed Christian.  In fact an interesting read would be to read Christopher’s book, “God is Not Great: How Religion Poison’s Everything” and Peter’s book, “The Rage Against God: How Atheism Let Me To Faith” in tandem.

All this to say, once upon a time I was quite angry with Christopher Hitchens, but in time I was reminded that he was a person, who like me, was shaped by the circumstances of his life and who like me, was deeply loved by the Jesus I follow.

There is a story told of the last moments of Jesus life, where a thief cried out to Jesus for grace, and grace was given.  God brought many Jesus-followers into Christopher’s life over the course of the years, his brother, Mother Theresa, Doug Wilson to name just a few.  It’s my hope that their examples and their prayers led another man to cry out for grace in the last moments of his life.

Last Thursday Christopher Hitchens found out whether or not he was right about God.  I hope he cried out to Jesus for grace and found out that he was right.  After all, God is great.