Millennials:Taking Crap for the Generations

My generation (the millennials) were raised (intentionally or unintentionally) biblically. We were taught that you should care for the people around you, you were supposed to share everything, you were to be kind to others, and you were to treats others the way you would want to be treated. One could argue that these are just good morals and I wouldn't disagree but these are (while possibly over simplified) the things Jesus did and taught.

In contrast to the things we were taught daily growing up, there has always been a running narrative in America that is very unbiblical; pulling yourself up by your boot straps to be successful. This is the what America was built on, individuals working hard, taking care of themselves, pushing the boundaries, and eventually succeeding to build wealth and the many luxuries we take for granted in this country today.

So why are the things we were taught growing up and this idea of American success in contrast to each other? Well the first are purely communal acts: sharing with others, caring for others, being kind to others, treating others fairly. You cannot accomplish the things we were taught to do by yourself. It requires others! But the idea of "pulling yourself up by your boot straps" is purely individual. With this mindset you are the one who is creating success for yourself. The individual becomes the primary focus and drive.

Acts 2:42-47 describes to us what the first Christian communities looked like. They were gatherings of people who worshiped, learned, ate, and enjoyed fellowship together. They shared everything they had, sold their possessions and gave the money to those in need. They become a community of people, not individuals, that supported one another, lifted each other up so no one individual had to lift themselves up by their boot straps. Jesus gives us our marching orders as the disciples ask which commandment is the most important (Matthew 22:36-40). Jesus responds, "...love the Lord your God...love your neighbor as yourself...". How do we show our love to God? By loving God's creation as God loves it. Loving our neighbors and treating them as we want to be treated becomes an act of worship and love for God. We cannot love others without others! You cannot demonstrate love unless there is a person to act that love upon. Community becomes the way we encounter God at work in the world. And we do that by listening and following what our parents taught us: care for people, be kind, share, etc. 

I find it interesting that the "pull yourself up by your boot straps" generations are now voicing their discontent with the Millennials they raised to share and care for others. Millennials are being told to "grow up" and "life isn't fair" as if the caring and sharing lessons were really just for the kids but your an adult now and in the real world you have to "pull yourself up by your boot straps!" It is like the idea of sharing and caring for others was a Santa Clause story told to kids to make them feel good but once they get to a certain age we have to sit them down and tell them the truth; no one out there is actually flying around giving away presents to everyone. Mom and dad spend hard earned money on those gifts and sometimes the money is tight. 

But here is the thing, sharing and caring for others is not just a story we tell kids to make them feel good. It is a very real way of life. Caring for others no matter who they are is a choice we each can make every day of our lives. Sharing what we have whether it is a lot or not is a real choice we can make every hour of every day. We were taught these things as kids for a reason. Many of us were taught these things because of their biblical ramifications while others just because it was what was right. Maybe we were taught these things out of an idealistic mindset with hopes that we wouldn't have to experience the "real world". Maybe they thought we would learn these things and we could be the generation that could change it all.

And that becomes the irony of all of this. The same people who taught a generation (maybe with idealistic hopes of changing the world to a better place) that sharing what you have and caring for everyone around you no matter what actually matters is the same generation that is berating their kids and grand kids for doing what they were taught. Maybe no one actually thought that those idealistic things Millennials were taught would actually take hold. They would become just like every generation in the past, growing up and realizing they can't rely on the others and have to pull themselves up by their boot straps. 

But no, we were listening. We were watching. We were learning. You taught us an idealistic dream for the future and we liked what we saw. We realized that we are all in this together. We learned how good it felt to share with someone who had nothing. We learned how good it felt to accomplish a task with a team or even fail as a team. We learned that we can accomplish more when we have help. And we are learning how empty our lives can be when we are disconnected from the "other" due to technology. 

If you believe we are a monster in this world or an annoyance, then know that you created this, fed it, and taught it. But what I believe is that we owe all the generations before us a very big thank you! You have raised a generation that maybe, just maybe can begin to change the path of this world towards an idealistic vision which is God's vision for God's world. Because of what you taught us I believe we are taking small steps to making your idealistic vision a reality where no one will have to pull themselves up by their boot straps but instead are pulled up by their neighbors with love. So maybe it's time to stop complaining about the Millennials and remember what you taught us. We'd love to have you join us. In fact, you are the ones who taught us in the first place so really you are the experts! We are better together!

As a Christian I can't...

As a Christian I can't vote for Donald Trump. I also can't see how any other person who calls themselves a follower of Jesus could vote for him either. There is no way my mind can compute how those two things would work together. But like many Americans, I am also not a fan of Hillary Clinton and again as a Christian I struggle to see myself being able to vote for her too.

Full disclosure, I am an independent. I have been able to vote since 2002 and voted in my first presidential election in 2004. I have voted for both democrats and republicans (presidents, senators, congressmen, in all positions). I am probably close to being one of those socially liberal, fiscally conservative people. I am also a Christian; a Lutheran Christian. I work for a church. I am a youth minister. So here is the problem I have...

Christians are called to love everyone and fight for those without a voice and in need. Christians are called to give up everything so that those who have nothing can have something. The basic Christian message is to love God and love people: LOVE! Donald Trump does not speak love. And yet there are things I like about Donald Trump. I like that he is not part of the establishment. I like that he doesn't have to take money from large corporations (other than his own). I like that he is a businessman and could possible bring a fresh perspective to the white house. In fact, these are some of the main reasons I hear from many people about why they would vote for him. But despite these things and despite the fact that I am, again, not a Hillary Clinton fan, I can't vote for Donald Trump because I am a Christian.

All of the reasons I listed for liking Donald Trump really all come down to one simple thing; MONEY. (enter my fiscally conservative side) But here is the thing, if I am a Christian the love I have for other people trumps any conversation about money, period. Jesus talks more about money than anything else in the Bible and basically it all comes down to one thing; give it away! You see Jesus knows that money (things, wealth, the desire for wealth, etc) has replaced God in our world. We put money at the top of everything, even above God. You can't even talk about money in church (despite the fact that Jesus did it all the time). Money provides us with safety, food, housing, security, and comfort. But isn't God the provider of everything? Do you see how money quickly replaces God in our lives. All we need is a little more money and we will be happy and yet we never are. It's always a little more, just a little more. Jesus knows that at the end of the day, money is not going to save us.

So if money can't be my top priority then what? Well, LOVE! So while there are things I like about Trump, as a Christian, those things I do like don't matter or take a back seat to the top priority. The only thing that does matter is the love we have for our neighbors. The love we have for the stranger who is different than us. The love we have for the person who scares us and how we respond to hate with love.

I know that our options are not great right now, but that does not mean that we followers of Christ can't change the way we process our votes and prioritize what is important. I believe the most important thing to look for in any person whether it is someone running for political office or just a friend is, "How do they love?" No one is going to get it right all the time. No one is going to be perfect at it, but are they trying the best they can to love ALL the people around them like Jesus and is this what they find to be the most important thing in their lives? We have thousands of years of history that has demonstrated to us how putting money first and love later works and the results are there are still wars, there is still crime, there is still poverty, hunger, famine, lack of water, and so much more. We have one example of pure love in history and it won. Jesus died and was not kept down, he rose from the dead. Love conquered even death.

So I wonder what it would look like if we tried that instead. The truth is, you can't actually follow Christ unless you love. The definition of follow is to copy or imitate so if you are actually a follower of Christ you HAVE to love. If you are not loving you are not copying Jesus. That is the only way you can actually claim that title. And because of this I cannot vote for Donald Trump. I have not seen him love like Christ. I try very hard to be a follower of Christ, even though I fail often. I don't know who I am going to vote for yet but I do know how I am going to decide. I am going to see who tries the hardest to love like Christ. In the end, if they can attempt to love like Christ all of the other policies and decisions will follow.

A Christian Hating Christian Hatred

After this most recent tragedy in Paris, social media and the regular media outlets have been flooded with what has become the new normal rhetoric after terrorist attacks or almost any type of violent tragedy. There are those who are blaming the current politicians saying if "their guy" was in charge this would have never happened. There are those praying for all the people involved. There are the people who scream for war and revenge. There are those who talk about more guns, those who want to blame a large group of people, those who want us to stay out of the situation, those who say more security, those who blame history, and the list goes on and on. I truly believe that all of the reactions people have to these types of tragedies are initially justified. We all grieve and grieve differently. We are all trying to understand what type of evil could do such a thing. But after the initial shock of the event, things change...or the responses should change, but instead, too often, the responses become even more radical.

Full disclosure, I am a Lutheran Youth Minister. I am a Christian and a vast majority of my friends and connections are Christian because I work for a church. I heard about the Paris attacks on Friday night while on a retreat with 40 teenagers as we were preparing to worship. My heart sunk when I received a text message from one of the dads saying "FYI, Paris was just attacked by Terrorists." I quickly looked it up on my phone to see around 40 dead at the time with multiple bombs that had gone off and shootings. We began worship as planned and during the opening prayer we prayed for the people of Paris, the victims, the attackers, and pleaded with God for peace. As the weekend went on we slowly heard more details, the death toll rose, and we continued to pray. The weekend came to a close, we prayed some more, it was all we could do. I woke up Monday morning exhausted and did my daily Facebook catchup and of course my news feed was flooded with people's opinions of the attackers and what should happen next. Slowly an anger built up inside me as I scrolled through my news feed.

I discovered pure and utter hate. "Keep the Muslims out!" "Bomb them all!" "Kill or be killed!" These things coming from people who claim to be Christians.Friends, politicians, neighbors, and strangers alike not just condemning the acts but making their own threats of retaliation as if they have been given the permission to do just as horrible of an act and be deemed a hero. I don't know what made me more angry, the comments themselves or the fact that I am no longer shocked by these comments!

What really makes me angry is I have begun to feel hate for those Christians who spew hate towards anyone who is different than them! They have gotten under my skin so badly I have become one of them. I am a Christian who hates Christians who hate!

I struggle to really understand this hate that Christians have and how they can justify it while saying they are Christ followers (even though I apparently do the same thing). Jesus was not always clear on everything but somethings he couldn't have been more clear on. For example, Jesus was pretty clear on what to do with your enemy. He said to LOVE them! At no point did he say, "Seek revenge and make it even worse on them!" In fact he said the opposite, "if someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also." -Matthew 5:39. He even says, "pray for those who persecute you! For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good..." -Matthew 5:44. Hello Church! There is no possible way for Jesus to be more clear on this! Oh and if for some reason you read this and thought, "Maybe Jesus wasn't clear enough." Jesus actually goes and demonstrates his point to us! When Jesus is dying on the cross, being murdered, he musters up enough strength to call to God and asks God to forgive the people who are in the process of killing him! This could not be more clear, words and a demonstration!

So this is why I struggle when I see "Christians" calling for revenge or for war or for inhuman reactions to terrorist attacks and other types of tragedies. Those types of reactions could be some of the most unchristian reactions possible! As Christians we are supposed to be counter-cultural, different than the main stream, radical in our thoughts and action. Revenge is not different or radical, it is simple, gutless, and cowardice. But forgiving and loving someone who has taken everything from you, now that takes courage, guts, and faith! Faith that just maybe, God is bigger and better than all of our wars, stronger than our hate for one another, and powerful enough to bring change to a world that has gone horribly wrong.

As Christians, followers of Christ, we should believe that love conquers all. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." And yet we continue to respond to hate with hate. I am constantly reminded of the saying, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Hello world! Hello Christians! We have gone insane! Maybe it is time that we try a different approach and instead of revenge and hateful speech, maybe we try love and forgiveness.

We are always reminded as Christians that when we pray we aren't always given what we ask for but instead opportunities to practice what we need to do (ie. pray for patients and God will give you opportunities to practice being patient). I am pretty sure every single Christian at one point or another has prayed for world peace. I am sure most churches do so every Sunday when they gather. Maybe, just maybe these tragedies are opportunities for us to practice peace! (please don't hear this wrong, I do NOT believe that God let this tragedy happen so that a bunch of Christians can learn how to be peaceful, but I do believe that God can create opportunities for good out of any evil)

So Christian brothers and sisters, as I struggle to find love for so many of you right now, I am going to do my best to practice what I am preaching. I am going to try to forgive you and I am going to try to love you. I am going to try to forgive the men who murdered over 120 people in Paris this week. I am going to try to forgive the Islamic State for their continued evil they bring to this world. I am going to try to forgive those who have attacked so many other nations this past month, year, and beyond. I am going to offer up love and pray for them (along with all of the victims). And most of all I am going to ask God to help me. Some may see this as weak, but I truly believe that this is a radically different way of living that is harder than any war we could fight. Bombs and guns will never end any of this. History has proven this. Love is really the only answer and guess what, that has been proven as well. All you have to do is look at the empty cross. Love has already won.

(NOTE: I do have many Christian friends who have posted amazing comments of love following these tragedies. I give thanks for you and your example!)

The New Creation is Here

“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.”

~ 2 Corinthians 5:15-21



Our lives are not our own but lives that we live for Christ in his new creation. So many people think that heaven is this magical place that we reach when we die if we were really good and faithful. I can tell you, this is not my experience of heaven. In fact, I think Paul would argue this as well from his writing to the Corinthians above. He says that we are in the new creation now, “the old has gone, the new is here!” It is Christ who brought the new creation to us through his death and resurrection! God reconciled all of the sins through Jesus, they are gone and washed away.

So you might be asking, “Then why does this ‘heaven’ or ‘new creation’ have so much pain? Why does this “heaven” suck?!” Well here’s the thing, the new creation is here. I believe that to be true, however, sin still exists it is just that God has made it so we do not have to pay for our sins. Jesus already did that. So even though we do sin and we will continue to sin God has forgiven us and continues to do so because He loves us so dearly.

If this is the case, then where is heaven? Well I believe heaven is more of an experience and feeling than an actual place. Heaven or the new creation is the experience of living completely for God and in total harmony with Him and His creation. The complete lack of sin. This to me is heaven. Of course, sin is what breaks that relationship with God and keeps us from achieving heaven.

So how do we achieve this heaven? Well Paul gives us pretty good instructions in his letter to the Corinthians, “be reconciled to God.” Yeah, I know a pretty general answer and probably overly simplified. But if you think about it, if we really truly reconcile with God, completely accept His grace and trust in Him with our lives then we do not sin. We do not break relationship with him because we have complete and total faith. Now I know this is much easier said than done. I myself struggle in my faith all the time! And due to our imperfections we will never be able to completely give ourselves to Jesus and turn over all of our trust, at least in this life. The sin is just to strong. But we can fight it and work towards it.

Again Paul gives us some hints when he says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” We are His hands and feet out in the world. He wants us out there serving His people as He did with Jesus and continues to do through His blessings. And this is where it gets really fun! It is through this, through the lens of being God’s hands and feet that we accomplish heaven. When you completely give of yourself without asking for anything in return, when you listen and care for those less fortunate, not because you have to but because you get to, when you are God’ ambassador out in the world you are in full relationship with God. For a brief moment sin has no control over you and you are not breaking that relationship with God, rather you are fueling it and making it deeper. It is in these experiences of service that I have personally felt a small piece of heaven and I have witnessed it in our students as well. When we serve out of our hearts and not out of our duty we reconcile with God, we accept His love and we choose to share it with others and He works through that and our relationship with Him. It is amazing!

This is what our summer to come is going to be all about. We are going to discover the new creation that came with Jesus. The new creation that has been here for 2011 years. We are going to show this world this new creation and bring a new found life into His creation with our love and by His grace!

New Creation

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

~ 2 Corinthians 5:15-21

If you are a Solid Rocker going on the mission trip, you will hear this verse a lot over the coming months! This is our mission trip theme verse for 2011. We are gearing up for this trip, the money is rolling in, our Golf Tournament is weeks away, the planning as begun, the adults are being trained. Before you know it we will be loading up the bus and hitting the open road to Knoxville, TN! As we head to this beautiful area of the country, surrounded by mountains majesty, glorious trees, and nature all around you can't help but think of creation!

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes that if we are in Christ we are in the new creation that Christ has brought to us! This is the amazing and gracious truth about Jesus! We are all in Christ. And when Jesus died on the cross and rose up from the grave he washed away our sins which brought ALL of us into new life, a new creation! This new creation where we are not held captive to sin and death! We live because Jesus lived. We are invited into this community of Christ and get to live now in the present in this new creation!

The new creation is not something that will come in later times, it is not something we have to wait around for. It is here, now! We just have to live our lives in Christ. When we do that we get a taste of the new creation because we are like Jesus, we can be like him and see his glory in this world, now and today!

So how are you enjoying this new creation that you are in today? How are you working in and for Christ to show others this new creation? This is what we will be doing in Knoxville this summer, but why wait till then to be created new and enjoy the new life that has been so graciously given to you?!

May your week be filled with new creations and new life of Jesus. May you see him in all you do and show others the creation that he created, pure, true, and beautiful. May you enjoy this new creation gift!

To Much, Too Fast

So this week I am gearing up for a trip to Minneapolis, MN for a three day training to become a National Youth Gathering Coach for the Florida-Bahama Synod. As I write this I am freaking out a little, looking at the large calendars in front of my, the monthly calendar on my computer screen, and the weekly calendar hanging on my wall and they are filled completely. Friends and family are constantly asking what am I doing on this weekend or that weekend so that we can do some fun activity and my constant answer is, "I'm working." It seem to just be the time of year, the weather is nice so in youth ministry we gear up activities and do some extra longer events, Easter and Lent is upon us so mission stuff is all over the place, and its do or die time for all the summer trips. Of course it doesn't help that I've accepted this additional duty as the Synod's Youth Gathering Coach. I'm overwhelmed and I know you all can completely relate. If you aren't there now, you probably have been!

I keep on thinking to myself, "I've got to much going on." But everything I'm doing gives me life and fulfilment and if I had to pick something to drop, I don't know what it would be. I think we all have heard that God doesn't give us more than what we can handle and looking at the past few months of my life and the ones coming up I feel like all I can do is believe that to be true. I feel completely overwhelmed, yet every morning I wake up, I go to work, I function well, I see friends and family, relationships are going well, and so are the ministries. God is calling me to do these things and I believe he has his hand in all of it. Which means I'm not alone. God is challenging me and he challenges all of us. He knows us better than we even know ourselves...He created us! So of course he knows what our limits are and he doesn't seek to harm us so why would he give us more than we can handle?

I know that at times it feels like life is too much, we have a billion things thrown at us, but that is just he challenge of life and the joy of God's presence in our life (that's right, JOY!). If this was all simple and easy, well then what would the point really be? Nothing God has expected of anyone has been easy. Was it easy for Jesus to accept his fate of dying on the cross for us? NO! Now aren't you glad that God's expectations of you are just a little lower than he had for Jesus?!

So this week as you are drowning in a sea of stress and life, stop, and take a look around you. My bet is you will see God, present in your chaos, walking with you because He knows that you can accomplish what he has put before you, he has faith in you, now all you need is faith in him!

Growing Into New Life

Every year has it’s seasons and everything in life does too. We start out young and highly dependent on our parents for everything. They teach us the basics, how to walk and talk. Before you know it we are in school, mom and dad aren’t around us every moment of every day. It’s other adults that begin to have a part in our lives. We start to choose our own friends and we find social niches. We continue to grow into new seasons, we hit adolescents and a whole new world begins to take shape as we think differently, learn differently, act differently. Again, there is less and less time with our parents and more adults who continue to be a part of what we will become. We get active in sports and arts and all kinds of other things. We enter into high school and yet another season takes place as we find ourselves with more doors open to us then ever before. We learn how to drive and no long are we kept to a schedule that only our parents can accommodate. If we’ve got the wheels then all we need is ourselves. We experiment, we try new things, we have so many more options.


This is the way life goes. One season moves into another. Some are really good, some are really bad, and others just pass us by like we never even realized. This is God’s world for us, we wants us to learn and grow, but he wants us to do it with him.

I know what it’s like to be in high school. Believe it or not, I was there once, and not to long ago! It is so easy to get caught up in who said what about that person, what’s the latest fashion, who’s doing what on Saturday night, and does that guy/girl like me? It seems as though it is so easy to forget about God when you step foot off of church property. I will be the first to admit, when I was in high school, sure I believed in God, but I didn’t understand him. I didn’t read the bible, I didn’t understand what faith really was, I didn’t truly know what it meant to be Lutheran. I really didn’t have a relationship with God. I went to church and youth group, but really only because there were some very pretty girls! That was enough to keep me coming back week after week, plus it was a time when I could get away from my parents and the adults in my life who told me what to do and when to do it all the time. How many of you can relate to this?!

What I didn’t realize at the time was even though I didn’t have a relationship with God, He had one with me. In my escape to youth group each week, this idea was never told to me. Maybe it was because I didn’t listen, maybe it’s because I didn’t want to know that, or maybe it’s because the youth group I was a part of lacked adults who invested time in us to grow us spiritually. Whatever the case, I went through high school and college struggling with my faith. I thought I had to act a certain way, attend church all the time, and read the bible each day. I was constantly going through relationships with friends and family, breaking ties, forgiving, holding grudges, being hurt, and not realizing that through all of that there was someone who loved me know matter what; something called unconditional love.

It wasn’t until a mission trip to Philadelphia with very close friend that I realized that there was nothing I could do to be in a relationship with God. God is relationship with me, with us, no matter what! And it’s not a matter of having to go to church, youth group, read your bible, or pray, we get to do those things because God’s love is so eternal and never ending that through those things and the relationships we build we get to experience this love, grace, and heaven that God has for us. It was in the community that was built in Philadelphia the I grew into new life. A new season started for me that week and I became new again. It was like a baptism for the spirit! I didn’t have to be on that trip as an adult leader, I was blessed to be there, in community with those adults and students because through them and those relationships I saw Jesus and I heard loud and clear, “He loves you!”

So my challenge to you, as we prepare for this summer and all the community that we get to build during this time through retreats, mission trips, and other summer time events, whether you’ve been coming to Solid Rock or St. Stephen or another church regularly or not, what is it that you don’t have to do anymore but what is it that you get to do? How is it that you are growing into new life realizing the relationship God has with you? When will this new season change for you and bring you forth in hope, joy, and peace, that no matter what God loves you? How will it be that you witness God through the community placed before you so that you can grab a hold of this new life and go forth with your flame shinning bright?

May you get these joys in your new life, the new season, that is brought to you through communities of faith, lifting each other up, loving each other, and witnessing God through their relationships! May you grow in this new life, knowing that Jesus is in relationship with no matter what or where you are! God Bless you and Peace!