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A little love
and understanding
can help to lift the burden
when life gets demanding.
Roger Blevins

Jesus was standing before 5,000 hungry people. He wanted to give them something to eat. He asked the crowd, “Who has something to share?” One little boy of the thousands stepped up and offered his lunch. Jesus and the boy both trusted God would use what they had to offer and do something miraculous. It was. The gift was more than enough.
In the Temple, people were putting in huge gifts when a poor widow stepped up and offered her last two cents. Jesus and the woman both trusted God would use what they had to offer and do something miraculous. It was. The gift was more than enough.
When Bob Britt was diagnosed with cancer, many of us who Bob has befriended throughout his personal and professional life have stepped up to do what we can hoping it will be more than enough and trusting God that it will. One of the more creative gifts has come from Roger Blevins and Mingo Fishtrap They wrote a song, shot the video, and put the music out to advertise tonight’s event and raise money for our friend. A Little Love and Understanding is a noble effort and a great motto to live by as well as music to bring joy to your heart anytime, even the challenging ones when you share what you have to offer and trust that it is enough.

When your brother needs a helping hand
Best to rolling up your sleeve and reaching on out
When the tables turn he’d be there for you
Help to see you through and there can be no doubt

A little love and understanding
can help to lift the burden when life gets demanding
A little love can help to light the way
Through the darkest night to the brightest day

To purchase the song for yourself or to share with a friend or to read the lyrics, go to: A Little Love and Understanding

Recently, Bob was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma. This particular cancer is aggressive and as such, is treated aggressively. Fortunately, this particular lymphoma tends to respond well to the treatment protocol that he is undergoing and he, his family, and his doctor are optimistic for a positive outcome. His treatment plan includes six rounds of chemotherapy, four lumbar punctures, and three to four weeks of daily radiation. This will be a long process, over about 6 or 7 months.

We set our monetary goal at $30,000 to help Bob and his wife Etta pay for their daily living expenses including utility bills, gas, groceries, and other general expenses as well as their medical bills. Bob is hoping to be able to continue to work, but we know that chemotherapy can be quite tough on a person’s body (as well as mind and soul). There will soon come a time that he won’t be able to work over the next 7 months, and if so, Etta will be staying home to be with him throughout his healing process. So, with both of them taking time off of work and driving to and from Vanderbilt Hospital so often, bills will become burdensome. In fact, they will have to drive from Dickson to Vanderbilt and back daily for Bob’s radiation treatments (think about the amount of gas that will take).

We’d like to raise money to be available immediately for Bob and Etta, so we’re asking for any amount you can spare, however large or small. And, of course, prayers are ALWAYS welcome!

TO HELP OUT, Go to: https://www.gofundme.com/uaxnmps4

If you’ve ever seen The Blind Boys of Alabama, you understand that church is not a location, but church is something they take with them everywhere they go.

Danny Flowers posted this on Facebook this weekend.

Last night I went to see The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Franklin Theater. They invited me to come up and sing my song “I Was A Burden ” with them. This feeling is indescribable. I’m grateful for the opportunity and blessed to be able to do such a thing . I’m also glad that I remembered all the words! I’m on cloud nine this morning, humbled and quietly grateful. God is good, He is real, He is right here in my heart. Love,

I feel similarly about Danny. Everywhere he goes and shares his music and his heart is church. Here is a little older video of Danny singing with The Blind Boys of Alabama and sharing, “I Was a Burden.”

Statues of a homeless Jesus by artist Timothy Schmalz have been appearing across the country inviting debate over homelessness and Jesus. The picture above is in Indianapolis. There is one in Orlando where I live.

Not known for remaining silent on the controversial, I feel the need to ask a simple but important question of this icon. “What if he wakes up?”

If the purpose of the statue is to show Jesus solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, those without shelter, and if he wakes up, how will it fare for the rest of us, those who have more than we need yet never learned how to share in preschool or since, how will it fare for those of us whose day can be ruined because of a lack of cell phone service while the biggest cause of death of children in the world is lack of clean water, how will it fare for us?

Perhaps we should prepare ourselves for the fulfillment of Jesus’ warning in Luke 12:48,  From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.

The world Jesus’ encountered clearly was not his dream for God’s creation. His purpose was not nor ever has been to fortify the status quo evident by the next verse, seldom quoted by sleeping images of Jesus or slumbering congregants. Jesus warns those who are listening and hear him, I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

For those whose deals have worked out, for those in places of power, for those who have our goods stored in barns (see earlier in Luke 12), fire is a frightening image. For those who sleep on a park bench wrapped like the figure represented by the statue, fire is warmth, fire is home, fire is hope. It depends on where you sleep at night and whether you are only awake to your need for comfort compared to others need for safety, food, and shelter.

What happens if Jesus wakes up? As I look at his dreams for the world clearly set forth in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) as well as all four gospels, as I look at his dreams for the world compared to my personal goals, as I think how much I have while some die from lack of adequate shelter or clean water, perhaps it’s not Jesus who needs to wake up at all. Perhaps it’s me. Perhaps it’s all of us who claim his name but avoid his way.

Perhaps it is I who sleep. Perhaps he is quite awake, quite active, and quite near, calling all of us from our slumber,

Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
Ephesians 5:14

Perhaps a fire in our souls could warm the world.

The real threat:

The FBI reports in 2014, there were 13,741 murders in the United States. In that same period in the United States there were 43,773 suicides. Americans were over 3 times more likely to die at their own hands than from a murderer.

Though the politicians debate the growing threat from Isis, the number of people who have died on American soil since from terrorist activity since September 11, 2001 is 59. The number of Americans who have died abroad from acts of terrorism who were nonmilitary and not in Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan were 350. 

Continue reading “More Deadly than a Murderer or Threatening than ISIS”

Last week, I got an up close look at the guitar of Jared Green of The Howlin Brothers. He has actually played another hole in his acoustic. Does it affect the sound? As far as I can tell, this extra hole in Jared’s hands only make it sound better.

One thing I know for sure, without holes, an acoustic guitar doesn’t make any music. Most of an acoustic guitar is space. Without space, it’s just wood, the music doesn’t resonate.

So it is with us. If we fill all our time, and allow no space, we will have little rhythm or music in our lives.

One example of just how important space is in The Bible is Zacchaeus, the famous little man who climbed a tree to see, and perhaps be seen, by Jesus. He had to separate himself, put some space between himself and others before he could both see Jesus and be seen by him.

Like me, like many of us, Zacchaeus had tried to fill his life, he had position, power, and wealth. His life was full, but he was not fulfilled. Zacchaeus was the opposite – unfulfilled, dissatisfied, and alienated. With all his wealth, he was poor. With all his power, he was week. With all his health, he was ill. In the midst of the crowd, in the traffic of the parade, he was alone. How did he enable his own transformation? He made space.

Continue reading “Live Your Moments: Make Space”

I received this picture from somewhere out on the Atlantic Ocean.

It is the itinerary from today’s Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches Cruise. If you look close enough, you’ll see on the schedule, at 1:00 is The Moment, in Ocean Bar #3, described as “A Service of word, prayer, and song, celebrating the moments that make up our time together. Led by Carol Warren and Etta Britt.”

How many other worship services have you seen where in the same space following is a “Tropical Mixology Class?” It is, after all, Ocean Bar #3.

We started having our Moments north of Nashville on the Britt’s farm, moved into a bar in Nashville, headed south out to Carol Warren’s farm, and then bounced around to a homeless shelter and other places. We found Moments everywhere and everytime we looked.

Genesis 1 says that in the beginning, when God created the earth, God didn’t make a holy mountain to live on or a large cathedral to live in, but a holy moment, a Sabbath, a holy place in time. That’s a moment. Encountering God and others anyplace, anytime, with any and everyone. Thanks be to God. The Lord works in mysterious ways God’s wonders to perform. Rock on.

Today, I get to pick up two of my friends who’ll be staying with my family for a few days. Fresh off the Delbert McClinton Sandy Beaches Cruise, they’ll be helping lead worship at church with my congregation on Sunday night.

Bob and Etta Britt are two of my most cherished friends and have been for over fifteen years. Shortly after arriving in Nashville, I went to see Bob and Etta play at Third and Lindsley. To a bar full of folks, Etta announced, “My preacher is here. Anyone want to hear him do a sermon. He’s pretty good.” You can guess the answer.

Continue reading “Be a Britt, Lift Up Others in Love”

Luke 3: Learning to be Beloved of God

Reflecting on the Magi, the Wise Ones, on Epiphany, I came to realize that perhaps they weren’t much smarter than the rest of us. Herod knew Jesus was trouble so he couldn’t see anything other than what he already thought. The Magi, however, when confronted with a power greater than they imagined, were open to learning some new way God was working in the world. This is what makes wisdom, when you are aware enough of your ignorance of the workings of God to be able to see God at work in a new way, even when God works in mysterious ways, God’s wonders to perform.

For a deeper study on the way of the Magi, check out the following books and the specific chapters:

The Psychology of Jesus, Chapter 8: Herod:  People and Events Don’t Bother Us, But Our Perceptions of Them Do
 and Out of The Crowd, Chapter 15; “The Anxious Crowd”