IN TOO MUCH OF A HURRY

BY STEVE DUNN

Several months ago my wife had a close call. Traveling home from work on the interstate, she was in the left lane preparing to pass a vehicle ahead on her right. Suddenly she found an eighteen-wheeler who had pulled up on her right attempting to pass her. She was not traveling slowly and the truck was at an even higher rate of speed. When she did not slow down to let him in, he accelerated and proceeded to push his way into the space in front her that was barely enough to squeeze in a passenger car. If she had not been alert there could have been a very bad accident caused by a truck driver who was in too much of a hurry.

My wife arrived home shaken and frankly, I was angry. I have seen too much of that kind of driving on the highway where drivers who are breaking the speed limit already aggressively weave in and out of traffic with utter disregard for the safety of the others sharing the roadway with them.

The dangers of such high speed driving are well documented. In this case the aggressive driving at high speed by this trucker created an even greater danger. From my perspective, however, the deeper problem was the self-centeredness of the driver was and is the deeper problem. He was going to do what he wanted to do and everyone else had to live with it.

Jesus had some pointed words about self-centeredness. “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” (Luke 17.33) When we try to control our lives and circumstances so that we always win, so that someone else pays the price for our convenience and desires; we will ultimately lose.

Why, because this is neither the desire nor the plan of our Creator. Self-centeredness in the Bible is equated replacing God’s will with our egos. There is no room for self-centeredness in our lives. God has designed us to serve others, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Paul’s words reinforce that: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” -Philippians 2.3-4

God created us and redeemed us to reflect Christ in the world. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Jesus as a “man for others.”

It’s time to slow down, abandon our mad pursuit of our own desires–and be the person God desires us to be.
© 2019 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to http://www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

I WANT TO SERVE YOU

Part 1 of Series: Journey to Kenya
by Dr. Steve Dunn

January 15th of this year, my wife Dianne and I joined seven others on a journey to Kenya. We went as tourists and also as teachers to provide some training for pastors. It was a trip of a lifetime and a life-changing one at all. Both Dianne and I had traveled to Haiti but neither of us had ever been to any place in Africa. You can only imagine Kenya and your imagination will be inadequate. You have to be on the ground to even begin to grasp life in Kenya.

The reason is that only on the ground will you meet the people. The Kenyan people share many similarities to those of in the States but the culture in which they live, their closeness Islamic terrorist hot spots like Somalia, their history, and their economic state are nothing like we encounter in the US. Kenya is a place of great poverty, some of underneath the gleaming towers of cities like Nairobi.

The city we were located in had no gleaming skyscrapers. It had many poor people and some you would classify as middle class. We found no beggars, just hardworking people. The staff at the hotel where we stayed was just such people. They worked long hours–at least 12 hours a day-often not finishing until nine in the evening. And then there were the overnight people, who we sometimes found were daytime people. They worked diligently, accommodating our requests, and also with a smile. As Christians, we tried to treat them with respect.

One morning, I arrived for breakfast quite early. My body never managed to get used to living in a time zone eight hours ahead of mine back in Pennsylvania.

Breakfast was a buffet, something unusual for up country Kenya. Normally they served us every single dish but the necessities of our conference and the number of participants arriving for a meal at the same time, required some adjustments. I had let a waiter serve me coffee, but after ordering my eggs, I headed to the buffet to pick up my breakfast fruit plate. Matthew, one of the waiters stopped me after I had barely taken a step.

“Please sit down, I want to serve you.”

My journey to the buffet would have taken barely ten steps but I sat down and said, “Thank you.” Quickly, a smiling Matthew placed a plate of that wondrous Kenyan fresh fruit in front me. Of course, I like being waited on but I have no trouble serving myself. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the rest of my breakfast with Matthew serving me every step of the way.

Later, one of my traveling companions when hearing my story, said. “Given the context of what happened, that was a significant act of service. You see, he works from 9 to 9 but he arrived more than three hours early to serve you and the rest of us.”

Sacrificial servanthood is a disappearing value in our culture and even in the church. We have become a nation of takers, not givers, We think too highly of ourselves to inconvenience ourselves in serving. Sadly, Jesus clear words to us are sliding from our spiritual DNA.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10.45

Paul reinforced this core value in his letter to the Galatians:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. – Galatians 5.13

It’s a lesson we need to learn again. Thankful that Matthew has.

© 2019 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to http://www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

CHRISTMAS MORNING TRADITIONS

BY STEVE DUNN

I was up early today. 5:55 to be exact. Lately that has been “sleeping in” for me. Spending this particular Christmas at home of my daughter Christi and her husband Tim in northern Kentucky. A little after six, I heard the first stirrings of my grandson Jake, a 5th grader, who will have the responsibility of waking everyone “when it’s time.”

Long ago our family began a Christmas tradition that I have discovered is now part of the Christmas tradition in all the families my adult children have established. Before we open the presents, my wife Dianne will read to us from the Nativity account in Luke 2. Then we will thank God for the incredible (and most costly) gift we have ever received–the gift of his Son, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

And then, we will open what this year appears to be a “ton” of Christmas presents (the evidence you can see under their Christmas tree).

Last night we kept another tradition, attending a Christmas Eve Service together. Not returning to a church that had been our family church forever (my family church closed almost a decade ago) nor in a small church steeped merely in nostalgia, but this year in a large mega-church quite different than where we would normally gather but in a place but with a group that shared our deep-rooted believe that the Birth of that Bethlehem Baby brought hope, eternal living hope to our world.

My adult children have added to their family traditions – interactive Advent calendars that they use to teach their children and variations on “elf on the shelf” that break the routine of ordinary days by adding little adventures to their day.

Like many others who still value “family” or have families to value, we will intersperse the days with phone calls to loved ones. Those calls used to go to parents and grandparents of our families, but that category is down to one set. Dianne and I are now the grandparents, so our calls go out to children and siblings spread across the land. Still, this tradition persists in our lives reminding us of connections formed first in the birth canal and shaped by shared lives.

Tradition sometimes gets a bum rap in our ever-changing culture. It’s given the labels of progress-impeding or relevance-ignoring. Sometimes, tradition is indeed an justification for not being open to the new thing that God is doing in our lives or in our world. But tradition can also be the anchor that keeps us from shallowly accepting the newest fad which will soon disappear and then struggling to find a new anchor as the rip tides of our this present age send us careening into dangerous waters.

As a Christian I reminded that tradition can also keep us connecting to something deeper. A faith that is ancient, that was conceived in the mind of God at the foundation of the world. Not the empty ritual practiced by so many but the vibrant faith that comes from a religion rooted a relationship that sustains us in all seasons and all decades. Not the faith that worships the forms but the one that serves the Person, who is the living God,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it … The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1.1-5,9-14

I pray that each of you are blessed by and keep those traditions that provide a richness rooted not in the passing, but in the eternal.

© 2018 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to http://www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

HEARTS OCCUPIED BY JESUS

BY STEVE DUNN

My devotions this morning were from John, chapter 1. It is sometimes referred to as John’s “Nativity Story.” In that chapter speaking of Jesus’ arrival in the flesh, John writes:
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1.4-5 ESV

Sadly this Advent and Christmas I have found myself reflecting too often on the dark times in which we live. Our economy is not in good shape, the homelessness problem unabated,, the worship of guns and the random or terroristic violence in our streets has grown.

The government is now in a shut-down. The President has dismissed or chased away any advisors who disagree with him or would offer a counter way of looking at the world. The political atmosphere in our country is beginning to resemble the Watergate days of my college years. Both major parties seem more intent in cultivating the ideological extremes on both ends of the spectrum rather than find a middle way that is best for all.

Russia and other powers that have long been the enemies of democracy are once again ascending in influence and power. People are fleeing the crime-ridden nations in which they live but are being rejected and feared by a nation that fears they will impact the places where they seek asylum.

Oxycodone and other drugs have invaded the homes of the Middle Class. The Church is viewed with increasing suspicion because of the child abuse coverups in a portion of the churches in our land. Trade wars being fought in the name of our workers are hurting the workers in many industries and on farms. Secularity has taken deep root in the worldview of our culture while evangelicalism has been badly diluted by the so-called “self-identified evangelicals” so pursued by the politicians and media.

It is a depressing list. Yet I could name anecdotally hundreds of stories of ordinary people and local church communities and neighborhoods rallying in their small way to combat the darkness that has descended upon their individual communities

But I know that they alone will not be enough.

What the world needs is the One who is “the light of men. The light that shines in the darkness” The Light which the darkness CANNOT overcome. More than keeping Christ in Christmas, we need to
keep Christ in our hearts transforming into people of light. We need this to be going on daily. And we need to be inviting and assisting people to let this light into their hearts,

It will not be enough for our politicians and leaders and schools and government and communities and churches to become more “enlightened.” The growing belief that there is “fake news” allows us to hold onto darkness and that darkness will always find a welcome home in a heart that is not occupied by Jesus.

Now, more than ever, the world needs Jesus.

© 2018 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to http://www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

WE WENT A LITTLE BIT CRAZY THIS YEAR

BY STEVE DUNN

I confess. Dianne and I went a little crazy this Christmas. Our adult children and their families live in four different cities in the Midwest and we live in Pennsylvania. The combination of work, small and school age children, busy lives, and now two adult grandchildren made it impossible for us to gather together for Christmas. (Most years we can only get two of those families together anyway). Since I have just finished a transition interim pastorate, we actually had the freedom to take two weeks and visit them all in their homes.

We also had a little more money than usual at this time and the thought of watching them open their presents, Kohl’s availability and bonus bucks, and my wife’s newfound love of on-line shopping meant that we had a completely full trunk when we headed west–full of presents. (We actually had to stack our suitcases on the back seat). The scene on this post is just some of the aftermath of what will actually be four ” Christmases” by the time we are finished December 26th.

But part of it was also a commitment I made to the Lord to be a person who practiced generosity. So much of the time, our sometimes tight finances had caused to hold back when God was prompting me to go the second mile. And also to understand how little people experience generosity that those
“unexpected” acts of generosity often are an incredible encouragement to people who feel unnoticed, unappreciated, and uncared for.

Waitpersons have had tips above the 20% (why quibble about the 50 cents that rounds the tip to the next dollar?) Generosity has led me to listen to what people need at this time and understanding that I am part of the provision.

“You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.” – 2 Corinthians 9:11″ This is a promise that has reinforced what God was speaking into my heart. In our generosity, God produces thanksgiving in its recipients. Hopefully, that thanksgiving will remind them that God cares because one of God’s people care. Generosity is rooted in God’s blessing to us and that generosity allows us–no encourages us to be the blessing we are blessed to be

I DO DEATH

This post originally appeared in a blog of mine EASTER PEOPLE in 2011-Steve

BY STEVE DUNN

God has always blessed me with a sense of peace in the presence of death. As a pastor I have stood by many a person and their family as the neared that threshold into eternity that is known as death. I have even had the boldness and the God-granted confidence that God will take someone home to be with Him. Funeral homes are not intimidating places. ICUs are simply another place to be the reminder of God’s presence. Even accident scenes, as gruesome as they may be, are not a place I fear to tread.

More than once I have been asked to accompany someone to a funeral home. In hospital rooms where siblings are fighting and grieving while Mom breathes, God has allowed me to be His presence and to anchor them once again to the Rock of our Salvation.

Once I was with a family at the hospital after their father had been taken in following a serious heart attack accompanied by other complications. He had made his living will several years before and had given me a copy. He had explained very carefully to his family that once he reached a semi-vegetative state with his organs only surviving on life support, there were to be no extraordinary measures taken. This was the third trip within a few months and each one had become progressively worse. He was in a coma, non-responsive with only a 10% survival chance and no chance that his organs would operate again without serious and costly assistance. The family had made their peace and said “good bye” and indicated that they were prepared to adhere to the living will. Then the doctor balked saying he’d like another day before withdrawing life support, which then itself sent the family into a crisis mode. And I had to duty to talk the doctor into adhering to the patient’s wishes, the family’s consent and to surrender his feeling that he could not be at peace with allowing a dying man to die. And this I did without hesitation and inner strength.

“I do death.”

No, that does not mean I advocate assisted suicide or callously consent to agreeing to let a patient die because his survival could bankrupt his family.

It’s because I know that one someone has placed their trust into God’s hands of salvation, when I myself have become one of His Easter People – that nothing will separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I affirm with the apostle Paul that we who have passed from death to life need no longer fear death. It is not an unwelcome intruder. Death has been defanged by our Living Hope.

“Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” – 1 Corinthians 15:54 New Living Translation

So when someone must walk in the deep valley of the shadow of death, they can count on me as a willing travel companion.

© 2011, 2018 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to http://www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

THANKSGIVING AND GRATITUDE

BY STEVE DUNN

Which of the scenes to my right resemble the main activity of the way your family will celebrate

Thanksgiving? Will your celebration be shortened because you have an appointment with Black Friday–which is still arriving despite recent campaigns–on Thanksgiving Thursday afternoon? Will the meal be scheduled around the big football game or consumed on TV chairs instead around a family table? Will you have an elaborate family meal marked with some words of gratitude and a prayer, savored in its fullness until you are forced to push back from the table?

I know that every year someone will launch into a critique or diatribe against the erosion of the

sacredness of the Thanksgiving swept up in the madness of sports and even great madness of battling the frenzied crowds in shopping centers. That’s not my intent today as I and my family observe the Thanksgiving holiday.

My desire is to reflect with you on a truth that has shaped my life for much of the past 67 years and recently become an even more precious value. Let me lead into this with some quotes:

“Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men;
but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.” – E.P. Powell

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation. – ~ John Ortberg

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. – Psalm 103.1-5

Do you hear the thread that works way through these thoughts? True thanksgiving comes from grateful hearts-hearts that recognize that all that we have is a gift from God. Not the least of which is our lives, but also our families, our gifts, our opportunities, and yes–even our challenges . Long ago Paul wrote these words to the Ephesians: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again–rejoice!”

Too many of us focus on what we don’t have or worse, we believe that we are self-made men and women who author our own blessings. Too many of us look at what God has given us and measure against what He has given others and feel cheated. Or we elevate what God has given us to a place He never intended. Like the Pharisee in the parable, “Oh God, I thank you that I am not like other men … like this sinner over there.”

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, `God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, `God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 8.9-14

True thanksgiving is recognizing the indescribable gift that God has given us–which outweighs anything else we possess–and living lives that express our gratitude in the way in obedience to Him.
© 2018 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to http://www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

A PRAYER FOR THE ELECTION

BY DR. STEVE DUNN

This has been a tough couple of years for persons who are political moderates. Our nation is so deeply divided between two extremes that increasingly becoming more extreme, that moderates are considered to be opponents from both sides of the aisle, to battered into silence or simply considered to be so naïve as to be ignored.

I am a Christian who lives by a biblical world view and honestly believes that biblical values are the only realistic and healthy way to live. I am an evangelical Christian in the classical understanding of the descriptor rather than the self-identified evangelical that the media seems zeroed in on. A classical evangelical believes that we are an active, worshiping part of a church, live by the Bible as our rule of faith and life, the necessity of persons to become disciples of Jesus Christ, and understand that we are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God.

We do not equate this last observation with a single nation–even if we love that nation. We do not believe that good people go to heaven–but people who have accepted the forgiveness provided by Jesus Christ and to let the Lord be our leader. We abhor the idea that political philosophies, party positions, and cultural preferences trump the clear commands of Scripture–particularly the teaching of Jesus Christ. We do not believe we can be faithful Christians and attend church irregularly; because we are connected to a community of faith that is a community–not a group of loosely connected religious consumers. And we know without regular acknowledgement of God is above all things we drift into what is at best a cultural religion–without authenticity and power.

As an evangelical, I am deeply troubled by politicians who claim to be Christians but whose lives, words, and actions do not reflect the values of Jesus Christ. I saddened that so many evangelicals have bought into the culture of hate and anger, neighbor-despising, and rationalizing away the lack of integrity in our leadership because they are advancing the one or two issues that we consider to be the litmus test of “true Christians.” That buy-in is driving Christ’s love from the public arena as surely as the secularist trying to scrub God from our walls, laws, and documents.

My election prayer is that Almighty God, Who I believe is indeed sovereign, will rise up against this culture of fear and anger–giving all people (but especially evangelicals) the wisdom to vote with the mind of Christ and defeat all candidates and parties that have embraced the tactics of fear and hatred–to bring true repentance to our national leadership on all sides of the aisle, and help America find its greatness by acknowledging the words of the prophet Micah, a forerunner of Jesus Christ.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS – NEW BABIES

BY STEVE DUNN

Today, if all goes well, one of the young couples in the church in which I serve will become first-time parents.   The doctors are going to induce labor and if everything goes smoothly and quickly, they may even be parents by the time that you read this post.  We had special prayer for them and their new daughter in church yesterday and they are at the top of my prayer list today.

Dianne and I have been parents four times and in November will become grandparents for the eighth time.  I can think few greater joys than the birth of a new baby.  They are indeed gifts of God to us who have the privilege of being parents. It is my firm belief that they had been people since the day of their conception.  The Psalmist David declares,

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. – Psalm 139.13-16 NIV

The life of a baby, as with all human life, is sacred.  No laws of any land, nor preferences of a mother or father, can change that reality.  The act of conception is not merely a sexual act, it is partnership with our Creator.  Even if our intention is not so noble does not make it simply a choice.  And even if that life will be a special needs life does not diminish that it is human life and therefore sacred indeed.

I pray that my young couple will indeed treat the life of their daughter as sacred and see their role in parenting is a sacred partnership with God.  If so, their daughter will be blessed beyond measure.

© 2018 by Stephen L. Dunn. You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com

CELEBRATING OUR FREEDOM

by Steve Dunn

Today is July 4^th, the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence separating us from the rule of England and its mad King George.  Never mind that John Adams that July 2^nd would be Independence Day and that declaration was not actually signed until July xx.  July 4^th was the Day we formally declared our independence.

Never mind the historical proof-texting because far more important is the principle. The Declaration reads:

In Congress, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

This was a momentous action—and its core values—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have shaped our people and inspired other peoples and nations.  We have sometimes had trouble defining those three words and have certainly made mistakes along the ways—but the end product is so powerful that for more than two centuries people have immigrated to our shores seeking to find those truths to be a reality in their lives.

Compared to so much of the rest of the world, we have rich and meaningful lives, paralleled freedom, and countless opportunities to choose happiness.  Today is a day to get past the debates over walls and immigration, athletes who stand or kneel, trade agreements and foreign influence in our politics.  For just today, can we pause, reflect our blessings, celebrate our freedom, and give thanks to our Maker.

© 2018  by Stephen L. Dunn.  You have permission to reprint this provided it is unchanged, proper authorship is cited, it is in a publication not for sale, and a link is provided to this site or to www.drstevedunn.com. For all other uses, contact Steve at sdunnpastor@gmail.com