We started off with an object lesson that included the students to take an Alka-Seltzer tablet in their mouth and then put 7up in there and try to hold it for as long as possible. Anger is like that isn’t it? It cause us foam at the mouth or we try to hold it in. When we do let it out we create a mess and it leaves a bad taste in our mouthes. Paul said in Ephesians, “In your anger, do not sin.” (remember that sin is separation from God).

What are we looking for?

We want to be free, healthy, and whole. We don’t want what somebody else did to you to determine your life.

So how do we react when somebody does something to us?

Revenge becomes our only hope, so we really aren’t free. Revenge is saying to God, “I don’t trust you to take care of this the way I want it to end.” However, revenge doesn’t satisfy.

So Forgiveness is the answer. The Cross is God’s sign of forgiveness to us. So let’s see how Jesus deals this.

Mark 3:1-6

Here  Jesus – gets angry

- identifies with an injustice and not a selfish desire

- anger leads to an act of healing

Anger is the body’s reaction to your will being blocked.

People’s anger usually has nothing to with the person to whom it is vented.

The problem isn’t anger, but what we do with it.

What does your anger do?

Jesus in the “Sermon on the Mount.”- Matthew 5:38-41

Jesus quotes from Leviticus about an eye for an eye.  Here’s a little background on that passage: There was so much revenge in Genesis to Exodus.  Anyone who sinned against Cain would get back 7 times (Genesis 4:15) and later Lamech talks about being avenged seventy time seven (Genesis 4:23-24). So revenge had an escalating quality. You do something to me and I’ll do something worse. This went on until Moses when he limited what could be done. Don’t do more than was done to you. Now Jesus says to let God handle it and love the wrong doer.

So channel anger into healing.

So Paul talks about this many times. Here are a few: Ephesians 4:26-27, 31-32 and Romans 12:16-21 (and Paul quotes Proverbs 25:21-22).

In Celebrate Recovery, we learn to do an inventory of our hurts, habits, and hang ups. We search for where our anger comes from. Do you have the courage to search where your anger comes from? Do you want to be free?

There will always be things to complain about. People will always need your help.

Which will you choose? Being a slave to anger? or the freedom to heal?

An interesting thing has taken place while away from Facebook, I have been reading. Not just the blogs, although since my netbook has been underperforming, I have been reading books. I finished Youth Ministry 3.0 and am over halfway through The Year of Living Like Jesus. Wow, and I have rested! So I haven’t fallen asleep while reading either. Can’t wait for The Gospel According to Moses. That looks good too.

I do want to address the rumor that I favored one side over another. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I want to say this, I am, besides a very deeply spiritual Christian, I am also a researcher. Once past my emotional responses, I look very closely at all the independent data possible to make a decision. In this case, I prayed fervently, talked to independent people, and looked over evidence. I didn’t just get the information from one side. Not to mention having served on previous churches boards that, incidentally, dealt with complaints from the congregation about the staff or the pastor, I made my decision. It was a painful decision to make, but I couldn’t go along with what had happened.

I am, or at least I thought, very good friends with people who stayed at GCC, so when I left Gaylord Community Church for Life Church, I was shocked to hear that I left because I was in the “Scheer clique.” Obviously, those people don’t know me as well as I thought, and to hear these things was very hurtful. I follow Christ, and not any particular pastor. I made this decision out of prayerful contemplation, scripture, reason, and experience. The Wesleyan quadrilateral of defining your faith.

Anyway, things, on a personal level have spun out of control for me. I get mad about the rumors between the churches, and about me. Also I have lost at least one friend on Facebook because of this split. In fact, I told Mary and another friend of mine that I haven’t felt this heartbroken with this decision, since my first girlfriend in college broke up with me, and since I don’t intend to revisit that time again. I am leaving Facebook stay out of the dueling “yea! I love my church” status messages.

I had also considered leaving Life Church briefly, for a local UM Church, i.e. the Boyne area, where I know the pastor as well. However, leaving Facebook will have to suffice for now. If some of the family strain gets too much, I may still go there, but for now, I will attend Life Church, and because I disagree with the decision and process that went into that decision, I can’t go back to GCC in good conscience.

I will always be friends with those who have opted to stay and I love each one of them. It will be awkward to meet at times, but that will fade. I will not harbor any resentment. That would be unGodly.

So until the smoke clears…

Caritas,

Jeff Lutz

This was cross posted from my Facebook notes.

The first major change in a long time has finally happened, the old house sold. Mary and I signed the papers on Friday (8/6/10) declaring the house is no longer ours. We now just own one house, the one in Boyne Falls. I praise God for that.  With that bit of news, there are some negative things that have been happening, as well. I won’t list them here, they are related, and they have been rather heart breaking, in the figurative sense of the word, but change is happening.

It has been a while since I shared about my spirituality.  The short version is that I “sense” more than I used to, and reading the Bible has become more revelatory than I used to know.  In this case, despite a few of the negatives that have shown up, I got the impression that Jeremiah 30:17 is in play, but only if people will do what Matthew 5:23-24 says. I’m struggling with this, because I feel the need to go to some of the heart breakers and talk to them, because they did hurt me. So, I have been praying.  Now, I’m not sure when an answer to this prayer will come, but I heard three pastors a few months ago, that I think God was speaking through, to me, in preparation for this moment.

1. Rob Bell preaching about a Sacred Waste
2. Brian Zahnd preaching about Salt and Light
3. Duane Van Der Klok preaching about Mega Faith

I know that I will have to pour out an offering in figurative terms. That I will have serve those I pray for.
That I will not see an answer right away, even though it looks like nothing will ever happen.

In my RSS reader were these posts from some bloggers that I read. The first was from Don Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz. His post about Let Story Guide You had this excerpt that was rather reminiscent of events here, as of late.

The other problem with real life is it’s hard to tell whether or not you are the bad guy. We all believe we are the good guy or that our words and actions are justified. The other day I lost my temper at a stranger. I really let them have it. I still feel like they deserved it. It was a bully situation in which somebody was being threatened. But I went too far, honestly. I pretty much said things that person will be thinking about for years. I went for the jugular and put him in his place. Or perhaps it went in one ear and out the other, I don’t know. But regardless, I was thinking about that today, and realized that the things I said could be placed word for word into a film in which the character that said it got “what they deserved” at the end and nobody would really care. Stink. Can’t believe I said those things.

I worry about my temper at times when I need to confront things, because I don’t want to end up in this situation. Besides, when I do get angry in an argument, I can’t think clearly enough to make sense. So to combat this I pray. Of course, the book study that I happen to be reading online from theologian Scot McKnight is Psalms. The post that I read about has been Psalms 25:17-22. Here’s his commentary:

The psalmist’s inner heart is in need of relief (v. 17); the psalmist is in trouble and wants forgiveness (v. 18); the psalmist then thinks of his enemies and wants deliverance (v. 19). So he prays for deliverance (20-21).

And then suddenly, the psalmist moves to the People of God: redeem Israel (v. 22).

Read more here.

So the Psalmist is praying just the way I have been feeling, and for the resolution that I believe that we are looking for. That is my prayer tonight…Lord, give strength to reconcile without the anger, heal my broken heart, heal your church, and give me rest. Amen.

My rest is the only thing I can control. That is the one thing I will work on is resting. For these changes have been exhausting.

From the Gaylord Herald-Times

Update 2: Here’s a story about the aftermath from TV 9&10 news.

UPDATE 1: Video of the first minute of when I was on the scene. The structure is fully involved. I do have some commentary (really explaining to my wife what was happening with the embers on the roofs of the adjacent buildings. I’m a fire weather program leader at work.) . I also reworded my choppy sentences from the original story I tapped out with my phone on scene.

There was a fire in Gaylord Wednesday night (5/19/2010). We saw it as we were heading home from the church after youth group. It was an abandoned building in downtown Gaylord, right on Main street. It was right next to a store and building that people from our church own. I’ll write more when I can. Here are some pictures.

Here’s a link to a fan page for the Steelers. There is great frustration in Steeler nation about Big Ben. They would love to trade him because he has given the town a black eye. Stories are coming out about his antics around Pittsburgh now, as well. The article does say he has his defenders, but I think they are dwindling. http://FANpeeps.com/-6MQv

Mary and her friend Tishia did there first 5 km race today. Well they walked it. Their goal is to run it next year. They are contemplating another 5 k in the summer.

Update: Here are some Videos from Mary and one I took, and Mary’s weight loss blog.

After describing the damages from Karlie’s accident, the insurance company thought that it would be best to send it to their field adjustment center. So a towing company from Mt. Pleasant came up today and put it on the hook. It will now make a trip to Byron Center and sit to be evaluated. More than likely it will be declared a total loss.

I have been playing with my new Droid the last few days. I have found cool apps and the browser is great! The camera isn’t bad either.