Rick Nier...Woo!

Christmas brings up a host of questions, none the least of which was made popular by a song about grandma and some reindeer. Do we open up her gifts or send them back? But there are other questions as well. Who gets gifts and who gets cards? And who gets gifted an errand disguised as a gift card? Where are we spending Christmas? Do I have to share my eggnog? If only those were the hardest questions to answer. Instead, the young ones want to know what the word 'virgin' means and why Joe wanted to divorce Mary at one point in the story. I can only send them to their mother so many times before she gets upset with me. It reminds me of the awkwardness when the female kittens we had bought for our kids got a bit older. The cats started assuming a position of, umm..... uhhh.... expectation? And telling our midgets they were in heat didn't help matters any. All of these questions lead to a host of other questions. How are babies made? How can babies come around if a mom an

Given the fact that my schedule has been a bit busier than normal, my blog and article reading has taken a dive, similar to my exercise schedule when close to the holidays. Serious. Nose. Dive. This is not to say I haven't been reading. It's just been limited to books. So check out the blog on Mondays for all the recent reads. As for who to Woo!, this one goes out to all of you. It's quite difficult to go through a 6-week sermon series on thankfulness (including the one I praught) and not find gratitude for others. So, if you are connected to me somehow, I Woo! you. (Yeah, that feels a little awkward saying it like that. Oh well.) To the people who hold my heart, like family, thank you. To the people who share secrets and likes and dislikes, like close friends, thank you. To the people who work and worship and serve alongside me, like my church family, thank you. And yes, even to those who are sometimes a pain in my side, thanks for letting me work on patience and

This is [most of] something I shared with my youth group this past weekend. If we’re honest with ourselves, this world can be pretty hurtful. We may attempt to ignore it or be stronger than it. We can speak proudly of overcoming obstacles, but sometimes we feel pain. This world can feel pretty void of feelings. When we think of people at large, it seems like everyone is just trying to get what they want and feel good about themselves, even if it means making us feel like a loser. I’ve talked about my days of middle school and high school before. It wasn’t pretty. I was in the band. But to be clear, for those of you in band, I was mocked by others in the band. Without realizing what I was doing, I also joined the chess club. It wasn’t until I showed up that I realized what dagger I had put into any social aspirations I had. Or used to have. Names like dork, loser, and geek were not far from my daily life. And apparently bursting into tears and yelling, “I know you are but what am I?”

There is no separation of the practicing of our faith and the everyday matters we all have to attend to. Our Sunday best should be a reflection of our work week and daily routine. Because anything less is a depreciation of Christ. But when we exalt the name of Jesus as the name above all names, then we will fulfill this goal - “Whatever you do, do in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." ~Colossians 3:17 You see that the ‘whatever we do’ is based on a foundation of Jesus. But it is the last part that makes it difficult. It is doing the right thing with thankfulness in our hearts. We could do the right thing begrudgingly, and we often do. But this practice makes us no better than the ascetic, who punishes his body thinking it will please God. This is foolish thinking, as anybody who has been a parent for more than 5 minutes can attest. It works something like this. We become teenagers and come to certain conclusions about our parent’s rul

Do you want to be a rebel? Jonathan Fisk is going to give you lots of ammo to rage against the machine. In His book Broken: 7 "Christian" Rules that Every Christian Ought to Break as Often as Possible, he unloads and unpacks seven worldviews that should be argued against. I'll admit I wondered what I was getting myself into in the first chapter, as Fisk sounded more like an Old Testament prophet than a modern day writer. Not that I have anything against Old Testament prophets. When God calls you to be a voice, you gotta listen, right? Jonathan varied between waxing poetic and bringing needed wisdom quite admirably. By the end of the first chapter I was 2 parts intrigued, 1 part fearful, but all parts ready to continue reading. Each chapter has a subtitle that left me wondering which direction he was headed. His illustrations were thought out thoroughly, especially when he turned from prophet to fan boy and weaved a Star Wars comparison through an entire chapter. I

The week began with plumbing problems. Granted, they were plumbing problems that I created, but nevertheless, I had problems. The schedule continued to be thwarted by a sick spouse and a son in physical therapy to make his arm work right again. Although I have wondered what the point is in that, since he's probably going to hit his sisters with that arm? This is to say nothing at all of a normal week’s to-do list that needed to be done. And on top of all that, I had a sermon on thankfulness to prepare. (Sigh.) I suppose I should practice it before I preach it and this was as good a week as any to practice. What is it about us that makes thankfulness one of the last things we get to? Even as Christians, we sing about the amazing wonderful grace that we can't possibly earn and yet, we also get stuck in issues of entitlement. What is it about us that makes thankfulness one of the most difficult things we do? Even as Christians, we find ourselves complaining about first world probl

It’s November. And November is synonymous with inducing a coma caused by the tryptophan in turkey (the food, not the country). Or, as we in America call it, Thanksgiving. Ahh, that beautiful holiday when we gather together with family, eat too much, sleep through a Detroit Lions game and then go home. You know about the ride home, right? That is when you share with your spouse how her family bothers you. I have to confess I feel a tad guilty being snarky about Thanksgiving. After all, it is a legit American holiday. Thankfulness is something that is encouraged in the Bible. It’s even the topic of our theme at our church this month (and 90% of other churches as well). Shouldn’t I just write out my list of things I’m thankful for and then move on to writing some devotional for next month’s church newsletter, something along the lines of a great gift of shoes I once gave my mom? Everybody knows that when you're writing about Christmas, you have to include lyrics to at least one inspir

My kids love speaking Spanish. They only know 6 or 7 words, but for some reason it brings them great joy to speak Spanish. When Luke, my 7-year old, was first learning it, he insisted I have conversations with him in Spanish. Here’s how it would go; Luke: Hola! Me: Hola! Como esta? Luke: Y tu? When translated, it looks like this. Luke: Hi! Me: Hi. How are you? Luke: And you? I never said my kids were very good at speaking Spanish. When I pointed out where he went wrong, this only caused him to laugh uncontrollably and do it repeatedly. My children are quite stellar at repeating things, especially when those things are my bad habits. I got to thinking about this because we are on the verge of repeating another round of holidays; Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year. And while I am not a bah-hum-bug, I don't exactly go running up and down the streets like Jimmy Stewart shouting 'Season's Greetings' to anyone and everyone. Just ask my wife how I react when sh

"What do you do for a living?" It's a question I dread. First, people act weird around a pastor. But when they find out I am a youth  pastor, it's all of the follow up questions I know are coming that cause me headaches. Chief among them is, 'When are you going to become a real pastor?' The question takes on different forms, but it does come down to this idea that every other form of pastor is merely a stepping stone to the real deal. So I thought I would do all youth pastors a favor everywhere and provide a guide of different ways to answer this question. Because if you haven't been asked this question yet, you will. Just wait until you have turned 30 and people assume you are ready to stop 'playing games with teens.' 'Do you want to be a real pastor?' 1. I took philosophy classes in college. Am I a fake pastor? Are you saying I don't exist? Can you prove that I don't from the perspective of Renee Descarte? 2. Does

This is written to youth pastors . But it should be written for anyone, anywhere. Because no one should go through life alone.  Woo!

We are not defined by our part of the body, but by being part of Christ’s body. It could be easy to read 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul talks about how each of us are members of one body, and assume that we are just parts of one finely tuned machine. And while I want us to understand that we are not the whole, I don’t want anyone to get all worked up over which part they are. Am I an eye? Am I a finger? Am I the middle finger? (Sometimes I think I would be willing to be the middle finger of the body of Christ.) How exactly does a spleen work for Christ? A kidney? If I was the appendix, does that mean I could be removed and nobody would notice a difference? Paul’s point, of course, was that the whole body works together and, just as a physical body is not as great without every part working together, so it is with the body of Christ. But I wonder if we sometimes miss the most important part of this. We are members of Christ’s body! Our treasure is that we belong to Christ. The

Granted, there are many stories in the Bible that cause me to shake my head and wonder what was going on. In fact, the Old Testament is downright entertaining for anyone who has ever channel flipped and landed on The Jerry Springer Show  and not been able to look away. Not that I have ever done that. But if there was ever a Top Ten Crazy Moments in the Bible, then I would like to submit Acts 2 for your consideration. Acts 2 is when the Holy Spirit is introduced to the Church and the result is a big party. It's the kind of party where a DJ just happens to show up with all of his equipment and pushes one button and instantly has a dance floor hopping.  The Holy Spirit unleashes in such a big way that outsiders start asking if the believers are drunk. And that's when the Church's first spokesman takes a mic. Peter stands up and says that 9am is way to early to be drunk. He didn't say that there might not be times that they would be drunk. Just not at 9am. Now, Pe

Admittedly, I work for an organization that doesn't always make sense. I am speaking of Church with a big 'C'. It's not that my local church community does everything right, but as long as we are casting blame, we might as well include everybody. And if I was somehow made Super-Ruler and Big-Time-Decision-Maker of the Church, there are a bunch of things I would probably do differently than are currently being done. I suppose everyone could say that. But Fred Antonelli really hots the nail on the head when he discusses our view of sin and grace . It's a bit of a lengthy article, if you're accustomed to reading tweets, but it's worth a look. Woo!

Insignificance. It sounds easy, right? Well, yes and no. After all, being a nobody doesn't exactly take a lot of work. I happen to know from personal experience. On the other hand, it's not easy to accept until you understand that you don't lose like the world understands losing. When you come second to God, you end up fulfilling all the backwards sayings of Jesus. You know, the first being last and all that. But even this isn't as easy as it sounds. And why? Because we haven't added the suffering. A good example comes in John 11 when Lazarus dies. Much has been said regarding this story and what Jesus was doing. At two different moments, Jesus says it is for their belief and for the glory of God that this happened. Sop and let that sink in. Lazarus didn't die because he was healthy. He got sick. He suffered. He breathed his last (or so he thought). His sisters tried to help him. They even turned to Jesus for healing. When nothing changed, they mourned h

Greetings are important. What we say and how we say it will determine where the conversation goes. For example; If I say:                                                  "Hey!" very largely and with a smile, you might assume I’m very excited to see you. "Hi", mumbling and very softly, you might ask what’s wrong. "Oh, it’s you guys…again", you might assume I don’t like you. "Sup?" while coolly nodding my head, you might assume I’m cooler than I actually am. Greetings are important. Which is why I think Paul was purposeful when he began his letter to Tim. In the very first verse, we learn who Paul is and what he is about. 1 Timothy 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,” An apostle  – this is not just any joe writing with some thoughts. An apostle of Christ Jesus  – you have to know who you work for. An apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God  – Paul didn’t

I like reading books because they make me think. Sometimes they make me think a lot. Sometimes they change my thinking. And sometimes all that thinking makes me uncomfortable. That's because sometimes it makes me stop and wonder just what I've been doing. That is what happened as I read The Radical Question / A Radical Idea  by David Platt. It's two books in one, which means more bang for your buck. The Radical Question  is an introduction to David's book Radical , which is just that, radical. It asks the question that every Christian should be asking themselves. What is Jesus worth to you? A Radical Idea  takes the main points from Radical Together . Here David contemplates "the force of a people who come together to enjoy God's grace in the church while the extend God's glory in the world." These books are just small portions of David's books on the topic. So reading these vignettes could cause you to want to read the whole thing. Just a

I have repeatedly asked my wife not to give me home projects. It's not laziness. It's a lack of experience and knowledge in the expensive areas. But does she listen? About as well a I do when she's talking about....about....whatever it is she's always talking about. So she asks me to take care of the seemingly small fixes. Like a bathroom drawer that fell off the track. I took it apart and discovered the inner parts were broken. Now this might have been a small afternoon project for most husbands. But maybe you haven't met me. For me, it meant taking a broken inner part to three different hardware stores, all to no avail, before realizing I would have to install a new drawer slide. For those inexperienced like me, that's the long thingy the drawer slides on. At least, that's how I described it to the hardware guys. While fixing the drawer, I pulled the bathroom counter top away from the wall so I could reach the wall easier. Every guy out there who h

I'd like to give a Woo this week to my son. I didn't name him Luke just so I could say I was his father, although that was certainly a bonus. But after wiating 9 long years, I finally convinced him that we should portray another, perhaps more famous father and son. I also convinced my wife I would find plenty of uses for a black cape from the costume shop. Win and win!