Attitude

During the month of August, I seemed to have hit what I would call a very horrible emotional wall. Whereas summer is supposed to be a time of rest, relaxation, and “dialing it down”, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated and discouraged. Someone recently asked me how I was doing. As I paused to think, she responded to my lack of immediate response with the words, “Uh Oh!” I informed her that after really thinking about her question, I had to admit that while my life was going rather well, I myself was not doing so well. The next thing I did was to take a hard look at my attitude. It was then that I remembered the following quote, which I heard almost 30 years ago by Dr. Charles (Chuck) Swindoll: “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations…The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gifted ability, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home.” The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace from that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in certain ways. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we can do is play on the one violin string that we have left after the other three strings have snapped, and that string is ATTITUDE. I am convinced that life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it. And so it is….We are in charge of our Attitudes. I can’t say that I am “out of the woods” quite yet, but as one of my minister friends once said, “I have not arrived where I want to be but I’ve left where I...
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The Not-So-Pearly Gates

On last evening myself and a number of other black (not all are African-American) clergy met with the Mayor and Police Commissioner of the City of Cambridge. Unless you have been living on another planet, you more than likely have heard about the arrest of Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., a prominent African-American Professor at Harvard University. He was arrested on July 16th, when a policeman responded to a call that two black men were breaking into a house located near Harvard University. And this is the topic of our discussion for this post. What originally seemed like an open and shut case has turned into such a national fire storm of debate that even President Barak Obama found himself dragged into it. Now, approximately two weeks later, we discover that things are not always what they seem. Professor Gates was not breaking into a house, for the house belonged to him. The woman accused of describing the perpetrators of the crime as being black never described them as being black. The arresting officer, Sergeant James Crowley, who has been accused of being racist, may have been more outraged and angered at Professor Gates’ description of his mother than at the color of Gates’ skin. So now we’re having the big discussion of race, not simply in America, but more specifically in a very liberal city known by many as “The People’s Republic of Cambridge”. Cambridge has always looked upon itself as the bastion of openness, the “Pearly Gates” of diversity for so many different cultures, and rightfully so. In my congregation alone, there are representatives from approximately 35 – 40 different countries. Thus, this one instance certainly bruised the pride, and maybe even the arrogance, of a city that may not have always been willing to concede that this kind of stuff still occurs even in a city like Cambridge. I personally do not think that this particular case measures up to all of the accusations we as people of color are making with regards to racism and racial profiling. However, this case represents the smoke that’s led a nation to where the fire called racism still burns. For example, our ministry intern, a Harvard Divinity Student, was followed (almost stalked) by a police officer after coming out of his own apartment. Why? Because he was a black man in his mid-twenties in a Cambridge neighborhood not known...
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Rejoice (Part I): Fix Your Face!

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4; KJV) This Scripture may be one of the most well-known in the Bible. Part of the reason for this is because many of us love the version of this Scripture made into song by Israel Houghton & New Breed. The more likely reason is that it is one of the shortest verses in the Bible. And, unfortunately, because it is such a short verse, we tend to think that we fully understand what it means to really rejoice. In these times of emotional stress caused by people feeling unsafe for a variety of reasons, as well as economic stress, we really need to experience the joy of the Lord as our strength on a daily basis (Nehemiah 8:10). So, because we see the word “joy” in the word “rejoice”, we can probably see our need to fully understand this simple word in order for us to live our lives in the full strength of God, as He empowers us through His Holy Spirit. But what does it really mean to rejoice? The word “rejoice” in this particular verse comes from a Greek word that means: Be Cheerful. Thus, the command is: Be cheerful in the Lord always, and again I say, Be Cheerful! Well, what does it mean to really be cheerful? Our English word for “cheer” interestingly enough is derived from a Late Latin word that means “Face”. This metaphorically means one’s mood, demeanor, or mental condition as reflected in one’s face. So being cheerful means to have a face full of, in this case, joy. Because the word “joy” means “satisfaction”, this verse is telling us to have a face that is “full of satisfaction”. I realize this is tedious, but hang with me here! The word “satisfaction” or “satisfy” literally means “to do enough” or “enough has been done”. Thus, when I express that I am satisfied, I am saying that I’ve had enough or enough has been done for me. So, what are we saying here? The term “rejoice in the Lord always” means: Have a face that fully expresses that the Lord has done enough for you! Put a smile on your face. Brighten up your eyes. Push up your cheeks. Let the reflection of your face in the mirror express that God not only has done enough, but the Lord is...
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Singing Life in the Key of C

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6; KJV) If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? (Jeremiah 12:5; NLT) The word “Philippians” literally means “Lover of Horses”. I believe that God does not only desire that we keep up in the horse race of life, but that we actually love and enjoy this rapid pace. But the question is: How? How can we keep this rapid pace without being anxious, annoyed or even angry with life? I believe that Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi holds the answer. This is why during this month we’ve been speaking on a series entitled “Running with the Big Dogs”. By “Big Dogs” we mean people of influence. People who are impacting their worlds. People of great accomplishment. In other words, folks who get significant things done!!! Big Dogs have to eat. Big Dogs like to C.H.O.W. In other words, they feed on four types of attitudes: • Confidence • Humility • Oblivion (oblivious; they forget the past) • Worship During last week’s sermon, we discovered that the Greek word for “Confidence” means “Assenting [to the evidence]”. We also noted that one definition of “assent” is the word “accord”, which speaks of “being in harmony”. Thus, God desires that we live our lives in harmony with the evidence that since He began His good (God) work in us, He will certainly complete it. What evidence? Evidence such as how God saved us. Evidence such as the condition we were in when Christ found us. Evidence such as the difficult, if not impossible, situations through which God has brought us. We need to assent to the clear evidence that what God started in our lives, He will finish. And yet, there is one problem with this concept called harmony. Harmony means that we must sing the same note as another person, in this case God’s Spirit. What I love about the book of Philippians is that the Apostle Paul is very clear regarding what it takes to possess an attitude of Joy. In chapter one alone, Paul mentions the word “Christ” eighteen times. In other words, if we are going to live lives full of God’s joy, then Christ has to be at the center of our...
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The Performance Enhancer

Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6; KJV) Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and, as of two weeks ago, Sammy Sosa. These are the names of players who were considered some of the best baseball players in the history of Major League Baseball, but were caught or highly suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used by athletes to improve their performance in the sports in which they engage. Thus, these individuals, who were once a sure bet to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame will more than likely be denied admittance. Why? Because they have been accused of cheating. They’ve taken a substance that assisted them in performing far better in their sport than they would have without it. Unlike in baseball or any other sport, we Christians are encouraged to allow “The Performance Enhancer” to work regularly in our lives (Philippians 2:13). In fact, we are to be confident that He is determined to work in us to produce a “Hall of Faith” (see: Hebrews Chapter 11) performance in our lives. So stop worrying about the mistakes and failures you’ve made during your Christian journey. Stop trying to perform your God-given purpose through your own natural ability. Because the word “performance” means “toward completion and conclusion”, be confident in this one thing: it is God who started His work in your life by saving you from sin, and He is the same person who will bring the work that He started in your life toward its completion and conclusion. And I have even better news for you! Not only will He keep at it until the very end of your life, but He encourages you to allow Him to daily enhance your performance. For without Him, you will not make His Hall of Faith (John 15:5). I invite your...
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