Take Off Your Shoes!

Happy New Year & Take Your Shoes Off!

When we relocated to North Carolina we learned to offer taking off our shoes before entering someone’s house. For some international cultures this gesture is automatic and not simply an offer. There’s a logic associated with this practice. In the southern states, your outdoor shoes, if not removed, will track red clay residue, prevalent throughout the area, onto rugs and floors. In some cultures, outdoor shoes are considered dirty and inappropriate for indoor use. The Japanese have special shoes or slippers for indoors.

Exodus 3:5 speak of a similar command when Moses approached the burning bush. “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground.”

I often thought about that verse. Why remove one’s shoes? Some years ago I heard a sermon on this verse which sounded logical. When you consider all of the dirty and nasty places we may have walked with our shoes, the Lord’s command to Moses made sense. It was a reminder that sin is incompatible with personal holiness and the presence of God.

As we face a new year in 2016, let us make a commitment to pursue holiness in our daily lives. At the same time let us symbolically remove our shoes … that is, try our best to remove sinful behavior from our lives. The good news is that we don’t have to accomplish that on our own. The Holy Spirit will strengthens us on our journey of holiness, but first we have to make the commitment. Even if we misstep we can seek forgiveness from the Lord and get back on track.

Have a successful New Year and watch where you walk!

Robert Parlante
January 2016

Christmas Greeting

WAR ON CHRISTMAS

Whatever happened to the Christmases of old when we sang Christmas carols in public places, store clerks wished shoppers “Merry Christmas”, and public schools were not paranoid about putting up Christmas trees. Like many pleasant memories of life, those events have vanished like a wisp of fog blown out to sea by a politically correct windstorm, never to return again. Schools have even banned activities disguised as Christmas. The Christmas colors of green and red are expelled from school.

We are told to celebrate snowflakes, snowmen, reindeers and winter. Thankfully most churches still display Christmas trees (usually indoors), and some even unabashedly set up public Nativity scenes outside of their churches. Unfortunately, there are growing numbers of churches that minimize outside Christmas décor like we are trying to hide Jesus in a corner for fear his display might dampen a potential new adherent.

For believers, this all sounds downright discouraging, doesn’t it? Well, maybe not so much. Christmas decorations have little, if anything, to do with Christmas. But we all like to hold onto them because they remind us of the real reason for the season. Unfortunately, like many times, the things at the edge of life overwhelm what should be the core of life. Over time the central meaning of Christmas becomes diluted or corrupted when we place too much emphasis on decorations.

As believers we need a reality check. There is a war on Christmas and there has always been a war on Christmas. The battle lines were set centuries ago. Not so much over trees and ornaments. Not over green and red colors. It’s because of the Jesus.

In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 2, we have the account of King Herod reacting to the birth of the Christ child. This was the very first war on Christmas. Herod becomes disturbed, thinking the baby Jesus would eventually usurp the King’s political role. We are still fighting similarly motivated battles today against what appears to be unstoppable forces bent on destroying Christianity.

An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says, “Get up, take the child and mother and escape to Egypt … Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

I leave you with this closing thought. The battle belongs to the Lord. With Herod, he chose a different approach to serve a greater purpose. The Lord speaks through Scripture. He uses other people. He may even use an angel.

The key is to listen, test the validity through Scripture, and be obedient. Then choose your battles!

Robert Parlante

December 2015

 

God Isn't Fixing This!

The New York Daily News front page recently ran a headline which read “God Isn’t Fixing This!” in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting episode. The headline was prompted by the prayers of public figures for those killed and harmed and affected by the shooting. The headline was a call for more gun controls as the only way to fix the mess that our country faces with terrorism and mass shootings. But implicit in the headline was that prayers were a waste of effort in the San Bernardino case because God is not going to fix anything in response to our cries for help and comfort.

I am in favor of better gun controls that closes loop-holes, but I also hold a biblical world view. The Daily News headline felt arrogant like people (and even believers) have the right and ability to draw conclusions about the actions and intents of our Lord. We view the spiritual world through a glass darkly. We only see a fraction, if at all. We should not complain about God’s lack of actions and draw pessimistic conclusions he will not be fixing much of anything. The only clear word about God’s intent and promise comes through Scripture.

The issue is really a heart matter.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Why not look forward to a headline that says: God Can Heal Our Land!

Robert Parlante

December 2015

ALZHEIMER'S AWARENESS MONTH

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, and once again it got me thinking back to the last year of my mother’s life. When the family was going through that year, there was debate whether she had true Alzheimer’s disease or senile dementia. Really, what difference does that make? The net effect is the same. The patient loses touch with reality and eventually succumbs to some organ failure. The impact on the family is the same whether Alzheimer’s disease or senility.

A deteriorating mind is not the only failure that must be dealt with. Family dynamics become strained because different members believed they have answers, or worse, thought that people were overreacting, and that my mother was not that bad off.

My mother was living alone in an apartment about 150 miles away from where I was living. While on a business trip one time I decided to stop by to say hello. That’s when I had a reality check. She tried to cook a meal but could not quite remember how to use a gas stove. There were medications strewn about the floor. She accused the paper delivery boy of stealing what little money she had.

The hard choice had to be made. My mother had to be transferred to a special memory loss nursing home. Before that, we had tried having her live with a family member. That did not work as she frequently wandered away from home. The next step had to be taken. My wife and I got the job of placing her in a nursing home. It was one of the most difficult steps I ever had to do.

In 1983, President Reagan designated November as Alzheimer’s Awareness Month for good reason. Caregivers, family members, friends all struggle dealing with this disease. You’ve heard the phrase, ‘It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.’ From my experience it takes a comparable village … a team of family members to handle a patient with Alzheimer’s disease.

Take this month to appreciate and recognize caregivers. Send a note card or a small token gift. Let the caregiver know you are praying for their strength and encouragement as they face the slow agonizing journey to the end.

Robert Parlante

 

 

A CHRISTMAS TREE DUST-UP

An upscale shopping mall in Charlotte decided this year there would be no Christmas tree as part of the display where children visit Santa Claus with this wish list. Instead the mall would substitute a glacier ice cave to enhance the child’s experience with Santa. Seriously … did mall management believe a child would prefer an image of an ice cave in the Santa photo rather than a Christmas tree?

Shoppers immediately mobilized and set up a petition on Change.org to bring back the Christmas tree. At the last count, 25,000 people signed the petition. Mall management changed their minds and brought back the tree. Signees said they would go to another mall for the child’s Santa visit where there would be a Christmas tree. The people have spoken. In fact, the mall owners own multiple facilities across the USA. Similar petitions reportedly garnered 75,000 + signatures.

So what’s the take-away from this Christmas tree dust-up?

I liked Candace Cameron Bure’s recent comments about a comparable dust-up with Starbucks removing “holiday” symbols from its coffee cups. She said holiday symbols on a cup do not define Christmas for her as a Christian … her relationship with Jesus does.

So here’s the bottom line. There is power in petition and numbers. Christians should flex their muscle and not be so timid or politically correct. A recent survey indicated the nones __ those who do not profess any religious identification or inclination are growing more secular. At the same time, the survey indicated believers are becoming more strongly committed, seeking more prayer, bible study and home groups.

Getting the Christmas tree back to the mall can easily become a hollow victory if we forget it’s all about our relationship with Jesus. Some battles are life and death. Some are nice and traditional like a Christmas tree. Some are not worth the effort.

So what’s your take? Where do you fall in this battle?

Robert Parlante

November 2015

A "Neutral" Christmas Tree

It’s the start of November when one’s thoughts turn to the upcoming year-end holiday season. Actually some stores started displaying holiday decorations as early as September! They’re really Christmas decorations regardless of what the politically-correct “police” say. Giving something a neutral name or definition does not remove the inherent meaning of the word or item being defined. A “holiday “ tree is a Christmas tree regardless of how one argues the point because the tree’s core meaning as a decoration is religious. Even hanging “neutral” ornaments on the tree does not eliminate its historical meaning.


Hallmark Channel takes a middle of the road approach to Christmas trees. The channel has started its Christmas and holiday themed movies broadcast almost around the clock. You either love the movies or you don’t love them so much! I am more or less ambivalent. Some I like; some not so much because they are too saccharine. The movies more or less portray family values and Christmas in positive ways, but the religious aspects are not typically highlighted. Many times the channel does call a Christmas tree a “Christmas tree”. That’s all positive.

Hebrews 5:9 says: And being made perfect, he (Christ) became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

This begs a question: Is salvation available to a politically-correct person? Of course, it is!

But once saved we should not approach Christmas with fear of the pc police. Do not put up a “neutral” tree. Put up a Christmas tree.

Robert Parlante

November 2015