Yoga in the Church? Unheard of...Absurd...or not?

‎"While an alarming number of Western Christians suppose they can achieve physical and spiritual well-being through a form of yoga divorced from its Eastern worldview, in reality attempts to Christianize Hinduism only Hinduize Christianity" - Hank Hanegraaff


http://www.equip.org/bible_answers/what-is-yoga-

I don't understand why some Christians feel they must embrace yoga. There are many good things you can do to stay in shape that don't come out of false religions. If you've ever been in one of my Bible Study classes, chances are, you've heard what I think about it. I understand that there are many benefits but can't you get those same benefit without opening your mind to these false things? Funny thing, I taught Bible Study classes for a long time at a church where I PREACHED against Christians and YOGA for years. Fifteen minutes after I left, the new staff member's wife was teaching yoga up in that same church and some of my former students were in the class. Obviously they didn't buy my take on it. I understand I have no real standing where exercise is concerned. I'm not concerned about your stretching, but I'm very concerned about the things that are creeping into out theology at the same time we are embracing these things of the world. What do you think? Opening your mind to things God said to stay away from or harmless? You know where I stand, what about you?

As Easter approaches...

Seven Stanzas at Easter
John Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body.
If the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the
amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
eleven apostles;
it was as his flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that – pierced – died, withered, paused, and then regathered out of
enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a thing painted in the faded credulity
of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier mache,
not stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of time will
eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in the
dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not make it less monstrous,
for in our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour,
we are embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.


Source: 'Seven Stanzas at Easter, in Telephone Poles and Other Poems (London: Andre Deutsch, 1964), 72–3.

HGCID & VS...or tell it to Jesus!

Don't you wish you knew the nature of a call before you answer it? I get many calls from people who profess to want help or spiritual guidance, but what they really want is someone to listen and tell them whatever foolishness they're engaged in is OK and then tell them why it's OK with God...when it clearly isn't. Sometimes they just need to tell it to Jesus! So I've invented the Holy Ghost Caller ID and Voicemail System (HGCID & VS) to help with this dilema and to keep myself out of your business when I don't belong there. Coming soon, Holy Spirit Email & Text Message Retrieval and Forwarding Program (HSE&TMRP.) I'm very excited about it.


"Hello, you've reached Donna's new Holy Ghost Caller ID and Voicemail System. Your call will be handled in the manner most appropriate for the nature of the call."

"If you are currently living in continual and unrepentant sin and would like someone to tell you it's OK, or that God would want you to be happy... the Holy Ghost will be routing your call on up the line so you can tell it to Jesus. Neither of us will tell you what you want to hear."

"If you are in the middle of doing something you know is stupid, sinful, hurtful or crazy and want someone to pat you on the back and understand...the Holy Ghost is going to forward you on so you can tell it to Jesus. He will refer you to His Word."

"If you are struggling with some real deep personal issue or have a tragedy that has befallen you but you just want to tell me how much you hate Christians...you're going to be screened by the Holy Ghost and he will tell you to...tell it to Jesus. He will be able to comfort you so much better than me and He won't get mad at other Christians."

"If you have a problem with another Christian and want to 'share' a prayer request(gossip,) if you have a problem with a friend and just need to tell someone the horrible wrong that was done to you so we can all be mad together (gossip) or if you have some news that can't wait (gossip,) the Holy Ghost is going to intercede in this call and send you on to the Boss so you can...(you get it by now) tell it to Jesus."

"If however, you are struggling with anything I can truly help you with, pray over with you, cry over with you, laugh over with you, tell you what God says (and you care to listen,)help you get out of a bad situation, OR if you need to tell me how pretty, smart and witty I am, you can leave a message and I'll get back to you."

Legacy

This morning I'm heavy hearted because a man I love very much has gone to be with the Lord. I'm also rejoicing because I know where he is and I hear the music is fantastic. You see, Tom Myers was the Choir Director for my church growing up and was also the Choral Director at both the Jr. High and High Schools. He's the man who taught me music. I could always sing. I was born singing. But someone had to teach me how to make it beautiful. Someone had to teach me to read and understand music. Someone had to teach me how to make the harmony I always heard in my head work. Someone had to teach me to breathe from my diaphragm, not sing through my nose, warm up my voice, stand up straight,and blend. Someone had to teach me how to enunciate, make a pleasant tone, stay on pitch and all about the round vowels...and let's not talk about the dip-thongs. Someone had to teach me to be a leader. Someone had to give me a family bigger than my nuclear family. Tom Myers did those things. If you were a choir kid, you're family. It doesn't matter if you ever attended school or were even in the youth group at the same time, we're family. He was our musical Father and he called us his "kids." Now our musical Father has gone to be with our Heavenly Father and I believe he's heard, "Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter your rest."


I had the privilege of growing up in a small town full of godly mentors. I had many teachers who cared about me personally. I grew up in a church where generations didn't seem to matter. I was "raised" by Central Baptist Church as well as my parents. They gave us a godly foundation that can't be shaken. They had more musical talent than you could shake a stick at (still do) and during my time, the person who led all that talent was Tom Myers. He also loved all that talent. He delighted in it, I think it would be fair to say. In our schools, he gave us a musical legacy that is hard to beat. We had Sweepstakes choirs. ONLY Sweepstakes choirs. It wasn't optional. He knew the way to instill pride in the now and the future is to remind us of what came before us. Excellence. Nothing else was acceptable. We were trained for excellence. We also took trips every spring break and in the spring, we would put on a Broadway musical. This all required money and strength so we spent a lot of time fundraising and most of us learned to be very good at it. We had a high school choir full of athletes who may not have been the best singers but were ever bit as valuable as hard workers. No choir nerds in our choir. It takes a lot of work and brute strength to sell 40 pound boxes of fruit and build sets. The girls were never excused from hard labor. We were taught that we were every bit as capable and strong as those football players. I chunked a lot of boxes of apples in my day. We also had kids from our church choir in the Texas All-State Baptist Youth Choir every year and there was another trip. I loved our trips.

He hauled us all over the Eastern United States, Mexico and parts of the West, and to an immeasurable number of President's houses (my favorite is still Monticello) and that was just during my years. Those trips were amazing. We started every day with student led prayer and a devotional. The bus didn't roll until it was done. Even then, we were being taught to be godly leaders by example. We weren't given a devotional to read, we were just given the day it would be our turn and we had to do the work. We had the same bus driver all 4 of my years because he like driving us. Why? We were good kids. We didn't have a choice. Nothing but excellence was acceptable, remember. Hauling kids all over the country is not something that can even be done in today's educational climate. His family came with us no matter their age at the time but still, their family vacations were our family vacations. It never occurred to me as a child what it cost him and his family. Mrs. Myers loved us too and she never begrudged us this privilege. She packed up the kids and got on the bus and loved us like he did. I watched her and in her I found a godly example of a wife, mother and woman. He could not have found a better partner. She was truly his partner. I wonder if they ever got to have a family vacation?

Through our musicals, we were taught to be performers. Everyone was included. We auditioned for parts and sometimes you got to learn to be a gracious loser. Sore losers? Never saw one. Those musicals were another thing I looked forward to getting to be old enough to do. As it turns out, I can't act but I can sing a MEAN "who could be mistaken," behind a tombstone in Fiddler. Creative. People came from all around to see these productions because they were excellent. You see the theme.

Over the years,his "kids" have suffered a lot of loss. He attended every funeral he's been physically able to attend. Lately, that's where we've seen one another. The last time we spoke was right after Pam, Kathy and I sang a little Southern Gospel trio at Audrey's Mom's funeral. I broke many vocal and musical laws and I thought he was coming over to give me a critique, as usual. Instead, with a tear in his eye, he gave me a pat on the back and said "good job." He was speaking to all of us. I think there was much more than music wrapped up in it. In my life I've received many "good job's" but that''s the one that means the most because it took a lifetime to earn and it came from someone who meant the world to me.


There was a study done on two families, The Max Jukes family and the Johnathan Edwards family. Max Jukes believed in liberation from laws, no formal education and hated imposed responsibility. By all accounts he was a drunkard and lazy. In contrast, Johnathan Edwards was a man of faith, an evangelist. He was hard working, God-fearing and Bible believing. Edwards "was a godly minister who was credited with igniting The Great Awakening through his sermons. He served for a brief period just before his death as president of what is now known as Princeton University. He believed in leading by example. Of 1026 descendants of Max Juke, 300 were convicts, 27 were murderers, 190 were prostitutes and 509 were either alcoholics or drug addicts. It is estimated that the Jukes had cost the State of New York almost $1.4 million dollars to house, institutionalize and treat the family of deviants. By contrast, the 929 descendents of Jonathan Edwards included 13 college presidents, 86 college professors, 430 ministers, 314 war veterans, 75 authors, 100 lawyers, 30 judges, 66 physicians, and 80 holders of public office, including three U.S. Senators, seven congressmen, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a Vice-President of the United States, and a controller of the United States Treasury.

Those are some legacies! I thought I would count the legacy of Tom Myers and his "kids" but even now, one generation later, it's too great to count. The musicians, choral directors, educators, and ministers alone is a staggering number while people who have failed at life are very few. That's a legacy. I know he's proud of every one of us. He wasn't always sunshiny. There were times he was out and out grumpy. In the High School, everyone didn't like him. He didn't care. He wasn't there to be liked. He was there to teach us the music and life. I believe he succeeded. Did I mention I loved this man?

I may have to miss his funeral. If I do, it's because we are taking our family to Washington DC, a place where Mr. Myers took me twice and BECAUSE he took me there twice I developed a love for those historic and patriotic places. They don't have a Mr. Myers so it's our privilege to pass along that love to my kids. I think he would approve. I know he would.

So to Mr. Myers, we bid adieu, for now. And to Jeanette, Nanette, Tommy, Corby and Shannon, I say, "thank you for the music." He couldn't have done any of it without you. I love you guys too. We all do and we share in your grief and your loss. Thank you for allowing us to do so. Thank you for sharing your lives and allowing him to be that musical Father for us. I promise you,it hasn't been wasted.

Like Charlie Brown before me....

The good the bad, the ugly...the crazy, the cult and the Easter Circus

I wrote that last post completely excited to meet with those ladies and maybe get a little Bible Study going at church. I love studying God's Word and I hate biblical illiteracy. I believe God gives us all different passions and mine is definitely in education and discipleship. I'm interested in EVERYTHING and I WANT TO KNOW IT ALL...even though I know I never will.

What has happened since then has been amazing and more than I would have ever asked. Out of that desire to begin a study has come a new "gig" for me. I'm now the Director of Women's Ministries at Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship. Pin Oaks!

I'm honestly not sure how it happened but I do know this, I told God "yes" a couple of years ago when I stopped teaching my High School girls class and decided to begin to prepare to step into ministry. I didn't understand what "prepare" was going to entail. I thought I was going to take classes at the seminary and get certified in Women's Ministry which is the only thing available in my particular case without starting all over. (Which I might do, you never know.) I didn't know the journey would be so, well, hard. If you read this blog, you got to share much of it with me. The good the bad, the ugly...the crazy, the cult and the Easter Circus ((shudder.))

I'm super excited for this new chapter. I've already had so much support and I see God's hand at work. I hope we grow a ministry that is God focused. I don't know why He chooses to use me. He knows I'm going to mess up big time at some point but I also know those are His favorite kind of people. Imperfect. Messy. Willing. Hungry.

At the same time I'm astounded at my prayers that are being answered and the benefit they bring for my church. God is doing amazing things at Pin Oaks. If you don't have a church home, I'd love for you to join us. For a small glimpse at some of those answered prayers, read this from August of 2008. It wasn't ever re-edited and fairly poorly written, but some of you will get the gist. That dream church team isn't such a dream these days. There have been some substitutions but they are great substitutions! We are truly blessed.
Dream Church Team


Wondering about the Easter Circus? That was part of a rant-y rant a few years ago. Got myself all worked up over that one. Easter Circus

Getting the itch

I've been on a ministry hiatus of sorts. It's been a nice time of healing. Much needed. But recently, I've really been missing my ministry. I've been praying that God would lead me and either let me know how to proceed with figuring out how to scratch that itch or take it away.

Yesterday, I received a call from a precious lady from church who wanted to get some of her friends together to do a small Bible Study and wanted to know if I could help get them started. Well that's like wagging Drano in front of a meth head. I couldn't get in the car fast enough! What a blessing to meet with those ladies. A group of women, who..on their own...decided to study God's Word. Who ever heard of that!!??!! Not me, well not in a long time. Just being in the room with them humbled me and blessed my heart.

So as I'm moving forward with what I believe God has called me to do, it's different for me than it has been in the past. In the (sort of recent)past, I've been condemned, judged and found wanting by people who didn't even know me and it's given me a case of ministerial "yips." So I'm asking those of you who read this blog to pray for me as I try to figure out where God is leading and how to best follow Him.

The itch is growing and it''s not going away. Sweet!