Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Just having a few of you read my stuff has completely exceeded all expectations I had for this blog.

A little treat: on being thankful for the little things we have just by being in the right place at the right time in history. This is Louis CK on Conan if you’re wondering.

Now may your ‘Thanksgiving’ be your ‘Thanks-living’ as the old Baptist hymnal says.

One of Christians’ favorite pictures of Jesus is him welcoming the children to him. Usually he’s depicted down on one knee, in a big side hug with three or four kids.

This image (and others) is where we seem to derive the notion of an adult having a ‘child like’ faith. We ‘recieve the kingdom like little children.’

The way I see this idea work out today this: An adult has been going to church for a number of years. Perhaps they know a bit of their Bible, but maybe they don’t understand quite a bit of what it says. But they have latched onto that phrase ‘recieving me like a child.’ So when asked why they believe what they do, they just kind of whimsically answer that they ‘just do.’ They just believe, and don’t need to ask why. God made it so, and that’s good enough for them.

Maybe it’s because the scientific community is constantly barraging the church with new ‘evidence’ that undermines the Bible. Perhaps the constant attacks from secular society that scripture is ‘backwards,’ or ‘unenlightened,’ or counter to all good science. So Christians, it must follow, are either completely insane, or have chosen to just ignore all the ‘proven’ inconsistencies and just not ask questions.

So Christians buy into this, and feel that their Bible is so fragile that they cannot ask questions. They become ‘kool-aid drinkers’ just like the world says they are anyway. Better to not ask questions, and just take it on faith, like a little child. God will work it all out anyway.

Problem is that this is a completely insane frame of mind.

Have you ever met a child that did not ask questions? No. If you did, you would think something was wrong with the child. Haven’t you ever gotten stuck in a cycle of ‘why’ questions with a child?

Was the first commandment really, ‘Okay, everyone shut up. I’m God, you’re not, so no questions. Everyone take a seat and pay attention.’ Did Jesus tell the disciples to pipe down and stop asking questions when they did not understand a parable?

I’ve got to think that as Jesus is standing there with the Pharisees who are challenging him and looking down their noses, he catches sight of a bunch of kids playing ultimate frisbee, and he would just rather be with those kids! So he calls them over. Don’t you think those kids might have asked Jesus a few questions?

Of course they did. Kids are innately curious. Those children were bold enough to approach Jesus because he was new, he was curious. They wanted to know. But their questions were completely different from the Pharisees’ questions. Whereas the adults questioned Jesus with an air of superiority and skepticism, the children asked with genuine wonder and desire to know.

That’s what it means to have a child-like faith. To have a real desire to know. To ask questions every day of your God. To sit at his feet and learn. That doesn’t mean God will tell you everything. Did your parents tell you everything when you were little? If they did, they weren’t good parents, for there is some knowledge that is too heavy for children. Part of being a good child of God is asking the question, then accepting the answer, or lack thereof.

But when we don’t ask questions, it insults God and his Word. It implies that questions cannot be answered. It implies that you can stump God. You can’t stump him. You can’t think of a question that he hasn’t anticipated.

A real child like faith is one that asks questions all the time. Perhaps it is the kind of faith God wants, because part of what he wants to do, that he doesn’t get to do enough of is answer questions!

I just read a great little blog entry comtemplating Jesus’ getting tired. At a particular point in his ministry, he’s making a journey of about 70 miles. At times during that trek, the Bible notes that he had to sit and rest. How weird would it be, for the guy who holds the universe in his hand as dust, who carved all the earth’s features, to be tired from a few miles of walking. That’s got to be a bummer. 70 miles is an inch on a typical map. The Son of God – tired from walking an inch!

Is Jesus thinking about that picturesque sunset, or how bad his arches wouldn’t be hurting if he had some New Balances?

This got me to thinking about other aspects of Jesus’ humanity.

Obviously, Jesus knew what good wine should taste like. He was a connoisseur. And he would know how to spell connoisseur. I’ve got to think he was also a killer ‘Iron Chef.’ So maybe Mary or Martha is struggling in the kitchen, or they just serve some completely sub-par mac n’ cheese and he just comes in and says, ‘Ladies, step aside.’ Then he throws down like Bobby Flay.

I think getting sick would be a real downer for the Son of God. But maybe he was all into natural or herbal remedies. Did Jesus instinctively know what would make himself feel better when he got the sniffles?

If Jesus were around today, I wonder if he’d be one of those guys who can call the end of a movie ten minutes after the opening credits, and insists on doing so.

At the very least, Jesus’ blog would be more interesting than the average. Rather than the typical “I ate a sandwich today, but it wasn’t very good. Then I took a nap,” we’d be treated to, “Today’s ‘Dinner Impossible,’ as I like to call it, was to feed 5,000 men plus women and children with a few lousy biscuits and a couple of sardines. Guess what? Bobby Flay has nothing on me. He can come ‘throw down’ whenever he wants, cause I’m ready for that little boy!”

That’s right, I just referenced three Food Network shows to describe Jesus’ life.

There’s been a big push the last few years to get America healthy. They say that this generation does not know how to make good eating choices. People merely forage like wild animals on empty calories devoid of any nutritional substance. Thus, this generation may be the first in many to not enjoy as long a lifespan as the prior generation.

This got me to thinking the other day about our other hungers. People hunger and thirst for food and drink, but also for purpose, truth, love, importance, power, legacy. These are the other hungers that drive our lives.

People have choices about how they will satisfy these hungers, much like they can choose how they will fill their stomachs every few hours. They can fill up on the sustenance that God provides – for man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from God. But, more often than not, people forage for these things in all the wrong places. They look for love, meaning, truth in the empty places. They fill up on the empty calories of popular entertainment and music which glamorizes vice, sex, money, distorts what ‘real’ men and women are, and insults and degrades everybody as creatures of God.

Jesus talked about this – he told the woman at the well that the water she would drink from the well would leave her thirsty. He told the crowd at the temple that the bread they eat would leave them hungry. Only the food and drink he would provide spiritually would satisfy them completely. People are looking to satisfy their hungers with foods and drinks that will leave them hungrier and thirstier than they felt before.

I call it the ‘Chinese Buffet of Truth.’

So many things the world offers seem delicious for a short time, and do seem to satisfy the cravings inside us. But an hour after dinner, we’ve ended up with a week’s worth of sodium and MSG, and mysterious hunger pangs so fierce they make your hands shake.

Steven Cornell, first time visitor at Jesus Christ the Savior Baptist Church made a new best friend immediately upon arriving at 9:27 am for Sunday services.

Witnesses reported that Cornell, a 37 year old partner at a small local law firm, immediately became best friends in the Lord with the church’s appointed greeter for that Sunday, Mickey Desslin.

Desslin, single and unemployed for six months except for a part time church internship, has been volunteering for the position of ‘greeter’ for several weeks now. Although his official duties merely entail opening the door, handing bulletins to worshippers and directing newcomers to the proper Sunday School room, passers-by noticed Desslin and Cornell immediately seemed to be hitting it off.

“I hadn’t met Steve before, but I guess Mick [Mickey] knew the guy, because he greeted him with a big bear hug like they were best friends,” reported one witness.

The bear hug reportedly consisted of Desslin throwing his arms around Cornell’s torso for several seconds, followed by a conversation in which the men maintained an unusually close proximity to one another’s faces. It was also reported that Desslin’s arm remained draped around Cornell’s shoulder as he guided him away from the sparsely populated sanctuary and towards the crowded Sunday School hall.

When asked for comment, Desslin explained, “I can always sense a new brother in the Lord. My intuition and training as church greeter allowed me to determine Steve’s immediate and long term spiritual needs. We got him squared away with all his new member materials, plugged in to three small groups that will help him flourish, and we were able to touch base with the pastor so he could meet our newest member. I’m really glad the Lord saw fit to bring Steve into our church and into my life.”

It seems these days that pastor’s tenures are becoming shorter and shorter. The career path of a preacher looks quite a lot like any businessman. In other words, they hop around every three to five years, hopefully to a bigger church with more staff and better perks. Then maybe they’ll stay for a ten year stretch at the so called ‘I Finally Made It’ church. Then they retire.

A century ago, pastor’s tenures were quite different. Preachers might stay for a decade, two, or even their entire career. Then they retired or died. Amazing how things change. Consider the dynamics that are at work:

A pastor with a long tenure cannot so easily recycle sermons.

A pastor with a long tenure gains more and more influence with his people as the years pass.

A pastor following the short tenure of his predecessor has an easier time ‘breaking in’ the church to his style.

A pastor following the long tenure of his predecessor has to deal with blue haired old ladies squawking at him about how ‘I’ve been here 63 years, and we’ve never done it like that before!’

A short-term pastor is less attached to the people, and vice verse. He is more like a hired friend than a genuine part of the community.

A long term pastor sometimes has to work harder to keep himself and his people interested in the ministry. Familiarity, it is said, often times breeds contempt.

At some point, a pastor has been at his church long enough and is popular enough that if he were to leave for another church in town, a significant number of people would follow him…Well, maybe. Or everyone is glad to be rid of him.

Just some thoughts to consider in an age of ‘serial’ pastorates. Perhaps your minister has stuck with your church for a long time. Maybe he passed by other ‘better’ opportunities to follow his calling at your church. Do you feel ‘called’ to stay at your secular job, passing over promotions? Would you be hurt or surprised if your pastor left for a ‘better’ church? If you like your pastor, when was the last time you told him so? Doing something about that question may help your pastor in those hours of temptation when another church is looking like an awfully sweet calling.