Nerds and Geeks

Good morning Trinity Tribe,

With my almost hour long commute, I get a lot of time to think and pray and listen to the radio. Today, I listened to a bit of a radio show and learned that today is an important day….Embrace your Geekness Day!

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/July/geeknessday.htm

The show discussed the difference between geeks and nerds. I'm not sure what your definition is, but from the show and a little internet research, here is what I have come up with. A nerd is someone who is highly intellectual. A nerd often has a focused set of interests and is an expert in those interests e.g. Star Trek trivia. Nerd seems to have popped into the American vocabulary in the 1950s lifting the title from a Dr. Seuss book. The word "nerd" is always pejorative and points to someone being boring and annoying who has poor social skills.

In contrast, the word, geek, came into the vernacular from circus side shows. A geek has normal intelligence but has a specialized job that seems bizarre to the general public e.g. being able to fix computers. Geek has a more positive connotation. Geeks tend to have social skills.

Now, I don't know about you, but I had no idea that there were entire websites dedicated to the difference between geeks and nerds. Most of the time, I tend to use these words interchangeably. Isn't that true of how the general population uses Christian and hypocrite? If you ask 10 non-Christians or even 10 atheists, most of them will describe a Christian with the same words we would use to describe a hypocrite. In They Like Jesus But Not the Church, Dan Kimball writes, "Today, Christians are known as scary, angry, judgmental, right-wing finger-pointers with political agendas." He goes on to say, "While some Christians might fit those categories, most of us don't! Sadly, the most vocal and aggressive voices that people are familiar with do…I think at the core of a lot of the confusion is the fact that most people are making conclusions about Christians and Christianity based on a few bad experiences."

I don't know about you, but I have had bad experiences with Christians and churches. I have not chosen to play church political games and have paid for it. I have been hurt by church people. I have been lied to by church people. And I, as a church person myself, have done my share of sinning as well thus sullying the name, "Christian".

So, sharing our message of love and hope found in our Savior, Jesus Christ, is a difficult task. We must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live the Gospel. We must live our lives with integrity. We must work hard to not be hypocrites. We must approach non-believers with love and a realization that they may have preconceived notions of us and church because of past bad experiences with church and church people. We must live the words of James and "be doers of the Word and not hearers only" in all that we do not just from 11 to noon on Sunday mornings.

Let's all pray and ask God to help us live and walk the walk and not just talk the talk and be effective ambassadors for Christ.

Enjoy your geeky day and watch Star Trek or Star Wars tonight!

Names

Good morning everyone,

I hope you will have an enjoyable and productive day!

You may have noticed by now that Mark, the girls, and I all have different last names. Mark is a Merryman. Kenna and Hanna have their father's last name, Berg. I use my maiden name. While there had been many many generations of McClures in centuries prior, my grandfather had two children, a boy and a girl, so only my father carried on the family name. Then my father and mother adopted two girls. When my sister and I both got married, the name McClure disappeared. I decided several years ago that I really missed my last name. I had been a McClure much longer than I had been married into the Berg family. While I had been adopted and am not genetically related to any McClures, I felt like a McClure. I have the family crest on my wall at home. My great-aunt has traced the family heritage back to the Old Country. So, I changed my name because McClure carries meaning for me. I have no birthright to the name, but I claim it and it holds important meaning and memories for me.

Our name of "Christian" works the same way. In baptism we are adopted into the family of God. We become a child of God. We become a brother or sister to Jesus the Christ. Yet, we have no right to be children of God. We are sinners. We continually turn away from God. However, God is a God of grace and mercy. Through grace we are saved by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Because of Jesus being fully human and fully divine and sacrificing himself for our sins, we get the privilege to call God, Daddy, and Jesus, brother. We did not save ourselves, but in baptism we are lovingly adopted by God. In the fourth chapter of Galatians, Paul writes,

4-7But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

I look forward in the coming months to hear the stories of your names. Who are you named after? Where did your family come from to move to Red Springs? What children do you have that are named after your great-aunt or favorite uncle? However, I encourage you to never forget your true name, the name given to you by grace and through sacrifice, beloved child of God.