Category Archives: Church

What worship is

27 Monday Aug 2018

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What is worship?  Is it just something we go to once a week, or possibly less?  Is it something that you watch, as a spectator would?  Is it something that you go to like a sporting event or a concert, looking to see how your emotions are changed, your needs are met?

My answer to that is that for some people, the answer is yes.

But I have to ask – is it worth it if that’s all worship is for you?

Why do you worship?  What impact does it have on your life?  How does it change you?  Does it create an opportunity to encounter Jesus and have your life changed?

During the conference I was at last week, I heard the following statement:

Worship is a way of life, not something you go to and leave at the door on Sunday.

I love that statement.  It sums up a theology of worship.  Worship isn’t something you go to.  It is a way of living.

St. Francis of Assisi was quoted as saying:

Pray without ceasing.  And if you have to, use words.

Francis understood that worship goes far beyond just being in a church building.

Christianity isn’t a spectator sport.  It’s a way of living.  There is no off time for it.  You don’t get to silo it or compartmentalized it to an hour-long time once a week and then go and do whatever you want to do.

Jesus wanted disciples, not spectators.  I think the church does a disservice to itself if it focuses on just getting people to worship and not doing what Jesus called us to do – make disciples.

The sooner our churches move away from spectator worship and towards discipleship, the better we will be.  Jesus wanted followers, not spectators.  Jesus wanted people’s whole lives, not just a little time here and there when the schedule worked out.

Worship is an extension of discipleship and ministry.  It also drives us out to do more ministry and discipleship.

This is what worship is to me.

Random Thoughts from Seattle

24 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in Church, Theology, Travel

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I’m currently in Seattle, WA – at a training with mission developers.  My focus is on poverty and homelessness.  It’s been an interesting week so far.  A lot of great networking opportunities, hearing about great ministry, and learning some great stuff.

A few things I’m taking away as we move towards wrapping up the training:

  1. There are some great people in ministry.  People who are in mission development are a unique breed of people – very entrepreneurial.  That’s not really a new insight.  But it’s great to be around people like this.  It’s great to be around people who come up with as many ideas for ministry as I do and not think it’s insane.
  2. Even while I’m away, ministry continues to happen – and sometimes there is no escape.  Ok, often, there is no escape.  As I was listening in to a conversation on homelessness and prison ministry, I was busy trying to help a friend find some kind of shelter for a few days.  From three-time zones away.  Technology makes this possible.  Which is incredible and amazing.  And it also is a constant reminder that there is no break for those caught in poverty and homelessness.
  3. We in the church need to have more fun.  We get so wrapped up in our work and so stuck on being serious for worship that all to often we forget to have fun.  Where there is life, there is fun.  There is fun where there is health.  Yes, the institutional church is in decline, but where are the things we can celebrate?  Where are the things we can have fun with?  There’s enough crap in the world to bring people down.
  4. There are plenty of things in the secular world that the church can learn from.  I was in a bar last evening with friends.  This was an incredible place.  More than just a bar.  It was a brewery.  It was packed.  I would estimate there was over 200 people inside.  It was open and movement was easy.  There were large tables, specialty groups (we saw a camera group, a medical group, a Birthday, and more).  Dogs were welcome.  And there was even a kids section.  Games were available for guests – for free.  Bathrooms were even different – one entrance with separate very private individual stalls, with a central hand washing station.  It was packed – did I mention that?  We sat and wondered what church would look like in such a location?  Or if a church took on aspects of this.  What would it look like?  How would it be different?  There was great life in the place, and a sense of openness and welcome.  And it wasn’t forced.  It felt natural.

As we wrap up, I come away with plenty more ideas and enthusiasm.  I look forward to being back home, seeing my family, and trying out the ideas that have been learned.  And seeing what God is up to and how we are creating environments where people will encounter God in unique ways.

So many need help

20 Monday Aug 2018

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I keep hearing how great our economy is.  But I keep running into more and more people who are struggling to survive.  I hear about how people have more money in their pockets, yet I find more people who have none.

Yesterday I was able to help a mother and her daughters have shelter for a night. They needed one night as they were working on their trailer to get it ready for tomorrow.  I don’t know all the details, but I know this was a family in need.  This was a time I could do something.

I also helped serve food to the homeless and poor in the nearby city.  While there, I was approached by two individuals for help.  One, a woman, was seeking transportation to Manhattan to “go home.”  She was homeless and said that she had no money.  There was no waiting until tomorrow – she had no where else to go.  What was I to do?  That kind of ticket is beyond my means.  I gave her directions to a local shelter and prayed with her.  I felt helpless.

The other gentleman approached me while he was in line getting food.  He seemed upset.  He inquired if I was the pastor at the church where the food was being given out.   I wasn’t, I told him.  He asked if the church would help him get a tent.  He was currently sleeping under a tarp in the woods and it was starting to get a bit cold at night.  While we talked, it seemed as though the church had let him down before – not necessarily this church, just the church in general.  The snark in his voice gave it away.  Would I be just another church person who would let him down?

Yesterday when I preached I talked about the child sex abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church.  I have struggled with this story all week-long.  So many victims.  So many abusers.  So much cover up.  And for what purpose?  To protect an institution?  When the truth comes out like it has, how has the institution been protected?  And why is the institution more important that young boys and girls?  This isn’t just a Catholic Church problem either.  It’s a human problem.

So many in need.  Yet I keep hearing about the great economy.  As if that will make it all better.  It won’t.  Don’t bother telling me about how great the economy is.  The economy of the people I have been with is crappy.  It’s poor.  It’s broken their trust.  It’s let them down.  It has left them homeless.

So many in need.  And yesterday I got to participate in a different economy – the economy of salvation.  I presided at our regular worship services and offered something with great savings – Jesus, the living bread of heaven.  I also had the privilege of offering communion to the poor and homeless before the meal they would eat.  Many took the bread and ate it.  I have no idea how many understood what they were doing.  But taking communion isn’t about understanding it – as if it’s really understandable when you get to the core of it.  Instead, this bread was life-giving bread.  It was a reminder of the promise of Jesus to be with us until the end of the age.  It was a reminder of the forgiveness of sin.  It was a reminder that Jesus offers true food that fills us beyond our stomachs.  It is food for the journey for these men and women – the journey of living on the streets.

This is the economy I know.  This economy far surpasses any human economy and what it has to offer.  In the economy of salvation, there are no recessions or depressions.  There is only an abundance of the Bread of Life.  So many in need.  And more than enough of Jesus to go around.  Better than any economy this world could ever offer.

A Night at Flying J

17 Friday Aug 2018

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Last evening was a Flying J night.  There’s a core group of half a dozen or so people from our congregation who go over to Flying J truck stop twice a month to make sure people can get showers, get their laundry done, and get a meal.  We work with individuals and families who live in the parking lot, who are homeless, struggle with poverty, live in motels, and more.  Many work and are doing what they can to get from one day to the next.

Last night there was a total of 22 people.  That’s the total between people from the church and our guests who come each Thursday we are there.

We know each of these people by name.  Often, we know a portion of their stories too.  In many instances we have been working with them for a few months now – trying to assist them in ways that they want help and how we can actually help.  We aren’t the savior of these people though.  We’re not there to fix them or solve all their problems.  We can’t.

We go to Flying J for a reason.  We go because these are people we are called on to reach out to, get to know, spend time with, and offer what we can.  This is what ministry is really about.  It’s not fixing others.  It’s about being with people.  It’s about reminding people of their humanity.  We do that when we listen to people, when we hear their stories.  When we eat with people.  When we talk.  When treat people with respect.  When we can offer dignity.

In many places, the church is re-learning that ministry can be hands on.  In some places, the church has been doing this for a long time.  In some places, the church is learning this for the first time.  Regardless, ministry is messy.  Anything involving people tends to be that way.

But there are times to rejoice too.  We rejoice when we experience joy with a family whose life together changes for the better.  We rejoice when a family went from living in their vehicle months ago to securing employment and moving into an apartment.  That is a joy not just for them, but for us too.  We rejoice when we hear another one of our friends finds a job so that his family can start to look for a place to live.

Flying J has become more than a truck stop for me.  It has become a place where I see friends and catch up on their lives.  It’s a place where ministry happens.  It’s a place where joy is shared.  It’s a place Jesus shows up for both our guests and ourselves.  And we get to encounter Jesus.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers…

13 Monday Aug 2018

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James 1:22 states:

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

I’m keeping it short today.  No need for a lengthy post here.

How are doing in relation to James 1:22?  Are you a doer of the word, or merely a hearer only?

According to James if you are only a hearer, then you are deceiving yourself.

Time to get honest.

A model for church?

27 Friday Jul 2018

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I’ve been thinking a good deal about models for church – how church runs, if you want to think about it that way.  For many decades here in the US, we’ve been using a pretty standard model.  There’s a building, a pastor, limited other staff, programs, committees, and worship is the big thing that we try to get everyone to on Sunday morning each week.  There’s other stuff in that model too – education, ministry, budgets, and service projects.  I’m sure I’m missing a few things, but that’s not the point.  You know what I’m talking about.

But here’s the thing – this hasn’t been the only model for church.  In Europe, the model has been different – mostly because of the relationship between church and state is far different from the US traditionally.  When the church is an official state religion, you end up with a very different model.  The state collects taxes for the church, staff is usually greater, with larger and older buildings, worship happens, but has few attendees, and the church provides some services to the general public – weddings, funerals, baptisms.  The churches in these countries are usually more bureaucratic.

There are other models – African churches are different from American and European churches.  Some countries have more evangelists than pastors – a role that doesn’t exist in American Christianity.  The services are joyful expressions that last hours and are the heart of Sunday, with multiple offerings.  The church is more central to the life of the community, and the church hierarchy has more influence on government in many instances.

In all of these examples, the models have worked…until the don’t.  There were other models before these.  And when they didn’t work anymore, the church changed.  There are a variety of reason why a model doesn’t work any longer.  The current model for the church in the US is not working any longer.  The numbers show this.  Attendance has been in decline for decades.  Membership has too.  Offerings to church has gone down as well over all.  Although, the people who remain are actually giving more.  There is a focus on seeing results for what is given.  The numbers don’t lie.

Recently I made the argument that the church needs to be open to different models. There isn’t going to be a one-size-fits-all silver bullet.  I do think there is something fundamental though – a shift in focus.

In the current model, there is usually great focus given to getting more people into worship first.  There are reasons for this – worship is the center of Christian life.  And so churches have spent a great deal of time, energy, and effort at figuring out ways to get people to worship.  Some of this makes sense.  It is during worship that an offering is made – the revenue for the running of the church. Churches adjust worship, add new things, have the latest technology, go old school with the liturgy, using social media – all with an effort to get people into the pews for worship.

Let me say this – I have nothing against worship.  I’m a pastor and worship is a big part of what I do.  I enjoy worship very much. But I wonder if there are other models that draw people in outside of worship.  That’s not to say that worship should be excluded – it’s still a central part of Christian life.  I’m saying there are other models that draw people in that will lead to worship.  But worship isn’t the end all, be all either.

If you are like me, maybe you need a visual.  Here’s a rough draft of the concept.

Photo on 7-26-18 at 4.06 PM.jpg

Throughout the Gospels Jesus is inviting people into relationship with him.  He’s telling them to come and follow him.  He’s inviting them into the work of the kingdom.  He’s got a mission that he is sending them on.

But he isn’t inviting people to worship, in the sense that we think about it today.  He invited people into ministry and mission, and he invited people into discipleship.

As you can see from the drawing, I put those two areas at each end of the church “pipe” as I’m calling it.  They are entry points into relationship.  And each of those moves towards and through worship and drives us out to do the other end.  Think of worship as a pump that moves us through to the other side.  In other words, if someone is invited to mission and ministry, they will be drawn towards worship and be sent out towards discipleship.  Worship still has a central place in the life of the church – but a different role maybe.  Ministry and mission, as well as discipleship are ways that Jesus brought people in and I think Jesus calls on us to begin relationships with people.

People want to be a part of ministry – especially hands-on ministry.  People want to take part in mission.  They are drawn to it.  As a result, they will want to grow deeper in relationship with the people they are doing ministry and mission with.  Worship is an opportunity for that.  Worship is a communal activity in the church.  At least in the Lutheran tradition, it involves gathering people in, hearing the Word, being in meal together, and being sent out.

Sent out where – for more ministry and for discipleship.  Discipleship is going deeper in living the way of Jesus.  It involves learning, listening, thinking, questioning, relationship, and more.  While ministry and mission are hands-on, discipleship is heart and head on.

Some people may be invited into discipleship and be drawn to that as well.  In growing deeper in discipleship, there will be a desire for relationship with other disciples where people can gather, hear the Word, be in meal together, and be sent out.  Sent out for more discipleship and ministry and mission.

A new model for church isn’t a total scrapping of everything the church is about.  It’s really more a change of what already exists.  Instead of focusing on getting people to worship first, the change is on reaching people through mission, ministry, and discipleship.  Those relationships will drive engaged people towards worship and send them out for more ministry, mission, and discipleship.

The practical question becomes, how do you pay for the running of the organization?  Good question.  Maybe offering in worship is just one aspect.  Maybe our idea of offering needs to expand because isn’t ministry, mission, and discipleship exactly what the church is called to? Is that not participating in the unfolding of the kingdom?  Are there opportunities to support these efforts directly?  I have no idea.  But I’m willing to guess that there are.

This also raises other questions – what does the structure of the church look like?  What is the role of the pastor?  What does church look like as an organization?

These are really big questions, which I don’t have the answer to.  But I think it’s important to ask the question, to explore, to test, to try things.  It’s important to recognize the reality that what worked in the past isn’t working any more.  It’s important to look at the reality of the numbers and face them, rather than kick the can down the road.  There is no more road for many churches.  And even though many church should have been tackling this challenge years ago, it’s never to late to start.  But the longer we wait, the worse the options will be.

But the good news is that this is a great time to be the church.  Yes, the numbers look bad.  But all that means is that we are given an amazing opportunity to do something that happens once every 500 years or so – rethink church and discern how God is calling the church to carry out the mission.  We have an amazing opportunity set before us.  We can approach it with fear, clutching onto a model that doesn’t work, saying things like “we’ve never done it this way before,” or we can respond in trust to the faith that God gives us, opening our arms to new models that haven’t been tried, and saying things like “We haven’t tried that before, I wonder what would happen…”

God is giving us an amazing opportunity.  How will we respond?

What business is the church in?

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

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What business is the church in?  Maybe you prefer a less business oriented question.  How about this – why does the church exist?  It’s the same question, just asked a little differently.

Does the church exist to run a church?  To maintain an institution?  Make disciples?  Redemption?  Resurrection?  Forgiveness?  The Great Commission?  Serving the Poor?  Proclaiming Good News?  Something else?  What?

The answer to the question posed is really important.  And it makes a big difference.  But it goes beyond the stated question.  The real answer lies in the non-verbals of a church – How the money is used, the culture, the expectations, the attitudes of the people, etc.  Those don’t always match up with the stated answer.  Sometimes they do.

The non-verbals tell the story of the real answer to the question of why people believe the church exists.  These tell the story of how resources are used to support the true answer to the question – resources of time, money, energy.  These determine what the staffing looks like, and how the organization is structured.  These determine how the building and its land are used.  These determine what ministry and mission takes place.  These determine what discipleship happens and how.

Take a look at organizations that are dying or have died.  You can look at churches if you want.  The common thread that runs through those churches is that they don’t know why they exist beyond the fact that they have existed for some time.

Sometimes though, there is ministry that is taking place, where people are being drawn in, where resources are flowing in.  Even in dying organizations.  Sometimes in spite of the organization.  Where this life is taking root, there is passion, impact, hope, and a future.  I’ve seen this in organizations and churches.  And what usually happens is that the dying host organization tries to grab hold the thriving element in order to get a shot of life.  The only problem is that it usually kills off the life and the organization.  Remember, it was an organization that didn’t know why it existed.  The movement within the organization does though.

I’m stating this broadly, church – to no one in particular.  We can’t kick the can down the road any more.  There is no more road.  The question remains – what is the church about?  What is the institutional church about?  Why does it exist?  What is Jesus calling it to?

I believe this much – the church will exist in some form.  Jesus has pretty much stated as such.  But there’s a good chance that it won’t continue to look like it has in recent human history.  And I don’t think it will be what it was in the early church either – times have changed, so has culture, context, and humanity.  But this opens the door to huge opportunities and possibilities.  I don’t see this as a bad thing at all.  It will be something new, different.  Maybe a variation of what exists right now.  Maybe a combination of the two.  It depends on the context of the people gathered – what is Jesus calling them to in their context?

Are we willing to set aside our attachment to what we’ve always known about church in our lifetimes and how church has been?  Or is this attachment too important to our identities?

Regardless, God will persist.  New life comes out of ashes and death.  There will be resurrection.  The question is if we participate in it, or do we try to stop it?  The kingdom is unfolding regardless of us.

Confessions of a Pastor

20 Friday Jul 2018

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I read a blog post from another pastor confessing some things – essentially confessing how not perfect he is.  Seems like a good idea, so here’s my version.

I confess that I am not perfect.  In fact, I’m far from it.  I make mistakes.  I make bad decisions.  I can be irritable.  I can be cranky.  And, get this, even though I wear a collar pretty often, I sin.  Even when wearing the collar.  Yes, I am a sinner.  I am no better than any of the rest of the people in the congregation.  The collar doesn’t give me sin protection.  It just points out my sin very clearly to me, if I’m paying attention.

I confess that I have my biases.  Maybe this is surprising, maybe not, but I have biases when it comes to many things, just like everyone else.  I have my beliefs about politics, faith, sports, and everyday life.  Am I right all the time?  Gosh no.  In fact, I’m willing to say that there is a good chance that I’m wrong more than I am right.  I come to the conclusions I do on what I think are good reasons.  But I could very much be wrong.

I confess that I can get really frustrated.  I can get frustrated with church, with people, with objects, with animals.  The frustration is really more about me not getting my way  if I am honest about it.  I’m not in control and sometimes that gets to me.

I confess that I have doubts about God, Jesus, faith, etc.  I don’t have all the answers and I don’t think having all the answers is healthy.  Where is there room for growth if we have all the answers?  Having doubt isn’t a bad thing.  The Apostles had doubts and they spent three years walking with Jesus – literally.  Who the heck are we to think we have to have all doubt removed?

I confess that there are parts of my calling that I don’t like.  I’m willing to bet that everyone has things they don’t like to do, but do it anyway.  Life isn’t all about doing only things you like to do.

I confess that I will never meet other people’s expectations.  Being a pastor is a very public thing.  And people look at the pastor through many different lenses.  And everyone has expectations of what the pastor should do, say, and be.  Guess what – I’m not going to meet those expectations because I am human, I am broken, and it is literally impossible to meet everyone’s expectation of what a pastor is to be.  Why?  Because more often than not, those expectations conflict with one another, are an idealized expectation of a pastor, and are unreasonable to the core.

These confessions may shatter your view of me or of pastors in general.  I’m not going to apologize for that.  My hope is that people will stop putting pastors on such a high pedestal.  We are human beings.  We have flaws and we fail.  We struggle with many things.  We are not the Herr Pastors of the past.  That was an unreasonable projection that all to often ended in abuse of both pastor and congregation.

My calling is to walk with people in their journey of faith, to raise difficult questions, to share the truth especially when it is uncomfortable and inconvenient, to afflict the comfortable, to comfort the afflicted, to make disciples who go and do ministry, to offer the sacraments, to proclaim Good News.  That’s what’s listed as the core of what a pastor does.

Here’s another confession.  More often than not, the calling goes way beyond that.  To be the administrator of a long-standing organization, to have financial acumen, to be the chief fundraiser, to be the chief spokesperson and marketing person, to have expertise in web and social media, to be a good communicator, writer, speaker, listener.  To be good with children, infants, teenagers, middle-aged, seniors, and everyone in between.  To visit many people who are alone.  To be a calm presence in the midst of anxiety.  To cast a vision and direction, and to keep moving the church forward even when it may not want to go forward.  To know the perfect words to say for weddings, funerals, and special occasions.  To craft perfect prayers on the spot.  To be a great teacher.  To meet with many different people to hear their problems and challenges, their sins and struggles.  To care for strangers who knock on the door seeking help – food, shelter, jobs, housing, etc.  To be a peacekeeper or peace maker in the midst of fights and abuse.  To listen to criticism and anger and fear and not allow it to hold me or you hostage.  To proclaim forgiveness for unspeakable sins.  To be an example of discipleship.

Here’s the real confession – no one can ever do all that.  I can’t anyway.

And so I ask for your forgiveness.  Forgive me with I don’t meet your expectations.  Forgive me when I forget your name.  Forgive me when I don’t remember something that was said to me in passing or many weeks ago.  Forgive me when I can’t make it to a meeting.  Forgive me when my sermon falls flat.  Forgive me when I’m just not feeling “it.”  Forgive me when we try something different and it doesn’t go smoothly.  Forgive me when I don’t get around to visiting everyone as often as you’d like.  Forgive me when I don’t match up to the idealized image of pastor.

Forgive me please.

Control

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Church, Health, Organizational theory, Politics, Society, Theology

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I think there is a valid argument for saying that the biggest sin that humanity commits is control.  It’s a sin that puts the created in the place of the creator – crafting ourselves as a god.  The sin of control is the ultimate broken relationship with God.  It’s us saying to God: “We don’t like your ways.  We’ll do it our way, thank you very much.  You go sit over here for when we need you to bail us out.”

The first commandment states “You shall have no other gods before me.”  (Exodus 20:3)  This applies to how we make ourselves into a god as well – not just idols that are created and worshiped.

We do this when we try to control things by keeping them the way they are or try to re-create the past.  Except we can’t.  Change will happen, does happen, and there is no way to stop it.  We can certainly adapt to it.  We can resist it to some degree, especially if the change is not healthy and good.  We might even be able to redirect the change.  But that isn’t the same as trying to stop change and keep everything the same – forever.

Look at the effort we give to trying to stop change from happening.

The most obvious way this happens is with ourselves.  We try to stop the aging process instead of embracing it as a part of life and adapting to it.  Our bodies change – that is a fact.  Look at yourself in the mirror.  Is this what you looked like 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago?  Of course not.  Your body changed, regardless of how you wanted to stop it.  You couldn’t.  Even if we cover it up, have surgeries, exercise, and have procedures, the fact remains that your body is still changing.  Yet, we are told a lie that we can stop aging, that we can hold onto our youthful look, that we can make our bodies youthful again.  And many buy the lie that we can stop change in ourselves.  There’s a lot of money to be made with selling a nostalgic self-image.

We try to stop change in our institutions as well.  Church is a good example.  Many want it the way it was, the way we see it through an idealized lens in which the pews were full, the pastor did all the ministry, everyone in town came to worship, everyone dressed up, and the culture assisted the church with laws and mores that gave the church a privileged position in society.  We want church to be a steady rock that never changes, all the while we will voice a desire for change, mostly because it seems like the right thing to say.  That is until we actually consider how that change will impact us, not just other people.  We want change in church, but change that doesn’t require us to change, only other people.  Often the change that is voiced isn’t so much a change with progress forward, with adaptions, and new ministries to serve new peoples in our ever-changing communities.  Rather it is a change by looking backward to nostalgia.  We want the world and the church to go back to the way it was – ignoring the challenges and sins that existed in the church and in the world.  We want to make church a steady and stable rock again.  We want a sense of control over life.

Yet, when Jesus calls people to follow him, he is asking for a huge change – a personal change.  He’s saying drop everything – all the nostalgia and the desire to control and stop change – and follow me.  Die daily so that new life can take hold.  Don’t just voice it, actually do it.  Jesus said:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do no do what I tell you?  I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of the house.”

(Luke 6:46-49)

We try to stop change politically and as a nation.  We hear it in the slogan “Make America Great Again.”  Many desire a change to some romanticized time in which all was well, that we were great, and everyone thrived.  Except this time never actually existed.  It’s a change backward, a reverse of time.  And it’s a lie.  There has never been a time in this country when all was well and where everyone thrived.  Never.  Certain groups of people certainly have, but not everyone.  And often there have been and still are groups of people who not only aren’t thriving, but are struggling to survive – pushed down by those in more privileged positions in life.  This is what the desire to control does.  There is a cost.

Things that are alive change and adapt.  Any science book will tell you that.  Things that are dead don’t move on their own and don’t adapt.  They wear away and decompose.  In that respect, even things that are dead change.  And eventually, they become unrecognizable and become dirt.  Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

And in the end the question remains – what is the point of trying to stop change completely?  Or of turning back the clock?  Change is coming.  It is already here.  It walks with us.  Why not spend our energy adapting to it, maybe even steering it in a positive direction towards something that actually can allow for more people to thrive?  What if we took some of the good things of the past and adapted them for our present circumstances as opposed to trying to recreate the past?

What is the point of trying to change things in a backward fashion – to a time that never actually existed and certainly can’t be recreated.  Everything else has changed around us.  The environment in which we find ourselves has changed.  We can’t go back.  We can’t be any of those things again.

Change means there is newness.  There is no “again.”  No matter how much we desire it, we can’t go back in time and have those beautiful memories become reality again.  There is change.  There is life and there is death.  And out of death comes new life.  We allow the past to die so that there is new life in the present and the future.  Shackling the present and the future with the past doesn’t bring us back to the past and the way it was.  It just holds us hostage.  And in the mean time, the world continues to change, without our consent.  Because we are not in charge. And we fall further behind.  This makes adapting to changes more difficult and costly.

This is what it means to follow Jesus.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with the church.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with our nation.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with our bodies.  We are called to go forward and to let past things die, so that new life can take root.

To another [Jesus] said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

(Luke 9:59-62)

These would-be disciples wanted to go back, to hold onto the nostalgia – to bury their dead and to say farewell.  To look back.  But Jesus knows that a look back will only hold us back.  You can’t plow looking backwards.  You can’t drive a car looking in the rear view mirror.  You can’t walk forward while you keep your eye behind you.  It doesn’t work.  You can’t be the church, or you, or a nation by having a tight grip on the past, holding the present and the future hostage, with an old model that doesn’t meet current conditions and challenges and cultures.

Jesus calls us forward, not to a time of nostalgia.  The kingdom isn’t in the past.  The best days of the kingdom of God are unfolding now and are to come.  They aren’t in the past.  It’s unfolding right now.  It’s causing a change.  Will we be embraced by it, or will we resist it?  In the end, resisting it and trying to stop it will never win out.  It can’t.  Because change is always taking place.  The kingdom is always unfolding in new ways, in ways that are different from the past.

What does faith cause you to do?

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Church, Theology

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What does the faith that God gives each one of us cause us to do?  How do we respond to it?

How has faith changed your life?

Is church just something that you’ve always done, so you’ll just keep on doing it?  Or does it impact your life, cause a change?

Is church just a social club where you get together with people who you like and look forward to seeing them each week or however often you go?  Or is church a training ground and refueling station from which you are sent back out into the world to participate in the unfolding of the kingdom of God?

Is it your faith, or is it the faith that God gives you?

Does this faith ever make you uncomfortable or inconvenienced?  If not, why not?  Do you believe that faith should never make you uncomfortable?  What about those that are afflicted or suffer injustice?  Does that affect you at all?  Or are they just a bunch of whiners?

Does it ever afflict you in your comfortableness?  Does it comfort you in your affliction?  Does this faith demand that you take steps without knowing where you are going, what you will be doing, where things will be coming from, and will not have all the information that you desire?

Does this faith cause you to seek out people who Jesus spent time with?  Does this faith make your hands dirty?

Does this faith question and poke you in ways you would rather not?  Does it question your loyalty and allegiances?  Is this faith costly?  Does this faith guide you in the midst of trial and trouble?  Can this faith be there when it is most needed?  Or does it only work when times are good?

Does this faith cause you conflict with the ways of the world?  Ways of anger, fear, violence, blaming, scapegoating, desiring safety above all else, having enemies, coveting other people’s stuff, believing that buying more stuff will give you meaning, and more.

Does this faith cause you to weep when you see the world – does it break your heart?  Over and over again?  Does it grab hold of you and not let go?  Does it present a way forward and show you that there really isn’t another option – everything else doesn’t make any sense?  That the ways of the world fail us over and over again and yet we have this sick addiction to keep trying them?  How many wars do we need to go through, how many times do we need to use violence, how many foreigners do we need to blame and dehumanize, how many enemies do we need to create and blame, how many people do we need to curse and damn, how many people do we need to take pleasure in their suffering?  How many until we see that these ways don’t work?  That’s why we have to keep doing them over and over and over again.  They don’t work.  When will be see the stupidity and insanity of the ways of the world instead of embracing these ways?  When will be follow the way of Jesus instead?

Does this faith make you understand the prophets and their desire to run far away from God – yet you follow anyway because where else are you going to go?  There is no hope outside of God and God’s way.

Does this faith wrestle with you and leave you with so many uncertainties, yet you know the most important thing there is – that God will not abandon you and God keeps God’s promises?

Does this faith give you life, especially when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death?

Does this faith demand you die daily so that the real you can be released and flourish?

Does this faith remain unsatisfied with just surviving, but pushes you forward, cajoles you into thriving life?

Does this faith see beyond you as an individual and show you how you are connected to so many others and their well-being?  That to turn a blind eye on those suffering around us isn’t just ignoring them and keeping you safe, but keeps us trapped in a cage with a thick wall around us.  We become prisoners of our own desire for safety that can never be fulfilled.

Does this faith that you have been given have impact on your life?  Does it call to your deepest self and invite you to participate in the unfolding of the Kingdom of God?

Is this faith worth devoting your life to and ultimately dying for?  If not, then why not?  What are you afraid of?

How do you respond to that?

By sitting and waiting?  By being scared?  By delaying?  By running?  Or do you take a risk and take a step in faith?  A risk that could lead to utter desolation.  Or a risk that leads to unbelievable life.  I know this much, the alternative – the way forward without faith – without responding to this gift that has been given to us – leads to certain death.  Always.  No exceptions.  It’s just a matter of time.  And when we consider that, which is really riskier – not responding to faith or taking a step in faith knowing that God walks with us?

The invitation remains to all.  The gift has been given.  Will you unwrap it and respond, or will you put it on the shelf for a more convenient time?

I am grateful that God doesn’t consider the same question for each one of us – will I encounter you or just put you on the shelf for a more convenient time?  God invites us to participate in the most amazing thing ever.  What are we waiting for?  Now is the time.  You aren’t alone.  Let’s take a risk together. Jesus is with us and risks it all for us.