Invitation and Expectation

27 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by laceduplutheran in Church, Theology

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Let’s play a game. Which statement did Jesus say:

Option 1: Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.’

Option 2: Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny that injustices exist and take up their comfortable seat when they feel like it and think that I’m just a nice guy but am not asking people to actually follow what I tell them. These are just suggestions after all – do them if you want to, but no worries if you don’t. For those who want to save their life have the right idea, and those who lose their life for my sake must be crazy. What does it profit them if they gain a burning faith, but lose their comfort in the process? Those who are ashamed of people who actually live out their faith because it’s uncomfortable and puts them in touch with “dirty” people and appears unsafe, of them the Son of Man will be really proud off because I don’t really mean it when I said all those things about proclaiming Good News to the poor, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. Who in their right mind would go and do that?!?’

Tough call huh?

In case you weren’t sure, Jesus said the first quote (Luke 9:23-26). Comfortable Christianity believes in the second one.

Comfortable Christianity is all about high invitation, low expectations. Those days are over. People want something else. They need something else actually – something that is costly. Something that is willing to die for them. That something is Jesus. Jesus is the one who gives us meaning and our lives purpose.

Jesus was big about inviting all into the kingdom. But with that invitation came high expectations. Yes, Jesus saves and because of that, we are given freedom to go and serve. This is what discipleship is all about – high invitation, high expectation.

High expectations don’t mean we are working for our salvation – rather, we’ve been set free so that we can respond to God’s love. And to whom much is given, much is expected. This will look different for different people. Sometimes high expectations look like hands on ministry with the poor. Sometimes it looks like making quilts for the homeless and the home bound. Sometimes it looks like speaking out about injustices that occur – recent examples being speaking out against putting kids in cages in detention centers. Sometimes it looks like eating a meal with someone who is poor, alone, or struggling. Sometimes it looks like praying with a person who desperately needs to feel God’s presence. Sometimes it looks like giving a stranger a ride because you can tell they need it. Sometimes it means just being with someone – being Christ’s presence in their lives, especially in a difficult time. It can look like a number of other things too.

All of these things have some things in common. They are active. They are relationship oriented. They are living out faith. They are time-consuming. They are engaged discipleship. They are community building. They are living out Jesus call to love our neighbors, our enemies, and the stranger.

They are what Jesus calls us to do in response to what he has done for us. Jesus invites many to participate in the unfolding of the kingdom. And the invitation is a free gift – it is the gift of life itself. And with the invitation comes a high expectation – that Jesus’ salvation will change our lives so much that we feel compelled to respond – to serve, to be with people, to share how an encounter with Jesus changes lives. And that’s exactly what we do in response to what God has done for us. It’s not work if you are loving it, if you can’t imagine not doing it. It’s giving love freely to others. It’s passing on the mercy and grace that we received. It’s sharing the joy of faith. It is sharing life itself.

What do we expect church?

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

Posted by laceduplutheran in Church

≈ 3 Comments

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Church, expect, expectations, forgiveness, grace, Jesus, mercy, message

What are our expectations church? I’m not talking to any church in particular here. It’s an open question.

What is it we expect? Do we expect to see a continue in decline of membership? Why? Because that’s the trend?

Do we expect to see a decline in offerings? Why?

It doesn’t have to be that way you know.

Expectations are important. They point us in the direction that we are going to head. Expectations aren’t set in stone though. Do we expect that our worship will be boring? That no one will want to come? That people have better things to do with their precious time on Sunday mornings?

Or do we have a different set of expectations? What if we expected visitors to come to worship? What would change for that expectation to take root in our churches? What if we expected that people would want to hear Good News? Would want to take it to the next step and be more committed? Would want to go even further and become a disciple?

What if we proclaimed Jesus message of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation and started with the expectation that is summed up this way – Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a community that offered these things? We live in a world that is all about might makes right, that you get what you deserve, and that forgiveness must be earned. But Jesus offers a different message and the unfolding of a different kingdom that will change the world.

Jesus is offering life. Who wouldn’t want to hear that message? What if we expected people wanted to hear this message because it cuts to the heart of the hole within them – the emptiness that they keep trying to fill in various ways but fail over and over again. What if we expected that Jesus message was life changing – not just in bible times, but still today?

What do we expect?

I expect that the message of life will yield life. I expect that a message of grace and mercy and forgiveness will yield amazing life. I expect that people will want to hear more about how an encounter with Jesus changes their lives. I expect that people will want to know more. I expect that Jesus is alive and active all around us and inviting us to participate in the unfolding of the kingdom in unexpected ways. I expect that I won’t know the answers or even the next steps often, but that it’s not about being right. It’s about being Jesus for those around us. I expect that this message that we proclaim will bring joy, will bring love, and will be present especially in the midst of tragedy, sorrow, pain, and brokenness. And I expect that there will be many who are desperate for this.

What do you expect?

What does Jesus expect?

Now, what are we going to do with those expectations?

Expectations

07 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by laceduplutheran in Church, Organizational theory

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blame, Church, expectations

Expectations are important. They are important for life. They guide individual lives and the lives of organizations and communities. Expectations can range from very positive to extremely negative. And expectations fluctuate. Maybe the hardest thing about them is that some are out in the open and some are unspoken. When you are an outsider, coming into any group, it is best to get a grasp on the expectations as soon as possible. From there, you can decide to either get on board with them or figure out a way to confront them openly.

Expectations certainly happen in churches. When a new pastor is called, there are expectations. Expectations from the congregation, from the leadership of the church, from the pastor, from the higher authorities in the church, and from community the church is in. That’s the known expectations. There are other expectations too that most people don’t think about – expectations from the pastor’s family and friends. Expectations from previous pastors. Expectations from other churches and religious organizations in the area. Expectations from local government. Expectations from the neighbors right next to the church. Expectations from local businesses (churches have to buy stuff too you know). Expectations from funeral homes. So many expectations.

Carey Nieuwhof wrote a great article on three things sabotaging the church’s future. He made these three points about sabotage in the church:

Leaders confuse the method with the mission.
There is a failure to clarify what the real mission is.
There is an unwillingness to change methods to support the real mission.

All of those points are true. And I want to adapt his list, because I think it fits with our little discussion about expectations. Here’s my revised list:

People confuse the expectation with reality.
There is a failure to state the expectations and the reality of the situation.
There is an unwillingness to change expectations when it conflicts with reality.

When we follow these three rules above, bad things happen. There is division, blame and other nasty things. People leave, pastors leave. A church falls apart. And in the process creates more unnamed expectations – usually unhealthy expectations – for everyone.

One way to deal with this is to be open and honest and to state openly what the expectations are at a church. No matter how irrational they might be. Bring them out in the open. That’s the only way you can deal with them and decide how to move forward. Honesty and openness are essential. Without them, we can just expect to be disappointed.

Election Results Thoughts

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by laceduplutheran in Politics

≈ 1 Comment

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elections, expectations, God, politics, results, salvation, US

No, I’m not going to analyze the US election results. No I’m not going to share with you my thoughts about any specific candidates. This isn’t about that.

I want to make an observation about the election results that I witness. Some people are giddy with excitement over the results of the election. Their candidates won. Some people are sad over the loss of their candidates. And some have no idea what the results are and don’t care – ignorance is bliss I guess.

I’ve been a student of politics for a good long time. And of course I haven’t been in politics lately, working a campaign or following it as intently as I have in the past since I am in a new calling. But the foundation of what I learned is still there and colors how I view the political world.

The biggest observation that is apparent to me is this – I observe the same thing every election cycle. People allow others to determine their emotional state. They willingly hand over how they feel about life in that moment based on an election result. Why?

We focus so much attention on these elections and, as a society, create an unreasonable expectation that the person who wins will change everything for the better. We’re fooling ourselves. A couple of years in we, as a society, come to the realization that the politician that we had elevated as a savior of our nation (or state, or town) is actually much less than that – they are human and they make mistakes, and they have times of incompetency, and say dumb things, and… it goes on and on.

Is it reasonable to create such an expectation? No, but we do it anyway. I think people are looking for something. They are looking for someone to take responsibility for changing an unsatisfactory situation. So we willingly heap that responsibility onto a candidate and when they fail, which they will, then we feel better about ourselves in being able to point the blame at the candidate.

I could be wrong on this, but this sounds an awful lot like scapegoating. It’s a part of who we are as humans.

It doesn’t have to be that way. It could be different. We could start with better, more realistic expectations of our candidates and politicians. We could look within ourselves for some answers to things. We could also recognize that some issues will not be resolved because there is so much division. We could start with those things that there is consensus on and build on that. And we could recognize that no human is the source of our salvation – personally or as a society. We can also recognize that God is with us in the midst of all the chaos and crap. Our responsibility is to place our trust where it belongs. We can do that because God gives us grace first.