Endurance Inspired by Hope...

(photo from www.sagestone.wordpress.com)

I'm really not a very patient man, just ask my wife. When I get an idea in my head, I won't rest until I have either succeeded at it, or failed miserably. I can't sit still, not even at home. Watching a movie is out of the question because it requires me to sit down for 2 hours without getting up. I've been a restless soul all of my life, I guess. But I don't think that restlessness, as a character trait, is necessarily a bad thing. Restlessness sometimes births great ideas. It also sometimes births great trouble.

The easy thing to do, especially after a conference like the one I just attended, is to run back home full of all of these new ideas and immediately begin trying to put them in place. It might work. It might not.

The more difficult thing to do, and actually most difficult for me, is to stop and listen for a while. That is where I'm at. I would have loved to have been able to stay a few more days in the mountains of North Carolina, kicked back in a rocking chair overlooking the lake, just to listen and write. Maybe one of these days I'll do that, but not this week.

The Spirit has been speaking to me lately, and I realize it has my folks at First Church nervous as a bunch of cats in a room full of rocking chairs. You can relax, I promise. Part of my role as shepherd is discerning what is the voice of the Spirit, and what is my own inner desires or wants. It's not always as cut and dried as some would think. Sometimes Jamie gets all in the way, and I'm not sure that's not what's happening right now.

Now, this might not sound remotely like the person that wrote my blog yesterday, but it's me, honest. I have discovered that I am in a period of discernment. I'm listening. I'm listening to the voice of the Spirit...I'm listening to the needs of the community...I'm listening to the dreams of my people...I'm listening to what has worked, or not, in other places...and I'm even listening to my own gut feelings. Yesterday, one of my members said I need to just go ahead and let the cat out of the bag because the suspense was killing them (Thank you for keeping me in line and encouraging me, Susan) so here it goes.

We are looking for ways to reach out to a particular age group at First Church, and have been since January. The group we are targeting, and that is probably the best way to word it, is the 20 - 50 year old age group. It's a generation that is missing in most mainline churches. We, I include myself in that group even though I'm closer to the top end of the age range, are not the Baby Boomers, and we're not the Gen X's. We're kind of in between. What works for those groups doesn't necessarily work for us. So what does the church need to become to reach us?

That's where I'm stuck. I first thought it was projection screens, great audio, worship bands with guitars and drums, and that we needed to design a worship experience that looked like that. I'm still convinced that may be a big part of it. But I think it's deeper than that. I think this age group wants more relationship and less heirarchy. I think they want honest and open dialogue. I think they want a place where they can wear the same clothes to worship and then to the golf course or the movies. I think they want a place where they are heard. I think, that if they come to worship, they want it to be authentic, but that it doesn't have to be in a church building. I think they want study groups that deal with real life issues and use language that they are familiar with, and not all churchy.

So, here is where Paul comes in this morning. Writing to the church at Thessalonica, he said, "We continually remember before God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Endurance inspired by hope...chew on that just a second. I have great hope in the future of the Church. I hope that we can become what we need to become to reach this age group. It's not just their souls at stake, it's their kids' souls, and their kids' kids' souls. I hope that those in the positions of power now, in all of our churches, can see the importance of reaching these folks for the future of the kingdom, and will be willing to lay their own comfort aside to do that. I hope that I can catch a vision for what First Church can do to create alternative entry points for this age group. I hope that the Spirit leads all of it. And those hopes keep me going.

But for now, I listen..for now. So, my folks can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Jamie is not instituting any sweeping changes. But...

Peace

J

To All the World...

Today's blog will be short, but we're up and running again. I'm actually not at home, but at a leadership conference in North Carolina. We have a pretty tight schedule this morning and I only have a few minutes to write, but I didn't realize how much I missed doing this. For those who wrote words of support and encouragement while our internet was down, thank you.

Here I am, sitting in the mountains of North Caroline, just south of Hayesville. There is a lake just off of the front porch, the mountains of Georgia line the other side of the lake. I could get used to this. I'm sitting in a workshop presented by Eddie Hammet, author of "Reaching people under 40 while keeping people over 60," and the life journal text this morning is the Great Commission. Coincidence? I think not.

I just can't get away from this. I don't know what God is up to, but the nudgings that I'm feeling to step out of the boat are getting stronger. Yesterday, Eddie told Sam's story. Sam is a tattoo artist in some town, I'm not sure Eddie told us where. Sam has a full bodysuit of tattoos. Not the kind of person you would expect to see on the front pew on Sunday morning. Yet, every time Sam has someone come into his shop looking for their own tattoo, he shows them one of his, tells them the story about it, and then connects his story to God's somehow. He is doing evangelism in a tattoo parlor.

Times have changed, y'all. Culture has changed. Society has changed. The Church has not.

Here's my short, candid, and probably blunt observation thus far. With current trends, unless we step out on faith, we have probably one more generation before the church as an institution is no more.

Eddie told the story of his grandfather, and the legacy he left him. It was a painful story to tell, you could see it in Eddie's eyes. His grandfather was on the board of deacons at his church. Eddie told of how he could remember his grandfather saying, before a deacon's meeting, "Well, I wonder what I'm going to get to vote no on tonight." Eddie was called to come and preach the final service in his grandfather's church years later. The legacy that was left him was that his grandfather had killed the church.

His grandmother, on his mother's side, on the other hand, left a different legacy. She was the matriarch in the church and led a group to see that her comfort, or discomfort for that matter, were not as important as the mission of the church. Because of her, that church now has a preschool program on site.

What will our legacy be? Will we be known as the ones who put our own comfort, or discomfort, ahead of the mission of the church? Or, will we be known as the one who had a vision for the future and made a difference?

Peace,

J

Plan "B"...

(photo from www.planbperformance.net)

Every now and then you need a back up plan. How many times have we had to go to our Plan "B" in some situation in our lives? For me, it happens quite frequently. You see, even as OCD as I am, I still operate on impulse a lot. I'm not an impulse shopper, so that's good, but when it comes to decision making, I'm not one to sit around and fret or worry about it forever. Now, I'm not a "jump all the way in with both feet guy" all of the time, but sometimes I get an idea in my head, and I do it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I've had some really good things happen to me because of those impulse decisions, and I've had some things bite me in the tail. But I'm not alone. I'm actually in pretty good company. This morning's readings have one of the most familiar, and most epic, failures in the Old Testament: the story of David and Bathsheba. I don't know that David had heard Mel Brooks say, "It's good to be the king..." but evidently that was what he lived by.

Scripture says: "In the spring, at the time when the kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and beseiged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, 'Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite?' Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, 'I am pregnant.'"

Ok, so that didn't work like he planned, I'm sure. This one impulse decision would set in motion a series of events that would create some major problems for the king, and would turn out even worse for Uriah. Now, I'm not judging him by any means. I have made many mistakes in the last 39 years, so I judge no one. I'm just saying that this impulse decision would lead to David having to engage his Plan "B", and would leave Uriah dead, Bathsheba widowed, the child conceived by David and Bathsheba dead, and the king shamed by Nathan.

In my day to day, this is not so much a problem. where I get into trouble is when I feel impulsive in ministry related decisions. It's so easy to feel a nudge, think it's from God, and act on it, only to find out that it was really just something Jamie wanted and not from God at all. Then I have to engage Plan "B" to get everything straightened out.

This has happened in the last couple weeks. I began feeling the nudge to do something. I've even blogged about it a couple times. But the more I think about it, was I hearing boredom speak, or was it actually the voice of God? Now don't get me wrong, I can't say enough how much I love serving these two churches. I have the appointment that pastors only dream of. But, and this came from one of my members, maybe I was the one slipping into a rut and not my folks? Could be I guess.

This is one time that not acting on impulse has kept me from having to engage my Plan "B" and fix everything. So, First Church, you can relax. I will wait for the Spirit to move the church...and myself. I will, however, keep listening to the Spirit, and thinking. So you're safe...for now.

Oh, and David's Plan "B"? Since he couldn't convince Uriah to go home and sleep with Bathsheba, he had him sent to the battle front and indirectly had him killed. Yeah, real nice guy.

Peace,
J

Dinner Reservations...

(photo from www.jacopotintoretto.org)

I'm bothered this morning. Actually not so much bothered, more perplexed, I guess. I have to take my smart aleck hat off and put my theologian hat on for a few minutes today.

I love to take my wife out for dinner, especially to some place where we need reservations. But we only do that once or twice a year. We just can't afford it, but that's ok, because I'm one heck of a cook. I also love entertaining folks in our home. We don't do that very often either...a limited budget stinks sometimes. There have been times when Steph and I were in the mood to have folks over for dinner, started making phone calls, and couldn't find anyone available to come over. Here we've gotten the desire to host a cook out, or play cards, or whatever, and no one could come.

That was always frustrating, and I don't know why. I mean, there's nothing wrong with a quiet dinner... with just the family. We don't get to do that very often because of meetings or whatever. But still, there was this sense of disappointment about not being able to find another couple to share table with.

The table is a place to celebrate, and that's what we have in today's text. Matthew 22 talks about some dinner plans. On the surface, it's just a wedding reception (Our wedding reception wasn't like this, we did the cake and punch thing). But here, this king has prepared a huge feast for his son's wedding. The invitations had been sent out early, plans were made, now the day had come, so the reminders went out...none of those invited showed up.

I don't have to imagine how frustrating that is. When that group couldn't come, a second group was invited in. This time, folks were just brought in off the street. It didn't matter if he knew them, what their social status was, where they lived, or if they were slave or free. Everybody had a good time, scripture says "the wedding hall was filled with guests," and if the story ended there, it would end well. But it doesn't, and this next part is the part that perplexes me.

The last couple weeks I have hit on inclusion more than once, possibly even to the shagrin of some of those reading, or listening on Sunday morning. Here, we see something that throws a wrench in that. I'm perplexed for two reasons: one...every one of the last minute guests, the folks off of the street, seem to have had wedding attire to wear and already had it on; two...one guest does not, and is tied up and thrown outside.

Here is where we have to lay our realism down and pick up theological meaning. Much of this story is not realistic, go back and read it again. But all of it is theological, especially if we get inside Matthew's head for a minute. The first servants were the ancient prophets sent to Israel. Israel accepted God's invitation originally but was unfaithful to it. The second group of servants were the early Christian missionaries, who were sent and killed by those refusing to hear their words.

The last invitation is leading up to the Great Commission, "go into all the world," it doesn't matter who they are, invite them in. But what about the one who forgot to change clothes? Also not realistic, but theological. In the early church, a newly baptized believer was given a new set of clothes, perhaps a new robe, and it symbolized giving up the old life and accepting the new. Evidently this one guest was not wearing his new clothes by taking care of the least, last, and lost, nor did he have any excuses. He was speechless.

For Matthew, this is representing the last judgment. Now, this has nothing to do with works righteousness, even for Matthew. But as an invited guest of the king, I, or we, take care of others as a response to that invitation, not to earn it. We clothe ourselves with acts of charity, worship, and devotion.

So, I apologize that the usually jovial, smart aleck Jamie has gone and got all serious this morning, but sometimes even I can do that. I don't really like to because it's all...serious...but sometimes it doesn't hurt.

The next time you're invited to dinner somewhere, think about the other banquet we have been invited to and ask yourself if you're dressed for dinner.

Peace

J

Any Monsters Under My Bed Tonight?...

(photo from www.treesflowersbirds.wordpress.com)
(Again these are my thoughts and not representative of anyone else, nor the churches I serve)

I absolutely love Calvin and Hobbes. I have 3 or 4 Calvin and Hobbes books, and they never get old. That 6 year old boy and his tiger have made me laugh more times than I can count. I've often wondered what Calvin would be like as an adult. Part of me thinks he would outgrow his mischevious, rebellious ways, but part of me hopes he wouldn't. That kid was always getting into something, and most of the time he dragged his poor tiger with him.

As I was reading this morning, I caught a glimpse of what Calvin would probably have looked like as an adult. Now, don't think this blasphemous because it's not intended that way, but in Matthew 21, Jesus reminds me a lot of grown up Calvin. He has his ideas of the way things need to be and knows who he is.

You see, we have this image of Christ as the gentle lamb, standing before Pilate uttering barely a word, then being led to his fate and not resisting, but there is a whole other side of Jesus that the scriptures talk about almost as much. Matthew 21 gives example after example of this other side of our Messiah.

Jesus knew who he was, and by riding into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey, he wasn't just looking for transportation, he was making a statement...a very loud statement, much like Calvin would do when he would march into the living room and make some important announcement to his parents.

Then there's the scene in the temple. Matthew doesn't record the fact that Jesus made a whip to drive out the money changers but John does. Folks there that day knew that he was either insane, or that he was very serious about his calling. This doesn't sound like a silent lamb to me.

And the fig tree...what about the fig tree? Were figs even in season when Jesus went to the tree and cursed it for being barren? It looks to me like Jesus is not going to take any guff off of anyone, trees included.

And the riddles...always with the riddles. "I will ask you one question. If you answer me I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things." Certainly, not everything he said was a riddle. The parables were stories he used to present some deeper truth in a way that the folks he was with could understand. But sometimes, he just tried to trip folks up...especially the "teachers of the law." The parable of the two sons...the parable of the tenents... They knew he was talking about them.

Scripture doesn't say that he was sitting there with that little Calvin grin, wringing his hands, just thinking of the next thing he could do to get to them, but he wasn't going to let them win either.

So, what am I getting at? Well, silence has its place sometimes. So does pacifism. Sometimes I could do more of both. But sometimes we have to be proactive in our calling. Sometimes that being proactive may be seen by some as ego or selfishness, conceit or just plain old pushiness. But it's not. It's a passion to fulfill a calling. When I read Matthew 21, I don't see Jesus the rebel, or Jesus the smart aleck. I see someone passionate about who they are and what they are called to do.

I have a tendency of coming across a little pushy sometimes, especially when it comes to ministry. That's not intended. I think I have some of the folks at First Church a little concerned right now because of some of the ideas rolling around in my head. That's not intended either. However, when I think of who I am a Jesus follower, I think I'd rather be like Calvin...Calvin was only scared of monsters under his bed, nothing else. I think I have gotten to the place where I have lost my fear as well.

Yeah, sure he probably should have thought some things through a little better, and I've been guilty of the same rashness, but when I read Matthew 21 again, I'm not convinced that's always a bad thing.

So I ask you this: Who are we called to be? Are we called to be on the sidelines, waiting to be dragged into the next adventure like some stuffed tiger? Or, are we called to see the Jesus in Matthew 21 and recognize that this Jesus is the same Jesus that stood before Pilate in near silence? Or maybe we're called to some of both? ...silent observer AND proactive witness. The one does sometimes temper the other. I'm just not sure that I'm a sidelines kind of guy though.

Just some thoughts I had this morning.

Peace
J

Oh, I Love a Rainy Night...

(photo from www.mc.vanderbilt.edu)

Thank you Eddie Rabbit, but while I may love a rainy night, I'm not so much into the stormy nights. This weekend was the roughest we've had weather-wise in a while. Talking to some of my farmers, one said he poured 5.25 inches of rain out of his gauge, and down the road, another poured out 6.5 inches. That's a lot of water in 48 hours.

I live on a ridge, so no fear of flooding up here, but less than 1/2 mile to my west folks weren't so lucky. West Hickman is low, real low. It is protected from the river by a levee, but still, whatever water falls in West Hickman has to go somewhere, and that's what the pumps are for. The city has a pump system that works fairly well, unless the pumps get hit by lightning, which they did Saturday night.

As the rain fell, and the waters rose in West Hickman, there was a knock on my door at 3:00 in the morning. It was the chief of police letting me know they were evacuating folks and asking me to activate our emergency shelter here at the church. I admit, I wasn't real excited about donning my rain jacket and flip flops, and heading out into the pouring rain at 3:00 in the morning. But, it needed to be done.

Long story short, many of the folks asked to evacuate stayed at home to ride it out, save one. I had never met her before, but at 3:15 Sunday morning, she was needing a place to sleep. We got the cots and blankets set up. I had grabbed some of the ready to eat meals out of the basement, put on a pot of coffee, and got her settled in. I get up at 5:00 every morning anyhow, so I just stayed up.

Now, a little about myself, I don't function well when I am awakened out of a dead sleep. I also have a slight tendency to wake up grumpy. But for some reason, Sunday morning, I didn't mind. I didn't wake up grumpy, I didn't mind getting soaked at 2:15 when I first unlocked the building, and then again at 3:15 when we officially activated the shelter. It really didn't bother me, and honestly, I don't know why. 10 years ago it would have...it would have bothered me greatly.

Maybe I'm finally beginning to mature a little, I don't know. Maybe I've heard the term "servant leader" tossed around so much it's finally beginning to sink in. Or maybe, I heard Christ speak this time. Here's what he says: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."(Matthew 20)

I sat up the rest of the night keeping watch over her. Had she not been 73 and alone, I don't know that I wouldn't have gone home and gone back to bed, but I couldn't leave her up there by herself. 5:30 came and I fixed her some breakfast and we talked until I felt it was safe to take her home.

Now, why did I bring this up? Not for any accolades or pats on the back, but as one example of what we can do to put feet on our words. This little lady went on and on about how that was the first time she had spent the night with a preacher (I actually hope that doesn't get around town, could start some stuff), but she had a need, we had a way of meeting that need, so we did.

St. Francis of Assissi said, "Preach the gospel at all times, when necessary, use words." I had the opportunity this weekend to put the gospel in action, and I can't describe the feelings that I got from it.

So, sing on Eddie Rabbit. When the rains come and the wind blows, we'll be ready...with cots, blankets, hot coffee, a roof that doesn't leak, and feet on the gospel. Not so we can become great, but because we follow Christ, and Christ came to serve.

Peace,

J

Who's the Greatest?...

(photo from www.thatmom.com)

Let me start by saying that this blog is just my thoughts in free flow. Since seminary, I have learned to process my thoughts through writing. I have a folder on my laptop full of things I had written before I started blogging, and I've even started writing a book, but I don't know where that's going yet. So, what you read here is in no way representative of the churches I serve, or the people I know; I'm not speaking for anyone else, it's just my thoughts. I just thought I would throw that out there again.

I realized something after I entered the ministry...there are just as many politics in the church as there are in the secular world. I have to admit that surprised me. I don't know why it did, after all, clergy are just as human as anyone else, and so are the folks sitting in the pews. We have the same needs, some of the same wants, we bleed when we're cut, and maybe even have some of the same desires to climb the corporate ladder. Every institution has its heirarchy, and some do aspire to reach the top...the church is no different.

Having said that, I guess it's no surprise that Christ spends as much time as he does speaking to the idea of "Who is the greatest?" Two of the disciples even had their mom ask him for seats of honor in his kingdom, so we know they weren't exempt from the desire. In this morning's text, it simply starts with a question. Now, we have no way of knowing the motive behind this particular question...we don't even know which one of them actually asked it...but we do have the question..."Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

Evidently there had been some discussion among the boys. Perhaps Peter thought that since he was there first, he was the greatest? Or maybe it was the disciple that Jesus loved? We don't know that it was John, but John is never mentioned by name in his own gospel, only "The disciple that Jesus loved." Perhaps it was Matthew, since we think he might have been the oldest. But whatever, or whichever it was, the answer Jesus gave was not the one they were expecting.

"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Ouch. "But Jesus, he's just a kid." Scripture doesn't say that's what they said, but they must have been thinking it. In that culture, at that time, children were not very highly valued. They, along with the women of that society, were just one step above a slave. So, for the disciples to hear Jesus say that this was what they would have to become to enter the kingdom must have been the proverbial slap in the face.

But why? Why a child? This is one place where Jesus gives a little explanation, and it boils down to humility. The most humble in the kingdom will be the greatest.

I watched something take place in our sanctuary this past Sunday that has bothered me greatly all week, and I don't know how I'm going to handle it. It must have bothered me more than I realize because I'm not thinking very clearly about it this morning. It ties in perfectly with what Jesus was talking about, but I think it best not to go into it...yet. For me, it was a real lesson in who thought they were the greatest. It happens; it happens even in our churches; and it's a very real reminder of our humanity, and sometimes, the size of our egos.

So what do we do with this? When Jesus says that the only way we will enter the kingdom of heaven is with the humilty of a child, what do we do with ego, pride, and ideas of self importance in our worshipping community, in our co-workers, friends, or family? It's the question of the ages, really.

I've been accused of being arrogant and cocky more than once, and maybe I am, I don't know. But when I look at a child, either a child in years, or a child in the faith, that arrogance begins to disappear. I see them as Christ sees them; not necessarily their blind faith, but their humility and I wish I were more humble at times.

It broke my heart Sunday to hear one of our children talked to the way he was because in the kingdom, he is one of the greatest. I'm the only one that witnessed it, but I doubt that I'm the only one bothered by it. A few years ago, that incident would have determined the next's week message, but not this time. My focus as shepherd this weekend is to remind that child just how important he is in the eyes of the King of kings. I'll deal with ideas of self importance in some other way, at some other time.

This is one of the tender spots in this ol' boy. Kids are important, and we don't tell them that enough, or maybe I should say, I don't tell them that enough. It's easy to focus on their mistakes, and that's what happened Sunday. I do it with my own kids, and I know I'm not alone. But for Jesus to use a child as an example of the only way we'll enter the kingdom speaks volumes. It knocks my ego in the head, and I think I'm ok with that.

Ok, I think I've probably rambled this morning, so I'll stop. Do me this favor though, in the morning when you enter whichever house of worship you choose, find a child and remind them how important they are in Christ's eyes.

Peace

J