I started this post last night with the original title of "Tradition and Discontentment". I was trying to capture the quotes below.
(From Red Letter Revolution - Claiborne and Campolo)
"...rather than trying to throw out our traditions, we need to bring them back to life. Instead of complaining about the church we've experienced, we are working on becoming the church that we dream of."
"The church needs discontent. It is a gift to the kingdom, but we have to use our discontentment to engage rather than to disengage."
"Just as we critique the worst of the church, we should also celebrate her at her best."
This morning I changed the title as I think really what is key here is the reconciliation of Christ's church and of people in their relationship with God. This extends into the whole issue of witnessing and sharing our faith. Yes, it is important to share the gift of Christ, grace, and love; but we must do so without condemnation in an effort to reconcile humanity back to the relationship God originally intended. Through this lens (and not the hell lens) it seems to make more sense to me and motivate me more to talk to people about my faith and Christ. I still think I should be more concerned about people's eternity, but the relationship seems important as well. Both my relationship with those I am sharing with and their relationship with the creator, a father, and a savior who wants to reconcile the world back to the way it was intended to be. I don't want to approach people in condemnation (either mine or God's), but with a story of reconciliation (both mine and theirs).
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Feast and Fast
From Jen Hatmaker's "7". Funny how God hits me from every direction when he is trying to get His point across.
What would the early church think if they walked into some of our buildings today, looked through our church Web sites, talked to an average attender? Would they be so confused? Would they wonder why we all had empty bedrooms and uneaten food in our trash cans? Would they regard our hoarded wealth with shock? Would they observe orphan statistics with disbelief since Christians outnumber orphans 7 to 1? Would they be stunned most of us don’t feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, care for the sick, or protect the widow? Would they see the spending on church buildings and ourselves as extravagantly wasteful while twenty-five thousand people die every day from starvation?
I think they’d barely recognize us as brothers and sisters. If we told them church is on Sundays and we have an awesome band, this would be perplexing. I believe we’d receive dumbfounded stares if we discussed “church shopping” because enough people don’t say hello when we walk in the lobby one hour a week. If they found out one-sixth of the earth’s population claimed to be Christians, I’m not sure they could reconcile the suffering happening on our watch while we’re living in excess. They’d wonder if we had read the Bible or worry it had been tampered with since their time.
But listen Early Church, we have a monthly event called Mocha Chicks. We have choir practice every Wednesday. We organize retreats with door prizes. We’re raising three million dollars for an outdoor amphitheater. We have catchy T-shirts. We don’t smoke or say the F word. We go to Bible study every semester. (“ And then what, American Church?”) Well, we go to another one. We’re learning so much.
I think the early church would cover their heads with ashes and grieve over the dilution of Jesus’ beautiful church vision. We’ve taken His Plan A for mercy to an injured lost planet and neutered it to clever sermon series and Stitch-and-Chat in the Fellowship Hall, serving the saved. If the modern church held to its biblical definition, we would become the answer to all that ails society. We wouldn’t have to baby-talk and cajole and coax people into our sanctuaries through witty mailers and strategic ads; they’d be running to us. The local church would be the heartbeat of the city, undeniable by our staunchest critics.
Instead, the American church is dying. We are losing ground in epic proportions. Our country is a graveyard of dead and vanishing churches. We made it acceptable for people to do nothing and still call themselves Christians, and that anemic vision isn’t holding. Last year, 94 percent of evangelical churches reported loss or no growth in their communities. Almost four thousand churches are closing each year. We are losing three million people annually, flooding out the back door and never returning. The next generation downright refuses to come.
Ironically, this is the result of a church that only feasts.
When the fast, the death, the sacrifice of the gospel is omitted from the Christian life, then it isn’t Christian at all. Not only that, it’s boring. If I just want to feel good or get self-help, I’ll buy a $ 12 book from Borders and join a gym. The church the Bible described is exciting and adventurous and wrought with sacrifice. It cost believers everything, and they still came. It was good news to the poor and stumped its enemies. The church was patterned after a Savior who had no place to lay his head and voluntarily died a brutal death, even knowing we would reduce the gospel to a self-serving personal improvement program where people were encouraged to make a truce with their Maker and stop sinning and join the church, when in fact the gospel does not call for a truce but a complete surrender.
Jesus said the kingdom was like a treasure hidden in a field, and once someone truly finds it, he will happily sell everything he owns to possess that field, a perfect description of the fasting and the feast. It will cost everything, but it is a treasure and an unfathomable joy. This is the balance of the kingdom; to live we must die, to be lifted we bow, to gain we must lose. There is no alternative definition, no path of least resistance, no treasure in the field without the sacrifice of everything else. Oh Lord, may we be focused on the least; a people balancing the fasting and the feast.
And from "The Poor Will Be Glad" by Greer and Smith.
If an integrated approach to making disciples is a scriptural imperative, followers of Christ are not at liberty to choose between proclaiming Christ or serving the needs of the world. While this fact may cause discomfort for Christians for a variety of reasons, we should ultimately rejoice in the many advantages of integrated ministry.
.....
God's body on earth - the church - is uniquely able to provide a special feast for people around the world by simultaneously meeting spiritual and physical needs.
What would the early church think if they walked into some of our buildings today, looked through our church Web sites, talked to an average attender? Would they be so confused? Would they wonder why we all had empty bedrooms and uneaten food in our trash cans? Would they regard our hoarded wealth with shock? Would they observe orphan statistics with disbelief since Christians outnumber orphans 7 to 1? Would they be stunned most of us don’t feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, care for the sick, or protect the widow? Would they see the spending on church buildings and ourselves as extravagantly wasteful while twenty-five thousand people die every day from starvation?
I think they’d barely recognize us as brothers and sisters. If we told them church is on Sundays and we have an awesome band, this would be perplexing. I believe we’d receive dumbfounded stares if we discussed “church shopping” because enough people don’t say hello when we walk in the lobby one hour a week. If they found out one-sixth of the earth’s population claimed to be Christians, I’m not sure they could reconcile the suffering happening on our watch while we’re living in excess. They’d wonder if we had read the Bible or worry it had been tampered with since their time.
But listen Early Church, we have a monthly event called Mocha Chicks. We have choir practice every Wednesday. We organize retreats with door prizes. We’re raising three million dollars for an outdoor amphitheater. We have catchy T-shirts. We don’t smoke or say the F word. We go to Bible study every semester. (“ And then what, American Church?”) Well, we go to another one. We’re learning so much.
I think the early church would cover their heads with ashes and grieve over the dilution of Jesus’ beautiful church vision. We’ve taken His Plan A for mercy to an injured lost planet and neutered it to clever sermon series and Stitch-and-Chat in the Fellowship Hall, serving the saved. If the modern church held to its biblical definition, we would become the answer to all that ails society. We wouldn’t have to baby-talk and cajole and coax people into our sanctuaries through witty mailers and strategic ads; they’d be running to us. The local church would be the heartbeat of the city, undeniable by our staunchest critics.
Instead, the American church is dying. We are losing ground in epic proportions. Our country is a graveyard of dead and vanishing churches. We made it acceptable for people to do nothing and still call themselves Christians, and that anemic vision isn’t holding. Last year, 94 percent of evangelical churches reported loss or no growth in their communities. Almost four thousand churches are closing each year. We are losing three million people annually, flooding out the back door and never returning. The next generation downright refuses to come.
Ironically, this is the result of a church that only feasts.
When the fast, the death, the sacrifice of the gospel is omitted from the Christian life, then it isn’t Christian at all. Not only that, it’s boring. If I just want to feel good or get self-help, I’ll buy a $ 12 book from Borders and join a gym. The church the Bible described is exciting and adventurous and wrought with sacrifice. It cost believers everything, and they still came. It was good news to the poor and stumped its enemies. The church was patterned after a Savior who had no place to lay his head and voluntarily died a brutal death, even knowing we would reduce the gospel to a self-serving personal improvement program where people were encouraged to make a truce with their Maker and stop sinning and join the church, when in fact the gospel does not call for a truce but a complete surrender.
Jesus said the kingdom was like a treasure hidden in a field, and once someone truly finds it, he will happily sell everything he owns to possess that field, a perfect description of the fasting and the feast. It will cost everything, but it is a treasure and an unfathomable joy. This is the balance of the kingdom; to live we must die, to be lifted we bow, to gain we must lose. There is no alternative definition, no path of least resistance, no treasure in the field without the sacrifice of everything else. Oh Lord, may we be focused on the least; a people balancing the fasting and the feast.
And from "The Poor Will Be Glad" by Greer and Smith.
If an integrated approach to making disciples is a scriptural imperative, followers of Christ are not at liberty to choose between proclaiming Christ or serving the needs of the world. While this fact may cause discomfort for Christians for a variety of reasons, we should ultimately rejoice in the many advantages of integrated ministry.
.....
God's body on earth - the church - is uniquely able to provide a special feast for people around the world by simultaneously meeting spiritual and physical needs.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Take Time to Connect with People
"Time to think and time to connect with people are as important as
getting everything done. Sometimes you have to go slow before you go
fast."
I came across this quote in a Leadership and Management post on LinkedIn by Beth Comstock (Chief Media Officer at GE). It applies to business dealings, but I think it is also pertinent to how we go about our work in the church. I often (in both my professional and personal life) am so busy trying to meet deadlines, keep appointments, and accomplish my to do list that I forget I am dealing with people and it is probably the relationships with these people that are more important and will have a more lasting impact than the activities we are trying to accomplish. The same also goes for evangelism and missions. We must share the gospel and care for the poor and hurting around us, but we also must approach those we interact with as people and build relationships. This will take time and require investment on our part, but it is those relationships that will be used by God for his glory and to accomplish his purposes, not our trivial actions.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Living Life for Today
Angela posted a link to a blog on Facebook (http://www.handsfreemama.com/2013/08/20/school-year-hopes/) talking about focusing the school year hopes for our children not on what we do not know will occur in the future, but on what we can control today. This list of hopes for your child today struck me.
Today I hope to take a few extra seconds to kiss the top of your head before you go.
Today I hope to stand aside and let you do it yourself … even if it takes a little longer … even if it’s messier … even if it’s not perfect.
Today I hope to say, “I’m sorry,” and “I love you” because they are life changing, comforting, and healing words.
Today I hope to laugh more than I sigh with exasperated breaths.
Today I hope to view missed shots and off-key notes as brave attempts at living rather than failures to succeed.
Today I hope to focus less on your faults and more on your freckles and sense of humor because they light up your face.
Today I hope to notice the color of your eyes when you speak to me.
Today I hope to listen to your words without judgment and impatience.
Today I hope to extend grace for accidental spills and other kid mishaps.
Today I hope to help you as you clean up that spill and tell you about the time I dropped an entire bag of flour on the kitchen floor. Maybe we’ll even laugh about it.
Today I hope to give you a little extra time to walk along the edge of the curb, do your own hair, and listen to your knock-knock joke.
Today I hope to catch a glimpse of you that suddenly reminds me how much of an extraordinary miracle you are.
Today I hope to remember you are more than your achievements, more that your academic performance, and more than your behavior.
Today I hope you see my eyes light up, not because of something you do, but simply because of who you are.
Today I hope you go to bed knowing life is better because of you.
Today I hope you fall asleep feeling loved right now, today, just as you are.
Today I hope to take a few extra seconds to kiss the top of your head before you go.
Today I hope to stand aside and let you do it yourself … even if it takes a little longer … even if it’s messier … even if it’s not perfect.
Today I hope to say, “I’m sorry,” and “I love you” because they are life changing, comforting, and healing words.
Today I hope to laugh more than I sigh with exasperated breaths.
Today I hope to view missed shots and off-key notes as brave attempts at living rather than failures to succeed.
Today I hope to focus less on your faults and more on your freckles and sense of humor because they light up your face.
Today I hope to notice the color of your eyes when you speak to me.
Today I hope to listen to your words without judgment and impatience.
Today I hope to extend grace for accidental spills and other kid mishaps.
Today I hope to help you as you clean up that spill and tell you about the time I dropped an entire bag of flour on the kitchen floor. Maybe we’ll even laugh about it.
Today I hope to give you a little extra time to walk along the edge of the curb, do your own hair, and listen to your knock-knock joke.
Today I hope to catch a glimpse of you that suddenly reminds me how much of an extraordinary miracle you are.
Today I hope to remember you are more than your achievements, more that your academic performance, and more than your behavior.
Today I hope you see my eyes light up, not because of something you do, but simply because of who you are.
Today I hope you go to bed knowing life is better because of you.
Today I hope you fall asleep feeling loved right now, today, just as you are.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Daily Pilgrimage
Finished Patrick Morley's "The Man in the Mirror" today in bible study. It was an okay book and brought about a lot of good discussion. The passage below really sums up the book for me though and is one of my favorite from the book. If we can live this way, everything will fall into place in the end.
"Life is a struggle. Each day is part of a pilgrimage that prepares us for our eternal destiny. Each day we should set apart Christ in our hearts as Lord. Focus on the good you see and hear. Testify, just as a witness to the jury, about the changes occurring in your own life.
Encourage those around you, and meet together regularly for friendship, accountability, Bible study, and prayer. To encourage someone is to inspire them to have courage. Attend church where the Bible is believed and Christ is honored. Join a weekly Bible study group. Form an accountable relationship. Pursue your job as a holy vocation. Remember the poor when you give your resources. Be a faithful steward. Stand against bigotry and racial prejudice. Increase your love for God and for people. Remember, no amount of success at the office can compensate for failure at home."
"Life is a struggle. Each day is part of a pilgrimage that prepares us for our eternal destiny. Each day we should set apart Christ in our hearts as Lord. Focus on the good you see and hear. Testify, just as a witness to the jury, about the changes occurring in your own life.
Encourage those around you, and meet together regularly for friendship, accountability, Bible study, and prayer. To encourage someone is to inspire them to have courage. Attend church where the Bible is believed and Christ is honored. Join a weekly Bible study group. Form an accountable relationship. Pursue your job as a holy vocation. Remember the poor when you give your resources. Be a faithful steward. Stand against bigotry and racial prejudice. Increase your love for God and for people. Remember, no amount of success at the office can compensate for failure at home."
Friday, May 10, 2013
Trust God and Fear Not
Related to this, I came across two things on Shannon Kelley's Blog today (http://www.shannon-kelley.com/blog/)
The first is what struck me as a great way to approach God and our relationship with him:
I’m a weirdo Christian. I have never fit too nicely in the traditional American church. Maybe because I make people uncomfortable-who knows. Because the reality is that I didn’t learn about God in a building doing crafts in the basement-I learned about God by watching Him provide for my family, by watching miracles happen in the Phillipines and China, by sitting under a mango tree listening to stories from the Bible read as if you were there. It’s the same way I feel about astronomy-I didn’t sit and learn how the stars were placed, I went and took walks on the beach at night with my dad when I was 11 and saw them as he pointed out the constellations. I felt the power of millions of stars staring at you in a place where there was no electricity. I didn’t need to look in a book to learn about them, I felt it, they were real to me, they moved me, they gave me childlike wonder. To this day, I stop in awe under a ceiling full of stars.
That is what God is to me. He isn’t something I learned- He is someone I know that is real to me. I feel him. He is real to me. He moves me. He gives me childlike wonder.
The second came from a Jesus Calling devotion that she referenced:
“Instead of floundering in the past, release your mistakes to Me. Look to Me in trust, anticipating that My infinite creativity can weave both good choices and bad into a lovely design. Because you are human, you will continue to make mistakes. Thinking that you should live an error-free life is symptomatic of pride. Your failures can be a source of blessing, humbling you and giving you empathy for other people in their weaknesses. Best of all, failure highlights your dependence on Me. I am able to bring beauty out of the morass of your mistakes. Trust me, and watch to see what I will do.”
Both point back to our dependence on God and trust in him. I read another place today about the woman who was plagued with bleeding for 12 years and believed that if she could just touch Jesus' robe, she would be healed (Matthew 9:20-22). She trusted God and was healed because of her faith. It was pointed out though that to reach out for Jesus' robe, the lady had to open her arms. If we keep our arms to our chest we can maintain our privacy and hold in our shame, our guilt, our imperfection; but we can't draw on the power of Jesus. Holding our arms to our chest maintains our false front of perfection that we put up for those around us, but it keeps those with whom we are in community from helping us through our problems and bringing us back to the grace of God. This gets back to pride, which judging from how it keeps coming up, will probably be a topic of a future post.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Restoration
From a devotional I was reading today...How we are supposed to help those in need as the Church.
RESTORATION (Isaiah 58:6-12)
While the prophet Isaiah had harsh warnings for the people of Judah, he also had good news: after enduring punishment, God’s people would later be restored. Restoration means more than putting a bandage on a wound. The society Isaiah described was not “patched up.” Instead, in this passage, there is an emphasis on wholeness, permanent
change, and on bringing people back into complete health—mind, body, and spirit.
Changing the lives of those devastated by poverty, illness, and other issues mean more than offering temporary solutions, as helpful as they may be. It means looking at employment, security, health—deeper issues, that when addressed, bring lasting changes.
So, don’t only provide a patch of land, but provide a well-watered garden. Help to build a home, not just a roof over someone’s head. Strive not only for the absence of war, but also for restorative, healing peace.
RESTORATION (Isaiah 58:6-12)
While the prophet Isaiah had harsh warnings for the people of Judah, he also had good news: after enduring punishment, God’s people would later be restored. Restoration means more than putting a bandage on a wound. The society Isaiah described was not “patched up.” Instead, in this passage, there is an emphasis on wholeness, permanent
change, and on bringing people back into complete health—mind, body, and spirit.
Changing the lives of those devastated by poverty, illness, and other issues mean more than offering temporary solutions, as helpful as they may be. It means looking at employment, security, health—deeper issues, that when addressed, bring lasting changes.
So, don’t only provide a patch of land, but provide a well-watered garden. Help to build a home, not just a roof over someone’s head. Strive not only for the absence of war, but also for restorative, healing peace.
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