I picked up Eugene Peterson's, The Contemplative Pastor the other day and ran across his chapter on "The Subversive Pastor." He says, "I am undermining the kingdom of self and establishing the kingdom of God. I am being subversive." He says that he does not often engage in a frontal assault on the kingdom of self, but he works around the edges, so to speak. I am often a frontal assault kind of guy and it tends to be less effective than I hope for, just arousing people's defenses. Petereson's words here are encouraging and wise:
As a pastor, I don't like being viewed as nice but insignificant. I bristle when a high-energy executive leaves the place of worship with the comment, "This was wonderful, Pastor, but now we have to get back to the real world, don't we?" I had thougt we were in the most-real world, the world revealed as God's, a world believed to be invaded by God's grace and turning on the pivot of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. The executive's comment brings me up short: he isn't taking this seriously. Worshiping God is marginal to making money. Prayer is marginal to the bottom line. Christian salvation is a brand preference.
I bristle and want to assert my importance. I want to force the recognition of the key position I hold in the economy of God and in his economy if only he knew it.
Then I remember that I am a subversive. My long-term effectiveness depends on my not being recognized for who I really am. If he realized that I actually believe the American way of life is doomed to destruction, and that another kingdom is right now being formed in secret to take its place, he would be at all pleased. If he knew what I was really doing and the difference it was making, he would fire me.
"Good. Busy, but good . . . Actually, I am soooo busy."
"I know. Me too. I'm really busy."
This is a normal exchange between two Americans in 2009. Whether they are in high school, college, single and working, newly married, have children, or are retired, the constant refrain from most people is . . .
I'm busy.
I said it myself in a tweet earlier today without even thinking about it. It just rolls off the tongue (or the fingers on the keyboard) so easily. I'm busy. It is the explanation for everything. Saying that today reminded me that that is not how I want to see life. When I say, "I'm busy," I'm saying that I'm doing stuff that I don't want to be doing and I'm running around like crazy trying to get stuff done because I have to. I am describing a state of physical, emotional, and spiritual unrest that leaves me worn out and depleted. It is not healthy and it is usually unnecessary, for the most part. So, I'm speaking to myself here.
Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. My mind was racing. Finally, I drifted off, but not before I ran through a dozen different subjects. I've been told by friends that I have adult ADD. Maybe so. It would explain a lot. Normally, I write essays for this blog because it is really rewarding for me to lock in on one topic and explore it and I use it as a teaching platform for my church. Today, I'll take you on a random tour of what I'm thinking about in classic, stream-of-consciousness form. Each of these thoughts could be a blogpost all their own and they have been building up in my head. So, I think I'll clean out my brain a little so that I can think more clearly and start over.
I'm going back to India at the end of next month. Around midnight last night, I called Thom Wolf in India and talked with him for awhile. It was almost noon there. He was my professor and intellectual mentor in school back when I lived in San Francisco and he lives in New Delhi. We will go north to the Himalayas and do our normal thing with the ministries there, and then possibly travel with him for a couple of days to the south of India to meet some people doing very interesting things.
I am working through Paul's letter to the Philippians right now in my Bible study and my preaching. I am also writing essays to go along with each topic. Philippians is a great letter to address the "God as a means to an end" syndrome that plagues contemporary Christianity. I am thinking of releasing the essays after I am through with this. It has been really interesting. Today, I am working on one called "Chains" about how Paul volunteered to put himself in less than ideal situations so that the gospel would be spread to others through his life and suffering. Check out Philippians 1:7-14. Am I willing to do the same?
"According to some estimates, Christians in developed Western countries now represent only 37 percent of believers worldwide. As I travel and also read chruch history, I have observed a pattern, a strange historical phenomenon of God 'moving' geographically from place to place: from the Middle East to Europe to North America to the developing world. My theory is this: God goes where He's wanted." ~ Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places.
I ran across a fascinating article today on urban development in post-Katrina New Orleans on Newgeography.com by Andres Duany. Duany, of Cuban descent, says that "New Orleans is not among the most haphazard, poorest or misgoverned American cities, but rather the most organized, wealthiest, cleanest, and competently governed of the Caribbean cities." He says that New Orleans is not really an American city at all. Rather, it is a Caribbean city. Jimmy Buffett, after Katrina hit, said that the northern Gulf of Mexico is actually the northern part of the Caribbean, not the Southern part of the U.S. I agree. Being from there, it is different that the rest of the country, and I love it. Totally different way of thinking, worldview, and lifestyle. Maybe this is why Baptists have had so much trouble reaching the Gulf Coast? Hmmm.
My two favorite songs on my ipod right now are "Rocket Man" by Angie Aparo and "A Change is Gonna Come" by Ben Sollee. They are both cover songs, but the music and vocals are really intriguing. If you haven't heard either of these guys, check them out. Here's a live version of "Rocket Man." I think about this when I am travelling too much.
And, Ben Sollee on the cello. Yes, the cello. This is amazing.
This week marks the 3 year anniversary of us finding a lump on Caelan's chest that was a cancerous tumor. It has been a hard three years, but I praise God everyday for His faithfulness. Last night, Erika told me that the little 3 year old girl that my family has been praying for since we saw her at Caelan's last scans died last week. Her name was Cassie. My heart was broken over that. Maybe that is why I keep singing "A Change is Gonna Come." Ben Sollee, covering Sam Cooke, says he doesn't know what's beyond the sky. I do, and more and more each day I pray that God's Kingdom come.
"As heretical as it sounds today, it is probably worth telling Americans that you don't need Jesus to have better families, finances, health, or even morality. Coming to the cross means repentance - not adding Jesus as a supporting character for an otherwise decent script but throwing away the script in order to be written into God's drama. It is death and resurrection, not coaching and makovers." Michael Horton, Christless Christianity.
Baseball season is about to start. I really don't like baseball. Too slow for my taste. During the dead of summer, it is almost like there are no sports going on. I'm just waiting for football. Although, our church has formed THREE softball teams with about 50 players and they'll be playing mostly on Monday nights, so I am glad for the fact that a lot of people from our church will be hanging out together and building relationships. Being blind in my right eye caused me to never play baseball because I have no depth perception, so maybe that is why I don't like it. I do plan to play summer league basketball, though.
The groundbreaking for our church's new building is April 5, right before we have a huge neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We've been reaching a lot of teenagers in our community lately, and God really moved in their lives at a youth retreat that we had this past weekend. Several came to Christ and many more opened their hearts to Jesus. We have also started tutoring, GED classes, and are helping with job placement. God is doing some amazing things. The building is just a tool to help us with this, and it should be finished by October. I'll be very happy.
I keep watching Jon & Kate plus Eight. I don't know why. Erika keeps asking why I stop there when we are watching TV and I have the remote and I told her that I really can't believe how mean Kate is to Jon and I can't fathom how they manage eight kids like that. Wow. It's like a car wreck. I have four kids of my own. Do I really need to watch someone else's stress? Strangely, I'm drawn to it. That, and Clean House, which is about people who live in an unfathomable mess. I guess that it is cathartic to see other people's stress and mess instead of my own. Normally, these shows come on right after we put the kids to bed. Hmmm.
I turned in my taxes yesterday and I'm trying to get some insurance stuff taken care of. It's a pain and seems to be taking forever. Car tags have to be paid on Monday and I'm doing a TV interview tomorrow for a local religious broadcasting station about our work in India. I lump all of that together because it all feels about the same to me - stuff I have to do that I don't like doing. I'm not just trying to be humble about the TV thing either. I HATE stuff like that. Communication should be two-way and interactive with feedback, not captured on a television for people to pick over and misinterpret as they wish. Maybe I'm just insecure.
Books I'm reading right now (they happen to all be "Christian" books, which is not good - I need to vary things up a bit and learn from some other disciplines):
Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey - picked it up in the airport last week. Yancey writes essays about where he sees God working in the world. Excellent.
Christless Christianity by Michael Horton - states that the American church has given itself over to an alternative gospel that he calls, therapuetic moralistic deism.
No Place for Truth - Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology by David Wells. This came out about 15 years ago, but it was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It is pretty dense, but a good read. Makes some of the same claims as Horton, but from a historical perspective.
My church is always heavy on my mind and my heart. I graduated from seminary over 9 years ago. I've been the lead pastor of our church for 3 1/2 years. I'm realizing more and more each day that I am not smart enough, talented enough, entertaining enough, or gifted enough to do what needs to be done, no matter how many books I read. God has to work through me. I need Him. I carry the weight of people's struggles pretty intensely. I greatly desire for people to walk with the Lord and to glorify Him and I want our church to hunger after Christ with their whole lives and to reach people who do not know Jesus. But, I am really having to pray about this and release it to the Lord. I can't make anyone do anything. I am completely powerless to make anything happen. God has to do it. I have always known that intellectually. I am learning that emotionally and spiritually and it isn't easy, believe it or not.
Ashtyn has started soccer.
I have great kids and an amazing wife who listens to me go on and on about everything that I am thinking about. She is really patient and she always gives me great feedback. I do not deserve her, and I'm not just saying that because it is what I am expected to say. She's really something. She texted me two days ago and said that we should go on the mission trip with the youth group this summer. I told her that I agreed. Not many mother's of four kids would do that.
My city, Montgomery, just elected a new mayor in a special election a couple of weeks ago. In his election night interview, he said that he hoped that he would "rule" well. Rule #1 in American politics: Never tell the people that you plan to "rule" them. It doesn't sit well in a democracy. Then, he said that he was pushing the inauguration back a week because he was taking his family to the beach. Rule #2: When we are in a severe recession, don't tell the people that just elected you that you would begin to rule, er, serve them, but first, you have to go to the beach. Go to the beach in a few months AFTER you have worked for them for a little while. Wow.
Look, a BUTTERFLY!!!! Sorry, had to get that out. Does anyone ever feel that way? Random as can be.
I've lost 10 pounds in the past two weeks and I don't know how. I guess that I haven't been eating as much. Duh. Stress? Busyness? I don't know, but I'll take it. I could stand to lose a lot more.
Well, that's about it. Not really, but I figure that no one is still reading at this point, so I might as well stop. Believe it or not, engaging in an exercise in complete randomness actually made me feel better. So, I leave you with a picture of my kids that I really love.
God is good, by the way. And, He's always working in every thing. Big, little, important, mundane. God is always at work.
President Obama. I'm still trying to get used to saying those words. I didn't support him, but now that he is president, I will give him my respect and prayers as he engages the very difficult task of leading our nation. I had an interesting talk with my kids as I took them to school this morning. They asked me why Obama's election was so historic. I was able to explain to them that just a few years ago, it would have been impossible for a black man to be elected president. They didn't understand, so I told them about the evils of racism and how white people behaved in ways that were not pleasing to God. That is changing, and for that I am glad. In many ways, America is a better place today because we are putting aside race as a determining factor in how we treat people. I still believe that the Church can lead the way on this, but I am glad to see America moving on from past sins. In a strange way, America engaged in national repentance last night for over 300 years of wrong. If our eyes are closed, we will miss what is happening. UPDATE: My friend Andrew sent me a link to a really interesting CNN article talking about the racial healing that is taking place in America with Obama's victory. Some of the interviews take place in my city of Montgomery, Alabama. Check it out.
As I said in my previous post, I am not worried about a liberal Democrat becoming president. I do not agree with many of Obama's policies, but I trust that God is in control. I choose to look to Him. As I watched the news coverage last night, I heard news anchors who were almost in tears because of their joy. I saw people dancing in the streets and I DID see many people in tears. A lot of people in America now have a great deal of hope that things are going to be better. I understood the emotion from African Americans, and to an extent, I understood why Obama supporters were so happy. Even though I understand, I am struck with the folly of putting our faith in men. I hope that Obama is a good president, but no matter how well he governs, he is just a man. Men fail and disappoint us. It seems that we struggle to learn that lesson.
Along those same lines, I hope that evangelical Christians have learned that the Republican Party is not our hope. It is now fractured, inept, and very sad. They lost their way and we didn't even have enough moral strength to affect the party that we had lashed our hopes to, must lest affect the nation. Something in me says that evangelicals have lost their way as well. Most younger evangelicals that I know have long given up on the Republican Party, seeing it for what it is. The issue of abortion has kept us in the fold up till now, but after years of Republican presidents, a majority in Congress, and 7 out of 9 Supreme Court justices being appointed by Republicans, many understand that if Republicans were going to do something about abortion, they would have done so. We have to get back to changing hearts and minds and that only happens when people have an encounter with God. Unfortunately, our close ties with Republicans have caused many to see evangelicals in a political way, instead of as people overcome by the power of the gospel. We should be involved in politics, but we should do so in a prophetic, transformative way.
A.W. Tozer said, "It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound . . . while our idea of God is erroneous and inadequate."
Rick Warren has said, "What you believe about God determines your happiness, your direction . . . and ever facet of your life."
It appears that our view of God has diminished a great deal and we are bearing the fruit of that. We see God in a consumeristic way, as though He is there primarily to meet our needs. Salvation becomes all about us. Our spiritual life becomes all about us. Church participation becomes all about us. God becomes a means to our own personal happiness. It is not surprising that we view politics, government, the economy, our relationships, our jobs, and our marriages the same way. So, how will things change? We must be salt and light and value God and His glory above everything else. If we will live from that point and lash our hope to Him, then we are free to change and engage the world prophetically. There are a lot of positives that could come from an Obama presidency. Let's make sure that we, as the people of God, act as a blessing to this nation we say we love during this incredibly pivotal time. Let us rejoice with those who rejoice because for many, this election signals a new America - one that they have spent their lives praying for. If we fail to understand that we will not be able to communicate with people from other perspectives. The gospel remains the issue. Let's not diminish a hearing for the gospel over politics.
The era of the “promised land” is over for the mainline church in America. Because we have not been faithful, we find ourselves again in the wilderness, or perhaps, in exile. In either case, the establishment is collapsing and with it, the predictability, security and comfort that has allowed us to be at ease in Zion for several generations. The model of the “king” is no longer appropriate for leadership in today’s church. We need leadership more akin to the “judges” of ancient Israel, who arose out of the community in crisis to lead by the consent of and in concert with the community. And those judges were selected not by caste or class, but by demonstrating the authenticity and therefore the authority that comes from having attended to the inward journey with God.
I think that the idea of the "Church in Exile" was intriguing to me in this quote. If we are really in exile, or the Wilderness in relation to our culture, then what does that mean for how we function? For leadership? For cultural engagement? Yes, it appears that Christendom has crumbled. What will replace it and how will we manage a post-Christian America? It is apparent that spiritual leadership in a post-Christian culture must be more focused on God and our walk with Him, than it is on success, results, power, and influence.
The Christian is a person who recognizes that our real problem is not in achieving freedom but in learning service under a better master. The Christian realizes that every relationship that excludes God becomes oppressive. Recognizing and realizing that, we urgently want to live under the mastery of God.
Alexis de Tocqueville was a brilliant French historian and political thinker who travelled through America in the 1830's and made assessments of our democracy, our people, and our culture. His major work was Democracy in America (1835). His thoughts are very insightful and they show the original seeds of the state of America today that have now reached full bloom. I found a good number of quotes about American's individualism and pursuit of prosperity that I found very interesting as well - it is rare to see much early analysis on these factors in American life. Here are a few of the quotes:
America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.
“The central theme in the ministry and teaching of Jesus is the kingdom of God, or as Matthew calls it, the kingdom of Heaven. This key idea ties his entire message together. The “kingdom of God” permeates Jesus’ ministry, giving it coherence and clarity. It is the undisputed core, the very essence, of his life and teaching.” ~ Donald Kraybill, The Upside Down Kingdom, p. 16.
“In broad strokes, most biblical scholars agree that the “kingdom of God” means the dynamic rule or reign of God. The reign involves God’s intentions, authority, and ruling power. It doesn’t refer to a territory or a particular place. Nor is it static. It’s dynamic – always becoming, spreading, and growing. The kingdom points us not to the place of God but to God’s ruling activities. It is not a kingdom in heaven, but from heaven – one that thrives here and now. The kingdom appears whenever women and men submit their lives to God’s will. ~ Kraybill, p. 18.
Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington talk about the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their book, The Great Exchange. To introduce this study, they talked about the different facets of the gospel and they declared that the whole gospel must be preached and believed for us to really know God.One of the facets of the gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom:
“In the gospel, our worldview is radically changed. We refer to this facet [of the gospel] as the gospel of the kingdom. It means that our definitions of health, wealth, security, comfort, and prosperity are turned upside down compared to the world’s view. It means we embrace the paradoxes of Christ’s teaching – to live is to die, to be great is to be a servant of all, and to be rich is to give sacrificially. All our values change, as do our views on community, poverty, gender, racism, orphans and widows, and the sick and the weak. But none of this can happen authentically apart from the cross, where our sin was exchanged for his righteousness.”
~ Bridges and Bevington, The Great Exchange, p. 16.
Since last August, we have been going through a spiritual formation study on Wednesday nights at our church. We spent several months talking about loving God. Then, we explored what it meant to love people. Now, we are talking about how we do that "to the ends of the earth." We have taken a pretty different approach on each area and I have really grown through it. One of the books that we are using for this last movement is The Micah Mandate: Balancing the Christian Life by George Grant. He deals with Micah 6:8, which says: "But he has showed you, O Man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." His premise is that if we do those three things, then our lives will be in balance and we will be salt and light to the world. Jesus appealed to Micah's mandate in Matthew 23:23 when he said to the Pharisees, "But you have neglected the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy, and faithfulness."
Thom Wolf says that when interacting with the larger culture, we start with justice issues, we the show mercy to people that we connect with, and then we share our faith with them. He calls it "Weeds, Deeds, and Seeds." When we live in a culture that is ignorant or hostile to the gospel, we should seek to come alongside them and set right what has gone wrong by bringing the Kingdom of God. We should pull the weeds that have grown up around them (Justice). Then, we should do good deeds (Matt. 5:16) among them (Mercy). Finally, after their hearts have been made receptive, we should plant the seeds of faith through the gospel (Walking humbly with God). Of course, it does not have to necessarily go in this order, but caring about justice issues and doing good amongst unbelievers surely does open their hearts to ask, "Why are you doing this?" I experienced that directly as we went down to help right after Katrina. Dr. Wolf goes on to say that the Micah/Jesus Mandate is the same as what Paul is saying when he calls us to "faith, love, and hope." It's just that amongst believers, Paul starts with the heart and our relationship with God and works his way out to our effect on the world.
FAITH = Walking Humbly with God = Planting Seeds (faith comes from hearing the gospel)
LOVE = Mercy = Good Deeds (sacrificially laying our lives down for others)
HOPE = Justice = Pulling Weeds (our hope in in the salvation that is to be granted to us fully one day)
So, basically, the Christian life is a balance of all three of these components as they continue to mix and work in our lives. Unfortunately, we often get out of balance and focus more heavily on one area over the other. Throughout my life, I have seen this imbalance in Christians who were totally focused on trying to change America through politics and social action. I have always felt that wrong. On the other hand, I have met Christians who only wanted to pray and try and do 2 Chronicles 7:14 as though it was some magic formula to restore us to the 1950's. Also, wrong. George Grant says,
Erika and I were playing some music tonight and she pointed me to this Rich Mullins song from years ago that I had never heard before. It was actually written by Scottish singer, Dougie MacLean. We ended up singing it and it spoke true to what we are feeling and to what God is doing in our lives. Do we really trust Him? Do we believe that He is good, even when our common assurances seem to be fading? Can we give Him everything? The song is called Ready For the Storm:
The waves crash in the tide rolls out It's an angry sea but there is no doubt That the lighthouse will keep shining out To warn a lonely sailor And the lightning strikes And the wind cuts cold Through the sailor's bones Through the sailor's soul 'Til there's nothing left that he can hold Except a rolling ocean
Oh I am ready for the storm Yes sir ready I am ready for the storm I'm ready for the storm
Oh give me mercy for my dreams 'Cause every confrontation seems to tell me What it really means To be this lonely sailor And when the sky begins to clear The sun it melts away my fear And I shed a silent weary tear For those who mean to love me
Oh I am ready for the storm Yes sir ready I am ready for the storm I'm ready for the storm
The distance it is no real friend And time will take its time And you will find that in the end It brings you me This lonely sailor And when You take me by the hand And You love me, Lord, You love me And I should have realized I had no reasons to be frightened
Oh I am ready for the storm Yes sir ready I am ready for the storm
Am I ready? In Christ alone.
Someone put together a slide show to Rich Mullins' version of this song. The music is hauntingly beautiful.
Since August, I have been teaching Spiritual Formation on Wednesday nights using our church mission/vision statement, Loving God, Loving People . . . To the Ends of the Earth. We are in the "Loving People" stage and have been using a couple of books as resource material. One of those books is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. I was reading this book and making notes today for the study tomorrow night when I ran across a statement of Bonhoeffer's that challenged me once again. Pastoring a church in the South means that you are one congregation among many. Invariably, church members begin to compare one church to another, one pastor to another, and the services, resources, and excitement levels of each church. We even compare the members. Pastors do the same thing. We compare one church and ministry to another, and often get irritated with our church if it does not perform up to our expectations. This happens easily because we are always gazing upon the ideal and the unfinished task before us, driving ourselves and those around us to performance in service of that ideal. "If we could just get these people to cooperate," we think to ourselves. Sometimes, the criticisms of one another grow even more severe, ending in a pastor leaving or being fired, or a church splitting. Bonheoffer speaks decidedly to this issue and it should cause us all to stop our complaining, repent before God, and thank God for the fellowship that we have with one another in Christ.
Prepare to be humbled and encouraged:
We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things? If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.
This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations. A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men. When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his wish dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament. But, if not, let him nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God. Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief. Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren. Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren. Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God.
Chistian community is like the Christian's sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow day to day as God pleases.
Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.
Bonhoeffer comes from a Lutheran perspective that we place our faith in the finished work of Christ outside of us. We are made righteous by the work of Christ on the Cross and we are not to place our faith in our experience. We must believe in Jesus alone. Apart from our experience, it is true that Jesus died for us. All spiritual experience flows from that faith, but it is faith that comes first.
I can tell you that the vast majority of Christians, especially Southern Baptists, spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about one another and the state of the Church. I have been very guilty of that myself quite often and repentance is necessary. Our unity is based in the spiritual reality of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and not in the Church's fulfillment of each pastor, leader, or congregants "wish dream." May we learn to love one another sacrificially, even when we aren't perfect in one another's eyes. May our unity be based on Christ and transforming faith in Him, and not our performance or lack thereof.
I am reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together, which is truly one of the most amazing little books I have ever partaken of on the nature of Christian community. He views the community of Christ (the church) very realisitically and through the lens of the Cross. Since I am teaching on spiritual formation on Wednesday nights and we are starting with the Cross in our first movement and will look at community and relationships in our second movement (about 2 months from now), I thought that this book would be fitting. Our third movement, which we will get into next spring will involve our spiritual growth and health always leads us out to engage a lost world - because that is what Jesus did. Bonhoeffer, at the beginning of Life Together points us in this direction, I suppose so that no one would think that he is advocating a cloistered, disengaged life. Here is an excerpt containing a quote by Martin Luther that should make the our hair stand on end:
It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. (Luther quote following - me) "The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?"
What do you think of Bonhoeffer's words? Of course, Jesus had his twelve disciples, but he also knew what was in a man and he did the will of the Father. At the end, they all betrayed him because he did not do what they thought he was here to do. I am a huge believer in community, relationships, teams, and fellowship. I believe that Jesus died and rose for the dead to establish the Church. At the same time, we must all we willing to be persecuted and outcast and go into the world to represent Christ, even if no one follows.
What about Luther's words? They are very strong and definitely speak to our desire to withdraw into the Christian ghetto of our own making where we only have good influences and things are safe. Ultimately, I think that he is right and I am convicted. I have spent far too much time dealing exclusively with Christians, my church, the SBC, and those who are of "my tribe." Of course, the Christian community is paramount, and as a pastor I am to be a shepherd to our body first and foremost. But, my main job is to get us to join with Christ where He is working. Perhaps God's intent is that we be a mobile, sent community, loving God and loving others as we go to the ends of the earth.
Earlier today I received an email from a young lady regarding my Bonhoeffer post of this morning. It really touched me and she said that I could post it. I thought it might cause us all to think a little bit more deeply about the consequences of NOT being the type of community of believers that God calls us to be. I also thought it was quite prophetic as she calls us to look for the people around us instead of just looking out for ourselves. Here it is:
Alan,
I read today's blog.I would've posted a comment, but the computer I'm working from won't allow it.I wholeheartedly agree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer . . . But I'm frustrated.I have experienced the need for church fellowship and true community for a long time.I've said for many years that if I could, I would live in the church.Unfortunately, it hasn't happened...By "live in the church" I meant live in the community in which wish dreams are not a factor, grace is abundant, and like-mindedness and common goals are the norm.I have inwardly begged to be a part of this type of community.I have cried out to the people of the church to possess this type of mind-set.I have NEEDED to feel like I could go to my Christian friends and tell them my struggles and hear real truth.Yet I feel more comfortable going to non-Christian friends.I have NEEDED to spend time with Christian people who know my life and faults and love me just the same.Yet my non-Christian friends are more available and less judgemental.I have NEEDED people to be all up in my business and pull things out of me for accountability purposes.Yet my non-Christian friends pull things out of me, but have no truth to give me in return.I have felt the sting of feeling like an outcast many times for sharing my life's history and current struggles with people of the church, not receiving the grace that I know God gives me.I have experienced the frustration of seeing people on Sundays, smiling, laughing, singing, and praying and leaving not to hear a word from any of them until the next week.All the while, I am crying inside, begging them to help me, be my friend, and tell me truth without judging my faults.I KNOW my faults.No one has to tell me that I'm doing something wrong.I KNOW when I'm doing something wrong.What I need is someone to hold me accountable to it and someone to pull things out of me and someone, ANYONE, to love me anyway.I know the wish dream Mr. Bonhoeffer is talking about, and I have been aggravated.I couldn't have written that excerpt better myself . . . .
. . . . I feel as if I come to church with a veil over my face, but not purposely.I have nothing to hide.I admit that I have faults.I admit that I still do wrong.I admit that I struggle in many, many areas and I struggle hard.But I also admit that I love my Jesus just as much as any other believer. I admit that I would be among the lowest of the low without God's grace and love in my life.And I admit that no matter what good or bad I do, or how the church changes or stays the same, I will ALWAYS have Christ in my heart.So, I WISH everyone in the church knew me, cared to know me, and hear the things that I have to say.But it seems some people would just rather live in their wish dream, get their business done with God, and go home to their earthly family.They don't have time to get to know other people; they have their own lives to live. Or they would rather not hear that someone's life has been/is messed up; they have their own lives to worry about.
Perhaps I seem to be coming across as extremely negative and, again, I apologize.I've just recently been in that place of need once again, so I'm extra frustrated with the church.Don't get me wrong, I'll get over it.I LOOOVE the church.I don't know if I can ever express how much.And I am not innocent of ever being part of any kind of wish dream community.But I realize more and more how much change in all of us needs to be done.
Thoughts? How can be we a type of community that really sees people the way they are and engages with their life in a way that helps them, instead of being communities that see people the way we wish they were and does not want to get our hands dirty? Sometimes, I feel like if anyone has a problem, they become a project to fix so the church is not defiled, rather than a person to love because God loved them first. What about you?
Probably one of the best statements I've ever read on the church and Christian community comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. It comes from pages 26-29. I have been preaching through Acts and this fits quite nicely. Stop everything you are doing and read this right now! You won't be sorry!
Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God's grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and if we are fortunate, with ourselves.
By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a dream. God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God's sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusonment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both. A community which cannot bear and cannot survive such a crisis, which insists upon keeping its illusion when it should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of Christian community. Sooner or later it will collapse. Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.
God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.
Bono raised the roof at the NAACP Image Awards where he won the Chairman's Award. It was an incredibly inspiring speech, and you can see it HERE. The end of the speech, where Bono starts to "preach" is incredibly moving. He was right on. I always like to read things as well as see them, so here is a transcript of part of the speech:
Well today, the world looks again to the NAACP. We need the community that taught the world about civil rights to teach it something about human rights. I'm talking about the right to live like a human. The right to live, period. Those are the stakes in Africa right now. Five and a half thousand Africans dying every day of AIDS, a preventable, treatable disease. Nearly a million Africans, most of them children, dying every year from malaria. Death by mosquito bite.
And, this is not about charity, as you know here in this room. This is about justice. It's about justice and equality. (Applause) Now I know that America hasn't solved all of its problems, and I know that AIDS is killing people right here in America. And I know the hardest hit are African Americans, many of them young women. Today the church in Oakland, I saw such extraordinary people. This lioness here, Barbara Lee (Applause) took me around with her pastor, J. Alfred Smith, and may I say that it was the poetry and the righteous anger of the Black church that was such an inspiration to me, a very white, almost pink, Irish man growing up in Dublin.
This is true religion, true religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom. "Love thy neighbor" is not a piece of advice, it's a command. (Applause and cheers) And that means a lot. That means that in the global village, we're going to have to start loving a whole lot more people. That's what that means. That's right--His truth is marching on. Two million Americans have signed on to the One Campaign to make poverty history, tonight the NAACP is signing up to work with us. And so can you. His truth is marching on! Because where you live should not decide whether you live or whether you die.
And to those in the church who still sit in judgement on the AIDS emergency, let me climb into the pulpit for just one moment. Because whatever thoughts we have about God who he is, or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor.
The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. (Standing ovation) God is with the mother who has infected a child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor, and God is with us if we are with them.
This is not a burden--this is an adventure! And don't let anyone tell you it cannot be done. We can be the generation that ends extreme poverty! Thank you.
Man, I like this guy. I've always been a big fan of U2's music, but I SO appreciate how he's doing something with the platform he's been given. God at work through a rock star . . . A rock star as a prophet? Could it be?
I ran across an interesting quote today from a respected Christian leader. Let me know what you think:
I fear for the future of authentic faith in our country. We live in a time when the common man in our country is thoroughly influenced by the current climate in which the cultural and educational elite propagates an anti-Christian message. We should take a look at what has happened in France and learn a lesson from it. In that country, Christianity has been successfully attacked and marginalized by these same groups because those who professed belief were unable to defend the faith from attack, even though its attackers’ arguments were deeply flawed. We should be alarmed that instruction in authentic faith has been neglected, if not altogether eliminated, in our schools and universities.
Is it any wonder then that the spiritual condition of our country is of little concern to those who don’t even educate their own children about true Christianity? Their conduct reflects their absence of concern, not only for the state of Christianity in their own country, but also for the need to communicate the message of Christ to those in other parts of the world who have not heard this truth.
Some might say that one’s faith is a private matter and should not be spoken of so publicly. They might assert this in public, but what do they really think in their hearts? The fact is, those who say such things usually don’t even have a concern for faith in the privacy of their interior lives. If you could see their hearts, you would find no trace of authentic faith. God has no place among the sources of hopes, fears, joys or sorrows in their lives. They might be thankful for their health, success, wealth and possessions, but they give no thought to the possibility that these are all signs of God’s provision. If they do give credit to God, it is usually done in some perfunctory way that reveals that their words have no sincerity.
When their conversations get really serious, you will see how little of their Christianity has anything to do with the faith taught by Jesus. Everything becomes subjective. Their conduct is not measured against the standard set by the gospel. They have developed their own philosophies, which they attempt to pawn off as Christianity.
Who do you think said this? James Dobson? Jerry Falwell? Pat Roberston? John MacArthur? Josh McDowell? Any of the SBC culture warriors like Richard Land and other leaders?
Several years ago, I had the privilege of developing a relationship with Jay Lorenzen. He is the Associate National Director, Training and Development for Campus Crusade for Christ's Military Ministry. He's also probably one of the sharpest missional minds in the Western Evangelical world. That is not hyperbole. He is a voracious reader with amazing ability to synthesize information into discernable applications and he is also an excellent teacher. I attended his Gettysburg Leadership Conference a few years ago where he takes a small group through the three days of the battle in real time, and with the Bible, applies leadership lessons for ministry. It's probably the best conference I've ever been to.
Jay also blogs at Onmovements.com, where he writes about what it takes to build a missional disciplemaking movement. Here is an excerpt (Update: This is actually a quote on Jay's blog that is taken from Eric Swanson, a friend of Jay's):
Lately I’ve been finding myself saying to others, “As difficult as it is to surf, it is far easier to catch a wave than to cause a wave.” My point is that we need to be aware of the big things God is doing in the world and get in on them.
God has a plan. Recently I was talking with Reggie McNeal (The Present Future). Reggie made this metaphoric observation.
“I doubt that God went to bed last night thinking about how many people you had in your church. Most likely he went to bed last night thinking about the two billion people that live on less than a dollar a day or the 30,000 people who died because they didn’t have clean water or about human traficking or the genocide in Africa.”
When God wants to act, if the church is not paying attention, he will raise up whom he will…who have his full attention to bring forth his agenda in the world. Sometimes it is a Cyrus or an Artexerses or Nebuchadnezzar. Sometimes it is a Bono, a Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet . . .
In the November 13, 2006 Newsweek, Michael Gerson writes “I’ve asked young evangelicals on campuses from Wheaton to Harvard, who they view as their model of Christian activism. Their answer is nearly unanimous: Bono.” (p. 40) A couple weeks ago I was with a bunch of Campus Crusade leaders who were working on establishing spiritual movements on every campus in the northeast region of the country (1/5 of all US college students).
Perhaps the wave that God is causing is what we should pay attention to. Instead of thinking how we can get Crusade staff to bring their students to a certain beach project we should be thinking how to mobilize all the student groups on one campus to go to Africa and sink 20 water wells. It’s not so much about wringing our hands, consuming ourselves about growing our campus groups from 60 to 80 (remember Reggie’s words) but how can catalyze the students on campus to change the world.
Last spring Crusade mobilized 15,000 students (believers and non-believers) to work on the gulf coast. These shoulder to shoulder relationships spawned a hundred thousand unlikely conversations about Jesus. This was our “proof of concept.” If Bono is universally admired by believers and unbelievers alike, why not show up on campus sporting (RED) gear, identifying like-minded people and planting (RED) groups or ONE groups or Bono groups or U2 groups on campus and mobilize students for a global agenda sponsored by local businesses?
Leaders can keep the spiritual agenda on the front burner and invite students to meet God through service to others (Matthew 25–”When you did it to the least you were doing it to me.”) It is then the job of believers to help their friends interpret what they are experiencing as they give themselves to people on the margin. There is a groundswell of students that want their lives to count for something. We can be a catalyst (like we did around Katrina) and give leadership to fulfill that desire for purpose. It is always better to be in the business of satisfying demand rather than trying to create demand. Students don’t want to be on the sidelines. They want a piece of the action.
Now, can you imagine movements everywhere on every campus where students are making a global, spiritual and material difference? Who wouldn’t want to be part of that?
Okay. Chew on that for a few minutes. Jay always challenges me to think differently about things, and after I listen to him for a few minutes expound on really complex concepts, what he is saying seems obvious to me and I wonder why I never thought of it myself. That is the mark of a great teacher. You should really begin reading him. Outstanding stuff.
Also, Alan Hirsch is fairly new to the blogosphere. Many have read his revolutionary book, The Shaping of Things to Come with Michael Frost. He now has a blog called, The Forgotten Ways. He has a book out by the same title. He is really insightful and asks some wonderful questions.
One recent post (A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Question) on comparisons between the growth of the early church and the underground church in China has really gotten me thinking. He asks how both churches grew so rapidly in such miserable conditions. I personally think that persecution and God's sovereign work were the primary factors, obviously. Many groups have experience persecution and did not grow. Many groups have experienced a visitation of God that petered out over time. But, when you combine God's presence, with persecution, and a people who have nothing but Him, spiritual explosions tend to take place. I don't think we are going to see the awakening that we long for in America until we fall on our face, cry out to the Lord, and throw off all the other things we are so dependent upon. We are so prideful and arrogant, we shut off the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and ministries. Prayer is obviously a key, but we spend far more time focusing on other things.
Track with Alan as he helps us understand how God is working around the world and how He can work in our lives as well.
The last thinker/leader I encourage you to check out today is Bob Roberts, founder of Glocalnet (global and local transformation). I met Bob at the Intersection Conference last year in Seattle, WA, put on by Global Spectrum. He is the founding pastor of a truly Glocal church that has helped plant churches all over the world and is now involved in the discipling of nations. He has been connected with Thom Wolf/Carol Davis for years, so his thoughts are very familiar to me. Bob is interested in helping believers interact with what God is doing around the world through globalization. He teaches that believers should be leading innovators in the connection of the world and that the gospel is the transformative force to bring the change that people really want. More than a thinker, Roberts is a doer. Keep up with his travels and thoughts, and you'll be the better for it.
