SamSpeak

What is the "Gospel"?

2012-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

Recently I finished a new book by NT scholar Scot McKnight called The King Jesus Gospel. In it McKnight argues that we have largely got the gospel wrong. His thesis is that the Church (perhaps especially the conservative evangelical church) has reduced the gospel to personal salvation. Indeed, McKnight says, we have created and seek to maintain a salvation culture rather than a gospel culture. Personal salvation is important, even biblical, McKnight says. But it's not the gospel.

So what is the gospel? Many people understand that the word gospel comes from a Greek word which means "good news." So what is the good news?

The question is more difficult than we might think. Especially if, like me and many others, you've been in the Church most of your life. And perhaps most especially if you're church experience has primarily been of the conservative evangelical variety, where to be honest, it seems that EVERYTHING is broadly about personal salvation.

McKnight says the place to begin answering this question--what is the gospel?--is the one specific place where the NT seems to quite clearly define it. And that place is 1 Corinthians 15.

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 the Apostle Paul says this: "Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance [note, what comes next is what Paul means here by the "gospel" he preached and that the Corinthians received]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve."

There are many important things to observe and note about this passage, but for the purposes of this post, I'll limit my observations to three. First, it's quite clear that Paul is talking about the gospel. He specifically uses the word more than once saying is is the gospel he preached (literally in the Greek he says "the gospel I gospeled") and which the Corinthians received and that it is by this "gospel" that they are saved.

Second, it's important to note that whatever this gospel is, it's not something Paul made up on his own. He says, "For what I received I passed on to you ..." The specific word Paul uses here carries the idea of authorized tradition--a tradition which most scholars accept as going back to the original apostles and appearing very shortly after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. This tradition may well have become the first "creed" of the early church. And this tradition then is what Paul himself received and faithfully passed on.

Third, notice how Paul defines the gospel. As McKnight summarizes, there are four basic parts: that Christ died, that Christ was buried, that Christ was raised, and that Christ appeared.

Says McKnight: "The gospel is the story of the crucial events in the life of Jesus Christ. Instead of the 'four spiritual laws,' which for many holds up our salvation culture, the earliest gospel concerned four 'events' or 'chapters' in the life of Jesus Christ" (p. 49).

In other words, rather than the gospel being about personal salvation where we "accept Jesus into our hearts so we can go to heaven when we die," the true biblical gospel--the gospel preached by the apostles--is really the story of Jesus. It is, to be more specific and as McKnight argues, the completion of the story of Israel found in the saving story of Jesus Christ. A survey of other key NT passages--perhaps most notably the apostolic sermons in Acts--bears this out, according to McKnight (and he goes through several passages in his book).

This is a thought-provoking and, perhaps for many in the church, a completely new idea. If we've only ever thought of the gospel in terms of personal salvation, this idea might seem strange, even wrong.

I resonated with much of what McKnight said and I largely found his thesis and subsequent arguments convincing. Certainly there is much more to be said, and even some critiques of the work (my intention is to bring some of that out in later posts).

But for now I'm interested in what you think. How would you define the "gospel"? What do you think of McKnight's theory (and I encourage you to read his book)? Share your thoughts.

The Story of Your Life

2011-10-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit from the beginning of the movie When Harry Met Sally. They've just left the University of Chicago on their road trip to New York City (please note, this is from memory, so it may not be exact) . . . . .

Harry: So why don't you tell me the story of your life.
Sally: The story of my life? The story of my life isn't going to get us out of Chicago! I mean, nothing's happened to me yet.
Harry: Is that why you're moving to New York--so something will happen to you?
Sally: I suppose.
Harry: Like what?
Sally: Like I'm going to journalism school to become a journalist.
Harry: So you can write about things that happen to other people ...
Sally (perturbed): That's one way of looking at it.
Harry: Suppose nothing happens to you. Suppose you live there your whole life, nothing happens, and you die one of those slow New York deaths where no one notices for two weeks until the stench drifts into the hallway ...

My father died when he was 44. I was 25. Today happens to be my birthday (I'm now 34) and every birthday since my dad died I have thought to myself When dad was my age he only had X number of more years to live.

So that means when dad was my age, he had 10 more years left. And I was about 14 at the time.

Ten years! That's a blink, less than a nano-second in the grand scheme of things.

Thinking about this could become morbid if I allowed myself to dwell on it. But it's not morbidity that I'm after. Rather, it helps me think about life, and specifically my life.

Put another way: What is the story of my life?

Who have I loved? Who have I helped? Who have I wronged and/or harmed? What have I done, accomplished, and achieved? Is the world a better place because of me and my actions? And a host of other questions that are quite sobering.

In his thought-provoking and fantastic book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller begins with an author's note that says this:

"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you'd feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo."

"But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make the story meaningful, it won't make life meaningful either."

If what we choose to do with our lives won't make the story meaningful, it won't make life meaningful either . . . And so I ask myself: What am I doing with my life? What's the story of my life?

Earlier this week I read a People Magazine article about Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder and tech innovator who recently died from cancer. In the article Jobs was quoted as saying that he looked at himself every day in the mirror and asked himself: If this were the last day of my life would I want to be doing what I'm about to go do?

When the answer to that question is, "No," for too many days in row, Jobs said, it's time for some changes.

I wonder how often in my life I have passively sat back, let life come to me and happen to me, rather than trying to be an active participant who is molding and shaping a great story? It's probably been the case more than I care to honestly admit.

Of course, sometimes life does happen to us. There are devastating tragedies, twists and turns, losses, set-backs, reversals, sickness, sadness, and yes, death. Often these things are far beyond our control.

But one thing we can control is how we react to these situations. And how we react is a huge part of how the rest of our story unfolds from that moment on.

I know I don't always react well. But thinking about my life as an unfolding narrative has helped me to think a bit better about how to react when life happens than I may have in the past. And it has challenged me to be more decisive. Not to be so passive. And, as Donald Miller might say, get off the couch and into the game.

What's the story of my life? It's an unfolding narrative that's still relatively young. But then again, my dad's story was cut short long before I'm sure he ever thought it would when he was my age.

This I do know: If I become even half of the man my father was, the story of my life will be a good one.

The Last 10 percent

2011-10-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

Someone recently asked me how to deal with negative, critical people, particularly in church life.

Negative, critical people? Who could believe there was such a thing--especially in the Church! (that was a lame attempt at sarcasm, in case you didn't get it!)

My gut reaction to this question was to say I have no idea! This is an area I struggle with. Like many people, I want to be liked and I don't enjoy conflict. So when I encounter someone who doesn't like me, is negative, critical, or just unpleasant in general, it's not easy.

Here are a few things I've learned and am still working to put into effective practice.

First, realize that there's always going to be people who for whatever reason (right, wrong, or indifferent) don't like you or something you said or did or didn't say or didn't do that they think you should have.

Try not to take it too personally (admittedly very difficult--especially when their attack is personal).

People are different and we all have our own perspectives and ways of seeing things. Try to see things from their perspective. You may not agree, but perhaps it will help you understand why they feel the way they do.

Second, refuse to allow negative and critical people to sidetrack you and derail you from all the good things that are happening. Many of us (including me!) have a tendency to zero in, focus on, and even obsess over that one negative and critical comment, completely losing sight of the 25 positive ones!

I have an older, wiser pastor-friend who said that for the first 15 years of his ministry he tried desperately to please people. If someone was upset about (whatever) he would move heaven and earth and change everything in order to make that one person happy.

That mentality nearly killed him. Literally.

Nowadays he says, "I simply do not deal with negative, critical people. It's exhausting, draining, and the reality is, their criticisms never stop. You fix one thing and then they're on to something else.There's too many other positive and great things happening to get bogged down in all that nonsense."

I took his counsel seriously during a very difficult season of ministry and I firmly believe it was a vital part of not only maintaining my sanity, but even staying in the ministry!

Finally, some of the best advice I've ever heard also came from an older, wiser pastor. He said when dealing with negative and critical people, always listen for the 10 percent.

The idea is that no matter how negative and critical and even unreasonable they may be, there is likely at least an element of truth to what they're saying. So listen for that element of truth--what my pastor-friend calls the 10 percent. Then do a little self-reflection and make necessary changes before discarding the rest.

Admittedly this one is difficult because when we're being personally attacked, our natural impulse is to immediately go on the defensive and not give credence to anything our assailant is saying.

But what I've found is that by listening for the 10 percent, I'm able to make much needed improvements in areas like how I may be coming across (unintentionally!) to people, and other things like that.

Dealing with negative and critical people isn't easy. But it's part of life. And unfortunately, it's part of church life far more often than it should be.

Romantic Comedies

2011-10-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

I love romantic comedies.

My favorite movie of all time is When Harry Met Sally. Followed closely by a host of others including You've Got Mail, Love Actually, and Definitely, Maybe as some of my favorites.

I know, I know. That's not very manly. Nor, I suppose, very pastorly. But it is what it is.

I'd like to think I'm a hopeless romantic. Not sure my wife would agree. But she would say that I have a very tender heart.

Once we watched a great happy-ending movie about a mentally handicapped college student who gets the girl in the end.

I literally bawled like a baby for over 30 minutes.

Romantic comedies done well point beyond the humor and happy endings to a deep longing we all have for relationship with others; for intimacy and connection. There is something deeply ingrained in us that desires connection and relationship to other people.

God knew this from the very beginning.

Pretty early on in the Genesis narrative God sees that it's not good for the man to be alone. And so he creates a woman as the perfect match and mate for the man (see Genesis 2:18, 21-25).

Of course, as you might guess, this potentially idyllic romantic comedy turns into a romantic tragedy just a few verses later in Genesis chapter 3 with a devastating reversal that theologians call The Fall.

But life is like that isn't it? It's a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, peaks and valleys, exhilarating highs, and devastating losses. And there's also just a lot of routine, seemingly mundane, and insignificant stuff like getting up every day and going to work, paying the bills, mowing the lawn, and fixing the kitchen faucet.

Somehow I think that's the incredible mystery of this grand story we find ourselves in called life. And as we navigate this journey it's wonderful to have those moments of romantic comedy to help provide perspective and humor, intimacy, connection, and love.

Of course, the most important relationship any of us could ever have is with Jesus Christ.

Thankfully the story doesn't end with The Fall. In fact the rest of the story is an incredible epic that's still unfolding. It's the story of how God has intervened into human history to restore relationship with humankind and bring about salvation.

May you find your ultimate joy, peace, comfort, connection, and love in Him.

First Post in 2011

2011-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

When I became a full-time pastor back in 2008 I read something that said every pastor should have a blog.

Of course, I know plenty of pastors that don't have a blog.

But I have always enjoyed writing.

And so I thought, why not? Yes, I should have a blog. And SamSpeak was born.

It went well for quite a while. It's probably not too much to say that I was mildly obsessed with it. I don't think I ever developed a large following, but some people were reading. And in addition, some friends were also blogging, so it was like we were developing our own little blogging community--one of the cool things about this medium.

But then my wife and I had a major transition to a different state, a larger church, more responsibilites, blah, blah, blah.

Needless to say, blogging fell by the wayside.

But the proverbial itch to get back into blogging has been begging to be scratched for a while.

And so today, on this somewhat cool and dreary October 12 in the flat plains of rural mid-west Ohio, I decided to just go for it.

I realize, of course, that this post is kind of dumb. There is nothing here of subtance. But that's okay. I think that's been part of problem--too worried about saying something so profound and significant. And who am I kidding? I'm not all that profound or significant!

So, here's hoping to be better at this than I have been. And I'd love to invite you on the journey with me.

The only thing I promise is to be honest--honest about my own doubts and fears and failures and faults; which is not an easy task for someone who bears the official title "Senior Pastor." Thus, I anticipate posts on here could range anywhere from mildly amusing to irreverent to tottering on the verge of that dreaded "H" word .... heresy.

Not intentionally on that latter part, of course.

I also hope to provide some thoughts of substance, some constructive theology, some encouragement, and be a blessing along the way, all in line with my stated purpose and intention for SamSpeak.

Theology, I'm very much beginning to understand and believe is so much more about the journey than a destination. Granted, my theology has an ultimate destination ... But heaven is only going to be the beginning of a new journey. One that lasts forever.

Accountability: Friend or Foe?

2010-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

New research from the Barna Group reveals that most Americans balk at the idea of accountability in the church and most churches do not have systems of accountability in place. Read article here.

As a pastor--and a young one at that--I struggle with how to handle issues revolving around accountability and spiritual leadership.

I always try to lead with grace and give the benefit of the doubt. But the truth is, I and others on my leadership team, often turn a blind eye to people, situations, and issues that ought to be confronted.

Such confrontation should take place both for their own spiritual well-being and that of the congregation. But too often it is not. This to me, seems both unhelpful to them (for their own spiritual growth) as well as unbiblical.

Yet having loving confrontation and difficult conversations are hard because, as the study showed, "Many of the exhortations in the Bible are not popular in today's world. But . . . one of the least favorite biblical principles might well be 'Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow'" (Hebrews 13:17, NLT).

The idea of spiritual leadership and accountability to other believers in our rights-ridden, hyper-individualistic culture seems to be a concept that many push back against. So what are church leaders to do? And what can we put in place at our churches to help people with accountability?

The study revealed that most people who said they have some accountability in their churches get that accountability from small group meetings. I wonder, though, how many small groups out there ask the tough questions that really get at the heart of the matter and provide accountability? My guess is, not many are asking the types of questions that John Wesley distributed to his small discipleship bands. Click here to view some of the types of questions Wesley posed for self-examination.

At the end of the day, accountability IS NOT about being judgmental. It's about striving for spiritual maturity and becoming more and more transformed and conformed to the image of Christ.

The truth of the matter is, without some accountability in our lives, we will probably be stunted in our spiritual growth. Recurring patterns of sin and spiritually destructive attitudes and behaviors may never be rooted out because no one ever challenges us to do so; and then come alongside of us to encourage us, pray for us, and help us in our battle. That is what an accountability partner (or group) can do.

What Every New Christian Needs to Know . . . NOW!

2009-11-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is just hilarious. Check it out and have a good laugh.

http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2009/11/the-beginners-guide-to-christianity-thirty-things-you-need-to-know-right-now/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ParchmentAndPen+%28Parchment+and+Pen%29

If you found anything offensive from the link above, I give you my favorite Thomas C. Oden quote, which is how he begins the first volume of his three-volume Systematic Theology:

"Because of piety's penchant for taking itself too seriously, theology--more than literary, humanistic, and scientific studies--does well to nurture a modest, unguarded sense of comedy. Some comic sensibility is required to keep in due proportion the pompous pretensions of the study of divinity" (1).

Seriously, have some fun. Theology is fun!

Where is God when it Hurts?

2009-11-16T07:01:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I stole the title of this blog from a Phillip Yancey book.

But it accurately captures the essence of what's on my mind.

Yesterday I preached one of the hardest sermons I've ever had to preach. The text was Matthew 7:7-11. The Big Idea was that God hears and answers our persistent prayers.

That's a great promise of Scripture, illustrated by other stories that Jesus told such as the man who need to borrow bread from his friend in the middle of the night (Luke 11:5-13) and the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).

Yet there is also a huge problem: Not all of our prayers are answered.

I'm not talking about trivial prayers or prayers that spring from wrong motives that are purely selfish and self-indulgent (see James 4:1-4).

Rather, I'm talking about heart-wrenching, persistent prayers for the healing of a loved one, or the turning back to Christ of a wayward child, or the sparing of a sick and dying child, and similar situations.

Wrestling with the deep hurt and pain and grief of loss and unanswered prayers is a real issue that people face regularly. I myself prayed daily (usually multiple times a day) for seven years for God to heal my father of a terminal heart condition. God answered that prayer by taking dad home to be with the Lord at the young age of 44.

Christians like to talk about the miracles and victories. And we should celebrate those things and praise God for them!

But what happens when God chooses not to do the miracle? What happens when the worst we could think becomes reality?

There are no easy answers. As a pastor I want to throw my arms around folks experiencing that kind of pain and grief, cry with them, and tell them I don't understand why God allows these things and I'm so sorry.

Theologically I can tell them that we still live in a fallen, sinful world. And part of the consequences of that state is that there will be sickness, disease, and death. There will be tragedy and violence and unspeakable evil.

The comfort we can take as Christians is that despite appearances to the contrary, God is on his throne and He is in control. And no matter what horrifc things come our way, God can work those things out for our good and His glory.

Though we may have to endure pain and hurt and loss for a time here and now, there will be a day when all wrongs are put right, all hurts will be healed, and all suffering will be over.

Forever (see Revelation 21:1-4).

Where is God when it hurts? He is right there beside us, granting us the grace and strength to persevere through whatever storms we are facing (Psalm 23:4).

Being the Church

2009-10-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

A pastor-friend of mine recently lamented that too often today we spend our time "doing church" rather than "being the church."

It's a rut that's easy enough to fall in to.

I grew up in a church tradition, for example, that had a host of rules and expectations such as attending church every time the doors were open. This made you more holy. Or something like that.

Of course, as a pastor of a local church, I would always encourage people to attend service! But I'm not a proponent of having something at the church almost every night of the week. Sometimes we do get caught up in doing stuff at the church rather than being the church to a world that needs to hear some Good News.

So how can we be the church?

It seems to me the early church was united around two core commitments which helped them be the church: (1) Fulfilling the Great Commandment, and (2) Fulfilling the Great Commission.

In the Great Commandment, found in Mark 12:29-31, Jesus taught us that all the commandments in scripture boil down to two things: Love God and love others.

In the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus gave us our mission: Make disciples of all nations, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

Maybe we make things too complicated sometimes.

Or maybe we try to get too cute.

Or maybe the latest church growth and church leadership strategies have blinded us to our biblical mandates.

Or maybe our American consumerist mentality has made us think of the church as a shopping mall where religious goods and services are consumed and experienced, rather than as a place where we worship God in Spirit and in truth, encourage and build each other up, and get equipped to impact the world in our spheres of influence.

What would happen if we united around the common vision of fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission?

I think we would be the church, and not just do church. And whenever the church is being the church it makes a difference.

It makes a difference in my life, in yours, in your family, your neighbor's lives, your co-worker's lives; and the ripple effects would go out into all the world.

Crazy "Christians"

2009-10-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

A parishoner called me this morning disturbed by a newspaper report that he'd read. A North Carolina pastor and his church are going to burn Bibles and other Christian books, among other things, on Halloween night.

The pastor claimed that all versions of the Bible besides the King James were perversions and works of Satan and that only the pastor can rightly interpret the scriptures, among other ludicrous things.

I Googled the info and came across the story. Click here to read it.

The unfortunate thing is that, how ever well-intentioned this pastor is (and I assume he's very well intentioned and is quite zealous for God), he is extremely misinformed and flat-out wrong on number of points, and therefore is leading his congregation astray.

This, to me, is the real tragedy, not to mention how crazy it makes Christians look.

As I've been preaching in my current teaching series, Jesus Kingdom call is radical and it places radical demands on our lives. But I don't think burning versions of the Bible was what he had in mind.

The first thing that this pastor is misinformed and wrong in his assertion that the King James version is the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

As the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy clearly affirms, only the original manuscripts (i.e. the autographs) are inspired and inerrant. Furthermore, copies of the original manuscripts and versions of the Bible are the Word of God "to the extent that they faithfully represent the original" (Article X).

And here is where the North Carolina pastor is badly misinformed. Today we have far more and far earlier manuscripts on which our modern English versions are based than when the KJV was done. Because we have earlier manuscripts and more manuscripts to compare, we are much closer to constructing the original text (autograph) than the translators of the KJV were able to. In short, the KJV is really not a very accurate version of the Bible compared to our more modern versions.

In addition, there is the language issue. The KJV is written in archaic English that is almost unintelligible to modern readers and hearers. Yet the purpose of God's Word is for people to be able to understand it!

The original languages that the Bible was written in were the common Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek of the day. The Bible was not written in some special "heavenly" or "divine" language, it was written in the common language of the day that people used and understood.

The goal of Bible translators then, is two-fold. First, they want to accurately and faithfully translate the text (the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) into the modern language, which in this case, is English. Second, and equally important, they want to do it in such a way that it is understandable and in good, modern English.

The second area that this North Carolina pastor seems a little whacked to me is in his condemnation of the people such as Mother Teresa, the pope, Billy Graham, and Rick Warren.

To be sure, there are plenty of false teachers, misguided folks, and flat-out heretics (a word I don't throw around lightly) in the church today. I, for one, think of the prosperity preachers as such people. But I think this pastor is barking up the wrong tree on the specific examples he cites.

Finally, to assert that only "the preacher" can rightly understand and interpret the Word of God is anti-Reformational at best, not to mention arrogant, and flat-out dangerous. This smacks of the stuff that cults are made of. My advice? Don't drink the Kool-aid!

Behind the Scenes

2009-10-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Since becoming a pastor I've become more keenly aware than ever of all the folks "behind the scenes" who do the often unnoticed and thankless work that makes things at the church work.

Every church, no matter how big and how many "paid" staff they have, could never accomplish what they do without the dedicated effort of people volunteering their time and using their gifts, talents, and passions to minister to others.

In this blog I want to specifically acknowledge and thank the many at our church who do the behind the scenes stuff that can often go unnoticed, is taken for granted, and is rarely ever publically acknowledged.

There's our Thursday cleaning crew, for example. Two retired couples and another woman that spend a good portion of the day cleaning every inch of the church. They empty trash. Clean the toilets and sinks. Vacuum. Dust. Mop. Pick up stuff. Clean all the windows and mirrors. Clean the kitchen. Clean the worship center. And I'm told that the woman who cleans our children's nursery area painstakingly cleans every single toy.

Impressive.

There are many others. The volunteers who run our sound system, the PowerPoint, and all the other technological gadgets we try to use. Bigger churches have paid staff to do those things. Smaller churches, like ours, have dedicated people who show up early and stay late to make it all happen.

There's the church decorating committee, which in our case, is primarily led by the vision and incredible decorating sense of one particular woman and her husband. Just a couple weeks ago they changed the "summer" decorations out for fantastic "fall" decorations.

And all of that done under the radar with no one really knowing, but everyone benefiting.

There are many others too. Like all of the volunteers that teach Sunday school (for all ages), work in the nursery, do Children's church, serve as greeters and ushers, lead singing during morning worship, help out with our Wednesday night Kidz Alive, and our upcoming Upward Basketball.

All of these and many other things that could be mentioned are done by dedicated people who are using their gifts and passions to minister to others and to build up the body of Christ. And they do it faithfully, week in and week out. And quite often without any recognition or thanks.

So, next time you go to church, think about all those people behind the scenes that help make your experience what it is. Without them, we couldn't pull off what we do day in and day out.

And for all those who do the behind the scenes, thankless jobs: THANK YOU!!!!!

Mondays

2009-09-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm currently sitting at a Barnes and Noble Cafe in Valparaiso, Indiana drinking my standard venti mocha, no whip.

Mondays are my off day and in this crazy transitional time that my wife and I are still in it has developed a bit of a routine and rhythm.

Sunday afternoon after morning worship service I pack up and head back to Indiana (we haven't sold our house there yet). I have a grad class on Monday nights and during the day I try to spend a little time with my wife, but it's difficult because she teaches an 8 a.m. class and then has her own grad class in the middle of the day, then I have my grad class at night.

Hence, that's why I go with her to Valpo to class. She drops me off at the nearby Barnes and Noble where I chill out for an hour or so and wait for her to pick me up after class. At least we get to be together during the hour-long commute each way.

Here's a snapshot of my day so far:

Wake up at 6:50 a.m.
Let the dogs out, feed and water them.
Start brewing hot tea.
Turn on my laptop and get connected to wireless Internet.
Make cup of hot tea.
Have a brief morning devotional.
By 7:15 a.m. I'm settleed back in front of the computer to catch up on two days worth of emails and drink my tea.
By 8:10 a.m. I have shaved and am in the shower.
At 8:25 a.m. I am putting two cans of Fix-A-Flat into the rear passenger-side tire of our Honda.
By 8:45 a.m. I am at Big O Tire and checking in to get a couple new tires.
9:00 I call my mom on my cell and wish her a happy birthday.
9:05 I call Jen to update her on the status of the car, but she doesn't have her cell with her.
9:15 a.m. the car is done, I pay, and am on my way back home.
9:25ish I'm at home, start load of laundry, and chat with wifey about her class.
A little before 10 a.m. I'm back online checking emails and responding to messages.
10:30ish I head out to run some errands, including buying my mom's b-day present.
11:30ish return home and pick up wifey on the fly to grab some lunch before leaving for Valpo.
11:40-12:30ish we eat lunch at Hacienda.
12:35-1:50 commuting to Valpo. We chat along the way and listen to the radio.
Upon arrival at Barnes and Noble I order my mocha and browse the books for a bit, then settle at a table and get online using their free wi-fi.
2:20 p.m. I start typing this blog.
In another 30 minutes or so my wife will pick me up. We'll have an hour and ten minute drive home (arriving shortly after 4 p.m.) and then I will have to get ready to go to my grad class, which lasts until 10 p.m.
I'll arrive home shortly after 10 p.m. and wifey will likely already be asleep or close to it.
I'll stay up until close to 11 and read, then hit the sack.
Drive back to Ohio tomorrow morning.

That's my typical Monday.

Prayer Walk

2009-09-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

Last night our church did a prayer walk through the community.

We each had a small map of the town, which was divided into sections. Then we paired up into teams, with each team being assigned a section. And we headed out.

The directions were fairly simple. Each team was given a single sheet of paper with the word BLESS written vertically down the left side. As we passed by each home we were to BLESS each family by specifically praying for their Body, their Labor, their Emotions, their Social needs and network, and finally their Spiritual needs. You could either pray our loud, or pray silently as you walked by each home.

My wife and I paired up as a team and started out. Neither of us had ever done a prayer walk before. So at first there was a little bit of, "OK, how do we get started here?"

We decided to pray out loud, and we decided that we would take turns praying. So, we started out and I prayed for the first house as we slowly walked by. Then Jen prayed. And on we went.

The weirdness of it passed by the third or fourth house. I can't describe exactly what a blessing it was for me (and I think my wife) to sincerely pray for people's homes and families that, for the most part, we had no idea who they were.

At one of the last houses in our assigned area we came across a home where the husband and wife were actually sitting out front getting ready to cook on the grill.

We introduced ourselves to them, explained what we were doing, and asked if there was anything we could pray for them about.

They looked a little puzzled and surprised. Then they told me that they couldn't really think of anything. I assured them that we would pray for them anyway, and so we did. And then we continued on our way.

Nothing earth-shattering. But it was a cool moment. And I'm sure that couple are always going to remember that weird pastor and his wife who out of the blue came up and asked them if there was anything they needed prayer for.

I've written elsewhere on this blog and am fairly open about the fact that prayer is tough for me. I have to really work at and sometimes literally force myself to do it.

Yet participating in the prayer walk, once we got over a few minutes of feeling a little insecure, seemed quite natural and a normal thing to do. And what a privilege it is to bathe our community in prayer and ask for God to BLESS every family.

I encourage all those in our church who were perhaps feeling a little too timid to come out last night to participate in the prayer walk in the spring. You don't have to be a "prayer warrior," and you don't have worry about saying just the right thing and sounding all spiritual. You don't even have to pray out loud if you don't want to.

All you need is a willing heart and a desire to see God work in people's lives.

Just Listen

2009-09-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

My wife tells me I have the gift of gab.

I admit it. I like to talk.

A lot.

I don't think I'm the type that likes to talk just to hear myself to talk (of course, perhaps my wife would beg to differ!), but I typically enjoy conversation--especially when the conversation is about the Bible or theology.

In my job I have to talk a lot. I have to talk to staff and parishioners daily. I preach and teach weekly. I meet with people. Visit people. Counsel people. All of which requires talking.

When your job demands that you talk a lot, sometimes you get in the habit of just always talking. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way in his fantastic little book Life Together: "Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking" (97).

Indeed, sometimes I just need to shut up.

All of us do. But it's so hard for us.

Christians, especially it seems, are terrible at just shutting up when someone is hurting or suffering deeply. We like to quote Bible verses like "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28).

True enough, of course. And perhaps a very appropriate verse for certain occasions.

But if I am really suffering and experiencing deep grief or sadness or whatever, I think I'd rather have people around me more like what Job 2:13 says Job's friends did when they saw his incredible suffering: "Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."

Sometimes there is great wisdom in silence.

As a pastor, I have lots of opportunities to talk to people and be with them in the midst of deep hurt, grief, pain, and suffering. There are also times when, frankly, people just need someone to listen to them, even if they are not experiencing anything earth-shattering at the moment.

To quote Bonhoeffer again: "Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening" (97-98).

I hope that in my own life I will be able to discern when to shut up and listen. I hope that in my work as a pastor I will be able to provide the incredibly important service of just listening.

In his book The Contemplative Pastor Eugene Peterson asks: "What is my proper work? What does it mean to be a pastor? If no one asked me to do anything, what would I do?" (19).

I have always loved the simple profundity of his response: "Three things . . . I can be a pastor who prays . . . I can be a pastor who preaches . . . [And] I can be a pastor who listens" (19-21).

Sometimes the most important thing we can do--no matter who we are or what our vocation--is just listen.

The Questions People Are Asking

2009-08-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Much of the church culture I've been a part of and even some of my formal education has placed (falsely, I think) a dichotomy between the "practical" and the "theological or theoretical."

"People just don't care about theology," some of my esteemed pastoral colleagues have said.

I have always had a sneaking suspicion that that is not entirely true. Now I have definitive proof.

A few weeks ago I sat down in my study and began compiling a list of all the theological, and indeed philosophical, questions that people have asked me since taking the helm in my new pastorate. I have been impressed with the questions and the seriousness of the inquiries. These are not light subjects.

I promised on my Facebook page a few weeks ago that I would post the list on my blog. So without further delay, below is the list (so far). A star (*) indicates that it is a question that has been asked multiple times by different individuals . . .

1. Is the Muslim Bible the same as our Bible?
2. *Is the Muslim God the same as the Christian God?
3. How did we get our Bible?
4. *How do we get our Bibles today (in their various translations/versions)?
5. *What is the best (or a good) English Bible version?
6. *Will non-Christians have a second chance to accept Christ when they die?
7. *What about those who have never heard the Gospel or heard of Jesus?
8. *Are believers eternally secure (i.e. the perseverance of the saints) or is it possible to lose our salvation (i.e. reject Christ)?
9. Homosexuality (in general). More specifically, is there scientific (e.g. DNA?) evidence which demonstrates that people may be born gay or have leanings in that direction? And if so, how could it be wrong if God made them that way?
10. What is Heaven and what will it be like?
11. Do believers go to Heaven when they die or someplace else?
12. Are scholars and Bible commentators just giving their own opinion? Can we trust them? Why should we?
13. Are all sins the same in God’s eyes or are there levels of sin and evil? (e.g. is Hitler the same as a nice man or woman who just never accepted Christ?)
14. Why does God allow awful things to happen to good people?
15. *Is there going to be a rapture? What are some other end-times perspectives? How do we know which one is correct?

As you can see, people are thinking about, wrestling with, and asking some pretty serious theological questions.

And the church I pastor is a relatively small church in a rural community in the middle of nowhere Ohio! So it's not like I'm in a big university town with a bunch of sophisticated intellectuals and seekers where one might expect there to be these kinds of theological questions. I'm pastoring farmers, factory workers, and other working professionals who are just good, hard-working folks.

This is demonstrable proof that we pastors, no matter what our ministry context, must be equipped to listen attentively and respond gracefully with truth and love. And we must be able to perhaps point people in the direction for further self-study after we've talked with them and answered them as best as we can.

I am humbled by this awesome task. Frankly, I don't even know what I think about some of these issues! Some of them are tough. Some of them have no clear-cut answer.

But I believe the Christian faith is, among other things, a thinking faith. It is, as both Augustine and Anselm said, a faith seeking understanding.

May we seek to understand and respond well.

Advertising

2009-08-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of pastoring in a small, rural community is that you get to do stuff like this . . .

A couple weeks ago my wife and I got to ride this sweet 1924 Model-T Ford in the parade for the local Riley Creek Festival. I didn't come up with the idea -- I was basically told I was doing it! But it was a great time and Jen and I had a lot of fun.

Afterwards we hung out in the park and partook of the awesome local barbecue chicken and got to meet many folks from the community.

Let's see . . . Eating, talking, hanging out with people . . . No wonder I like this job!

Groovin'

2009-08-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

I'm about five weeks into my new job as the Senior Pastor at Pandora Missionary Church. For those who are curious, here's what I've worked on and learned so far.

First, it took until right about now to finally start finding my groove in the day-to-day office stuff. Bigger church, more people, more programs, more responsibility, etc. equals more daily administrative tasks to be completed, more strategic planning to be done, more meetings and conversations and visitations to attend to, and more vision to be casted for the future direction of the church. In short, there's just more stuff to do and more stuff to keep track of.

Fortunately, I am surrounded by a great team of people, including our church secretary, youth pastor, and the elder board, among others. These folks have been patient and gracious, and have also begun to catch a vision for the future and are starting to run with it.

There is also the technology factor.

At my previous church we had no video screens, no PowerPoint, no expensive sound system, etc. Although my wife and I attended a church with all those things before I became a pastor, I never had to utilize those tools during our worship services or in the life of our church because they weren't available.

While I've still got a long way to go, finding relevant video clips, putting together PowerPoint, and using the great technological capabilities we have is coming easier. We are even discussing podcasting Sunday's sermons on our website in the near future. All of this is new and exciting to me. From my perspective, the sky is the limit!

Another significant change for me is actually coming to the office every day. For nearly two years at my last church I did most of my work from home in my private study. I had an office at the church, but because we lived far away and nothing much was ever going on, I did almost all of my work from home and came to the church only once or twice a week.

Now I do all my work from the church office, and it was a bit of an adjustment. For example, I'm still missing my comfortable, old reading chair that was tucked away in one corner of my private home study. I suppose I could put it in here at the church, but it just wouldn't look right with the other decor.

Coming to "the office" every day also has certain psychological affects. There is a bit more of a professional feel. I like that, it is just different, and it took a few weeks to adjust.

On the other hand, as Eugene Peterson has wisely written, if we as pastors come into a room we call "the office" often enough, we will eventually start doing "office work," rather than attending to the primary practices of prayer, Scripture, study, and being with people that pastors are called to. I recognized early on in my time here that I would have to guard against that.

Thankfully, the sign outside my door says, "Pastor's Study," not "Pastor's Office." But I have caught myself time and again saying that I'm going to the office or I'm going to work. One might argue that it's just semantics. But I would say, with Peterson, that semantics can often make all the difference in the world. I'm reminded of John Piper's book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, in which he urges pastors did give up their corporate, CEO model of doing things and return to the vocation of pastor rather than be ministerial business professionals.

I've also been thinking a lot about communication. Preaching in this venue is completely different than in my last church. The transition has went very well, but I've still got a long way to go. I need to do a better job of reaching people at their emotional, "felt needs" level as well as their will, rather than just hitting their intellect. This comes from all kinds of things, including the use of humor, stories, and my movements and gestures on the platform.

Because I love to study, targeting the intellect comes easily and naturally. It takes a lot more time and effort to think through how to reach people at the level of their emotions and their will. And I think, as one wise mentor taught me, that a good sermon should hit all three if possible. Many times I've said to my wife, "I have great content, but no sermon." It's a learning process, one that will (hopefully) be ongoing for the rest of my life, since I don't think we ever fully "arrive."

Thankfully we have a great guy who video records our services every week (it's part of one of our ministries) and gives me a copy so that I can critique myself. That has been invaluable.

Finally, there is an element of just getting comfortable with who I am as a child of God and a pastor. I've come a long way from when I first entered the pastorate almost three years ago. Then I had no clue about any of those things. Now, while I'm still learning and developing (and hopefully always will be!), I'm quite a bit more comfortable with myself and my role as the Senior Pastor.

It is a role I do not take lightly and I am often still amazed that God has called me to this incredible vocation. But there is also an overwhelming sense that this is what I was born to do.

The work is not easy. There are often times long hours, long days, crises, and difficult situations and people to deal with.

But I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. And I praise the Lord for the opportunity to serve Him and His people.

Do You Pray?

2009-07-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I preached on the priority of prayer as the most foundational discipline we must practice if we are to become the spiritually formed people God wants us to be.

We explored several snapshots of Jesus at prayer from the Gospel of Luke and one from Mark which demonstrated that prayer was a consistent and intentional part of Jesus' life and ministry. And the punchline was this: If the Son of God made prayer such a priority, how much more so should we?

The problem, of course, is that often we don't pray--unless it is a really serious emergency or we really need or want something. It's not bad to pray at those times. But God wants to hear from us all the time. Not because He needs to hear from us, but because we need to rely on Him and submit to His will, purpose, and plan for our lives. As one theologian said, "Prayer is personal communication with God." So, just as we need to communicate with our significant other, our friends, or our families in order to maintain a good and healthy relationship, so we also need to communicate with God if we want to have a strong relationship with Him.

When you look at the life of Jesus in the gospels, it's clear that Jesus not only prayed at the big moments--the critical crossroads and decisive moments in his life and ministry--but also just daily as a regular, intentional habit of his life (see Mark 1:35 and Luke 5:16).

As part of the sermon I showed this poignant video clip from YouTube. Check it out and ask yourself: Do I pray? If not, why not?

And then I would encourage you to begin trying to pray--even if you're not quite sure whether or not God is really there, is listening, or will answer. I think you'll be amazed at what you discover.

The Dangers of Blogging?

2009-07-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

I am relatively new to the blogosphere world. This blog hasn't been going for a year yet, and frankly, I'm inconsistent in my posting. That probably accounts for the lack of readership!

But one of the blogs that I read had this post. It is a video clip of N.T. Wright responding to a question about social media and blogging. Click on the link and see what you think.

In case you don't know, N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham in the Church of England, is one of the foremost New Testament scholars and theologians in the world today. I own and have read several of his books and he has been very influential in my own thinking.

While I think Wright makes some very good observations and points in this piece, I'm not going to give up my blog (he doesn't suggest that anyway). But for those who are heavily engaged in social media, it is perhaps wise to consider some of what Wright has to say.

What say you?

General Conference of the Missionary Church

2009-07-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last week was the General Conference of the Missionary Church, a denomination-wide meeting that takes place every two years.

The event is a great time of fellowship, worship, teaching, encouragement, and also business. The theme of this year's General Conference was ASK THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, based on Matthew 9:37-38 when Jesus looked with compassion on the crowds who were "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (v 36) and said to his disciples:

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields (NLT).

As the Constitution of the Missionary Church states, "The Missionary Church, in obedience to Jesus Christ her Lord, is committed to being holy people of God in the world and to building His Church by worldwide evangelism, discipleship and multiplication of growing churches, all to the glory of God" (Article II). In order to fulfill this mission and reap the harvest that God has prepared, we need Holy Spirit-filled men and women of God who are faithfully carrying out the work He has called them to do. This was a major theme of General Conference that several different speakers touched on.

This year some big things were discussed and passed, including denomination re-organization, a proposed language change in the Constitution of the Missionary Church on sanctification, and a document entitled Our Partnership in the Gospel,which is intended to represent the absolute, non-negotiable, core essentials that ministers in the MC must sign off on every year.

The denomination re-organization was by far one of biggest and most discussed issues that came to the floor. The leadership of the denomination has cast a vision and called us to five key five-year goals:

1) Call to perpetual intercessory prayer
2) Call to evangelism and disciple making
3) Call to strengthen the local church
4) Call to plant new churches and districts
5) Call to recruit and develop catalytic leaders (i.e. world-changers!)

In order to fulfill these goals, a new supporting structure (re-organization) for the denomination was proposed, and after much discussion, eventually passed. The new supporting structure includes:

1) General Conference
2) General Oversight Council
3) Ministry Leadership Council
4) Districts and Regions
5) Pastor Peer Networks

The denomination website has a page of great information about General conference which talks about all these issues. Click here to go to the main page for tons of insightful info.

From that main page you can navigate to General Conference Today newsletters for each day of General Conference. These newsletters recap the major events and hit the highlights of each day. The website also provides the opportunity to hear the guest speakers from General Conference, and a host of other great things.

Click here to check out all this incredible information from General Conference Today newsletters, listen to the guest speakers, and get brought up to speed on the 2009 General Conference.

Core Beliefs

2009-07-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

The 2009 General Conference of the Missionary Church kicked off this morning at my Alma mater Bethel College.

My friend Dave has a couple great posts hitting the highlights of the morning and afternoon sessions. Click here and here to see them.

Nothing overly exciting happened in my estimation until this afternoon when the floor was opened for questions and comments concerning the core affirmations document entitled Our Partnership in the Gospel.

The intention of this document is supposedly to state the absolute essentials--the non-negotiables--that ministers in the Missionary Church must affirm and literally sign off on every year.

In actuality, the document essentially amounts to a re-statement of the Articles of Faith already found in the Constitution of the Missionary Church, with some added distinctives such as statements denouncing Open Theism, and affirmations on the sanctity of life and marriage being defined as only between heterosexual couples.

As several of my younger brothers (and sisters) have pointed out--both at the conference today and beforehand in various forums of dialogue--none of us would disagree with these statements. But why couch them in terms of "the Gospel"? As my friend Dave pointed out today, we are (perhaps unintentionally) equating our distinctives with THE GOSPEL.

These core affirmations are also long. They are intended to be brief statements. But instead they are paragraphs (and sometimes more than one per statement).

I am actually all for the development of Core Affirmations which ministers must affirm and sign off on. But I think such affirmations should be in as succinct as possible, representative of the absolute essentials (i.e. "mere Christianity") that have been the core ecumenical consensus throughout church history, and therefore avoid distinctives all together.

Here is the list of Core Beliefs I developed at my previous church and which I am going to propose at my new church, and indeed, would suggest the denomination adopt:

God
We believe there is one God who eternally and co-equally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who was also born as a human being by the Virgin Mary. We believe Jesus lived a sinless life, died as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity, was bodily resurrected from the dead on the third day, ascended to the Father in heaven, and now intercedes before the Father on our behalf.

Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, spiritually regenerates all who repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He fills, sanctifies, empowers, teaches, guides, and comforts believers.

The Bible
We believe the Bible, consisting of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God and is authoritative on all matters it addresses.

Humankind
We believe that human beings were created by God in His image and were meant to enjoy fellowship with Him. Because of sin human beings are separated from God and in need of salvation.

Salvation
We believe salvation comes only through faith in God and by the grace of the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

The Church
We believe the church exists both universally and locally as the new community of God's people on earth and is called to make disciples of all nations, inviting all people to dwell in God's kingdom.

The Ordinances
We believe there are two ordinances for the church: water baptism and the Lord's Supper. These rites are not means of salvation, but rather a visible sign and seal of its reality.

The Return of Christ, Final Judgments, and Eternal State
We believe in the return of Christ, the final judgments, and eternity either with God or separated from God.

These Core Beliefs are succinct and state, to the best of my knowledge, the absolute, non-negotiable essentials of Christian faith. As written they have they have the advantage of remaining soundly orthodox and in line with the ecumenical consensus of church history, while at the same time allowing for diverse views and opinions on the many doctrinal distinctives within the Christian faith.

I would call for our denomination to consider this or a similar list of Core Affirmations, rather than what they currently have proposed.

What are your thoughts?

First Day

2009-07-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

In the picture to the right you see the front entrance to the new church I serve--Pandora Missionary Church in Pandora, Ohio.

I walked through those doors this morning excited about this new opportunity, adventure, and journey.

My wife and I firmly believe that God has led us to this place; and in that assurance there is great comfort and peace.

Yet there was also fear and trembling as I walked through those doors, turned down the hall to the right, and headed for my new office.

A sign to the left of the door -- "Pastor's Study" -- greeted me along with the words "Sam Ochstein, Senior Pastor" below.

The sign has been there since I received and accepted the call. I've seen it several times as my wife and I have made about one trip a week to Pandora the past five weeks to get things gradually moved and settled. But all the times before I wasn't the Senior Pastor there yet.

Of course, I've been a Senior Pastor for the last year and a half. I've treaded the waters of interviews, candidating, accepting a call, and fulfilling my duties as Senior Pastor at my previous church.

But somehow this seems different. There is an excitement in the air that is almost tangible. There is an energy about the place and among the people I've interacted with so far that is contagious.

There is also greater responsibility. More people. More programs. More expectations, oversight, and accountability. All of these are wonderful things that excite me about this new calling to this new place. Combined they are one of many reasons why I was so eager to take the job.

But I also feel the weight of it.

What if I can't hack it? What if I screw up? What if I really blow it? What if I don't meet expectations--whether real ones imposed or imaginary ones that are self-imposed?

I also know some are concerned about my "lack of experience." Others are perhaps worried that my academic ambitions for continuing formal education will take me away from my "real job" as their pastor. And though it's incredibly hard for me and my wife to believe, there might be some who just don't like us (we think we're pretty likable!).

I've pastored long enough to know there will be conflicts. You can't make everyone happy and you can't please everyone.

But then again, making everyone happy and pleasing everyone is not really my job.

I'm reminded of the Apostle Paul's rhetorical question in Galatians 1:10:

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men?

We're conditioned in our culture to be people-pleasers. It's part of living in a market-place, consumeristic culture. People pay for certain goods and services and they expect to get them. Now.

Early this morning--before I went through those front doors--I was reading Scripture and praying. What is it that God wants me to do in this place, right here, right now? I felt strongly prompted to meditate on three passages that have been important in my pastoral ministry journey thus far as I have thought about what it means to be a pastor.

The first is from 1 Timothy 4:11-16. Here the Apostle Paul is instructing, encouraging, and exhorting a young pastor (like me) with these words:

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have . . . Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all my see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers (ESV).

The second passage, 1 Peter 5:2-3, has been a pivotal passage in developing my own sense of what it means to be a pastor and helping define the primary duty of a pastor--namely, shepherding the flock of God entrusted to his or her care:

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock (ESV).

The third passage, 2 Timothy 4:2, finds the Apostle Paul again instructing and exhorting a young pastor to faithfully and accurately preach the Word of God at all costs:

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction (NIV).

Such was the encouragement and instruction that God gave me through His Word this morning as I thought about my first day on the new job.

On my own, using only my own intellect, gifts, talents, and abilities, I could never do any of this. At least not very well for very long in any consistent manner. I pray for God's Spirit to fill me and empower me to do the work of ministry that He has called me to do in this place.

And like Martin Luther in his Sacristy Prayer, I cry out to God:

"Lord God, you have appointed me to be a pastor in your church. You see how unfit I am to undertake this great and difficult office, and were it not for your help, I would long since have ruined it all. Therefore I cry out to you; I will assuredly apply my mouth and my heart to your service. I desire to teach the people and I myself want to learn ever more diligently to meditate on your Word. Use me as your instrument, only do not forsake me, for if I am left alone, I will easily bring it all to destruction. Amen."

God's Creation

2009-07-12T13:53:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I start on staff as the new Senior Pastor at Pandora Missionary Church in Pandora, Ohio. My first day will be spent finalizing everything for our housing, attending meetings, and moving things into my new office at the church.

My wife and I just got back from a week's vacation--our first one in seven years of marriage!

We spent three days at Mount LeConte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a 6.6 mile hike up (and down). We're a little sore. But the views (and food) were incredible. By far the worst part for me was not being able to shower for three days -- just a sponge bath with warm water.

Yeah, we were roughing it.

I had intended to do a lot of thinking and praying and more thinking while we were on top of that mountain. After all, we are in the midst of major life transition. I also brought two books to read in addition to my Bible.

What I found, however, was that the camp site was too loud for any real "quiet time." The lodge camp site holds up to 60 people and it was pretty well full. The weather was cold and quite rainy, making it tough to hike to more quiet spots and just sit in the stillness. People huddled in the lodge or the dining hall (the common areas) while drinking hot cocoa or coffee and laughed and chatted. Kids were running all over the place playing various games and chasing each other. It wasn't exactly the quiet retreat my wife and I thought it would be.

Nevertheless, each day I was overcome by the shear beauty and majesty of God's creation. This was my first "serious" hike into the mountains. Each day my wife and I would sit on the porch of our tiny cabin and take in the breathtaking views. We read together from Psalm 19 several times and just sat and watched the nature:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world (Psalm 19:1-4).

It is difficult for me to understand how people can think and believe that the universe, the earth, and indeed, even us human beings, are the result of random chance. I am not here talking about creationism versus evolution. Or science versus faith. I happen to believe the two are compatible, not mutually exclusive.

What I'm talking about is simply taking in the beauty and complexity and design of everything we see around us. It should tell us something. It should tell us that we are not alone and that we as well as the earth, indeed, the entire universe, were brought into existence by God. It should tell us, to tweak a phrase from Francis Schaeffer, that God is there and He is not silent. The Apostle Paul said it this way in Romans 1:20:

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Indeed, the heavens do declare the glory of God. Those who have eyes to see, let them see. And those who have ears to hear, let them hear. God is there, and he is not silent.

Last Day

2009-07-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day as the pastor at Eau Claire Community Church.

It hardly seems possible that it was almost two years ago I began filling their pulpit when needed, and then accepted the call to be their Senior Pastor in January 2008.

I have commented in other posts on how spiritually formative this time serving Eau Claire has been for me, so I won't go into all that here. Suffice it to say that though I was often discouraged and frustrated because of numerous challenges facing the church, as I look back now I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else for my first pastorate.

The folks at Eau Claire are some of the most gracious and loving people my wife and I have ever met. And it has been a privilege to serve as their pastor. They will probably never know this side of heaven the tremendous impact they've had on my life and the role they've played in my development and thinking as a minister.

I'm grateful for the people allowing me to be myself rather than having to try to conform to their preconceived expectations. They allowed a young pastor to come in and make changes, make mistakes, and discover and settle into his calling. They were patient with me, even when I was impatient with them. And they loved me and my wife from the very beginning, even when we didn't necessarily love them from the very beginning.

There were rough patches, of course. I made some people mad. Some people made me mad. There were sometimes sharp differences of opinion in our leadership team meetings or congregational meetings. But no matter what we always worked our way through our differences in a healthy and constructive manner, and eventually we would reach a general consensus. For this I'm also grateful.

I will miss our times of worship together and the wonderful music ministry we had which was in large measure led by the ladies choir. Some of the ladies in that choir have been singing together for 60-plus years! And believe me when I say they sound incredible!

I will also miss the musty smell of the old building, the stained glass, and the beautiful woodwork throughout the sanctuary.

I will miss the drive through the rolling hills and scenic countryside to get to the church, as well my little ritual routines--like my Sunday morning stop at the Starbucks at Martin's Supermarket in Niles--which is on the way.

But mostly I will miss the people. Wonderful, loving, gracious people. People who loved God, loved each other, and loved me and my wife.

Even as we move ahead to an exciting new phase of our journey in a new place, the people of Eau Claire Community Church will be close to our hearts. I thank God for allowing me to be their pastor. And I pray his blessing upon that church. Amen.

New Church

2009-07-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

My new church, Pandora Missionary Church in Pandora, Ohio, has posted a press release with a picture of me and my wife on their homepage. Click here to view it and explore the church's website.

By next week I will have a picture of our new church up on this blog and it will be linked to the church's website.

Details

2009-06-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official.

Our house is now on the market. The move to Ohio looms imminent. And everything keeps moving forward as we wait for our house to sell.

Our realtor told us that in this market a "fast sale" would be 45 to 60 days. Some houses in our area have been on the market for a year. I have a hunch ours won't be out there that long. I just took the virtual tour that our realtor put together. I'm actually jealous of my own house!

Certainly there is sadness as we leave our family and friends, our jobs, our great house and wonderful neighborhood. Yet there is also tremendous excitement about a new opportunity in a new place, meeting new friends, building new relationships, and ministering to new people.

We've been making about one trip a week to Ohio as I slowly move books into my new office at our new church. During those trips we also arrange to see homes that are for sale. We're making another trip Thursday to do the same thing.

Although I am somewhat stressed by everything (which I think is normal), there is more prevalent an overwhelming sense of peace. When you know that God has moved decisively to bring you to the place you are, there is an overwhelming sense that you can trust Him with the details. That is kind of where I'm at right now in this process.

For example, it didn't surprise me one bit when my wife informed me yesterday that one of the universities in the area we'll be moving to is currently seeking two adjunct instructors to teach composition--the subject my wife has taught for three years at a local college here.

Of course, my wife still has to apply and get hired. And maybe she won't get that job right now. But the point is, I fully believe that if not this one, then another one will come available at just the right time. I've seen God work through this whole process (and at other times in my life--but it's particularly hit home throughout this process) too much believe anything else. After all, there are about seven small colleges and universities in the area we're moving to!

While I do not currently feel overly spiritual or sense that I am having great spiritual insight into things, I can say that I have learned to trust God with the details. This is not something I have really done much of in the past. And I realize now that it resulted in a tremendous amount of unnecessary stress and anxiety at particular points in my life.

I love the way the NLT has Philippians 4:6: "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything."

While I am no Greek scholar, I think it's pretty safe to say that the word "everything" there really does mean EVERYTHING. In other words, God cares about the details. He cares about the seemingly small and insignificant and mundane things in our lives, as well as the really big stuff. God cares about our move to Ohio and all the details that need to be ironed out to make that transition as smooth and seamless as possible.

When we decide to stop worrying and instead pray, we experience a wonderful result. The rest of verses 6 and 7 tells us what that result is: "Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Thank you, Lord, for caring about the details. And thank you for your peace that surpasses my understanding. Amen.

Navigating the Transition

2009-06-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Since the last time I posted, we have been moving at warp speed to prepare for our transition to Ohio. This post is a quick attempt to share how things are going . . .

I only have two more Sundays at Eau Claire Community Church. Then we are on vacation for a week. Then I come back and start at our new church--Pandora Missionary Church in Pandora, Ohio. So, that's the basic timeline we're looking at.

My first week on staff at our new church will not even be on the ground in Pandora, but at our denomination's General Conference--held this year at Bethel College, located in the city where we currently live. Thus, my first Sunday actually preaching in Pandora as the new Senior Pastor will be July 19.

I wish I could say I have been focusing on and learning all kinds of deep spiritual truths during this hectic, whirlwind of a time. Unfortunately, I'm not that spiritual.

The truth of the matter is that we have been so busy trying to get our house ready to sell, making trips to Ohio to look at houses to buy--and everything that entails (i.e. securing financing)--and maintaining our work (we still have jobs to do here and now), that the past few weeks have been a blur.

My prayer during these weeks has been pretty simple (and probably selfish!): "Lord, go mightily before us and pave the way. Make this transition as smooth as possible. I trust that You will work out all the details exactly when they need to be worked out."

I've also been praying for God to prepare me (and my wife) spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, etc. for this move. This is the biggest move we've made together as a couple and it is by far the biggest career move I have ever made. It makes me just a little nervous.

Thus, I've been praying for God to fill me and empower with His Holy Spirit and to grant me WISDOM to lead and pastor this new people that He has entrusted to my care. At the same time, I've been praying for my current church as they will continue to deal with the sale of their building and the likely dissolving of the congregation.

All in all, there is a LOT going on in just my little world and sphere of influence, let alone all the stuff that's happening in people's lives and nations all around the world. Luckily we serve the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. I'm pretty sure He can handle things.

As D-Day approaches for this transition, my wife and me don't know exactly what the future holds. (For example, as of this moment, we are not exactly certain where we will be living in Ohio).

But we have no doubt that the Lord has brought us to this place. And since He has paved the way so far, we have every reason to believe that He will continue to work things out in His timing and in His way. Despite the current chaos at times, it's comforting to know you are exactly where God wants you to be.

And so I find myself frequently praying and reflecting on the wonderful refrain from Psalm 62:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken (vv. 1-2, 5-6).

Amen.

My First Parish

2009-06-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

In my last post I talked about the possibility of moving to Ohio for a Senior Pastor position at a different church. This past weekend I officially candidated there and we did receive and accept the offer to come as the new Senior Pastor. We start July 12.

Monday morning I sat at my desk staring at a blank computer screen. I had to type my letter of resignation to my current church. But I had never typed a letter of resignation and, frankly, though we are very excited about our new ministry opportunity, there is also sadness about leaving my first church.

The last year and half of pastoral ministry at Eau Claire Community Church has been one of the most spiritually formative times of my life so far. While I know the Lord used me to minister to the people, I think God's purpose in bringing me there was more to grow me and change my heart about a number of things.

When you pastor a tiny, struggling church that's on the brink of extinction, you are bound to ask yourself some questions. After all, I have literally preached a message to just 15 people or so.

Am I a total failure as a pastor? What am I doing wrong? Isn't there some place better I could be? What is the point of this?

The "success" culture of most of the Evangelical church doesn't help much in these areas. I was often discouraged, disappointed, frustrated, even angry.

There were many high points too. I don't want to disregard those. But I'm talking primarily here about how God changed my heart regarding my attitude and mindset toward ministry.

Here is one of the most important things I think I've learned ...

It does not matter whether your church is 20 people, 200 people, or 2,000 people. The bottom line is that the church consists of people, no matter how few, who God loves. And those people deserve to be ministered to.

A pastor friend once asked me a very pointed question: "Do you think that 20 people deserve a pastor who is competent, who loves them, and will give them the best he has by God's grace?" I had to admit that I think they did.

Today's church culture, including my own denomination, is so caught up in the numbers game. If it's not growing, it's not successful. If it's not growing, there is something wrong. If it's not growing, it's not worth the effort. If it's not growing, __________ -- you fill in the blank.

For the last year and a half I pastored a church where the average attendance was 20-25. Sometimes it was less. Sometimes it was more. We sometimes had visitors. I had a very comprehensive follow-up process. Sometimes visitors returned. Most times they didn't.

Many would look at me and that ministry and say it was a failure. I couldn't disagree more.

Where God is worshipped genuinely in spirit and in truth, where the Word of God is preached, and where people love each other in community, ministry is happening. I saw it repeatedly.

Now, was I happy that we only had 20 people or less sometimes? Of course not!

But where God changed my heart was in the attitude that 20 people weren't worth the effort. What I came to realize is that those are 20 people who God loves and who deserve my best effort. Those were 20 people who loved God as best as they knew how. And they needed a shepherd, a leader, a pastor to teach them, to love them, to guide them.

What a privilege it has been to serve as the pastor of Eau Claire Community Church. It was my first vocational ministry position. I have learned so much and I have grown to love the people. They will probably never know this side of heaven what an impact they've had on me and my future ministry.

The new church we'll be going to is significantly larger. There are more people, more resources, and nicer facilities. It has a totally different feel and energy. And we are excited about this new opportunity.

But I also truly believe that whatever "success" the Lord may allow me to have at this church or in any other ministry has little do with how big the church gets in terms of attendance, number of programs, or our building's square footage.

And that is something I don't think I would have learned anywhere else than where I've been the last year and a half.

Who's Leading Who?

2009-05-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

My wife and I spent the weekend in Ohio interviewing for a Senior Pastor position, exploring the area, and attending services at the prospective church.

After two separate three-hour-long interviews (one was two weeks ago), we have been unanimously recommended by the pastoral search committee and the church elder board to the congregation, and asked to come and officially candidate at the end of the month.

It seems like a strong possibility that we could be moving to Ohio.

As little as two months ago changing jobs and moving anywhere wasn't even really something my wife and I were considering. It's funny how God's timing is often quite different than ours.

Throughout this whirlwind of a process the past few weeks, I've thought frequently about Proverbs 16:9: "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

How true this has been in my life.

For starters, and as I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog before, I never even wanted to be a pastor. I had grand visions of becoming an academic theologian. Yet as I worked towards completing my undergraduate studies, the Lord slowly began to change my heart and I became open to the possibility of vocational pastoral ministry.

As soon as my undergraduate degree was over, I had fully expected to dive right in to graduate studies, thinking I would take the fastest track possible to fulfilling my academic goals. But again, the Lord had other plans.

Instead I took a little detour and got some practical ministry experience leading a theology and apologetics class at our church. Eventually I did start my graduate studies, while also working full-time at a factory job that paid well, but which, frankly, I disdained. It was during that same period that I also received my ministerial credentials.

I figured I was ready for full-time ministry now. But again, the Lord had other plans.

I was a licensed minister for nearly a year and never got a single call to candidate anywhere. There were simply no positions open in my denomination and in my district. I kept working at the factory, kept taking graduate classes, and kept teaching my class at church.

Through the connection of a professor-friend, a church not from my denomination, and a good 45-minute drive from our house, contacted me. I agreed to come fill their pulpit a few Sundays because they needed someone, and I needed the experience.

It turned out, that church eventually asked me to candidate for the Senior Pastor position and in in January 2008 hired me as their pastor, though it was only a part-time position. I continued to work full-time at the factory, take graduate classes part-time, and added pastoring this church part-time to my schedule.

And just as aside, the day I accepted this position, a church in my own denomination called me to candidate. It would have been full-time. And a host of other things would have seemingly been better. Yet the Lord apparently had other plans.

In October 2008 my church graciously decided to hire me full-time. This allowed me to dive full-force into ministry, as well as complete my graduate studies. My plan was to continue on at this church for at least the next few years as my wife finished her MA and I finished my second graduate degree. I figured at the end of three or four years we could re-evaluate things and see what our options were.

Those were my basic plans for our future just two months ago.

But again, it seems the Lord had other plans.

Our church, which has been struggling to survive for the better part of 15 years with just a few very loyal and faithful, mostly older, members, has decided to pursue an opportunity to sell our building to another church group -- a thriving, growing, and vibrant Hispanic church group that has been renting our building for 10 or more years. Though I don't know with certainty the outcome, I think it is probable our church will simply disband once the sale is final.

When I saw the handwriting on the wall, so to speak, I sent my resume out--assuming that other potential opportunities could be months on the horizon.

That was two months ago. And once again, it seems the Lord had other plans.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

I certainly do not want to be presumptuous. After all, we have not been offered a job yet. I still have to candidate, we still have to get enough votes, and we have to accept the offer.

But what I do know is that no matter happens, the Lord's purpose will prevail. I have seen that over and over again in my life. And the amazing thing is, the things God has led me to have always been far better than the plans I had for myself.

Someone once said the safest place to be is right in the center of God's will. I'm going to remove my philosopher/theologian hat and forgo intellectual debate about discovering, discerning, and determining "God's will" and our "free will" and all that for now and just simply say a hearty AMEN. Sometimes the proper response is simply worship.

For whatever reason, God has brought me and my wife to this place in our journey. And though we do not know what the outcome will be, we are thankful and grateful for the opportunities and experiences He's given us--past, present, and future. And we take comfort in the fact that we serve a God who knows better than we do what His purposes and plans are for our lives and the world.

A Post About Nothing

2009-05-11T19:16:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted anything in almost a month, which in the world of blogosphere is like a lifetime. I might as well start all over.

So I decided to write about not writing tonight in the hopes that forcing myself to post something would get the creative juices flowing again.

Sometimes you just get tired. And I think my wife and I are both a bit tired. We've been in a dead sprint the last month and a half to finish the rat race of master's degrees, continue our work responsibilities, maintain relationships with folks we care deeply about, and family stuff. We breathed a deep, collective sigh a week ago when I finally graduated with my MMin. My wife has one semester left to finish her own MA.

Mostly what I've been doing the past week or so is spending a lot of time reading Scripture and praying. I've also been taking advantage of no school work hanging over my head to read some things I want to read, rather than what I have to read.

Some every-day reading goals I have for the summer, besides my normal study and prep time, are to read Scripture, something intellectual, something devotional, and some fiction just for fun.

As for Scripture, today I just finished 1 Samuel and will start in on 2 Samuel tomorrow. For intellectual stimulation, I'm currently reading Paul Copan's introductory book on Christian philosophy of religion entitled Loving Wisdom. And for more devotional reading, I'm currently reading Kathleen Norris' The Cloister Walk-- which is very good! On deck in those categories when I'm finished with these are my friend Chad Meister's book Introducing Philosophy of Religion and C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters.

I haven't started reading a fiction work yet, but I'm leaning towards Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, because I'd like to have the book read before I see the movie. After that I may tackle some more serious literature recommended by my wife, who is an English prof.

If I was really diligent, I would post book reviews. But I'm not that diligent. I just love to read.

I love to write too. So hopefully this little post will get me back in the habit.

A Pastor's Primary Work

2009-04-20T06:45:00.001-07:00

A friend asked me recently what I think the job of a pastor is. The last year and half of ministry at my current church have provided ample opportunity for me to reflect on this and begin developing a personal pastoral theology. This past fall I even did an independent study in my master's degree entitled "Pastoral Theology for the 21st Century," which culminated in a nearly 30-page paper on the subject.

While I have not "arrived" or figured it all out yet by any means (and I seriously doubt that will EVER happen!), here, briefly, are a few of my thoughts regarding the question on what I think the job of a pastor is ...

First, it seems to me that the number one priority for a pastor is to develop, cultivate, and maintain a vibrant personal spiritual life. Obviously we could say this is imperative for all Christians. But I think particularly so for pastors and other ministry leaders. In his letter to the young pastor Timothy, the Apostle Paul said this:

"... train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come ... Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect the gift your gift, which was give you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Tim 4:7-8, 11-16).

The purpose of pastors devoting themselves wholly to this first part is so that they can faithfully, effectively, and consistently do their second primary task: Shepherd the flock entrusted to their care.

In 1 Peter 5:1-4 the Apostle Peter provides this instruction:

"To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as god wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when Christ, the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."

In other words, pastors must cultivate, develop, and feed their own souls if they are to help cultivate, develop, and feed the souls of their flock and lead them by example.

Shepherding is the predominant biblical imagery and metaphor for pastors and their work. Thus I maintain that the primary vocation of pastors is to shepherd the flock entrusted to their care.

Admittedly, this will look different in different contexts. Nevertheless things like preaching and teaching, overseeing church affairs, and providing spiritual counsel and direction are fundamental to the pastoral office no matter what the ministry context. How each of these tasks are completed may look different, but the doing of them remains essential.

Now to speak more specifically, I feel the role of pastor can be succinctly stated in three characteristics. These are characteristics which, I believe, a pastor should embody.

First, the pastor as theologian, which includes teaching and preaching in general and all the study and preparation entailed, and all areas where the pastor must instruct, rebuke, encourage, exhort, etc. Second, the pastor as spiritual director, which includes all areas of “soul care” and what are considered “pastoral care” tasks, including things like prayer with and for others, counseling, listening, offering spiritual as well as life guidance and direction, etc. And third, the pastor as equipper, which includes training, empowering, and equipping everyone in the church to use their gifts, talents, and abilities to do the work of ministry (e.g see Eph 4:11-13).

One may notice that blatantly absent from my reflection thus far is anything about leadership, vision casting, and the like. Let me be clear. Shepherding the flock entails leadership and casting vision for future growth and ministry. I enjoy working with others to develop a vision that brings the Kingdom of God into every community in which I serve.

However, I do believe that the primary job of a pastor is to develop his own soul so that he can help develop the souls of the people entrusted to his care.

I am not a marketing strategist and I am not a businessman. I am a pastor. Part of being a pastor entails doing administrative tasks, to be sure. But I do not see my vocation primarily as President and CEO of the local church body or simply as someone who “runs the church.”

Rather, I see my vocation as shepherding the flock that God has entrusted to my care; and I do that primarily through my roles as theologian, spiritual director, and equipper.

The Resurrection of Jesus and History

2009-04-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

“The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!”

So goes one of the wonderful refrains that we say at Easter. But do we truly understand the magnitude of what we’re saying?

These aren’t just words we say during a church service at Easter. And they’re not just words of faith. These words express the most incredible fact of history: God raised Jesus from the dead!

It’s popular today to hear talk – especially on TV specials around Easter – of the “Christ of faith” and the “Jesus of history.” Such TV specials often feature scholars who try to make a clear-cut distinction between the two. They argue that the Christ of faith is an invention coming out of the Easter story, and bears little, if any resemblance to the Jesus of history.

These scholars have failed to take seriously the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:14-15, 17: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” Here Paul seems to clearly say that the Christian faith stands or falls on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus.

The truth is the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history are one and the same. And the Biblical story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus isn’t just a fictional tale. It’s a record of historical events, of which evidence can be examined, just like any other historical event.

Of course, throughout history, many have come up with alternative explanations and theories to the resurrection of Jesus. These alternative explanations started the first Easter morning.

Matthew 28:11-15 records that when guards stationed at the tomb of Jesus reported to the chief priests that Jesus had been raised to life, the religious leaders bribed the guards and told them to say Jesus’ disciples came during the night while the guards were sleeping and stole the body. The gospel writer notes in Matthew 28:15: “So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”

Two things about this story are quite remarkable. First, it’s interesting to note that the Jewish religious leaders don’t question the fact that the tomb was empty. They simply offer an explanation as to how the tomb came to be empty (see Mt 28:13).

Second, the writer’s comment in 28:15 that “this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day” means that at the time this gospel was written – some 40 to 50 years after the events it records – Jesus’ tomb was still empty and people were still trying to explain it! Here we are 2,000 years later, and people are still trying to explain it.

Stolen and misplaced body theories, hallucination and vision theories, and even the unbelievable swoon theory – the idea that Jesus didn’t really die from the beating he endured and the crucifixion, he merely lost consciousness, was thought to be dead and so was buried, but then he eventually came out alive – have all been proposed as alternative explanations to the resurrection of Jesus. Yet when the evidence is carefully examined, none of these alternative explanations stand up under scrutiny.

Christians can be confident in their affirmation of Christ’s resurrection because it’s the most plausible and most reasonable explanation for a number of widely accepted historical facts.

There’s wide agreement in scholarship that Jesus died on a cross, was buried, that his tomb was subsequently found empty, that many people claimed Jesus appeared to them alive after his death, that those people then claimed Jesus had been resurrected from the dead, and furthermore the Christian faith and church was birthed shortly after these events and continues today.

These are historical facts. The question is: What’s the best explanation of these facts? The resounding answer is the resurrection of Jesus.

“The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!”

This Easter when you say these words remember that you’re proclaiming not only a central tenet of the faith, but also the most important fact of history.

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

2009-04-09T06:58:00.000-07:00

In anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed three times for the cup of the cross to pass from him. And each time he added: “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Mt 26:39).

Jesus knew what he would be facing. Long before his arrest, Mark 8:31-32 records this: “[Jesus] then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” Jesus knew the cross was coming. It was inevitable. In fact, it was the very purpose for which he came. As Jesus said in Mark 10:45: “… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

And yet we find Jesus praying in the garden, sweating blood because of the intensity of what he was about to endure. The anxiety was severe. The fear was real. The anguish in his heart was unbearable. At Gethsemane Jesus experienced the full range of emotions that any of us would in the face of impending suffering and death. And so he cries out to God the Father: “If there’s any other way, Lord, please take this from me! Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.”

Since we know what happened next, it seems strongly implied that it was God’s will for Jesus to die. Now this raises an important question: Why did Jesus have to die? Why was it God’s will for Jesus to die? First Corinthians 15:3 perhaps gives us the shortest answer: “Christ died for our sins.” But why, you might ask, would someone need to die for our sins?

Not long ago my friend Chad was hiking up a mountain in India when he suddenly came upon a shrine to the god Kali. He noticed that there was blood all over the ground near the shrine, and several Indian men were working on the small building that housed sculptures and statues of Kali. Chad asked the men through a translator what all the blood was from. They informed him that an animal sacrifice had been performed the night before. Someone had sacrificed a goat to Kali.

Here in the U.S. we don’t often hear of people offering animal sacrifices. But the fact is the idea of performing sacrifices to appease or venerate a god has been happening in world religions since the most ancient of times. Why? Because deep down inside we all know that something about us isn’t quite right. Things aren’t as they should be. And we suspect that we may have something to do with the problem.

The Bible confirms this suspicion. Contrary to popular belief, we are not basically good. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Because of sin, we’re rotten to the core. Genesis 8:21 reports that “every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.” And consider the Apostle Paul’s analysis of our condition: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Rom 3:10-12).

Now in order to understand God’s remedy to this problem, we need to have a little OT background. The OT prescribes several different kinds of animal sacrifices, but one was very special. Once a year an animal sacrifice was performed by the high priest and blood from the slain animal was sprinkled on the altar in order to make atonement for the sins, wickedness, and rebellion of all the people. In addition, blood was put on the head of another animal, and that animal was set free into the wilderness, symbolizing the removal of sins from the community. This was called the Day of Atonement and it was the highest holy day of the year for the ancient Israelites.

In Leviticus 17:11 God said this: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” Here the animal’s life takes the place of the human being in order to provide purification for sins – to make atonement. This is what is called substitutionary atonement – the life of an innocent given for the guilty.

Fuller biblical revelation shows that these OT blood ritual sacrifices prefigured the ultimate work of Christ on the cross. Isaiah, prophesying about Jesus and his passion, said in Isaiah 53:5: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Verse 12 of this prophecy tells us that Jesus “bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” And Romans 3:25 says that “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood.” In Jesus, the life of an innocent was given for us guilty sinners.

The Bible teaches that God is holy and He commands us to be holy. The problem is we aren’t. We are sinners, and our sin and rebellion has separated us from God and the life he desires for us. It’s like there’s a massive chasm between us and God. And there’s nothing we can do on our own to bridge the gap. But the good news – the Gospel – is that God hasn’t left us to ourselves. He sent his Son, Jesus, to redeem us. Through his work on the cross Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for our sins, allowing us to be restored to fellowship with God. Jesus, through the cross, is the bridge across the chasm that exists between us and God.

Why did Jesus have to die? Because God loved us so much that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3:16). This is a great mystery of the faith, but also a tremendous truth. Because Jesus died, we can be forgiven.

A Palm Sunday Meditation

2009-04-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

Note: This is the sermon I preached today. The text is the Passion Narrative from Mark, chapters 14-15.

On Sunday they sang his praises. On Friday they called for his crucifixion. On Sunday they received him as the coming King and Messiah. On Friday they condemned him as a common criminal.

An incredible tension exists on this day—Palm Sunday. On the one hand, like the ancient Jews, we celebrate the coming of Christ into Jerusalem. And with them we shout with joy: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming of the kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Mk 11:9-10). This is how we began our service this morning. We honor the coming King into Jerusalem and we anticipate the consummation of his Kingdom. There are great expectations and hope. And there is the fulfillment of messianic prophecy from Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey ” (see Mt 21:4).

However, this joy and exuberance and hope are short-lived. In less than a week’s time, the same crowds who were honoring Jesus were calling for his death. The cheering crowed becomes a jeering crowd. On Sunday they were shouting “Hosanna!” On Friday they were shouting, “Crucify him!” Palm Sunday begins as a day of great celebration. But it also triggers the countdown to Jesus’ suffering and death.

This is unsettling. This is disturbing. But this morning I want to invite us to live in this tension and reflect upon how we are perhaps not unlike the fickle crowd, and even more so, perhaps we are not unlike Jesus’ disciples.

During the Passover meal Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him. Of course, we know it is Judas, but the disciples at the time didn’t know who it would be. And so they all asked: “Am I the one?” (Mk 14:19). Later, as Jesus and his disciples were walking to the Garden of Gethsemane, he told them: “All of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered’” (Mk 14:27).

First Jesus says one of the disciples will betray him. Next he says that all the rest of the disciples will desert him. Now let’s think for a moment. These men have left everything to follow Jesus. They left their homes, their families, their jobs. For three years they have followed Jesus, learned from him, and ministered with him. If anyone were dedicated to the cause of Christ, it would be these men. And yet Jesus says, “All of you will desert me.”

Peter, who is always quick to speak up, tells Jesus: “Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.” And Jesus, I imagine quite gently, but with regret in his voice, says, “Peter, this very night you will deny three times that you even know me.”

This is Peter, who dropped his nets, left his fishing business, and followed Jesus. This is Peter who confessed Jesus as the Messiah before anyone else. This is Peter who walked on water. This is Peter who was part of the inner circle of the three closest disciples to Jesus. And this is Peter whom Jesus said would be the rock and leader of the early church. Again, if any one person was ever dedicated to the cause of Christ, it was Peter. He is the guy who is always right there in the mix getting the job done. I imagine Peter would be the first one at church and the last one to leave. I think Peter is the kind of guy who would volunteer for all the church events, be part of all the committees, and teach all the classes. He’s the last person in the world that we might think would deny Christ.

Thus, just as we might perhaps respond if we were in the same situation, Mark 14:31 gives us Peter’s response to Jesus: “No!’ Peter declared emphatically. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!’ And all the others vowed the same.”

These men said, “Jesus, you’re crazy. You’re wrong. We will be with you until the end—until the death if necessary!”

Now let’s fast-forward a few verses in the story to verse 50. At this point Jesus and the disciples have been at Gethsemane. Jesus is arrested and hauled away. And Mark 14:50 says this: “Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away.” That quickly, that simply, the text reports that all the disciples fled. In a week’s time the crowds went from hailing Jesus as King to calling for his crucifixion. But it was only within the span of a few hours in a single night that all the disciples went from pledging total and complete commitment to Jesus, to deserting him.

And by the way, the disciples are basically out of the picture in the rest of Mark’s Gospel. When we get to the end of chapter 15 the text emphasizes that several of Jesus' women followers were at the crucifixion. And several of Jesus’ women followers are there for Jesus’ burial and see the tomb where he was laid. Indeed, on Sunday morning it is the women who go to Jesus’ tomb. Question: Where are all the men? Where are the disciples? They’re not there. They have abandoned him.

Of course, we know that Jesus’ prediction about Peter denying him three times comes true. In the third denial, recorded in Mark 14:71, we see that Peter is just as emphatic, and perhaps even more so, in denying Christ, as he was in declaring his unfailing devotion earlier. Notice what the text says when Peter was prompted a third time about knowing Jesus. “He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about."

One thing we know about Peter from the gospels is that he had a hot temper and a quick mouth. And here he is, cursing and yelling, “I don’t know this man!” Just a few hours earlier he had emphatically declared his loyalty and devotion to Christ. Now he is calling down curses and denying the very one whom he’d pledged his life to. As soon as he said it, the rooster crowed the second time and Peter suddenly remembered Jesus’ words: “‘Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you know me.’ And he broke down and wept” (Mk 14:72).

I don’t know if you can try to put yourself there. Perhaps you can even imagine the scene like a movie in your mind. Here is Peter—the man who left all to follow Christ, the man who walked on water, the rock and leader of the church—and he’s angry, frustrated, and bitter; cursing and swearing that he doesn’t even know who Jesus is. This is the tension of Palm Sunday and the tension of Holy Week.

I want to submit to you this morning that any one of us has the potential to deny Christ. The crowds turned on Jesus in a week. It only took the disciples one night. A number of circumstances and events, coupled with the popular expectations of who the Messiah would be and what he would do, and, as emphasized throughout Mark’s Gospel, the disciple’s inability to fully understand what Jesus’ mission was about, all contributed to this.

The ways we deny Christ are perhaps much more subtle than Peter. Of course there are blatant sin issues that we all wrestle with. But I’m talking about denying Christ in ways that are almost imperceptible to us. We deny Christ often times by the way we think, live, and work. We deny Christ in the way we treat others. We deny Christ when we want everything our own way and refuse to relinquish control of our lives to the will, purpose, and plan of God. We are often like those whom James rebuked in his letter to the churches: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Savior, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be” (Jas 3:9-10). And yet, if we are honest, too often in our lives, it is that way. We are like Peter and the other disciples.

This morning we reflect on the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem, as well as his passion and death. That’s the tension of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. On Sunday the crowds sang his praises. On Friday they called for his death. And all the disciples had abandoned him.

I invite you to enter into the story this week and challenge you to set aside a few minutes every day to read the passion narrative we read this morning. Try to imagine yourself there. Put yourself in the place of the various characters. Praise the Lord on Sunday and shout, with the crowd, “Crucify him!” on Friday. See your own frailties and failures as you imagine yourself in the place of Peter—emphatically pledging total commitment to Christ, even to the death; and then just a few hours later denying that you even know him, and then weeping.

And through all this, ask the Lord to renew your heart and mind, refine your character, and reignite your passion to live as a fully committed disciple of Christ in our world today. Amen.

Living Intentionally

2009-04-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

I recall as an undergraduate student writing out a personal care plan when I was taking a class called The Theory and Practice of Pastoral Care.

This personal care plan wasn't just about setting aside a time for a daily quiet time. It was an all-encompassing life plan where we were invited to think carefully about intentionally cultivating good and healthy habits and routines into our daily lives, including times of physical exercise, time with family and friends, and our work among other things. We were encouraged to build regular times of fasting, silence, solitude, or other spiritual disciplines into our plan as well.

After creating our plan, we were to implement it and practice it as best we could for the remainder of the course. At the end of the course we had to write a reflection paper about our experience.

At the time I set myself up for failure. While my personal care plan looked great on paper, it was completely unrealistic and a far idealized version of what I'd like to have been able to do. I failed to take into consideration some of the realities of my life, such as my job, my school work, and other responsibilities. I tried as best I could do at least do some of the things in my plan, but for the most part it was a train wreck.

All was not a loss, however, as in the experience I learned two very valuable things. First, developing our souls and becoming the spiritually formed people God wants us to be takes intentional, disciplined effort on our part. As Paul exhorted Timothy: "... train yourself to be godly" (1 Tim 4:7; see also 1 Cor 9:24-27).

The second thing I learned was that training yourself to be godly (including a complete personal care plan) will look different at different stages in life. We may think it would be wonderful to read the entire Bible in a week or spend six hours a day in prayer, but for most of us, that is simply unrealistic. Better to make small, attainable changes in our daily routines that will form habits which, when practiced intentionally and faithfully over time, will begin to change and transform us. It's a process. And an intentional one at that.

Today I was reading a new publication from Renovare that reminded me of these things. And in an article by Christopher S. Webb entitled "Rhythms of Life," I found this insightful observation:

Every day we live is like a miniature picture of our whole life: all our priorities are somehow reflected in the way we choose to invest the few hours between each sunrise and sunset" (4).

Webb goes on to say this:

Our survival matters to us, so we make time to eat and drink. If we value those we love, or our work, or our community, that determines how we invest our time. As the sum of all our drives, passions, choices, and instincts, our daily activities reveal our real beliefs and commitments ...

But, of course, the way we structure our days not only reveals our character and priorities, it can also help to shape them. We make some choices because of who we are, but others because of who we wish to become. And so apprentices of Jesus have long realized that we can express our desire to follow him not only in particular activities--spiritual practices and disciplines--but also in the routines and rituals of life. We may be wired to live by rhythms, but we can intentionally set the beat: we can structure our daily living as a loving response to the grace of God in Christ (4-5).

In a very similar vein, Christian philosopher and spiritual formation guru Dallas Willard has said this in his fantastic book The Great Omission:

The spiritual side of the human being, Christian and non-Christian alike, develops into the reality that it becomes, for good or ill. Everyone receives spiritual formation, just as everyone gets an education. The only question is whether it is a good one or a bad one. We need to take a conscious, intentional hand in the developmental process" (69).

So how do we begin to live intentionally? How do we begin to develop habits and build rhythms into our lives that will be spiritually forming and transforming?

One way to do this is to make a personal care plan--or, as the ancients called it, A Rule of Life.

Such a plan or rule is NOT a way in which we earn favor with God. And it is also NOT intended to be a list of rules and regulations to be slavishly obeyed.

Rather, it is something that gives us direction and focus. In our personal care plan of rule of life we record some very concise and specific things we can do to begin developing and forming habits that, when practiced intentionally over time, will begin to spiritually form us and transform us. They may be things as simple as committing to read some Scripture every day, praying for 10 or 15 un-interrupted minutes every day, fasting one day per week, and regularly practicing confession of our sins (to God, and perhaps also to a trusted spiritual adviser or close friend).

For me, (who is getting pretty flabby in the belly and has high cholesterol!), I would probably also include committing to regular times of exercise as part of my personal care plan--perhaps jogging for 30 minutes three times a week. This provides physical and spiritual benefits (plus I heard regular cardiovascular excercise helps you to think better due to increased blood flow to the brain). I would also probably build in a weekly date night with my wife, as well as setting aside time (perhaps monthly) to spend with certain friends. Whatever the case, it's important to be specific, be realistic, and be committed to following through.

There's an old saying: If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. That is true of our spiritual lives as well. St. Francis of Assisi also once said something that applies: "Start doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

Living intentionally is all about making choices that will ultimately result in helping us become mature, healthy, and the spiritually formed people God wants us to be.

Your Favorite Bible Translation

2009-03-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

Anyone know how many versions of the Bible there are in English? I don't know the number, but I'm sure it has to be a lot. (If you do know, please leave a comment -- I'm curious!)

It seems every year a new translation is coming out. And every other month some kind of "niche" study Bible is released for various versions of the Bible. The shear number of English Bible versions and niche study Bibles is overwhelming and can be quite intimidating for folks. I know before I became a little more informed about Bible translation it was for me.

I own several study Bibles of various translations including, but not limited to, the KJV, NKJV, NRSV, NASB, ESV, HCSV, NIV, TNIV, NLT, The Message, and a host of others that are on my logos program.

I grew up in a KJV-only church, though I personally gravitated toward the NKJV in that setting. As I moved from that more fundamentalist background to an evangelical church and started attending an evangelical liberal arts college, the NIV seemed to be the standard translation everyone used, so I landed on that one by default. After all, the NIV motto is, "The most read, the most trusted." You just have to feel good about that. The marketing guy who came up with that was a genius.

Today, though I consult a number of different versions, I typically preach and teach from the TNIV, which is an update of the NIV. I like the TNIV largely because it is gender-accurate and it has improved the NIV in many places, though it is not perfect by any stretch.

One thing I don't like about the TNIV is that the translators removed most all of what are called "vocative O's" from the Psalms. So, for example, Psalm 139:23-24 (one of my favorites!) in the NIV says this: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." The TNIV version of this text is exactly the same EXCEPT that the "O" in "O God" is omitted: "Search me, God, and know my heart ..."

It's a stylistic thing, and for me, personally, I like the "O's." It just sounds better to me. "Search me, O God" sounds better to me than "Search me, God." Call me a traditionalist. When the translators revise the TNIV, I hope they consider putting the vocative O's back in. But I doubt they will.

At any rate, there is a lot of theory and philosophy that goes into translating the Bible that I didn't become aware of until 10 years ago or so. No one in any of the churches I ever grew up in talked about these theories. I had to learn them on my own through reading books and when the topics came up in college classes. If you are overwhelmed like I was, I encourage you to check out some of the books I'll be mentioning below.

I remember reading Philip W. Comfort's Essential Guide to Bible Versions and being fully convinced that dynamic equivalence (or, thought-for-thought) was the absolute BEST translation philosophy. Of course, Comfort was on the NLT translation committee, which is a thought-for-thought translation, so he is a bit biased. But it is a great book nonetheless and worth reading as an overview of the different theories on Bible translation and what scholars who do that kind of work do and why.

On the other hand, not long after reading Comfort, I read Leland Ryken's The Word of God in English and completely changed my view. Ryken convinced me that word-for-word (formal equivalence) was the BEST translation theory. Of course, Ryken was a stylist on the ESV translation committee--a word-for-word version--and so he was a bit biased. Nevertheless, it was a great read and gave me another perspective.

Over the years I have come to lean much more toward dynamic (or functional) equivalence as the better over all translation philosophy. And I have landed on the NIV and then the TNIV because they seem to be good middle of the road versions--not woodenly word-for-word, but not overly thought-for-thought either. They provide a good balance between the two major translation philosophies.

In 2007 Gordon Fee and Mark Strauss came out with How To Choose A Translation for All Its Worth. In this fantastic book on Bible translation, Fee and Strauss provide overviews of the various theories and rationale for them, ultimately landing on dynamic (or functional) equivalence as the best translation philosophy. They suggest that the TNIV (or NIV) is the best over-all, mediating version between the two different translation philosophies you could probably get, though they recommend reading and studying several different versions. They also offer recommendations for the best word-for-word and thought-for-thought versions, which balances out any biases they might have since they served on the TNIV translation committee.

At the end of the day, the average person probably picks a Bible translation more out of the Christian tradition they are from (i.e. KJV-only or NIV-only) and what they personally like more than anything else. This is not all bad. My dad used to say, "The only good Bible is a read Bible." So, if you like reading the KJV and you understand it, then by all means, read it! Others prefer something easier to understand like the NLT or the NIV or the NEB. Whatever the case, it's important that the Bible you read regularly is one you can understand. After all, the Bible wasn't originally written in some special, heavenly language. It was written in the common language of the people of the time so that ordinary folks could hear, read, and understand it.

But I would add that reading a few books on Bible translation (such as the three I've mentioned in this post) would be a terrific start for helping folks gain a more informed perspective on Bible translation philosophy, why there are so many different Bible versions, and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Equipped with this knowledge, people can make more informed decisions about what Bible version they prefer and why.

So what's your favorite Bible version or versions?

Credo

2009-03-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

I don't come from a confessional church background. In fact, I have never been in a church service where a creed such as the Apostle's or Nicene creeds were recited. (And I must say I feel a bit slighted by this!)

A few years ago, however, I decided to memorize the Apostle's Creed as a personal spiritual discipline. I have since recited the creed frequently (though not every day) as part of my own personal devotional time and I have spent other times reflecting on each section of the creed.

I find that reciting the creed keeps me focused on some of the essential components of the gospel story. Plus it is incredible to think that I'm reciting something that Christians have been taught, instructed in, and recited for centuries. The creed is part of the tradition of the Church. Learning and reciting the creed connects me with that tradition and helps to be aware that the faith is so much bigger than me and my personal relationship with Jesus and my personal thoughts about doctrine.

In his book The Apostle's Creed for Today, Justo Gonzalez points out that the creed "is not so much my statement of faith as it is a statement of faith of the church through the centuries--a statement that shapes the identity of the church, much as the Pledge of Allegiance shapes the identity of a nation" (8).

Gonzalez then relates this story, which I want to share:

There is a story about a young Orthodox priest who told his spiritual adviser that he had difficulties with some of the statements of the Nicene Creed.

"Recite it anyhow," the adviser replied.

The young man came back after a few days, again declaring that he could not in good conscience claim to believe all that the Creed said.

"Recite it anyhow," the older man insisted.

This went on for several weeks, until finally, exasperated and confused, the young priest asked, "Why do you insist I repeat the Creed, when you know there are in it some phrases I don't really believe?"

To which the elder adviser replied: "Because it is not your creed. It is the Creed of the church. When you recite it you are not directly saying what you believe. You are declaring what the church believes. And you are declaring yourself part of that church, no matter whether you believe every point of doctrine or not" (8).

Some might scoff at this story and think that the young priest ought to have worked through all his intellectual questions and doubts and coming to full agreement with every point of the creed before reciting it.

I disagree.

As someone who is prone to doubts and questioning, I find that there is something deeply and spiritually formative about reciting the creed, even in those moments where my personal beliefs seem a bit foggy. Indeed, it is in those moments that the creed connects me with the historic Christian faith. It anchors me to the rock, so to speak. And by reciting it, I am in some ways identifying myself with that faith and with the church which has preserved and handed down the creed and countless other traditions for centuries.

Let us confess our faith:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord ...

Making a Decision

2009-03-25T06:51:00.001-07:00

This morning in my devotional time I was reading a chapter from Eugene Peterson's excellent book A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. If you have never read this book, I highly recommend it. In fact, I highly recommend reading pretty much anything written by Peterson.

Though he is probably best-known for his Bible translation/paraphrase The Message (which I am actually not overly fond of, though I do own a copy and refer to it from time to time), he has also written a number of books on the spiritual life and pastoral ministry. Through these writings Peterson has profoundly shaped my own spiritual life and, particularly, my own understanding and approach to pastoral ministry.

This morning I came across a passage from A Long Obedience which is one of the best descriptions of repentance I have ever read. Rather than writing it all out in my common place book, I decided to share it here. It is a lengthy quote, but it is powerful, and most importantly, I think it is dead-on accurate:

The first step toward God is a step away from the lies of the world. It is a renunciation of the lies we have been told about ourselves and our neighbors and our universe ...

The usual biblical word describing the no we say to the world's lies and the yes we say to God's truth is repentance. It is always and everywhere the first word in the Christian life. John the Baptist's preaching was "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt 3:2 RSV). Jesus' first preaching was the same: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt 4:17 RSV). Peter concluded his first sermon with "Repent, and be baptized" (Acts 2:38 RSV). In the last book of the Bible the message to the seventh church is "be zealous and repent" (Rev 3:19 RSV).

Repentance is not an emotion. It is not feeling sorry for your sins. It is a decision. It is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god; it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own; it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbors and your world. And it is deciding that God in Jesus Christ is telling you the truth. Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts. Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim in the path of peace. (29-30)

I imagine Peterson behind the pulpit preaching hard that last paragraph. Or maybe I wish I had come up with that and was preaching it hard!

I like the emphasis that Peterson places on repentance being a decision, not an emotion. I don't think that Peterson would deny that we certainly do experience emotions and feelings at the moment of genuine repentance. I remember quite distinctly, for example, that when I finally repented and surrendered my life to Christ, I cried.

But the point he is making is that emotions and feelings in and of themselves are not repentance. Repentance is a decision. It is an act of the will. It is making the choice to say, "I'm not going my own way anymore. I'm going to follow Christ and walk in obedience to Him."

Spirituality in our culture today places a premium on our emotions and how we feel about things. We especially tend to think things are true if we feel they are true. The obvious danger in this, from a Christian perspective, is that frankly, I don't always feel like following Christ. Some days I'm tired. Some days I'm lazy. Some days I don't feel close to God. Some days I feel like perhaps God doesn't even really exist and that maybe the whole Christian faith is a sham.

Praise the Lord that the truth of God's Word isn't based on my feelings! And praise the Lord that the reality of the salvation Christ offers and which I have accepted isn't based on my feelings!

Repentance is a decision. Indeed, it is the most important decision anyone can ever make.

Evangelicals and the Life of the Mind

2009-03-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that there is and has been a pervasive anti-intellectualism within the broader world of evangelicalism. A guest post on Scot McKnight's JESUS CREED blog discusses this problem from the perspective of youth ministry, and student ministries at college and university campuses in particular. I encourage you to read this thought-provoking post by clicking here.

As I read the post I was reminded of Christian philosopher and theologian Bill Craig's words from the introduction of his book Reasonable Faith:

Evangelicals really have been living on the periphery of responsible intellectual existence. The average Christian does not realize that there is an intellectual war going on in the universities and in the professional journals and scholarly societies. Christianity is being attacked from all sides as irrational or outmoded, and millions of students, our future generation of leaders, have absorbed this viewpoint. (xiii)

I'd like to chime in on this issue from the perspective of a working pastor who holds credentials in a small evangelical denomination. (which won't be named to protect the innocent!)

True story. I was once talking with a pastor-friend at a very large and influential church in our denomination. We were discussing the importance (or relative un-importance from his view) of solid, academic training in preparation for ministry. This pastor felt (legitimately in some ways) that the theory of the classroom doesn't translate over to effective, practical day-to-day grind of ministry. This pastor was a pragmatist. Practical skills to get the job done were far more important than the ability to think through issues.

And then this pastor announced PROUDLY: "We only have one pastor on staff who was seminary trained."

It is quite unfortunate, but true, that in my denomination, having academic credentials (even as basic as a seminary degree) are often seen as a liability rather than an asset for pastors.

Another true story. One of my former (and favorite) professors from my own undergrad days tells the story that when he was a seminary student at TEDS, he went to hear a well-known speaker and District Superintendent of our denomination. To my professor's chagrin, this speaker boldly announced during his talk that he would NEVER hire a pastor into his district who had a seminary degree. Luckily for my professor, he was already planning to be a missionary and work in the academy.

I'm picking on my own denomination because I'm familiar with it. But this kind of pervasive anti-intellectualism isn't just a problem in campus and student ministries, or for my denomination. It's a problem, with some rare but notable exceptions, of evangelical churches as a whole. The heart is too often emphasized to the exclusion of the head, as if the two were mutually exclusive and incompatible. There seems to be an overwhelming sense that a robust spiritual life is in antithesis to a robust and vibrant intellectual life.

Now, in some ways I feel a bit hypocritical writing this. After all, I don't as of yet, have a seminary degree, and I've been serving as a pastor a year and a half. In May I'll be finishing up a MMin. My plans are to continue, however, for an MATS, and eventually I hope to complete an MDiv and a DMin. Those are my goals anyway.

Yet the very fact that I have such goals is at odds with the pervasive anti-intellectualism of my denomination and the broader church world of evangelicalism. Some people I explain my goals to think I'm crazy. "What's the point of all that?" they invariably ask.

But I would say this. Academic degrees and credentials are nice, and perhaps even important. But they are not necessary for developing and cultivating a robust intellectual life. One of the deepest thinking pastors I know never went beyond his undergraduate degree. But over the years he has cultivated deep theological and philosophical reflection by reading serious books by serious scholars. As someone once said, "You are what you read."

Too many pastors today, are not only lacking rigorous academic training, but their steady diet of "Five Ways to Grow Your Church" and "How to Be the Greatest Leader Ever" kind of books have also left them intellectually stagnant and lazy.

I have a friend who was a guest speaker at a pastor's conference. In one of his talks he challenged all the pastors there to take down and pack up all the books on their shelves by the "leadership and church growth gurus" (he actually named them, but you all know who I am talking about!), and store them in their closet for six months. Then he challenged them to read some serious works of theology, biblical studies, and church history over that same time period. "If you do this," he said. "I promise you that your life and ministry will never be the same again."

It seems to me there needs to be a balance. As pastors we do need to be fluent and effective in practical ministry skills. We do need to be good leaders and strategic planners. Yet practical ministry skills need not be to the exclusion of a vibrant and rigorous intellectual life. In fact, I would argue that a vibrant intellectual life is necessary for pastors who want to minister faithfully and effectively in today's complex world.

I'm curious what you all think. Please share your thoughts and experiences regarding these issues. Do you agree or disagree with me? Why?

The Sound of Silence

2009-03-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a fantastic new book that I purchased recently entitled Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants by Dennis Okholm.

Okholm is a professor of theology at Azusa Pacific University, as well as an ordained minister in the Presbyterian church. His background includes some Baptist and Pentecostal roots. Thus, the fact that he is also a Benedictine oblate and has immersed himself in Benedictine spirituality for over 20 years might come as quite a shock.

Tonight I was reading his chapter "Learning to Listen," and found quite insightful these comments:

Listening. It's not something for which Protestants are usually well known for. In our activist piety we have tended toward prophetic pronouncements rather than quiet listening. As Father Guy, one of the first monks I met, put it, "Samuel said, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening'; we more often say, 'Listen, Lord, for thy servant is speaking.'"(38)

Okholm goes on to say, "Of course, listening requires a degree of silence--both within and without" (38).

A few years ago my wife and I spent a week in spiritual retreat at Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, the Trappist monastery perhaps known for its most famous monk, Thomas Merton. The trip down to Kentucky from our home was a good seven-hour drive. I remember how we pulled out of the driveway with the windows down and the radio blasting. We were on road trip! The whole way down we sang songs, laughed, and chatted.

At the Abbey, however, you take a vow of silence. Besides the monks, there are other retreatants there as well, and many common areas where everyone mingles about together, including common meal times. But you don't talk to anyone. Ever. (Unless it's an emergency, of course). The only time people spoke was during hours of prayer where the Psalms were sung and during special services of the Word and prayer. (My wife and I would talk quietly to each other sometimes when we were alone in our room or out and about by ourselves).

For the first two days I thought I was going to go insane. The silence was so deafening I couldn't think straight! I was uncomfortable with myself and everyone else around me. I later came to understand this is all part of the de-tox process.

By the third day I was beginning to enjoy the silence. There was comfort in it. I began to notice things. Little details. The beautiful landscape on which the monastery rested. Others around me. I felt more aware, more alive.

By the fourth and fifth days I was relishing in the silence. I felt I was really beginning to commune with God, and even with others, despite the fact that we weren't talking to one another.

When my wife and I checked out of the retreat house, loaded up our Jeep, and started driving back towards home, the mood was markedly different than when we had made the trip down. For one thing, we didn't play any music. No radio or CDs the entire 7-hour-plus drive back home. That also meant we didn't sing. In fact, we hardly said more than a few sentences to each other. But we were happy and content and at peace.

When we went to church that Sunday we happened to arrive a little earlier than usual. The "worship center" as it was called was abuzz with activity. Music was blaring through the overhead speakers. The jumbo screens at the front were flashing all kinds of news and information. And a low hum of conversation from various quarters of the massive worship space seemed to be crescendoing into a roar.

I turned to my wife and asked in complete seriousness: "How can anyone concentrate in here with all this noise?"

She shrugged.

As North American Protestants we are in general quite uncomfortable with silence. As Okholm rightly observes:

We are always filling our world with noise. Even our Communion services must be filled with sound. Quietly reflecting on the fact that we are eating the Lord's body and drinking the Lord's blood seems too threatening; as soon as we go forward or pass around the elements, a piano or guitar starts up and we cannot even hear ourselves consume Christ. (40)

Of course, within a week or so my wife and I were right back into our normal, noisy routines. But I have never forgotten my first experience with real, deafening silence at that monastery in Kentucky. And there are times when I yearn for it again.

Okholm's book reminded me of all this, and I found so true and insightful (and sad) the observation of his monk friend: Samuel said, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening,"(see 1 Samuel 3:10). Yet more often than not we say, "Listen, Lord, for thy servant is speaking."

I'm reminded that sometimes (many times) I just need to shut up. Rather than constantly reciting to God my laundry list of requests, playing my favorite praise songs and singing loudly along, or whatever, I need to take time to simply listen in silence.

Perhaps the words of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes 5:1-3, 7 apply here:

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words ... Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.

Working at the Barnes and Noble Cafe

2009-03-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

I've had a revelation.

I actually get more work done in three hours at the Barnes and Noble cafe sipping, first a venti, and then usually a grande cafe mocha, no whip, than I do sometimes in six to eight hours of work at my home office.

Don't ask me how this works. But it's true.

Tonight is a case in point. In a little over three hours and a venti and grande cafe mocha, no whip, I read 40-some pages of a book I have to finish for a grad class, studied the lectionary texts for this week and wrote out all my "initial impressions," and have a rough (though relatively thorough) outline of my sermon for Sunday. Then I read a few chapters of a new book I recently bought.

Crazy.

I do most of my work out of my home office/study. Although I do have a nice office at our church, my computer (no laptop!) is at home, as are most all of my books. I spend a few afternoons a week at the church office, but the majority of my study and anything that has to be done on computer are done at my home office.

The convenience is wonderful. I can roll out of bed and go right to work in the next room -- in my pajamas if I desire (which actually happens more often that I care to admit!).

But I also find that I am quite easily distracted.

Email. Facebook. This blog. Other blogs I read. Surfing the web. All the construction at our neighbor's house. Our two dogs barking at every person that goes by the house and every loud noise they hear.

Plus my wife also works from home. She's a freelance writer and adjunct writing professor. Her home office is down the hall from mine. She always wants me read something she's written right when I'm engrossed in something. And I inevitably return the favor (not on purpose, mind you!) by bothering her with ideas for sermon illustrations or wanting her to proofread something I've written when she's in the zone of hammering out a story, grading papers, or finishing a lecture for class. It's quite comical actually. We try to have fun with it.

But for some strange reason I can sit in the (crowded, mind you!) Barnes and Noble cafe, drink my mochas, and be completely focused on whatever work I have in front of me. I'm oblivious to the conversational buzz swirling all around me. I've actually found over several times of doing this, that some of my most productive work gets done in three or fours hours at the Barnes and Noble cafe.

So, thank you, Barnes and Noble cafe! And thank you to those behind the counter who have perfected the cafe mocha, no whip!

Tonight I actually had all three sizes-- a venti, then a grande, and finally a tall.

I think I'm going to up for a while.

Created in God's Image

2009-03-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight I started my next to last class for finishing my Master of Ministries degree--Psychology of Pastoral Counseling and Ministry.

I wanted to just touch on one thing we talked about tonight that is often overlooked by people in general and professional psychologists in particular (especially those of the American Psychological Association variety), and it's this: Human beings are created in the image of God.

Genesis 1:26-27 is the key text for this biblical doctrine:

Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

This is such an incredible passage of Scripture that you could spend your entire life plumbing the depths of its meaning and working through is implications!!! Psalm 8 also paints an interesting picture of the special nature within the created order of human beings, but I won't quote from that here. I encourage you do read it for yourself, though. Don't just take my word for it!

So, what does it mean to be created in the image of God? What are some of its practical implications?

Like I said, tomes of theology could be written on this. And people much smarter than I have philosophized and theologized about it. But here are four things we talked about in class tonight that I think are important starting points for reflection.

First, being created in the image of God means that all humans are unique and special. All people intrinsically have worth and value because they are created in God's image. This in and of itself has massive ramifications from a Christian perspective on issues such as abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and a host of others.

Second, being created in the image of God means that all humans were created for relationship--both with God and with other people. We are not meant to live alone and in isolation. We are relational beings and we need others to be whole and healthy. The excessive individualism and the attitude which elevates self over community in our culture often keeps us isolated and prohibits genuine, authentic relationships with others.

Third, being created in the image of God means that we are equipped to know God and study and learn about the universe. Science is possible because God created a world that is orderly and he created human beings with rationality. We can look at the world and universe around us and know that God exists and brought all this into being (see Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:19-20).

Fourth and finally, being created in the image of God means that we are ultimately accountable to God. The ramifications of the Fall were devastating for humanity, and indeed, all of God's creation (Genesis 3; see also Romans 5:12-14; 8:19-22). Of course, modern secular psychology doesn't acknowledge a "Fall" and an inherent sinful nature in humans. Thus, it can never fully account for the true root of our problems, no matter how good and accurate the clinical diagnosis. Without denying that there are real mental problems and sicknesses requiring clinical help, God's Word says that our ultimate problem is sin and a corrupt heart (Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9). And that requires a spiritual work of God in cleansing our hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 3:1-21).

Reflecting on some of these basic implications of what it means to be created in the image of God seems to me foundational for helping people. Yes, let's use whatever truths can be gleaned from good research and good science (because all truth is God's truth!). But let's also remember that God has decreed certain things to be true that scientific disciplines often deny or don't even acknowledge.

As my professor said tonight, we don't use psychology (or any other discipline) to form our basic assumptions about the world and people, rather we use our faith (i.e. our theology) to do that; and then we interact respectfully with other disciplines.

Have a Good Laugh

2009-03-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes from a book comes from the opening lines of the introduction to Christian theologian Thomas C. Oden's The Living God, which is the first volume of his three-volume systematic theology. Check out Oden's tongue-in-cheek wit:

"Because of piety's penchant for taking itself too seriously, theology--more than literary, humanistic, and scientific studies--does well to nurture a modest, unguarded sense of comedy. Some comic sensibility is required to keep in due proportion the pompous pretensions of the study of divinity" (1).

I love it!!!!

With that in mind, check out this hilarious take on "The Beginners Guide to Christianity: Nineteen Things You Need to Know Right Now."

And have a good laugh!

The Cost of the Kingdom

2009-03-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

Note: To follow this post best, you may want to have a Bible open to Mark 8:31-38.

It's interesting (and perhaps disturbing) that when it comes to the Gospel and choosing to commit to a life of discipleship to Jesus, we Christians often never stop to consider the cost--neither what it cost Jesus nor us.

We may even be shocked to hear there is a cost. After all, isn't salvation a free gift of God's grace?

Yes, it certainly is in the sense that there is nothing we could ever do to earn or merit salvation. But we often grab hold of that grace with little or no expectation that anything is required of us. This kind of attitude is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace."

Mark 8:31-38 paints a very different picture. Verses 31-33 first tell us what it cost Jesus to inaugurate the Kingdom: "He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again."

Three words immediately jump out at me in this text: Suffer. Rejected. Killed.

The road to resurrection glory and power was suffer, rejected, killed. That's not exactly the kind of glorious mission we might hope for. If suffer, rejected, killed were the core values of your church or organization today, you'd probably have a hard time winning friends and influencing people!

But suffer, rejected, killed was the cost Jesus had to pay to usher in God's Kingdom. Philippians 2:6-8 says this of Jesus: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!"

It's as if Jesus has missed the latest church growth strategy seminar. Suffer, rejected, killed is a hard message to accept! Not many are itching to get on board with that. Clearly it was hard for Peter, because verse 32 says that Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Matthew's version of the story tells us that Peter said, "Never Lord! This shall never happen to you!" (Matt 16:22).

In response, Jesus sets up an incredible contrast in verse 33. The first thing he does is rebuke Peter. But then he says, "you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns."

How often we get this mixed up and wrong! We very often assume that our ways of doing things and the way we think things should be done are the same as God's. However, nothing could be further from the truth! In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says through the prophet: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

So Jesus simply gives Peter (and us!) a little reality check. And he forces us to question whether we have in mind the concerns of God, or simply our own concerns.

The second part of this passage in verses 34-38 moves on to describe the cost of the Kingdom for us. The key verse is the call to discipleship in verse 34. Jesus says: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

The first thing Jesus says we must do is deny ourselves. This is a call to a radical reorientation in our lives where we surrender being the master's of our own universe and make God the absolute center of our lives. As Rick Warren has said in his best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life: "It's not about you." The call of Jesus to deny ourselves is a call to cease allowing self to be the center of our life and actions.

The second thing Jesus says we must do if we want to be his disciple is take up our cross. Luke's version of this story emphasizes that this is a daily process -- we must take up our cross daily (Lk 9:23). This involves the way of the cross and the picture is of someone, already condemned, forced to carry their own cross to the place of execution, just as Jesus was required to do.

Now that doesn't sound too glamorous. In fact, it sounds horrific. Jesus says, "You want to be my disciple? That's wonderful! Come and die. Pick up your cross and follow me."

Once again, it's kind of like Jesus missed out on the latest church grown seminar! This isn't really the kind of message that draws people in. We want fun and good times. We want smiles and cheers. But this sounds a little . . . costly.

Following Jesus is not going to be all fun and games. In fact, I invite you to read 2 Corinthians 11:23-31 and Hebrews 11:35-12:3 to see what it cost some people to live faithfully as God's people.

The third thing Jesus says we must do if we want to be his disciple is follow him. Not me. Not Rick Warren or Bill Hybels. Not the latest church growth and discipleship strategies. And not our own conception of what it means to be a Christian. Follow Jesus. I don't think the directions can get much clearer. There's not a lot of room for ambiguity. Studying the Sermon the Mount (Matt 5-7) might be a great place to start learning what it means to follow Jesus.

As he begins to round out his teaching on this, Jesus makes three incredibly counter-intuitive contrasts in verses 35-36: (1) If you save your life, you will lose it; (2) If you lose your life for Jesus and the gospel, you will save it; and (3) You could gain the whole world, and yet lose your soul.

Once again, this is not necessarily how we might think things work. Yet Jesus gives us another reality check about the way things really are from a Kingdom perspective and challenges us to realize that the way we think isn't the way God thinks!

The final statement Jesus makes in verse 38 challenges us and pushes us to make a decision. Indeed, it is perhaps one of the most important decisions we will ever make! Will we accept Jesus' and his teaching, or will we be ashamed of him and deny him?

Admittedly, Jesus' call to discipleship is hard. Think of the slogans: Suffer. Rejected. Killed. Come and die. Those are not popular messages. They go against everything our society and culture values and deems successful. Jesus' call to discipleship isn't easy or cheap. It's costly.

Here's a crucial question for all of us to consider: What is the cost of the Kingdom for me?

I confess that it is far easier to write about this (and preach it, as I did yesterday) than to live it out. I was praying last week as I thought about this text and said, "Lord, I don't think I understand what it means to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow you. I'm not even sure if I've ever done that, or know what that looks like." Thus, I struggle with this, just like many others, and perhaps some of you reading.

Nevertheless, God's Word is clear that there's a cost to the Kingdom. I invite you throughout this Lenten season to reflect on the cost of the Kingdom -- both the cost Jesus paid and the cost he calls us to pay to be a part of it.

And I challenge us to make the decision to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. Amen.

Because Truth Matters

2009-02-28T05:47:00.001-08:00

In the Sunday school class I teach at church we recently started going through Paul Little's book Know Who You Believe. This is a classic that's part of Little's other "Know" books -- Know What You Believe (which is about basic Christian doctrines) and Know Why You Believe (which is about the reasonableness of Christian faith).

Know Who You Believe is focused on articulating what Little describes as some "bottom-line truths on which the Christian faith rests" (17). He's aiming at boiling the faith down some basic essentials.

As he begins getting to the first "truth," Little tells an anecdote about a time when he was speaking on the reasonableness of Christianity at a Canadian university. After the talk, Little describes a heavily-bearded graduate student who stood up, took a pipe out of his mouth, and said: "Why do you Christians bother?" Little says he was personally riveted by the young man's honesty and the underlying irrelevance that he saw in the Christian faith.

But why do Christians bother? Why should we?

Little answers: "Christians 'bother' because truth is at stake ... Our understanding of the truth determines what we believe and trust. Coming to know the truth could be like the difference between being in a dark room and suddenly finding a light. It does matter what we think about God and Jesus Christ" (17).

This response immediately raises a number of important questions. What does Little mean when he says "truth is at stake"? What is truth? Is there such a thing as objective, absolute truth? Can religious truth claims be objective and absolute? And many others.

Today we live in a complex and sophisticated world in which many deny the possibility of knowing any truth or even that truth exists. In addition, the idea that religious truth claims could be true in any kind of objective and absolute sense is often scoffed at. When people talk about a religion being true what they typically mean is that it is true for them, but not necessarily anyone else.

This post is the first in a series I'm going to do entitled "Because Truth Matters." In these posts we will explore the questions raised by Little's claim that truth is at stake. These are difficult questions to wrestle with and there are many dissenting voices. But it is essential to wrestle with them if we want to come to an informed worldview.

In a world where many believe the pursuit of truth and coming to any knowledge of truth is illusory at best, I think Pilate's question to Jesus is profoundly relevant: "What is truth?" (John 18:38). These posts will explore that very question.

The Priority of Prayer

2009-02-27T06:17:00.000-08:00

Why is prayer so hard for some people?

You would think that talking and listening to our Heavenly Father would be the most natural thing in the world for us. But experience shows it's not.

Have you ever heard anyone say, "You know I really think I need to spend less time in prayer. It's just taking too much of my time."

Of course not!!!

What you always hear is, "I really need to be more dedicated and disciplined when it comes to prayer."

In a letter where he was teaching a friend how to pray, Martin Luther said this: "It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, 'Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that.' Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer that day."

I've fallen prey to those "deluding ideas" more than I care to admit. The pressing needs of the day often crowd out prayer as a priority. Instead it's relegated to any left-over time, or not attended to at all. Prayer becomes an afterthought.

But here again Luther is instructive. He says this: "I have so much business that I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer."

Three hours?! For Luther, the more business he had to attend to, the more prayer he needed!

While most of couldn't imagine spending three hours praying, could we imagine one hour? What about a half hour? Twenty minutes? Ten minutes? I'm reminded of Paul's exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:17: "pray continually."

The fact is, consistent, regular times of prayer are an essential component for the health and vitality of our spiritual lives.

Jesus gives us an example of making prayer a priority in our lives. Mark 1:35 says: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place and prayed." Similarly, Luke 5:16 tells us: "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."

If the Son of God gave so much time and attention to prayer, how much more so should we?

Prayer is difficult for me. It's one of those things I have to consciously work at. I'm too easily distracted and my mind tends to wander. I've found that praying out loud helps with this a bit. I've also found that praying the Psalms and other prayers found in Scripture, or even prayers from a prayer book such as The Book of Common Prayer, help me stay focused and are quite powerful.

So, if you're like me and prayer is difficult, don't give up! Instead, follow the example of Christ and work to make prayer a priority in your life.

There's no magical formula or right or wrong way to do it. Just talk to God. Your loving Heavenly Father wants to hear from you.

Invitation to a Holy Lent

2009-02-26T04:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my wife and I attended an Ash Wednesday service at the Shiloh Prayer Chapel at Bethel College. It was actually the first time I'd been to such a service and I found the liturgy very powerful and moving.

For those who've never experienced it, or for those who are just curious to know what Lent is all about, I'm reproducing below the invitation to Lent taken out of the Book of Common Prayer (pages 264-265). The reading of this is one part of the Ash Wednesday service:

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of moral nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

[Silence is kept for a time with everyone kneeling. The Celebrant then prays the following before the imposition of ashes]

Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth: Grant that these ashes may be to us a sign of our mortality and penitence, that we may remember that it only by your gracious gift that we are given everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Fat Tuesday

2009-02-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

So today was "Fat Tuesday"--the day before Lent begins.

In previous posts I've mentioned that I didn't grow up in a church tradition that observed seasons of the Christian Year such as Advent and Lent. So, confession: I've actually never given up anything for Lent in my life! Besides, giving up things like chocolate and pop always seemed superficial and silly to me.

Until now.

Several weeks ago my wife proposed that we give up going out to eat during Lent this year. Considering that we go out to eat more than we eat at home, this would actually pose quite an imposition on our normal routine. How would we eat, I wondered?

But it would certainly be healthier. And a lot cheaper.

A LOT cheaper.

So I agreed that it was a good idea and that we should commit to it.

We actually geared up for our fast from eating out by planning out meals for the entire week and (gasp!) buying groceries this past Sunday afternoon. It was a revolutionary experience.

But in the spirit of Fat Tuesday we decided to splurge tonight for dinner and hit the local Outback Steakhouse. I mean, it is the last time we'll get to eat out for the next 40 days!

It was good. But I almost felt like I was cheating, even though Lent hasn't officially started.

I seriously hope this 40-day Lenten discipline will change us though. Not just our eating out habits, but spiritually.

In his book Celebration of Discipline Richard Foster said this about fasting: "Fasting helps us keep our balance in life. How easily we begin to allow nonessentials to take precedence in our lives. How quickly we crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them" (56).

Similarly, Christian theologian Stanley Hauerwas has said this: "Nothing enslaves more than that which we think we cannot live without."

I don't really want to think that eating out has enslaved me. But then again, actions speak louder than words. If I indulge basically every time I have the urge to go out, that's a problem! What is revealed at a deeper level is an utter lack of self-control and discipline. And that is spiritually destructive rather than constructive.

What are the things in our lives that control us, that master us, that enslave us? It could be food, money, sex, power, anything.

By denying ourselves (fasting) for a period of time and focusing instead on prayer and meditation of God's Word, we learn discipline and self-control. Things can be put back into proper perspective. We can find balance and wholeness. And our spiritual vitality can be renewed.

And hopefully in the process we also shed some bad habits.

Rough Week

2009-02-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

It's been nearly a month since I last posted something which is basically a death-wish for a blog. The only excuse I have is insane busyness with church work, graduate classes, and family stuff. So, for anyone who did happen to read this blog (regularly or occasionally) my sincerest apologies. I am going to try to do a bit better.

I'll just be up front and say this past week has been the week from hell.

This time last Sunday I had four (short) papers due Tuesday morning for a graduate class on biblical theology. I didn't have those papers done because I had been finishing up all the final assignments from my previous grad class in January. Then I had class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8 to 5 with reading and homework each night that kept me up until around midnight. All day Friday and most of Saturday was spent getting ready for Sunday.

But the real kicker happened Saturday night when my wife and I finally decided we could relax for a bit. We ordered some take-out food and I took off in our Jeep Liberty to get the grub, pick up a movie at Blockbuster and enjoy a nice evening with my wife.

I knew something bad was going to happen when pulling out of the driveway the Jeep didn't seem to have much power behind it. We had this problem before and back in October had spent a few thousand dollars getting it repaired.

I stopped at a gas station to put air in the rear tire which clearly has a slow leak in it because I have to put air in it every week. Tires fully inflated, I hop back in and turn the ignition. Nothing. I try again. This time the Jeep starts. I back up, but then as I apply the brake, it dies. It started again and I was on my way, but now I'm nervous.

At the next stop light, the Jeep dies again. Now I'm not nervous, I'm ticked off. I get it going and call my wife informing her of the problem and letting her know that she may have to come get me.

The Jeep dies as I shift it into neutral at the next light. It won't restart. It's 6 p.m. Saturday night on one of the busiest streets in our city. Traffic is piling up behind me. I put on my blinkers. People are beeping and flying out around me. The Jeep won't restart. Nothing.

It just so happened that the Jeep died right in front of the entrance to a car dealership. I was able to get the Jeep off the road and into the lot. The local Jeep service shop was connected to this dealership, so I was able to eventually get the Jeep down there. I'm sure we'll have to pay some outrageous amount to get fixed what seems to be the exact same problem we got fixed before.

My wife comes and gets me. We're both irked at the situation, but we praise God that we likely have enough money in savings to cover the repair costs. We get our food, which by this time is cold because by this time we're an hour late picking it up. We skip getting the movie and come straight home. The night didn't turn out as planned, but we got through it.

Now, here's the REAL kicker.

This morning I got up and start to head downstairs in the dark to let our two dogs out--our typical morning ritual.

I get down about three steps and then suddenly step very awkwardly on a dog toy that sends me sprawling half-way down the rest of the stairs.

Instinctively I had reached out my arm to grab the railing as I fell, and it jerked my arm backwards over my head in really weird way as I fell. Pain. All through my arm, my neck, my back.

So I'm lying on our steps moaning and my wife comes barreling out of the bedroom because she had heard me fall.

"Don't move! Don't move!" she's saying. "Are you okay?"

I'm pretty sure I said some kind of explative (I know, not very pastorly, but I'm human!)

I finally sat up and took a few deep breaths. I think I'm OK. I am OK. It's just that my arm is killing me and the fall scared me a bit. But I'm fine.

I laughed. "You've got to be kidding me," I say.

Long story short, I am fine. My arm is swelled up a bit and I have a few nasty scratches and some rug burn from the carpet on our stairs and the left side of my back hurts, but I'm OK. No broken bones or anything. I could have done a header. That would have been bad.

Despite all that, we had a great Sunday school class and worship service today. I felt particularly moved by the Spirit during worship and empowered as I preached. I don't know how it works, I just know it does. And I'm pretty sure it had a lot more to do with God than it did me.

So what's the moral of the story?

There isn't one.

The week I had was a rough one as weeks typically go for me, but it's nothing compared to the real persecution and suffering that Christians are experiencing all over the world.

If the worst thing that happens to me is I'm a little overwhelmed and pressed for time, my car breaks down, and I fall down some steps, then I'm a truly blessed man.

I praise God for his goodness and faithfulness and I marvel that he uses a sinful and frail human being like me to minister to people. All glory and honor to Him.

Jesus Didn't Really Say That?

2009-01-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

So this past week I had a graduate class -- New Testament Interpretation. It was a good class and challenged me to be a better reader and interpreter of the text.

A large portion of the class focused on issues of textual criticism. That's the science of determining the "original" wording of the text. It is an important and necessary part of the interpreting process because, as any informed Bible reader knows, we don't have any of the "original" biblical texts---just copies of copies of copies. Somewhere around 6,000 Greek copies, actually, which is way more than any work of antiquity. Having all these manuscripts to compare means we can piece together the original text of the NT with around 99 percent certainty. And the 1 percent we're not certain about does not affect any significant doctrines or teachings. That's a pretty comforting thought.

Doing textual criticism, however, can start making you question things a bit. Oh, there's the longer ending of Mark (16:9-20) and the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11) that informed readers know were not part of the original text thanks to the bracketing off and explanatory notes of those sections in most of our Bibles.

But there are also some surprises.

Did you know, for example, that apparently Jesus never really said: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" in Luke 23:34 as he hung on the cross?

Yeah, it was news to me and everyone else in the class as well.

I've since observed that there is a footnote for that verse in most of my study Bibles of various translations that says "Some early manuscripts do not have this sentence."

The science of textual criticism says that the earlier a manuscript is, the more likely that's what was in the original text because the tendency over time is to add, not take away. It turns out that this verse is missing from what scholars consider to be some of our earliest and most reliable manuscripts.

So, my professor says, you can't preach that verse. It's not part of the original, which means it's not really part of God's inspired Word.

I asked, half jokingly, half seriously, how I was supposed to preach the Seven Last Words of Christ during Holy Week this year. My professor said I should change it to the six last words of Christ!

I cringed.

Here is where the intersection of scholarship and pastoral care of your flock can collide violently. How do you engender folks to have complete confidence in the Word of God while at the same time informing them that some of what they've always understood as the Word of God really isn't?

Sure, it's easier if the teaching in question is snake handling and drinking poison (Mark 16:18). But what about something Jesus supposedly said that people have heard throughout their lives?

Several of the pastors in my class were trying to make this point and sought a response from our prof, but I'm not certain the prof completely understood what they were trying to say or why.
For this professor it is a simple black and white issue. The words aren't in the earliest, most reliable manuscripts, so it's not the Word of God. Period.

I suspect that for most Christians it isn't so simple, however. I know it isn't always so simple for me.

When it comes to the specific example of Luke 23:34, I think I'll stick with Church Tradition and, earliest manuscripts or not, preach the Seven Last Words of Christ, not six.

A Church That Loves

2008-12-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was completely blown away, overwhelmed, and deeply humbled by the love that the congregation I serve showered upon my wife and me.

Though we are a tiny, mostly elderly, and largely socio-economically deprived church, I have witnessed the people's love and tremendous generosity numerous times over the course of the last year.

There was the time, for example, just after I came on board, that we took up a special offering to help a gentleman in the congregation who had one of his leg's amputated and was desperately trying to come up with a few thousand dollars to purchase a van that was handicap accessible. This one time special offering, supplemented by a small amount from the general fund, was enough for him to purchase the van. What a moment!

There was another time when we took a special offering to help cover some of the costs of improvements to our facility that we were making. I was hoping that perhaps we would get a few hundred dollars (in addition to the normal offerings, mind you).

Instead, the people gave until it seemingly hurt, covering the entire cost of a couple different phases of the improvement project. I was blown away.

For Christmas five needy families in our community were helped with gift cards to the local grocery store from our church. One might look at that and say, "Only five?" What such a person doesn't realize is that our church barely has five families in it!

And then yesterday, the love of the people for their pastor and his wife (that would be me and my wife!) was abundantly manifest.

Not only did we receive several gifts (for each of us) from numerous families in the church as well as a number of cards, I was also presented with a gift certificate of a sizable sum for Amazon on behalf of the entire congregation.

"We know you love books," they told me. "So read and study well!"

I am thankful and grateful as well as humbled by the overwhelming love and generosity of our church. Not just because of the gifts they gave my wife and me, but because of the way they love and give to each other and to others throughout the entire year.

Today's Sermon

2008-12-21T05:36:00.000-08:00

Since our church service was cancelled today due to the weather I've posted the sermon I was going to preach below.

The Annunciation

(Luke 1:26-38)

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Our text this morning is the familiar story known as the Annunciation. The angel Gabriel appears to the virgin Mary and announces that she is going to give birth to a son who will be called the “Son of the Most High” (Lk 1:31) and who will reign over an everlasting kingdom.

Mary, who we know from the text is a virgin engaged to be married (v 27), asks in verse 34: “How can this be since I am a virgin?” And Gabriel responds: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (v 35). And just to give Mary a little reassurance about God’s ability to perform tasks that seem humanly impossible, Gabriel adds: “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail” (vv 36-37).

Mary’s response is both simple and beautiful: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me according to your word” (v 38).
This is the story in a nutshell. We read it and hear it and see it performed in children’s Christmas programs each year around this time. And I fear that that kind of familiarity with the story can lead us to overlook the shear incredibleness of the story, not to mention some its important theological truths. This morning as we reflect on the story I want to highlight a few things that we may tend to bypass and overlook because of is familiarity. And I want to challenge us to see in this text, not just a nice story about the announcement of our Savior’s birth, but the deep ironies and theological truths contained within it.
First, let’s look at a couple ironies. The Bible is full of irony in that what is actually true is typically the exact opposite of what we would think to be true. For example, the first will be last and the last will be first (Lk 13:30). It is the poor who are blessed and possess the kingdom of God, not the rich (Lk 6:20). It is the meek who will inherit the earth, not powerful tyrants (Mt 5:6). And those who are persecuted are specially blessed and have much to rejoice about, not those who live care-free and high on the hog (Mt 5:10-12). This is the counter-intuitive nature of much of the Bible. Paul describes it this way in 1 Corinthians 1:25, 27-29: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength … God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
This is exactly what we have going on in the story of the annunciation. First, the place: Nazareth. I was watching a documentary on TV the other night that reported that Nazareth was so tiny and insignificant, it didn’t even appear on 1st century maps. We know that historically Nazareth was a remote town or village in which nothing of significance ever happened and no one of any importance (except Jesus) came from. In fact, we can get a glimpse of the 1st century Jewish perspective on Nazareth from John 1:46. The context of this story is that Jesus has emerged on the scene and called a few disciples to follow him. One of them was Philip. And the text tells us that Philip rushed to find his brother Nathaniel. When he found him, Philip told him: “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (Jn 1:45). To which Nathaniel retorts: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
And so we have the King of Kings and Lord of Lords coming from an insignificant village where the Jews of the time expected nothing but riff raff. That’s ironic. Nazareth is not the place that anyone would have thought the Messiah would come from.
Second, notice the people. Verse 27 tells us that Mary is a virgin pledged to be married to a man name Joseph, a descendent of David. The most important person in our story is Mary, but let me just say a few words about Joseph. The text says that he is a descendent of David, and thus through adoption, Jesus could rightly be said to be in the line of David, as the angel indicates in verse 32. Yet how the child Jesus is going to take the “throne of his father David” seems quite mysterious. For Joseph is no king. He is not royalty by any stretch of the imagination. Scripture tell us that he was a carpenter and that Jesus learned and practiced this trade as well. The actual Greek word is tekton which refers to a builder in wood, stone, or metal. Learned and important men did not become tektons in that time. Joseph was an average blue-collar worker who likely made little compensation for his efforts.
Now let’s turn to Mary. The text emphasizes that she was a virgin and tells us that she was pledged to be married. Engagement in those times was much more serious than today. It meant that the man and woman had entered into the legal contract of marriage, though consummation of the marriage didn’t take place until about a year later when the woman would move from her father’s home to her husband’s. Only divorce or death could break off an engagement. And if the engaged woman’s husband died, she was considered a widow. Women typically became engaged between the ages of 12 and 14 at this time, and so Mary has likely just entered her teen years when Gabriel appears to her.
As a young woman in this culture, May has absolutely no social status or position. She is a nobody who lives in nowheresville Nazareth. Thus it’s no wonder that when the angel says: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28), that Mary goes, “Huh?” Verse 29 says: “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”
The place—Nazareth—that Jesus came from is ironic. And the people who were to be his parents—Mary and Joseph, two very average, perhaps even below average folks—is also ironic.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords who will rule an everlasting kingdom has parents that aren’t royalty and that are nobodies from nowhere.

Isn’t that just the way God works? Like Paul said in the scripture mentioned earlier, God delights in taking the foolish things, the weak things, the lowly things, the despised things, and the things that are not and making them the things that are in order to accomplish his purpose and plan.

Here’s just a quick thought for application. You may be an insignificant person living in an insignificant place doing insignificant work and attending an insignificant church by all external appearances and by the standards of this world. Guess what? You’re in good company. Because God loves using ordinary people in ordinary places to accomplish extra-ordinary things for his glory and honor!

Let’s turn now to consider some of the important theological truths in this story. We have in verses 31-35 descriptions of both the person and work of Christ. Or put another way, we have descriptions of his nature and his vocation; who he is and what he’s going to do.

The history of interpreting scripture and doing theology in the church bears out that a fundamental tenant of the doctrine of Christ—Christology—is that Jesus was both fully divine and fully human. Jesus wasn’t a half-breed—half god and half human—like many ancient mythical heroes who were conceived by the sexual union of one of the gods with a human being. Jesus was conceived without any sexual union. The angel explained to Mary in verse 35: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Christian theologian Thomas Oden says this: “The narrative does not imply that a new Son of God is begotten who never before existed—rather it speaks of the eternal Son of God who [without sexual intercourse] assumed human flesh in the conception and birth of this person” (The Word of Life, 136).

Now, both in ancient times and today, inquiring minds want to know: How does that work? And the response is, we don’t know. It is a miracle from God and a mystery of the faith. The great theologian and church father Augustine said this: “Let us grant that God can do something which we confess we cannot fathom. In such matters the whole explanation of the deed is in the power of the Doer” (qtd. in Oden, The Word of Life, 98). Similarly, the monastic theologian John of Damascus said: “…it is by the operation of the Spirit that these things are done which surpass nature and cannot be discerned except by faith alone … the [Holy Spirit] comes down and works these things which are beyond description and understanding” (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Luke, 19).

So Jesus wasn’t half human and half God like in the ancient myths. He was also not a god that only appeared to be human, as the ancient heresy called Docetism taught. This was a belief that Jesus was fully divine, and since human beings and God are so qualitatively different, it was not possible for him to also have a real human nature. In this view Jesus was God, but not a real person. Yet our story emphasizes that Jesus was going to be born of a human mother in the normal way that babies are born in order to highlight precisely his humanity. Jesus was fully God and fully man.

Christian theology teaches that in the one person of Jesus there was both a fully divine and a fully human nature. Paul records it this way in Philippians 2:6-7, which was likely an early Christian hymn about Christ: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

The eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus, in becoming a human being, became Immanuel—God with us. In his nature he is both fully divine and fully human; fully God and fully man.

The annunciation story also tells us something of his work. The very name that the angel says he is to be called—Jesus—tells us much about his future vocation. The name means “The Lord saves.” And Matthew 1:21 tells us that Jesus is to be so named “because he will save his people from their sins.” Certainly how that was going to be accomplished wouldn’t be revealed until later. But already we have hints that there is going to be something very significant about the work of this child.

Notice also verses 32-33 where the angel says of Jesus: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob [i.e. Israel] forever; his kingdom will never end.” This language is firmly rooted in the OT where God promised David that God himself would establish David’s throne and kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:16).

History shows that David’s earthly dynasty ended about 400 years after his reign when Jerusalem was destroyed and the people exiled by the Babylonians. Since that time the Jews had been waiting for a new Davidic king in fulfillment of the promise of God. They never could have imagined that the ultimate fulfillment of that promise would come in the form of a child born to nobody parents in the nowhere town of Nazareth.

The angel’s words to Mary are clear language that the child she is going to have by the Holy Spirit is the Messiah—the Davidic king long anticipated. Thus Zechariah sings in Luke 1:68-71: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”

And so we too sing, “Joy to the World! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her king!” And we celebrate and reflect on the fact that “born is the king of Israel.”

We have in this wonderful and familiar story of the annunciation both incredible ironies and deep theological truths of the faith. As we celebrate the advent of Christ and behold the babe in the manger, let us not become so familiar with the story that we overlook or even neglect the significance of these ironies and theological truths.

God delights in using ordinary people and places and events to accomplish extra-ordinary things for his purpose and plan and glory. Just like the foolishness, weakness, and lowliness of a little baby in a manger; one who was conceived without a human father, born to nobody parents who lived in a nowhere town, and who would change the entire course of human history. Amen.

I'm Still Around

2008-12-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

In the immortal words of Pearl Jam: "I'm still alive!"

I've been holed up in my study the past two days trying to crank out my grad paper. Yesterday I was feeling like a conquering hero with the progress I made. Today wasn't so good. But that's writing.

The good news is I'm on the home stretch with only two more sections to write before it's due Friday morning! I think I'm ahead of the pace.

In the meantime, I won't be posting much. I kicked around the idea of posting each section of my paper as I finished it (you know, kill two birds with one stone), but decided to wait until all the final editing is done.

Plus there's that pesky sermon I have to write for Sunday.

I think I'm going to be booked the rest of the week.

See you on the flip side.

A Short Bio

2008-12-09T11:43:00.000-08:00

I realize that, three months into a blog, perhaps it's a little late for this. But for anyone interested in knowing a little more about me, here is an essay I wrote for our church's Christmas newsletter that amounts to a brief bio of my call and passion for ministry.

I was asked by the dear saint in our church who creates our newsletters to write this so that folks on our roll who rarely or never attend church could get get a glimpse of my story.

A Biographical Sketch of My Call and Passion for Ministry

The story of why I’m called to ministry cannot be told apart from my personal story of being raised in the Christian faith, my subsequent rejection of it, and then my ultimately embracing Jesus after several years of wrestling with difficult intellectual objections and perceived evidences against the truth of Christianity.

I was raised in a Christian home and was saved and baptized at a young age. However, in my later teens and early 20s I turned away from the faith. It wasn’t until Feb. 5, 2001, at about 2 in the afternoon, that I got on my knees in my bedroom, cried out to God, and committed myself completely to the Lord. Since then I’ve been on an incredible journey of discovering what the Lord would have me do with the rest of my life. At that point I would’ve never imagined that becoming a licensed pastor in the Missionary Church in Feb. 2007 would be part of the journey.

One of the first steps of God’s plan was calling me to finish the undergraduate degree I began but never completed due to extenuating family circumstances. I entered Bethel College’s Adult Studies program in the fall of 2003 and in 2006 graduated with a B.A. in Bible and Ministry.

Because of my journey from faith, to skepticism, and ultimately back to Christ, one burning passion of my heart is to see that professing believers are grounded in sound doctrinal truth and are equipped with reasons for why Christianity is true. This passion led me in 2006 to co-founding a small church (Sunday school class) at Nappanee Missionary Church called Faith Explorers. The Faith Explorers motto was Equipping the Mind, Engaging the Heart. Our mission was to build believers’ faith and break down seekers’ and skeptics’ barriers. For nearly two years I served as the teaching pastor and overseer of Faith Explorers before I was called to candidate for full-time vocational ministry positions.

In January 2008 I accepted the call to become the pastor at Eau Claire Community Church. Though the church was and is struggling to survive, its regular attenders love the Lord and are some of the most gracious and loving folks my wife, Jennifer, and I have ever met. We are a church that is committed to growing together in Christ and helping each other along the journey. Since January we have made significant facilities improvements, moved to a more blended traditional/moderately contemporary worship service, and seen Sunday worship attendance increase slightly. Somehow through our feeble and flawed efforts the Lord is working and it is amazing to watch His Kingdom work being accomplished. We give him all the glory.

I have an intense desire to further my education, not only because of a deep love of learning, but also to equip myself to be a better teacher and pastor while personally growing as a fully committed disciple of Christ. With that in mind, I’m currently on track to finish a Master of Ministries (M.Min.) degree this spring from Bethel College’s graduate school. Eventually I hope to complete a seminary degree (M.Div.) and a doctorate.

My lovely wife helps in the ministry of the church, but her full-time job is freelance writing and adjunct teaching as a writing professor at Bethel College. She holds a B.S. in journalism from Ball State University and is currently workings towards finishing an M.A. in English Studies and Communication from Valparaiso University. We live in Mishawaka, Ind. with our two dogs; a yellow Lab named Abe and a mutt named Emmie.

Reflections on Pastoral Theology (4)

2008-12-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

It's crunch time.

The big paper for my semester-long independent study on pastoral theology for the 21st century is due the 19th.

All of (OK, most of) my reading is done for the project. Now I just have to collect and organize my thoughts and start writing.

There's just one problem: I think I'm more confused than ever!

A personal goal I had for this study was to develop (or begin developing) my own personal pastoral theology. I figured that might be a good thing to do, since, after all, I do work as a pastor.

But alas, I have very few solid answers to any of the questions I've been thinking about and asking. There are a lot of interesting conversations to be sure. But not too many answers.

For me, the best part of this study has been being exposed to several works on the missional/emergent church. Before now, I had read next to nothing about this movement. Now I find myself scouring for missional church blogs and websites to see what they're saying.

And to my surprise, I like a lot of what they're saying. Not everything, mind you. But a lot.

I think I reject the idea that it is either traditional church in the Christendom model that we're all accustomed to (and which, by all statistics is really struggling!) or missional/emergent church that is currently making waves throughout the world as a more fringe group, but seems to be gaining momentum.

Isn't there a way to harmonize the two? Most of the missional church stuff I read doesn't seem to think so. It's all or nothing. Maybe they're right. But since I minster in a context that is very entrenched in a traditional, Christendom model, I'm just not willing to give up the ghost.

The final section for my paper is tentatively entitled "Toward a Personal Pastoral Theology." It will be interesting to see how it turns out, because, honestly, I don't even know yet!

Today's Advent Meditation

2008-12-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

We canceled church today because of the weather. For those who are interested, here is the text of the meditation I was going to deliver. It is taken from the gospel text for the day.

Get Ready!

(Mark 1:1-8)

The entire message of John the Baptist could be summarized in two words: Get ready! These two words encapsulate and define his mission. The long-awaited Messiah is coming. The kingdom of God is breaking into our world in a dramatic and personal way. And John’s message is simple: Get ready!

The ministry of John the Baptist is actually the inaugurating event of the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. Thus Mark begins his gospel: “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way’ – ‘a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ And so John came” (Mk 1:1-4).

John is the voice calling in the desert. Though Mark cites only Isaiah here, his quote actually comes from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. By combining the two, he applies to John the Jewish expectation of the coming of a prophet who would prepare the way and get everyone ready for the Messiah and God’s ultimate deliverance of his people. The one to come was to be an Elijah-type figure. In Malachi 4:5-6 God says this: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

John was called to this ministry even before he was born. In fact, an angel explained it to John’s father, Zechariah, by taking the Malachi text I just read and applying it to John: “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk 1:17). After John’s birth scripture tells us in Luke 1:80: “And the child grew and become strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.”
This is where Mark picks up the story. He combines the texts from Isaiah and Malachi and then says in verse 4: “And so John came.” His public ministry began. And with the beginning of his ministry was the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ.

John had one mission: To prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Notice verse 2, quoting from Malachi 3:1, describes John’s vocation as the one “who will prepare your [that is, Christ’s] way.” And verse 3, quoting from Isaiah 40:3, says that John would “Prepare the way for the Lord.” This was his mission, his calling, and his purpose. And to accomplish his mission, John had one message: Get ready!

How did he call people to get ready? Verses 4-8 tell us that John did three things: 1) He called people to repentance; 2) He baptized them; and 3) He announced that someone even greater was coming after him. Let’s look at each of these.

First, John called people to repentance. Verse 4 says that he preached a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” and verse 5 says that people came from all over, confessed their sins, and were baptized by him.” The Greek word translated “repentance” literally means “a change of mind.” It also connotes remorse for sin and a desire to turn away from sin and toward God. In the Jewish world, repentance wasn’t just a change of mind or some kind of intellectual gymnastics. Rather, it was a commitment to a change of life or a change in the direction of life. Thus, Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 4 this way in The Message: “John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins.”

When we repent, what we’re doing is acknowledging that the way we’re living our life and the way we’re going isn’t God’s way, isn’t the right way. We also acknowledge that God’s way is the right way, and we make a definitive decision to turn around and change direction and do life God’s way rather than our own way. It’s a life-change.

Second, after people had genuinely repented, they were baptized by John. For first century Jews baptism was an act of conversion. It was a public way of breaking with one’s old life and beginning a new one. When Gentiles converted to Judaism they were fully immersed in baptism to symbolically wash away their former life of impurity and also to symbolize their joining of a new community. What was radical and new about John’s baptism is that he was calling on the Jews to convert! People who were born Jews never had to be baptized, only Gentiles who wanted to convert. But John was calling on the Jews who came out to the desert to hear him to repent of their sins and be baptized. He was in essence converting them!

The point of all this is that their heredity alone wasn’t enough to escape the coming wrath of God’s judgment. There are no special privileges. Everyone must come to God on the same terms: in repentance and with a commitment to trust in and follow the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6).

Third, John pointed ahead and announced that someone even greater than he was coming. Look at verses 7 and 8: “And this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” The coming baptism – the baptism of Jesus – would be a spiritual baptism whereby people are cleansed from the inside out of their sins and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live out their faith. This is the spiritual rebirth that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about in John 3. Part of getting ready was anticipating the coming and the spiritual baptism of the Messiah.

John’s message was, “Get ready!” And to get the people ready he called on them to repent, get baptized, and anticipate the coming of the Messiah who would bring a spiritual baptism with the Holy Spirit.

It’s interesting that John’s call for repentance and baptism parallels the first Christian sermon ever preached on the Day of Pentecost when Peter proclaimed: “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). We are called to a life-change today just as much as those in the first century who heard John the Baptist, Jesus, or Peter. The radical message of the gospel is that now God is with us. His kingdom is available to us here and now, as well as into eternity. And to enter the kingdom we must repent of our sins and trust in Christ, thus beginning a life-long journey of apprenticeship to the Master.

Christian theologian Willard M. Swartley said this about our text: “Here is the advent punch. The gospel, the scripture, and John toll loudly the messianic bell. It is the time for God’s salvation clock to strike 12. Be joyful, repent, and get ready for the big gala event. It is here.”

As we get ready for Christmas over the next couple weeks let us remember that the whole point of the season is that in the person of Jesus God has broken in to our space and time and offered us relationship with him and salvation. And we enter in to that relationship and salvation by repenting; that is, by committing to a life-change in which we take up our crosses daily and follow Christ rather than the world. Amen.

Thinking About Theology (2)

2008-12-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

Picking up on our discussion from yesterday, my friend Dave suggested (rightly, I think) that another level -- convictions -- should be added to our schema of levels of theology. Thus, the levels would go dogmas, doctrines, convictions, opinions.

Convictions (if I understood Dave correctly) are things we believe to be true (i.e. there is, perhaps a right answer or view -- at least in our view), so they are more than an opinion, but perhaps they are not quite to the level of doctrinal importance within a particular Christian tradition.

I've always found this little schema helpful. And it's a good way to help explain core issues versus more peripheral issues to folks.

Yet it's also problematic.

Who decides, for example, what is dogma, what is doctrine, what is a conviction, and what is just opinion?

As I said in the last post, historically the Church has looked to the three major ecumenical creeds to help here.

We could also appeal to the so-called Vincentian canon: "That which has been believed by everyone everywhere at all times" to at least help us get our dogmas right.

But what are the things that meet that criteria? Are there any? At best we could probably say the things believed by most Christian leaders and teachers. But this begs the question: Is the majority always right? Were all those branded as heretics simply evil impostors with no insight and nothing to offer but their faulty views?

Don't get me wrong. I have strong convictions about what's orthodox and what's not. And generally I'm pretty conservative, so please don't think I'm going off the deep end. I'm just asking questions here.

Things get a little more tricky when we try to decipher what's a doctrine (something essential or important to a particular denomination or tradition within Christianity, but not essential to being a Christian) and what's a conviction.

To take just one example for the sake of argument, it might a strong conviction of mine that pacifism is the biblical position to hold rather than just-war theory or other alternatives. While I think my position is correct, I recognize that others that have labored over the biblical text hold other views. That is their conviction. And that's OK.

In many streams of Christianity, that's no problem. We can agree to disagree with our convictions.

But what if you are Mennonite? Now pacifism isn't just a conviction, it's a doctrine, and may even flirt with being a dogma (though that would really be pushing it!).

But nevertheless, it's definitely more than a conviction. Pacifism is a doctrine that's an essential part of being part of the Mennonite community.

But who decides these categories? Do individuals? Do the communities themselves?

In Protestantism we don't have a magisterium and we don't have a pope who speaks infallibly (the Catholic belief) on matters of theology, faith, and practice.

I confess that sometimes I think it might be helpful to have that because then at least everyone could be on the same or similar page. Granted, you may not like or agree with the "official" position, and consequently do your own thing anyway, but at least there would be absolutely no doubts about what the official position is!

But what we have in Protestant theology in general and evangelicalism in particular, to quote Witherington again, is "a many-splintered thing" (The Problem With Evangelical Theology, ix) -- not just in the shear number of different denominations, but also sometimes stark differences over what counts as dogma, doctrine, conviction, or opinion.

In my own thinking I have found myself gravitating toward discovering the core "ecumenical consensus" as found in the church fathers and early creeds. But that consensus isn't always easy to discern and "consensus" can be elusive.

What I do know is that I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with many of evangelicalism's dogmas, its sacred cows, and its pet projects.

I'm not sure what the way forward is. I just sense that it needs to be different.

Thinking About Theology

2008-12-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

As NT scholar Ben Witherington III has said in his excellent and thought-provoking book The Problem With Evangelical Theology, evangelicalism today is "a many splintered thing" (ix).

There are literally thousands of different Christian denominations that subscribe in some form or another to Evangelicalism. My denomination, the Missionary Church, is one of them.

And all of these various denominations each have their pet projects and theological distinctives. Indeed, it's precisely their distinctives that likely caused a particular group or denomination to break off from another and form its own.

I have long said in my own teaching (though I stole this concept from Christian theologian Roger E. Olson and his book The Mosaic of Christian Belief) that our major problem is that we have too often majored on the minors and elevated things that are matters of opinion and personal preference to the level of dogma and used them as a litmus test for either being in or out.

We could think about Christian doctrines on three levels (and this is from Olson). On the top level are what we might call dogmas. These are things that are absolutely essential for a person to believe if they are going to be a Christian. They are non-negotiable. Historically these have been the things affirmed in the three major ecumenical creeds (Apostle's, Nicene, and Athanasian).

The next level down is doctrines. These are things important or essential to a particular denomination or tradition within Christianity, but are not essential for being a Christian. The mode of baptism (immersion, pouring, or sprinkling) comes to mind as an example of this.

The last level is opinion. These are things that are open for debate and discussion.

Using this schema, what has happened in many of our denominations is that we have taken opinion and doctrine and elevated them to dogma. We Evangelicals, it seems to me, are experts at doing this.

But as Witherington argues throughout his book, it's precisely in this area of our distinctives that we are very often in actuality the least faithful to the Biblical text and historical Christian teaching. We often read into Scripture things that aren't there, or we make more out of what actually is there, or we just flat out get it wrong.

I have friend and former professor of mine who says this: "It's not a question of being dogmatic or not being dogmatic. The question is: Which dogma is the best dogma with which to be dogmatized."

A witty saying. But it sounds a little dogmatic to me.

In my own journey I have begun to discover some of the thinking of the ancient church fathers, mainline (liberal) Protestants, and even Catholic and Orthodox theologians, biblical scholars, and pastors. And do you know what I've discovered? I often times resonate more and (gasp!) agree with what I read in them than I do with the standard Evangelical line I've always been taught.

Not always, mind you. But often.

For some that probably means I'm a heretic. I like to think it means I have a good dose of epistemic humility and am desiring and willing to learn from and be in conversation with Christians from a broad spectrum of traditions within the "faith once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 3).

Perhaps I am becoming post-modern or post-Evangelical or post-something or other. I'm not really sure what all that means. But it sounds good.

What's Advent?

2008-12-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent.

As I've stated in previous blogs, I come from a church background that never observed the Christian year, so things like Advent, Epiphany, Lent, etc. are largely unfamiliar to me. The congregation I serve, however, has historically observed these seasons, and so I've done a lot of learning on the fly!

Partly because of my own ignorance, and partly because I know there are others in our congregation that have little experience or understanding of Advent and the other seasons of the Christian year, I gave two short meditations yesterday, rather than one longer sermon.

The first meditation was on the meaning of Advent, which was given after the Call to Worship and before the lighting of the Advent candle. What follows are bits of that meditation, slightly edited so that it flows here ...

A Meditation on the Meaning of Advent

Today is the beginning of Advent. Advent means "coming," and it is the time of year when we remember and reflect on Christ's first coming and we anticipate his second coming.

Advent, which always begins the Sunday closest to November 30 and ends on Christmas Eve, is the start of the Christian year or Church year. What's the Christian year, you might ask?

The Christian year is simply a way to mark sacred time. The cycle of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and Pentecost is a way for Christians to go on spiritual pilgrimage as they remember and reflect upon the life and ministry of Jesus and what it means for our lives today.

As we celebrate and observe the Christian year we primarily do three things. First, we look back -- remembering God's mighty acts of the past. Second, we look around -- recognizing God's work in our lives right now. And third, we look forward -- anticipating God's continual work in the future.

Applied to Advent, we primarily do three things. First, we look back -- remembering Christ's first coming. Theologically this leads us to reflect on the incarnation -- God's becoming one of us and taking on human flesh. As John 1:14 says: "The Word become flesh and made his dwelling among us."

Second, we look around -- recognizing Christ's work in our lives right here, right now. Theologically, this leads us to reflect on salvation and it's continual working out in our lives. And third, we look forward -- anticipating Christ's second coming when he will return as reigning King and Lord.

These three movements -- looking back at Christ's first coming; looking around at Christ's work in our lives now; and looking forward to Christ's second coming -- provide the foundation for Advent observance.

When we do this, we are not only remembering and re-telling the story of God's work through Christ, but we are also entering into the story and finding our story within the larger one. It is only within that story that our own story has meaning and significance.

And so today, with countless Christians throughout the world, and in accord with the saints throughout history, we begin Advent.

Let us make it a time of reflection as we remember the coming of Christ on that first Christmas. Let us look around and recognize how God is working in our lives right here, right now. And let us look forward in anticipation to the second coming of Christ when God's kingdom will be fully realized on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Too Much Verbiage

2008-11-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

I get 30 minutes to preach on Sunday.

Since I manuscript all my sermons it didn't take me long to figure out that for me to stay within the time limit, my sermons need to be between 2,500 and 3,000 words.

But since I have a tendency towards verbosity, I don't think I've ever nailed the word count my first try. I always end up having to cut a few hundred words out.

This week I set a new record. When I finished my manuscript it was 3,717 words!!!

The funny thing is, I didn't think I was going to have much to say on Sunday's topic as far as in-depth interpretation of the text, so I purposely made my introduction a little longer than normal.

I guess I underestimated myself and my study notes a bit.

Cutting 700 to 800 words is no easy task. You can't do that just be re-wording a few things and cutting a sentence here or there. We're talking the elimination of massive blocks of text.

And so I pray: "Lord, help me to edit this down. Show me what can be cut out and what needs to be re-worked."

The key is to find out which stuff you can do without. You have to constantly ask yourself what's superfluous to the main point of the message. You have to be ruthless. And you have to cut it down.

But it's not easy.

In the end you have to trust that God will work through your feeble and flawed efforts to minister to people.

My Favorite Christmas Movies

2008-11-21T06:29:00.000-08:00

Normally I don't like to think much about Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

Don't get me wrong.

I LOVE Christmas. The entire holiday season from Thanksgiving through Christmas is my favorite time of year.

But I like to take one holiday at a time.

Needless to say, I was more than a little annoyed that my local Wal-Mart had their special Christmas section up in October before Halloween!

But I digress ...

Today I find myself seriously considering breaking my own tradition of waiting to watch Christmas movies until after Thanksgiving. Two major snow storms have catapulted us into a winter wonderland this week; and it has me absolutely giddy for Christmas!

Two of my all-time favorite movies are Christmas movies: It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. I've been watching these every year (usually more than once) since I was a kid, but I've never gotten tired of them. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I've never viewed them as an adult without crying at least a little (sometimes a lot!).

Several much more recent Christmas-time movies typically move me to tears as well: The Preacher's Wife; Love Actually; and The Family Stone.

These movies -- all set during the Christmas season -- speak powerfully about the bonds of love and family, finding your way on the journey, and in some cases, faith. They end happily (which is good!) but there is a lot of pain and heartache and terrible loss and conflict that is so true to life on the way there.

Next, I always try to watch The Family Man at least once during the Christmas season, and a year or so ago my wife and I discovered a new holiday favorite that's both hilarious and heart-warming, aptly titled The Holiday. Let me just say that if you like Jack Black, you'll like this film. The comic relief is really funny. And the heart-warming stuff is really heart-warming. Starring along with Black are Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, and Jude Law.

And finally, what Christmas movie list would be complete without mentioning A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, and Scrooge? These are always on TV during the holiday season, but I own them on DVD anyway.

For any of you macho, macho men reading this, I know you're making fun of me right now because there are so many "chick flicks" on my favorite Christmas movie list. It's OK. My wife makes fun of me too. She's actually the one who likes the action flicks while I gravitate toward romantic comedies.

But there is something about the inner yearning intrinsic to humans to love and be loved. To belong and find contentment. To have meaning and purpose and direction in your life. To know that you've made a difference in the lives of your family, your friends, your neighbors, and the world, just as they have made a difference in yours.

Family, friends, faith. That's what these movies are about.

Admittedly, most of them fall abysmally short theologically in identifying the reason for the season and the source of true life and love. This is to be expected. After all, they're not Christian films.

But they do successfully identify these desires we all have. And they do so within the context of stories most of us can relate to in some way. They speak powerfully to our shared human condition.

And if we're paying careful attention, they point us beyond ourselves and our relationships with others to ask: Where does all this come from? Why do we need to love and be loved? Why do we yearn for meaning and purpose? Why is it more blessed to give than to receive? And what does it all mean?

It's at this point we can begin to see a glimmer of God and the Gospel, even though many of these films were never consciously made to point in that direction. These movies resonate with us and stir deep within us desires and questions and pains we all have but rarely fully understand.

And that is why I love them so much.

Yep. I think tonight might be the night. Tradition is going to be broken. The snow has me in the Christmas spirit.

Now I just have to decide which movie to watch!

My Dirty Little Secret

2008-11-20T21:04:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite movie quotes comes from "When Harry Met Sally" when he says to her:

"When I buy a new book I always read the last page first. That way in case I die before I finish, I'll know how it ends. That, my dear, is a dark side."

Okay, I don't do that.

I'm not that dark. But I do skip ahead sometimes to the ending.

I have a LOT of books. I haven't counted recently, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 to 800 books comprise my home study where the bulk of my work is done. Those are just the ones in reach on the shelves.

Plus I have some in my study in boxes on the floor because I have nowhere to put them.

Plus I have books at my church office.

And if that weren't enough, I also have books in my wife's home office.

Here's my dirty little secret: I like to buy books.

Today I actually bought four more. (Technically my mother bought them for me when we were out and about. What was I to say? She insisted!)

So have I read all these books, you ask?

To quote my friend Jim: "Some of them I've read twice."

I read once that the great Prince of Preachers Charles Spurgeon had over 25,000 volumes in his personal library and that, amazingly, he could quote at length from many of them.

I confess my memory isn't that good. Most likely because I have yet to fully follow this bit of wisdom from Spurgeon:

"...master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and re-read them, masticate them, and digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times, and make notes and analysis of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed" (Lectures to My Students, 204).

So how do I justify buying more books?

Simple.

In my line of work books are tools. Just as a carpenter or mechanic has boxes and drawers and shelves full of many different kinds of tools, I need and use many different kinds of books as tools.

In fact, some of them are quite specialized.

For example, a Bible commentary does something different than a Bible dictionary. A Greek or Hebrew theological word dictionary does something different than a work of systematic theology. A devotional book has a different use and purpose than a scholarly treatise.

Some books are technical and informative and for reference. Others are are inspirational and motivational.

Some feed the mind, others feed the soul.

Some just entertain.

But all are necessary in one way or another.

Now, like the carpenter or mechanic, I may not use a particular tool today or tomorrow, or even next month. But that's okay.

Because at some point, just like the carpenter or mechanic who uses specialized tools, I will need that particular book.

Now if I can just convince my wife of that!

Teach Us to Pray

2008-11-20T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here's an idea for a graduate course in ministry preparation: Theory and Practice of Prayer.

In my own course of study I have to take several classes in Biblical studies, theology, and practical ministry stuff like leadership and counseling and pastoral care.

All good stuff, mind you.

But what is essential to the life of all Christians (especially those in ministry!), and yet is widely neglected? What is it that undergirds everything else we do in ministry?

Prayer.

I think pastors and teachers just assume people know how to pray. Maybe this assumes too much. After all, even Jesus' disciples asked him: "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John [the Baptist] taught his disciples" (Lk 11:1).

In response Jesus taught them what we call The Lord's Prayer (Lk 11:2-4; c.f. Mt 6:9-13).

Prayer is something we learn to do.

We learn it by watching and hearing others.

Sometimes we learn well from their example. Sometimes perhaps not so well.

And it seems to me that if prayer is central and essential for a vibrant spiritual life, then we ought to want to know how to do it well.

Thus study, reflection, guidance, and practice is necessary.

I like this analogy by Stan Grenz from his book Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom:

"To state the point in another manner, anyone can "say a prayer," but true praying is a learned art that is developed in part through a growing understanding of how prayer functions. In this sense, prayer is analogous to human communication. The desire to communicate with others is a natural human drive. Yet as we repeatedly experience in our lives and in our relationships with others, the ability to communicate well is rare. All people communicate, but few are good communicators. So also with prayer: Many people pray, but true communication with God is learned. It is the result of both intellectual reflection and personal diligence" (7).

I am neither a great communicator nor a great pray-er. So it looks like I could use a course in both!

I envision that such course on prayer would deal with some of the following questions:

What is prayer?

What is the purpose of prayer? (i.e. Why do we/should we pray?)

What happens when we pray?

How do we pray?

What are some different kinds/forms of prayer?

Does God answer prayer?

What if God doesn't answer prayer the way we desire?

Why is prayer difficult?

What could be more practical for pastors and others in ministry than wrestling with these types of questions and being able to communicate cogent responses to those they serve?

In addition, such a course on prayer would be wise to address the following:

The theology of prayer.

Prayer throughout church history.

The Daily Offices, Collects, Prayers for special occasions, etc.

The Lord's Prayer.

All of this is stuff I think that would not only be interesting to learn, but important to learn as a pastor serving in local church ministry.

Obviously the theory would have to be worked out in practice. But that's true of all the Bible and theology and ministry courses one takes.

To quote Grenz again:

"Ultimately, however, the only way to develop a life of prayer is by praying. After the books have been read and the principles have been understood, we are left with the task of launching out into the unknown . . . The greatest challenge we face today is the challenge to pray. Meeting this challenge requires we cease merely talking about prayer and begin to pray" (124)

Let us pray ...

Telling the Story of God

2008-11-15T18:47:00.001-08:00

Today some key leaders and I involved in planning the worship services at our church participated in a worship workshop.

The goal was to learn key concepts surrounding worship -- especially the biblical and theological foundations of worship; dialogue about the practice and development of these concepts in worship; and discuss how they play out in our particular context.

Two local pastors of different churches -- one a pastor of worship and arts, and the other a lead pastor -- led the workshop.

Both of them have Doctor of Worship Studies degrees from the Robert E. Webber Institute For Worship Studies, but neither of them came off as the "experts." Instead they were humble, humorous, and encouraged us to think of them as fellow travelers on the journey.

We had a very fun and informative afternoon. I'm anxious to get feedback from the leaders of my church who attended (so please leave comments if you're reading this!).

I want to reflect a bit here on one of the key components of worship that we talked about today.

Just FYI, the three components of worship are content, structure, and style. The first is nonnegotiable; the second depends on the type of service you're having; and the third is dependent on cultural norms and preferences.

In later posts I will perhaps reflect on each of these, but for now, here are some thoughts on the first key component of worship: Content.

By content is meant the story or meta-narrative of God. This includes the Gospel (the acts of God in Christ); the acts of God throughout history; and the history of salvation. If you think about it, the entire Bible is the story of God and His pursuit of us!

A central thing we do in worship is enter into and re-tell the story. And as we re-tell the story we are shaped and formed by the story.

The story of God isn't just content for us to know and understand. It's the larger story within which we discover our story. The story is where we find God beckoning us to relationship with him and calling us to worship and to live lives of purity, holiness, and service. And this is ultimately where we find peace with God and others as well as meaning and direction and purpose for our lives.

This aspect of telling the story is why I think using the lectionary and following the Church Year can be quite helpful because they provide a template for telling the story faithfully in its fullness.

Before coming to serve in Eau Claire I had no experience using the lectionary. In fact, I didn't even really know what it was!

And I had never been part of a church tradition that observed or celebrated the Church Year (except Christmas and Easter were always big days). So I really had no clue what the whole Church Year thing was about.

But the church I'm pastoring had historically observed Advent through Pentecost -- the seasons before what is called ordinary time -- so I had a lot of learning to do and I had to do it on the fly!

Though I'm still very much on the journey of learning and exploring what all this is about, I've embraced these historic seasons and resources and treasures of the Church. In fact I feel a bit slighted that in my 31 years, it's only been in the last year that I've experienced the richness of the Church Year and the wisdom and order of the lectionary.

And, frankly, as a pastor leading the congregation through these historic seasons, I can't imagine not utilizing the lectionary at least from Advent through Pentecost.

Why? Because it disciplines me to tell the story, stay faithful to the story, and tell the fullness of the story.

For those of you from free church and fundamentalist traditions (like me!) who are skeptical of, or even flat out against observing the Church Year or using tools like the lectionary, I encourage you to explore them first before writing them off. The links within this post are good places to begin.

You might discover in them a theological depth and richness and beauty you never imagined.

I know I did.

Spiritual Disciplines

2008-11-12T13:16:00.001-08:00

I was reading in my Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Matthew by Stanley Hauerwas the other day and came across a comment that really struck me:

"Nothing enslaves more than that which we think we cannot live without" (80).

So I began to ask myself: What are things I think I can't live without? Are there things enslaving me now? What has enslaved me in the past?

My friend Jim is pretty passionate about spiritual disciplines. You know, prayer, fasting, silence, solitude, Scripture memorization, etc. When I read this quote I thought about spiritual disciplines and how un-disciplined I've become in my life.

And when you're undisciplined, you begin to think there are things you can't live without.

There are many things I think I cannot live without that are in reality quite inconsequential: Sweet tea, boneless buffalo wings, and satellite TV, just to name a few easy examples.

Hauerwas reminded me of the importance of spiritual disciplines. As Christians we are called to "train [ourselves] to be godly" (1 Tim 4:7). We must master our desires rather than letting our desires master us and enslave us.

The Apostle Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (TNIV).

Reflections on Pastoral Theology (3)

2008-11-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

A good portion of the assigned reading for my graduate independent study "Pastoral Theology for the 21st Century" has been on the "missional church."

Missional church isn't about churches sending missionaries all over the world. Rather, church planters, pastors, and leaders are seen as missionaries to our culture right here. They adopt a missionary mindset to a select people group.

The missional church people argue (correctly, I think) that the U.S. is a post-Christian, post-modern culture. A dramatic shift has taken place in the way we think and view the world. And that significantly influences how we see and understand faith and its role in our lives.

The upshot of all this for the missional church is that the traditional, institutionalized church as most of us know and understand it and have experienced it is outmoded, outdated, and basically incapable of reaching the younger generations (30 and under).

Consider this pointed observation from Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch in their provocative book The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church:

All the tinkering with the existing model of church that's going on will not save the day. Simply making minor adjustments like replacing pews with more comfortable seating, or singing contemporary pop songs instead of hymns will not reverse the fundamental decline in the forturnes of the Western church. If you think of the church as a car, we cannot simply take it in for service. We need a whole new model (34-35).

I read that and think it must be pointless for me to try and institute more contemporary music into the worship services of my church which comprises mostly older folks. If I take Frost and Hirsch seriously, my church and every other church that's in a similar boat might as well give up the ghost and shut its doors because the situation seems hopeless!

That aside, I agree with a lot of what I'm reading about the missional church. For example, the missional model is critical of the "if you build it they will come" church growth and church renewal strategies so prominent today. The idea that bigger is better is a modernist assumption, not a biblical one.

Over against this "attractional" model of ministry, I also resonate with the missional church's call to "incarnational ministry." There are deep theological implications here: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (Jn 1:14).

My concern with what I'm reading from the missional church camp is what they propose to do with the thousands of churches across our land that are the traditional, institutional model we all think of when we think of church. The fact is, those are the majority of churches out there (and that's precisely the problem, they would probably argue!).

Are these churches destined to die for lack of relevance? What about the many older folks that comprise these kinds of congregations? Are their needs and wants not relevant and important?

It's telling to me that most of the case studies and examples I read about in the missional church books describe hip younger folks (under 30) in urban areas who are typically entrenched in subcultures of art and music. They love hanging out at local pubs, nightclubs, and cafes. They are against institutions in general, and church in particular.

None of which accurately describes the lifestyle of any of the people in my congregation or the typical lifestyle of many in the rural, farming community where I pastor and the similar communities around the country.

So the question arises: What does it mean to be missional in rural, un-hip, un-sophisticated farming communities -- the precise culture that many established churches find themselves?

So far I haven't been able to connect the dots very well on my own; and I've not come across any concrete examples. But I'm going to keep reading.

God and Government

2008-11-04T11:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I voted.

No, I'm not going to tell you who I voted for.

But I do want to take just a moment to reflect on God and government. And specifically, God's soverign activity in the rising and falling of nations.

It's possible to read Scripture through this interesting lens. From the nation of Israel's Exodus and their conquest of the Promised Land, to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and finally the Romans, Scripture is clear that God is at work in history bringing about his purposes and plans through the rising and falling of nations.

Daniel 4:17 says this: "...the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of the earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets them over the lowliest people."

Romans 13:1 says: "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."

As a Christian I have what many may call "conservative views." But I'm so tired of the conservative Right sounding the alarm that if a Democrat gets into office the world as we know it is going to end and Christianity in this country is going to collapse along with any vestige of Judeo-Christian ethics.

The rhetoric I've heard for the past two weeks in this regard on my local Christian radio station has driven me crazy! I was especially irritated when they "apologized" for having, by law, to air Obama campaign ads.

It's quite possible, given the polling of recent days, that Barak Obama will be our next president. If so, is the world going to end? Will Christianity be eradicated in this country?

I sincerely doubt it.

Rather, I believe that whoever wins -- yes, even if it's Obama! -- did so because God sovereignly allowed it to happen that way. And that person will ultimately be used by God to fulfill God's purposes and plans for our country and the world over the next four years.

Unfit and Unsuited

2008-10-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

Most pastors I know are keenly aware of their own shortcomings, their sins, their mess-ups, and their inability in general to faithfully and effectively carry out the work that God has given them to do.

Some days I feel overwhelmed by this.

But then I turn to Martin Luther's Sacristy Prayer.

Here I find comfort in that the great Reformer also felt unfit and unsuited for the work God gave him.

Here I find agreement with Luther that I "wish to devote my mouth and my heart" to God. And I will do everything I can to "ponder diligently upon [God's] Word." I cry out to God with Luther: "use me as your instrument."

And yet I also realize with Luther that "if ever I should be on my own, I would easily wreck it all." Without God's grace and without his help "I would have ruined everything long ago."

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and His goodness! For without Him, we are nothing.

The Way We Worship

2008-10-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Except for a brief spat in my early 20s when I rejected Christianity outright, I've spent most of my life in the church. But it has been a very limited view of the church -- mostly an Evangelical/Fundamentalist, "low-church" kind of experience.

The worship service in my home church (before I became a pastor) was basically divided into two major sections: (1) Praise and worship songs and (2) The sermon.

Sometimes other things happened like special music or a video clip --and of course an offering was taken every week! -- but the basic structure was praise and worship/sermon.

Around six or seven years ago I began to feel restless in church. I felt like there was something missing in the way I had always understood and experienced church, but I didn't know what that was or exactly what those feelings meant.

I just felt there had to be something more; something deeper, richer, more theological, more historically connected.

I began a journey.

Eventually I stumbled upon (or was led to by God!) some key resources that seemed to put words to what I had been feeling. I learned there was an entire movement of restless people like me.

Who knew?

And more importantly, I began to be pointed toward a solution and connected with some friends and mentors along the way who were on a similar journey. We have learned much together and continue to question and probe.

What did I discover?

Liturgy.

Today, as a pastor, I'm still on the journey and really have only recently come into an awareness and an understanding of what I was feeling and experiencing six or seven years ago. And I'm only beginning to understand the profound beauty and theological depth and meaning of liturgy.

How do I incorporate elements of liturgy into our services? What elements should I incorporate? Why? What do they mean? What is their significance? How do I communicate that to the people in the church?

The questions continue.

I'm curious about your thoughts on worship and liturgy. What are your church worship experiences -- whether more liturgical or (like me!) the farthest thing from liturgy?

Did you or do you find your experiences meaningful? Why or why not? Are you for or against liturgy? Why?

I'd love to think in community together about the way we worship in our churches. Look for future posts on this subject.

Reflections on Pastoral Theology (2)

2008-10-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

When I was finishing my BA I took a class called Theory and Practice of Pastoral Care. The assignment for our final paper was to write on what we thought the role of a pastor was. I articulated the role of pastor in three characteristics: (1) The Pastor as Theologian; (2) The Pastor as Spiritual Director; and (3) The Pastor as Equipper.

These three characteristics, it seemed to me, were primary, fundamental characteristics that defined the role and work of pastors.

My mind hasn't necessarily changed much on this.

But now in the daily grind of parish ministry I often wonder how I'm to go about doing these three neat and tidy categories.

It's one thing to identify them in an academic paper. It's another thing to embody them and live them and work them out in real life in real time with real people.

What I've found in my study on pastoral theology is that my own convictions and style of ministry line up much more closely with what may be termed pastoral theology in the classical tradition.

In the classical tradition, pastors were theologians and theologians were pastors. In the classical tradition, the emphasis of ministry was on the instruction, soul care, and spiritual direction of people.

One could say that the role of pastor in the classical tradition closely resembled the three characteristics of my undergrad paper, although I didn't know that at the time.

In contrast, what I find in the literature today on pastoral theology is not very theological at all. It more closely resembles business leadership principles. The emphasis is on leading and building an organization. And typically, the bigger, the better.

I bring this up not only to note some of the differences between pastoral theology and ministry in the classical tradition and today, but also to make a tentative observation.

There are tried and true formulas for developing your potential into a great leader and building a big and successful organization. It's challenging, sure. But basically if you plug yourself into the well-worn equations, you're guaranteed similar results. There are scores of books that guide you step-by-step through the process. I know. I've read many of them.

On the other hand, the work of instruction and soul care and spiritual direction is not so formulaic. There's no magic equation. It's messy. It's difficult. Every person has different presuppositions and experiences and expectations and baggage which both help and hinder the process. There's no one size fits all or even most.

And yet it's this work, it seems to me, that's the true calling of a pastor.

Are pastors to be leaders? Of course.

Is the church an organization that needs to be run effectively and efficiently? Sure, okay.

But a pastor isn't a corporate CEO or even a middle manager of a company.

He or she is the shepherd (under the Chief Shepherd, of course!) of the sheep. And our calling is to shepherd the flock that God has entrusted to our care.

Sermon Stalling

2008-10-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

Since I became a full-time pastor Thursdays are my designated sermon writing day. I study earlier in the week and try to have my sermon outline and the service planned by Wednesday. Then Thursdays I write the sermon and have Fridays to tie up any loose ends.

That's the plan anyway.

But as you can see, it's Thursday and I'm writing a blog instead of my sermon.

In my life I've worked in the scrap industry (summers with my dad when I was in high school), I've been a journalist, worked in construction and manufacturing, and now I'm a pastor in full-time vocational ministry. By far the hardest work I've ever done is writing a sermon.

I love to preach and teach. Sunday mornings are the highlight of my week.

But getting there is painstaking and laborious!

You pour your energy into prayer and study and more prayer and more study. You observe the world around you and the people in your church, and then you pray some more. You think. You read. You think some more. Eventually you get it out in writing and deliver the Word for that Sunday.

And then it's over and you're back to square one.

Every week.

I'm not complaining. This is what I've been called to do. This is what I get paid to do. And I absolutely love it!

But it's not easy.

My uncle, who is a pastor, once said to me: "People don't realize that twenty-minute sermon we just preached took 20 hours to put together!"

He's not far off. Seriously.

But enough stalling.

It's time to write.

One Life to Live

2008-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday. I'm 31.

I remember when I turned 25. It was pretty devastating because I suddenly felt like I was supposed to be a really mature adult. It was time to grow up, get married, start a family, all that stuff. No more what's termed today as "extended adolescence."

Well, I got married, we're working on the family thing, and I pastor a church. But it's funny that now six years later I don't feel all that much more mature; though I would like to think that I am.

My father died when I was 25. He was only 44. Too young. But he had been sick for some time and so when he died, it was actually a bit of a relief because he wasn't suffering any more.

Since then I have often thought of my own mortality in terms of my father's short life. At each birthday I tend to think things like this: "When dad was my age, I was [insert age]. And he only lived another [insert number of years]. I wonder what he would have done differently if he'd known he only had [insert number of years] to live." I'm not sure how this yearly thought experiment will work out if, by God's grace, I reach 45.

The funny thing is, I don't think my dad would have done much differently. He lived a good life. He was a wonderful husband and father. He coached little league (even years after I was past that age). He and my mom were both actively involved in the school and community. He was a devoted church member and spiritual leader of our family. And by the testimony of many folks, he impacted people's lives.

He lived a great, albeit very short, life.

And then I think what would I do differently if I knew the things I know now. I think all reflective people go here at times. And frankly, there are many things I would like to think that I would do differently. Certainly better.

But then I wouldn't necessarily be the person I am. I might not be married. I might not have finished college. I might not be a pastor. I might not have a deep love of reading books and learning. I might not even be a Christian!

But because of God's grace and because of people like my dad (and many others!) who influenced me in various ways, I am the person I am.

That's not to say in any way that I'm a great person. But I am a person who loves the Lord, loves my family, loves my church and my flock, and desires with everything in me to impact people in a positive way for God's Kingdom and glory.

Sometimes I think I'm doing OK at this.

Most times I'm failing miserably.

But I keep at it.

I want to share with you a quote from John Piper's fantastic book Don't Waste Your Life:

You don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have
to know the few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing. If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on into eternity, you don't need to have a high IQ. You don't have to have good looks or riches or come from a fine family or a fine school. Instead you have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things -- or one great
all-embracing thing -- and be set on fire by them (44).

Typically I'm not a huge Piper fan. I disagree with much of his theology. But this book is a must-read and this quote has impacted me since the first time I read it four years ago or so.

The thing is, we only have one life to live on this earth. The things we do (or don't do) now will have ripple effects on into eternity. My dad grasped this concept. I did a funeral for a man over the weekend that, by all the testimony given, clearly grasped this concept. I am only beginning to grasp it.

I think when my dad saw the Lord, the Lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Will the Lord say the same to me? To you?

We have one life to live. Let's make it count.

Reflections on Pastoral Theology (part 1)

2008-10-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

I'm doing an independent study this fall for my master's degree entitled "Pastoral Theology for the 21st Century." I have to read 11 assigned books and write a final synthesis paper that will move me in the direction of developing my own pastoral theology.

The study has three main objectives: (1) To understand the nature of pastoral theology throughout church history; (2) To understand the nature of emerging pastoral theology in the 21st century; and (3) To develop a clear theology of pastoral ministry that takes into account biblical directives, historical understandings, and the contemporary context.

It sounds like a lot, perhaps. But this is what I do for a living!

What is pastoral theology, you might ask?

Pastoral theology is a branch of Christian theology that concerns itself with answering questions such as: "Who or what is a pastor?" "What is a pastor supposed to do?" "How is he or she to go about doing it?" Or, put another way, pastoral theology deals with both the office and functions of a pastor.

At first glance the answers to these questions may seem self-evident. After all, people (think!) they know what a pastor is and what a pastor is supposed to do: He or she is the one who leads worship, preaches, and administers the sacraments on Sundays; visits the sick; officiates weddings and funerals; and makes house calls other times.

These are all true of course. But notice they only describe functions -- stuff pastors do. They don't really get to the heart of who or what a pastor is and how he or she is supposed to go about doing the things that pastors do.

This post is the first in a series I'm going to be writing on pastoral theology. I'm going to record some of my reflections and musings, posit questions, and hopefully think in community with all of you about this topic.

Stay tuned for more in the future.

Dressed for Success?

2008-10-13T07:54:00.001-07:00

"Image is everything."

So went the slogan for those famous 1990s TV commercials with Andre Agassi. I don't even remember what was being advertised. But I remember the slogan.

Image may not be everything. But perhaps it's imporant.

I came across this article recently while doing some research on clerical wear http://www.kencollins.com/pray-26.htm. Here the Rev. Ken Collins argues that pastors ought to dress like pastors by wearing the standard black clerical shirt and white collar.

This is something completley foreign to my background and experience in the church. My typical "pastor" atire could probably be described as business casual -- dress slacks and a button down dress shirt (no tie and no jacket).

But Collins' article got me thinking. While I'm not sure where I stand on the issue yet, I think he makes some interesting points. For example, by Collins' argument, my typical dress drescribed above at best probably conveys that I'm a casually dressed business person. Certainly no one would think I'm a pastor by observing the clothes I normally wear.

And I haven't decided yet whether that's good or bad. It may not be either. Perhaps it's completely neutral. But at the very least Collins' article got me to entertain the idea of wearing clerical shirts and collars when I'm out and about on hospital visits and things like that.

So far I haven't donned the collar. And I'm not sure I ever will. But for someone whose background is a million miles away from pastors wearing clerical clothes, I cound Collins' article quite interesting.

I'm curious what you think. Check out the article and leave some comments.

Time for a Blog

2008-10-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

I began serving as pastor of Eau Claire Community Church in January 2008. Until three weeks ago I was serving bi-vocationally -- full-time at a factory job and part-time as pastor. Praise the Lord that I was finally able to move into a full-time position at the church!

But my first week on the job I was keenly aware of a significant problem that my previous circumstances had kept me from.

Time.

What was I supposed to do with all this wonderful, new-found time?

Before I had worked all day at a secular job, did all my church work in the evenings and on Saturdays, continued plowing ahead on a master's degree, and tried to have a relationship with my wife, other family, and friends. Time was not an available commodity.

Now I had time.

Time to pray (meaningfully, not as an afterthought while driving to work!).

Time to read large chunks of Scripture and think about what I'd read.

Time to visit the sick and elderly and bereaved.

Time to plan things further ahead than what I'm doing next Sunday.

Time to meet people in the community and begin building relationships.

Time.

It was wonderful. And frightening.

But I decided to use some of this time to start a blog. The primary purposes for my blogging are to think in community about Christian faith, the church, religion, and life, and to provide a way for my parishoners and people in the Eau Claire community to get to know me a little more personally.

Oh yeah. And just maybe it will help promote our church a bit. But that's a bonus.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of time. May I use it wisely to do the work you've called me to do. Amen.