Carpé This

A few observations.

Observation one: I fly fish for trout. In doing so, I have noticed more and more fisherman (mostly novices) using the Latin names for the insects upon which the trout are feeding. Instead of saying “They’re feeding on little yellow bugs,” they will utter, “Looks like a #16 Ephemerella dorothea.” Now since fly fisherpeople tend to be somewhat purist and elitist, I have come to expect a certain level of snobbery. But this one is making my waders chafe.

Observation two: I am a pastor. I have noticed more and more pastors (mostly novices) using the Latin names for the Sundays of the church year. Instead of saying “Today is the second Sunday of Easter,” they will pontificate “This is Quasimodo Geniti.” I still remember a good bit of Latin. But I remember more literature. And I remember Quasimodo. He was a hunchback. I don’t care to think about his geniti.

Observation three: Most trout in Minnesota streams, like most Lutherans in Minnesota pews, don’t speak Latin.

Reputo super is.

I Concur

Hope (It’s not New)

I was reading over at Porpoise Diving Life (picking up where purpose-driven peters out), this article about “Faith To confront unprecedented economic times.”

The author quotes Brian McLaren (someone I rarely quote, much less applaud) as saying “Faith involves admitting with humility and boldness that we need to change, to go against the flow, to be different, to face and shine the light on our cherished illusions and prejudices, and to discover new truths that can be liberating even though they may be difficult for the ego, painful to the pride.”

The only improvement I see in the above quote is that the word “new” before “truths” needs to be omitted.

The Bible, I believe, portrays faith, hope and love as the primaries of the Christian faith. Just as all colors are unique combinations of the three primary colors (red, blue, yellow–if you are speaking of pigments) and all shapes are unique combinations of the three primary shapes (line, triangle circle), Christians are all combinations of the three primaries of Christianity–faith, hope and love.

Defining the place of love is fairly easy because Jesus defines it for us–we are known by love. When we stray from this and seek to be known by doctrine, dogma, liturgy, tradition, morality, even faith, etc., we have pitted ourselves against Jesus and cease to be who He has called us to be.

Defining the place of faith is also fairly easy because the Bible has clearly defined it for us in a number of places–we are saved by faith and live by faith.  We are not known by it, but we live by it.

Hope is not so clearly defined. But I believe we are called to be a voice of hope. This not “new.” It is ageless. I am struggling to resist the urge to quote Dickens, mainly because every pastor before me has already done it, but it truly is “the best of times and worst of times” to be the church. Yes, the economy sucks (I know that isn’t biblical terminology, but neither is “shut up.” If you feel the need to comment on my language, “shut up”). We don’t live by and we aren’t known by the economy. However we can be a voice of hope, even if and especially when the economy sucks (see above).

The church being the voice of hope is not a “new truth” that needs to be discovered. It, just like being known by love and living by faith, is an old truth that needs to be reclaimed.

I hope.

Can You Hear God Giggle?

I was searching through some files and came across something I wrote about 4 years ago (in my pre-billablog days). I got a kick out of reading it again and decided it was blog worthy.

Can You Hear God Giggle?

I live in a multi-cultural neighborhood. I am the pastor of a predominantly white church in that neighborhood. So I am always talking about reaching out to our community and making our church look more like our community.

This Sunday I preached on a scripture from Isaiah where God said, “My house shall be called a house a prayer for all nations.” I hit hard on the “all nations” part, and talked about the challenges we face dealing with our own prejudice. I urged the congregation to rethink our attitudes toward people who are different than us.

I preached this message 5 times to 5 different groups of people and filed the sermom away.
And then God sent me an angel named Dale.

I looked out my office window this morning and saw this large, long haired, Native American coming up the church walk. I figured he wanted money. I was wrong. I also figured he was drunk. I was wrong. I also figured I would send him away in less than 5 minutes. I was wrong again. (As you can see, I was really doing a great job of practicing what I preach). Anyway, I took this great Christian attitude and went to meet him at the door.

I said, “Hi, can I help you?” He said, “My name is Dale. I saw your sign and I was wondering if I could talk to you about the Bible.” (And I thought, “and then ask you for money”). I knew that my wife had taken my last 10 bucks out of my wallet this morning, so I didn’t have anything to lose, so I said, “Sure, come on up.”
We went into my office and sat down and he spent the next 90 minutes humbling me and blessing me.
Remember I had just preached a sermon about being welcoming to people who are different? 5 times? Well Dale’s was definitely different. His story is this. He got out of prison Sunday. He was in there for murder two and drug trafficking. He was originally from a reservation in northern Minnesota. His wife was also in prison. His kids were in foster homes. His story is one of abuse and abandonment and getting into drugs and crime at an early age. I listened as he told his story.

He went on to tell me that 9 months ago, he started reading the Bible in prison. Then he started believing it. Then he found a couple of Christians in prison who could tell him more about it.

Then he got to the part about what he wanted from me. (I was still expecting a request for money). He asked for a Bible. He said he had the one from the prison library while he was in prison, but now that he was out, he didn’t have one. I glanced around my office. From where I was sitting, I could see eleven Bibles. Publishers often send them to me. So now I only have 10.

Then he said there was one other thing. I thought, “Here it comes. How much?” He said, “I don’t know anybody I can talk to about the Bible. I had those two guys in prison and they could help me. But now I am looking for a group of people I can talk to about the Bible and who can help me stay straight.” I thought to myself, “I have just the group he is looking for. I have a group of men who meet in my office every Tuesday morning at 6:30 for just this purpose and if I invite him to this group, it is going to go over like a pregnant woman at a pole vault.” So yeah, I invited him. He was thrilled.

Then I brought up the subject that he never did. I said, “Do you have any money?” He had less than a dollar in change. I knew there was some petty cash in the safe that I could pay back later, so I offered him money. He refused, saying “God will take care of me.” I said, “What are you going to eat?” He told me he was going to the food shelf. I explained to him how the food shelf worked–that he had to be able to prove residence in order to get food. He said, “God will take care of me.” I had a whole new outlook on things by this point, so I said, “Yes, He will, and He is going to do it through me.” So we went and got in my car and he got groceries. Before we parted, I got a big, long bear hug from a big, hairy, unwashed Indian.

And I know that in heaven God was saying, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

And He was laughing at me.

Arrogance is a Child of Ignorance.

I’ll stop short of saying it is an “illegitimate” child. It is most likely quite legitimate.

But why do Americans assume that the best thing we can do for the immigrants who come to our country is Americanize them? Instead of looking at their culture and seeing what we can learn, we immediately assume our way is the best way and force it upon others.

One case in point: We say time is important. It is rude to be late. Many other cultures, including one I am intimately involved with, say time is unlimited. It is rude to start before everyone is there.  Our culture says time is more important than people. Other cultures say people are more important than time.

People are more important. I like that. I am not talking about a People First Language, that my respected friend so rightly mocks. That’s too easy. Like much of well-intentioned political correctness, real improvement goes much deeper. I am talking about a people first approach to life–the kind Jesus had. It puts people above rules, dogma, tradition and culture.

I am sure the Pharisees would hate me for this. But I am in good company.

Choices

Call me Tired (apologies to H.M.–Yours was better, but you’re dead, so you’re not even reading this).  End of a long day.  Today I made choices–just like yesterday and tomorrow.  But today I decided something about the choices. Choices are not so much a matter of good or bad: at least, not the important ones or the hard ones. We generally know the difference between good and bad, right and wrong.  Those choices may impact our life, but they seldom determine who we are. The real determining choices,the hard choices, are the choices between good and best.

I read a book a while back, or it may have been an article (I read too much) called something along the lines of “Good to Great.” The premise was settling for good is what keeps us from being great. While I understood and generally agreed with the premise, it didn’t really sink in until today.

Being in ministry, I tend to relate things to ministry.  Believing that most ministry is influenced by our understanding of our own mission, my thinking generally follows that road.  My epiphany moment today came when I realized that I have often sacrificed great by settling for good–in my ministry and in my understanding of my own mission. My choices weren’t bad. They were good. But they weren’t best.

In all my years of ministry, I believe there are very few instances where people can accuse me of doing something bad (well, some might, but they are, how did one of my Baptist friends say it?, stupid).  But I do plead guilty to doing good instead of doing best. It has defined much of my ministry.

But I think it is true of all of us. The choices between good and best are much more influential than the choices between good and bad.

Now,  I think it is best that I shut up.

Go and Make Disciples…

At St. Matthew we are in the process of something called Simple Church–simplifying for the sake of making disciples. It has given me cause to think about what type of disciples we are making. This led me to begin to think about what type of disciples we ourselves are.  I imagine it is a safe bet to say we are going to make disciples that are like us. And that could be a grave mistake.

As we undertake the process of simplifying for the sake of being and making disciples, it is important to step away from what we think we know and look freshly and intently at what it means to be and make disciples. What kind of disciples are we? The answer to that will largely determine what type of disciples we are making. The word disciple in its simplest form simply means a life-long learner. Initially the term disciple referred to anyone following a rabbi or his teachings but gradually evolved to mean something much deeper. The terminology below and much of the research behind it is borrowed from those much smarter than I, namely Dr. Tim E. Miller in his book 30×60x100 and his friend and mentor Herb Hodges. The interpretations of the terms are my own and my mistakes in no way reflect upon the scholarship of these men.

1. The word disciple was originally used for those who were Casual Listeners (Matt. 5:1). This usage referred to the crowds that initially followed Jesus as they would any rabbi. They were simply curious as to what Jesus had to say.

• Matt. 5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them.
• Today we call these people “seekers.”
• These people often attend church regularly.
• Often we are these people.

2. As the disciples became more interested in what Jesus had to say they became Concerned Listeners (John 3:1-21). Their thoughts may have reflected something like, “If what Jesus is saying is true, then His teachings have profound implications for me.”

• These are people, like Nicodemus, who begin to see power and truth in the words of Jesus and seek to know more.
• These people may begin to attend Bible studies and read the Bible more regularly.
• Often we are these people.

3. As Jesus’ crowd of disciples pondered His words, they would eventually become Convicted Listeners (Mark 10:17-23). These listeners had reached the stage where the Truth was penetrating their hearts and they were convicted of sin and a need to change.

• In today’s terms, these are Christian Believers, convicted not only of sin but also convicted of the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus for their salvation.
• This is where we spend a lot of our spiritual walk. We believe, but don’t wholeheartedly embrace Jesus.
• This is where most Christians, even Christian leaders, are most of the time.
• We like this place because here we can coast.

4. After having been convicted of sin and the need for salvation, the disciples then became Convinced Listeners (Matthew 8:2). These disciples had wholeheartedly embraced the teachings of Jesus as God’s truth. It is important to note that many disciples left Jesus prior to this due to the high costs related to obeying the teachings of Jesus.

• These are people believe that Jesus is exactly who He says He is and can do exactly what He says He can do.
• These people tell others about Jesus and offer themselves to be used by Him.
• We spend far too little of our spiritual walk as disciples here.
• We are uncomfortable in this place and often resist being led there strongly and angrily.

5. The last stage of development in the four Gospels concerning this word disciple refers to those who became Crucified Followers (Luke 14:27). These crucified disciples were those who followed Christ selflessly, abandoning all personal desires, fears, and attachments. These disciples would live and die for the sake of the Kingdom of God. It is precisely to this type of discipleship that Jesus is calling His followers when He states in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (TNIV).

• Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
• This is the place to which Jesus is calling us all time, but a place where we rarely go.
• It is only here that we truly move from Listener to Follower.
• This is the place where true joy is found.

Many Christians, including ourselves much of time, are simply content to cling to our doctrines and be saved from hell. However the call to follow Jesus only begins with that. It goes much deeper. It is much more selfless. To teach or to allow believers to stay in a state of spiritual immaturity falls perilously short of the call Jesus has given us to make disciples. This is what we are asking the Holy Spirit to correct in us at St. Matthew Lutheran Church.

Speak with Conviction, Church

Taylor Mali is a school teacher and poet. I don’t know his world-view, his God-view or whether or not he prefers his hot dogs with mustard or ketchup, but I like what he says in the following video. The church needs to take this to heart. We have the most powerful, most authoritative message since “let there be light.” Let’s reflect that in how we deliver the message.

The Idolatry of Ministry

This was found on another blog. It comes from Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor & Chaos by Tim Keel.

I believe the most acceptable and common form of idolatry in churches today is ministry. I believe many leaders and many churches worship ministry – that is, what we are trying to do for God. We often do not pursue God but instead pursue the fruitfulness that we are told accompanies God’s presence in a person or community’s life. Let me rephrase that statement: we rarely pursue God directly but instead pursue external expressions called “ministry” as a sign of God. But when we make ministry our pursuit, we make it impossible to realize the very thing we seek. Ministry is always the by-product of something else. What? The pursuit of God.

It made me think. It is still making me think. I am trying not to get hung up on the last sentence. I know it is not my pursuit of God that leads to ministry; rather, God’s pursuit of me in Jesus Christ. But the whole idea of worshiping ministry, of letting ministry become god, is an idea that intrigues and convicts me.

Grace and Peace.