ZEPHANIAH-hang on to your seatbelts!

This week I'm studying Zephaniah in preparation for the sermon this coming Saturday. I find I often vacillate between the seemingly grace/love filled Gospels in the New Testament and the more familiar stories of the Old Testament (trying to stay with the ones that don't disturb me as much) when I go to spend time with Scripture. The Bible and I have been having a bit of a rocky relationship over the last while (maybe therein lies a clue-my spiritual relationship is to be with God, not the Bible). Sometime I may unpack the details of this experience more. Anyway, this week I felt impressed that it was time to dive into one of the areas of the Bible that I tend to avoid, trusting that the Holy Spirit will "protect" me! Landing on Zephaniah, it became time to "fasten my seatbelt"! The picture of God, at least initially, is rather disturbing, and in seemingly stark contrast to the one revealed in the man Jesus. However, as I've plodded through, the God of Jesus has begun to emerge. I am also being reminded that while God is "the same yesterday, today, and forever", He uses different communication instruments (people) in different eras which can make His voice sound significantly different at face value. So I press on, eagerly interested in what God is going to teach us through this "wild" little book.

I say us, because I've asked other members of our congregation to be exploring Zephaniah this week as well and to give me any feedback that they may have before the weekend in preparation for the sermon time. So, if any Cariboo Central members are lurking here, feel free to leave feedback in the comments section (anyone else, of course, is welcome to lead feedback too!).

Now, what does the above picture have to do with this? Those precious little darlings garner much of my affection at this point in my life. If anyone were to intentionally seek to harm them, well...let's just say that individual would have hell to pay! I wonder if that's part of the underlying message of Zephaniah? God will go ballistic (in some heavenly way) to love and protect the objects of His affection, you and I!

learning

This little guy will probably never experience what I experienced today. My son was introduced to water soon after birth as were my other children. If we continue with lessons in proper swimming technique, his lack of fear for water will propel him forward.

But I, on the other hand, am a bit of a different story. Many things can be self taught, but not all. Even though I love water, the "doggy paddle" is just about the height of my expertise. Recently injuring my foot, I've been on the lookout for other forms of exercise and figured that my free pass to the pool is great reason to take up swimming. As you can imagine, something other than paddling like my furry friends would be much more efficient.

Arriving at the pool before some of you were awake this morning, my buddy began to give me some basic lessons about "proper" kicking, breathing, and a variety of different strokes. After some time, spluttering and clowning around, my friend could not help but laugh at me. Looking up, I noticed the life guard perched high on his chair like a little bird trying his best to act professional, but unable to completely conceal the smirk creeping across his lips as he observed this "big kid" (klutz) trying to learn to swim. As is often the case with me and popular sports of any kind, humility was a much needed virtue at that point in time. Somehow it becomes humiliating to learn things that are expected that one should already have mastered.

I wonder about an application to the spiritual life? Humility is needed to learn the great lessons of value and sometimes some of us learn them long after others do-which is okay. Maybe we need to give grace to those who discover them later along the journey!

experience is powerful

A good friend from college recently mentioned to me, “We’re changed by the people we know, the books we read, and the places we go”! 3 simple phrases that give expression to the desires of my heart.

In keeping with going places, I had the opportunity to briefly visit 2 different churches in Portland last weekend. I had some idea of what the places would be like from books I’ve read. Navigating our pre-planned itinerary, we arrived at a beautiful high school in a residential section of town. We were greeted by a professionally made temporary banner announcing that we had arrived at more than a high school. This was the church, Imago Dei. Rushing to what appeared to be a front entrance (we were late) we quickly followed temporary interior signage to where the “big thing” (church) was happening. The speaker was already addressing the crowd of what had to be at least 500 people predominantly under the age of 40. Around the room were placed little tables adorned with flickering candles and supplied with bread and wine/grape juice for people to partake of during the appropriate time near the end of the service while the band played. I was reminded of a holiday that we don’t celebrate in Canada, as Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech was played during the service. Of course you can’t get much of a true feel for what the gathering of believers is really like by simply taking in part of one service. I left enjoying some of the elements of my experience, but not feeling like there was much real difference from anything else I have experienced lately.

With a little time to kill before the next stop on our church route, we (I was accompanied by my wife) scavenged through a couple of 2^nd hand stores coming up with some good “loot”. Pushing the boundaries of time again, we wove our way through traffic to find ourselves out front of a little old fashioned looking church building, again in a residential area. This time a handwritten little sign placed on the sidewalk almost whispered that we had arrived at The Bridge.

If walking into the building attempted to take us back in time, entering the sanctuary quickly propelled us into the present. It was an assault to the senses of this sheltered country boy. Of course I’ve heard earsplitting loud music before and seen people in very individualistic and creative attire (interpreted as liberal use of tattoos, body metal, and a rainbow of clothing styles and colors), but finding these young people all crowed into what’s called a church building took a bit of time to absorb. I hoped that my wife and I wouldn’t look like we were too much in awe. Fitting with the American holiday at present, MLK’s speech was again used as a springboard for the lessons of the day.

Once the initial shock to my senses subsided, some things began to emerge. I notice that salt and peppered around the room were hand percussion instruments of all kinds. The music was not just an up front performance, but a community effort. It was a music that, to these folks, seemed to penetrate past the cranium and reach deep into their souls causing many of them to not be able to sit still or be quiet. I noticed the freedom that many people felt to be themselves in either raising their hands and nearly dancing to just sitting quietly. There was ample opportunity for anyone, including children, to express something from the front (an idea, question, frustration, etc) even as a response to the speaker. While there was a subtle direction (agenda) to the event, it didn’t seem to overpower the experience. Clean starts and stops were not present. Things just kind of flowed in an erratic way more like a family gathering in a living room. And to add to that family feeling, this gathering was no larger than maybe 50-60 people.

The teacher/speaker for the day was a woman pastor from another similar church (this was the first time I met or heard of her) called The Refuge from Colorado. I loved her simple down to earth manner of sharing some very meaningful ideas. Turns out she co-pastors with some other folks in her church. I thought that was beautiful. Just like the medical field needs the unique influence of women, so does the spiritual!

I had a great time meeting some of the folks afterward whose blogs I’ve been following and chatting with the speaker. I left the church feeling that I’d just experienced a family gathering rather than a big well rehearsed show. I sensed community and equality. The experience reminded me of the title of Rick Mckinley’s book-This Beautiful Mess. While the style of sights and sounds do not naturally cater to my preferences, I felt attracted to the glaring beauty of God's presence evident amongst His kids no matter what they look like, sound like, or how they gather. In fact, it seems that the down to earth simple manner in which they gathered simply gave more room for God’s work to shine brighter.

This was indeed a gathering like no other and I was grateful to have the opportunity to briefly share in it!

worship-service

Here's another piece from the quote archive in my Palm.

Isn't it odd that we call our worship gathering a "service", but less readily term our daily acts of service "worship". Len Hjalmarson

I like to imagine how it might impact me if I saw my daily life as worship to the same extent or higher than the "divine hour" that is often promoted as one of the ultimate acts of worship.

God in all my boxes

Tonight I attended a young adult gathering at my friend's church in Washington. The opening exercise for the Bible study was a variety of questions about how many of us spend significant amounts of time watching TV, surfing the net, text messaging, playing games, chatting on the phone, etc. The question was then presented for reflection, "Why do we struggle so much spending just one hour a day in prayer and Bible study?" I'm accustomed to such exercises that are intended (as far as I can see) to motovate (kick in the pants) us to do things that we think we should do (the outcome is often just a fresh dose of guilt added to our burden of ever increasing to do's).

As is often the case, my contrary mind wants to see thinks from a different perspective. We only have a certain amount of time to live each day. There are basic things that we do which fall into certain time "boxes" such as: employment, time with family, sleep, entertainment (and yes, I believe there is value to this in moderation), and devotions. The boxes are each competing for more and more of our attention. We dream about that illusive idea of balance. Religion is forever harping on the idea that our God box (devotions) is never big enough.

While I do see value in taking time apart from other life activities to focus on my relationship with God, I wonder if God is not wanting to compete with all my other boxes in life? Maybe He's more interested in joining me in each box that I'm living in at any given moment? Maybe God doesn't want me to be guilt ridden that His box in my life is never big enough. I think He just wants me to be aware of His presense (and to interact with it) in all of them like the cloud penetrating all the boxes of the day in the illustration above!

And then, maybe I'd find myself being drawn (not guilted) to prayer and Bible reading either in a designated "God box" or in any one of my other life boxes.

statement of truth

This past weekend I was attending a pastor's annual retreat for fellow preachers from my denomination. At one point, my interest no longer captured after long hours of one-way monologues directed toward my ears, I was up walking around outside of the meeting room. I ran into one of the guys who works at my denominational headquarters and made some comment like, "You're tired of sitting too, eh?". He replied refering to the speaker/listener relationship, "The speaker speaks and I listen. Whoever gets done can leave!"

It took me a moment for the cryptic words to expand in my mind as their meaning was released. Then I couldn't stop chuckling to myself.
How true!

I'm sure there's many a patient listener of my frequent preaching attempts that have day-dreamed about the freedom to act on the above statement. The fact is, that statement packs much truth. Whether or not a listener actually gets up and leaves when he/she feels done, he/she does leave mentally!

lifestyle with...location about

In keeping with sharing quotes from my Palm collection, I now upload this succinct little analogy.  

"The religious man goes to church and thinks about fishing; the holy man goes fishing and thinks about God"  Author Unknown

Provided this statement reveals an element of truth for some, what might we learn?  

For starters for me, holiness is more about a lifestyle with God than a location about God. What do you think?  (not to negate the lifestyle with God stimulation value of a Godly location)

I'd love some honest feedback in the comments below from those of you who have a thought on this.

...let the "Son" of God enfold you...

Some time ago I began collecting quotes that stand out to me, either from conversations or from books, and recording them in my Palm Pilot. For some I've kept the author's names and others (unfortunately) I haven't.

I offer the following for your mental digestion today.

My wise dad (physical one!) often said that you never convince anyone by arguing with them. I really think that he's right. Argument makes people defensive, the walls go up. It's like the old story of the sun & wind having a competition about which one could get the coat off the man - blustering only wrapped it tighter, warmth won out by being gentle.

Patti

Another on a different note.

A fundamental mistake of the conservative side of the American church today, and much of the Western church, is that it takes as its basic goal to get as many people as possible ready to die and go to heaven. It aims to get people into heaven rather than to get heaven into people. Renovation of the Heart-Dallas Willard

My thoughts in summary-Jesus (the "Sun" of God) said something to the effect-God's kingdom is at hand. It's all around you. It's even in you. Reminds me of the chorus, "Oh let the Son of God enfold you, with His mercy and His grace."

check this out -- a lego church

I discovered these pictures on the blog A Deconstructed Christian. Trot over there to see what both the author has to say about them and what some of the comments are. But, before you go, how do these pictures strike you? What lessons can they teach about what God's family can be like, is like, or should be like?

who is my neighbor? where is my church?

Many are familiar with the ancient Biblical narrative of the Good Samaratin. The story intended to answer the question about who is one's neighbor. Who are we responsible to care for and take interest in?

Surfing some of my different blogs of interest, I happened upon this one on the Doable Evangelism site from Off the Map. I encourage you to click your way directly to the post link above and read the whole message for yourself. However, I can't help but quote from the message and recognize the similarities to the little parable by Jesus.

If you were to stop reading for a moment, look up, and look around you, you would find that your community is surrounding you. It’s the people at the coffee shop you go to everyday or the grocery store that you frequent. It isn’t just family and friends. Your community is everyone who steps into your path of vision, peripheral or otherwise. It takes a little extra effort, a lot of listening, and at times extreme patience, but it is never lonely.

Yes, community (neighbors) is often all around us. Sometimes it just takes eyes and time to engage them it as such. I think maybe the same can apply to the search for kindred spiritual spirits. I've heard of people basing their decisions to move to one town or another based upon whether their particular brand of Christianity (denomination) is in the desired location or not. For me, thinking about how the Body of Christ can be present anywhere God's Spirit has wooed a heart into following Him, it then opens up the possibilities immensely to where one might find spiritual community. In fact, I wonder if spiritual community surrounds me a lot more than I may at first realize because I'm too busy reading labels (different religions, denominations, race, social class, gender, etc.)?

God, what "church member" are you going to bring me into contact with next?

i rant on…

(Please forgive my looong post. Maybe you can come back occasionally to take it in small bites)

Preaching, as you’ve undoubtedly detected, is taking a lot of my interest these days. I feel I could simply rewrite Doug Pagitt’s book, Preaching Reimagined, in my own words because so much of it resonates with me. Maybe in time I’ll look back and say, “Well, that was just one of my over-excited little diversions in life. Glad I got over that!” But, since I’m in the midst of my little rampage, I’ll keep “carrying on”. I finished the book yesterday and here’s a sampling of quotes that grabbed me.

I have seen several attempts at “interactive” sermons that fall far short of progressional dialogue, primarily because they were still framed around the idea that there are experts and then there are the rest of us. P. 198

This statement made me wonder about last weekend’s experience. Did I feel my preaching experiment was a flop because, although I was attempting to do something interactive and relational, I was partly doing it within the framework of the in-charge, in-power, up-front speaker. In short, I was imposing something relational, rather than inviting and seeking the other “partner’s” permission? It’s kind of like marching into a theatre and telling everyone to have a conversation with their fellow attendees. It wouldn’t work too well because people don’t come expecting to relate-they come to be entertained.

How does one solicit a church’s permission to be more relational in preaching style? I’m not sure...yet!

More quotes:

There are whole generations of people who’ve been taught a sermonized version of faith from the time they were children. As a result they’ve developed a taste for sermonization… P. 191

…the…problem is that speaching has led a great majority of people in the church to believe that they have nothing to say. P177

The idea…that only a trained professional can speak about God with any kind of authority goes against nearly everything we find in Scripture. P. 153

…just as people have been successfully socialized to sit still and be quiet in church, we can show them how to have constructive meaningful dialogue. P. 175

We need to create environments where having people contribute is not an interruption to what we are doing but an addition to who we are becoming. P. 171 (Bold emphasis mine)

Imagine the response if people in our churches believed their gifts, ideas, and experiences were as inspired by God as those of the preacher. P. 153

I imagine churches that see themselves as more than the context for speaching. The idea that church is a once-a-week event dismantles everything the gospel calls us to be about. When the worship event centers on speaching, the message to the people is clear: The focus of our life together is this 20-minute segment; the rest is gravy. But when preaching becomes an act of community formation, there is an implicit invitation for participation in the full life of the community. It’s a clear signal that we are about more than teaching, telling, and learning about God. We are about living in the story of God in all times and in all places. P. 169 (Bold emphasis mine)

…speaching is not the ultimate expression of preaching, and preaching is not the ultimate endeavor of the church. P 121

…know that the invitation to ministry is an invitation to join in the work of God and not to create it; God is at work with or without our sermons. Know that our preaching matters, but it isn’t our central contribution; more lives will be changed by the relationships created and lived out in our communities than by what we say in some sermon. P122

The purpose of preaching isn’t’ to make the Word of God easy; it’s to help people delve into faith more fully, more deeply.

Education theory tells us people really only learn out of frustration---the frustration that they don’t know but need to, the frustration that life isn’t working but there could be a better way. Frustration is not a bad thing—it’s a necessary thing. It’s what pushes us on. P. 101

Maybe my frustration with last weekend’s escapade was a tool that will continue to drive me further in seeking to create environments of dialogue? I also am becoming aware that I need to be okay with other’s being frustrated. I shouldn’t always take frustration to mean I need to do something to fix someone so that I can feel better about myself. Frustration may be exactly what some people need in church and spirituality! Frustration by both the pastor and the congregation may be an important part of moving to more relational preaching!

Finally speaking of the way things can be for the regular “speacher”:

…the pastor is supposed to bear all the burden of having something fresh to share each week. This pressure begins to erode the soul of the preacher like waves on a rock. ... There’s only so much a person can take of being the lone voice of faith…Something is tragically amiss when the life-giving gospel becomes hazardous to the lives of the people most engaged in it. P. 145

The scribbled comments inserted by me in my copy of the book next to these last statements were AMEN and YUP.

For the time being, rant is done!

Why do Christians need to be preached at?

The Christian family, according to the apostle Paul, is compared to a body. It's a living network of different but equal members and all their resulting relationships. What I find interesting is the idea that's developed somewhere along the way, that the Body needs to be constantly on the receiving end of "professional" monologues delivered by a select few. The assumption seems to be that these speeches are what nourish, guide, and protect the Body spiritually.

Scripture portrays micro shots of the story of how Jesus preached the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Indeed, there was some lecturing (these were, at times, responses to questions and need/situation specific), but it didn't appear to consume the bulk of His activity. Service type activities and conversations appear to have received His greatest attention and through those mediums He "preached" non-stop!

I wonder if speaching (a term coined by Doug Pagitt to refer to preaching as speeches) has it's place, but not as a regular discipline? Maybe it works best for the initial presentation of ideas and topics to a broad audience?

So much of the New Testament seems to focus on the idea of "one another". We are edified by one another. We are rebuked by one another. We are taught by one another. We are loved by one another. And these networks of "one anothers" are influenced and guided by the Holy Spirit.

I wonder how many members of the Body of Christ see themselves as preachers? Not many in terms of a traditional view of preachers as professional clergy.

Lighter reading material.....of sorts

After yesterday's emotionally charged day, it was time to read about someone else's emotionally charged life.

I was tempted to bring home the previous book that I've started to read, Preaching Reimagined, but felt strongly that I should leave it at my church office until Monday. This weekend I need things not so closely related to my work.

Having had a long standing interest in emergency work and currently enjoying the role of a part time rookie firefighter, this book (among several on this topic) is of increasing interest to me. While the stories bound between its covers are high stress to the characters involved, for me, from an outside perspective, it's a relaxing, entertaining, and therapeutic read.

The writer is very talented, in my opinion, at bringing you into his world behind popular public perception. Being a naturally very curious person, I love learning about real life behind the scenes.

So far, the stories have been quite sad, as most involve death and tragedy. But, I'm only a few chapters in. I hope to get back to the book tonight. For now, I'm off to try to extend my yard barrier (fence) upward in hopes of retaining my energetic Blue Heeler, thus sparing the neighbors from her curiosity with their trash.

ugh

This is one of my frequent feelings following the presentation of a sermon (or coordinating the sermon time).

The sermon hour is such an inexplainable thing for me at times.

It's riddled with a complex web of emotions. I too easily ride the approval wave of whether the people that I want to be impressed actually are or not.

Today, I felt like the experiment, mentioned in the previous post, was a flop! Input was not free flowing. I had to keep prompting people with different ideas. It felt like milking an almost dry cow. People were nervously looking around with little smirks (God only knows what the real reasons were, but my eager imagination was ready to surmise). I took this to mean they didn't know what to do with the down time and were uncomfortable with "nothing" happening. Maybe it's me that was the one that was really uncomfortable? I tried to allow extended moments of silence after asking questions to allow people to have time to think of feedback.

Maybe it's just my expectations of what I wanted to see happen. I hoped to have a lively discussion take off with profound insights or stories shared by a wide cross section of the group that would leave most visibly wanting to participate in such an experience again. I would love to see something happen in a more relaxed type of gathering that is obviously God's Spirit taking over.

I long to see church gatherings be a more relational experience. And yet, it's hard to make relational stuff happen in a prescribed way. It's kind of like the silly little exercise that some groups do where they say, "Now is the time where you turn around and say 'hi' to your neighbor". Then you watch everyone (except the Sanguines) try to venture out of their pews and awkwardly say "hi" to the person they just greeted at the door 20 minutes ago. It's so artificial.

I wonder if it's worth it trying to do new and creative things in church?

So, I press on. I need time to process my emotions (as I usually do after every speaking engagement). I know (although it's hard to believe in the moment) that change takes time. I need to stay focused and worry less (ha ha) about what people think. I need to keep following the visions in my heart.

The interesting thing is that, during the meal downstairs, in the midst of my "ugh" feeling, someone shared with me how the insights shared by a couple of other people, during our discussion sermon time, actually answered some questions for her and tied into what she was teaching in the children's classroom. So there you go, maybe I just gotta do what I gotta do. Keep trying to trust that God does what He wants to with our efforts. Sometimes they appear great (BIG) and sometimes they appear insignificant, or don't even hit our human awareness radar.

Community Preaching

As I mentioned earlier, Santa Amazon delivered a box load of great new reads for Christmas. Yesterday I started reading Doug Pagitt's "Preaching Re-imagined". This has special significance for me as a pastor.

My eyes were nearly flying over the words while my hands trembled attempting to turn the pages fast enough. What Doug has to say is so refreshing to a pastor very frustrated for the last few years with preaching. While I love public speaking (when I have a clear presentation in my head that I'm fired up about), I too often not only struggle to know what to share, I ever wonder what good it does. What difference does it make? Why do we do it the way we do? Why does one person (or a few select "talented" ones) always do the sharing of God's word? Does God only speak through professionals (plenty of Scripture stories to argue that idea).

I'm nowhere near done with the book. I'm just pumped about what I've read so far. Doug identifies the need for preaching (defined as proclaiming). However, he takes issue with the way we most often do it. Speaching (a term he coins) is the act of proclaiming only through one way speech monolgues. These are given regularly from one person, prepared in isolation from others, given to people known largely on an acquaintance level, presented in a manner that keeps the presenter in control of what's said, keeps listeners passive, unintentionally trains the Body of Christ to think that God primarily speaks only through certain people, creates a desire for ever "better" presentations, and does little to encourage transformational relationships!

Doug suggests a more conversational approach called progressional dialogue. This is where preaching grows out of community conversation. It's also where the act of preaching is seen more as conversation amongst the Body that enriches each other. This form assumes that God's Spirit is active in each member of the Body and that we can all participate in proclaiming God's good work from the perspective of each of our own experiences, thus adding a level of depth and richness that one person can never provide.

This has my excited creative juices flowing like a river. Today I will be attempting to apply this. I'll talk a bit about this whole idea. Then, I'll be asking a couple of people to read 2 different Scriptural stories (Creation account in Genesis and Incarnation account in John 1). After that, I will begin opening the floor for the sharing of triggers (things that the Scripture brings to mind-stories, experiences, impressions, longings, questions, etc.). I'm excited to learn what God may teach me from other people today.

Anyway-I'm giving it a shot...

Happy New Year....and what about Hell?

2008! Here we are!

This holiday season was, for me, like a cup of hot chocolate on a cozy wintry evening or a cold glass of iced tea on a sultry summer afternoon-refreshing. It included fun, family, relax time, and-of course-reading! My primary reading diet consisted of Brian McLaren’s “The Last Word and the Word after That”. This enjoyable piece of fiction, which is the last in a trilogy series entitled “A New Kind of Christianity”, was dealing primarily with the issue of Hell (not as a piece of profanity, but as a place, concept, and/or doctrine). He compared various perspectives on hell ( everything from Eternal Torment to Universalism) gathering some value from each and pointing out serious issues with each and how they color our picture of God and what He really wants for His Kingdom-healing, re-creative, restorative justice for all!

The teaching is set in a story format which portrays others wresting with this subject. I could so often relate to some of the struggles. I too have felt attracted by Universalism, but been disturbed with what it seems to do with some Scriptural ideas. Along the way, Brian gave the perspective that maybe Jesus wasn’t the promoter of the concept of hell that it so often appears. Maybe He was simply using a popular concept of His day and flipping it on its head to motivate and teach a greater message about His Kingdom-a kingdom of love and grace.

In the end, maybe Hell is not God’s last word-His last great act? Maybe the Devil doesn’t have the last say? Maybe love and grace really do conquer? May God is greater than Hell? Maybe Hell (in some part) is what we experience to greater/lesser degrees when living in contrast to and apart from God’s kingdom of grace?

So where does this leave me doctrinally speaking? What do I believe in terms of popularly spelled out beliefs systems on this subject?

I DON’T KNOW!

I was inspired by how Brian seemed to indicate in this volume that “I don’t know” is a valuable and liberating tool. While there’s good in having an answer for what we believe, I think there’s also great merit in being able to say in relation to matters about God, I don’t know, even if others and denominations think that they do know.

The world is full of Hell! Maybe the calling upon Jesus’ followers is to be His hands and feet in seeking to liberate people from Hellish experiences now, not just in the afterlife!