the Eclectic Soul

Do We Still Believe that God can Change a Life?

I've been mulling about this idea for a little while now, and thought I'd through it out there for some friendly conversation. As Christians, a central tenant of our religious and spiritual understanding is that we as human beings are broken and fragmented people. 

Now I know what some of you might be thinking, "here we go, another chucklehead whose just going to bash the human race again and talk about how 'unworthy' we are, blah, blah, blah."

Well that's not exactly where I'm going, but I think that if you truly look around long and hard enough, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that we've been beating one another over the head with clubs (and the more advanced we've become, the more sophisticated the club) for eons in hopes of fulfilling our on personal endeavors, however twisted they might be.

You see, when as followers of Jesus, we fail to embrace the notion that we are flawed individuals that create flawed communities, that create flawed governments, that create flawed world-views, that even, and here's the kicker, create flawed churches, why then do we think that we really need Jesus anyway?

I mean, if we're really OK, then, well, we really don't need a savior do we?

I'm not suggesting that we adopt a pessimistic stance and cluck our tongues at "how bad the world is," but what I am suggesting is that understanding that we are bent and broken social creatures is part of the mystery that makes us, well, human, beautiful, and worth redeeming.

News flash:  you don't always get it right.  I don't always get it right.  Sometimes you live for your own desires in a way that says, "forget you world."  Sometimes I live for my own desires in a way that says, "forget you world."

When we fail to remember and embrace our brokenness, then by definition we fail to remember and embrace the need for personal transformation.  We then become, sanctimonious, pharisaical, legalistic, and judgmental.  Everyone else has a problem, except us of course.

From there we move to easily categorizing people into neat little boxes:  conservative/liberal, gay/straight, rich/poor, male/female, in/out, married/divorced, addict/sober, sinner/saint.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard as a pastor something like the following, "well, that's just the way (insert name here) is.  They've always been like that, and they're probably not going to change." 

Really!?

Never!?

If we, as people who bear the name "Christian" fail to carry the standard that declares that not only is real change necessary, but perhaps more importantly, real change is possible, then we might as well throw in the towel.

I'm broken.  I'm a forty-year-old, overweight, child of God, husband, father, friend, and pastor, who cares waaaay too much what people think of him, who gets it wrong probably more than he gets it right, but believes and hopes, beyond all belief and hope that God can change even me.

God can and still does change lives!

So how 'bout you?  Are you perhaps willing to admit and embrace your brokenness and allow God to move you towards wholeness?  Because until you do, you really have no business pretending you need a savior.

This Makes Me Sad....

Now, before you read on, let me just say this:  I don't have all the facts or information, just what I've managed to follow in the news.  So, as you read, please keep this in mind.

This article from the UM Reporter really saddened me on many levels, one of which is the incessant fear of what appears to be competition between local pastors and churches.  Sometimes I fear that if we're not careful, we can be all too busy building our own kingdoms instead of the kingdom of God.

While I honestly sympathize with Bryson Butts, the former pastor of Gracepoint UMC - I hear in his responses a primal call to reach the unchurched that isn't always appreciated within institutional churches like the UMC - I am saddened that a church plant opportunity in Kansas has succumbed under the strain of it's tearing apart.

My prayer is for the Bryson and his new congregation and the 17 original members of Gracepoint UMC that suddenly are left without a church.

Peace,

E

Why I Love This Man...

Back in the early nineties I was introduced to the writings of Brennan Manning when someone gave me a copy of the Ragamuffin Gospel.  Needless to say, that book transformed my life to such a degree that when my first son was born, I named him Brennan.

If you haven't ever read anything by Brennan Manning, I suggest with everything that I am that you go and buy everything that he's ever read!

Listen to what he writes in his latest book, The Furious Longing of God:

"Jesus said you are to love one another as I have loved you, a love that will probably lead to the bloody, anguished gift of yourself; a love that forgives seventy times seven, that keeps no score of wrongdoing. Jesus said this, this love, is the one criterion, the sole norm, the standard of discipleship in the New Israel of God.  He said you're going to be identified as his disciples, not because of your church-going, Bible-toting, or song-singing.  No, you'll be identified as his by one sign only: the deep and delicate respect for one another, the cordial love impregnated with reverence for the sacred dimension of the human personality of the mysterious substitution of Christ for the Christian...if we as a Christian community took seriously that the sign of our love for Jesus is our love for one another, I am convinced it would change the world.  We're denying to the world the one witness Jesus asked for: Love  one another as I've loved  you (John 15.12)."

--Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God, pp. 86, 89

Great Article...

Great article from presby pastor and church leader Bruces Reyes-Chow.  

Check it out here.

A Snapshot Religious Life in America

There's an interesting article out from the the Associated Press that says fewer Americans are willing to identify with any given religion.  

Although the article seems heavily biased towards evaluating those within the "Christian" spectrum of religious life, although they do touch on the percentages of other faith systems.  The report put out by The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn, makes some interesting findings.  

"In 2008, Christians comprised 76 percent of U.S. adults, compared to about 77 percent in 2001 and about 86 percent in 1990. Researchers said the dwindling ranks of mainline Protestants, including Methodists,Lutherans and Episcopalians, largely explains the shift. Over the last seven years, mainline Protestants dropped from just over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of the population."

"The study also found signs of a growing influence of churches that either don't belong to a denomination or play down their membership in a religious group."

"Respondents who called themselves "non-denominational Christian" grew from 0.1 percent in 1990 to 3.5 percent last year."

It's an interesting article.  You can read it here.

What are you thoughts?

Peace,

E

Link-Love

Thought I'd start a new weekly post and share some links that I've found interesting.  Love 'em or Leave 'em they are what they are. I hope they're interesting and entertaining.

• My sneaking suspicions has been confirmed.  According to USA Today, Protestant Christians are more loyal to their toothpaste brands than their denominational affiliations: Read here.  
• Church in Abilene Texas drops utilities not just to save a dollar but so that they can use the money they would have spent on electricity to give it away in service to others: Read about it here.
• Why, Why, Why? Read about it here. 
• Oh the possibilities and perils of Facebook and other social networking media:  Read about it here.
• In other Facebook news, Facebook asks the question: Who Owns the Content: Read about it here.  
• My own denominational tribes is asking some good questions: Read about it here. 
• Shane Claiborne shares his compelling vision of discipleship:  Read about it here.  
• Seminaries need to talk more about human sexuality and its complexities: Read about it here. 
• Is Darwinism waning?  What say ye?: Read about it here.  
• Some great advice for church leaders handling criticism:  Read about it here.  
• How do you define "church?" Read about it here.  
• My seminary alma mater to announce new president:  Read about it here.      

Peace,

E

The Plight of the Rural Church

Out of Ur, Christianity Today's blog in a piece called the Hansen Report, a post drafted by one of their Editors at Large named Collin Hansen, reports on the plight of churches in rural America.

In it Hansen reports of the effect that rural flight is having on small town churches who desperately need qualified and gifted, and he even suggests "young" pastors, who are willing to relocate to what some might feel to be remote areas.  To make matters worse, he suggests, the financial viability of small local rural churches often puts a significant strain on their ability to hire or support a full time, seminary trained, credentialed pastor.

"Even $35,000, the average starting salary for seminary graduates, overburdens churches whose members depend on Social Security checks."

I serve one of these churches of which Hansen speaks and all of which he says is indeed true.

To be able to sustain and ongoing vibrant ministry while paying a pastor even the minimum that her denominational tribe might require places a significant financial burden on the church.  This is a reality that my little tribe of about 275 is dealing with right now.

But it's not just clergy people who leave Mayberry for the big cities.  Hansen reports that:

"Plagued by severe “brain drain,” rural American towns have been grasping for ways to entice doctors and motivated teachers to return and settle. According to Time, pastors may be even less inclined to serve small towns than their college-educated counterparts."

Being a city boy, while I never imagined pastoring in a town the size that I am in now, and although I love the rattle and hum of an sub-urban/urban environment, pastoring in my current context has been a better experience than I could ever imagined.

Yet Hansen names the tough realities that I was plagued with when I first arrived to my current ministry context almost 6 years ago:

"But it’s not like you can find a huge pool of pastors dying to serve in rural churches who can’t land a paying gig. It takes guts to seek out a rural placement after seminary when your classmates have dreams of planting urban churches. Shannon Jung tells Van Biema, “A town without a Starbucks scares [young pastors].” There may be some discomfort with forsaking suburban amenities. A bigger problem is peer support."

Can you believe it, "a town without a Starbucks!?!" [thankfully there's one in the larger city some 9 miles away, can I get an "amen.!"]  But all joking aside, things like a lack of peer support, and an unwillingness to embrace the changing culture around the church can serve as a significant deterrent to wooing young pastors to a geographic locale.

Yet there is something alluring about these small places that seem to, at first blush, be a decade or so behind their sub-urban counter parts.  As one who values relationships, pastoring in a rural setting enables any leader to be on a first name basis with anyone from the Mayor to the janitor at the local middle school.  Coffee and camaraderie is shared openly, even if you are the outsider. 

So ministry in small towns can't be just ignored.

In fact just this year I went to a conference, The Sticks Conference, whose entire focus was on developing a mission mindset in order to plant & redevelop churches in rural areas.  It was so refreshing!  So many of the conferences that I attend are put on by "big box" churches who have capital and resources that my congregation could never imagine.  Yet here, in a small town in central Ohio, Wooster to be exact, was a vibrant, cutting edge, large rural church that was making a impact for Jesus and reaching a whole new audience.

Hansen issues a challenge to the conventional notion that rural pastoring is somehow a step child to its sub-urban counterpart:

"They might even begin to enjoy rural America. They won’t be spending all their time administering programs such as those that engulf many suburban pastors. They might even find the small community strangely willing to incorporate a young pastor’s fresh ideas if they are tactfully implemented. And a pastor working in rural America can always count on church members willing to serve beyond the constraints of time and ability. Starbucks or not, that’s the kind of gig that God could use to cure a pastor’s soul."

Having ministry referred to as a "gig," although I realize that Hansen is simply using a hip term, reminds me of another important point:  While it may be true that as pastor's there are different geographic and cultural areas where we might not wish to go, as women and men called of God to the gift of ministry I'm not so sure that we can pick and choose depending upon if a given place has the amenities that we prefer.

It seems to me that beginning way back with the call of God to Abram, Abram was invited to leave everything that he knew to go to the land that God would show him.  Seems a pretty ludicrous idea doesn't, that kind of faith.  Yet we are pastor leaders are heirs of Abram's call, and we too must answer God and leave everything that we have to follow.

Do I envision being part of a vibrant sub-urban ministry someday, and even plant a church?  With everything that is in me.  But has God been using me in my current rural context in ways that I could have never imagined?  More that I could have even hoped.

So, hang in there Mayberry.  Help is coming!

Peace,

E

Something to Think About...

Great Story...

Hey thanks to Tim Keel over at his blog I came across the great story about a Christian tattoo artist named Whispering Danny.

Check out the video link to FOXKC and watch the clip.  Wait until Danny drops the bomb at the end of the clip.  It's enough to bring tears to your eyes.  Here's the link:

For those who might miss it, this is what he says:

He's basically asked by the reporter if he thinks that being a vocal witness to Jesus will hurt his business, he says that he really doesn't know and he doesn't care.  Then he says this:

"I get a lot of ridicule...but when I was a drunk and doing all kinds of stupid stuff I wasn't ashamed of those things, and I did them everyday openly.  Why am I going to be ashamed now."

Now that's beautiful!

Peace,

E

Tis the Season...

Isaiah 2.7-8

 Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; Their land is full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

Their land is full of idols; they worship the works of their hands, that which their fingers have made.

Psalm 10.2;8-12

Arrogant scoundrels pursue the poor; they trap them by their cunning schemes. They wait in ambush near towns; their eyes watch for the helpless. to murder the innocent in secret. They lurk in ambush like lions in a thicket, hide there to trap the poor, snare them and close the net. The helpless are crushed, laid low; they fall into the power of the wicked, Who say in their hearts, "God pays no attention, shows no concern, never bothers to look."

Rise up, LORD God! Raise your arm! Do not forget the poor!

 

I’ve waited a few days to formulate my thoughts on Black Friday in the age of what is now being officially called a national recession.

I have used the 4 Volume Liturgy of the Hours now for about 1 ½ years as a way to mark time throughout the day in my attempt to remain connected to the Vine.  This mornings readings made me think of some of the local expressions of Black Friday that I’ve heard about over the last several days.

One instance that I’m thinking of involves a man probably in his fifties who reportedly knocked a young boy down in order to rip an Xbox 360 from his grip and then sprint down the aisle towards the check out while a young boy lay helpless on the floor surrounded by stunned onlookers.

Another instance was reported to me by a friend who works at one of the Big Box Mart stores.  On Black Friday, this particular retail change lines their main aisles with sealed crated pallets of goods.  In order to attempt to create an atmosphere of sanity, customers are allowed to place one hand on the crate and then are given a corresponding number. 

One guy came in to the game late and attempted to muscle his way to the front, knocking people out of the way who had been there for some time.

He went on to become particularly obstinate, my friend told me, and began to harass the store employee so this particular person said that this was NOT in fact how it worked and that since he had such a poor attitude, he would not be given a number and would have to go to the rear of the line.  He exploded as you can imagine.

It seems to me that the prophet and the psalmist were on to something that is hardwired into any people group who has gained enough power to somehow believe that they are entitled to walking over anyone to get what they possess; that somehow, by marveling at the sheer work of their hands and what they have been able to produce, then somehow they are entitled to the choicest places of power, no matter who it hurts, even if it’s a little kid.

My prayer is that we, as the Body of the One whose birth we are about to celebrate, will model a different alternative to the narrative of our commercial culture.  That we might take the opportunities and the gifts and resources we have been given and model what it looks like to live this new humanity that the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus has made possible.

Peace,

E