the Eclectic Soul

Am I My Own Messiah?

Ok, so this is a restart of my blog that has been dormant for way too long.....

i was thinking about preaching this morning (after all that's what I do).  i began to look back on last years preaching schedule when i realized that i only took ONE vacation sunday last year....ONE!?  

to be sure, i had 3 other sunday's "off" but they were due to my traveling for 1) a youth retreat, 2) my annual denominational meeting, and 3) to invite a colleague to "rock the mic" for a particular message in a series i was doing.  

as a pastor in the united methodist church, i am entitled to four weeks vacation per year (which includes 4 sundays away from the pulpit).  i began to wonder what affect it has on my ability to communicate the central truths of the scriptures if i do not, from time to time, pull back and allow someone else to take the reigns.

as i look forward into 2014, you can bet that i plan to do a better job in this area of what we call in the biz, "self-care."  after all, am i my own messiah? no, thankfully, i'm not!

in faith, hope, & love,

E

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

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

Why I Got My Ear Pierced...

This past Friday I did something that I should have done almost two years ago: I got my ear pierced.  Now before you gasp, let me invite you to read the story before you pass judgment.  Hopefully then you'll understand [and besides, I had my ear pierced for years in college, even when I was in the midst of the ordination process, but I digress]. 

Almost two Junes ago now, Lisa and I had what was an awesome vacation with our two best friends and favorite people in the whole world, Jon and Siri Davenport.  We had been planning the trip for months, actually 6-9 months prior.  Like many things in life, it started out with a conversation that began with, "wouldn't it be great if...." and before we knew it, we had chosen a week, late June 2007, picked a place, the Wisconsin Dells, and were busy making preparations.

One of the many things that Jon and I talked about during our many weekly phone calls was the fact that his two boys, Seth and Jared, had wanted to get their ears pierced on this summer vacation.  Jon told me that he thought that he might like to do it to; first to show support of his boys, they were a bit apprehensive, and two, he had always said he wanted one.

In a moment of exhilaration I said, that if he did it, I too would do it in solidarity with his boys.

Being that Jon and I were both pastors and leaders of local congregations, there was some talk between us as to how our churches might react.  Both of our congregations were somewhat rural and not very progressive, so as good leaders we were trying to be sensitive by at least asking the question.

Well June finally came and before we knew it we were together for a week of hilarity, relaxation and amazing fun and fellowship.  About the middle of the week the boys decided that it was time, time to get pierced that is.  

We traveled the town, scoping out the best place to get it done and came across a tattoo parlor on the main drag, it looked clean and well kept and the personel seemed to be friendly.

If my memory serves me right, being the good father that he was, Jon went in first. After a minute or two out he came with the familiar golden bead seated in his now reddening ear.

Next was Seth, desperately trying to be as brave as his dad, he went in, “pop” and came out with the twin golden bead of his dads.  Everyone looked at Jared, who was a bit timid and wasn’t all too sure that he was really willing to go through with the ordeal, but sure enough he soldiered up and went in, and came out; same read ear, same gold bead.

Then, all three looked at me, and well, I froze.

Not because I was scared, of the pain that is.  I knew what to expect.  I was terrified of what people would think; what my congregation would think.  I serve a great church that unfortunately was going through a bit of a trying time, adjusting to someone who was probably casting more vision than they were ready to swallow at the time.  So, needless to say, I didn’t want to throw gasoline on an already smoldering fire. So...

I didn’t go through with it.

I broke my promise, and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening, the rest of the trip actually, torturing myself; wishing I had gone through with it.

Little did I know that two months later, I’d be burying my best friend.

Even as I write this I still get a lump in my throat.

I’ll never get that moment back.  I’ll never be able to call him up and say, “hey Jon, I’m finally brave enough to do it, so lets go.”

Never.

I missed an opportunity to share an amazing and unforgettable time with my best friend and let fear and other people’s expectations and opinions get the best of me.

I’m sorry Jon. So sorry.

So, this past Friday, I spent the morning at the local Starbucks, finishing the Sunday message, packed it up, had some lunch, and went down to the local tattoo parlor and had my ear pierced.

Was I still concerned what the wonderful congregation that I lead was going to say?  Yep.  Did I do it anyway?  Yep.

So, Jon, I wear this earring proudly, in honor and memory of you.  Thanks for loving me.  Thanks for sharing who you are, were and always will be with me.  Thanks for investing in a friendship with a crazy fool like me.  And thanks for all the ways that you have and continue to inspire me.

You’re a braver man than I ever could be.

I love you, and I miss you man.

Grace & Peace, 

E

P.S. tomorrow is my first public worship service that I will lead with my new accessory.  Pray for me ;)

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

Thinking of Advent

As we approach Advent I came across this clip again.  As funny as it is I think it's parody hits so close to home.  We often prefer the Jesus we've created in our own minds, giving preferential treatment to the Jesus we most resonate with.

It's amazing how close to home a humorous Hollywood movie clip can hit.