wonders and reflections in God's presence

Yesterday at jury duty a young woman, after find out that I was a pastor, asked what I thought of all the “holiday” vs. “christmas” stuff. If I thought that a Christmas tree was really a Christian symbol I might be more upset about it being called a “holiday” tree. Most of what we call Christmas these days is more a celebration of the secular consumer holiday. And much of what we call Christian tradition was an acclamation of the older pagan holiday rituals surrounding the winter solstice. Consider this from the Encyclopedia Britannica Online:

“One of the best-known festivals of ancient Rome was the Saturnalia, a winter festival celebrated on December 17–24. Because it was a time of wild merrymaking and domestic celebrations, businesses, schools, and law courts were closed so that the public could feast, dance, gamble, and generally enjoy itself to the fullest. December 25—the birthday of Mithra, the Iranian god of light, and a day devoted to the invincible sun, as well as the day after the Saturnalia—was adopted by the church as Christmas, the nativity of Christ, to counteract the effects of these festivals.”

My opinion is that most of what American culture portrays as Christmas is much more like Saturnalia than it is a real “Christian” holy day. The Christian Christmas, for instance, doesn’t really begin until December 25th. Then the celebration continues for 12 days until Epiphany with the coming of the wise men. The four weeks before Christmas are a time of fasting and prayer, devotion, confession, and service, not parties, lights, cards, and cookies. When we celebrate the Christmas season beginning on the day after Thanksgiving … we are celebrating a secular holiday. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if we call it a Christmas tree or a Holiday tree. What really matters is whether we are living and celebrating the Coming of Christ in our lives and into the world.

Thanks for putting up with my Sermon for the day.

God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”

In some post-evangelical conversations there is a distinction being made between the Gospel about Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The latter being the Good News that Jesus, himself, proclaimed in his teachings and that he sent the apostles out to proclaim.  In the sending of the seventy, for instance, Jesus tells the apostles, “… say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’” (Luke 10:9 NRSV) Or, as Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, “… tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’”

As Kevin Boyd led the presbytery staff in mid-week prayer and Holy Communion the Wednesday after Katrina hit, he shared with us the response St. Paul had been offering a handful of families stranded in a hotel nearby the church.  He said they literally started showing up on their doorstep family after family after family.  A few families from New Orleans grew to over 100 people within days.  Each one had a similar story.  They had sought refuge in an inexpensive hotel for a night or two; but their money was quickly running out.  They needed food; shelter; and many other daily necessities.

Kevin said, “We felt called to do what we could.”  They started by paying hotel bills for the stranded families; then they began offering a hot supper each night for those who were displaced.  Some nights they fed 40; other nights they fed over 100.  The dinners turned into wonderful times of fellowship.  The people of St. Paul helped the families by providing prayer, friendship, clothing, Bibles, gas, and personal items.  They helped them sign up for food stamps, gave them job leads, sat together with them in hospital rooms, and shared all the latest information on hurricane relief as it became available.

On Sunday over 35 of the evacuees from New Orleans came to worship with the people of St. Paul, and just prior to communion they heard one of the guests sing the spiritual, “God Has Been Good to Me.”  God’s kingdom was right on their doorstep alright.

I think of all the churches in our presbytery that have similar stories to tell.  And all I hear in my mind is the echoing phrase from The Message “God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!”  One thing is clear to me – our churches have been changed by what they gave and by what they received in answering God’s call.  Whether it was a sheltering people in their fellowship hall or providing money for the feeding of the thousands at the Astrodome … all we have to do to see the awesome majesty of God’s kingdom is open our eyes … it’s right here on our doorstep, in our emails, in our connectedness, in our oneness and compassion.

In an email about a week after they began caring for their neighbors in need, Kevin writes, “We began this process by saying, ‘we can’t!’ God answered quietly, ‘No, but I can!’”  He went on to share all of the miraculous ways people of faith came together and provided for these people.  The result was far greater than anything the people of St. Paul Presbyterian could have hoped for on their own.  To me, that’s the essence of the Gospel.  “No, you can’t, but I can, and I will.”

My prayer today is that as we continue responding to the needs of those impacted by Katrina, we will all pause and remember … the kingdom of God is right on our doorstep!

printed in the October 2005 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant

It’s been a long time since I gave birth.  I can hardly believe that my little girl is a high school senior already.  She is growing up.  No matter how much I’d like to make time stop and her growth stand still, if even for a moment, I cannot.  I can only watch, guide, offer advise, care, and allow myself to be mystified at the gracious work of God’s creation taking shape in her.  One thing that was made clear to me even before she was born is that she is not MY child, she is GOD’s child.  In fact, I think the best counseling I can offer her as she prepares for SAT’s, college admissions, choosing a major, and the rest of her senior year activities, is to remember that she is not even HER OWN child, she is GOD’s child.  Christ has something he wants to do through her wherever she finds herself … and living into that Christ-like being for herself will not only be a blessing for her, but for her community, her family, and her circle of friends.  I believe that with every ounce of my being.  Yet, like many well-meaning parents, I find myself trying to orchestrate her life to fit my interests and my desires for her.  Like I know best.  Why is it so hard for me to trust God enough to let go of my best dreams for her, and allow God’s dream to take root?

Leading a church is a lot like parenting a child; so often we, as pastors and elders, seem to know exactly what is best for the church – the right kind of music, the right programs, the right building, the right location, the right leadership, etc.  We mean well, but like the parent who will only pay for his son to attend college if he majors in medicine or law, we confuse our own desires with God’s desires, our own best wishes with God’s best wishes.  Sure, I have dreams for my daughter.  I’d like her to take a year off and study abroad, I’d like her to major in something “profitable”.  But no matter how sure I am, I can never be certain that these are right for her at this time.  God could have a much better plan that is not yet revealed to me or her.  When I am at my best, though, I can see my misguided-expectations and set them aside, and I can see God doing something brand new in her.  When I look to see what God is up to in her, I am amazed by the wonder and richness and beauty of it all.

I am also able to, now and then, set aside my misguided-expectations for the church and look – just look – at what God is up to.   I’m seeing more churches drawn to multi-cultural ministry; I’m seeing a desire to learn to be more missional in our communities; I’m seeing some congregations wondering together about working together in common mission – both ecumenically as well as within our denomination; I’m seeing new churches being conceived; I’m seeing people pray fervently; I’m seeing lives being changed.  When we let go and trust God … miracles happen.

When I ask God to let me see clearly, though, I am also disheartened as I see churches who want to cling to a past more than embrace a future; who want to follow prescriptive programs instead of pray for God’s discernment; who want to preserve buildings rather than give birth to new congregations; who want to hold on to what they have, rather than allow the Church to grow as God wills it into a vibrant, healthy, joyful, and mature congregations.

When we give birth, it’s clear we are not the ones who create that life; we are only the ones chosen to nurture, care, and allow that baby to spring forth into the wonderful human being God had in mind.  When we birth a church, we don’t create it in our image, but we allow God to use the richness and blessing of our DNA to create something new – something that may resemble us, but not look like us, that may share some personality quirks with us, but which will reach out in it’s own way to be the mature congregation God has willed it to be.  And as we raise a congregation through adolescence and even adulthood and middle-age – we need to remember: it’s not about us, it’s about God revealing a miraculous truth in and through us.

printed in the September edition of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant

Occasionally I read a book which excites me – inspires me – and compels me to drive others crazy talking about it.  Last year is was Hilary Clinton’s autobiography.  My family affectionately advised me that if I told them one more story about the Clintons, they’d disown me.  This year it’s Dee Hock’s account of the birth of VISA International called Birth of the Chaordic Age.

Perhaps you’ve noticed; these days I cannot enter into a conversation about the church and its future without at least mentioning the book once.  More likely, I end up buying you copy.  Why this fascination with VISA and its founder, Hock?  Because, I believe the church can relate to the challenges Hock faced as he successfully transformed the banking industry, and, more importantly, we can learn from his techniques, theories, failures and successes.

When asked by the National Bank of Commerce to head up the launch of its BankAmericard franchise, Hock had no idea of the depth of innovation he would soon be required to summon up in himself and in the people working with him.  Innovation comes only after you have a good handle on the general principles which will guide you into the future.  For Hock, it was his belief that VISA ought not to be about making money, but about the transfer of value between people and peoples of differing cultures, nations, ethnicities, etc.  Hock had a vision of the card being more than a credit card, but a transaction card.  Today VISA international is owned by 22,000 member banks, and it transfers $1.25 trillion a year across hundreds of national borders and across currencies.  In order to help move the traditional banking industry into a new world, Hock had to envision an organization which was not hierarchical, tyrannical, or highly controlled, but one he calls chaordic.  That is, a self-organizing structure in which each part is guided by the internal DNA of the whole.

Those same principles are important for leading the Church through the transformation God is calling us toward as we face a new multi-cultural, post-modern world.  For starters, we need to be absolutely clear about the principles which guide us.  You may call them your core values, or bedrock beliefs, or mission statement, or vision.  Stan Ott calls them the defining vision and defining practices of the church.  What is the ultimate goal, the reason for being church?  Find your answer to that question, live by it, and the programs and “doings” of the church will more readily birth themselves.

Hock’s book is filled with many other ideas and stories that will shed lots of light on the transformation of congregations.  Throughout the chapters he highlights “MiniMaxims” – short pithy sayings which tell challenge us to think about leadership in a new era.  Let me end with two which I think have real meaning for transformational ministry:

Only fools worship their tools. (p.44) 

Life is a gift, bearing a gift, which is the art of giving. (p.45) 

Hock, Dee. Birth of the Chaordic Age.  Berret-Koehler: San Fransisco.  1999.

Printed in the April 2005 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant.

If I were to boil down everything I know about transformational ministry into one word, it would be … prayer. I have learned to never underestimate the power of prayer in a church attempting to turn-around from a shrinking, aging congregation to a thriving community of believers.  Prayer is more important than programs, curriculum, praise bands, small groups or even money in reaching the un-churched public.  I am convinced that if a church is serious about growing, it must be serious about prayer.

Now, I’m not talking about the constitutionally required words of devotion offered during the first three minutes of a session or committee meeting.  I’m not talking about the prayers for people’s health concerns that make it to the prayer chains in our churches.  Both of these have their place in church-life and are a blessing to many.  No, I’m talking about life-changing, mission-discerning, intentional, time-intensive, and sacrificial prayers offered by the whole congregation calling on the Holy Spirit to fill them and lead them through the transformational process. 

I think it’s time to look at the kinds of prayer we’re offering most in our congregational lives.  I hear lots of prayer requests – requests that God will keep people safe while traveling, that God will make sick people well, that God will help a program or effort of a congregation go well.  Certainly there is benefit in offering these kinds of prayers.  But, dare I say, these prayer requests are more about God blessing what we are doing instead of about helping us become more about what God is doing? 

Brian McLaren wrote:  “Our persistent “bless-me” bug, like a nasty flu into which we keep relapsing, creates what some of my friends have called “the great commotion,” a close approximation of the Great Commission, but a miss nonetheless. Seminar junkies accumulate plastic-covered notebooks that could fill an oil tanker. Authors like myself write books whose combined gross weight may exceed the weight of our congregations after a pot-luck dinner. But not much changes.”

Not much changes, because in transformational ministry, what most needs to change is inside ourselves.  It’s not so much about the style of worship or the types of programs, it’s not about mission/vision statements or designing a “cool” new logo; it’s not about small groups or permission-giving environments; it’s not even about knowing the needs of generation-x or the post-modern world.  No, it’s about our willingness to put aside our busy schedules and our pre-conceived notions about life and church and allow God to mold our hearts, minds, and spirit into the likeness of Christ. 

I have witnessed congregations in serious prayer – 24 hour prayer vigils; committee members entering 30 day prayer covenants; 40 day fasts or periods of intense daily prayer for a vision or discernment in a congregation’s direction.  And I have been blown away by the power of God at work in those congregations.   I have seen miracles! 

Are you interested in congregational transformation?  Do you want your church to move from losing members to gaining?  The first step is the easiest – and the hardest – Pray.   Pray that God will shape your congregation into the vessel most effective at carrying the living water to a parched, dry and dying world.

Printed in the March 2005 issue of Connections, a publication of the Presbytery of New Covenant