Circumference and Center

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat? What shall we drink' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you as well."

Matthew 6:31-33

Circumference.

Perimeter.

The outer edges.

The margins.

The fringe.

How many times do we confuse the circumference with the center?

How many times do we run after the things on the margins and neglect the center?

What shall I eat? Where shall I eat?

What shall I wear? Who shall I wear?

How can I look younger? How can I feel younger?

What can I acquire? Who can I acquire?

How can I look successful?

Image.

Many folks are consumed with it - consumed by it.

Image is the circumference. Image is the periphery. Image is the margin.

The circumference is not the center. And, when we confuse the two our life tends to get complicated and messy and out of focus.

Among the many awesome things that Jesus did for us was to point us to the center and encourage us to go there rather than to the margins.

The center.

The place where we find our focus, our meaning, our strength, our equilibrium, our peace, and the source of love, faith, grace and hope. The place where we find the Spirit dwelling within us. The place where we meet God in prayer. The place where we can listen and be heard.

The place where the sacred in our life mixes with the secular in our life.

And, for some, that makes the center a scary place.

The center is also where our fears reside, and we come face to face with our limitations, and our poor choices, and our bigotry and bitterness and jealousies.

But, in the center the secular can be made sacred, and the profane made profound, sins forgiven and bitterness forgotten. In the center we deal with who we are and we are also reminded Whose we are.

I am writing this at the beginning of the observance of Lent - a time when Christians make an intentional effort to cease pursuing the things of the circumference and examine the center. We do the work of self-examination and confession in order to make the center more of a place that we will more often choose to live from rather than the margins.

Jesus said that unbelievers run after the things of the circumference. I must confess that I am guilty of often running after the things that sit on the margins rather than running to and living from my center. I am pretty sure I am not the only one.

Does that mean Jesus is wrong?

Or, do my actions make a stark and unpleasant statement about my faith?

Reasons or Excuses?

Mohandis Gandhi once told the great Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones something to the effect that he really liked Jesus but he didn't see too many Christians that looked like Jesus. In other words, Gandhi may have become a Christian if it weren't for...

Christians.

Today a vast majority of people, especially young adults between 20 and 39 are saying the same thing: we like Jesus just not ___________. Fill in the blank: the church, organized religion, Christians, Christianity, all of the above. {answer: all of the above.}

Now, on one side of the coin, I have never met a person who has told me the above and has also made a serious or even half-hearted attempt to research the claims of Christ or connect with a church long enough to begin to understand that, like many organizations, the church has its good and bad. Have we forgotten that the church has led the way on most of the good social reforms that this country and many other countries have experienced? Yes, the church has its flaws and some shameful bits in its history. All I am saying is that, to be fair, if one is going to point out all of the admittedly terrible things that Christians have done throughout our long history, one should also point out all of the very good an helpful things that the church has done in our history.

But, fairness to Christianity is not what I am thinking about today.

The Barna Reasearch Group put out a book last year called, UnChristian. The basis of the book is what young adults are saying about the church. No surprises: they are saying the church and Christianity is irrelevant, judgemental, hypocritical, etc.. Barna's suggestions for the church? Don't be irrelevant, judgemental, hypocritical, etc...

DUH!

But, here is my (real or percieved) dilemma: It seems to me that most Christians will read that book, or want to address those issues by saying, "Yes! And if every church/Christian had my denomination's values/theology/tradition/rituals, etc...then we would make great strides toward addressing those criticisms." As a United Methodist, there are certain values and perpectives that I believe would indeed go a long way toward addressing those criticisms. But, I am sure that my friend Father Roy at St. Robert's Catholic Church would have different ideas of how we can live in ways that would address those criticisms. And, I am just as sure that my friend Rev. Dave Galbraith at Peace Presbytrian Church would disagree with us both.

You get the idea.

I think we need to take these criticisms seriously if they truly point to reasons why people are not becoming followers of Jesus Christ.

So, what to do?

I have my ideas, but I am really interested in yours.

What are your thoughts? Are these serious issues and legitimate criticisms? In what ways are modern Christians/the church/organized religion keeping people from becoming followers of Jesus Christ? What should we/could we do about it?

Please respond to these questions by posting your comments/thoughts/suggestions. Perhaps this can be a kind of e-conversation between us all?

I look forward to hearing from you!

And as always I am...
...with you on the journey.

Peace and much agape,
Jeff

Will The Real Grinch Please Stand Up?

This time I offer an Advent sermon I preached last year. While the content is mine, I am indebted to the person whose name escapes me who gave me the idea in the first place. The sermon is based on matthew's account of the magi's visit to the holy family in Matthew chapter 2. It may help to read the scripture before delving into the rest of this blog.

Merry Christmas!
Jeff

Will The Real Grinch Please Stand Up?

Not too long ago I admitted to my family that I think was turning into a kind of Scrooge. Not that I don’t like Christmas or giving presents or feasting and the obligatory post-feast nap. But, I am not really into decorating the house anymore, or throwing ornaments on our fake tree, or climbing up on the roof to string lights. That just doesn’t put me in the Christmas mood anymore.

When I was a kid, things were much different. From December first my excitement got ratcheted up in anticipation of how many presents under the tree would have my name on them. Each year we had one of those Advent calendars – the kind where each day you would open up a window to see a picture beneath and you were supposed to anticipate celebrating Christ’s birth. In truth, I was celebrating one more day closer to when I would get presents!

Along with that Advent calendar we had an Advent wreath that we would light every Sunday night as we marked the Sundays until – I got presents!

I also had to watch three shows on TV or it just wasn’t Christmas: The Charlie Brown Christmas special, A Christmas Carol (I like the George C Scott version the best), and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. All three, I think, contain an element of the gospel – but I didn’t care then, I just knew these were cool Christmas shows.

This morning I am going to ask us to look at our Scripture lesson through the lens of Doctor Seuss and see if we can’t spot the real Grinch who stole Christmas – the Grinch who keeps us away from the manger.

There are three sets of folks to whom we might point as the main suspects for the Grinch: Herod, The Magi and the Chief Priests and Scribes. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Herod was the Roman governor of Judea at the time Jesus was born. Herod was an interesting character. On one side of the coin Herod was a helpful leader. Though he imposed heavy taxes on the people, there were times when Herod repealed the taxes and once even sold some of his personal possessions to buy grain for the people during a famine. Herod is credited with some outstanding architectural feats in his time; including re-building the Temple at Jerusalem. For these and many other deeds Herod became known as Herod the Great. One the other side of the coin, Herod was a jealous and paranoid ruler. Herod was suspicious of anyone who might look like they had designs on his throne. And, it seemed as if anyone looked at him cross-eyed he would have them killed. On that list were not only political rivals but family as well including his wife, a few sons and several of his in-laws. Someone in Jerusalem once remarked that it you had a better life expectancy if you were Herod’s pig than his son. As he neared his death, Herod was so unpopular with the people that he ordered that on the day of his death all of the Jewish leaders would be rounded up and killed so that the people would mourn on the day of Herod’s death rather than celebrate.

There is no written historical evidence uncovered thus far to prove that Herod actually ordered the slaughter of the innocents as Matthew describes later in the text. But it is certainly not outside of Herod’s character to order children murdered.

When the magi come to Herod and ask where they can find the new born king of the Jews, Herod feigns interest and asks them to find the child and tell him where to go so that he may worship Jesus. Herod, of course, has no interest in going near the manger. Herod’s only interest is himself – he looks out for number one.

You know, sometimes looking out for number one keeps us from seeking Christ. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

The magi are another prime suspect for the Grinch in the story. The magi are astronomers from the area of Iraq – probably Baghdad. They see a star rise in the night sky and by pouring over scrolls and consulting symbols decide that this star means the birth of a new king of Israel. Now, tradition says there were three wise men because they brought three gifts. Someone once imagined what it would be like if they were wise women instead of wise men: they would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver he baby, clean the stable, make a casserole, brought practical gifts and there would be peace on earth.

The magi see a star rise in the western sky and wondered what it meant. They had a guess, but they really didn’t know for sure. So, they make a nearly two-year journey to check out their theory. Truly they were seekers of truth. But, they went to the wrong place to find it. They went to Jerusalem. Now, that made sense: if you think you are looking for a king, you go to the capitol of the kingdom. But, Jesus wasn’t that kind of king.

How many times do we think we know who Jesus is, or who Jesus ought to be and so we look in the wrong places to find him? But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Finally, we have the chief priests and the scribes. These were guys who were well educated in the details and nuances of the Scriptures. It was their life-long passion and pursuit to know the Bible inside and out. I imagine that may have given them a sort of spiritual arrogance. When Herod asks them where the Messiah was to be born, the chief priests and scribes didn’t even bat an eye; “In Bethlehem.” They said. And, they even quoted Herod that obscure verse from Micah. Now, here were guys who knew the Scriptures, but didn’t care enough to go beyond them. They thought their intellect would get them through as if there was a written exam to get to heaven. I know people like that. They know the Bible backwards and forwards but they don’t know God; they don’t care to seek the one to whom the Scriptures point and they think that since they have all the Scriptural answers that they can keep the manger at arms length. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

So, we have Herod who killed the children around Bethlehem. Is he the Grinch? Does he steal Christmas? He would be my prime suspect, but no, Herod doesn’t steal Christmas. How about the magi? They thought they knew where to find truth, but they went to the wrong place. Did they steal Christmas? No. While thy may have been unwitting accomplices in the murder of the innocents, they did eventually make it to the manger and we’ll leave it up to them and God whether they found a king or a savior. So, how about the chief priests and scribes; are they the Grinch? Well, they may have been arrogant and apathetic, but they didn’t steal Christmas. They didn’t care enough to make the short journey to Bethlehem to take anything.

So who is the Grinch? May I suggest that the only person who can steal Christmas is us and the only people we can steal it from is ourselves? We can steal Christmas away from ourselves when we are focused only on ourselves and our wants and our desires and our agenda. We can steal Christmas away from ourselves when we want Jesus to be something that Jesus is not and so we look for Jesus in all the wrong places or through all the wrong practices. We can steal Christmas away from ourselves when we let our intellectual arrogance get in the way of caring enough to seek Jesus or when we allow our knowledge of the Bible to keep God at arm’s length.

There are lots of other things that we allow to keep us away from Christ: doubts, bitterness, hurt, resentment and ignorance. Is there something keeping you away Christ? I want to encourage you to set that aside, even if it is just for a day, and come to the manger and be embraced by the God who came to the world for you.

Please don’t spend this Christmas away from the manger.

The Line We Don't Want Crossed

There is an imaginary line we tend to draw around the calendar
encircling the time from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.

There are certain things we think ought not to cross over that line into our lives during that time:
troubled marriage,
divorce,
cancer,
job loss,
death...

I thought about that the day before Thanksgiving. I was stopped along the side of Main Street watching a funeral procession go by. I thought how sad it was that this family will, for some years, remember Thanksgiving as the time when a loved on died.

It was also the day my friend and colleague, the Reverend Doctor Ken Christler was laid to rest.

Ken was not much older than I am. He was on a ladder and fell on his head on the pavement. He was in a coma for several days before he died and was buried the day before Thanksgiving.

For admittedly selfish reasons I couldn't bring myself to attend his funeral.

I am still trying to sort out Ken's death. The language that "God allowed this to happen" isn't palatable to me. (Neither, of course, is the language that God caused this to happen.)

I am not looking for a purpose in Ken's death.

I am really not sure right now what I am looking for.

I feel terrible for Ken's wife and kids and siblings. They will, for several years, remember Thanksgiving as the time when Ken died.

Collectively, I think we all feel bad when tragedy strikes "during the holidays."

Sad stuff shouldn't cross that line into what is supposed to be a joy-filled time.

But...

Sad stuff DOES happen...ALL the time.

Tragedy does not consult a calendar.

Cancer and depression, unemployment and economic crises, marital problems and even death do not keep their distance during the holidays.

But...

neither does God.

My favorite Biblical nickname for Jesus is "Immanuel" - which means, "God with us." To me, that is much more than a statement of the incarnation. It tells me that God is not afraid of the sad stuff that seems to cling to our lives. It tells me that God is with us during those sad and tragic times - even when they cross the imaginary line into the holidays.

In fact, Jesus was born into a world where tremendous tragedies were occurring on a regular basis. Could those tragedies be part of the "fullness of time" in which Jesus came? (see Galatians 4:4)

That Jesus is God with us doesn't change the fact that people lose their jobs, or get cancer, or divorce, or die - during the holidays or any other day.

It doesn't change the circumstances, but it can change my perspective and my response. And, it does give me hope and some sense of comfort and peace.

And that's what I will cling to while I am trying to sort out Ken's death.

That's what I will cling to even if I don't sort out Ken's death.

That's what I will cling to every time death and other sad stuff crosses the line into life

- mine or anyone else's

It's Not Just Fun

Something my wife said yesterday got me thinking.

She was making an announcement for our new Yada Yada Prayer Group; which is loosely based on the book series of the same name. We are really excited to offer this opportunity for the women of our church and we are sure that the women who participate will not only enjoy themselves but discover new relationships with each other and with God.

So, Keri was inviting people to come to our first Yada Yada group and she ended up with this: "It will be fun." (Now, I have already talked with her about this so don't think for a second that I am talking behind her back.)

"It will be fun." Not, "It will bring us closer to God."

"It will be fun." And, I am sure it was (our first meeting was last night and we had a great group of women) and will be fun. But, I am pretty sure that is not the primary reason for having a Yada Yada group.

Why do we feel like we have to emphasize the "fun" part of our ministries and programs???

Are people that desperate to have fun?

Is "fun" the best drawing card we've got?

Are people still thinking that doing Christian stuff is sucking the life out of fun and the fun out of life???

Now, I have to hasten to say that I am more guilty than anyone about inviting people to our programs and ministries because they will have fun. But, I have decided to make a change. Instead, I want us to emphasize that what we do brings us closer to God.

"Come and hand out food with us...it will bring us closer to God."

"Come with us to lead a worship service at the county jail...it will bring us closer to God."

"Come to our Yada Yada Prayer Group, our worship services, our Bible studies, our Spiritual Formation Hour, our Elementary Fellowship night...it will bring us closer to God."

"Oh, and you'll have fun, too!"

I suspect that the greatest need of the folks in our community is not to find opportunities to have fun (though I am sure that many would disagree with me) but to find opportunities to come closer to God with other people who are on that journey as well.

But, why can't the things that bring you closer to God also be fun? Just ask the women that attended the Yada Yada group. Just ask the folks who do our Forgotten Man Ministry. Just ask the 50 or so volunteers that helped pass out food last month. Just ask the folks that worship with us on Sunday morning. Or our Stephen Ministers.

I am guessing that most of those folks will say that doing something that brings you closer to God and having fun are not mutually exclusive.

It just depends on the emphasis.

From Frustration to Freedom

I'm frustrated.

I have been frustrated for several years.

It seems like all the trade publications to which I subscribe and all the book catalogs I get have conspired to make me feel inadequate. These magazines tell me that I won't have a vital, missional, growing church unless I go to this seminar, or take that class, or go to such-and-such a conference. In fact, these magazine are now telling me that people will leave my church if I don't attend this or that. The books that the catalogs are hyping are telling me that unless I read this book I really don't understand ministry or culture.

And, then there are the books by the superpastors. These pastors and their minions write that I should start a new church and if I pray to God enough, and if I am faithful enough, then the new church will explode practically overnight and there will be no challenges, no wounds, no obstacles. God will provide a building and a parsonage and a great staff and top-rated musicians for your Praise Band even before you get started...all for free.

AUGH!!!

That may play in the silicon valley, or in Chicago, or Miami, but it doesn't play in Snover...or Flushing. I decided that a few years back.

I am tired of the church growth movement. I am tired of church and marketing used in the same sentence.

And, while I am at it...when did the church become a marketer for someone else's movie or T-shirts or bobble-head Jesuses??? Now I have to rent out a movie theater and give away tickets and t-shirts and key-rings and show someone's movie that portrays the gospel in a way that will reach our culture. If I don't, I am behind the times, and behind the eight-ball and behind several other things that, I'm sure, aren't good.

AUGH!!

This cannot be happening!

Yeah, yeah...I know...the church has to remain relevant to the culture. The church has to speak to the culture. The church has to remain relevant. But, what does that mean? Does that mean we have to wear certain clothes, or tattoo our arms, or show movies, or sell DVD's, or give away iPhones? Or does it mean that we need to meet people with intelligent and loving responses to life's questions that point toward Jesus Christ (or at least provide a safe place for those questions to be asked and explored)? Does it mean that we become a strip mall offering a bookstore, a movie theater, a coffee shop, a free clinic, and twenty-seven different worship services with twenty-seven different worship styles each with their own pastor, staff and musical group? Or, does it mean that we are willing to journey with people and help them find God and Christ and grace and justice in the midst of whatever it is they find themselves in at any given time in their life?

When did pastors stop being spiritual role models and start becoming and rock stars an CEO's? When did the church stop being the people of God on a journey and start becoming a destination?

But, my frustration doesn't stop there, my friends...oh no.

For all of my career, and for years before it began, I have had a desire that non-believers and those who have been wounded and disillusioned by a church would enjoy a new or renewed relationship with God in Christ and with Christ's church. That desire has become more intense over the years. But, I have not been given the gift of evangelism. But, I have been given other gifts that help me share my faith in Jesus Christ and help me to organize and administrate ministries that help the congregations I have served witness their faith and invite people into a relationship with God and his church.

I/we have had some moderate success.

I know I have this desire for the non-believer and the dis-churched. I know that many of my congregation share that desire. Unfortunately, the non-believers and the dis-churched don't seem to know that we have this desire - and they are staying away in droves.

Back to the magazines and catalogs.

They tell me that if I do this or that then people will be beating down my door.

I don't believe it. I don't believe it because I don't believe that God is a cosmic vending machine and if I put the right amount of change in and push the right buttons in the right order then my congregation will grow. I don't believe that God works only within the bounds of a formula.

So, I have come to a decision.

I will lead our church to be the church that I believe God is imagining us to be. I have begun talking and praying with my team about what that might look like. And, I have been inspired, challenged and stretched. But, I am firmly convinced that this is by God's Spirit and God's grace. You couldn't talk me out of that. I am being freed from the need to be approved of by my peers and by the super-rock-star pastors. I am being freed from the need to have my congregation triple in one week...okay that wasn't really a need...more of a dream (I blame the super-rock-star pastors).

But, more than anything else, I am being freed from the frustration.

Freedom feels good.

And, I am excited - really excited - about the possibilities and potentials that God is revealing to me as I live into my decisions and my freedoms.

Excitement is good.

The War of the Guys In Me

This will be an intensely personal blog so feel free to skip it if you want. I don't imagine it will be intensely personal because I will be writing about myself through it all, but because I will be writing about a raw nerve in my own being an perhaps yours as well.

I am a recovering perfectionist. Which is to say that that I am a perfectionist and that has often messed with my sense of self, many of my relationships and sometimes my ministry. Mostly, though, it messes with my own sense of self. I am my own worst critic and my own worst enemy. And, I am trying not to live in that framework. However, I am usually at war within myself - the holiness guy in me insists that, until I get my life more perfectly aligned with Christ, I am not entirely acceptable to God. The mystic in me tells me that God loves and accepts me perfectly and completely and unreservedly just as I am - flaws and imperfections and poor choices and all. The holiness guy fires back that the mystic guy is all about sloppy agape and cheap grace and whatever happened to becoming more like Jesus (read: perfect)? The mystic guy tells me that the holiness guy is a legalist with unrealistic standards that not even God demands. Holiness guy insist that sin and grace cannot co-exist in the same person. Mystic guy says, "They can and they do, dummy. Look in the mirror!" And, they end up making rude gestures at each other as they fight for dominance.

I am reading a book by Brennan Manning that is not really helping out the holiness guy in me. Father Manning writes about the furious grace of God - furious not in the sense of anger but in the sense of powerful and driven. God's grace is furious in the sense that God wants to pour it out liberally on everyone...soak us in it. But, like the people of the Gulf Coast who (rightly so) nail boards to their windows to keep out the hurricane's wind and rain, perfectionists often erect barriers (not rightly so) against God's grace.

Father Manning re-tells the story at the end of the gospel of John where Jesus meets Peter and the other disciples on the beach with breakfast. This is after Peter had denied Jesus three times in the courtyard of the high priest. Sometime during or after that meal Jesus asks Peter three times, "Peter, do you love me?" and Peter answers three times, "You know I love you, Lord." And, in reply, each time Jesus tells Peter "Feed my sheep/tend my lambs."

Here's what was new for me: the idea that Jesus knew that Peter loved him, even as he denied Jesus in the courtyard. Jesus knew Peter's denial was an act of self-preservation and not a deliberate attempt to hurt Jesus. So, Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to reiterate his love for Jesus for each of the times Peter denied him. It was not so much an act of "atonement" as I had always thought, but an act of compassion for Peter. Let me 'splain...

If I were Peter (and I am pretty sure there is a Peter that runs around in me somewhere) I would be beating myself up for having denied Jesus when the chips were down. I would have talked myself into a downward spiral of how bad a person I am and how Jesus would never forgive me and how I was not fit to be in a relationship with God and how my footsteps stain this earth and so on. But, Jesus was not thinking that. Jesus knew my heart. Jesus knew that I really do love him, I was just thinking more about my own hide than his that night. (Thank God that every mistake we make does not mean an ending.) So, Jesus leads me into an opportunity to re-affirm my love and he re-affirms his.

But, that's not all. Jesus then gives Peter a commission: "Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs." This was perhaps John's way of telling how Peter became a leader in the early church. Brennan Manning writes, "Jesus didn't say anything more, what he said was enough. Do you love me? Can you allow my love to touch you in your weakness, and set you free there, and empower you? So that when Peter went out from then on empowered by Jesus, the only power he had was Jesus' love for him and his love for the Lord. That's the only power he had."

In my call to ministry I had a similar commission as Peter - in a kind of a shepherd motif. And, I have the same empowerment - though I didn't know it until now. I have been thinking that my empowerment came from my seminary degree (it doesn't) or from my ordination (it doesn't) or from my keen mind and powerful sermons and gifts for organization and administration (yeah...right!) My empowerment comes solely from God's love for me and my love for God. And, the rub is that even when I don't exactly love God, God still loves me and that empowers me to be the guy I was created and redeemed to be.

So, holiness guy in me is retreating and mystic guy in me is smiling smugly. Mystic guy isn't winning - I like to think it is God in me who is winning. May that be for all the recovering and not yet recovering perfectionists out there.

Maybe John Lennon was right: all you need is love.