Friday, February 20, 2009
Some Good Stuff...
I get over to our conference minister, Kent Siladi's blog every now and then. This evening I was richly rewarded. He posted my favorite poem ever, Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. He also posted a little piece by a friend of his on giving the clergy self-care cliches a rest. AMEN.
Monday, February 16, 2009
On Getting Back Into the Boat
When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Matthew 14:32
I preached Sunday on Peter getting out of the boat and characteristics of water-walkers. I was thinking today that the biggest effect from Peter's water-walk came when he got back into the boat. The result was that he brought Jesus back in with him, Peter's life would be changed forever because of his experience, and the eleven others in the boat most likely had their faith strengthened. Peter getting back into the boat was just as important as him getting out of the boat. I had never thought about that before!
I preached Sunday on Peter getting out of the boat and characteristics of water-walkers. I was thinking today that the biggest effect from Peter's water-walk came when he got back into the boat. The result was that he brought Jesus back in with him, Peter's life would be changed forever because of his experience, and the eleven others in the boat most likely had their faith strengthened. Peter getting back into the boat was just as important as him getting out of the boat. I had never thought about that before!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Flinging Seeds
As I have been going through the last two weeks of Steve Sjogren's and David Ping's Outflow (weeks 3 & 4), something has been drilled into me. I am to love God, love others, and serve the world. I know that I say that all the time, but there is still a part of me that believes this is not the end, but the means--the means to building a (big) ministry, a big church. Scripture implies different. Jesus' story of the sower makes it clear that all the sower can do is scatter seeds (seeds of love, as Sjogren calls them). The seeds that fall on good soil, receptive soil are going to grow. Of course, knowing a little more about agriculture now that when Jesus was speaking, we are aware that we can prepare the soil and improve the conditions for growing. But still, we can't make the seed grow--that is out of the sower's hands.
I seem to always have at least one eye on the results, on what pops up at the other end. What could happen if I just concentrated on flinging the seeds? Just focused on loving God, loving others, and serving the world?
I seem to always have at least one eye on the results, on what pops up at the other end. What could happen if I just concentrated on flinging the seeds? Just focused on loving God, loving others, and serving the world?
Of Tactics, Systems, and Beliefs
“Of Tactics, Systems, and Beliefs”
A State of the Church
OK, so the title sounds a little technical. And, honestly, this report may actually be just a little bit technical, more information than the average person might want to know. However, I expect that, in general, if you are taking the time to read this (unless you are just killing time during my sermon), you are more interested than the average person on where I perceive we are as a church.
As we look at what we are and dream of what we want to be, there are at least three tools that will get us from here to there. This past year has been a year of tactics. Tactics are relatively easy to institute, especially in a church group as encouraging and supportive as ours. This year, we tried several tactics, or projects, to enable us to love God, love others, and serve our community and world. We began our Big House service for children and families, a pretty significant undertaking which just about all of our youth and many adults are committed to each and every week. I began a (somewhat) weekly e-newsletter that many members and friends of our church are taking advantage of that keeps us up-to-date on what is going on in our midst. You have probably noticed a change in certain aspects of our worship service, both in content and style. We have had many gather in small groups over the past year from Bible studies to subject area groups. We have attempted to reach out to our community through candy and water give-aways. We began a relationship with North Grade Elementary School. We invited our community to a festival here at the church. Each and every one of these, many organized by people in our congregation who saw an opportunity, has been valuable and has nudged us closer to our goals of loving God, loving others, and serving the world.
Tactics alone, however, will not move us all the way to where I believe God wants us to be. At least two other tools are important. And they are a lot tougher to comprehend and to change than tactics.
A foundational concept is our beliefs. Do we really see our purpose as loving God, loving others, and serving the world? Stop, go back, and read the last question again. Loving God, loving others, and serving the world is what we have been required, commanded and commissioned to do (see Micah 6:8, Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 28:16-20). It is very, very easy for those of us who have been in churches the last several decades to fall into the trap of believing our purpose is to maintain and operate a church. In other words, the means have become the goal. So it is a significant intellectual leap for us to understand what our purpose is. But then we have to live it! Together as a church, we will be exploring this issue all during the month of March.
One way we begin to live and experience our beliefs corporately as a church is through the systems we have in place. There is an anonymous quote I have scrawled on my office wall: “Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results that it yields.” James expressed it well when he asked in James 3:12 “My brothers and sister, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs?” Do the systems we have in place at First Congregational Church of Lake Worth produce followers of Christ who love God, love others, and serve the world? I will suggest that we must be ruthless in answering that question. Our participation in God’s will and work depends on it.
The reason that I am at this church is that I see the potential for us to become a great church. In my short time here, I have seen adventurous people who are excited about trying different tactics. And I have experienced a willingness to examine our beliefs and systems.
May we continue to enjoy God’s blessings as we continue to respond to God’s movement in our church and community.
A State of the Church
OK, so the title sounds a little technical. And, honestly, this report may actually be just a little bit technical, more information than the average person might want to know. However, I expect that, in general, if you are taking the time to read this (unless you are just killing time during my sermon), you are more interested than the average person on where I perceive we are as a church.
As we look at what we are and dream of what we want to be, there are at least three tools that will get us from here to there. This past year has been a year of tactics. Tactics are relatively easy to institute, especially in a church group as encouraging and supportive as ours. This year, we tried several tactics, or projects, to enable us to love God, love others, and serve our community and world. We began our Big House service for children and families, a pretty significant undertaking which just about all of our youth and many adults are committed to each and every week. I began a (somewhat) weekly e-newsletter that many members and friends of our church are taking advantage of that keeps us up-to-date on what is going on in our midst. You have probably noticed a change in certain aspects of our worship service, both in content and style. We have had many gather in small groups over the past year from Bible studies to subject area groups. We have attempted to reach out to our community through candy and water give-aways. We began a relationship with North Grade Elementary School. We invited our community to a festival here at the church. Each and every one of these, many organized by people in our congregation who saw an opportunity, has been valuable and has nudged us closer to our goals of loving God, loving others, and serving the world.
Tactics alone, however, will not move us all the way to where I believe God wants us to be. At least two other tools are important. And they are a lot tougher to comprehend and to change than tactics.
A foundational concept is our beliefs. Do we really see our purpose as loving God, loving others, and serving the world? Stop, go back, and read the last question again. Loving God, loving others, and serving the world is what we have been required, commanded and commissioned to do (see Micah 6:8, Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 28:16-20). It is very, very easy for those of us who have been in churches the last several decades to fall into the trap of believing our purpose is to maintain and operate a church. In other words, the means have become the goal. So it is a significant intellectual leap for us to understand what our purpose is. But then we have to live it! Together as a church, we will be exploring this issue all during the month of March.
One way we begin to live and experience our beliefs corporately as a church is through the systems we have in place. There is an anonymous quote I have scrawled on my office wall: “Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results that it yields.” James expressed it well when he asked in James 3:12 “My brothers and sister, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs?” Do the systems we have in place at First Congregational Church of Lake Worth produce followers of Christ who love God, love others, and serve the world? I will suggest that we must be ruthless in answering that question. Our participation in God’s will and work depends on it.
The reason that I am at this church is that I see the potential for us to become a great church. In my short time here, I have seen adventurous people who are excited about trying different tactics. And I have experienced a willingness to examine our beliefs and systems.
May we continue to enjoy God’s blessings as we continue to respond to God’s movement in our church and community.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Are We Being Changed?
Rev. Kent Siladi, the Conference Minister of the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ, preached at our church this past Sunday. It was an excellent message, which is available to listen to here. The central idea, for me, anyway is this. He commented that to be a Christian means that we have a life transformation. The purpose of the church is to invite people into transformation. The important question for us is "Are we being changed?"
I couldn't agree more. The question is foundational. It is primary. Because nothing else can happen unless personal transformation is taking place. As personal transformation takes place, then societal transformation can take place. Then the Kingdom of God starts to emerge, right here, right now.
I couldn't agree more. The question is foundational. It is primary. Because nothing else can happen unless personal transformation is taking place. As personal transformation takes place, then societal transformation can take place. Then the Kingdom of God starts to emerge, right here, right now.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Faith Vs. Religion According to Godin
I'm reading an excellent book by Seth Godin, a marketing guru, that isn't really about marketing at all, but about leadership. It's tilted Tribes. You can see my reading notes here.
In it, he talks about faith versus religion:
"Religion and faith are often confused. Someone who opposes faith is called an atheist and widely reviled. But we don't have a common word for someone who opposes a particular religion. Heretic will have to do. If faith is the foundation of a belief system, then religion is the facade and the landscaping. It's easy to get caught up in the foibles of a corporate culture and the systems that have been built over time, but they have nothing at all to do with the faith that built the system in the first place. Change is made by people, by leaders who are proud to be called heretics because their faith is never in question." (84)
I like that, "facade and landscaping." This, of course, is nowhere as obvious as it is in the church. We have so identified with our religion that the faith, for many, is almost lost. We have safely insulated ourselves from its power.
How do we as the church, as a religion, re-engage the power of our faith?
In it, he talks about faith versus religion:
"Religion and faith are often confused. Someone who opposes faith is called an atheist and widely reviled. But we don't have a common word for someone who opposes a particular religion. Heretic will have to do. If faith is the foundation of a belief system, then religion is the facade and the landscaping. It's easy to get caught up in the foibles of a corporate culture and the systems that have been built over time, but they have nothing at all to do with the faith that built the system in the first place. Change is made by people, by leaders who are proud to be called heretics because their faith is never in question." (84)
I like that, "facade and landscaping." This, of course, is nowhere as obvious as it is in the church. We have so identified with our religion that the faith, for many, is almost lost. We have safely insulated ourselves from its power.
How do we as the church, as a religion, re-engage the power of our faith?
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
On Being Born Again
"Jesus answered him, ˜Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." John 3:3 (NRSV)
It's a phrase that can also be translated "born anew" or "born again." It's a powerful statement isn't it? It evokes something from us, as it obviously did from Nicodemus.
Perhaps it pushes our button because we have had someone point a finger at us, literally or figuratively, and told us that we "must be born again." It is important to remember that long before the phrase was co-opted by the religious right, it was an invitation of Jesus. Yes, Jesus said we must be born again, but only if we want to see the Realm of God, see things the way God sees them. If I am happy to see things the way I already do, I need not be born again.
For Nicodemus and, I have to admit, for me, it is a bit off-putting that Jesus would say that I need to be born again, that there are things in me that need to die so that I can experience new life. I mean, I am pretty religiously and somewhat spiritually adept. I am a religious insider. God is my co-pilot and all that stuff. And yet, Jesus says to me "Jason, if you want to see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again."
It's not a guilt trip. It is an opportunity. May God give me the grace to respond.
It's a phrase that can also be translated "born anew" or "born again." It's a powerful statement isn't it? It evokes something from us, as it obviously did from Nicodemus.
Perhaps it pushes our button because we have had someone point a finger at us, literally or figuratively, and told us that we "must be born again." It is important to remember that long before the phrase was co-opted by the religious right, it was an invitation of Jesus. Yes, Jesus said we must be born again, but only if we want to see the Realm of God, see things the way God sees them. If I am happy to see things the way I already do, I need not be born again.
For Nicodemus and, I have to admit, for me, it is a bit off-putting that Jesus would say that I need to be born again, that there are things in me that need to die so that I can experience new life. I mean, I am pretty religiously and somewhat spiritually adept. I am a religious insider. God is my co-pilot and all that stuff. And yet, Jesus says to me "Jason, if you want to see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again."
It's not a guilt trip. It is an opportunity. May God give me the grace to respond.
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