The Word for Today - Daily Office

Isaiah 26:1-4, 8 At that time, this song will be sung in the country of Judah: We have a strong city, Salvation City, built and fortified with salvation. [2] Throw wide the gates so good and true people can enter. [3] People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole, Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don't quit.  [4] Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing… [8] We're in no hurry, God. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want. 

COMMENT: What a powerful paraphrase that speaks to the depths of my heart this morning! The kind of people God is producing are pilgrim people - or, sojourners - people who are on a journey, with God, and with one another, and are learning the practice of walking-with-God-in-community. This has been the charter of Israel from her foundations - incipiently, when our forefather Abraham began his journey in Ur of the Chaldeans, trusting in the promise of the One who calls and goes before (who is already out there before us, summoning us into his preferred future). It was the lot of Israel in exodus in wilderness, to learn with patience and courage to keep up with this God-on-the-move. And Isaiah, speaking to a people far from home and longing for return, now speaks of a day when the people will return to the City: people whose minds are set on God... people who are steady because they don't give up...people who have learned to depend on God and God alone... people who know the necessity of waiting and listening and watching for God to move first, who are not determined to make things happen, but content to let God be God and follow faithfully... people who are happy in God and what God has done, who find their highest joy in being-in-relationship with this God who will bring us all home!

This passage reminds me of something I read a long time ago by Eugene Peterson, who was quoting Frederich Nietzsche: "The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is... that there be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." (from Beyond Good and Evil). Oh, that my own life in God may be so described: a long obedience in the same direction! As Peterson notes, this is the call for us who want to walk the path of discipleship in an instant society. Disciples are not made in an instant, and as I journey with God and God's people, I find that I need that regular, even daily encouragement from the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (the one who has truly blazed the trail of faithfulness to God) and I need regular encouragement from my fellow travelers on this road of discipleship - a long and winding road that leads to Your door (to quote Paul McCartney).

Lord, may my whole life be one long obedient response to you! In the name of Jesus, the Pioneer. Amen.

The Word For Today - Daily Office

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ... For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock... I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! (Psalm 27:1, 5, 13-14)

Every morning, we awaken as children in a world gone mad. Bombs exploding in Gaza and Israel, stock markets crashing, houses foreclosing, industries outsourcing, retailers filing bankruptcy, our company downsizing, road rage on our streets, violence in our homes... we turn on the TV to see what is going on in the world - and we are easily overcome with fear. We cry out, like our 18 month old granddaughter, who wakes up in the morning, turns the light on (the switch is right next to her crib), sees no one there, and cries out for a presence... And so do we cry out in the early morning darkness, as the terrors of today break in on us... we also cry out for a Presence.

LORD, you are our light... our shelter... our deliverer! We are not waiting for some "pie in the sky in the sweet by and by" kind of salvation. We believe your goodness will break in on us today - right now - in the land of the living. You will make all wars cease, you will provide for us when we come to the end of our own resources, you will bring an end to the violence that is erupting in our world gone mad. We wait for you. In our waiting, we are made strong in you, we are in-couraged by you, we are trusting in you. Only you. Only you. Amen.

Word for the Day - Daily Office

Two entries with comment:

Psalm 26:1-3 [A David psalm] Clear my name, God; I've kept an honest shop. I've thrown in my lot with you, God, and I'm not budging. [2] Examine me, God, from head to foot, order your battery of tests. Make sure I'm fit inside and out [3] So I never lose sight of your love, But keep in step with you, never missing a beat.

COMMENT: God's testing is always intended for our growth in grace, maturing in Christ, advancement in holiness and obedience. Deuteronomy speaks of God's testing in the wilderness, so that we may learn to trust God. Hebrews 12 speaks of God's disciplining us for our training in the way of holiness. I love the way Peterson paraphrases Psalm 26 with the purpose clause coming through loud and clear - Examine me... so I never lose sight of your love but keep in step with you. May that be my prayer to you today, God of holiness and love - that your powerful scrutiny would result in my growth in grace... May my whole life be one long obedient response to you... Amen.

Psalm 126:1-4 [A pilgrim song] It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when God returned Zion's exiles. [2] We laughed, we sang, we couldn't believe our good fortune. We were the talk of the nations—"God was wonderful to them!" [3] God was wonderful to us; we are one happy people. [4] And now, God, do it again— bring rains to our drought-stricken lives…

COMMENT: No doubt we find ourselves from time to time in a spiritual drought... especially when bad things happen to us that we feel we never deserved (I can speak from experience on this one). Why should we expect or hope for God to shower rain on us, when drought has been our experience of late? There is only one thing that can stimulate such exuberant hope (and here I am borrowing from a great book by Walter Brueggemann) - and that is deep memory. How often the Scripture calls us to remember - remember what God has done in the past... that faithful remembering funds our current faith and empowers us to believe that the God who has been faithful to us in the past will once again come through for us. Holy God, when I am afraid, or feeling abandoned, or filled with doubts... when life seems to be crashing in on me and I do not know what to do... help me to remember... to remember your works... to remember your promises... to remember you. Then I will be bold to say, "Thy kingdom come... Give us this day... Forgive us our debts... Deliver us from evil. In the name of your Son, our Lord... Amen. 

The Madison Avenue Captivity of the Church - part 3

Bigger... Larger... More... These are the words that have captivated the imagination of the American church as it succumbs to the culture of Madison Avenue. Success is measured in the growth of numbers - bigger budgets... larger buildings... more bodies... We have been trained to believe (in large part through the trumpeting calls of the church growth movement) that bigger is better. We have an insatiable consumer appetite for "more." In my earlier post, I refered to this appetite as an "adulterous infatuation." I think there is good biblical precedent for such a judgment.

So I open this post by quoting one of my favorite verses from "The Message", Psalm 4:6-7:

        Why is everyone hungry for more? "More, more," they say.

        "More, more."

        I have God's more-than-enough, 

        More joy in one ordinary day

        Than they get in all their shopping sprees. 

That paraphrase has been massaging my spiritual imagination since I first read it. It announces the kind of alternative that God desires for all of God's children - to live freely and simply in a world that is defined, not by anxious consumerism in a world of limited resources, but by trust in the abiding faithfulness of a God whose creation teems with life, abundance, and joy. It is an orientation toward life that has been reaffirmed to me this week in a wonderful way in a friend's testimony of Christmas 2008. In these times of economic hardship, these friends did what we also did - they downsized their Christmas gift giving and spending. Worried what their teenage daughter would say about a Christmas that was "smaller than last year," they were delighted when their teen announced that this was the best Christmas ever - it's not about the gifts, but spending time together as a family... And a little child shall lead them...

Scripture confesses that God's ways have often been more micro than macro - from the intricate details of creation, to the call of a particular family from Ur of the Chaldeans, to the humble entry of a Savior into the world... God often uses the least and the last to display God's glory and purposes on earth. I love the creed that is recited in Deuteronomy 7:7-8  It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you-- for you were the fewest of all peoples.  It was because the LORD loved you...

Now there is no argument that the message of salvation is given for the whole world, and that the commission of the church is to proclaim that message to all peoples, making disciples of all the nations. But that does not necessarily authorize the Madison Avenue mentality that seems to pervade our consumeristic approach to the church - bigger... larger... more...

Bigger is not always better. 250 pounds sits well on a 6'3" NFL tight end (Dallas Clark of the Indianapolis Colts, for example), but is quite unhealthy for a 5'11' 55 year old former pastor. And in my own experience, some of the most unhealthy churches are simply bigger than they need to be. The gains of growth (more ministry money, more staff, more buildings and programs) come at a great expense (loss of intimate relationship, less lay discipleship and involvement in ministry, greater tendencies to gravitate toward personalities, and thus a much greater incidence of division and strife). 

Our commission is not simply to preach the gospel and make converts - we are called to make disciples - and as Jesus himself demonstrated in his ministry, discipleship and life change happen most powerfully in small groups that are taught, trained, apprenticed in the Way of the Master.  

I am not suggesting churches should be stagnant - it is normal for living things to grow - what I am suggesting is that the organic church movement may have it right... the way into the future for the church is to grow larger by multiplying its cells, planning its own reproduction by spinning off new groups (churches), by focusing on the development of leaders and disciples, and thus, abandoning the Madison Avenue marketing approach that has "megachurch" as its only goal. 

Now, there are megachurches who have structured themselves around this model of disciple-making, multiplying cells and leaders, and they are producing mature Christ-followers who are fully engaged in mission, both faithful and fruitful. But there are also small churches (and these days organic style churches) who are not only impacting the Christ-followers who are a part of these churches, but also impacting thier communities and this culture for Christ. 

My prayer for the church is that each local expression of the body of Christ discover the size and scope of its God-called ministry that is healthy and right for its context. Let's keep our eye on the ball - fulfilling the Great Commission - to make disciples of all nations - whether small, medium, or large (or is it tall, grande, or venti) and reproduce healthy churches so that the earth may be filled with praise and love - to the glory of God.

Soli Deo gloria

The Madison Avenue Captivity of the Church - part 2

One of Madison Avenue's insidious strategies with the American consumer is to make us believe that "anything worth having at all is worth having NOW." The recent economic crisis was precipitated, by and large, not only by our insatiable desire for more, but also by our impatient unwillingness to delay gratification. One of the recent news reporters, commenting on the sales figures for Black Friday this year, noted that while sales were up, 75% of the purchases made were manufactured outside the US. We are a nation of consumers rather than producers... and that shift is a reflection of the success of Madison Avenue's message of instant gratification - production takes time, consumption rewards us instantly - even as it cripples us by making us complacent as producers (note the auto industry crisis) and/or paralyzes us with indebtedness (note the mortgage and credit crisis). 

"We want it all...and we want it now." That is one of Madison Avenue's mantras that has taken the church's imagination captive as well, producing a people who are now known not as a kingdom of priests, nor a communion of saints, but rather a collection of religious consumers.

That attitude wrecks havoc in the North American church. Holiness is not a commodity. Growth in grace and maturity in love are not goods we can buy on credit. Life transformation does not happen in a moment, or a trip or two to the altar (the tense of the participle in Romans 12:2 is present passive which denotes ongoing, continual transformation). Disciple-making does not happen by using either a cookie cutter or a production line. Preaching the gospel to the nations is (at least) a 2,000 year project that remains unfinished (are we really any closer to achieving that goal, considering the explosive growth rate of the world population?)

If a product does not sell, we pull it from the shelves. If the ratings are not good after 5 episodes, the show is canceled. If the store doesn't turn a quick profit, bankruptcy and liquidation follow. If you don't find immediate gratification in your job, it is time to update the resume. And if the church isn't growing (i.e., more bodies, more budgets, more buildings) it is time to get a new pastor (or find a church that is "successful" and can meet my needs). Not only has the North American church sold out to Madison Avenue, she has herself become bankrupt.

I now have opportunity (as professor and ambassador of preaching for Trevecca and as a recently released pastor with no political clout in the church I serve) to speak with other pastors who are frustrated "to the nines" over this growing impatience of the church. It is a sign of our spiritual immaturity, but also a sign of the Madison Avenue mentality that pervades the market-driven church. Not only do congregations want it all (I will speak to this adulterous infatuation with bigness in another post) but congregations also want it now - and when it does not happen according to their timetable, churches are quick to grow impatient with pastors and vice versa.

Again, perhaps the greatest gift that those in leadership can offer our impatient churches is an alternative script of the nature of the church as an organic community. Organic imagery for the church resonates throughout the New Testament, and is central to the kingdom parables of Jesus. Organic things (like crops, or children) take time to grow and mature - to reach their desired end (or telos). I have a little experience with gardening - and you just don't expect to get tomatoes off a freshly planted vine... you have to wait a while. I definitely have some experience in parenting... and after 25 years, you can still be waiting for children to take responsibility and become less dependent on you (and it's a great relief on your mind and your checkbook when it does happen). Organic things, like the church, take time, require patience - and waiting.

One of Jesus' organic kingdom parables addresses this directly - telling of a farmer who scatters seed, then rises and sleeps day after day while the seed sprouts and grows without the farmer's full knowledge of how it works (the earth produces "automatically" so says the Greek) and then comes the harvest. I can still remember a sermon from Pastor Millard Reed years ago on this parable, where he noted that the planting and harvest seasons are both fast and furious with a flurry of activity for us "farmers", but the long season of waiting is a time when we cannot do a whole lot that actually makes a difference. We simply have to trust the power of the seed and the automatic processes woven into the fabric of creation - and wait for the harvest. This is what kingdom work is like, says the Lord of the harvest, and impatience has no place in the farmer's thinking. Yet, for many churches, and pastors, waiting wears on our impatient souls.

Just this week I had a conversation with a pastor friend who expressed this anxious "antsiness" that "nothing  seems to be happening." Yet in the same conversation he narrated some wonderful stories of transformation that have happened among his flock - works of grace that happen not overnight, but over time. I invited him to open his eyes and see, even in the waiting season, that the seeds he has faithfully planted are sprouting and growing (though he knows not how) and God's kingdom work is advancing "automatically", moving toward an abundant and certain harvest, so long as he does "not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9). 

This is a fitting verse for the church held captive to the Madison Avenue, church marketing, instant gratification model. Pastors and people, certainly we are meant to enjoy the planting and harvest seasons with their flurry of energy and excitement. But we must also not grow weary in the waiting season. Be patient with God and with each other. The worst thing you can do is dig up and replant, or fire the farmer for lack of labor (or results, or success). According to Jesus and Paul, waiting is part of the process, and we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 

Cometo think of it, this is not a bad message for Advent, a season of hopeful anticipation that beckons us to watch, to wait, and be ready for the coming of our Lord. Maranatha, Come, Lord Jesus.

Soli Deo gloria

The Madison Avenue Captivity of the Church - part 1

In 1520 Martin Luther published a substantial tract entitled: Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. Now, I am no Martin Luther, although I did pastor a Martin Luther in the mid-80's (as I recall, he was no Martin Luther either)... but I too have a rather famous name (or infamous of late, given the other Michael Jackson's shenanigans)... Believe it or not, there is also a John Lennon in my family, so our reunions are an eclectic blend of the musical dynamos of the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. Now, while Luther's blustery letter was addressed to the church in a different state of captivity, it is the image of captivity I focus on today to express my concerns and observations about the church in North America. 

(Sir) Walter Brueggemann (one of my primary theological mentors) wrote a book in 1997 entitled Cadences of Home: Preaching Among Exiles. In that book he uses the theme of exile to describe the North American Church setting, and says that this new social setting of the church can best be described as “decentered,” “disestablished,” and “now faced with a radically secularized society, in which the old assumptions of Christendom no longer prevail or command widespread and almost automatic acceptance” (p. 40). I agree with this analysis of the church today. We are still clinging to many modernist assumptions in a world that has become thoroughly postmodern in its thinking. We find ourselves displaced and disoriented in this culture, much as the sixth century (BCE) Jews felt displaced and disoriented in Babylon.

However, the captivity which seems to me to hold sway over the church is a much subtler, and perhaps more sinister, beast. I have thought of other names to describe it, but Madison Avenue, is the metaphor that carries the day in my mind. The church that I encounter most of the time is sold out to a Madison Avenue, corporate marketing model - and this model holds a pervasive power over the church's imagination and her activity. There are many different whipping posts this master (Madison Avenue) uses to get the church to toe the line. That will be the subject of my several posts on this topic. And I would welcome your observations, your experiences, and your corrections along the way.

For today's blog, I wish to point to a Madison Avenue model of the church that seems to saturate the church's imagination, even across denominational lines - that of the church as a business (more often than not, a big business). There are many good and respectable words that are used to make this metaphor more palatable - church administration is one that comes to mind. But behind this noble phrase lies a dangerous and deadly snare - that the church should operate according to the same principles as a successful business operates. Now this is not a diatribe against bigness or growth, per se. Some of the healthiest churches I know are big and grow, even explosively. What I do question is the model of the church as a business that holds so many churches (and denominations) captive. Where did we ever get the idea that the church is to be run like a business?

I cut my pastoral teeth on the church growth movement, and as I recently shared with a pastor friend (who is struggling with denominational expectations that are primarily shaped by this "church is a business" model), I thought church growth was the best thing since sliced bread, but now, I find that it pretty much gags me! Not that growing churches are inherently bad... the best days I have known in pastoral ministry were days of vibrant growth - numerically, missionally, relationally, and spiritually. So I am glad for a resurging emphasis on church health - because healthy, living things do grow, and it is much better to understand that growth in an organic, natural way.

Which is why, I think, Jesus loved to paint pictures of his kingdom with organic parables... parables that literally fly in the face of the business model of the church... What farmer scatters precious seed recklessly on soil that is proven to be unproductive (path, stones, weeds) when there is good, fertile soil within the same arm's throw? What shepherd leaves 99 sheep in the desert just to search for one that is lost, risking the 99 to save the 1? What business man in his right mind hires workers for 12 hours, 9, 6, 3, and 1, then pays them all the same wage (a day's wage)? What kind of business model is this kingdom business anyway?

Who loses thier life to save it? Who becomes great by becoming humble, small, taking the form of a servant? Who gives their life away for others, rather than seeking to accumulate for oneself? 

What kind of king is born in a barn? What kind of spiritual leader spends time with winos, weirdos, and whores? What kind of Lord gets stretched out on a cross and dies a tortuous death as an innocent man - and does so for the sake of his executioners?

These words of Jesus ring true today, "I know how the Gentiles (read Madison Avenue) do it... But it shall not be so among you!" Certainly there are administrative and business principles that can and do apply to our life together as the people of God. God is not the author of chaos and any community worth its salt certainly does have patterns of organization, lines of communication, and systems of implementation. But that is just true of living things in relationship. So the Bible favors other models for the church - family, body, people, flock, farm (field, vineyard, etc.), and occasionally, a building (less organic, but still a system of interconnectivity).

I remember my first reading of Avery Dulles' Models of the Church. In the revised edition, he posits six controlling metaphors:

• Institution (including a hierarchy of ministries, to continue Christ’s mission, and reflecting a need for order, unity and consistency of teaching).
• Mystical communion (including our mysterious and intimate spiritual union with God and each other through the Body of Christ).
• Sacrament (including the responsibility to be, as sacraments are, the visible presence of God on earth).
• Herald (including the mission of the People of God, the baptised, to proclaim God’s Word).
• Servant (including dialogue with society and assisting persons in a variety of needs).
• A Community of Disciples (including Catholics’ sense of always being learners, being formed by the scriptures, acting lovingly, sharing in Jesus’ mission and service, and being co-responsible for the Church’s mission and identity).

Of these six, only the first seems to fit the business model of North American Christianity... and to me, it is the least compelling of all. (My personal leaning is toward the sacramental model). Perhaps one of the greatest services that pastors can offer the church today is to offer an alternative script to the Madison Avenue corporate marketing model of the church - to present the church in the richness of the story of Scripture as the community of God's people who, by their very life together in and for the world proclaim and offer the visible presence of God on earth... Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Soli Deo gloria

The Journey Begins

Why did I name this blog "For What Its Worth"? I am definitely a product of the 60's - the civil unrest, the social consciousness, the anti-establishment ethos of a culture that really did want to believe, as the Beatle anthem announced, "All You Need Is Love!" The song "For What Its Worth" was one of those tunes that defined the 60's for me. Released by Buffalo Springfield and written by Steven Stills, the song opens with haunting words: "There's something happening here...what it is ain't exactly clear"... and echoes with the refrain: "You better stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look, what's going down?"

I think that this song resonates with the struggles and questions of the postmodern world! It certainly resonates with my own experience - especially in the world of the church and its politics. Here I am, 55 years old, with more questions than answers. And perhaps the greatest gift the church has ever given to me is the one I received this year - time to stop... to listen... to look... to take note of what's going down. I am now on a "sabbatical" from traditional local church ministry, and during these months I have had time to stop and listen and reflect on so much. I have also been given another great gift... the opportunity to dialogue with other pastors who have gone through brokenness and pain in the church (I think I have become a "safe" place for pastors at risk to unload), and their stories continue to affirm what I am finding on my journey - that even in the midst of misunderstanding, disappointment, disillusionment, and especially discouragement, God still speaks... God still cares... and God still has a place for all of us.

So I begin the journey of posting the reflections, the probings, the questions, the frustrations and irritations of one who has been forced to stop and rethink what life and ministry is all about! My posts may, from time to time, border on the ridiculous to the sublime. They are likely to generate mixed reviews from colleagues and onlookers - and that could be risky - especially if anyone who has "power" in the church to which I belong happens to lurk... But one of the gifts that I was also given by the church when they invited me to leave is the end of my traditional church career -and the launching of a new one. There is a powerful freedom in knowing who owns you and claims you - and that is not the institutional church... but the Lord of the Church. So I look forward to posting my thoughts and reflections on this blog... as a way to navigate this storm-tossed sea called "life" in a world where "something is happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear." That is why I name this blog site "For What It's Worth"

I had considered using the following phrase for my URL address for this blog: all loves excelling. This is the first line from Charles Wesley's wonderful hymn, Love Divine... and it testifies to me and for me of the greatest reality in my life - the amazing, incredible, incomparable love of God in Jesus Christ - love that continues to embrace me, transform me, and energize me to give my life away to others, as Christ so freely gave his life for me.

So even though my life is being re-defined and my ministry is now finding its location outside the traditonal local church setting, I am still amazed and over-whelmed by God's love. This all-excelling love is the heart of my preaching, teaching, serving, working, parenting (and grand-parenting), husbanding, dancing, and being-in-relationship with others. For me, the very essence of the life of holiness (the way of Jesus) is love. I am so grateful for the faithfulness of God, for the friendships that I have enjoyed on this journey, and for the family that continues to be the source of greatest blessing and joy in my life... to God, to friends, and to my family, I offer these posts in love. This is my blog... for what it's worth.

Soli Deo gloria.