How different perspectives become different goals.

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No-one claimed any stake to personal property but they shared freely with anyone in need. The apostles testified to Jesus with great power and they all enjoyed abundant grace. No believers were needy because periodically somebody would sell a house or land and give the apostles the money from the sale. That money was distributed to anyone in need. One man named Joseph sold a field and gave the money to the Apostles (they called him Barnabas which means: son of encouragement).” Acts 4:32 and following (paraphrased)

In our national capitalistic ideal the communalism of this and similar passages often takes our attention. But please notice that communalism is not the key. The key is (in The Message Bible):

“The whole congregation of believers was united as one - one heart, one mind!”

It’s easy to have generosity at that point. It’s also the Biblical foundation to avoid conflict. Conflict is never avoided by one person running his own agenda regardless of what anyone else thinks. Conflict is never avoided by just being quiet and not speaking up. God is honored when we are truly one heart, one mind. He is not interested in peace obtained through dominance or deceit.

As we discussed last week, we lose the unity of one heart and one mind when we fail to stay focused on the one Goal (what we called the “Big G” goal)

“There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)

So, the questions are, how and why do we shift from being united in one Goal (big G, furthering the kingdom of Christ) and allow differing perspectives to become different goals (little g’s).

On Sunday we’ll discuss together:

Ananias and Saphira in Acts chapter 5
The widow’s distribution in Acts chapter 6
The persecution in Acts chapter 8
The sorcerer named Simon in Acts chapter 8

In each of these we’ll ask “How and why, did people make the downward shift to pursuing lesser goals?”One hint to understanding how we make the (little g) goals into matters of inappropriate importance is found in the verses that precede Ephesians 4:4.

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:2,3)

Conflict

“There are many parts, but one body. Every individual part is valuable and necessary.” (Very brief summary of I Corinthians 12:20 and following).

The perspectives of each one are important to understand the entire picture on any issue we address. If the little toe were cut off, it would die, but the entire body would suffer loss of blood, pain, imbalance, and difficulty walking. If you think the little toe on the body isn’t very important you would not mind cutting yours off to make your point.

“What causes conflict, quarreling and arguing in the body of Christ? It happens when people in the church have the wrong goals. When they are chasing all the wrong things, for all the wrong reasons, they end up fighting over meaningless stuff and it escalates to violence.” (James 4:1 and following, paraphrased)

When we have different perspectives…For example, if I think we need more room to grow numerically while you think we need to grow numerically before we worry about needing more room… that does not inevitably lead to any conflict. Different perspectives are a normal treasure-filled resource for the body. Different goals on the other hand, will inevitably lead to conflict. James, the brother of Jesus, says that we get angry when we can’t obtain the things we want… our goals (James 4). When our goals are blocked we react with anger. In our anger, we act aggressive, hostile, pushy and caustic or we become silent, withdrawn, passive, and helpless. Please note that both patterns of behavior are rooted in anger.

It’s easy to see the aggressive, hostile and pushy acts as hostile. But we tend not to think of silent withdrawal as anger. But, silence and passive withdrawal can be just as much an act of anger as screaming and yelling. What makes silence a hostile, angry act is the principle of “the little toe.”

“I am angry with you, so I will punish you and get even with you by denying you any real access to my heart and soul. That will show you. That will leave you just as lonely and isolated as you deserve to be.”

I remember once on a grade school playground, one little girl had her feelings hurt. She yelled at her friends that had hurt her. “You just wait till I’m dead, then you’ll be sorry!” She then stomped off. Sometimes the angry edge to silent withdrawal is easily evident. Most of the time we are more sophisticated than the grade school level.

Silence is a refusal to share the deep value of the “little toe” perspective. It is theft.

Eph. 4:25-29 begins talking about speaking truth to one another. It specifically says that we need to speak the truth to each other because we are one body. Then it either changes the subject abruptly to discuss anger or the topic shifts to anger because refusing to speak truthfully to one another is rooted in anger. Then it either changes the subject abruptly to discuss theft or the topic shifts to theft because refusing to speak truthfully (rooted in anger) is essentially denying the other person what they really have a right to… i.e. theft. Finally the topic abruptly jumps to speaking to one another in encouraging ways, or it is contrasting the same theme all along. “You owe it to the members of the body to bring your perspective in honesty and humility, rather than lashing out or withdrawing in anger and thereby stealing from them your input, to which they have a right.” I would argue that the Holy Spirit did not jump from one disjointed topic to another (starting and ending with how we speak to one another) but that He skillfully and wonderfully made the connections that refusing to speak truth to others in the body is rooted in anger and is theft.

Once we move past the point of speaking truthfully and lovingly from different perspectives, we set different goals. Once we set different goals, we begin the conflicts and quarrels.

Growing

I never spent much time watching the grass grow. I appreciated the fact that it is a slow and barely discernable process. I generally find it more rewarding (and distressing) to look at the grass now and then in two weeks. The impact of growth is much more obvious.

The same is true in personal and spiritual growth, but once in while a moment of growth is noted and should be celebrated. One of the hardest things for me to deal with is when I feel I have been falsely accused. Everything within me screams for the justice that would come from a clear hearing of ALL the facts. (Yeah, I know, I should read the book of Job more often.)

But this morning I got an e-mail that accused me of some things that weren't really an accurate appraisal of the facts. The girl that wrote the e-mail felt like she had a good idea and I took it away and took the credit. (To trigger my defensiveness even more, she copied my supervisor.)My first reaction was to explain that her perceptions were inaccurate. Instead, I took a deep breath and prayed. Rather than clarify the facts my accuser had misunderstood or misstated. I supported and apologized for the hurt she felt from the facts as she saw them. In the process I clarified the ways in which my actions were not intended to take her idea out of her hands, but to put her idea in the hands of people who could much more successfully bring it about. The real difference was that my explanation was not an excuse, it was an agreement. I recognized that her initial idea was great and wanted it to succeed as grandly as possible. So I had put it in the hands of the best people to push it forward. I emphasized that I greatly appreciated her contribution and regretted that her continuing contributions were not sought as others were "given the ball." I recognized her wound, approved of it, apologized for it, and asked for her help to make sure I didn't hurt someone like this again.

It felt clean. I felt clean. She softened, apologized, and agreed to meet. (For what it's worth, she also copied my supervisor on her apology and expressed her appreciation and support of me.)

Why it's so hard for me to remain non-defensive when accusations don't accurately reflect all the facts, is an interesting and profitable topic of consideration. At the same time, however, the explanation is irrelevant. It excuses nothing. Repentance is still called for, no matter the underlying reasons. It is my responsibility to react in an "other-centered" way every time.

I'm just afraid it will be like watching the grass grow.

Including the kids

I was recently challenged to work hard for ways to include the kids in everything we do as a church. So, this past week when I knew we needed to pray for one of our members, I asked Caleb, who just turned three to "ask Jesus to help...." He got all shy and silent, so I just prayed outloud on his behalf and thanked him for praying with us.

I just heard from the person we prayed for. A tremendous, wonderful, clear answer to that prayer came last night. I know God answers prayer, but sometimes His clear and timely answers seem more clearly to be the result of a specific prayer. I think this was one of those times. I suspect that letting a three year old lead in prayer played a role. Don't ask me for the doctrinal explanation of that, I don't have one. But I know that it felt right to have a three year old lead the church in prayer, and the timely, clear answer just makes me more confident that God was in it.

Blogging through church conflicts

A local church has been dealing with the very public moral failure of its founding pastor. A local blog has been one resource. It has been healing for some who have had long-term wounds from this man. But much of it has been unfounded accusations against him, and many others that are even marginally involved with his ministry or his failure.

While a public blog has potential to be healing, it also has the potential to be divisive, unfair, backbiting, and false accusation laden. One advantage of a small church is that if we have a conflict, we can bring it up and talk about it openly and publicly. I wonder if a large church could not gain that benefit by creating a discussion page that required all posters to use their real name. That way, venting of emotion as well as an open sharing of all pertinent facts and viewpoints is possible, but there is some safe-guard against unsubstantiated slander, and malicious postings.

Just reading a blog from another pastor:

"Is it just me or is Easter one of the toughest messages to preach? I think I put a little extra pressure on myself :) And it is so hard to approximate the emotion we ought to feel. I really think the greatest truths are the toughest to put into words! No combination of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet can adequately praise God for the victory He won over death. That is when you feel most dependent upon the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do!"

I included the whole paragraph to make the point that his comment seems very reasonable, normal, and right. He shows good self awareness in the first two sentences. He also shows an appropriate humility and awareness of God's amazing strength and what a necessity it is. But the 3rd sentence confuses me:

"And it is so hard to approximate the emotion we ought to feel."

The assumption that there is an emotion we ought to feel is interesting. I hope it doesn't imply that there are wrong ways to feel. Easter is the height of contradictory emotions. About any of them seems reasonable if you focus on only one thing. But more disturbing to me is the apparent attempt to approximate the emotion that's right. If there is a right emotion, and a pastor is not feeling it, there should be brokenness, confession, and repentance. Not an effort to approximate what's right. The most wrong feeling at Easter is disinterest, or boredom, or numbness. If you feel those, drop to your face in fear, brokenness, and repentance. Don't try to approximate what you "should feel." Jesus has enough pious frauds representing Him already.

The Power of Easter

Anybody coming back to life after being dead is a pretty amazing event. I've certainly never seen it, and find it highly unlikely that any reader has. But it has happened. When Elijah laid himself over the widow's son, the boy came back to life. The will and the power of God, in conjunction with the will and the faith of Elijah accomplished an incredible miracle. When the son of the widow of Nain was raised and when Lazarus was raised. It was similar. The will and the power of God, mediated through the incarnation of God accomplished an incredible miracle.

But Jesus' resurrection was different. In a very real sense, there was no living being with the power to accomplish the miracle. The will and the power of God were effective and working when God was dead!

He raised Himself. That means that He could apply His will and exert His power while dead. (He was just as dead as anyone else has ever been dead.) His dead body, like all dead bodies, could not enact its will, or display its power. But God could and did.

It causes me to wonder again at His amazing "otherness." It also re-confirms the reality of conscious existence after death.

This may be obvious and self-evident to every believer on the planet, but me. But I was just struck by this thought during this Holy Week.

1 out of 3 ain't bad

Some tests have different sections. It’s possible to pass one section of the test but fail others. The first time Abram appears in scripture, he is given a three-part test. Three commands wrapped into one moment of contact with God. Abram, on this first opportunity passed one part of the test, but failed the other two. (It’s a pattern we will see him repeat.)

We know that Abram lived in Ur (Genesis 11:31). We know that he lived there with his father Terah, and that they were idolaters (Joshua 24:2). We know (Acts 7:2-3) that while they were in Ur, God spoke to Abram and gave him three commands. (The timing of this can be a bit unclear in the Genesis record. It helps to realize that Genesis 12:1 is probably best translated as “The LORD had spoken” rather than “The LORD spoke.”)

The three-command-test of Abram was:

1) Leave this country.

2) Leave your family, specifically your father’s house.

3) Go to a place I will show you.

Abram passed the first test, but failed the second two. He left Ur. But he failed leave his father’s house. Terah (his father) and Lot (his nephew) both went along. He failed to go to where God would show him. He went to “Haran” and stopped for several years.

If we understand the reasons he only obeyed one of three commands, it might help us understand ourselves a bit better.

While the scripture does not give any underlying reasons for Abrams actions, one reasonable possibility is that his relationship with his father may have been a contributor. As noted, Terah moved with Abram when Abram should have been moving away. They all stopped in Haran (apparently named after Terah’s deceased son, Lot’s father) rather than go until they came to the place God would show Abram. I suspect (with admittedly little more than a hunch) that Terah was still grieving for his son Haran, when Abram announced his intent to leave. If that were the case it would make sense that Terah might have insisted on going along (unwilling to lose another son) and Abram lacked the strength to say “NO.” It would also make sense for Terah to insist that Haran’s son Lot also join them. It would also explain why they stopped when they came to a place called “Haran.” (It would be very reasonable for a grieving father to pick a place to stay that wasn’t so far away from the rest of his family, name it for his deceased son, and just stay there) Finally, they stayed in Haran until Terah died, and Terah means “delay.”

While honoring our families is clearly good, an inability to say “no” and even to disappoint them may be a danger sign.

After Terah died, Abram, Sarai, Lot and all they owned (animals and servants) left Haran. Abram completed his obedience to the third command by continuing on until God showed him the place to stay. But Abram was still disobeying the second command. Abram was supposed to leave his father’s house behind, but he still had Lot, his nephew, tagging along.

When they arrived in Shechem, the Lord appeared and promised that Abram’s offspring would possess the land. Abram built an altar to the Lord, there.

SUMMARY REVIEW:

God gave three commands. Abram obeyed one right away. He obeyed the third after a long delay. At this point in time, he has still not obeyed the second. But please note Abram’s failure did not negate God’s promises. God was faithful to every promise he made to Abram despite Abram’s failure to obey completely or immediately.

While God kept his promises, we will see (as we continue with this story) that there were consequences to the partial and delayed obedience.

How often do we get in trouble because we obey only one of three commands (leave Ur), or because we delay our obedience to a time that seems more convenient for us (stop in Haran rather than go all the way to the place He shows us), or because we simply don’t obey at all (keep our nephew around despite the command to leave our family)?

God's Silence

God’s silence can be frustrating. Most of us, at some time, have sought His answers to pressing questions and heard a blaring silence in reply.

God appeared to Abram in a vision that confirmed the sure promises of God in Chapter 15 of Genesis. Chapter 17 is AT LEAST 14 years later. For those entire 17 years there is NO communication from God to Abram. Partly at least, because God was not sought.

After the vision in Chapter 15, Sarai got a creative idea for how Abram father a child, so that God’s promises could be accomplished. Abram, and Hagar went along with the plan. But note this…NOBODY sought input from God in all the plans, discussions, and actions leading up to the conception of Ishmael. Some have said that Abram’s failure was in trying to “serve God presumptuously, in the power of the flesh.” I disagree. I don’t think anyone EVER "serves God presumptuously, in the power of the flesh.” In the power of the flesh we ONLY serve ourselves. We just put it under the pretence of serving God. Abram’s failure was that he served his own interests under the guise of serving God, the fact that he never SOUGHT God is convincing proof of this. God did not speak to Abram at all in Chapter 16, that’s at least 14 years of silence. Fourteen years since God has spoken. God didn’t withdraw all his blessing. He was faithful to His covenant with Abram. He did withdraw the experience of His presence. Most of us understand the pain and emptiness that comes when we cannot sense His presence. May the cause never be, for us, that we failed to seek His guiding presence and pursued our own agendas under the guise of serving Him. In Chapter 17 God graciously appeared to Abram (God has spoken to Abram before, and appeared in a vision, but God has never “appeared” to Abram before this.) His first words, after 14 years of silence, were… “I am El-Shaddai, live your life in My presence and you will stay pure.” Don’t miss this point. After 13 years of silence, God’s first two statements are: 1)"I am El-Shaddai” (which means “God Almighty”) i.e. “I don’t need your help to keep my promises to you.” And 2) “Live your life in my presence, and you will stay pure.” God wants us to live pure lives but His method for accomplishing that, EVEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, is not legalism, performance, and sacrifice. The means to live a pure life is, “Life your life in His presence.” May we ever do so. To Abram’s great credit, he does “live in God’s presence” through the rest of this discussion with God and for the next several weeks or months (but unfortunately, no longer than that). He “wrestled” with God over having another son when he is 99 and Sarai is 90. He “wrestled” with God over blessing Ishmael. At the end of this chapter, we learn that Abram is obedient to God’s commands, which include circumcision for Abram, Ishmael, and every male in the household, including servants. I think it’s an important part of God’s plan that Isaac was to be conceived after circumcision. Ishmael, the human plan, was conceived before Abram was circumcised. It may be, that God had been silent waiting for the time for His promises to be more clearly revealed and completed.

Silence from God is always painful whether it's caused by His wise delay, or our failure to seek Him. Our prayer should be that His silence is always the result of His wise and loving delay and never the result of our self-serving failure to seek Him.

My night as a computer geek

I am not a computer geek (not there’s anything wrong with that). I can prove I’m not one. I don’t own a pocket protector and I don’t know what a protractor is used for (unless it’s some dental tool). But my typical Sunday afternoon is spent surfing the channels for any semblance of soccer on television while my wife and two of my daughters sit with their laptops surfing, playing, learning, and most importantly, spending. So, I decided that this soccer nerd should join the computer geeks by getting a great deal on a laptop. That way, while they are all surfing the web, and I am surfing the cable channels, I can feel secure that I might someday surf the web too.

Well, apparently the best deals on laptops require personal torture and sociology lessons. A local computer superstore was having a day after thanksgiving sale. It started, for some reason at 4:00 am. I’m not sure why someone thought that was a good idea. It seems that, with enough caffeine, people could be equally irritable and irrational after the sun has come up. I figured I would go with the flow and show up at 3:00 or3:30 and be really early. My wife (who speaks computer geek with greater fluency than I) told me we should check earlier, like noon on thanksgiving. Now, I want a good deal on a laptop I will rarely use, but I’m not un-American. I refuse to go anywhere until I have eaten more turkey than some third world villages have ever seen, and then taken the requisite post-tryptophan nap. So, at about 4:30 pm on Thanksgiving Day we drove through the parking lot so I could prove to her that no-one in their right mind would be in line almost 12 hours in advance. I was right, no-one in their right mind was in line, but 11 people were there.

One rule in my life should be “never make a quick decision.” I always regret it when I do. But I foolishly made one. Since the sale flyer promised “a minimum of 10 items at each store” I decided to get in line and let her go home and come back with supplies for us to spend the night. Beyond the obvious, my first hint that this was insane was when I sat on the sidewalk it felt like I sat on a sheet of ice. I found out later that the temperature dropped to 35 degrees Fahrenheit which translates to too @%#) cold to be outside all night. My wife returned with lawn chairs, sleeping bags, coats, thermal underwear, and thermal socks. She made two errors, she didn’t bring enough sanity to tell me to go home to my heater, and she brought coffee. I think it would have been better to bring sleeping pills, so we would be unconscious through the torture that was to come.

The sociology lesson began immediately. Almost everyone in line ahead of me had been in the same line last year. They were talking about all the great deals they got last year. Some of them were talking in English. Oh, there was one group speaking Farsi (I think) and another right behind us speaking Korean, but the rest were speaking some language I’ve never heard. I think it was geek, but I couldn’t really tell any more than I could swear the one group was Farsi.

My first conversation went like this. Geek: “What are you in line for?” Me: “A laptop.” Geek: “Which one?” Me: “The one on a good sale?” Geek: “The HP or the tosh?” Me: “The what?” Geek: “The Hewlett-Packard or the Toshiba?” Me: “What’s the difference between them?” What followed was a string of letters and numbers that I assume were technical details about the two options. I thanked him for the input and said I would think about it a while.

He was polite after that. Like competent employees with a new hire that is rumored to have faked the High School Diploma on the application.

The “Farsi” group was visited by family twice. The Korean group had a party. They had a kerosene heater (I don’t know why my wife couldn’t have brought one of those… a much bigger one). They brought a portable putting green, a trampoline, a beach volleyball set, and a DJ. At about 9:00 pm, the local news station showed up. I pulled my blanket all the way over my head. I didn’t want my soccer nerd friends to see me hanging out with a bunch of computer geeks. The camera man thought my pose conveyed the sense of being cold and “camped out” for the night. So he got a 30 second close up of my blanket gently moving up and down to rhythm of my muttered “I’m not a geek, get out of my face.”

From 10:00 to midnight was quite pleasant, aside from the mind-numbing cold. All the people in line, which was up to about one-hundred (still none of them in their right minds), were chatting, talking, reading, or playing korean volleyball. It was quite the little social group. We all laughed together at the guy who drove by offering $100.00 to whoever would give up their place in line (my wife restrained me).

Shortly after midnight, things got interesting. The interlopers arrived. One lady walked right up and sat down next to my wife like she had grown out of that particular spot on the sidewalk. All of us in our little Korean, Farsi, Geek, friendly, group looked puzzled and then loudly told her that the end of the line was about 50 yards to her right. She said she hadn’t been able to tell where it ended when she arrived. I told her it ended “right behind all those other people.” She left and went to her car and got warm. About 30 minutes later she tried the same act about 25 yards to the right. What amused me was that the entire line started yelling at her. These geeks are a tight knit group. Here they were defending the place-in-line rights to complete strangers of varying nationalities. It was humorous until it got scary.

The trash can was near the door. Everytime somebody from the rear or from a warm car in the parking lot walked toward the trash can, you could hear the suspicious growl rumbling along the line. It was safer, if you needed the trash can to carry your trash in plain sight and walk with head bowed apologetically. Then people started walking the line counting how many were in front of them. Depending on their level of paranoia, they did this every hour or every 12 seconds. If the count from one walk was higher than the previous count, a direct confrontation with somebody was in order. The first 30 or so all banded together and made a list that we all approved and signed in blood as to who was first, second, etc. I contributed the pen and paper as I found myself willing to fight for the death for a Tosh or HP either one, regardless of the RAM or CPU. (I still don’t know what those are, but I was willing to fight for them anyway.) I don’t know who we were thinking would carefully follow our list, but we made it!

One group of 4 hoodlum teenagers decided to play hacky-sack in front of the door at 2:00 am. Now, these geeks are no fools, they immediately calculated the odds of 4 teenagers randomly being here in lightweight clothing, playing hacky-sack at this particular door, in this particular strip mall, at 2:00 in the morning. The suspicious, angry glares reminded me of a dog when you try to take away it’s bone. That’s when the line Nazi’s appointed themselves.

Two very small ladies, who are probably delightful people that keep the nursery in their church, decided it was their job to insure the fairness of this line. They walked up to the teenagers playing hacky-sack and announced that the line started “about 250 people that way.” Then these sweet ladies stood and ridiculed the young thugs until they went crying to their car. The line Nazi’s then went on patrol. Everyone seemed to feel safer because of it, but I found them so intimidating that when they walked past I hid under my blanket again.

At 3:00 the store staff started to arrive to rousing applause, I say rousing because it woke me up from where I was shivering, hiding under my blanket. At 3:30 the “line crashers” began to arrive. When people cut in line at 2:00 they tried to be subtle (remember the, “I couldn’t tell where the line started” lady?). At 3:30 it became all guts. “I’m here! I’m walking in when the door opens! You can’t stop me! I don’t care.” These would-be toughs didn’t know about the line Nazi’s. I really thought fisticuffs were likely. I think the fact that the line Nazi’s were so tiny and petite protected them. Nobody wanted the label as “the one that hit the 85 pound little lady” no matter how intimidating she was.

The store had wisely decided to make sure there was a police presence; they unwisely thought it wouldn’t be necessary until about 30 minutes before the scheduled opening. But thanks to the line Nazi’s there was no physical violence. I was worried when they chased off the lady on crutches. She whined about not being able to stand in line all night. They squealed back “you could sit on your rear out in the cold like the rest of us!” Anyway, when the Police arrived, he officiously said, “all right people, let’s settle down, if you haven’t been in line all night you need to go to the end of the line.” Nobody moved. The line Nazi’s screeched “He said, settle down, if you haven’t been in line all night you need to go to the end of the line.” Most everyone, including me and the Police Officer, until some others grabbed us, bowed their heads in shame and trodded past all 847 people in line.

When the store opened, we were the 11th and 12th person in the door. We bought the laptop I had endured all this torture, suffering, and fear to obtain. But, because we had stood in line all night, we also bought another $600.00 worth of stuff that we don’t need but was at a really good price. It seemed to us that we earned the right to this stuff we don’t need by sitting in line all night. It was also unfair if didn’t buy it, that would just leave something for that lady on crutches who was still trying to talk someone in the next county into letting her get in front of them.

I learned a whole lot more about the sociology of perceived scarcity, but I need to stop writing now. I contracted bronchitis from the cold, and have a doctor’s appointment.

So, for a night of cold, I got a laptop, a credit card bill I can’t afford, a bunch of sociology lessons, and I bonded with people I barely understand and, even though we parted by saying, “see you again at the sale next year,”

I will never see any of them again…. Unless, next year on Thanksgiving night, I decide that I need a flat screen TV….or pneumonia.

A day in our church...

I’m going to relate a phone call my wife received. But first I want to describe our time today from my perspective.

We started with prayer that God would bless our time together; that He would remind us to keep our conversations focused on Him and on loving each other; finally, that He would bless the food.

Then we ate and talked. Ten adults and five kids spread over two rooms. We chatted about the events in our weeks as we ate together. After about 15 minutes, I raised the question about our plans for next weekend. Every household in the church (except one) is traveling to a tourist area about 5 hours away. We will enjoy the mountains, a special dinner show, an amusement park, and extended fellowship. I'm still praying and plotting what we can do to "include" the one family that can't come.

After most were through eating and our travel plans were settled, I asked, "Who would like to share what God is showing you lately?" Four people shared. One of those seemed more "raw” so I asked a few more questions about it. It dealt with the perception that God wanted this person to grow in a specific way. Without giving details, the general theme was that the community affirmed for the person sharing that God was working to accomplish something painful, but very good in her. We commented on her courage for facing the issue and for being willing to share it. We took a quick side trip to note that her family members (that were present) would naturally feel some desire to reduce her discomfort. But that they should not yield to that. "Give God room and freedom to do His work in her life. That will sometimes feel to you and to her, like you are being mean, but you really are giving God the freedom to complete the work He has started."

We prayed and then shifted into our teaching time. I had felt impressed this week to give a very simple message about how God looks at people, and feels toward them, and how we do.

We discussed this together for a while and then dismissed. People lingered and talked for an hour or more.

Church happened.

Phone call: "Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I love my church. I was talking to my grandmother and telling her how much I loved going and meeting together. She asked me 'why?' I told her that while we were talking today, in the middle of our lesson, my 18-month old came rolling into the room on a little scooter. He just learned to do that this week, and the meeting stopped while everyone commented how wonderful it was that he could do that. You all praised him, recognized his accomplishment, and then went back to the conversation. He was not an interruption; he was a joy to be celebrated in the middle of our time."

I plan and pray for hours about what God would have me do on Sunday. What I believe He led me to, and what I therefore did, was good, but what was most powerful was our love for an 18-month old that was greater than our commitment to a planned agenda. It reinforces for me some of the things I believe God is teaching me...it's not about propositional truth, it's about relational touch; it's not about teaching or leading a flock, it's about learning from and loving His loved ones.

A Great Sermon

Just because I have two posts that criticize the traditional sermon format and the stereotypical church service, please don’t take that to be the sole theme of my very young blog. It just so happens that these things have come up in my experience recently.

I got an e-mail with a link to streaming video of “a great sermon.” So I watched it.

It started with a professional quality video of an IPod (registered trademark of somebody, I’m sure). The IPod was shuffling to a series of songs that deal with time.

Does anybody really know what time it is – Chicago
Working 9-5 – Dolly Parton
Take it Easy - Eagles
Tomorrow – Annie
Life is a Highway – Rascal Flatts
Groovin – The Young Rascals
I’m in a hurry and don’t know why – Alabama

The pastor then appeared and asked for a round of applause to welcome the internet and remote audience. His sermon was about time. We’re all too busy and we need to slow down and focus on the priorities.

Anybody that doesn’t think that American Culture props up the idol of activity is not being realistic. Every sound bite, every alarm clock, every speed trap, and every fast food place witness to our obsession with doing more all the time.

The pastor made some good points, fundamentally it was about how we need to slow down, take time for the priorities. Some of the priorities he listed were time with God, time with family, and “sharpening the saw.” Several things in this “great sermon” bothered me.

1) I like Stephen Covey. I like his book on the seven habits. I don’t see them as canonized.

2) Setting better priorities is good, but leaves the real problem unaddressed.

Nobody would argue that as a culture we are too busy. Nobody would argue that our busy-ness generates an imbalance in priorities and we dash to the next project rather than relish God and people in the moment.

Fundamentally, we are too busy because we haven’t learned contentment. We rush to do more, be more, have more, accomplish more, because we believe that we need more. The worst danger of capitalism is an addiction to more. So we simply feed our addiction by racing through every moment, so that we can have “more.” That is the problem that needs to be addressed.

But the sermon did not focus on our idolatrous desire for “more,” he focused on the “more important more” of time with family, etc. He took our utterly selfish drive and re-directed it to a different set of “more.” Now instead of pursuing the “more” of a better job evaluation, I pursue the “more” of time with family.

He didn’t address our sin of a selfish passion for more. He baptized it by encourage us to pursue better things. It’s like saying that beating you spouse is bad, so beat your dog instead. The behavior is better but the core problem is unaddressed.

He’s right that the priorities he suggests are better priorities. He ignores the more central issue that we are not content and believe the fantasy that “more” will make life better. “I’ll be more time conscious and not rush, so that I can have “more” with my kids.” It is a good step, but it only reinforces our foolish, idolatrous idea that if I do “more,” things will be better.

Here’s the message I wish the sermonizer had given.
“The reason we are so busy is that we are rushing to do more, be more, get more, enjoy more. We have bought the idolatry of “more.” It is rooted in a lack of contentment and trust in God. It assumes that I cannot trust Him to provide for all my needs. It is a slap in His face as the sustainer, provider, loving, and good God that He has proven Himself to be. We need to abandon the rush to do more, be more, get more, accomplish more. It is idolatry. We do not need to pursue better idols or pursue idols more effectively. Instead of rushing to obtain and have more, we need to strive to GIVE more. Give your time to God in prayer, worship, meditation. GIVE His love to family and others.”

I am so convinced that the real problem is not what we are pursuing in our rush, but the idolatry of the pursuit, that I need to add this. “Beware in giving your time to worship (and everything else I listed above) that you are not doing so for your own benefit. Our idolatrous hearts are capable of corrupting every good action. If you worship so that you can obtain God’s favor, you are stuck in the same idolatry of getting more for yourself. There’s a test of whether you are selfishly pursuing “more” for self, or humbly giving more of self. It is, what is your attitude, when you give, and “get” nothing in return. Do you keep worshipping when you don’t feel His presence? Do you keep giving His love to a teenager who seems to resent your every word?”

I challenge you to let go of the rush to get “more” but also to let go of the rush to get a better “more” by merely shifting to better priorities. I challenge you to realize that the calling of God on your life is to love your family and the best way to do that is to invest time into His purposes for them. Give Him your time in the form or praise, prayer, worship, meditation. Give others His love, His attention, His interest.

Without that shift in motivation, the shift in priorities stays self-centered. I can foresee people convicted by this sermon spending more time with their kids, but the basic idolatry that says “I need more” is left unaddressed. These folks are spending time with their kids but the focus is still on what I will get out of it. “My deathbed will be a happier place.” “My kids will love me in my old age.” “I feel important, loved and cared for.”

My final complaint with this sermon may be quite petty, but it’s very practical. How much time did it take for a really savvy computer guy to create this wonderfully professional video of music being selected on an IPOD? I can’t do it justice in describing it. Suffice it to say there’s not a television show in the nation that would be ashamed to play it, for its production values. What were his kids doing while he spent the time making it?