Our session is engaged in a year of spiritual development, to learn how to be more godly leaders. As part of this process, each month one elder provides a statement of faith to help the rest of us learn more about his or her faith. At one of our recent meetings an elder said, “I love Jesus so much that I can hardly wait to get to heaven so that I can see him face to face.” This comment stuck with me because it was so different from what I normally hear. People tell me that they look forward to the joys and blessings of heaven. They say that they’re looking forward to seeing loved ones who have died. Will heaven be a place of joy and blessing? Absolutely. Will we be reunited with loved ones there? I think so. But these are not the reasons for our hope of heaven, any more than the reason for having school is for children to ride in yellow buses and eat in the cafeteria. School is for learning, and heaven is for us to be in Christ’s presence.
At times we are guilty of what I call a “mercenary faith:” following God so that we can receive blessings from him. There’s no doubt that God blesses his people. But if that’s our reason for being Christian, we’re missing a vital part of our faith. The focus of Christianity is upon bringing glory to Christ, not upon getting blessings from him.
The story is told of a young Presbyterian candidate for ministry who was interviewed by a presbytery a couple centuries ago. Unfortunately for the candidate, there was a crotchety old preacher in the assembly who loved to ask candidates a tough question: “Would you be willing to be damned for the glory of God?” The bright young man, who had been told to expect the question, had a ready reply. “I am. And I am also willing to damn you, and to damn this whole presbytery!” According to the story, the young man was approved for ministry on the spot, and the old preacher never asked his question again.
How about you? Would you be willing to be damned for the glory of God? It’s a ludicrous question, of course, because it’s inconceivable to imagine how God would receive any benefit from the damnation of any of his beloved children. However, it raises a matter that all of us should take seriously. The true question is: Are we more focused upon the good stuff that we get from God, or upon the things we can do to honor and praise him? This is what Jesus calls us to when he tells us to take up our cross and follow him. This is what Jesus himself did in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he turned away from a life of popularity and power in order to accept the bitter cup that brought glory to God.
The blessings of the Christian life may be what leads us to the Lord in the first place. But if we never move beyond it, something is sorely lacking.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Uprooting Sin
This summer I wanted to get rid of some nasty prickly weeds in a patch of woods that I like to visit. So I brought my weed whacker and mowed them all down. It was wonderful – until they started to grow back again. So I realized that in order to get rid of them, I needed to pull them up by the roots. As I pulled them up, I soon discovered that the roots ran in a tangled network from one plant to another, sometimes in unexpected and confusing directions. I also learned that the biggest plants didn’t have the largest roots. Some of the deepest and strongest roots came from plants that I almost overlooked. Once I had uprooted the plants and pulled out as many of the roots as I could, I realized that new plants will quickly spring up from the roots that I couldn’t get. In order to fill the void that I had caused by pulling up the nasty weeds, I scattered some quick-grow grass seed. My hope is that by the time the weeds try to grow back, the new grass will have already crowded them out and the weeds will not be able to overcome their new competition.
As I dealt with these annoying weeds, I thought about how we try to remove sin from our lives, and I recognized a lot of similarities.
• If we think that we can get rid of sin in our lives by removing the most obvious and visible parts of it, we’ll soon find out that the sin will come right back. Sin has deep roots that lie beneath the surface of what we’re usually aware of.
• When we start the difficult work of uprooting our sin from the deep places in our souls where it lurks, we will be surprised at where the sin runs. Calvinists call this “total depravity:” every corner of our lives is tainted by sin, just as the weeds’ roots ran even through the places that I thought were clear. As soon as you assume that there is one aspect of your life that is free from sin, you run the risk of allowing its undiscovered roots to spring forth.
• The most dangerous sins sometimes seem to be innocent and easy to deal with, just as the plants that were easy to overlook had strong roots. We need to be vigilant and address even the smallest sins because we never know how much they are ruining the goodness that God wants in our lives.
• Sin is never simple to deal with. Each sin is connected to other sins in confusing ways. If you attempt to remove one sin, you’ll soon find out that it is associated with other sins in ways that you would have never guessed. You can’t just work on sin in one part of your life, because it is part of the sin in other areas as well.
• It’s not enough to get rid of the sin in your life. You need to replace it with something healthy and blessed, just as I want to replace my weeds with grass. They tell addicts who come out of rehab that they need to change their lifestyles so that they are around people who lift them up and won’t allow them to revert to their old addictions. Jesus told the story of a man who had an evil spirit removed from him but hadn’t allowed the Holy Spirit to fill him instead. The evil spirit came back and brought seven friends with it.
Above all, we can’t weed out the sin in our lives without the grace that God offers us. Call upon the Holy Spirit to be the master gardener of your soul!
As I dealt with these annoying weeds, I thought about how we try to remove sin from our lives, and I recognized a lot of similarities.
• If we think that we can get rid of sin in our lives by removing the most obvious and visible parts of it, we’ll soon find out that the sin will come right back. Sin has deep roots that lie beneath the surface of what we’re usually aware of.
• When we start the difficult work of uprooting our sin from the deep places in our souls where it lurks, we will be surprised at where the sin runs. Calvinists call this “total depravity:” every corner of our lives is tainted by sin, just as the weeds’ roots ran even through the places that I thought were clear. As soon as you assume that there is one aspect of your life that is free from sin, you run the risk of allowing its undiscovered roots to spring forth.
• The most dangerous sins sometimes seem to be innocent and easy to deal with, just as the plants that were easy to overlook had strong roots. We need to be vigilant and address even the smallest sins because we never know how much they are ruining the goodness that God wants in our lives.
• Sin is never simple to deal with. Each sin is connected to other sins in confusing ways. If you attempt to remove one sin, you’ll soon find out that it is associated with other sins in ways that you would have never guessed. You can’t just work on sin in one part of your life, because it is part of the sin in other areas as well.
• It’s not enough to get rid of the sin in your life. You need to replace it with something healthy and blessed, just as I want to replace my weeds with grass. They tell addicts who come out of rehab that they need to change their lifestyles so that they are around people who lift them up and won’t allow them to revert to their old addictions. Jesus told the story of a man who had an evil spirit removed from him but hadn’t allowed the Holy Spirit to fill him instead. The evil spirit came back and brought seven friends with it.
Above all, we can’t weed out the sin in our lives without the grace that God offers us. Call upon the Holy Spirit to be the master gardener of your soul!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Listen to the Holy Spirit
Since the dawn of the Pentecostal movement about a century ago, references to the work of the Holy Spirit tend to deal with things like speaking in tongues and other flashy, sometimes intimidating, spiritual fireworks. It’s unfortunate that those of us who don’t emphasize these kinds of spiritual gifts have come to ignore the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, how She draws us to God, and how important She is for our Christian discipleship. (Re-read my May article if you’re curious about why I refer to the Holy Spirit as “She.”)
According to the ancient Greeks, Hermes was the messenger god. He’s the one with wings on his hat and feet. He had to be fast, but he also had to figure out how to take something that the gods said and figure out how to make it understandable for humans. After all, gods are different from people, and what makes sense to one is incomprehensible for the other. My doctoral work focuses on hermeneutics, which gets its name from Hermes. It’s a fancy word for interpretation: how to understand something that comes from a different culture, time, or way of understanding the world.
The Holy Spirit is the Christian Hermes. As the Bible tells us, God’s thoughts are as different from ours as the sky is higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). Because God is so different from us, we need help to understand what He wants to say to us. Otherwise, His word to us would be incomprehensible, and would probably overwhelm our puny human brains.
One of functions of the Holy Spirit is to bring God’s word to life within us. Without the Holy Spirit’s work, the Bible would be an ancient book written by people long gone. It would have nothing to do with our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, our prayers would be nothing more than talking to ourselves. Our words would fade away as soon as we speak them, and we would never hear God’s response. Without the Holy Spirit, even the work of Christ would be strange and inaccessible for us. We’d have no way to comprehend the new life that he offers us.
Fortunately, that’s not the case. As Jesus promised (John 14:26), He sent the Holy Spirit to teach and instruct us about divine matters and to help us continue to have an open line of communication with God.
The work of the Holy Spirit goes in both directions. We need the Holy Spirit to understand what God wants to tell us, whether it’s through the words of Scripture, a sermon, or some other way. And we need the Holy Spirit to lift up our prayers for us, because we cannot do it ourselves (Romans 8:26-27).
As you lift up your heart to God the Father and to God the Son, don’t forget the third Person of the Trinity. Praise the Holy Spirit for the connection with God that She makes possible.
According to the ancient Greeks, Hermes was the messenger god. He’s the one with wings on his hat and feet. He had to be fast, but he also had to figure out how to take something that the gods said and figure out how to make it understandable for humans. After all, gods are different from people, and what makes sense to one is incomprehensible for the other. My doctoral work focuses on hermeneutics, which gets its name from Hermes. It’s a fancy word for interpretation: how to understand something that comes from a different culture, time, or way of understanding the world.
The Holy Spirit is the Christian Hermes. As the Bible tells us, God’s thoughts are as different from ours as the sky is higher than the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). Because God is so different from us, we need help to understand what He wants to say to us. Otherwise, His word to us would be incomprehensible, and would probably overwhelm our puny human brains.
One of functions of the Holy Spirit is to bring God’s word to life within us. Without the Holy Spirit’s work, the Bible would be an ancient book written by people long gone. It would have nothing to do with our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, our prayers would be nothing more than talking to ourselves. Our words would fade away as soon as we speak them, and we would never hear God’s response. Without the Holy Spirit, even the work of Christ would be strange and inaccessible for us. We’d have no way to comprehend the new life that he offers us.
Fortunately, that’s not the case. As Jesus promised (John 14:26), He sent the Holy Spirit to teach and instruct us about divine matters and to help us continue to have an open line of communication with God.
The work of the Holy Spirit goes in both directions. We need the Holy Spirit to understand what God wants to tell us, whether it’s through the words of Scripture, a sermon, or some other way. And we need the Holy Spirit to lift up our prayers for us, because we cannot do it ourselves (Romans 8:26-27).
As you lift up your heart to God the Father and to God the Son, don’t forget the third Person of the Trinity. Praise the Holy Spirit for the connection with God that She makes possible.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
The Forgotten Commandment
Are you having a lazy, relaxing summer? If you’re like most people, I suspect that your answer is “no.” We go through this odd pattern every year, assuming that the next season will have a slower pace and allow us to catch up on chores and relax a bit.
But each season just seems to be busier and more hectic than the one that came before, and we never get that chance to relax.
The busy frenetic pace of our lives isn’t just a hassle and a bother. It’s a sin. Unlike other sins, it’s one we seem proud to commit. There’s a hint of pride in our complaints about our hectic schedules. Because we’re busy, we’re important. So many people and projects depend on us. If I don’t paint the garage or clean out the refrigerator, it’s not going to get done. And the world will quit spinning if there’s a dirty refrigerator or shabby-looking garage at our house. That’s what we tell ourselves. So we fill our days and weeks and months with more and more activity, secretly congratulating ourselves on how important we are. We even think that we’re being good faithful Christians by being so busy. After all, doesn’t God want us to serve him and better the world?
This is sinful. And it’s a big sin: so big, in fact, that God named it in the Ten Commandment: “Honor the Sabbath”. Can you imagine ignoring and violating other commandments this way? God commands us to take a day each week to enjoy being with Him, to rest and relax and rejuvenate our spirits.
Three things prevent us from honoring the Sabbath. First, there are practical complications. Some of us have to work on Sundays or have ongoing family commitments that we can’t ignore. These concerns can be addressed if we’re flexible and not dogmatic about our Sabbath-keeping. Make Tuesday your Sabbath. Or divide your Sabbath into two half-days. Be creative, and you’ll be able to be obedient.
Second, we live in a culture that values hard work. Usually, this is good. But it becomes a problem when we stake our self-image upon the work, that we do. If you think that you’re a good person only if you work hard and do lots of things, then you’ve lost sight of the fact that you are a valuable and precious person just as you are. God loves you and takes delight in you; you don’t have to prove anything about yourself when it comes to the Lord. If that’s what God thinks of you, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Your value comes from His love, not from your activity.
Third, we work too hard because we are arrogant. Does that surprise you? But it’s true. We violate the Fourth Commandment because we believe that we are so important that the world will stop spinning if we don’t take care of things. Everyone is counting on us! Taking a Sabbath rest forces us to recognize the truth that God is in charge of the world, and that He’s able to take care of things without us being on call 24/7. Remember: God himself took a Sabbath rest after creating the universe. Do we think that we’re more important than God himself?
Peter
But each season just seems to be busier and more hectic than the one that came before, and we never get that chance to relax.
The busy frenetic pace of our lives isn’t just a hassle and a bother. It’s a sin. Unlike other sins, it’s one we seem proud to commit. There’s a hint of pride in our complaints about our hectic schedules. Because we’re busy, we’re important. So many people and projects depend on us. If I don’t paint the garage or clean out the refrigerator, it’s not going to get done. And the world will quit spinning if there’s a dirty refrigerator or shabby-looking garage at our house. That’s what we tell ourselves. So we fill our days and weeks and months with more and more activity, secretly congratulating ourselves on how important we are. We even think that we’re being good faithful Christians by being so busy. After all, doesn’t God want us to serve him and better the world?
This is sinful. And it’s a big sin: so big, in fact, that God named it in the Ten Commandment: “Honor the Sabbath”. Can you imagine ignoring and violating other commandments this way? God commands us to take a day each week to enjoy being with Him, to rest and relax and rejuvenate our spirits.
Three things prevent us from honoring the Sabbath. First, there are practical complications. Some of us have to work on Sundays or have ongoing family commitments that we can’t ignore. These concerns can be addressed if we’re flexible and not dogmatic about our Sabbath-keeping. Make Tuesday your Sabbath. Or divide your Sabbath into two half-days. Be creative, and you’ll be able to be obedient.
Second, we live in a culture that values hard work. Usually, this is good. But it becomes a problem when we stake our self-image upon the work, that we do. If you think that you’re a good person only if you work hard and do lots of things, then you’ve lost sight of the fact that you are a valuable and precious person just as you are. God loves you and takes delight in you; you don’t have to prove anything about yourself when it comes to the Lord. If that’s what God thinks of you, it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Your value comes from His love, not from your activity.
Third, we work too hard because we are arrogant. Does that surprise you? But it’s true. We violate the Fourth Commandment because we believe that we are so important that the world will stop spinning if we don’t take care of things. Everyone is counting on us! Taking a Sabbath rest forces us to recognize the truth that God is in charge of the world, and that He’s able to take care of things without us being on call 24/7. Remember: God himself took a Sabbath rest after creating the universe. Do we think that we’re more important than God himself?
Peter
Monday, June 22, 2009
Idol Talk
Money has been on everyone’s minds a lot lately. Or maybe I should say, money has been on people’s minds more than usual lately. Ever since the world economy took a nosedive last fall, we’ve all be worried about finances. It’s very understandable, of course. If you haven’t lost your job, you’re worried you might. And if you’re lucky enough to keep your job, you may have a salary cut. If you’re living on investment income, you’ve suddenly discovered that the money you were counting on has disappeared. Money woes are rippling through the entire country, as everyone from local charities to Fortune 500 companies are struggling to get by. It’s even affected our church, when we lost more than a quarter of the money we saved for the building project and the session is working hard to keep our books in the black.
Our faith has a very simple word for this concern we have about money: idolatry. You’ll find it right there in the Second Commandment, when God forbid his people from having idols. We may be tempted to think that this commandment doesn’t really apply to us these days. “After all,” we think, “aren’t idols those funny statues that pagans bow down in front of?” Yes, those are idols. But idols come in all sorts and sizes. And the worship of idols takes many different forms. An idol is anything that competes with God for the place that he deserves in your life. Here’s a checklist to see if you may be in danger of having an idol in your life. Ask yourself the following questions.
1. Do I count on it to take care of me if I get in trouble?
2. Do I want as much of it, or to be around it, as much as I can?
3. Do I think it will make me happy or fulfilled?
4. Do I have it in mind when I make major decisions?
5. Do I devote significant time and resources to it?
If you’re like most people in our society and our world, you could probably ask yourself these questions with money in mind and discover that you’re in danger of having money as your idol. You may be allowing money to have the place in your life that belongs only to God. Look again at the questions, and see if you might answer them something like this:
1. I earn and save money for a rainy day.
2. I play the lottery or work extra hours to try to get as much money as I can.
3. With a little more money, I can get things that will make life nicer.
4. I plan my time and my energy around what costs the least or earns me the most.
5. I put a lot of time and effort into earning or managing my money.
There’s a funny thing about idols: they never really deliver on their promises. God warns us away from idols not only because He deserves top space in our lives, but also because He knows that idols will hurt and disappoint us in the long run. And that’s certainly true when it comes to money. We think it will make us happy, but all it does is stress us out. And getting more doesn’t make us happier after all. Studies have shown that big lottery winners are more unhappy a year after they hit the jackpot than they were before. We think money will give us security and will protect us, but events in the last year have shown us once again that it just ain’t so.
Money is a necessary part of life in this society of ours. But it doesn’t have to be the most important part. That place belongs to God alone, who truly can give us lives of joy and significance, and who will never let us down.
Our faith has a very simple word for this concern we have about money: idolatry. You’ll find it right there in the Second Commandment, when God forbid his people from having idols. We may be tempted to think that this commandment doesn’t really apply to us these days. “After all,” we think, “aren’t idols those funny statues that pagans bow down in front of?” Yes, those are idols. But idols come in all sorts and sizes. And the worship of idols takes many different forms. An idol is anything that competes with God for the place that he deserves in your life. Here’s a checklist to see if you may be in danger of having an idol in your life. Ask yourself the following questions.
1. Do I count on it to take care of me if I get in trouble?
2. Do I want as much of it, or to be around it, as much as I can?
3. Do I think it will make me happy or fulfilled?
4. Do I have it in mind when I make major decisions?
5. Do I devote significant time and resources to it?
If you’re like most people in our society and our world, you could probably ask yourself these questions with money in mind and discover that you’re in danger of having money as your idol. You may be allowing money to have the place in your life that belongs only to God. Look again at the questions, and see if you might answer them something like this:
1. I earn and save money for a rainy day.
2. I play the lottery or work extra hours to try to get as much money as I can.
3. With a little more money, I can get things that will make life nicer.
4. I plan my time and my energy around what costs the least or earns me the most.
5. I put a lot of time and effort into earning or managing my money.
There’s a funny thing about idols: they never really deliver on their promises. God warns us away from idols not only because He deserves top space in our lives, but also because He knows that idols will hurt and disappoint us in the long run. And that’s certainly true when it comes to money. We think it will make us happy, but all it does is stress us out. And getting more doesn’t make us happier after all. Studies have shown that big lottery winners are more unhappy a year after they hit the jackpot than they were before. We think money will give us security and will protect us, but events in the last year have shown us once again that it just ain’t so.
Money is a necessary part of life in this society of ours. But it doesn’t have to be the most important part. That place belongs to God alone, who truly can give us lives of joy and significance, and who will never let us down.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Naming the Holy Spirit (Just in Time for Pentecost)
There’s a problem with the English language. We don’t have a personal pronoun to refer to someone without saying that they’re male or female. Other languages have a word that can mean “he,” “she,” or “it” depending on the circumstances. We don’t. Normally, this isn’t an issue because we generally know the gender of the person we’re talking about, and we pick “he” or “she.” (“It” refers to stuff that isn’t a person, so that one doesn’t count.) Until about a generation ago, “he” could be used on those rare occasions when we didn’t know if it was a male or female that we were talking about. As the feminist movement helped us to become sensitive to how this can be a problem for some people, we’ve started to use the somewhat awkward “he/she” construction.
So what pronoun do we use for God? God is a person, so “it” just doesn’t cut it. We know that God is neither male nor female, so calling God “He” or “She” is equally inaccurate. Some people try to avoid the entire issue by never using a pronoun for God. But this can sometimes be ridiculous: imagine reciting John 3:16 by saying “For God so loved the world that God gave God's only Child…”. So I, and many people, use the male pronoun for God. I do it for two reasons. First, it’s the traditional and customary way to do it. Referring to God as anything other than “He” would take some of us a lot of getting used to. And the strangeness of calling God “She” would interfere with people’s ability to hear what’s actually being said. However, some people would argue that there is a good reason for breaking with tradition at this point, because calling God “He” reinforces the dominance of men over women in our society which has so often been unhealthy.
My second reason for calling God “He” is a better one. While we know that God is neither male nor female, Jesus instructed us to call the first Person of the Trinity “Father.” And when the second Person of the Trinity became incarnate, he came as the male Jesus. So two of the three Persons of the Trinity have been revealed to us through male-oriented language. It doesn’t make God a man, but it tips the scales for us to refer to God with male pronouns.
However, when it comes to the third Person of the Trinity, things are a bit different. The Holy Spirit is a person, just as the Father and Son are. But have you ever noticed how we sometimes refer to the Spirit as “It”? That’s just plain wrong. Imagine how demeaning it would be for you to say something like “I talked to my neighbor yesterday. It told me about its new car.” If you wouldn’t talk about another human that way, why in the world would you talk about God that way?
So, do we call the Spirit “He” or “She”? If I’m correct in thinking that many of us refer to the Spirit as “It,” then our traditional and customary language is wrong, and wrong enough that it needs to be changed. Calling the Spirit “He” would reinforce the wrong notion that God is male. So I suggest that we refer to the Holy Spirit as “She.” It may sound odd, but it’s no more incorrect than calling the Spirit “He.” In fact, there’s some Biblical justification for this, if we accept that Proverbs’ personification of Wisdom as a woman is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and if we take Jesus’ message to Nicodemus seriously that we must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8), since women have exclusive birthing rights.
Calling the Holy Spirit “She” isn’t a radical claim about the nature of God. It’s simply the best that we can do until the English language gives us better choices.
So what pronoun do we use for God? God is a person, so “it” just doesn’t cut it. We know that God is neither male nor female, so calling God “He” or “She” is equally inaccurate. Some people try to avoid the entire issue by never using a pronoun for God. But this can sometimes be ridiculous: imagine reciting John 3:16 by saying “For God so loved the world that God gave God's only Child…”. So I, and many people, use the male pronoun for God. I do it for two reasons. First, it’s the traditional and customary way to do it. Referring to God as anything other than “He” would take some of us a lot of getting used to. And the strangeness of calling God “She” would interfere with people’s ability to hear what’s actually being said. However, some people would argue that there is a good reason for breaking with tradition at this point, because calling God “He” reinforces the dominance of men over women in our society which has so often been unhealthy.
My second reason for calling God “He” is a better one. While we know that God is neither male nor female, Jesus instructed us to call the first Person of the Trinity “Father.” And when the second Person of the Trinity became incarnate, he came as the male Jesus. So two of the three Persons of the Trinity have been revealed to us through male-oriented language. It doesn’t make God a man, but it tips the scales for us to refer to God with male pronouns.
However, when it comes to the third Person of the Trinity, things are a bit different. The Holy Spirit is a person, just as the Father and Son are. But have you ever noticed how we sometimes refer to the Spirit as “It”? That’s just plain wrong. Imagine how demeaning it would be for you to say something like “I talked to my neighbor yesterday. It told me about its new car.” If you wouldn’t talk about another human that way, why in the world would you talk about God that way?
So, do we call the Spirit “He” or “She”? If I’m correct in thinking that many of us refer to the Spirit as “It,” then our traditional and customary language is wrong, and wrong enough that it needs to be changed. Calling the Spirit “He” would reinforce the wrong notion that God is male. So I suggest that we refer to the Holy Spirit as “She.” It may sound odd, but it’s no more incorrect than calling the Spirit “He.” In fact, there’s some Biblical justification for this, if we accept that Proverbs’ personification of Wisdom as a woman is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and if we take Jesus’ message to Nicodemus seriously that we must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8), since women have exclusive birthing rights.
Calling the Holy Spirit “She” isn’t a radical claim about the nature of God. It’s simply the best that we can do until the English language gives us better choices.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Semper Ref
Presbyterians call themselves “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda.” This is typically translated as “The Church Reformed and Always Reforming.” But for reasons that I’ll explain in a bit, there’s a crucial error in this mis-translation. We recognize that as individuals and as a church, we’re never quite where God wants us to be. For us, the life of faith is an adventurous journey, as we seek to change ourselves into what God wants us to be. Because of the sin that is a part of human nature, the journey starts far from God. And even while we seek to draw closer to Him, we continually swerve off in other directions and need to get our bearings straight over and over again. What this means is that we never sit back on our accomplishments and congratulate ourselves that we’ve “made it” and are all squared away with God. There’s always more work to do, and there’s always errors in our lives that we need to correct. It’s true for us individually, and it’s true for us as a church.
A tremendous change has just taken place at Old Union Church. The character and purpose of our congregation remains the same, but with our new building, the possibilities for what we are able to do in God’s name, and the witness which we carry into the community, is very different. It’s going to take us a while to sort through it all and figure out what we can now do. In the midst of all this newness at Old Union, it would be easy for us to wish for the way things used to be. Change makes us uncomfortable, especially for something as important to us as our church. Weren’t things good enough before? Why do we have to change? The answer is simple: we are the Reformed church that is always reforming. Change, growth, and development is in our very nature. As our motto indicates, we are a future-looking church, eager to discover how we can change to be more faithful to God. Traditions are wonderful, but they are the foundation for our journey, not the final destination.
But what kind of change are we talking about? Not all change is good, and we can all think of plenty of examples in which change made things worse. This is where the accurate translation of our motto makes all the difference. “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda” does not mean “The Church Reformed, Always Reforming,” but “The Church Reformed, Always Being Reformed.” Change isn’t something we do; it’s something God does to us. We do not undertake our journey of faith blindly. God leads us and works in us to make us the people and the church that He wants. We depend upon the work of His Spirit to reform and change us according to His purposes. From the very beginning, we have sought for this building project to be God’s plan for the direction of our church, and not just something we thought of by ourselves.
It’s exciting to begin a new chapter of our church’s history. Let’s continue to seek God’s guidance to ensure that we are being reformed by Him.
A tremendous change has just taken place at Old Union Church. The character and purpose of our congregation remains the same, but with our new building, the possibilities for what we are able to do in God’s name, and the witness which we carry into the community, is very different. It’s going to take us a while to sort through it all and figure out what we can now do. In the midst of all this newness at Old Union, it would be easy for us to wish for the way things used to be. Change makes us uncomfortable, especially for something as important to us as our church. Weren’t things good enough before? Why do we have to change? The answer is simple: we are the Reformed church that is always reforming. Change, growth, and development is in our very nature. As our motto indicates, we are a future-looking church, eager to discover how we can change to be more faithful to God. Traditions are wonderful, but they are the foundation for our journey, not the final destination.
But what kind of change are we talking about? Not all change is good, and we can all think of plenty of examples in which change made things worse. This is where the accurate translation of our motto makes all the difference. “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda” does not mean “The Church Reformed, Always Reforming,” but “The Church Reformed, Always Being Reformed.” Change isn’t something we do; it’s something God does to us. We do not undertake our journey of faith blindly. God leads us and works in us to make us the people and the church that He wants. We depend upon the work of His Spirit to reform and change us according to His purposes. From the very beginning, we have sought for this building project to be God’s plan for the direction of our church, and not just something we thought of by ourselves.
It’s exciting to begin a new chapter of our church’s history. Let’s continue to seek God’s guidance to ensure that we are being reformed by Him.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
What Are You Doing for Lent?
Lent is the forty day long season of the church that began on Ash Wednesday and will continue until our Easter celebration on April 12. It can be a valuable resource to deepen their relationship with God. So what are you doing for Lent this year?
Traditionally, Lent is a time of year for people to increase their devotion to God for a relatively short period of time. It’s an opportunity to take up an extra faith challenge that you may not be able to maintain for an extended period of time. But maybe for a month and a half you can handle it. And who knows? Perhaps when Easter rolls around you find out that your Lenten discipline wasn’t so bad after all and that you can make it a part of your ongoing walk with God. And if you can’t, at the very least you will have benefitted from forty days of a deeper immersion into your faith.
Most people typically consider these Lenten disciplines to be something negative. In other words, you “give something up” for Lent. It may be a vice or a bad habit, or something that you wish wasn’t part of your life. When viewed this way, Lenten disciplines are reduced to something like a churchy version of new year’s resolutions. And they’re not much more spiritually uplifting. The only real reason to “give something up” for Lent is to open up space in your life for God to be more present. For example, if you decide to give up television for Lent but end up surfing the internet instead, you haven’t really gotten much closer to God in the process.
Here are some suggestions for how you can have a “positive” Lenten discipline. That is, instead of getting rid of something, try do something new and different to spice up your faith and challenge you to lead a more Christ-like life. It may mean that you have to quit doing something else, but the emphasis is on what you’re doing for God, not on what you’re giving up. Here are a few ideas to get your imagination stirring:
• Spend ten minutes a day reading the Bible, and five minutes talking with God about what you’ve read.
• Select five issues or people (one for each finger on your hand, to make it easier to remember) to pray about every day during Lent.
• Give a portion of your spending money to a worthwhile charity, like the One Great Hour of Sharing.
• Make a point of befriending someone at school or work who is ignored or ridiculed by others.
• Turn off the radio when you’re driving, or take off your IPod, so that you can be more aware of God’s presence with you.
• Demonstrate your love for someone in your family by taking over one of their household chores for them.
Who knows? Maybe by the time Easter arrives, your Lenten discipline will be a part of your everyday life. Happy Lent!
Traditionally, Lent is a time of year for people to increase their devotion to God for a relatively short period of time. It’s an opportunity to take up an extra faith challenge that you may not be able to maintain for an extended period of time. But maybe for a month and a half you can handle it. And who knows? Perhaps when Easter rolls around you find out that your Lenten discipline wasn’t so bad after all and that you can make it a part of your ongoing walk with God. And if you can’t, at the very least you will have benefitted from forty days of a deeper immersion into your faith.
Most people typically consider these Lenten disciplines to be something negative. In other words, you “give something up” for Lent. It may be a vice or a bad habit, or something that you wish wasn’t part of your life. When viewed this way, Lenten disciplines are reduced to something like a churchy version of new year’s resolutions. And they’re not much more spiritually uplifting. The only real reason to “give something up” for Lent is to open up space in your life for God to be more present. For example, if you decide to give up television for Lent but end up surfing the internet instead, you haven’t really gotten much closer to God in the process.
Here are some suggestions for how you can have a “positive” Lenten discipline. That is, instead of getting rid of something, try do something new and different to spice up your faith and challenge you to lead a more Christ-like life. It may mean that you have to quit doing something else, but the emphasis is on what you’re doing for God, not on what you’re giving up. Here are a few ideas to get your imagination stirring:
• Spend ten minutes a day reading the Bible, and five minutes talking with God about what you’ve read.
• Select five issues or people (one for each finger on your hand, to make it easier to remember) to pray about every day during Lent.
• Give a portion of your spending money to a worthwhile charity, like the One Great Hour of Sharing.
• Make a point of befriending someone at school or work who is ignored or ridiculed by others.
• Turn off the radio when you’re driving, or take off your IPod, so that you can be more aware of God’s presence with you.
• Demonstrate your love for someone in your family by taking over one of their household chores for them.
Who knows? Maybe by the time Easter arrives, your Lenten discipline will be a part of your everyday life. Happy Lent!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Do You Have a Dinosaur Brain?
Are you a dinosaur? I’m not referring to how old you are, or how big you might be. I’m asking about the way that you think. The human brain has evolved quite a bit from the days that T. Rex and his friends roamed the earth. But at times we can allow our more primitive instincts to take over and control the way that we act and think, and we ignore the higher thought processes that we’re capable of. Or, to word it more spiritually (this is a church message, after all), at times we allow our worldly nature to control us, instead of conforming to the spiritual nature that Christ has won for us.
The session and I are spending this year in spiritual development, in order to become better faith leaders for the congregation. As part of our time at January’s session meeting, we used material by Dave Derby of Gospel Recordings to think about how we can overcome our “dinosaur brains.” He outlined seven rules that control how dinosaurs think. For each rule, we discussed examples of when we’ve seen it at work, and we read Scripture passages which describe the kind of thinking that God calls us to instead. Then we thought about what life in our church would look like if we gave up dinosaur thinking for the mind of Christ. This month, I invite you to do the same thing. Here are the seven rules of dinosaur brains. Think about times when you’ve seen people (maybe yourself!) act according to them. Then read the Scripture passages to learn about what God calls us to instead. Finally, think about how your life would be different if you overcame your own dinosaur brain.
1. Be Dominant: Win at all costs, and be sure to get the last word.
Matthew 20:25-28, James 1:19, Genesis 11:1-8
2. Defend the Territory: Hold on to what is yours and what is important to you.
Genesis 12:1-3, Mark 12:13-17, John 11:45-57
3. Get It Now: Act impulsively for instant gratification, instead of long-term rewards.
Genesis 45:1-7, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, James 4:1-3, 13-17, Proverbs 6:6-11
4. If It Hurts, Hiss: Blame someone else if things go wrong.
Numbers 14:1-4, Proverbs 19:3, Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 2:1-4
5. Get the Mate: Do what it takes to make yourself as impressive or attractive as possible.
Acts 5:1-11, 1 Samuel 16:1-12, Matthew 23:1-12, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 14:7-11
6. Like Me = Good, Not Like Me = Bad: Only trust people who are like you.
Luke 9:49-50, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
7. Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Protect yourself from danger, ridicule, or rejection.
Matthew 6:25-33, Luke 9:22-26, John 15:9-17
The session and I are spending this year in spiritual development, in order to become better faith leaders for the congregation. As part of our time at January’s session meeting, we used material by Dave Derby of Gospel Recordings to think about how we can overcome our “dinosaur brains.” He outlined seven rules that control how dinosaurs think. For each rule, we discussed examples of when we’ve seen it at work, and we read Scripture passages which describe the kind of thinking that God calls us to instead. Then we thought about what life in our church would look like if we gave up dinosaur thinking for the mind of Christ. This month, I invite you to do the same thing. Here are the seven rules of dinosaur brains. Think about times when you’ve seen people (maybe yourself!) act according to them. Then read the Scripture passages to learn about what God calls us to instead. Finally, think about how your life would be different if you overcame your own dinosaur brain.
1. Be Dominant: Win at all costs, and be sure to get the last word.
Matthew 20:25-28, James 1:19, Genesis 11:1-8
2. Defend the Territory: Hold on to what is yours and what is important to you.
Genesis 12:1-3, Mark 12:13-17, John 11:45-57
3. Get It Now: Act impulsively for instant gratification, instead of long-term rewards.
Genesis 45:1-7, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, James 4:1-3, 13-17, Proverbs 6:6-11
4. If It Hurts, Hiss: Blame someone else if things go wrong.
Numbers 14:1-4, Proverbs 19:3, Matthew 7:1-5, Romans 2:1-4
5. Get the Mate: Do what it takes to make yourself as impressive or attractive as possible.
Acts 5:1-11, 1 Samuel 16:1-12, Matthew 23:1-12, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 14:7-11
6. Like Me = Good, Not Like Me = Bad: Only trust people who are like you.
Luke 9:49-50, 1 Corinthians 9:19-23
7. Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Protect yourself from danger, ridicule, or rejection.
Matthew 6:25-33, Luke 9:22-26, John 15:9-17
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Facing a Gideon Moment
The congregation that I serve has been affected by the financial crisis that our nation is dealing with. A significant amount of money that we raised for our building project has disappeared because of the downturn in the stock market. If we want construction to continue, we will have to increase our loan from $300,000 to $450,000. As we deal with this unpleasant situation, it would be easy for us to respond with despair, frustration, anxiety, or anger. We may want to look for someone to blame for this situation, or we may give up on trying to complete this goal.
Instead, I encourage you to consider this to be a “Gideon moment,” as we trust and work with God. In Judges 6 and 7, God told Gideon that He was sending him to defeat the army that was occupying the land of Israel. In response to God’s call, Gideon assembled an army of 32,000 soldiers to attack a much bigger enemy force. Anyone in their right mind would say that Gideon needed every warrior he could find to join him in the battle. But God told Gideon that he had too many men. Too many! What general who was ever preparing for battle thought that he had too many soldiers? But God wanted Gideon to know that when he defeated them, the victory would come because of God’s power and not his army. So with God’s guidance, Gideon whittled down his forces until he only had 300 soldiers. And with those 300, he defeated the enemy.
When we first started preparations for this building project, we knew that it would only succeed if it was God’s will. At every step, we did our best to ensure that we were following where God was guiding. And by every conventional measure, things seemed to be going well. In four years we raised an incredible amount of money, and we secured a loan with excellent terms from church-related institution to pay for the rest of the construction. Based on what we had been able to raise in the past, we had every reason to believe that we would be able to pay off the loan in three years.
Gideon thought his army of 32,000 could defeat the Midianites, and we thought that we would be able to complete our building project. But God wanted Gideon to know that it was His power, not Gideon’s, that won the victory. And now, perhaps God wants us to know that this building project will not succeed because of our efforts, but because of His power at work in us. A sign in the back of our sanctuary defines faith as “Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him.” This latest situation is part of the adventure that comes from trusting God. If we could complete this building project on our own, where would the faith be? But if we are brought to our knees and realize that the project will indeed succeed only with God’s blessing, then we are well on our way to living out our faith.
Does this mean that we should sit back quietly and do nothing, because God will take care of it all? By no means! Gideon and his band of 300 men had an army to face, and we have a project to complete. We have work to do together, but we must remember that we are playing our role in the plan that God has for us.
We share this crisis with countless families and institutions across our nation. May the way that we face it as a church be a witness to those around us of what is possible when we trust and follow God.
Instead, I encourage you to consider this to be a “Gideon moment,” as we trust and work with God. In Judges 6 and 7, God told Gideon that He was sending him to defeat the army that was occupying the land of Israel. In response to God’s call, Gideon assembled an army of 32,000 soldiers to attack a much bigger enemy force. Anyone in their right mind would say that Gideon needed every warrior he could find to join him in the battle. But God told Gideon that he had too many men. Too many! What general who was ever preparing for battle thought that he had too many soldiers? But God wanted Gideon to know that when he defeated them, the victory would come because of God’s power and not his army. So with God’s guidance, Gideon whittled down his forces until he only had 300 soldiers. And with those 300, he defeated the enemy.
When we first started preparations for this building project, we knew that it would only succeed if it was God’s will. At every step, we did our best to ensure that we were following where God was guiding. And by every conventional measure, things seemed to be going well. In four years we raised an incredible amount of money, and we secured a loan with excellent terms from church-related institution to pay for the rest of the construction. Based on what we had been able to raise in the past, we had every reason to believe that we would be able to pay off the loan in three years.
Gideon thought his army of 32,000 could defeat the Midianites, and we thought that we would be able to complete our building project. But God wanted Gideon to know that it was His power, not Gideon’s, that won the victory. And now, perhaps God wants us to know that this building project will not succeed because of our efforts, but because of His power at work in us. A sign in the back of our sanctuary defines faith as “Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him.” This latest situation is part of the adventure that comes from trusting God. If we could complete this building project on our own, where would the faith be? But if we are brought to our knees and realize that the project will indeed succeed only with God’s blessing, then we are well on our way to living out our faith.
Does this mean that we should sit back quietly and do nothing, because God will take care of it all? By no means! Gideon and his band of 300 men had an army to face, and we have a project to complete. We have work to do together, but we must remember that we are playing our role in the plan that God has for us.
We share this crisis with countless families and institutions across our nation. May the way that we face it as a church be a witness to those around us of what is possible when we trust and follow God.
Revelation 2:1-7 – Getting Back to Basics
As we begin to study the letters which John wrote to each of the seven churches, we can notice that the letters follow a specific pattern. Each begins with “These are the words of him who…” and then picks up one of the descriptive phrases for Jesus which we found in Chapter 1. The particular descriptive is frequently something that relates to the particular issue that the church is dealing with. Next, the letter provides an affirmation for how the church has been faithful (except for the notable exception of the church to the Laodiceans). The next element for each letter is a call for reformation: the identification of something that the churches can do to be more faithful (except for the notable exception of the Philadelphians). The letters end with a promise of the reward which the faithful will receive, and the charge “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The regularity of this formula helps us understand the message for each church.
John begins with a letter the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a major seaport and the most important city in the region. It was also the center of worship for the goddess Artemis (or Diana). Acts 19:23-41 describes a riot that the worshipers of Artemis incited in reaction to Paul’s preaching of the gospel there.
The affirmation for the Ephesian church was that they were hard-working and conscientious. They were discerning people and sought to avoid the influence of misleading or false leaders. That’s great: these are values which we’d all admire. There’s something almost instinctive, at least in the American “heartland,” about valuing hard work and quality work. And we respect people with sharp minds who don’t just accept every idea that comes down the pick, but probes and analyzes them to sift out what is valuable and get rid of the dangers and problems.
This is all quite commendable, but in the midst of their hard work and careful thought, the Ephesians had strayed from their “first love.” This can be understood two ways. First, they may have forgotten about the condition of love which is the starting point and grounding of everything we are and do as Christians. Church history is riddled with unfortunate examples of believers who became so caught up in doing the right thing and working hard to do it, that they no longer acted in love. The Spanish Inquisition and the Salem witch trials are two quick examples that come to mind. But they’re safe examples because they’re so removed from us. But it’s a danger we still face. It would be easy for the ongoing debate about the role of homosexuals in the church to dissolve into this, if and when those who hold up the Biblical standard against such conduct fail to do so out of love and respect and begin to demonize and break fellowship not only with homosexuals but with those who support them. Many congregations can find sad localized examples of their own: when a longtime member criticizes a new member because she violated a long-standing tradition about how “things are always done here,” or if a dispute about how to handle a situation in the church dissolves into factionalism and bitterness. In each of these cases, the love from which all discipleship begins has been violated.
But there’s a second way to understand Jesus’ criticism that the Ephesians have “forsaken their first love:” they lost sight of their primary call from God. They forgot how their relationship with God and their identity as God’s people started. In the process of developing and growing in faith, they abandoned their roots instead of building on them. This can happen to us, individually and as a church, when we forget why we are doing what we’re doing and obsess over how to do it. They need to heed the exhortation that Paul offered to the Philippians: “Let us live up to what we have already attained” (3:16).
John begins with a letter the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a major seaport and the most important city in the region. It was also the center of worship for the goddess Artemis (or Diana). Acts 19:23-41 describes a riot that the worshipers of Artemis incited in reaction to Paul’s preaching of the gospel there.
The affirmation for the Ephesian church was that they were hard-working and conscientious. They were discerning people and sought to avoid the influence of misleading or false leaders. That’s great: these are values which we’d all admire. There’s something almost instinctive, at least in the American “heartland,” about valuing hard work and quality work. And we respect people with sharp minds who don’t just accept every idea that comes down the pick, but probes and analyzes them to sift out what is valuable and get rid of the dangers and problems.
This is all quite commendable, but in the midst of their hard work and careful thought, the Ephesians had strayed from their “first love.” This can be understood two ways. First, they may have forgotten about the condition of love which is the starting point and grounding of everything we are and do as Christians. Church history is riddled with unfortunate examples of believers who became so caught up in doing the right thing and working hard to do it, that they no longer acted in love. The Spanish Inquisition and the Salem witch trials are two quick examples that come to mind. But they’re safe examples because they’re so removed from us. But it’s a danger we still face. It would be easy for the ongoing debate about the role of homosexuals in the church to dissolve into this, if and when those who hold up the Biblical standard against such conduct fail to do so out of love and respect and begin to demonize and break fellowship not only with homosexuals but with those who support them. Many congregations can find sad localized examples of their own: when a longtime member criticizes a new member because she violated a long-standing tradition about how “things are always done here,” or if a dispute about how to handle a situation in the church dissolves into factionalism and bitterness. In each of these cases, the love from which all discipleship begins has been violated.
But there’s a second way to understand Jesus’ criticism that the Ephesians have “forsaken their first love:” they lost sight of their primary call from God. They forgot how their relationship with God and their identity as God’s people started. In the process of developing and growing in faith, they abandoned their roots instead of building on them. This can happen to us, individually and as a church, when we forget why we are doing what we’re doing and obsess over how to do it. They need to heed the exhortation that Paul offered to the Philippians: “Let us live up to what we have already attained” (3:16).
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