Church Voices

For the last 20 months I’ve been on a theological crash course that’s illuminated the scriptures for me almost more than any other experience in my life. That crash course is called fatherhood. Interestingly enough one of the statements that has been made repeatedly to me is how great it would be to be a baby. Everything is taken care of for you, you’re fed, everyone loves you, and you have no responsiblity.

I don’t think this is true.

It must be incredibly hard to be a baby. You have no idea why you’re being taken to the places you’re being taken to, you have no idea who most people are, or what’s going on at all. Every parenting advice book I’ve read has the same advice: babies need routine because they have no idea what’s going on.

Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
1 Corinthians 13.9-13

These verses are often quoted in the context of discipleship, usually in terms of discussing what someone used to do or used to believe, with the implication being that anyone who does those things, or believes those things are still immature and will grow out of it if they are truly disciples.

These verses have absolutely nothing to do with discipleship.

Instead these verses describe our life here, and our life in eternity. Here we don’t have any idea what’s really going on. Like babies we have a very limited knowledge about how God is working, about what is happening to us, and about how the world works. The terrible irony of how this verse is wrongly used is that those who claim to now be knowledgeable, unlike their previous child-like state are people who are unaware of how much we can’t possibly know.

That’s not to say that we can’t know anything. Even babies know something of their world.

Babies know their parents love them.
Babies know when they hurt.
Babies know when they’re hungry.
Babies know their family members.
Babies know when they’re not at home.

Not to stretch the metaphor too far, but I think its fair to say we know the rudimentary make up of what’s going on. We know who loves us, we now what He did to save us, but much of the how and why of what’s happening, especially when we hurt isn’t clear. Sometimes a baby hurts because a doctor has administered a life giving shot, other times a baby hurts because he has a life threatening illness, and no baby alive has figured out which is which.

Any number of short and simple descriptions of a Christ-follower’s life is available to us in scripture (to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God is my favorite of the bunch), but how and why this world and how and why God operates in this world often isn’t clear, and all too often the things obscured by the cloudy bits of the mirror are what separates us from each other. We have been given a clear command that we are to love each other and we will be known as His disciples by that love, meanwhile churches split, relationships dissolve, and no clear disciples of Christ are known because of arguments about what is behind those clouds have been allowed to dominate the focus, energy and ambition of the church.

Children can be a wealth of insight.

Ellianna asked me as we were driving to the doctor’s office, “Is this real or is this a dream?”

I replied, “Is what real or a dream?”

Elli: “Me.”

She soon clarified the question was in reference to the particular trip we were taking, but still, it was one of those moments where as a parent, you realize that your children at the various stages of childhood have all the insight and wisdom of man.  A lot can be learned from children, but we aren’t to rely on the wisdom of man but the wisdom of God.  Our children can come up with man’s conclusions on their own, they need us to show them who God is.

Bob Myers over at the BHT notes:

During the Phillies N.L. Championship series, manager Charlie Manuel’s mother died. (His father was a Pentecostal minister who tragically committed suicide when Charlie was in high school.) Statements about his mother looking down on the game, watching it, being the 10th player on the field etc. are rampant on Sport’s talk radio here and they have provoked a littany of others sharing how their deceased loved ones who are Phillies fans manifest their presence when they attend a game or watch it on television.

He goes on to say its interesting the universality of such beliefs as they likely came from evangelicals, Catholics and agnostic types. He makes a couple of observations.

So much for the argument that people in Bible times were gullible, but we moderns live in a scientific age…

We can’t bear to believe any one that we loved is simply “no more”. And this stubborn notion that leads to sentimental superstition is correct. This clearly demonstrates that there’s something against death in our nature. And it makes me have compassion on all who walk around with sorrow in their hearts over a death that occured decades ago.

The second observation is, to me, far more interesting than the first, and one many Christians often overlook in their zeal to look forward to the life eternal. Death is always tragic. It is tragic because we weren’t created to die, and is a reminder of the power and horror of sin. It is also tragic, even when it happens to a saint, because we are without that person and they have left a void behind in our lives. I suspect many Christians feel guilt over their sorrow because they’ve been told its a happy day that their loved one has entered eternity. I also suspect that same impulse prevents many Christians from going to a counselor when sorrow deepens into depression.

I’ll add a third observation to this list. That observation is that no matter what we may think we never make an intellectual decision about what we believe. Oh, I realize you read that sentence and probably think it applies to other people who are not you, but we all do this. Our feelings, perceptions, biases, and other factors that are decidedly outside the intellect form our beliefs as much as the intellect does. This, of course, has application for both evangelism and discipleship and Christians ignore it at the own peril.

Why do people who claim to know Christ think that they are being good Christians by forwarding e-mails?  I claim here and now that they are being anything but Christian by forwarding those e-mails; they are being lazy, ignorant, timid, and fearful gossip mongers.  (I realize that many have been slowly deceived and pulled into this practice by others, but come on.  Take a minute to think before you act.  Just because it’s easy, doesn’t make it valuable.)

Instead of forwarding an e-mail that you haven’t checked the validity of by taking 30 seconds to look up on snopes.com or simply google it, why don’t you take that 30 seconds to do something useful and forward a dollar for every person on your e-mail list to our brothers and sisters in severe need in Asia (or some other continent) through one of these ministries: International Disaster Emergency Service, Gospel For Asia, Voice of the Martyrs, etc.

Every once in a while I’ll preach a sermon or part of a sermon in what many people consider to be a Hellfire and Brimstone style.  Some people like this type of preaching.  Some just want some kind of passion and energy, but many that appreciate these types of sermons want the anger, the exposure of sin, and the railing against our wrongs.  These sermons/approaches can have their place, but I’ve found that many times you get some amens (often from those that need to apply it but only apply it in judgment to those around them) and some guilt (which is not a part of the role of the preacher).  Because of these responses, I often desire to utilize other techniques to help encourage transformation during Sunday mornings (one of the best is to provide an immediate and tangible opportunity to act, which of course as Chad pointed out in the previous post, is not always applicable).

Sometimes I just feel like offending people.  Mind you, not for the sake of offending people, but to wake them up, to get them thinking, and hopefully to inspire action.  I think it benefits us at times to get a bur in our saddle.  You don’t see people hearing about a need or problem in their lives or the life of a neighbor saying “Oh that’s just terrible” and then doing something about it.  But get somebody upset enough, and they might just take action.

So to that end, I would like to share a list of things that have come to mind over the past few years of ministering in the midwest that will offend many Christians in our country:

• It is sick how much money you spend on crap every year that you don’t need when brothers and sisters in Christ are starving to death.
• This country is not a “Christian” nation.  The only nation that is truly Christian is the Kingdom of God/Heaven.  A.k.a. the Church.
• You may disagree with certain political views, but national policy is not dictated by scripture.
• People from other countries need Jesus Christ.  If I hear one more person say something to show the attitude that they are more important than somebody from Mexico, India, or China, I’m going to punch them in the face.  Let the government system do what it needs to do and let the free market run its course, as for you, love your neighbor as yourself.  Ask yourself, “What is good for my (insert other nationality here) neighbor?”
• Your preacher is not a vending machine.
• Grow up and disciple other Christians.  Seriously, if you’ve been a Christian for more than 3 years, you should be mature enough to help others grow in Christ.  If you’ve been a Christian for 30 years and you’re still doing what you’ve always done (or you’ve slacked off), you never matured.  Find somebody to help you grow up.

If I think of more, I’ll try to offend you again sometime.

Recently, at my alma mater a professor left her infant in her minivan and the infant died (there will be no linking to story or names used due to the remarkably brutish nature of many of the comments that have accumulated on news stories).

Many of the comments I’ve seen on the various news articles are quick to condemn this woman, and one particular way of condemning this woman quickly emerged. The particular condemnation leveled is that this woman was obsessed with her career and the money it brought in, so much so that it directly lead to her forgetting her infant in the car.

This theme strikes me as remarkably silly. Its been a few years since I attended this school, and I was never privy to a list of names with a salary next to them, but I was close enough to several professors that from various things they said, along with their type of lifestyle I know that there’s a good chance you’re making more than they do. The professors who teach at this school don’t teach in order to build a career and buy gold plated rocket cars, they do it out of their passion for building the kingdom of God. They have effectively chosen to pass up an opportunity for prestige, and a higher standard of living to teach there.

In this woman’s case she earned a PhD from Purdue in counseling. I’m sure she had the opportunity to teach at larger schools that would have given her the ability to earn more money, research more and teach less and so publish more papers, and build that career the commenters are writing about. Or at the least she could have gone into her field and built a business around her ability to counsel, a career track that certainly would have brought in more cash than academia.

Of course, none of the commenters seem aware of these circumstances. One commenter comicly demonstrated ignorance about what neighborhood the school is located in by proclaiming sagely that if the school were located in that neighborhood which it is located in the swat team would have been dispatched to round her up and imprison her in Guantanamo Bay for daily waterboardings.

Which brings me to the whole point of this. The more distance there is between two individuals, the easier it is to heap up mountains of condemnation. When you are separated by ideology, education, race, marital status, and have never met the person its easy to demand a public lynching.

Perhaps, especially as followers of Christ, it would be wisest if we withheld condemnation on people and circumstances we know nothing about. Especially since the God we worship, who Isaiah tells us has ways and thoughts higher than our own as the sky is from the ground, and who Paul tells us is the only one who is holy, didn’t come into the world to condemn it, but to save it.In other words, God has the distance and the moral high ground to condemn us, and instead sent Christ to save us.

Should we show any less grace to others?

I don’t talk politics at church.  But this isn’t church.

I’ll tell you now that I  won’t be voting for Clinton or Obama this election (for various reasons).  There is much I could say that I don’t like about their political decions in the past, and their views on the role of government in our country.  But I don’t really need to do that.  What I do need to do is to be challenged to treat others with respect and to love my enemies.  So I would like to share with you one thing that I appreciate about Clinton and Obama.   (There are probably more, and please feel free to share your own positive observations.  No criticizing or I’ll have to bring the smack down on you.  There are plenty of other places and times to do that.)

I appreciate both of these candidates being willing to discuss issues of faith at an event specifically for that.  They were asked questions of varying kinds by different people, including ministers.  The questions weren’t all fluff either.  Were some of their answers evasions and redirects.  Yes.  But they aren’t Bible scholars, they are politicians and trained in that.  And quite frankly, there are many things about God, faith, and Christianity that I find mysterious and don’t have a tremendous grasp on yet.  And when somebody asks me about them, I give the best answer I can but it might not really be a satisfying answer.

One thing that did come through when Clinton and Obama answered their questions was a desire to live out their faith by helping other people.  In Christian circles, we call this “loving your neighbor as yourself.”  Sounds familiar, where have I seen that before?  It is possible that both politicians are saying what will get them the vote.  But I hope they are genuine and that I’m gracious enough to give them room to fail at it.  Especially when I as a minister, preacher, and christian fail at loving my neighbors quite a lot.

For all of the failings of the Democratic party, there appears to be a genuine desire among Democrats to love their neighbors.  Maybe as Christians (not Republicans or Democrats) we can show our communities what that looks like.  Maybe we can even love them as Christ has loved us.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth

The resurrection is the entire point of this passage. But lets not forget that who the resurrection is for is the same group that Jonah’s preaching was for.

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

When we gather as God’s family, worshiping the messiah who became sin, and defeated death for us let’s also avoid Jonah’s attitude.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

The metaphor of God as father is found throughout the scriptures. The relationship between father and children communicates much to us about God. I’ve been a father for a bit over a year now (go to Living and Growing in Owosso for massive amounts of pictures) and I can definitively say that being a father has taught me more about God than almost anything else. The way my son pays attention to me, even when I don’t think he is, how he becomes insecure when he doesn’t have one of his parents in sight, and how when he hurts himself, instead of attending to the hurt he crawls to me. The other side of the coin is what I do for him. Whether its sleep deprivation or getting knuckle deep in a dirty diaper if he needs it I’ll take care of it.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

I am watching Clifford with my 3 year old and it struck me how relevant the lesson being taught in the show was to church work.  I suppose that many problems we have in the church could be fixed if we were humble and mature enough to admit our immaturity and relearn our Kindergarten lessons.

This particular episode had Emily Elizabeth (Clifford’s owner) and some friends putting on a play for their neighborhood.  One of the friends was the director and began to tell everybody (including the dog stage hands) how to do it “right.”  One of the children was offended and gave up his role in the play because the director seemed to think she could do it better.  Eventually the director took over every job because she could do it better.  She proceeded to practice through the play (enjoying it I might add) until she crashed (literally).  She realized how she hurt her friends and asked them back promising not to interfere.

I’m a perfectionist.  Sort of.  If there is something that I think should be done a particular way (i.e. the right way) then I am inclined to say something and/or take over.  This is not healthy and is not conducive to good friendships.  I’ve had to learn the hard way to not intrude on the work and service of others in the church.  Granted, there are times when something needs to be said or done (not everybody is gifted or skilled in every way).  But for me, it’s usually not being done the way I would do it, and so that would be why I speak up.  I have found that more gets accomplished for the Kingdom of God when I don’t interfere and micromanage the ministries of my brothers and sisters.

Maybe you’ll find God teaching you something valuable in strange places.