He Wasn't Poor so We could be Rich

As I observe the history of the Jesus-following movement, I believe that vibrancy and effectiveness in the movement tends to be accompanied by two circumstances. First, the movement is not sanctioned by the ruling government and societal values, or it is outright opposed by these factors. Second, the movement becomes attractive to people of limited means. I realize that humanists might claim that this is due to people needing means of escape when under stress. However, in a number of historical situations, revivals and renewal resulted in significant positive change in the lives of people. Employment improved, family stress stabilized, health care gained ground, the needs of the poor were met, and injustices were challenged. (There are those who claim that the Wesleyan revival in England saved that country from a revolution similar to that which ravaged France, due to living improvements among England's working class that accompanied the revival.)

I suggest that this kind of spiritual surge doesn't happen when the good news of Jesus is privatized to nothing more than what we get out of it. "I get to go to heaven." "Jesus solves my problems." "Jesus gives me peace." These motivations are important, but incomplete by themselves. Jesus main invitation to his first disciples was, "follow me." Essentially that means, "Join me in what God is doing in and through me in this world." Brennan Manning says it better than me. "He was not poor that we might be rich. He was not mocked that we might be honored. He was not laughed at that we might be lauded. On the contrary, he revealed a picture meant to include you and me...We are to strip ourselves of earthly cares and wisdom, all desires for human praise, greediness for any kind of comfort, spiritual consolations included... The gospel is a summons to be stripped of those fine pretenses...the gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand new creations." (The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning. pp. 116, 117, 125.)

Your thoughts on this...?

Just enjoyed a relaxing, peaceful, and fun week on Kentucky Lake. Hope your summer is going well. I'll see you around the next bend in the river...probably sometime during the 4th of July weekend.

The Furious Longing of God

I'm a week into a two month sabbatical now. It's been very good so far. Our three year old granddaughter spent the week with us, which was great fun. Then on Saturday my parents hosted a family reunion, which gave us a chance to spend time with our children and spouses, as well as our six month old granddaughter, who is a real charmer. In addition we got to see my two sisters, their husbands, and our two nephews and two nieces. All in all, a great week.

My wife gave me a bookstore giftcard for Father's Day. Heading into a bookstore with a giftcard is a peak adventure for me. I browse around the shelves and sort of wait for some title or author to leap off the shelf into my radar range. Bookstores never let me down. The book that made the leap was Brennan Manning's latest - THE FURIOUS LONGING OF GOD. Brennan Manning is a genuinely heartfelt, blindingly candid, crystal clear veteran follower of Jesus. Over the years, Manning's works have kept me focused and sometimes kept me sane. Most of all, they have drawn me close to the heart of God. Within the area of ministry that ignites my passion, the growing of disciples, Manning keeps me aligned with God's deepest desire. Manning is not at home in a church that is most concerned about meeting protecting the comfort and the needs of those already within the church walls. Nor is he at ease with a congregation in a frenzy of market-driven, high attraction, "cutting edge," number inflating. A church and a believer's greatest motivation to reach beyond themselves, Manning believes, is a passionate and real relationship with a God who is passionate about us.

He writes, "The furious longing of God is beyond our wildest desires, our hope or hopelessness, our rectitude or wickedness, neither cornered by sweet talk nor gentle persuasion...It cannot be tamed, boxed, captivated, housebroken, or templebroken. It is simply and startingly Jesus, the effulgence of the Father's love." (THE FURIOUS LONGING OF GOD, page 24.)

Manning will be my water-side reading for the next week or so. I'll see you around the next bend in the river; probably early next week.

(Other recommended titles by Brennan Manning: THE RAGAMUFFIN GOSPEL, RUTHLESS TRUST, ABBA'S CHILD.)

T-Minus One Hour to Sabbatical...And Counting

Tomorrow I begin a two month sabbatical time for rest and renewal, spiritual formation, and study and learning. This is part of the process known as the Healthy Church Initiative for our congregation, of which I've written in previous posts. It will be an interesting journey. I have to admit that work is my drug of choice. In spite of what I verbalize otherwise, it tends to be the way I measure my own value. It's important for me to reconnect with a sense of worth that I cannot accumulate or control, but which is determined and given by God alone. I am both apprehensive and eager about the days ahead.

During that time I will continue with blog entries, just observing what happens, what I experience, and, most important, how I see God at work. Posts likely will be somewhat haphazard, but will probably take place about once a week or so.

I hope you all are off to an awesome summer. I especially hope you live in expectation for what God is unfolding in and around you. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Reaching Out for the Fringe

She faced a crowd of people. Normally, she would go nowhere near such a gathering. The woman had some sort of a health condition that resulted in what was likely a chronic vaginal bleeding. It was discomforting and embarrassing. She'd had it for years, and no medical process available in her culture or her era offered any kind of help. The effort to eradicate her condition drained her financial resources. By the laws and practices of her people, she was known as "ritually unclean." This not only kept her on the fringes of religious and social activity, but it also threatened others whom she might touch.

Somehow, though, she was emboldened by the one who was at the center of the crowd - a carpenter turned healer from a place called Nazareth. At risk to herself and others, the woman was moved by a fleeting hope that if she somehow touched the fringe of his outer garment his power to heal might come to her. Sometimes desperate circumstances evoke desperate measures. Hoping to not be noticed by Jesus, she moved into the crowd, approached from behind him, and reached out to touch the hem of his clothing.

If you have access to a Bible, read Luke 8:40-50 to see how the story ends. As Jesus followers, our mission is to introduce Jesus to people who are or feel far from God, just as this woman did. Consider the following questions:

Describe a time in your life when you felt so down and out, that you would have liked to just touch the hem of Jesus' garment.

How have you helped people to reach out to connect with Jesus? How have you thrown barriers in their way? How has your church helped and/or hindered such people?

This weekend in worship our congregation will have the opportunity to confess the ways we have not helped people who are reaching out for the hem of Jesus' garments. We will repent of these things, relinquish them to God, and seek new life and purpose in Him. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Well, I had great plans for today's post, but I ran out of time getting ready for our state's annual denominational gathering this weekend. So, maybe this is a good opportunity not to inflict more of my musings on you and quote someone who really knows what he's talking about. Here's some good food for thought from Quaker spiritual formation writer, Parker Palmer. He's speaking about the passing of the seasons as a metaphor for life.

"If we lived close to nature in an agricultural society, the seasons as metaphor and fact would continually frame our lives. But the master metaphor of our area does not come from agriculture - it comes from manufacturing. We do not believe that we 'grow' our lives - we believe we 'make' them. Just listen to how we use the word in everyday speech: we make time, make friends, make meaning, make money, make a living, make love.

I once heard Alan Watts observe that a Chinese child will ask, 'How does a baby grow?' But an American child will ask, 'How do you make a baby?' From an early age, we absorb our culture's arrogant conviction that we manufacture everything, reducing the world to mere 'raw material' that lacks all value until we impose our designs and labor on it."

(Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. 2000. pp. 96-97.)

Interesting...wonder if it has implications for "making disciples" or "growing disciples." I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

In the last two centuries, Christians sent missionaries from Europe and the "New World" to many places around the globe. Africa was one of the targets of missionary efforts. Genuine desire to offer Jesus drove many of those efforts into the African continent. Unfortunately, some missionary movements were nothing more than a support system or cloak for Western colonial interests. In any event, by design or default, Jesus found his way into Africa over the last 300-400 years.

In a profound twist, as we enter into the 21st century, no continent on the face of the globe has fewer Jesus-followers per capita than Europe. North American trails not too far behind Europe in terms of lukewarm practice of the faith. Conversely, evangelical growth in commitment to Jesus spreads like wildfire in many places in Africa. In some places, Christians cannot organize new churches and build new places of worship fast enough. In several instances, African Christian movement now send missionaries to Europe!

A fascinating irony...in the places where the standard of living is highest, where health care is the best, and where security seems the most stable, the movement which is the Church of Jesus Christ struggles for renewal and vitality. Conversely, on a continent where poverty abounds, where health crises are rampant, and where violence and instability can be the norm, the movement grows and thrives. We North American Jesus followers have much to learn from our African brothers and sisters.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.