Ice Storm!

I'm in a brief window when I have access to power. A crippling ice storm has hit our region. We're fine, but digging out in the cold and darkness. Prayers and support are needed in particular for law enforcement personnel, utility workers, the elderly, and the poor. No posts for the foreseeable future. Thanks!

Giving Up So Others Gain

In President Obama's inaugural speech he referenced the American Revolution. Specifically, he spoke of the year the Continental Army spent the winter in Valley Forge. He noted that George Washington's troops were malnourished, under supplied, and freezing. In those days, the president reminded us, the army was armed with their cause alone. That's when people discover what they really believe; when they discover that for which they would willingly die. The president suggested that this core motivation kept the men of Valley Forge going against all odds. They had something they believed in so passionately and completely, that they would sacrifice realizing it themselves if it meant someone else would realize it.

This may be a clue to why commitment to Jesus the Christ has always flourished in the most hostile environments. Those who would risk following Jesus and inviting others to know Him have to do so with that level of passion and central allegiance in such circumstances. They do with with willingness to sacrifice their own lies so others will encounter Christ. That has impact on unreached people. I think that has more life-changing impact than trying to draw people to church because we have a great preacher, a slick program, a nice building, or whatever.

Here's a disarming question I heard once...Is the salvation of others important enough that you would sacrifice your own so that they would know theirs?

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

Grace to a Slave-Owner's Descendant

Today I had the privilege of offering the opening prayer for a worship service commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in our community. It was a humbling honor for many reasons, but I'm thinking of one reason in particular.

My late paternal grandfather pursued the genealogy of our somewhat obscure English family. He would track down those bearing the last name "Posegate" and find out where they fit in the family tree. Once, while thumbing through the St. Louis, Missouri phonebook, he found a listing for someone with our last name whom my grandfather did not know. He located the individual and drove to south St. Louis to meet him and find out about him. Upon ringing the doorbell my grandfather found himself face to face with an African-American gentleman. (To that point, as far as we knew, all Posegates were Caucasian.) Most people in my family found this to be ironic and somewhat amusing. My grandfather was not known to be a particularly open-minded and tolerant man, and he was not prepared for this branch of our family tree.

Young as I was when I heard all this, I knew enough about our nation's history to know what this meant - someone in our ancestry had once owned slaves. That's always bothered me. Today I took the opportunity to confess this and seek forgiveness for this at the King Day gathering. I am truly sorry for what my people did to the ancestors of many in today's crowd. Their blood is on my hands. My only hope is the grace of God in Jesus the Christ.

However, the fact that the descendant of slave owners would have the opportunity to participate in this important observance, at this historic time in our nation's journey, is a testimony to the in- breaking Kingdom of God. It is a tribute to the vision and dream for which Dr. King lived and died. It is a proclamation that all things are possible with our God. It asserts the truthfulness of one of Dr. King's most fervent beliefs - as the oppressed are made free, so then true liberty also comes to the oppressor.

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

Going to Chapel or Church?

I have a lot of colleagues in ministry who are really smart. Among them is Ann Mowery, the pastor of the Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville, Missouri. She raises the following question:

For those who you who will attend a service of worship sometime this weekend or throughout the week, if it is worshipped focused on the one known as Jesus, you might say to someone, "I'm going to church." In fact, though, are you going to church or to chapel?

Pastor Ann suggests that "chapel" is a worship gathering focused on what you get out of it. You go for encouragement, solace, or spiritual peace and contentment. The purpose is for you to get your spiritual batteries charged to face another week. You and the others who worship with you regularly are the goal. You are the consumer, and it is the "chapel" and the "chaplain's" responsibility to offer you a good product. Ministry is something you get at the chapel.

The focus of church as an event is entirely different. The focus is not you. The focus is on God and others. Church connects you in relationship with Jesus, shapes you as a follower of Jesus, and dispatches you to minister to those who need the love and touch of Jesus. The goal is outside the church, and you have a vital role in addressing that goal. You are not a consumer at church, you are the work force. Ministry is something you do as the church.

So, if you'll be worshipping soon, are you going more to chapel or to church? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Faith Doesn't Grow in the Soil of Certainty

It seems to me that the audio version of William P. Young's novel, The Shack is having as much impact as the book itself. It is very well done. I received it as a gift from my wife for my birthday in December. As I've noted in earlier posts, The Shack is the story about a man who loses his young daughter through a ghastly crime and who confronts God in a very unique way following this devastation in his life. In the book, God is presented to the man as a very warm and savvy African-American woman called "Papa". (You just have to read the book to understand this.) In one of the ever more intimate conversations between the grieving man and Papa, the latter makes a statement something like the following: "Faith doesn't grow in the soil of certainty." (That's probably not an exact quote, but I'm in lazy-mode right now, and I'm not going to the book or the CD to check.)

"Faith doesn't grow in the soil of certainty." That flies in the face of much of what we assume about Christian faith, right? Aren't we invited to be certain that God exists, that Jesus saves us, and that we know where we'll spend eternity? Of course there are elements of certainty about a living faith in Jesus. I hear Papa making a different kind of statement, though. Human beings tend to deify our own capability to achieve certainty. We live in the information age. We believe we can access, command, organize, and maneuver ever-increasing volumes of data. The more we know, the more we will control. That's certainty. By extension, we can reach points at which we know everything there is to know about God, everything there is to know about Jesus, everything we need to know to manage the Holy Spirit, and everything that will provide us with an abundant life as a Christian. Certainty is just a means to the illusion of control.

Papa says, I think, that faith comes in the realization that we do not have ultimate control, that we are indeed as vulnerable as we think we are, and the territory of life can be very uncertain. It's when the slats are kicked out from under us, and support scaffolding is not in place, and trusting a faithful God is more than just a concept - it is either a living truth, or everything is a waste. Faith doesn't happen with a safety need. It happens when we leap into the arms of God, choosing to believe that He is there as Jesus promised He would be. Jesus, after all, entered the ultimate uncertainty before us.

"Faith doesn't grow in the soil of certainty." How does that grab you? I still struggle with it, but it definitely grabs me. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I just finished a book my son gave me for my birthday - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. The book tells the story of two women in Afghanistan from the 1970's or so to the present day. It's a powerful tale, and an important excursion into Afghanistani life.

In A Thousand Splendid Suns there are no easy answers to the plight of a woman in that particular culture. No one individual, group, or entity accounts for the horrific misogyny that these women endure frequently in their lives. A complexity of history, events, people, and powers contribute to a precarious existence for Afghanistani women and girls. No one's hands are clean - not Afghanistani aristocracy, not the warlords, not the Tajiks, not the Pashtuns, not the old Soviet Union, not western powers and economics, not the United Nations, and not the Taliban. None of us in the west will know this unless we take the time to listen, and listen carefully, to this intricate story.

Listening is so essential. Especially for those who would offer Jesus to others, listening is crucial. Frequently we jump too quickly to categorize people. This person is "saved," this person is not. This person is open to Christianity, this person is not. People and their stories are way more complex than easily assigned black and white categories. To know the complexities of people we must care enough to learn them, and we do that by listening. Ironically, in so doing, we will most demonstrate the assertive compassion that is Jesus, and the ground will be most fertile for an encounter with Christ.

A good book is worth its weight in gold. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Mentor Quiz

Returning to the subject of two or three posts ago - mentoring.

Take this quick quiz. It's a two part test. Time yourself. You have five minutes for each part.

PART ONE: Answer as many of these as you can in five minutes:

1. Name the sites of the last three Winter Olympics.
2. Name the last three Nobel Peace Prize winners.
3. Name the first three vice presidents of the United States.
4. Name the last three Super Bowl locations.
5. Name the last three winners of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

How did you do? Apart from the real trivia nuts among usyou probably missed a few in five minutes. Now move on to the second part.

PART TWO: Answer as many of these as you can in five minutes:

1. Name three teachers who were particularly helpful to you in school.
2. Name three family members who were/are good role models for you.
3. Name three people with whom you have/do enjoy working.
4. Name three heroes who inspired/inspire you.
5. Name three people who helped strengthen your faith.

Odds are you did better with Part Two than with Part One. Facts, information, sound bytes are all important, but it tends to be people who are the benchmarks of our lives. Relationships mold us more than data. We can pump loads of information into a person's head, concerning biblical data, doctrinal teaching, instructions in Christian living and everything else. That won't hold a candle to a relationship with a growing, witnessing, serving Jesus-follower. That's why mentoring is so important.

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

Grace That Runs Toward

I'm still thinking about grace experiences. How do we move beyond just talking about grace and learning about grace to actually encountering grace? How do we offer that as an experiential reality for those who need grace and seeking grace?

Pure and radical grace in Jesus Christ comes free of conditions. That's what makes it grace. It's what makes "Just As I Am..." a reality. Yet most churches by their very facility set conditions. So many congregations have permanent buildings. In essence we say, "If you find us, then you can have the grace we offer. If you figure out which door to enter, if you discover which hall leads to the place of worship, if you find your way around the specific way we do worship, then you'll get God's grace." Now, none of us intend to place conditions on the gift of God we want people to receive. Still, to the unreached person, we communicate this message by default: "Come to us, and you'll get grace." Intentional or not, that's a condition.

Contrast that with the grace which Jesus describes in the story of the "prodigal son" and the forgiving father. (See chapter 15 of the gospel of Luke.) The son has shamed his father and wished his father dead. (Asking for his inheritance immediately, the son basically says to his father, "I wish you were dead.") Yet, upon deciding to return home, his father sees him from far off. This means the father was actively looking for the son who had cursed him. When he sees his son dragging himself home, the father runs to him. Landed gentry in that culture did not run. It was hard to do in their long, flowing robes and it was beneath them to run to anyone for anything. But this father hikes up his robes and risks ridicule and shame to go to his son. Grace doesn't sit and wait to be found. Grace runs toward and seeks.

So somehow a grace experience is not one that sits and waits for people to take advantage of it. That creates a condition, and that is not radical grace. Somehow a grace experience needs to actively seek and run toward. How would we do that in these days?

On down a perplexing but important stretch of the river...

A Grace Day

In my last post I spoke of the first of two areas of attention to which I believe the Holy Spirit beckons me in these early days of 2009. It is the ministry of mentoring. Each follower of Jesus needs at least one person who serves as a discipleship guide, and each follower needs to offer such guidance to others. The second area involves grace. This concept, based in the Greek word charis, means a gift that is unearned, undeserved, unanticipated, yet freely given. Grace describes what God offers us in and through Jesus the Christ.

While I served a church in the Kansas City area, our church's program minister was Paula Smith, who now pastors the Mount Washington United Methodist Church in Independence, Missouri. She developed a mentor training program for disciples in our congregation. In that program, she created a unique way for people to experience giving and receiving grace. On a hot summer's weekday evening she took the training group to the baseball complex in our community. In groups of two she gave us coolers filled with iced down bottles of water. Paula told us to move into the crowds of spectators and players and give the water away. No explanations, no expectations - just give people water; no strings attached. It was an amazing experience. Potential recipients were hesitant at first; even distrustful. People couldn't believe that they were receiving something free, without some catch. Once they realized what was happening, it was as if we made their day, with nothing more than a cheap bottle of water.

This taught us how foreign grace is to our lives and our world. Everything costs something. The other shoe always drops somewhere. Grace happens so seldom that people can't believe it when it comes in the form of something as simple as a bottle of cold water. How can we who are communities of Jesus-followers bathe people in grace? People don't need to hear about grace in a sermon, sing about grace in a song, talk about grace in a small group or Bible study, or read about grace in the latest vogue Christian book. People need to experience grace! How could we immerse people in a direct encounter with grace?

Many people are involved in movements such as Cursillo in Christianity, Camino in Christianity or The Walk to Emmaus. These are impacting "grace-bathing" experiences. I've had a chance to be involved in all three since 1990, and I've seen lives transformed through them. As valuable as they are, they involve a four-day commitment apart from one's local church. How can we offer grace directly to any seeker invited to experience our congregations? How can every guest be a recipient of a "grace day"?

I think this is vital to disciple making. What do you think? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

More Caught Than Taught

On Monday I re-established a spiritual discipline that kind of went by the wayside in the latter part of 2008. (Over-busy scheduling, then my wife's extended illness...Explanations, not excuses.) Once a month I had tried to get away for the better part of a day; just me, a Bible, pen and paper, and God. I try to spend the time as receptively as possible, inviting God to direct my heart and mind. It was great to get back into this rhythm, especially with a new year upcoming. I seek to ask, "God, what are you doing? Where do you want my attention directed? Where should my focus go in 2009?"

God is faithful. In spite of my endless distractions and in spite of the constant, insidious infiltration of my personal agenda, God manages to get through, if I just listen. Two areas at attention bubbled to the surface, and I'm pretty sure God wants me to watch and see what He is doing in each, and to be obedient to the ways God wants me to contribute. The first area is that of mentoring. I'll address the second area in my next post; probably Saturday or Sunday.

If you have a relationship with Jesus, do you remember the key components that helped the relationship to start and to grow? Do you remember the details of the sermon that caused you to make a commitment to Christ? Can you recall the detailed curriculum of a newcomer's class you attended? Can you quote from whatever inspirational book you read? Possibly. I imagine, though, that when most Jesus-followers are asked to identify key components of their faith development, they'll point to people. Most of us become Jesus-followers by watching and relating to others who are Jesus followers. It's a cliche, but it's true - Christianity is more caught than taught.

As we work to connect people to Jesus, then, perhaps we shouldn't work only on invitational worship services, good preaching, personal evangelism techniques, church information booths, brochures, video presentations, etc. etc. Perhaps we need to pour some energy into identifying and equipping those Jesus-followers amongst us who can best serve as mentors of discipleship. At our church we're going to start identifying our best faith mentors this month. Many of you likely are involved in churches where intentional mentoring is a central component to disciple-making. Give us all some details and direction on that.

People don't need slick techniques to come to Christ. They need honest, humble, passionate examples of Jesus-followers to come to Christ. That's what I think. How about you? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.