People Are Dying on My Watch!

Last night a leadership institute group at our church viewed a presentation by Christine Caine.  Christine is a part of the ministry of the dynamic Hillsong Church in Australia.  She has answered a call passionately to do ministry that addresses injustice; the human trafficking trade in particular.  Christine told about a time she was speaking about Jesus in a group of people that included women who had been rescued from the sex slave trade.  When she was done, one recently freed young woman asked her, "If all that you just said is true about your Jesus, why didn't you come sooner?!"  This particular woman had been on a ship full of 60 captive women, 3/4 of whom died from lack of oxygen or being dumped overboard to avoid Coast Guard scrutiny off the coast of Turkey.  Christine Caine was stunned, and broke down weeping.  As she said in the presentation on the video, "She was right.  This happened on my watch!"

On my watch...I'm grateful for being a part of the body of Christ.  I see the Holy Spirit do great things in and through the Church - the Hope of the World.  Yet I've also seen times when congregations of all brand names being so consumed with what's going on inside their calls, that they fail to hear the cry of the people in need around them.  Representatives of our own denomination from all over the globe are currently meeting together in Florida.  One of the matters they discussing is the possibility of restructuring our organization so that we will be more efficient in fulfilling the call to lead people in new life with Jesus.  That's very important, and I'm glad it's being addressed.  Still, while our representatives are in general assembly, I wonder how many people will die or give up on life without meeting Jesus.  I wonder how many will see hope die within them.  I wonder how many will die because they don't receive the basics of life that many of us in the church take for granted.  I wonder how many will die because the world doesn't afford them justice and the Body of Christ did not stand in the gap for them.  How many will we lose while I'm typing this, instead of looking around to see where God is calling me to answer for my watch?

There's a great commercial by the United States Marines that shows people running in panic from a smoking horizon.  Then the camera swings to a view of Marines running toward whatever the conflict or catastrophe is.  The text on the screen reads something like, "Some people run toward the sound of chaos."  That's a great line, worth pirating.  With the power of the risen Jesus, we are to recognize that people are lost, endangered, and dying on our watch.  Our task, as the Body of Christ, is to run toward the sound of chaos, whatever that means for each of us and each of our churches.

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

Generat Conference 2012 - Does It Matter?

In a few days the United Methodist Church denomination will hold its 2012 General Conference session in Tampa, Florida.  The General Conference will bring United Methodist delegates from all over the world into one big assembly for several days.  (If interested, you can follow the happenings at www.gc2012.umc.org/ )   Dating back to 1784, and meeting every four years, the General Conference is the official voice of my denomination.

In some ways a General Conference mimics a large, temporary legislative assembly.  Outside of worship occasions, speakers, and presentations, the business will bear similarity to most representative governments.  Certain hot-button issues will be debates by persons representing a variety of theological and political views.  This year there's a great deal of buzz around the structure of our expression of the Christian family.  Some are calling for sweeping changes to enable United Methodism to better navigate an era of rapid change.  Others are calling for caution.

What difference will all this make?  What will be the impact of thousands of United Methodists gathering in Florida?  I've had the opportunity to serve on a General Conference/Jurisdictional Conference delegation from our state four times.  (Admittedly on the "junior varsity" of each delegation.  Frankly, barely made the team each time!)   I learned a great deal each time and I valued each experience.  Every time, though, I had to ask whether or not we actually made any difference.  Have we stopped our denomination's overall membership decline.  And, vastly, more important, have we increased our capability to introduce people to Jesus, to change their lives, to grow them as disciples, and to get them involved in the central mission of leading people in new life with Jesus?  I'm not sure I know the full answer.

I do know this - addressing the main thing (our disciple-making mission) ultimately does not depend on large representative assemblies, any more than it depends on the latest book, the latest seminar, or the latest "how-to-grow-your-church" package.  It depends on leadership...passionate, Christ-centered, willing to risk and sacrifice leadership.  I'm very blessed to be in a part of the country where United Methodist state-wide leadership currently is very strong this way, from our Bishop to our state-wide staff, to many, many of our pastors and church leaders on the front line.  These people aren't perfect, but they see the mainstream of that which God wants, and they lead us in getting into it.  Whatever else the General Conference does, I hope it provides structure, legislation, discussion or whatever is necessary to foster more of that type of leadership.

Whether United Methodist or not, please join my in praying for the delegates to General Conference and for the General Conference itself, praying that, in the words of one of the great United Methodist leaders in our state, "We keep the main thing as the main thing!"

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

No Right to be Boring!

I had the joy of being in Easter worship services last weekend that radiated with the excitement of the Resurrection Day. Energy built even before the first song or before the acolyte (candle lighter) walked in with the symbol of the light of Jesus the risen. It wasn't about the preaching. It wasn't about the hospitality, the music, and the worship leadership, though all of those were stellar. It wasn't something that could be measured. It was more atmospheric. Obviously people bathed the worship in prayer. Many leaders and participants came with expectancy, passion, and hope. The experiences invited the presence of a risen Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you are a follower of Jesus, I hope that happened for you as well. And I hope it happens for you again at your next worship opportunity. For those of us who are committed to Jesus, every occasion we worship is an Easter. The facts that Jesus has died, that Jesus is risen, and that he is coming again should evoke a level of anticipation, excitement, and hopefulness each time we gather to worship in his name.

I once heard it said that Christians have no right to offer boring worship. I used to think that meant that we should make sure our worship is engaging and attractive to church people and new folks. Now I realize this mandate is not about people; it's about who and what Jesus is. If we show up for scheduled worship just to see the choir in robes doing their thing or to have the praise band give us that good, glowing feeling again, that's not worship at all. It means we're just touching familiar bases to make sure we maintain a comfort-zone sense for ourselves. It's not about worship styles. Whether pipe-organ driven or guitar-driven, if worship is just a checklist of the expected then it is untrue to the nature of the good news we proclaim. And, because of the nature of Jesus, whose name we claim, we have no right to let it be that way. God in Christ makes all things new. That means that every time we worship we must come wondering, "What is God going to do today?" When we do that, we come with expectancy, energy, and hope. If that happens, then every worship day is Easter!

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

All Suffering Is Rooted In Separation

Larry Crabb and John Eldredge are two impacting Christian writers. In their writings I have been exploring this basic principle: all suffering is rooted in separation. (See their books, Shattered Dreams and The Journey of Desire, respectively.) Ultimately, I believe this is true. Think about it. A sick person is separated from health. A person struggling between buying gas and buying food or medicine is separated from adequate income. A lonely person is separated from relationship. A parent of a wayward child is separated from the hopes and dreams for that child. A defeated person is separated from "success", whatever that means. A depressed person is separated from soul-happiness, and on and on...

What about unjust suffering? What about the cruelty going on in Syria or Darfur right now? Even there, it's about separation. The oppressed are separated from liberty, dignity, and life itself. The oppressors are separated divine, inalienable values that should keep them from oppressing the weak and powerless. Those who do harm to others, those who violate others are separated from a sense of what is right. Their victims are separated from living lives in abundance.

Pealing back all the layers, Crabb and Eldredge suggest that suffering ultimately anchors in separation from God. When we experience disappointment, loss, isolation, or pain, those experiences are real and legitimate. We are separated from someone or something of great value.
Crabb suggests, though, that through suffering we can discover that our real desire, though we are out of touch with it, is our desire for an intimate relationship with God. Eldredge says that all of our desires, good or bad, are ultimately veils for our real, inborn desire for the One who gave us life and who loves us with a love that no one and nothing else can provide.

Yesterday I heard the horrible news of a tragic accident in a community near ours. Someone accidentally ran over a two year old child with a car. Did this happen because the driver was separated from God? No. Did it happen because it was God's plan that the two year old die this way? No. As Eldredge says, "I want to state clearly that not every trial in life is specifically arranged for us by God." (The Journey of Desire, page 92.) But through this crushing grief of this child's death, family members will either come to know and desire the presence of One who cannot be lost by death or disaster, or they will yield to escape mechanisms or despair. They will helped by caring people stay connected or to connect with their core desire, or this will know crushing, numbing separation.

Google the name Betsy ten Boom. Secure or download the book about Betsy written by her sister, Corrie ten Boom - The Hiding Place. It's an amazing story about a women who overcame being separated from liberty, justice, health, and eventually her life by staying connected the desire for which she was designed.

Tomorrow is the Resurrection Day. It's all about God gracing us with the risen Jesus, that we might never be separated from God again, and that no separation in this life or the next would overcome us. Happy Easter. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.