Refined to Its Essence

In recent weeks, I have been thinking about the essence of things. When you boil something down to its most basic component, what does it look like?

In religious circles, Presbyterian ones, at least, there has been a lot of discussion recently about "essential tenets." In other words, what are the basic beliefs and actions a person would have to have in order to be a Christian?

I can see the negative side to this: you can use a list like that as a whipping post or a wall to keep some people out and some people in, or maybe somebody wants to do the minimum required to achieve some sort of spiritual or ecclesiastical status. You do just what you can to squeak by, whether into the church or into the Kingdom of Heaven. It feels sort of like Abraham bargaining with God in Genesis 18. What will you do if I do this much, or just this much?

On a more positive side, it can be helpful to know what the rules are. My kids love to play a card game called Mao, in which the leader keeps on changing the rules of the game to suit his or her purpose. "I'm sorry, if you play a red 8 and are wearing a black shirt, you have to draw 5 more cards." You get the idea.

In the context of all the strife in the Presbyterian Church, I, for one, think it would be helpful to have some clear "essential tenets" so that we have some kind of ground rules. What is a pastor, elder, or even a church member, for that matter, expected to believe and how are they expected to live? What is out-of-bounds, and what is up for discussion? I am reminded of the way in which Jesus responds in John 8 to the woman brought to him who had clearly broken the rules. His response is both pastoral, "neither do I condemn you," and true to his tradition, "Go, and sin no more." I think those are both good lessons.

Those of us in the Presbyterian tradition seem to be in a crisis as to what our tradition really is and teaches. What do we believe? What should we believe? How should we respond to those who don't?

This fall, I am going to explore what I believe to be some "essential tenets", first of the Christian faith, and then of our reformed tradition. I am going to preach on subjects like, the authority of the Bible, God, Jesus, and salvation. Join us at the First Presbyterian Church in Mexia, TX each Sunday this fall, or check back here regularly for a summary. I hope this exercise will enrich us all.

God bless!

God's Love is Sticky

Love this quote from Mike Yaconelli:

In Romans 8, Paul says, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In response, Yaconelli says, "Paul uses lots of religious words here, but the bottom line is we are all stuck with God's love whether we want to be or not. The words, 'nor anything else in all creation' mean that nothing can stop God from loving us. Nothing. He just keeps loving us. In modern language, you could say, 'Neither failure nor poor church attendance, nor inadequate Bible reading and prayer, nor betrayal, denial, doubt, insecurity, guilt, weakness, bad theology, or even losing our temper can separate us from the love of God.' God loves us when we don't want him to love us. He loves us when we don't act like Christians. He loves us when our lives are a mess. His love is sticky, resistant to rejection, aggressive, and persistent. The challenge is on, so go ahead...resist his love, run from it, hide from it. Go ahead and try." (Messy Spirituality, p. 124)

His point is, obviously, that we can neither run nor hide from God's amazing love. That is truly good news, and I couldn't have said it better myself, so I quoted Mike.

Sometimes it gets messy

I recently picked up a copy of Mike Yaconelli's book, Messy Spirituality. If you haven't seen it, it is definitely worth a read. I think it would be an awesome book to use in a Sunday School class or Christian book club. He raises a lot of issues about how it's better to stumble along trying as best we can to follow Jesus than to stand firm on what we believe is solid ground, when what we are standing on is really only our own preconceived ideas about what we think church and spiritual people should be like.

In one section, Yaconelli tells the story about a young couple who went off and lived together before they were married, as so many do today. Their parents weren't happy about it, but what could they do? Eventually, the couple decided to get married, but then they found out that the woman was pregnant, so they decided to use the money they had saved for the wedding to spend on the new baby. They opted for a small courthouse wedding instead with two friends as witnesses.

Later,some friends of the couple got to thinking how much they had missed by not appropriately celebrating their wedding. They decided to throw them a wedding. They invited family and friends, had a big dinner, and a minister in the garden. Everybody told them how much they loved them, and everybody cried.

Some folks, however, thought this was inappropriate. They thought that it was condoning "unspiritual behavior" and perhaps it was. But this is where Mike Yaconelli shines. He said the nay-sayers would essentially be correct. "Christians don't condone unbiblical living; we redeem it. Now that is an awesome line!

Not so Random

Every time I think that much of life is filled with random, unconnected events, I get a knock upside the head that reminds me how completely un-random life really is. There is a God who is in charge, and who brings all things together in organized, loving ways.

As an example, I have been preaching my way through 1 Peter, and just going through the book, begun on a seemingly random date (although, it was actually set by the Lectionary) and taking random chunks,(two verses this week, five verses last week) lo and behold, on the Fourth of July, I had the passage, 1 Peter 2:13-17 in which we are to accept and honor those in government over us. Strong words on the anniversary of this country's rebellion against its former government. Also at issue is how to relate to our own country's government, especially when and if we don't agree with its policies.

A mere coincidence? I don't think so. It has happened before. Several years ago I was preaching through the Lord's Prayer, and got to "Thy will be done" on the week of Sept 11, 2001. I could never have planned or expected that one. I had to re-think all I was going to say that next Sunday.

All this is merely to say, that what some people call random coincidence, I think is much more. I see connections. I see organization. I see "the hand of God" in many ways. I realize that some people would claim that I see this because I want to, and not because it actually exists; that it is my own mind that is organizing these events into patterns, and the patterns aren't really there. I respectfully disagree. I believe God is there, and makes himself known to those who are willing to perceive. "Let him who has an ear, hear".

The Cost of Non-discipleship

I've been doing some reading in a collection of "Devotional Classics" edited by Richard Foster, who I like very much. Today's installment is by Dallas Willard, who I also like. His observation is about how few churches today aspire to train disciples, and how few Christians aspire to be disciples. To be a disciple is, simply, to follow Jesus and to try to be like him.

The marching orders for the church are to be found, primarily, in Matthew 28:19, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." But I wonder how many churches actually do that. We don't teach or train disciples, we try to attract members, and we try to make it as painless as possible. But its not painless to follow Jesus. He talked about taking up a cross. Of course, he also talked about the lightness of his burden, but it was still a yoke and a burden.

What is also interesting, as you look at the Great Commission, is that we are not called to baptize church members, but disciples. One wonders whether there ought to be some training before baptism is administered. Mostly, churches only require a profession of faith, but no progress in discipleship. In the medieval church, one was required to memorize verses and catechisms in order to be baptized or confirmed. I wonder what that would do to church membership today. Most fear that it would reduce interest, but I wonder. Many organizations require that you first learn some basics before becoming a full member, the Boy Scouts and the Masons, for example, why not the church?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book in the 1930s called The Cost of Discipleship, in which he said that we need to be wary of "cheap grace" or Christian faith that makes no demands on us. The kind of faith about which the Apostle Paul declared, "May it never be!" But Dallas Willard puts a new twist on that idea by introducing a concept he calls, The Cost of Non-discipleship. In other words, what price have we paid by NOT training people of faith in the way of the Lord, and how to follow in Christ's footsteps? Willard says, "Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God's overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10)."

Food for thought.

Are you a Team Player?

Several years ago my eldest son was interested in attending the Naval Academy. As you might expect, the entrance requirements are quite stringent. In addition to academic requirements, they have a physical fitness test that has to be administered by a coach. They also require an interview with alumni and admissions counselors to determine your fitness to attend and serve.

Although my son was in pretty good shape, physically, one particular point with which they took issue was that he had not played any team sports, only individual sports, like tennis and golf. In their minds it was important, even critical, that he prove himself to be a “team player”.

I think we sometimes forget the importance of that, particularly in our spiritual lives. We tend to think as long as we are living like we should, doing our individual faith practices, like prayer and Bible study, that we are on the right track. But just like the Naval Academy recognizes the critical need to live and work as a team player, I think the same is true for us as God's people.

I know that there are people who have been “burned” by the church or have otherwise become disillusioned with “organized religion”, but just like in athletics, there are some things we cannot do on our own. It is important that we meet together on a regular basis to exercise the communal practices of nurture, hospitality, and love. These things cannot be practiced in isolation.

The writer of Hebrews says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23-25).

It is our privilege and our responsibility as members of God's family, the church, to meet together and to encourage one another. There may have been times in your spiritual walk with God that you wanted to give up, to say, “Why am I even doing this?” If you were in it alone, you may well have done so. But we are all in this together. We share our joy, as well as our pain, and that's what makes it bearable.

As you make your New Year's resolutions this year, put being more regular at church on the list. Set a specific goal, like only one missed Sunday a month. That way, you can see how well you are doing, you can measure your progress. Don't do it for yourself, because you think its good for you, like castor oil. Do it for others, because we all need the encouragement and the support of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Emergent Church

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a conference on what is alternately called Emergent Christianity or Emergence Christianity. Basically, the question is, what will the church look like 10, 20, 50 or 100 years from now?

There is no question that we are in the midst of an upheaval. This generation's gap is greater than ever, it seems. It has to do with technology, and communication, as well as goals and values. Look at the last presidential election. The great mantra was "change". No one, or very few, stopped to ask, "Change to what?" because change, it was deemed, was enough.

So what is happening and will happen in the church? Young people aged 18-35 are staying away from the church in droves. In some cases it means they have abandoned their parent's religious values, but in other cases not. Its not that they don't believe in God, and polls tell us that most do. Rather, its that the old wineskins are inadequate for their expressions and beliefs.



The conference I went to was outstanding in terms of the speakers and their areas of expertise and qualifications to speak on this topic. Richard Rohr, Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and Phyllis Tickle. If you look them up on Google or Amazon, you will see that they are some of the top writers and thinkers on this subject.

There was a lot of speculation about what the emerging church will look like, and I think its important to state that many have thoughts and opinions, but nobody knows exactly what it is that is emerging, except to say that it won't be your Grandma's church. Musical tastes are different. Communication is different, now we have blogs, texts, and tweets, and social networks like FaceBook and MySpace that are much more immediate and frequently used by this age group.

A couple of things I thought were interesting about the conference. First, most of the people there were middle aged, 50+ and from mainline denominations. Which means they were not from this emerging generation, nor did they go to one of these emergent churches. There are probably not a handful in the D/FW metroplex. Its not just contemporary worship songs. Its a complete change in the way these folks approach church. Second, the pastors of emergent churches that were there, and especially those who spoke, tended to be, in some ways, more traditional than some of the more traditional congregations I know. For example, these folks walk Labyrinths and the Stations of the Cross, they fast during Lent and pray the Psalms. Many of their practices are hundreds of years old, but they are being packaged in new ways. One pastor talked about a theme they are exploring during Advent (yes, they observe Advent). It is that nothing is wasted by God. What seemed like a backward hick town was the birthplace of the Messiah. In practice, they have one of those rolling drum composters at the church, maybe in the sanctuary, where people can "recycle bad theology". For those who have been hurt by the church they can write their pain on recycled newsprint, put it in the composter and give it a turn. When its done, they will plant something and all this pain will cause something good to grow. Kind of a cool idea and VERY memorable.

Many of these new Christians are much more politically liberal than their parents. So what else is new? I think that is reflective rather than definitive. This generation is generally more liberal.

I still have a lot of reading to do on the subject, but the main point is that emerging means just that: its not finished or complete. We don't really know what it will become, except that it will be different. What is it they say, "The only thing that doesn't change is that there will be change"? I think the biggest issue is, Will the church be ready and willing to embrace the change, or will it be swept away and dismissed as obsolete? Time will tell.