Meditation On The Word, "Faith" - Part I....

Romans 4: 7 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

There are a few things I have been learning recently about the word “faith” that have added a spark of motivation to my prayer life. To communicate what I am only beginning to understand and experience is a bit of a literary challenge because, as is often the case with spiritual things, knowledge and revelation sometimes – oftentimes – precede experience. Experience is the edifice that rests upon the foundation of truth. Experience is the goal of faith, the finished structure of faith. But, even absent of a lot of experiences, I risk relaying to you some of the foundational truths relative to the word “faith” that I believe are the substructure to future great experiences and adventures with God.

Let’s begin with the word itself – faith. In the Greek, the word generally translated as faith is: pistis. Literally translated it means: firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing. Paul almost spelled this literal definition out in Romans 10:17a “Consequently, faith comes from hearing…”

There is a subtle point that needs to be made after reading the above verse and I do so by way of a question: “Faith in what?” It is a good question. The point of faith as it is described in Scripture is to always bring together two things about Jesus/God; namely, His ability and His nature. Simply put, faith brings us to a person. Abraham’s faith (See: Romans 4:7 above) did not rest so much in God’s promise, it rested in God. The promises that flowed from God were a given, a done deal, if Abraham trusted the God from whom the promises flowed.

Think about it this way. If I were to tell my one of my children that I would like to send him or her a check for a billion dollars - which would speak to the natural generosity of my nature as a father - the process would be thwarted because of my lack of ability to cover that check. That is nature without ability. One of the most obvious names that I can come up with who could cover a check of that magnitude would be Bill Gates. At last count he could do that at least 38 times. But, while Bill might have the ability, it is not in his nature to send out a random check for a billion dollars to a child who isn’t his own. That is ability without nature.

You see, a faith in God that doesn’t take into account His nature (i.e. personality, character, etc.) is mere agnosticism - which basically admits that God can do things – but that He is not all that interested. On the other hand, faith that doesn’t take into account His ability is mere religion - what Scripture refers to as a form of Godliness that denies His power. Neither is good. Both are inadequate.

True faith is the wonderful discovery that in the person of Jesus Christ, we find the perfect balance of both ability and nature. It is because of who He is that He does what He does. That is why intimate relationship with Him is the foundation of all that follows as a believer. As we fall in love with Him and make personal discoveries of His nature we cannot help but come into contact with truth about His unlimited abilities.

There is one stumbling block that can obscure our faith at this point and it is a very common one which receives the full support of hell. The stumbling block is this: To turn our attention from His nature and His ability to our nature and our ability. When we gaze at our nature we see a spotty record of a few successes and a laundry list of many, many failures. And, when we consider our abilities, we see some pretty well-defined limits in regard to our energies, our money, our patience, our love – you name it. Discouragement is the fruit of self-faith.

You can always tell which faith a person is operating from based not just on their response to big events, but more telling, how they operate in the mundane affairs of everyday life – the burnt toast, the bills, the interruptions, the rock chip on the new windshield, being slighted, the surly waitress, and the various temptations that slide in and out view. A person living from a place of abundance in Him is immunized against a reactionary lifestyle to the common. Conversely, a person who has himself or herself as the primary object of faith will grow increasingly jaded, cynical, offended, grouchy, self-absorbed and alienated – from both God and people.

So, to know Him – to really get to know Him – to keep Jesus as the object of our affections is the way home. It is the way of the spontaneously supernatural, and it is the way of prosperity of body, soul and spirit. More to come…

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part V (Finis)

“Chronological snobbery is self-defeating, for the more up-to-date the look is, the sooner it will be dated. If you take your stand on the prevalent view, how long do you suppose it will prevail? All you can really say about my taste is that it is old fashioned; yours will soon be the same.” -C.S. Lewis, "An Experiment In Criticism "

We come today to the final installment of this series of essays entitled: Bible Bingo & Other Stuff. If you have not had a chance to read this series from the beginning, go back a bit on this blog site. There is a certain, non-linear logic to all of what we have been discussing. But, if you’re too engaged to do so – allow me a moment to summarize.

I began with the simple contention that we all seek the miraculous in our lives. I have affirmed that this is a good thing because the early church prayed for God to extend His hand to perform signs and wonders. It follows then that any prayer lifted up to God carries within it the hope of Divine intervention, which is, by definition, a miracle. Who would waste time praying that God would just stay put? (Actually, now that I think about it, some actually do pray along those lines. That stripe of theology prays for strength to endure the ravages and attacks of Satan and his destroying and corrupting ways. I suppose we all need that – but I think it is more biblical and more kingdom advancing to cry out to God that He show up and change and fix and heal those things – that His kingdom and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. John described Jesus' ministry like this: “The Son of man came to destroy the works of the devil.” It would seem to follow then that our lives are to pick up where Jesus left off – stirring up a holy anger and contending against the destruction of the destroyer – not merely enduring as passive victims subject to the whims of the enemy of our soul – and other's souls.)

I would like to round off the discussion with a few more thoughts as it relates to the American Church and her fascination, allegiance, and dependence on forms and methodologies rather than the supernatural power of God. Let me relate a simple story that illustrates this point.

This past weekend I found myself in a local hardware store. I bumped into a dear brother in Christ who had been preaching in view of a call as Pastor to a certain, small, fundamentalist type of church. I thought it odd when he told me of his invitation to go there and speak, inasmuch that he is of the charismatic persuasion. In other words, he believes in all of the gifts of the spirit. This little church was started by a bigger church as a “mission”. The bigger church does not believe at all in the gifts of the Spirit. That is their form. It is called dispensationalism. After three successful weeks of preaching and a great response from the congregation, the larger church caught wind of it and said that unless he gave up his beliefs in the gifts of the Spirit and only preached from the King James Version of the Bible, he was not a good candidate to become Pastor of the mission.

I share that story to underscore a point. The fundamentalist church had a certain philosophy, a certain methodology; a certain form that they thought was exactly the right one delivered from heaven to get the job done. Every denomination and every individual church – even this ministry – carries the same blindness to one extent or another. That is why I am somewhat suspicious of too eager a commitment and excitement for a “new” way of doing things. A lot of movements become engrossed in tinkering with form. And, as history has shown time and time again, the fascination with form can actually crowd God right out of the organization - whose original stated purpose was, in fact, to bring Him glory.

In the ponderous Russian novel, The Brothers Karamazov, there is a telling discussion that takes place between two of the Karamazov brothers – one (Ivan) is a product of the age of enlightenment who is, at best, an agnostic. The other brother (Alyosha) is a Christian. Ivan tells Alyosha that he desires to share with him a short story that he has written, entitled “The Grand Inquisitor.” The story is set in Seville, Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor is the man in charge of rooting out heretics and burning them. Into this story, Jesus appears on the streets of Seville and begins to re-enact his miraculous ministry on earth. The Grand Inquisitor has Jesus arrested, thrown in jail, and lets him know – in no uncertain terms – that tomorrow he will have Jesus burned at the stake. His reasoning for this egregious act is that the church has finally figured things out. The Grand Inquisitor tells Jesus that the church no longer needs him and that once they kill him, they do not want him to return. Jesus sits silently throughout this story.

The point that Dostoevsky makes by including this short story in the middle of his novel is to point a rightful finger of accusation at the church. The church has become accustomed to the trendy, to the newest model of ministry, to the latest, most relevant and most "effective" form. One church growth publication even published a newsletter with this unfortunate title: “What’s Hot & What’s Not!” The publication was simply ga-ga over cushioned chairs and hostile toward church pews. This "revelation" was supposed to help the church reach the lost! Paul, having been raised and educated in a system and form that was devoid of power said it this way: “…having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” (II Tim 3:5) We could easily stop at the word “form” in this passage and leap right over to the phrase: “but denying its power.” A reliance on form, rather than the miraculous, supernatural power of God’s Spirit, drains the church of her greatest weapon in this supernatural battle in which we find ourselves.

And so, I wrap things up with this passage: “So now the Lord says, ‘Stop right where you are! Look for the ancient and godly paths, and walk in them.” Jeremiah 6:16. The ancient paths for the church where we must return are those elemental acts and stories found in the gospels and in the Book of Acts. Simple people – some of whom were disparaged as unlearned and ignorant men – matched the words of their witness with the power of God. This is what they cried out for and God answered. No method, no form, no system that we can come up with can equal the persuasive power of God working through humble and obedient hearts. It wins hearts and minds whenever and wherever it is tried. We cannot improve upon God’s method, God’s form, or God’s system. People in this post-modern culture are not so much asking “if” there is a God; they are asking whether or not our God is the real deal. We owe them the real time revelation of a loving God who has commissioned us to announce and bring forth His kingdom on this earth in all of its glory, grace, love and power.

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part IV

(To benefit the most from this post, please go to the first of this mini-series: Monday, June 11,’07– CJ. Be blessed).

We live in amazing times. A trip through the “devotional” book section at Wal-Mart unearths best-sellers that range from Southern Baptists, to Pentecostals, to Catholics, to a Church of Christ Pastor. For a church body that has, in previous generations, spent a good deal of its energy attacking one another’s doctrine and purity – this variety is probably a good thing. The body of Christ is bigger and more glorious and more variegated than any particular sectarian view. Burning the heretics (for most of us!) has lost its allure. I am not saying that theological debate and bromides are not still in vogue – I can point you to a million websites devoted to “doctrinal purity” - but these seem anachronistic and a little quaint – even the orneriest ones. You have a sense that the only people who visit these websites are the already converted. Shouting amen at a flashing icon on a computer screen accomplishes little.

But, just because we have toned down the theological rhetoric attached to orthodoxy doesn’t at all mean we have lost interest in fighting. We have simply changed the battlefield from orthodoxy (right belief) to orthopraxy (right practice). I was reading a book from an author of one of the newer versions of “right practice” recently. In it the author suggested that his generation (anyone under thirty) was the chosen generation and that there was absolutely no hope for the world apart from his post-modernistic, emergent, contextualized, culturally relevant methodology. There was something in his methodology about candles, good coffee, micro-brews, using swear-words to teach (just like Paul!), caring about global-warming, tolerance, tobacco, acoustical music, a wholesale ripping of institutional Christianity, and walking around with a concerned & troubled countenance. This was the method, the style, the feel – that this generation would use to win the world for Christ. (Never mind that this is remarkably similar to the “style” of Jean-Paul Sartre the French existentialist, thus, not all that original). For one who began his Christian life in the late 70’s, I might be bold to note that I have heard this same suggestion a couple of times each decade. People in their twenties turn thirty and they revise their “chosen generation” numbers. People in their thirties turn forty and then they revise and extend and so forth. I suppose when the thirty-something guy turns seventy we will have another paradigm shift or perhaps even a “classics” revision.

The thing about changing our forms and methodologies that is so tempting is that a particular method or style really has worked somewhere for somebody. And, that somebody has gone on to write a book and hold a conference and the sheep have duly gathered to purchase a conference notebook and run back home to be relevant – albeit with someone else’s God-given vision.

Several years ago I remember being sent by my church to go and observe a large successful “model” that happened to be located in the suburbs of Chicago. (Any guesses anyone)? Besides being overwhelmed at the palatial facilities, I couldn’t quite figure out how I was going to duplicate a model that had a full stage, full band, with adjoining gymnasiums on either side of the stage. Our new church was at that time meeting in a storefront. All I could think about was what I didn’t have. How could I be a successful youth pastor without all this stuff? I was breaking the 10th commandment. I was coveting. I knew that I could never BE what I was witnessing. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t my church.

It is funny how simple the Bible makes things if we can put to rest the temptation to be relevant. At the risk of oversimplifying the whole methodological debate – let me just ask one simple question: Is Jesus always relevant? If your answer to that is: “No” (i.e. Jesus needs my cultural props to be relevant) then we have very little else to talk about. Go enjoy your micro-brews, your organic cigarettes and work hard on that pained, caring expression. But, if your answer is "yes" – that, when you really think about it, Jesus is always relevant and doesn’t need a bunch of methodological props to make a difference in a person’s life – then be sure and read carefully the next post. Your life is about to become very simple and…charged with the supernatural.

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part III

(To benefit the most from this post, please see the past two…)

So, as we have seen, there is within us an incurable, and I believe, God-seeded desire within each of us to experience the miraculous. Are not all prayer requests a simple demonstration of that desire? My simple definition of the miraculous is: an experience of the unexpected but hoped for help at just the right moment that cannot be explained in terms of our own strength, effort or wisdom. Who wouldn’t want that? Again, all supplicant type of prayers have this end in view.

Now, while we have witnessed in previous posts the fact that the early church was not only comfortable with the miraculous but actually prayed for it – there are a couple of passages of Scripture which act as a sort of corrective to an unhealthy fascination and misuse of the miraculous. Let’s look at those real quick. The first is found in Matthew 12:38, 39. “One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” But Jesus said, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign…” Jesus point? Miracles are not given on demand to a sort of Olympic committee of judges. The miracles that Jesus performed were always for the purpose of declaring the good news that the Kingdom of God had arrived and that the works of the devil (to steal, kill and destroy) were now themselves being assaulted by a loving God. The miracles helped real people in real situations. To prove that point, a couple of chapters later, Matthew records an incredible wholesale healing event with these words: “When the people recognized Jesus, the news of His arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area, and soon, people were bringing all their sick to be healed. They begged Him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of His robe, and all who touched Him were healed.” Matthew 14:34-36 Since the word “all” in the Greek means the same thing as “all” in English – we can conclude that ALL who came with disease experienced a miraculous healing from God. None of those from the religious elite who demanded a miracle were given one because they didn’t need one and because their motives were sinister. They were unbelievers on a fact-finding mission, not on a God-encountering mission. And, Scripture records that even those miracles they did have a chance to observe were, more than once, credited to the devil. But, for those who realized their own despair and neediness and in humility cried out for a touch from God, these were given one. My point? To pray for the miraculous move of God in our daily lives is a good thing when the emphasis is on the power of God bringing healing, help and hope to a real person in a difficult circumstance.

Now follow close, because the other passage of Scripture which concerns us drives the point home even further. Jesus said, “On judgment day many will say to me, Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name. But I will reply, ‘I never knew you.’ Get away from me you who break God’s law.” Matthew 7:22, 23 If any passage would scare us away from seeking the miraculous, this one would certainly top the list. But think about how weak that thinking really is. Are we to say to Jesus, “Because I didn’t prophesy, cast out demons, or heal the sick – then I get to go to heaven?” Is there virtue in doing nothing? Is Jesus summarily identifying the miraculous with evil and unbelief? I think not. I believe this passage carries within it the same seeds of warning as the previous. The miracle workers noted in this passage have somehow bent the glory of their apparent good works back upon themselves. Not one of them said – “Jesus, through me you did such and such.” They are saying, “Jesus, I did this. Look at me!” These folks would have gladly performed a trick for the religious leaders and Pharisees because their ultimate goal was recognition, acceptance and man’s honor.

So, let’s take the warnings for what they are. Simply put, we are not to seek the miraculous either to prove ourselves and gain legitimacy; or, to use it to judge the spirituality of another. These are evil, just as Jesus said. (More to come...)

Bible Bingo & Other Stuff...Part II

So, we began with a dirty little secret in the last post – the dirty little secret that many of us use, from time to time, a wind and finger approach to Bible reading. I call it Bible Bingo. I have heard from many folks in regard to that particular post and their humble admissions that they too have occasionally grunted out a prayer, threw their Bible open and a verse has leapt out at them which seemed to fit the circumstances. But, they have also admitted that sometimes the verse seemed nonsensical and unrelated to their circumstance and they were left pondering some obscure passage about so and so’s lineage, a talking animal, a fierce judgment, how to cure mold, and such. The truly brave admitted to sometimes going for the best of three!

Now, many systematic theologians would be horrified at the prospect of wind and finger methods. They would say that it strikes of magic or gambling with God’s Holy Word. I suppose that if one wanted to be all self-righteous and stuff, those would indeed be some arguments that one could make. But, I take a different approach. I feel that hard-wired within each believer (and perhaps every unbeliever) is a deep desire to experience the miraculous & supernatural power of God at work in the midst of our not so miraculous and supernatural lives. Not only do I believe that this is a healthy desire, I believe that the Lord has made us for nothing less than to be both recipients and conduits of His great power.

The early church prayed to God – with intentionality – this prayer: “Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of Your Holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 4:30) And God did just that. So evidently, the desire to see God’s hand at work is not a bad thing. It is a prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit. Bible Bingo is perhaps a very low expression of this desire – being so random and all – but it speaks to a higher virtue, a higher prayer that the Lord God Himself has placed within us.

Simply put, if you had a choice between a life infused with the supernatural and spontaneous acts of God and a life devoid of such, which would you choose? The question is absurd. Were I to ask this in a roomful of people, I believe I would get both hands and even feet in the air for choice number one. I can think of only a very few, dry, crusty theologians who would actually want the latter. Bless them, but let not their narrow view of Scripture or their anemic view of faith determine the flow or frequency of God intervening in your circumstances. For way too long our own low level of faith has determined both our theology and our view of Scripture. It is time to leave that behind.

Why? Because the average person knocking about in the post-modern world isn’t so much concerned with the question of whether or not there is a God, or a higher power. There are really very few true atheists. No, the question on their lips is akin to that asked of Elijah the prophet in his showdown with the prophets of Baal: namely; is YOUR God the real one. We can try to answer to that question with knowledge and with well-thought through apologetic arguments. But to be honest, more information given in this age of information seems to have little effect. Information overload is a real syndrome. But know this, one supernatural, custom-made touch from God has the innate ability to obliterate all false systems of thought. One cannot seriously read the gospels without appreciating this as a modus operandi of Jesus’ ministry. The Apostle John defined the ministry of Jesus in this way: “The reason the Son of Man appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (I John 3:8b). (The word “destroy”, LOO-OH, in the Greek - literally means to dissolve or demolish. I like the word dissolve. It reminds me of the wicked witch of the west melting away in the Wizard of Oz. “I’m melting! I’m melllllttttinnngggg!”). How did Jesus go about “dissolving” the works of the devil? Let’s hear from Jesus: “But I have a greater witness than John – my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that He sent me.” (John 5:36).

So, you have the devil’s work – which Jesus was sent to dissolve through supernatural works (miracles) that the Father sent Him to do. And here’s the deal – this methodology did not end with Jesus. Please hear this: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) To be continued…

Bible Bingo and Other Stuff, Part One

When I am being spiritually lazy, I sometimes practice the wind & finger method of Scripture Study, i.e., say a quick prayer and see where the Bible opens and take what I read as a sign from God. There is an old joke about the dangers inherent in such a hapless approach to Scripture reading. One day, this guy opens his Bible and places his finger on the text: “Judas went out and hung himself.” A bit troubled, he tries again. The next passage reads: “Go therefore and do likewise.” Stubborn to the core, the man tries once again and comes upon this passage: “What ye do, do quickly!”

Har! Har! This joke is probably all the more poignant to each one of us because we have all tried, at one time or another, the wind and finger method. You see, it only takes me hearing that John Wesley – one of my spiritual heroes – practiced this method rather frequently, to lure me into this sort of Scripture lottery/divination/Christian horoscope/Bible Bingo. Yes, if it was good enough for the father of Wesleyanism, it is good enough for me. “Gimmee that old time religion!”

Just for fun, even as I type this out, I’ll give it a go and tell you the verse my finger lands on. Here we go…(Little prayer, flip, flip, flip, right index finger swirling high in the air and now…..DOWN). And what do we have? It looks like I Corinthians 16:24 “My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.” Hmmm. Not bad. Yes, that works for me. It is harmless AND encouraging. It is exactly how I feel. Amazing. G00000 God! My love to all who read these rants…..Amen.

So, why do we do things like this? Is it a demonstration of faith or of presumption? My guess is that it has something to do with the desire of us humans to experience the supernatural attendance of God to our daily hum-drum life. We seek encouragement, a special word from God for the particular circumstance in which we find ourselves. If we get lucky, we sometimes hit upon a verse that strikes right at the heart of our need and our circumstance. One can read miles and miles of Scripture and never experience the rush of landing on a Philippians 4: 19 “And my God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.”, especially if in the midst of a financial difficulty.

The desire to experience the supernatural presence and attendance of God is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a very good thing. Who would want a merely factual Christianity? (Wait a minute…Even though that was a rhetorical question, it just struck me that a “facts only” Christianity is exactly what some people want. In “fact”, there are whole denominations, Bible colleges, churches, preachers and seminaries that pride themselves on giving the supernatural the heave-ho. But, I digress…). Who wouldn’t want to experience God in their midst doing mighty works? The early church prayed a prayer along those lines: “Stretch out Your hand to heal and to perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your Holy Servant, Jesus.” So, unless the early church was a bunch of raging, needy heretics, the desire for a touch from God wasn’t and isn’t a bad thing. And, I believe that wind and finger Scripture reading - as suspect as it might be – is, at its essence, a humble attempt on our parts to see if God is going to pick up the phone when we call. In hoping against hope that something good will leap out at us speaks of our neediness and a type of faith; although admittedly, one that could be a bit stronger with a more intentional and systematic approach.

I plan to “weave about a bit” in the few posts on this blog. We’ll be talking about the miraculous, the Bible and judgment day. Believe it or not, it will all come together nicely…Stay tuned.

Wait, one more try before I go…(Little prayer, flip, flip, flip, right index finger swirling high in the air and now…..DOWN) And…”The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh – an oracle: This man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal…” Proverbs 30:1 Hmm….deep. Must have been for someone else because the next verse reads, “I am too stupid to be human…” (NLT)

(P.S. Just in case you were curious, these verses that I did the “wind & finger” with in this post were the real deal).

Moving The Mouse…(Part Four) De-dichotomizing The Church

Let’s begin with a definition shall we…

di·chot·o·my Pronunciation: dI-'kä-tuh-mE

Function: noun, inflected Form(s): plural –mies
Etymology: Greek dichotomia, from dichotomos

1 : a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities ; also : the process or practice of making such a division

I remember how much I had the joy of life upon me when I was a wee lad. My family was very close. We did everything together from water-skiing, to baseball, to picnics, to shared meals, to watching the three channels we got on our black and white TV. We were a tight-knit, loving, mid-america, middle-class family.
The only slight sadness that I recall from my early days was our typical Sunday morning routine. For some reason, sometime after I had applied my little dab of butch-wax to the time I arrived at the breakfast table, I would begin to sob. For a little “tough guy” this was extremely embarrassing and I couldn’t really explain to anybody why Sunday mornings made me so distraught – at least at that time. All I can tell you is that each Sunday morning, as the family gathered around one of my mom’s incredible breakfast feasts, and everyone sat silently reading their Sunday School quarterly in preparation for Sunday School followed by church – I was deeply depressed.
I also remember this – that right after church we would usually head to the local IGA where my dad would purchase his weekly cigar and a copy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It was somewhere between church and the IGA that the feeling of sadness would lift off of me and I would get happy again. I was entering back into the “real” world. The “real” world being – not at church.
Some might suggest that I, as a little flat-topped boy, was experiencing some form of spiritual warfare – that Satan was making me unhappy with church. I suppose that could be true. But, I don’t think it was quite that dramatic. As I have pondered these strange emotional swings in my formative years, I have come to another conclusion; and, the conclusion is very simple: The real world felt comfortable, expansive, and full of God while the whole Sunday morning church experience felt staged and stifled. I remember having a God-consciousness at a very early age and chatting away with God every night as I passed seamlessly into sleep. The one place where God didn’t seem particularly friendly and expansive was sitting in church. Sitting on the floor and watching football next to my dad’s big burgundy recliner, while he puffed merrily away on his Swisher Sweet, seemed more real, more natural, more like the God I talked to before I fell asleep each night.
Imagine for a moment how strange a church service might be through the eyes of a small child or a person who has had no church orientation. You enter a service where people greet you like a long-lost friend at the door and then disappear to go huddle up with their friends. The service begins. You are told to stand up and sing– so you stand up and try to follow along the best you can. You are told to sit down – so you sit down. Following the standing up and the sitting down time, you notice a group of men passing around neatly carved little wooden bowls into which people start dumping money. After that, a group of gents walk to the front and grab some pretty silver trays and start handing out microscopic cups of purple drink – not even equal to a shot of whiskey – along with the tiniest of square crackers – hardly bigger than a button. Next, a guy gets up and reads a bunch of announcements that you already have a copy of in your hand. “Perhaps there are a lot of illiterate people here,” you innocently think to yourself. Finally, a man in a suit gets up to give a talk. You notice that all of his points begin with the same letter. There are three points: “Sin, Saved, and Sanctified.” You can’t help but think of that commercial you heard for the product that fixes clogged drains: “Liquid Plumber: It drains, deodorizes and disinfects!” You look over and notice that one of the people who greeted you and passed the little wooden bowls around is snoozing away during the talk. You have a question about what the speaker is saying but you do not know if it is okay to raise your hand. Being a visitor, you’re afraid to draw attention to yourself. The talk ends – or so you thought. Actually, a new talk begins which is accompanied by music and more singing. This talk is a little shorter but way more animated. A few people get up and wander down to the front. The man who gave the talk says a few words to these people. Then he smiles. The service ends with the speaker telling everyone about the important decisions that have been made and nearly everyone grunts out an “Amen”. The speaker says a prayer and the program is over. The whole experience has been a bit odd, a little other worldly. On the way out, you see little groups of people huddled together having a smoke and talking about the same things you talk about with your friends during the week– football, politics, telling a good joke and such. A few minutes before, these guys seemed all tensed up and serious. Out here they seem almost normal – even approachable. But no one says another word to you and you make it out to your car and go home. As you drive, you say to yourself, “Well, I guess that’s not my thing.”
Remember our beginning word – the word dichotomy? Let’s revisit the definition: a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities. When I read the life of Jesus I am met with a person who seemed to go out of his way to combine the great teachings about the Kingdom of God with ordinary people in ordinary, everyday circumstances. In other words, there was no dichotomy- no division - between the spiritual and the natural. Jesus de-dichotomized the spiritual and the natural. Jesus taught in open fields. Jesus spoke with a guy sitting in a tree. The bow of a small fishing boat served as a makeshift platform. Jesus found his way into living rooms of notorious boozers, swindlers, hustlers and prostitutes. There seemed to be very little disconnect between His message and the real world into which He was born and ministered. There was no “putting on”, no staging of events, no getting gussied up for a meeting. Jesus' ministry took place in the midst of the sweat, grime, insanity, disease, cursing, sinning, gambling, backstabbing, gossiping, lusting, partying, and hypocrisy that is the sad lot of all mankind. He was in the “real” world. He didn’t create alternative safe-havens, holy ghettos of sinless people to whom to minister. His ministry was spontaneous, immediate – in the moment.
This is the God who found me in my little bedroom as a child. We had lovely chats. Somehow, without any sophisticated reflective abilities, I “felt” His absence on my treks to church. Nothing seemed real. Nothing seemed normal. I preferred the smell of my dad’s sweat to the smell of his English Leather. I was comfortable seeing my mom zipping around the yard in her shorts & floppy gardening hat rather than a dress, pumps and beehive. It was many years later that I sensed that I had permission to think this way. It was many more years after that before I felt free to speak of it.
The great purpose in our time is to bring God to the streets once more. I hesitate to use the word “relevant.” God is always that. Many are trying to make God relevant by pepping up the music, offering high-tech shows, and creating a plethora of goods and services in order to attract people to a geographical location. For the perceptive seeker, these sorts of “updates” are a mere change of clothes to a newer style. The same old gelatinous person is still in residence underneath the new outfit. But, here’s the deal – unless God actually “works” in the marketplace, or on the campus, or in the neighborhood – what good is He? He is still a contained God. And God, ferociously, has said through His Son Jesus Christ: “No more of that.” Jesus left heaven, a place of Divine confinement, in order to dwell (the words means: to pitch His tent) among us. The metaphors of the church compel us to move out and do life among the walking dead in the real world. We are ambassadors. We are salt. We are light. We are apostles (the word means: sent ones, or deliverymen). We are not the huddled!
So we end where we began – moving the mouse. That slight shuffle of the wrist which feigns busyness and productivity is something that we at Patrick Crossing are intentionally leaving behind. Rollo May once said: "It is an old ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way." Life is too short to invest time and resources and energy – to run faster - in creating more things to show up for at church - even when those “things” are compelled by the greatest of intentions. We cannot continue to mistake activity for achievement. As we re-order our lives around a simpler approach – I encourage you to ask God to show you your entry point into the “real” world. He will have a place custom made just for you.