One of the most under-rated television shows in recent years, in my humble opinion, was Friday Night Lights. The series followed the lives of a Texas high school football coach, his family, and players on his team. Coach Taylor is known for his rousing pep-talks both on and off the field in the series. One of the lines that has become well-known from the show is "Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose!"
I don't say things like this very often, but I feel that God continues put the notion of a church visioning process in front of me. In order for a church to do more than simply survive but to thrive, it needs a clear and compelling vision. In the book Climb Higher: Reaching New Heights in Giving and Discipleship, authors Scott McKenzie and Kristine Miller highlight the truth that pastors, sessions, and even Presbyteries try to deny: that often times a church's vision is merely to pay the bills and keep the doors open. For many of the smaller churches out there, this is a gargantuan task in it's own right. These days there are so many organizations out there asking for people to donate their hard-earned money to this cause or that charity, the voice of one crying out, "In the wilderness,prepare ye the way of the Lord" is lost in a cacophony of other voices, other needs.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason that our cries are muffled is because we aren't asking the right questions! Anyone can ask for money, anyone can say, "this is the budget, help us meet it." Anyone can pull off a stewardship campaign and perhaps get back a small percentage of pledge cards. In truth, we aren't saying in our churches, "we are preparing a way for the Lord" or "we are making disciples of all nations" we are saying, "here are the numbers, help us keep the lights on." The questions are not "How much do we need? How much do I give?" The questions are, "Why should I part with my money to give to the church? What will be the effect of my giving to the church rather than say, the American Cancer Society or Children's Miracle Network?" Friends, do not hear me saying that these are not worthy causes, they certainly are! My point is, people want to see their money, time, and talents transforming lives!
Our mission is given to us in the scriptures, it is the great commission. It is the vision portion that is difficult. We have to put in sufficient time and effort, in work, study and prayer to discern where our strengths intersect with the needs of the community. What is it that God is calling us to do in this place and at this time?
It is time for our church to ponder the difficult questions:
Who are we?
What is our context or community for ministry?
What does God want?
Then, and only then, will we find the inspiration and the motivation to support the ministries of the church, the activities and the people, rather than simply paying the bills. Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Rules For A New Life
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours,
for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun
go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give
up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to
have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give
grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you
were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.31Put away from you all bitterness
and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice,
32and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,
as God in Christ has forgiven you. 51Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God.
for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun
go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil. 28Thieves must give
up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to
have something to share with the needy. 29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths,
but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give
grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you
were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.31Put away from you all bitterness
and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice,
32and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,
as God in Christ has forgiven you. 51Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
2and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering
and sacrifice to God.
Rules For A New
Life
For several weeks Michael has been saying to me, “You should
watch this new show The Newsroom, its
awesome!” And for several weeks I
continued to tell him that I would get around to it eventually. Finally, one evening I felt motivated to
watch the show and so I began to watch the six aired episodes in a marathon
fashion. I am absolutely hooked! The premise of the series is that a jaded and
slightly arrogant news anchor, his executive producer, and the rest of the staff
for the cable news show begin a serious mission to report the news well in the
face of corporate and commercial obstacles.
Within the fictitious plot of The Newsroom, its breaking news stories
for News Night are based on real
reported events in America’s recent history.
Last week’s episode revolved around the staff breaking the story of the
death of Osama Bin Laden. Throughout the
episode three of the characters are stuck on a plane in LaGuardia airport,
unable to get to the news station to participate in breaking the story. One character in particular, a hotheaded
producer named Don continues to rage to the stewardess on the plane that the
plane is stopped on the runway, that there is no reason that he should not be
allowed to get out of his seat, and even more so that he absolutely must get
off the plane! As the trio begins to
piece together what the monumental news from the President will be, Don becomes
more enraged and he jumps out of his seat and begins to get the attention of
the entire plane, as whispers from the cabin begin to erupt about a possible
terrorist attack, threat of war etc. The
stewardess calls for the pilots to come out and as Don wheels around to
continue his tirade about the ridiculousness of his circumstances he suddenly
realizes just why the stewardess and the pilots would be nervous, why these
rules have to be implemented on flights.
It is then that Don reports the news.
He tells the pilots that he is proud to announce to them that on that
very night Osama Bin Laden had been killed. [1]
It was a very powerful moment for me in the show, especially
to see that a character that I tend to despise does have some redeeming
qualities. It reminded me that we are
all human and we all have flaws. We are
all prone to sins of anger, greed, and malice.
But, as Christians, we must let the image of God in us shine through the
mire. This passage from Ephesians today
encourages us to live a new life. Our
reading this morning gives us an occasion to think about what it means not to
be just a name on the rolls of a church, but a living, breathing, follower of
Jesus, with our hearts and minds transformed by giving our lives over to God in
Jesus Christ. Last week we read about
Jesus’ second encounter with the crowds after he served the multitudes. When asked how they should do the work of God,
Jesus simply responded that they must believe in him. This passage teaches us what comes out of
living that faith. The letter of James
tells us that faith without works is dead.
We need not do works for salvation, we need only believe as Christ tells
us. But our faith should naturally
compel us to lead lives in which good works are done. Our faith should compel us to follow these
rules laid out in Ephesians. If we are
truly given over to Christ, truly transformed, people will be able to see it.
We are called in this passage to speak the truth to our
neighbors. It seems to me that in our
world today ‘speaking the truth’ and ‘first amendment rights’ have become more
and more a battle of sensationalism and extreme confrontations. The questions of civil rights and freedom of
speech come down to the slogan of “to eat or not to eat more chicken!” We argue over gun laws in circles incessantly
because we are afraid to face the truth that our systems for treating the
mentally ill are not working! We are
afraid to admit some civic responsibility when innocents are killed while watching
a movie or worshipping in their own faith tradition. And the sad truth is that I saw a lot more of
my fellow Christians posting articles and pictures online about a chicken
sandwich than I have seen regarding the shooting at the Sikh temple in
Wisconsin. Is this what being members of
one another looks like? I don’t see any
media coverage of Christians on either the
so-called liberal or conservative side protesting at gun shops or
rallying for better care of our mentally ill civilians because the commandment
“Thou Shalt Not Kill” has been broken in horrific ways in the past month, not
to mention multiple times each and every day.
Could it be that we in the church spend so much time talking
about sexuality, property, and authoritative interpretations in order to avoid
telling the truth in love? Rev. Katherine Huey challenges that, “perhaps we also want to avoid talking about
the even larger questions of generosity: the forgiveness for example, that
comes with a gentle and generous spirit that lets go of resentment, anger, and
old grudges, not to mention the death-grip that we often have on our own
self-righteousness! Even more paralyzing,” Huey says, “is our fear of the
truth, of telling and hearing the truth.
And yet, a faith community that is both truthful and loving is an
immeasurable gift in our lives. This
passage begins with an exhortation to tell the truth, but that command is
tempered by love, and later by kindness.”[2]
The author of this letter goes on to write: “Thieves must
give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands,
so as to have something to share with the needy.” Have you ever had something stolen from
you? I have, and I have friends who
have, and it is such a disheartening and frustrating experience. And if it is an object that is stolen from
your home, your car, your office, it makes you feel unsafe, violated, and exploited. It seems strange to me to have this portion
of the rules plopped down in the middle of language about angry, harsh
words. But then I think about how
thieves have made me feel in the past and it begins to make sense. As I continued to read through this passage I
was also struck by the encouragement to forgive. Being wronged is hurtful but in not
forgiving, you only hurt yourself. And,
in a situation of being stolen from, I have to remind myself that hopefully the
person needed that which was lost more than I did, that I was able in that
moment to provide for someone in need. Being a Christian means living a life
that you are proud of, one that is rooted in decency. One in which you use your
gifts and talents not only to provide for your own life but to also share in
the lives of others.
“Do not make room
for the devil and do not let evil come from your mouth, but only what is useful
for building up,” verses 27 and 29 tell us.
Don’t let anger rule your life.
As a Christian we are called in this passage to let our words give grace
to those who hear it. In the midst of
the debates about Chick-Fil-A last week, I heard far more anger and resentment
coming from people on both sides of the issue rather than words that give grace
to those who hear it. Perhaps we don’t understand that every time we speak it
is an occasion for building up, an occasion for grace…perhaps we forget the
power of words since we sling them about so freely.
Rev. Huey begs the question, “If we know ourselves as
members of a body, how can we be at war with one another, outwardly or
underneath the surface and behind one another’s back? If we truly belong to one another and to the
Body of Christ, how can we hurt one another with angry words and actions? When
we act out of anger, we hurt ourselves, in a very real sense, as the members of
a body should not and would not hurt each other.”[3]
It is true that we are humans and
humans have emotions and those should be accepted and validated. We also are called to take ownership of our
emotions. But the scriptures tell us
that the emotion we must let go of is anger, it is poisonous to us if we do
not. ?” The author of this letter urges
us to resist acting out of anger. We have all seen anger simmering within
congregation members from time to time.
Quiet angers simmer within us individually, in our homes or our
workplace and yes, though we would rather not admit it, here in this
church. When this happens, when we hold
on to anger, when we become passive-aggressive in our behavior, or when we
chose to walk away from our Christian brothers and sisters rather than bother
with the difficult work of forgiveness, we grieve the Holy Spirit. We feed bitterness, a disposition that
cherishes resentment. We cling to former
grievances, real or imaginary. Our fury
can build until we have violent outbursts or shouting matches. All of these are harmful to the Christian
community. The church, whether it is a
local congregation or a denomination at large, is always beset by conflict and
anger. The players and the problems
vary, but the sins persist. Today, we
are called instead to forgive, to speak the truth in love and build one another
up with our words!
Perhaps we have to ask ourselves if those people beyond our
doors encounter us each day as gentle spirits and tender hearts. Would our conduct and manner betray us as
followers of Jesus? Is our faithfulness
authentic or is it more like a bumper-sticker band-aid that hides the dings and
dent in the paint? I can’t help but
think of those lovely stickers we see so often in these parts that read, “not I
but Christ.” Oh I see, was that Christ
that just cut me off in traffic? Was
that Christ who parked illegally in that handicapped spot? Was that Christ who just shook his fist out
the window at a stoplight? Our faith
should be revealed in actions, not just stickers and slogans. Today we are reminded we are made in an image
of God that is to be reflected as much as possible.
“If God has been generous and forgiving of us, how can we
who belong to God be anything but forgiving, anything but kind to one
another?” The author of this letter
urges us to resist acting out of anger.
We are called to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us. Do you remember when we took those health
surveys months ago? There were some
questions on there about our spiritual health.
Guess what, the struggle that stood out the most from our results was
that of forgiveness! Each day,
difficult as it is, we must try to forgive those who have wronged us, those who
have angered us. And we must remember
that we have probably angered or hurt someone in the past and we would desire
that they forgive us as well. This may
be an ongoing process for us, but thanks be that God is the ultimate judge not
us, and thanks be that our God is a God of grace!
We are told here to be imitators of God. Larry Patten wonders, “How can anyone claim
to mimic God?” The truth is that rather than mimicking God we often end up
limiting God. Patten confesses that even
though he as one person matters so little and that he will likely oftentimes
fail, he will strive to imitate God by trying to “widen the circle of love.”[4]
[1] www.hbo.com/thenewsroom internet
accessed 8/7/12
[2]
Rev. Katherine Huey, www.ucc.org internet
accessed 8/7/12
[3]
Rev. Katherine Huey
[4]
Larry Patten, www.larrypatten.com
internet accessed 8/7/12
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