Arrogance and swagger

I wonder how a pastor can assert his authority these days. Tenuous ground to be sure in days when church shopping has made any one church a disposable commodity in people’s minds. Sometimes you must preach the law and instead of finding conviction, you see that backs of their heads as they leave the church, sometimes not to return.

I’m not one to mince words, conviction is conviction and most people need more of it rather than less of it in their lives myself included, and I don’t think anyone could accuse me of being too quick to pardon myself so I guess I just wish that we had a culture that respected honest debate and honesty in the service of the truth a little more. We’re too conditioned to be suspicious of each other’s motives to listen with an open mind. In equal measure, we’re too acculturated to seeking rhetorical advantage to just speak the truth in order to have it spoken.

Isn’t that what we are called to do, please comment, since I can only speak from the position of the one in the puplit, aren’t we supposed to call Bull%$#t when it truly is bull%$#t? And not necessarily just to point and blame, but to accept equal measure of culpability, mostly in the realm of sins of ommission, since they are pretty much the American way. We must have the most advanced necks in all of human histiry the way we turn away so often and so well.

Feeling a little grumpy, sorry about that. Got to get Caitlyn to Basketball, got to do Bible Study this evening, got to, got to, got to . . .

still want to though, which is a blessing beyond measure

trouble in paradise

so I’ve been having some struggles to get posts formatted the way that I want

hence there will be several posts here

no particular order

welcome to my world

at least my world in June.

Christian does not mean schmuck

A man in the neighborhood had a confrontation with one of the preschool teachers the other day. I was in my office so she brought him to me for some resolution of the issue. He was agitated and was seeking to use our playground for his children as he has in the past. That is not out of hand, but preschool was still in session and we couldn’t allow anyone onto the playground because we have a responsibility to the parents of our kids to provide a controlled environment.

Got the lay of the land?

The thrust of his argument seem to be that since we were “in the business of saving souls” (actual quote) that we should be more open and welcoming. I interpreted this as “if you were “really” a Christian, you’d let me have my way.” (my interpretation) Hackles raised instantly.

In one form or another I have heard this argument and I am getting quite tired of it. A child raised in a Christian home pulls it on her mother when she cannot handle her children. “A Christian would take her from me and raise her!” she shouts.

In this case, a wealthy man (he lives in a very nice neighborhood) seeks a relatively private playground for his children and he doesn’t want to pay for it. There is a public park less than a mile away but he prefers our place. His taxes pay for the city park, but he wants access to ours for free. Unless I cave to his demands, he accuses me of being un-Christian. And he says he’s got 12 years of parochial school to tell him what Christian behavior is. (I really wanted to tell him to go and try playing on a Catholic playground) therefore he knows better than I do how I should behave.

Do I need to mention that I was practically shaking with anger at this time? Not proud of it, it’s just true. I just have a hard time having patience with people who seem to deliberately try and manipulate me on the basis of my patience.

Message to the outside world: We are not stupid. We love Christ and we are striving to love you no matter what. But we are not going to let that stop us from standing up to abuse or scorn or worse, manipulation and deceit. We will share but sharing is not always giving outright. We have a right to live also, and to care about ourselves and to have hope for ourselves and for that to sometimes not include you.

Gracious Lord, make us gracious. Empower us to give but not to be taken. We are taken away by you and you alone. Let us now give knowing that we have all that we need.

I hate to be grouchy about the society in which I live, but . . . (pt.3)

It would be so nice to say that we sit in an ivory tower and watch the rest of society struggle through their existence without being marred by that existence but it just isn’t so. (how’s that for an intro after a few months?) <check back through the previous two posts (here and here) to figure out where I was going where this was going originally>

The fact of the matter is, the church is just as susceptible. When the society begins to tell people that their entertainment is more important than their labor, they will bring that idea into the pews and we will have it to deal with. When people are encouraged to think of themselves as islands unto themselves, and that they are the only decision making body that matters in the long run, then they will bring that as well and we will have them “church-hopping” when things do not suit them in the church where they are. They will run and seek individual satisfaction because the televisions tells them that this is what they ought to have <<”You deserve a break today” “have it your way”>> After all, the church is made up of people.
What can we say theologically about the issue of society, individuation, displacement and factionalization? I think we ought to begin where the Bible begins and go from there. “It is not good that (man) should be alone.” Genesis 2:18

God’s concern is that we not be alone, not in the sense that there be no single people, as some of the “defense of marriage” people would have you believe, but that the intended state of humanity should be one of community rather than isolation (Paul, after all, thought that being single was by far the best situation, though he thought that being single in community was the way to go). But the problem comes when we begin to see this being interpreted as “finding the community that suits you” because the central idea in there is you instead of the community. There is no sense of your responsibility to build and nurture community; instead it’s all about what the community has to give you for you to stay. We end up with people “church shopping” to find the place that suits them. If you’re not careful, and people seldom are in these things, you might also tend toward the place that challenges you the least, that asks the fewest hard questions about your life and confirms your judgments about other people’s lives. It’s the easy path, and if we’re focusing on us we usually take it.

But community and society mean more than making things as smooth for yourself as possible. It’s usually true that the minute people begin talking about their church “changing” usually happens about two years after their last active participation in the church’s governance. Church changes when you’re not part of the change because from the inside, it simply seems like progress or evolution because there is discussion and debate and planning and thoughtful process which is missed no matter how hard the church administration tries to communicate. Unless you’re involved, things seem to fly by without you but as soon as you make yourself a part of things, it all seems pretty natural and unless you are in the most ossified of churches, you can make your voice heard and your viewpoint known and you can effect some change of your own. but you have to be there, if you split as soon as it doesn’t “suit you” then you’ll never know what could be built. That’s society, something you take part in, not just join. That is what i think is missing from a lot of the churches, even the mega churches these days which work very hard on making sure that there is something for everyone instead of having something for everyone, one single unifying characteristic that binds them into community.
And so we run the risk of belonging to something without ever being challenged to become a part of it. And in a world hurtling (especially lately) into an uncertain future, that is not a good position to be in, having a woolly wrap against the world that is too insubstantial when put to the test to actually stand the storm because you’ve never been told how to hold onto it and make it your own.

How this all contributes to people being able to divide us along artificial lines. Christians are losing the ability to discuss Christianity, not only because we lack a common language with people outside of the church who no longer have any idea what goes on inside these walls but also because we as a church culture have lost our comfort in talking to people, what they used to call apologetics. We’re not a part of the church we belong to and so we cannot speak about what happens there. We’re connected on the surface, but we’re not involved enough to know what we’re connected to.

Schroedinger said we cannot escape affecting the universe when we observe it, or being affected by it when observed. Maybe we need to be more ready to observe the things going on around us, to get involved with them even if it is only by observing them. There are certainly muscles involved that could be strengthened, maybe enough to allow us the courage to be observed without fear or shame. If we could just trust in ourselves, both as individuals and also as part of the community, as part of something bigger, maybe we could both be guided into a brighter future by encountering Christ in the world, and also guide the world into a brighter future by being Christ in that same world.

Communion, how do YOU do it?

I’m (finally) realizing what n exercise in vanity this thing is. There are a fair nmber of people who read it all the time, but I get a fair number of responses via e-mail instead of inside the forum. The people who do this are undoubtedly feeling a little put-upon that I’m advertising this, but since I won’t use their names, and they don’t post, they have nothing to fear.  The fact of the matter is that I don’t think I would want to keep doing this just to hear from (no offense, I love you guys) my colleagues and two members of the church.

I suppose it’s unfair to expect people to adopt this technology with the same joy I have, but it makes me wonder if I’m having any success in trying to help the community trust each other enough to disagree out in the open.

Just depressed, I guess. Maybe it’s part of the whole “professional” hierachy we have bult up in this country. We’ve ceded the discourse on most topics to the “experts” and dropped quietly into the background as if without a master’s degree we don’t have anything to say. We start conversations with stupid phrases like “well, I’m no economist, but” as if you had to be a specialist to realize that free trade is great in abstract but crappy when it costs you your job. Somehow we’ve actually become ashamed to have these opinions unless we have the book smarts to back them up.

I’ve got some people in Bible study who do not have this problem. They say what they think pretty much all of the time and even if they’re open to having their minds changed or their thoughts expanded or shrunk just a little) they’re fearless when they speak about their faith. Why not about worship? or Communion? or Mission? Why the behind the scenes communication?

I don’t get it, but that’s hardly a unique stiuation. As for the title of the post, how do YOU do communion, either in your church or in your heart when you approach the rail?  We alternate between full communion (in the little plastic Jesus cups) and intinction. I’d like to go to common cup being on offer, but that’s an additional assistant and another learning curve and it’ll have to wait for another day. I read in the Lutheran this month a quip from a woman who mourns the loss of monthly communion (she still takes communion only once a month) because she thinks that it makes the sacrament less special. I try (who knows how successfully?) to communicate the universal nature of the Lord’s table, that it is food for all mankind, for the hungry for grace and also the hungry in body, that it might give us a tase of God’s grace that we might feed those in need. How can that be done too often (no matter what Skip Sundberg says)?

I don’t even know where to start, feeling down and wanting to vent, make of it what you will.

Bread of life from heaven. Feed us this day that we may be strong enough in body and in spirit to feed those less fortunate. Show us the way of grace so that we can see in ourselves, the desperate hunger of spirit that might show us the hunger in the flesh of those around us. May we always see our hunger in theirs and seek to share what we have so that both hungers might be eased, until the day when there will be no hunger and no thirst.

Appreciative

I've been plagued by the suspicion that many people only find value in condemnation or criticism.We all hear the criticisms of the organist, the liturgy, the choir, the bulletins whatever and seldom are actual solutions offered (treasure them when they are!). It's as if the thought process ends at what's wrong and fixing it is "your problem."

Is it possible that the entire human race is hardwired for this kind of passive aggression?

Without this tendency there would be no need for people like Ann Coulter (wouldn't that be nice!) who never seem to have anything to say that isn't denigrating and inflammatory. I can stand loads of denigrating and inflammatory if its accompanied by a thoughtful alternative or a position or anything constructive that demonstrates that someone is home and not just a wall that ideas bounce off of.

I think one of my favorite exercises in Seminary had to have been the constructive theology papers that Paul Sponheim assigned. Imagine being asked to explain God, what you think that God should/might/could be and how that might affect the relationship with creation. The fact that it was all thought-out, constructed by the background thinking that had been in my head, unexamined for decades made it a fascinating exploration of what I thought about things. I have come to love those people who come to me with ideas, plans, schemes and things that have come from within them, their experiences. Some of them are completely antithetical to my way of thinking and yet there is an actual thought process going on there, a sense that it is important to contribute. And if it is examined thinking, then it can be reasoned with.

Its the react-ers that confound me. They too make statements that are antithetical to my way of thinking, but there is nothing there to argue with "We don't like that" isn't a position, it's an anchor.

Dear Lord

give us the boldness to use the huge brain we have been given for more than a place to keep our hymn lyrics and memorized bits of liturgy. Show us the fullness of possibilities and remind us that just because something is uncomfortable, doesn't mean that it is not your will.

ugly truth

The truth of the mater is that the Pastoral portion of this could be handled in about a day. So much of what I am hearing is reminder of CPE and Pastoral Care classes only without the verbatims, that i find myself very surprised by the occasional ideas that are new to me.

The strength of the stsyem is the system. Being able to approach the idea of lay pastoral ministry from a systematic angle leaves so much free time to manage finding referrals and doing the job of pastoral ministry. But you could teach me the system in a morning session, the fundamentals of referrals (according to the Stephen Ministry criteria) and the methodology of teaching new ministers in the afternoon and the rest could be mostly dispensed with.

took a survey with the stopwatch on my phone. The longest that the presenters spoke today without trying to sell something was 38 minutes, the shortest was 61 seconds.

Moved away from a table fo conservatives today, I could no longer hold my tongue and had to move or vent my piece, and it was neither the time nor the place for this particular theological debate (theophany).

Crucified and risen Lord, remember us, when you come into your kingdom, and seek us out as has ever been your will, so that we may not pass from this world without feeling the warmth of your love. Let those who preach you as harsh and capricious feel again the brush of you in their hearts and know that your love is greater than their pain, than their judgment and their ability to comprehend. Let them at last come to peace and cease trying to find the answers inside of their hearts and see that the answers are with your own heart, broken by our sin, yet pouring forth still the love that captures and saves.

Odd observations

Have been sitting in a Stephen Ministries Leader training session all day, will be here for the rest of the week and some things occurred to me.

Good idea. Fine motives, extension of the ministry of caring beyond the pastor's office and all that.

sort of troubled by the Aristotelian emphasis on learned behavior, how we can become acculturated to kindness and caring. I wonder if Dave F has poisoned my perceptions of practices that rely on discipline to make good Christians. I agree with the poisoning, don't get me wrong, the Gospel should never be a burden, but I am wondering if this colors the perceptions I have of programs to be implemented and unfairly makes me skeptical.

I love being skeptical, but I need to be able to embrace good programs no matter what the intentional basis of the creators may have been.

Another thing that strikes me is what a sales bonanza this kind of thing must be. Each and every module includes suggestions about how to get your congregations to embrace the program so "they'll never think of ending the program" and then there's the pitch for another of their products (you don't even have to buy, you are given little stickers that have your personal leader number as well as the church's number so that you can be billed)
Today we were given the "opportunity" to participate in a study of churches that have gone through dramatic changes in the recent past. My (cynical) presumption is that another line of church management products is in the works and they need data and a test market.

Is it just me or is it somewat disconcerting when ministry organizations branch into secular management seminars? Stephen Ministry now offers a management seminar that focuses on secular managers but centers itself around Christ. What would Luther say?

Precious jewel of our lives, shine ever the brighter when your name is marketed, sold and slapped onto a product. Bless those efforts that bring your kingdom into view and guard our hearts against those that would simply use your name to do something other than save the lost. We live in the light of your love, shine that light into each crevice of our lives so that the darkness of our own brokeness cannot frighten us into changing your word to suit our own ends.

And STAY OUT!

What is WITH these fundawhackadoodle youth groups? They have been hounding me to gather up my underage flock and take them to one of these stadium-sized hand-waving festivals starring charismatic ding-dong's one two and three from the less forgiving side of the body of Christ. Not just inviting, not just allowing for the possibility of participation, but calling once or twice a week for the last three months, ignoring protestations of disorganization and disunity, offering possibilities and strategies so that I can come to their event.

Why the hell are these things so successful? Are the rest of you (nothing personal, more the global "you") just caving to the temptation to bring your kids to a ready-made event so you'll be off of the hook? What about the questionable theology that is prevalent at these things?

And how does the whole thing pay for itself? I have been called by three separate people who are clearly working in some kind of boiler-room with ten other "happy white (like you can't hear the suburbs on these people!) Christians." Who pays for all of that? Rick Warren?

But more to the point, are we so bereft of ideas, or creativity or connection with our children that we need to have these people filling in the gaps? If we leave our children ithe hands of these folks (well meaning all of them) even if we haven't lost them in the body-of-Christ sense have we risked losing them to a less grace-oriented manifestation of faith?

I won't lie to you. I think that the biggest detriment to honest communication with youth today is having grown up in youth groups. It may make you comfortable in the milieu, but seriously, how many of you have memories other than playing spoons and happy-clappy songs? There are islands of meaningful exchange but so much of what I hear about is trying to keep them off of the streets and occupied for a few hours. I don't even know how to lie to kids and so while I may not be as comfortable as others in their midst, we get along because I am not full of shit. (mostly)

Upside the head, Lord. Upside the head. That's where we need to be smacked every once in a while when we start falling into grooves of comfort and least resistance. This teaching is difficult; who can accept it? were the words written in John and they are true for us today. Make us bold to proclaim that word, that difficult word to all who can hear, and then to climg up upon the mountaintop and proclaim for all who cannot hear, missing not a word, losing not an ounce of the love that drives us ever onward.

I feel like I’m manic depressive

I keep bouncing between joy and despair.

we're back on despair right now

I'm caught between the popular wisdom and what I believe. I want to make things better by whatever means I can and I find folks clinging to "how it used to be" and dismissing my efforts.

Part of me wants to lash out and shake people, remind them that "how it used to be" has declined over the years, kids don't go to church, marriages end in divorce half the time and fewer people are married before we baptize their children.

But I can't. It isn't in me to yell and I feel ashamed when I let it slip.

So I just take it. I suck it up and apologize, even when I don't back down. Then I retreat to my office and cry at lost opportunities to make things better. I do so many things so well, but explaining myself is not one of them.

Old Adam wants to blame those who undermine with flowery memories and skepticism. But I am the one who makes the calls so I am the one who is ultimately responsible.

But sometimes it feels like a choice between backing down and being ground down. I cannot surrender my beliefs, so I guess the grindstone it is.

Forgive your servant Lord in my hour of doubt and weakness. Do not cast me away. I cling to the hope that I have found in you above all places. Help me. I am afraid.