Does Church Get in the Way of Life?

This is a thought that crossed my mind as my wife and I came out of a movie today. Yet, its not so much the idea of church that I struggle with, but the way we do church in North America - does it get in the way of life?

I regard movies as a kind of modern day parables which, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, we see something of the kind of life or the kind of humanity we are to be in light of God's vision for humanness. Being human in God's vision for us has much to do with caring for one another, sharing in each other's struggles, grieving together, consoling one another, working alongside one another, help one another succeed - in short being real, open, and ready to love one another. It has little to do with facades, hiding our vulnerabilities, putting on airs, pretending like things are okay when they are not. It has little to do with a rugged individualism, and so forth.

In light of what it means to be human in the most humane sense of the word, I also think that much of what we call church gets in the way of this humanness.

When we gather together, are we indeed real with one another? Do we come together to share our struggles, to help each other be strong, do we share life openly with one another - or do we bring numerous agendas that say, "I'm here, but life is okay with me." Do we gather together as a group of individuals keeping to ourselves?

Sometimes I think that what real life is about is people being open and transparent with one another - having nothing to hide - being vulnerable with one another. That also leaves us open to hurt - but do we trust one another to navigate the rhythms of life in which we hurt one another at times, but also forgive one another and are reconciled to one another - and somehow grow together with one another.

What does it mean to be a community, not centered in the idea of community - that we try somehow to maintain, but to be a community centered in Jesus Christ who helps us be open, vulnerable, and real with one another - I mean discovering what it means to love one another just as we are.

This kind of community, the way I believe church ought to be, is indeed messy, unpredictable, filled with struggle, but also hope - this kind of open and vulnerable community that is rooted in Christ, is where life happens - where we don't need to hide what goes on in our lives.

That is the kind of church that is filled with life and lives in the midst of life.

Is this not the kind of community you'd like to be a part?

Pre-Occupied with Self or Other Directed

A few weeks back I asked my congregation what the opposite of love was. I got different responses - hate, fear, indifference, etc. However, I think the opposite of love is sin. That's right - sin.

Why do I say that. Well, it has something to do with how I define sin. I don't look at sin as primarily bad behavior, breaking the law, immorality, or broken relationships - though they have something to do with the working out of sin in our lives - but for me sin is a preoccupation with self. It is about thinking about ourselves first, thinking about ourselves before we think about another.

As human beings into our own thing we are indeed people preoccupied with self.

Too often we confess “our sin” too easily. We may acknowledge that our lives are screwed up – but that still does not get to the heart of the matter – our confessions are still self-focused. Do we realize that this preoccupation with self is not just screwing “me” up, but it is also screwing up others, that it is screwing up the world.

This in my mind is the exact opposite of love is. We ask - as Foreigner sang - "Do you know what love is, I want to know what love is."

We have a difficult time understanding, experiencing what love is – because love is not preoccupied with self, but other-directed. We have got to get out of our preoccupation with self to begin to “know what love is.”

The problem is that we are not all that successful in dealing with our self-preoccupation by ourselves. We need help!

Love is more than a feeling, more than emotion – it is a choice we make!
But not the kind of choice we think.

In fact in reality “choosing to love” is a choice

· to be open to the Spirit of God,
· to be open for the Spirit of God to create Jesus’ nature into our lives
· to be open to God’s intervention to deal with our self-preoccupation
· to be open to the Spirit to cultivate in us a perspective of being other-occupied, of being
world-directed – just as it is the nature of God’s love to love the world – John 3:16.

And so when we are open to the Spirit to work in our lives – our lives are opened to be other-directed in the same way that the nature of God’s love is other-directed toward all humanity.

I say it this way because there are other things that are other-directed but not selflessly. War is other-directed, hate is other-directed, prejudice is other-directed – but these are other-directed through a focus or preoccupation with self. We think we are protecting ourselves, our way of life by engaging in war, hate or prejudice.

But love in the way of God, love which exemplifies God’s nature is selflessly other-directed.

As the Spirit of God develops love in our life – we too learn to love in ways which are selflessly other-directed. A way of being that:

· gives love to those who do not love us back,
· keeps loving when someone does whatever they can so that we might hate them,
· shares in their suffering, walking alongside with people not leaving them alone in their pain,
· loves all – even those whose behaviors or beliefs are contrary or adamantly opposed to our
own.

This is the way Jesus acted in love towards others – in the story of the Good Samaritan or washing his disciples feet – and we hear Jesus saying to us: “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10: 37; John 13: 17).

That's what I am trying to do. Join me?

What Does the Ground Feel Like When You Walk in the Spirit?

I was in conversation with a friend yesterday over a cup of coffee. We got talking about life and how walking is a metaphor for how we journey in life. What does the ground feel like under our feet on the pathways of life? Often we walk on hard paths - the same paths everyone else has walked on before, pathways that have been packed down - and so walking seems pretty easy. But from the Jesus' metaphor of the soils, not much grows on hard paths.

When our walking is frustrated it is often because the soil beneath our feet is not hard anymore, its soft and so every step takes an effort to move forward. We get frustrated when our forward movement is impeded and we try to get out of this kind of soil as fast as we can in order to find a hard path again. But this kind of soil in the parable of the soils (cf. Matthew 13) Jesus says is the kind of soil in which life takes root.

As followers of Jesus we are called to walk in the Spirit. I think this is difficult because we want to do the walking and walking in the Spirit requires our being sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. When we are cruising along the hard pathways, we're in control - who needs the Spirit. But when life slows down, moving forward is bogged down, step taking requires effort - maybe then we can be most open to the Spirit in our lives. The soil we most despise because it slows us donw, is the soil that something can take root in, we can take root in, soil in which the Spirit of God can produce something in our lives.

We talk alot about making a living and we often think about our being Christian while we make our way in the world, while we make a living. But I am beginning to think differently about what it means to follow after Jesus. Could it be that our primary calling is to be persons who are open to the Spirit of God, to be instruments of the Spirit working in the world and our jobs, etc are secondary to that calling. Could it be we are called to be the people of God in such a way that our jobs, careers are merely the contexts in which we live out lives which are open to the Spirit of God. So for example, if someone was a plumber, maybe it is not about them going to their job and do what they do, and then also think about how they are to be a Christian in this context, but rather in all of life they are called to live/walk with a sensitivity to the Spirit's leading and it just so happens that plumbing provides the context in which they walk in the Spirit in the presence of other people.

This has implications for the way we live. We are to be primarily those who walk in the ways of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, and our careers, or whatever we do, provides the context in which we do our walking.

Responding to the Presence of the Spirit

In my last blog I talked about how we might be aware of where the Spirit is present in the world. So what do we do then when we witness the presence of the Spirit - how do we respond? Do we rush in full force, "guns blazing" as it were with the Gospel, to somehow overwhelm the person becoming aware of the working of the Spirit in their life?

I think we take too many cues from the religious establishment in responding to our witnessing the presence of the Spirit. If a farmer plants a crop and begins to witness shoots coming through the ground, the farmer does not run out there with a harvester in order to gather a harvest - rather the farmer waters the soil, weeds the earth, nurtures the shoot - so that it might continue to grow in a healthy manner.

So much of our response to witnessing the Spirit is to run at people with a harvester with the result being that we uproot the work that the Spirit is just beginning to do in a person's life - with the result being that we uproot the Spirit in that person's life.

I think we need to take a cue from Jesus.

Jesus taught quite a bit in parables - clear messages, but with hidden meanings, meanings which took some time for reflection to begin to understand, meanings which required an openness to the Spirit of God to grasp. Most of these parables were about the kingdom or reign of God.

For example, he talked about sowing a mustard seed into the soil. I am not sure how important a crop it was in Jesus' day, but it seems to me that it was a crop that did not require much attention - plant it, let it take root, and watch it grow from a wee tiny seed into a large shrub in which birds could nest. Also, the woman baking bread, put yeast into her bread, expecting the yeast to work through the dough - her focus however was not so much on the yeast but on baking the bread - the yeast just kind of had to do its job on its own.

So to the working of the Spirit - like mustard seed or yeast, the Spirit works under the surface, somewhat unbeknown to our other purposes - so then it seems our response to becoming aware of the Spirit is not to rush in full force, but rather come alongside for us to listen to the person in whom the Spirit is working, to gain some insight into what the Spirit is doing, so that the Spirit can invite us into a relationship with a particular person in order for us to not trumpet our agenda, but for us to be of use to the Spirit in that person's life as the Spirit directs.

I am not all that sure of what we are to say or do, except to somehow be present to the Spirit, present to the person - in order to be, perhaps like the farmer, to water, weed, cultivate - so that the Spirit can produce the fruit the Spirit desires. This I believe entails a ministry of responding, which requires being there, listening, etc., rather than trying to insert our own meaning, direction in the encounter. The Spirit draws us in to assist the Spirit, not to take over. So often we just want to take over.

Jesus often responded in such a similar way - when the woman who was ill for years just wanted to touch his cloak and hopefully to be healed, his response was "who touched me?" In her touching she encountered the presence of the Spirit and in responding to her Jesus was open to discover what was going on in her life, her mind, etc. There are other examples - maybe we can find them together.

What I am learning is that I need to be more open to responding to where I see the Spirit's presence, rather than taking it as an opportunity to rush in and crowd out the whisper with which the Spirit is speaking in a person's life. Perhaps the first step in this is my needing to listen more - for me to become aware of how I am to be open to the Spirit so that I can even become more aware of the presence of the Spirit in the world.

Do We See the Spirit of God Active in the World?

A couple of weeks ago I was leading a doctoral seminar at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The focus of the seminar was missional spirituality. Though we talked about how a missional perspective (about what God is doing in the world to reconcile humanity to himself and to one another) and how it effects and affects our spirituality, we also spent a significant amount of time talking about the Holy Spirits and the Spirit's presence and activity in the world.

John Taylor talks about the Holy Spirit as the Go-Between God in which he talks about the Spirit as God who goes before us, draws us into relationship with God and with one another, and prepares the hearts and lives of people to have ears to hear and eyes to see the activity and presence of God in the world.

A significant conclusion we came to as a class is that we need to become more aware of where the Spirit of God is in the world. As we live out our daily lives, we are so focused on our agendas, what issues and responsibilities are ours, our schedules, our appointments, our commitments. What we miss in this focus on what we are about or what we need to be doing is that we rarely take the time to see where the Spirit of God is present, what the Spirit of God is up to, the encounters the Spirit of God leads us into.

Two of us had an interesting encounter on the weekend between the first and second week of class. On Saturday I decided to take the transit system into Dallas to see Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor museum to reflect on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Afterwords I had some great barbecue at Sonny Bryans. On the way back to SMU I got involved in a conversation with a homeless person. We talked for about half an hour. His name is Robert and he had lost family and home through Katrina. I helped him out. Unbeknownst to me (I found out about this in class Monday), Joe, a pastor from Atlanta taking the class, also went into Dallas, also had an encounter with Robert, also helped him out and took him to lunch at Sonny Bryans. We missed each other by about 30 minutes. Robert gave Joe a different story about getting out of prison, etc. Did we get duped? Probably! Robert seems to have a different story for every occasion. But as we reflected upon it in class, we also concluded both Joe and my encounter with Robert was no coincidence - but something that revealed the activity of the Spirit - for sure in our lives and I am sure in Robert's life as well. If we had another weekend, I am sure Joe and I would have gone together into Dallas, found Robert and rather than confronting him, we were open to being present to him in the way Jesus might.

This brings about something else we talked about in class. Not only do we need to have better vision to see the presence of the Spirit in the world, but how do we respond when we see the Spirit being present in the world? Because the Spirit has taken possession of our lives, are we not at the Spirit's disposal to connect with others to whomever God leads us so that the Spirit of God can "go-between" us so that the other experiences an encounter with God?

I will address this more in another blog.

So the challenge for me (and maybe for you to) is not to live my life so self-absorbed and caught up in my own schedules, but to be open to see where the Spirit is, what the Spirit is doing. To be open to wherever the Spirit may lead me, because maybe, if I am open to the Spirit and I am not too caught up in what I am about, the Spirit just may bring the presence of God to bear into another person's life.

Anyways, this is a challenge I want to always be open to.

Roland

How Can I Be a Servant When I Want to be Great?

There is something I constantly struggle with - its about not being great, but wanting to be great - but then, as some friends remind me, "you got to write to get your name out there if you are ever going to be noticed." I don't write, so I don't get noticed. If I don't get noticed, hey I can't become great.

Once I had a conversation with Bob Webber about an idea I had when we were together at Northern Seminary. He encouraged me that the idea I had would be a great topic for a book. I responded saying, "That's the difference between you and me - you think in terms of books, I think in terms of paragraphs."

Well so maybe the real issue is that I am not disciplined enough to become great. There is probably great truth in that.

I was reminded again of this struggle within me again as I read through the Scripture, meditations and questions on the daily prayer site run by a group of Irish Jesuits aka sacred space for May 20th. The focus was on the passage from Mark 9 in which Jesus' disciples were jockeying for recognition and greatness.

What jumped out at me was: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." I realize that as long as I focus on being great I will be neither great nor a servant - I miss it all. But then it is not about being either - as if there were a number of steps to becoming a servant. Rather I am discovering, each time I wrestle with this, that it is an attitude, involving contentment, being open to the people God brings into my life and the ones God leads me to, an attitude of not worrying about whether I will ever be great, but just being available for what God has in mind for me and to be open to that.

Being a servant requires a lot of trust, faith, and just a sensitivity to seeing how the Spirit of God is moving and touching the lives of those God connects me with. It is again coming to realize, its not about me (that's so hard to realize), its about what God is up to in the world.

And so I am trying to learn to pray again to be open to what God is doing, where God is leading, and to live in the moments God opens up - so that I can somehow be a servant in those contexts. Someday I'll get to the place where I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how I'm coming across, or what others think about me in the midst of my being available to them.

Hopefully someday I get into the rhythm of being a servant with no aspirations for anything else.

Roland

Conversation at Panera About Jesus

I can't believe its a whole month since I last blogged on this site.

I had a conversation this morning with a friend at Panera Bread about Jesus. We got talking about a comment a rabbi had made that Jesus came for the Gentiles, but that God's people were still waiting for the Messiah.

What struck me as interesting in such a comment is that historically Jesus was Jewish and his mission was to the House of Israel (the mission to the Gentiles did not begin until about 20 years after Jesus ministry, death and resurrection).

However, the most enlivening part of our conversation was in discussing whether Jesus was just for Christians, or whether Jesus was for all humanity. Though numerous religions give some kind of assent to Jesus as a prophet, the scriptures teach that God came to dwell amongst humanity and the way God did that was in the person of Jesus, son of Joseph, the Christ.

If this is indeed true, as I believe it is, then Jesus came not only for Christians, but Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, Atheists, Animists, etc. Jesus came for all people in order to bring all humanity into a relationship with God who created us.

So what do we do with this understanding? One is that we need to begin to see Jesus not just through western Christian eyes, but also through middle eastern Jewish eyes, middle eastern Islamic eyes, eastern Buddhist eyes, Indian Hindu eyes, African eyes, Asian eyes, etc. God is for all humanity. Jesus is God for all humanity.

In this way Jesus cannot be seen just as another religious figure, competing for religious significance. Jesus (God incarnate as a human being) is God who has come to be with us to draw us all back into relationship with God who created us all.

The Story we have in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is the Story of God engaging humanity through one people and then through a community not limited to one people but open to all ethnicities, all genders, all statuses, all humanity.

How are we then to live in the world to reveal this Jesus in the midst of a broken world?

Roland

The Peace that Brings Conflict

With all the warring going on in the world -- Iraq, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, in our neighborhoods, I cannot help but wonder when enough is enough - when will we stop killing and hurting each other.

Jesus in John's Gospel says, "Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." But what kind of peace is this? This is what we talked about last night when we met at Panera Bread in Round Lake Beach at sacred space.

As our conversation unfolded we quickly realized that Jesus' peace is contrary to the world's concept of peace -- in fact many war against Jesus concept of peace. Much of what we think about politically as peace has more to do with truce keeping or truce making. But Jesus did not call us to be truce makers but peacemakers. We concluded that there is a difference.

The peace of Christ often stands in opposition to the "ways of peace" in our world today. We seek peace or truce in the context of power - truce usually involves one power submitting to another in order for "peace" to exist. The UN peacekeeping forces are meant to keep the balance of power in a region so that war does not erupt out of the fragile peace.

However, Jesus' peace stands in such contrast with the ways of the world, that often we war against the peace of Christ when it comes into our midst, rather than embracing it - because embracing Christ's peace most often requires of us "to turn the other cheek," "to go a second mile with one who exerts power over us," "to love our enemies." We are called to embrace this way of peace, and usually such embracing seems to result in suffering rather than victory. It seemed that Christ was defeated when he embraced peace by being crucified on the cross for the sake of humanity, but it was only through his death and in our identifying with his death, that we share in the victory of life that is whole, life that is peace.

When the peace of Christ confronts us and asks the impossible of us in our relationships with those who war against us, too often we war against the way of Christ and so contribute to the never-ending struggle of our warring against another. But if we surrender to Christ and the way of Christ, not reluctantly, but embracing such a surrender, we become peacemakers of a new way of being in the world that unmasks the powers, triumphs over the oppressors not necessarily by bringing them into submission, but by giving witness to what it means to be a people of peace in the world. We may die in living this peace, but it is a peace that will overcome the warring of the world.

In this way Christ's peace is in conflict with the ways of the world -- and the longer we refuse to embrace it, the more we will war against it. Yet God is calling together a community of people in the world who will witness to by living out the way of Christ's peace in the world. What of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice, to surrender to be bringers of such a peace - reputation, our esteem, our positions, what others think of us?

As we enter the New Year, may we embrace the peace of Christ in the way of Christ Jesus.

Roland

Re-imagining Becoming Like a Child

Wednesday mornings I hang out at Panera Bread on Rollins in Round Lake Beach. Usually there are two or more of us and we engage in some kind of dialogue engaging God's Story. Sometimes though I have time to read and reflect. Today was one of those days - the day after Christmas.

One of the books I am reading is Jesus in the Margins and I read through the chapter on "Becoming the Child."

The author reminded me that "Jesus invites us to re-imagine life as a child" - particularly as "a child of God" (p. 120). He sets this in the context of Jesus asking his disciples the question in Matthew's Gospel, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" As adults too often we respond to such a question by focusing on power, prestige, position, reputation, etc. -- seeking somehow to attain our greatness.

Jesus, however, presented a different perspective -- "Unless you become like a child, you will never be great in the kingdom of God."

I think I am learning this lesson in my life, over the past couple of years, though I still have a way to go. We have taken on so many of the trappings of "being adult," "being mature," which perhaps is another way to say "we've got life under control, our control, my control" that we have forgotten how to really see what life is about.

To become like a child, is not to become less mature, but it means to take on certain characteristics which are lost when we make life about ourselves. Being like a child, which enables us to live life in the way of Jesus is (1) to have eyes to see the wonder in life, to take the time to be open to the amazing things in life -- as adults we too often move so fast that we miss the wonder. (2) to have the freedom to play -- too often in trying to control our lives, life becomes about toil and making the grade. When we learn to trust God to lead us in life, resting in the Spirit of God to unfold life before me, we can develop a spirit that is free to engage more in play. (3) to be free to create -- this connects with wonder and play. Too often as an adult I make things to fit in with the goals and needs of others. However, if I can catch a glimpse of what God is about in the world and be a part of that, I am free to be creative in ways that shares in God's continuing activity of creation -- be it in people's lives, in work, etc. (4) discover what it is to live life unashamed. We learn shame early, we learn early what is not quite right about us, how we don't fit in, we learn early to be embarrassed by ourselves. But to learn to trust in God, to share in the life of God is to rediscover what it is to be spiritually unashamed -- which carries over into bringing healing into our lives regarding how we see ourselves as being free to live, as we are, in ways which God leads us. We do not need to live by the expectations of others. (5) Children walk in innocence and trust. To be adult is to be aware. It is not naive to live life that does not cater to "playing the game," being political astute so that you can get ahead, "doing the necessary thing, rather than the right thing." Instead, living a life that fosters the ethic of Jesus, trusts the Spirit of God to guide us through life -- enables us to be people, adults, who live by a different rhythm in this world - we present an alternative reality that builds others up, rather than uses people for our own gain.

I guess, as I reflect on Christ becoming a human being through birth as a child, it is a reminder that Jesus began life in this way so that we might not become calloused and closed-hearted, but open to the wonder of God in the world. Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear where God is in the world?

Roland

Where Is Sacred Space to Be Found?

I have been reading through both of these books which present stories about finding God in the most unlikeliest places. Jesus in the Margins expresses that the place where God hangs out the clearest is in the margins of life, and Theirs is the Kingdom reveals how Christ is evident in the most unassuming places in urban America.

This leads me to ask the question: Where can we find sacred space? If by sacred space, we mean where God is present, then it is become more clear to me everyday that God is in places where we least expect God to be. When Jesus lived in Palestine almost 2000 years ago, he hung out with tax collectors, sick people, prostitutes -- people who did not make the "most likely to do anything" list. The religious leaders of the day saw God only in the special places, the most "holy" places, but Jesus reveals that sacred space is wherever God is, wherever God shows up. If we get any idea where God does show up from Jesus' ministry, we begin to see that sacred space is among the marginalized, the disenfranchised, the destitute, the alienated.

Therefore, in reflecting on how we are to be church in Lake County, perhaps we need to reflect on where God is making space sacred here in Lake County -- because that is where God connects with us.

sacred space, the gathering that meets at Panera Bread on Rollins in Round Lake Beach, beginning again on Sunday December 2nd from 6pm - 8pm, seeks to explore how we can be church in Lake County by helping one another have eyes to see where God is hanging out -- and hopefully also to have ears to hear what God is saying.

August Rush, Hearing Music - Hearing Life

My family and I caught a movie on Thanksgiving Day. August Rush is a great metaphor for hearing the music, hearing the life that is all around us and our lives being the instruments through which that music, through which life, is played.

When I think about the way we approach God and life, the way we try to do good for others through ministry, I think we miss a lot -- we don't have the ears to hear the music and rhythms of life that are all around us.

Instead, what we too often do in life and in ministry is that we respond to the discord, the disharmony, rather than the rhythms of the music of life, the rhythms of the music of the Spirit of God. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus teaches his followers to "seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness." What does this mean? I believe it means to seek first the rhythms of God's Story, God's Vision, the music of life that God is playing everyday as God is active in the world through God's Spirit.

Do we hear it? Do we hear the music the Spirit is playing?

In ministry, in trying to be there to help other people, too often we listen to the discord, the pain in their lives and try to help them by trying to do something with that dissonance. But what is this dissonance? If it is an incapability of hearing and responding to the music of life, then do we help them by "making songs" out of these discordant notes. Or is ministry helping others hear the music, catch the rhythms that bring life? Is ministry not trying to do something with the pain in our lives, but helping others hear the music that can heal the pain?

Are we not called to hear the music of the Spirit in the world? Do we help others, by hearing the rhythm, the music of life, the rhythm of what God is doing in the world -- and begin to play this music, the music of life? This music -- which we ourselves begin to hear with our ears, our souls, our lives -- which we then begin to play (do ministry), does it help people hear, notice the rhythm of life, of God's presence all around them. As those we seek to help begin to hear the rhythm of life that God is "playing" they are given the opportunity to begin to re-tune their lives in harmony with a different rhythm -- a rhythm that is filled with the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God.

So ministry is not listening to "needs" and responding to those needs, but listening to the rhythm of God in life, learning to play that music. As a result by focusing on this music, we and others are reshaped, re-tuned in ways that enable our lives to play the music of life in new, fresh ways. If you take a look at Jesus' ministry on earth, this is what he did. He did not play his own music, nor try to respond to the disharmony of the pain around him. No, and he states this on numerous occasions -- "I do what I see my Father doing and I say what I hear my Father saying." Jesus' ministry brought life to others as he helped them hear and respond to the music of life that comes out of heart and rhythm of God's love for humanity and what God is doing in the world to draw humanity into a living relationship with himself.

Repentance, then, is an action where we yield ourselves to the music of God, the rhythm of God, the Story and Vision of God in our lives. It is an embracing of life. It is opening up our ears, our souls, our lives to hear the music that God is playing to bring joy and wholeness to us and to those with whom we share our lives.

Missional Discipleship

I am an educator and so I have an affinity for the process of discipleship in helping followers of Christ grow in the way of Christ in their lives.

Bosch in Transforming Mission has an excellent chapter on "Matthew: Mission as Disciple-Making." In his Gospel, Matthew expresses an understanding of discipleship that is deeply missional. Bosch relates that the command to "make disciples" in Matthew 28:19 is a call for Jesus' followers "to make others into what they themselves are: disciples" (p. 74). He further adds that for Matthew "the first disciples are prototypes for the church" (p. 74).

This kind of discipleship is not one that solely focuses on one's own life, but our lives as followers of Christ are lived for the other. Too often the practices of discipleship in the life of the church focus on inward growth and development. Though such development is important, the inner growth is for the sake of outward witness, outward action, orthopraxis if you will, in order to represent a different way of being human in the world.

Therefore, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is "to practice God's call of justice for the poor" (p. 81), to not only seek God's righteousness, but to seek God's justice for all humanity. We experience God's justice in our own lives and God justifies us and brings us into a relationship with him. In response we act in justice towards others by carrying out the will of God -- here on earth, just as it is in heaven (p. 72).

Indeed discipleship in inherently missional because "to become a disciple means a decisive and irrevocable turning to both God and neighbor. What follows from there is a journey which, in fact, never ends in this life, a journey of continually discovering new dimensions of loving God and neighbor, as 'the reign of God and his justice' (Mt 6:33) are increasingly revealed in the life of the disciple" (p. 82).

If discipleship focuses merely on the inward, or on something else, then it is not a following after Jesus, it is not living a life in the way of Jesus, and it is not a participating with God in God's redemptive mission.

Re-reading Bosch's Transforming Mission

Over the past six years or so I have been immersing myself in the literature related to God's mission in the world - missio Dei. I have realized that what I read early on in my learning about what it means to be missional might reveal fresh insights as I began rereading these books, articles, etc..

So I am beginning to re-read David J. Bosch's magnum opus Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission in order to gain some fresh insights as I bring years of reflection to insights that began my reflections.

One such insight is expressed through the Foreword. Bosch states, "at its most profound level, its [i.e., mission] purpose is to transform reality around it" (xv).

This idea of mission that transforms reality is deeply rooted in God's mission. God is not just about doing good in the world -- some may question where God is in the face of all that is not good in the world -- but rather, God is about recreation, of making all things new, of reconciling humanity to one another and to God. Mission is not about coercion and enculturalization into a Western perspective, but it is about recreating humanity and recreating the world. As we develop eyes to see what God is doing in the world and give ourselves to participate with God's action in the world, we are in mission -- mission that transforms reality around it.

This is a calling not to try to adjust the way things are, it is a calling to radically represent what it means to be human when we are caught up in the Story and Action of God in making all things new.

This mission is not just a task. This mission is living into a whole other reality that gives birth to life in the midst of all the warring ways of humanity.

Church: Being a Servant Community

When you ask people what church is you hear different responses. Depending upon one's experience, church might be seen as something good or something that has created pain. In attempting for church to have influence in society too often we have opted for images that control, regulate, or focus on privilege.

I have been wondering what it would look like for church to be seen as "servant community" in the world. As we emulate Christ in washing his disciples' feet, how might we live out our lives as community in the world, so that we are a servant community in the world -- perhaps first of all a servant community to Christ, and through our serving him, we follow his lead in serving the world.

A servant community does not exist for itself, but exists for serving God -- the one who has called the community into being. It seeks to serve, whether there is recognition or not, it seeks to serve, whether there is success or not, it seeks to serve, whether there is recognition that we excel at being servants. A servant community seeks to be incarnational, missional, being present to people in ways that enables the Spirit of God to connect with the hearts and lives of people whom God is seeking. As a servant community, we are the "hands of Christ" washing other's feet, discovering what it is God wants us to do. It is not about what we want to do!

As a servant community then, we need to spend more time not in figuring out how we are to be in the world, but to hear what God is saying to us and seeing what God is showing us so that we can be about what God is about in the world. It is a matter of discerning God's purposes and desires, rather than figuring out how we can attract more people, or how we can develop the right program that will have the most relevance. A servant community exists so that God can have his way in the world -- we are to be salt and light, not to bring focus upon us, but upon the purposes of God. We are called to be servant community to reveal the one whom we serve.

Someone once stated, that a church that seeks its own ministry or its own agenda ceases being the church in the world. We can only be church as we yield ourselves to the redemptive purposes of God in the world -- being used of God in fulfilling God's mission. The only way the church can fulfill this calling is for it to be a servant community.

What If Its Not About Making Space for the Gospel, But Planting the Gospel

This past week I was facilitating a seminar out in Vancouver dealing with Christian spirituality. Our discussions on the last day focused on the influences of postmodern influences on Christian spirituality, especially postmodern's resistance to grand narratives.

Previously, I had thought about our incarnational witness in culture means making space for the Gospel in culture, but that still presents an image of "elbowing" the Gospel in amongst other metanarratives.

In taking our cue from the Parable of the Soils in Matthew Gospel, what if culture or different narratives within culture are soil in which Gospel is to be planted. So, rather than Gospel trying to squeeze in amongst other metanarratives within a postmodern culture that resists the imposing of narratives upon other narratives, what if the people of God are to live out their lives in witness to the Gospel so that the Gospel is planted as a seed (by God's Spirit) in the soil of culture or the soil of a narrative.

What this looks like is that the "seed" of the Gospel does not compete with other narratives, but is rooted within a narrative and begins to grow - as a mustard seed - and begins to create life within this soil so that the culture or narrative is recreated/transformed in light of God's ongoing redemptive mission.

Though there is much more reflecting that is required to think through this idea, what I like about it is that the Gospel does not become another competing metanarrative within culture, but enters into culture in a way that something new is created within the culture -- it seems that focusing on this act of creation is something that is more in line with God's character than approaches which try to "push out" other narratives -- which has been the modus operandi of Christendom.

Could it be in this way, as the Gospel is planted within the soil of metanarratives that these metanarratives grow to come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Looking forward to your thoughts to help flesh this out some more.

Roland

Making Space for the Gospel in the World

Recently I came across an article by Todd Hiestand entitled, The Gospel and the God-Forsaken, which gives focus to the challenge of being missional in the suburbs. He raises a unique distinction for understanding what differentiates missional churches from churches operating within the Christendom paradigm.

It is a distinction between being sent and those that go. Basically, churches that have a mindset of “going” see themselves as separate from the world and in order to share the Gospel they make forays into the world to “do mission” and then retreat “back to the safety of separation” (Hiestand, http://www.allelon.org/articles/article.cfm?id=385). Many of us live out our Christian faith in this way. We interpret Jesus’ command in Matthew 28: 18) of go into the world as making disciples as a command to set everything aside and go, with the result that we charge into the world, only to retreat once again to be refreshed. This cycle of going and retreating keeps us from being not only “of the world,” but it also keeps us from “being in the world” as well.

In many ways this represents a monastic paradigm in which we separate ourselves from the world; even in our reaching out we exude a separateness. And so we wonder why we struggle with making space for the Gospel in the world.

In taking note of how Jesus became one of us and engaged the culture, we see that an incarnational approach calls for us to be in the world. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to be in the world carrying out God’s redemptive mission, so too we as Christ’s community in the world, called to continue in the ministry of Christ, we are a community that is sent into the world, rather than a community that goes into the world. The difference is staggering.

The realization that we are sent is the realization that we have been placed in the world in order to make space for the Gospel. By the way we live, relate to one another, carry out our business, we are sign, foretaste, and demonstration of the presence of God’s rule in the world. As a sent community in the world, we live out an alternate reality to the way the world is used to living.

What might this look like? I propose that we are called to walk among our neighbors – those God has placed us beside in our contexts – to walk with them, alongside of them, supporting and encouraging them in their growth and development as human beings by engaging them in the way Jesus would. We engage our neighbors with the realization that it is not our efforts that make space for the Gospel, but as we are open to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit who sends us as persons and communities to engage our world. We are sent to love the people who we are with in the world as Christ loves them, to seek their well-being, to offer ourselves, as imperfect as we are, to be of use to God so that they might be made whole.

In an attitude of sentness, we make space for the Gospel in the lives of our neighbors, as we make space for them in our lives. As we make room for others in our lives, we do not come to them with our agendas, but we are open to the agenda that God has for us in coming alongside of them in our encounter. As we make room for others in our lives – our lives in being open and yielded to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit has opportunity to touch the lives of our neighbors and draw them to himself. In an attitude of sentness we remain in the world and the Spirit is present in our relationships making space for the Gospel. It is when we go and retreat that we are more apt to grieve the Spirit and create barriers for our neighbors to experience the reality of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.

The Uncomfortableness of Being Led by the Spirit

There are too many times that I would rather do what is comfortable. "Comfortable" is under my control. "Comfortable" allows me to know what is coming, allows me to do things in a manner that are not strange to me. "Comfortable" also gives me the power to shape my experience. The problem with "comfortable" is that I think it also keeps me from being open to the Spirit of God.

Being led by the Spirit of God into situations, different contexts, different experiences seems to take me into places where I am not very comfortable at all. I guess what makes me comfortable is that I can rely on myself, my abilities, my limitations. What makes me uncomfortable is to be asked to live outside of those bounds.

As I read Scripture -- I am in the midst of re-reading the birth narratives of Jesus -- I see there is very little of "being comfortable" in heeding the Spirit of God. Was Mary comfortable when she was visited by an angel telling her that she would give birth to a son who would be known as the Son of God? Was Joseph comfortable, finding Mary to be with child and wanting to break his engagement with her, to discover that what was conceived in her was by the Spirit? I think they were comforted by God, but there were far from being comfortable. They were filled with joy once they began comprehending this new reality - but it was way beyond their comfort zones.

I am finding that being led by the Spirit usually takes me out of my comfort zones -- and into zones that I am unable "to control," to rely wholly on my abilities. Rather, I have to rely on the Spirit; I have to rely on God to be able to go ahead in what the Spirit is leading me into. I find myself walking carefully, ensuring one foot is placed well before I take another, as if I were rock climbing, or walking a narrow mountain path. I am not comfortable with this at all -- but as I allow myself to be open to what the Spirit is doing in my life, I am comforted, strengthened, hopeful, that this pathway I am walking on I am not walking alone -- the Spirit of God is with me, because the Spirit is leading me.

It makes for an adventuresome journey - outside of my comfort zone - however, it is the only way I am able to develop clarity of vision, acuity of hearing, and courage to participate in what the Spirit of God is doing in the world as I trust the Spirit of God to guide me and lead me into what God is inviting me into.

Do We Stand in the Way of Whom God Accepts?

This is a question I have been asking myself ever since I was engaged in a Scripture dialogue on Acts 10. Here we find a story about a Roman centurion (soldier) who received a call from God to go send for the apostle Peter. Before Peter received the centurion's servants he himself received a vision from God about a number of animals that were unclean for any Jewish person to eat, with the command from God to, "Kill and eat." Though Peter protested, this vision appeared three times with God responding in the same way.

When Peter made it to the centurion's house and learned why he had been sent, he began by stating, "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean." When the centurion shared with Peter what had precipitated his invitation, Peter began preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ to them. But before he could finish, we read in Acts 10 that the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. Peter and those who had come with him were astonished that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on these non-Jews, these Gentiles.

But Peter's response reveals that we should not stand in the way of whom God accepts. Upon seeing that God poured out his Spirit on the centurion and his household, Peter declares, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have."

Too often it is difficult to accept people who are different than us. I am not merely talking about people from different cultures or ethnicities or races, but people who even "sin" differently than we do. Without getting into pitting one sin against another, whether one is worse than the other, or whether one can be a follower of Christ and still struggle with a particular sin -- especially if it is a sin involving sexual matters (these seem to be the ones that bother us the most), I would like to suggest a different approach.

It seems that the beginning point for receiving others as brothers and sisters in Christ has more to do with God's acceptance than what we are comfortable with. If we see, witness, or discern (as Peter did) that God accepts a person, who are we to stand in the way of whom God accepts?
Now I do not dare speak for God as to whom God accepts, but I have a hunch that God accepts far more than I am capable of. I may disagree with a person's perspective, a person's choices, even a person's behavior, but if I witness that God has poured out his Spirit upon them, then, no matter how uncomfortable I am with them, I need to be open to accept them as God has.

This creates a different standard for judgment. It is not my place or right to pass judgment on others. Rather, as I take note of the actions of God in relation to others, God's actions alone become the basis for my response to others. What I am discovering is that God accepts many more people than I am able to. In fact, God loves even those who reject an overture of relationship with him -- so there is no one outside the bounds of whom God loves.

Therefore, whomever God loves, whomever God accepts -- are persons I am called to love, I am called to accept.

A Diffferent Way of Living

I was reminded this week of how walking with Jesus does not fit well into the many ways that people choose to live, especially if we choose to live in light of polarities -- you know taking one side over another, such as being conservative or liberal, being pro-choice or pro-life, being capitalistic or socialistic. On the continuum of polarities I find that people tend to gravitate to one end or the other -- somehow that provides a place of comfort.

What I encountered this past week that caused me to notice this once again was visiting a college with my daughter who is entering her senior year in high school. The college was a Christian college, which had numerous rules regarding behavior, socializing, and dress codes. We have visited other colleges which were on the other end of the spectrum which had far fewer rules, or at least different kinds of rules -- dealing more with discrimination and tolerance, than personal lifestyle choices.

Where my thinking is going on this is that people either prefer to have a set of external parameters (rules) to guide their living and thinking, or do not want to be constrained by externals so that they can choose whatever they wish -- to be guided by their own desires and wants. I have found my self in both contexts over the years, and I have been uncomfortable in both. Perhaps the problem has been trying to be a moderate, one who is in the middle. What I am coming to realize is that such polarities and such continuums are contrary to walking in the way of Jesus.

Often times in Scripture, Jesus was confronted with two choices -- one on each end of a continuum, "should we pay tribute to Caesar or not?" Jesus response was one that was not to be found on that continuum between obedience to the State or not, but he created a whole new paradigm for engaging life. His response whether to pay tribute was, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." This is no "whatever" response, or one that skirts the issue, but presents a very different way of living.

It is a way of living that is not guided by a set of external rules, nor guided by our own often selfish whims -- but it is a calling to live in step with the Spirit of God -- to discern a way of being in life that exemplifies a way that brings wholeness and peace.

In such an approach I find, if we still need to use polarity labels, that I am at times conservative, and at other times liberal. For example, I am pro-life, but I find that following Jesus calls for me to be pro-life in all of life -- not just at birth. There are many pro-lifers who demonstrate against abortion, but are pro-capital punishment. To be consistently pro-life, in my mind, is to seek life in all the contexts of our engagement with society -- not only to protect the fetus, but also to protect children in poverty, spouses and families in abusive relationships. It means we seek to wage peace, rather than waging war against our enemies, it means we do not take an eye for an eye, but seek justice in such a way that life is honored.

Such a way of being does not easily fit on a continuum, but presents an alternate way of being in the world. It is a way of being not hemmed in by rules that alleviate any discerning on our part, or even a way of being that is libertine in which we are only constrained by our desires with no concern for the other. Rather, it is a way of being that requires an ongoing connection with the God who created us, so that our living, our choices, demonstrate a way of being in this world that fosters life, that fosters peace, that fosters hope, that lives out love.

This is not an easy way to live, because not many will understand your not siding with them -- you will be an alien, a stranger to people -- but in this way of living, as we rely on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we will live in such a way that enables people to see what life and peace really look like.

Living in the Spirit calls us to find comfort, strength and direction in yielding to the Spirit, rather than in external rules or in our own estimations of what we think is right. We focus too much on establishing rules, or demanding our rights and freedoms, rather than cultivating a sensitivity to the things of the Spirit, and the courage to heed the Spirit -- a really different way of being in this world.

"Playing the Game"

It has been over a year since I left my previous position at Northern Seminary to explore new directions in my life, seeking out the doors God is inviting me through. It has been quite an adventure and as I reflect back -- through this journey is still scary at times -- it is one of the best decisions I have made -- No regrets!

I recently heard of a comment a former colleague made concerning my supposed "inability" to make it at Northern. He made it to another colleague of mine when they met at a conference this summer. He mentioned that he had become aware of some of the issues I had voiced regarding my time at Northern, to which he stated, "Roland did not know how to play the game."

My friend passed on my former colleague's greeting, as well as this comment he made. I remember my immediate retort -- "Well who wants to play the game?"

I have come to realize that life is too short to playing games when there is life to be lived. Game playing is okay when you are sitting around a table with friends playing cards, Monopoly, or whatever other game provides an excuse for friends to get together just to be with one another.

But when "game playing" becomes a technique we engage in to make sense out of our contexts, be they relationships, family, work, church, etc., then we miss the point of living in ways that not only sets us free, but enables others to be free around us as well. Now I know freedom involves responsibility, but responsibility need not require ways of being, ways of acting -- "game playing" if you will -- that necessitate the enslavement of ourselves in order to have an existence within a context.

Also "game playing" is often associated with "playing politics." As a mentor of mine once expressed, "Politics is all around us. The point is to know how to respond with integrity." Politics is not always a four-letter word, because what "being political" means is "being intentional." In that sense of the word, political action is intentional action -- and I believe all our actions ought to be filled with intentionality and with purpose. However, "game-playing" is also a form of intentional action or politics, yet it thrives on maneuvering and manipulation so that one finds their way through the maze. And if one person is "game-playing," others have to as well.

Game-playing also needs to be distinguished from being discerning and tactful. Game-playing requires persons to put on different personas, to hide behind masks, to create facades, which protect us from the game overwhelming us -- by hiding who we are, we learn to play the game. However, we can refuse to play the game, and yet still be discerning. We can read situations, the powers that seek to direct situations in certain directions, and we can navigate such "waters" by speaking truth and naming life. Now one does not need to be boorish in doing so, but the truth-speaker is one who refuses to play the game and yet seeks to reveal a different way of being grounded in a different reality.

"Game-playing" also is a distrustful activity -- one relies only upon themselves. Game-playing does not lend itself well to trusting others. To get ahead in game-playing one has to know how to manipulate the situation so as to gain the advantage over others.

Contexts which require "game-playing" hinder us from being persons of integrity. When contexts require us to play games to survive, we create facades -- to be persons who we really do not want to be. Such contexts stifle our humanity, diminish a sensitivity to the Spirit of God, and force us to be people who fear to be open, to be transparent.

Life is too short not to be playing the kind of games that enable us to enjoy one another's company.

For me I am discovering that seeking to live out the Gospel as I follow after Jesus Christ -- is a life that is contrary to "game-playing." Following Jesus and living in the way of Jesus calls for an integrity, a transparency, a trusting in God, rather than ourselves, an attitude of servantship, rather than one of gaining an upper hand. Now it may not seem to be the way to win in this life, but it reveals a different reality to live in this way -- which in the long run enables persons to be more humane with one another, and enables us to be in community with one another, rather than in competition.

Yes, by refusing to not play the game, I may never win, in fact I am sure never to win, BUT that is okay with me. I am discovering its not about my winning, its not about me, watching out for myself, gaining an advantage over another, etc. Such an attitude is the root of broken relationships and mistrust.

I am coming to discover that its about what I can contribute to what God is doing in this world as I love the Lord my God with my whole being and love my neighbor as myself. In taking the focus off of how I need to play the game, I am set free to live this life, to have a sensitivity to life all around me -- and by demonstrating a different way to be with others -- indeed the way Jesus was with others (and by identifying with him I am enabled to live in this same way), others can begin to see, to discover that there indeed is another way to live and be in this world.