A Growing Church is a Dying Church!

I confess that I don't have a lot of time to "surf the web."  I'm not subscribed to any blogs.  I don't spend much time on facebook.  It is rare that I even go to a link that has been recommended by friends.  So I attribute the Holy Spirit to the crazy notion of actually skimming through facebook and then taking the time to click on a link from a pastor friend with the title "A Growing Church is a Dying Church."  I skimmed through the blog and about 15 seconds into it, I stopped and slowly read it from the top again.  Tears filled my eyes.  How did he know?  Who was this stranger from New York that is speaking directly to the situation I find myself in.  I have been enamored ever since with a blog entry from J. Barrett Lee, the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Boonville, NY.  Click here to read full text. 

He speaks the truth.  The naked, ugly, hope filled, biblical truth.  The message doesn't dwell on the idea, "the pastor can't grow or save your church" though that idea is there.  His thoughts don't just tell you to be missional and think outward, though you can find this notion in the blog.  But he gets to the heart of "What if it works?" warning that growth will not be what you think it will be.  The church will never return to the "glory days."  And the glory days of the future involve people you wouldn't be caught dead with and who don't appreciate "the way we've always done it" and who will make changes you don't like.  And that's the GOOD NEWS! 

Then, what if it doesn't work?  What if you make changes to get the church to grow and it dies anyway?  Was it all a waste of time?  Here's how he ends his blog, "What if all that time you spend studying the Bible, expanding your horizons, deepening your spiritual life, and serving your community turns out to be time wasted?  Tell you what: if that’s what happens, if you commit yourself to all this and still feel like it was a waste of time in the end, then maybe your church really needed to die."  Wow!

I have read and re-read this blog about 10 times in the last 3 days.  Does it give me hope or plunge me into cynicism?  Yes, on the one hand, church transformation is a lose-lose situation.  It's hard and it hurts to change and grow with people who are different.  On the other hand, it's also hard to watch a once vibrant church slowly waste away to death.  And I ask myself, "Why am I doing this?"

But in the end, God always brings me back to hope.  How can prayer, scripture, sharing the love of God, social justice and service, ever be a waste of time?  Are we not more faithful disciples because of these actions, whatever happens to the church institution?  We are actually in a win-win situation.  Whatever happens to the church itself, whether it grows or dies, we as Christ's disciples are more closely following the life he intended us to live.  And isn't that the purpose of the church...to equip people to live their Christian journey more faithfully?

Thank you J. Barrett Lee for your inspiring, hopeful, and honest words.  I am encouraged to continue equipping God's people, whatever the financial, numerical, or institutional repercussions might be. 

My Adopted Prayer for the Elections

This is a prayer I wished I had written myself.  It was prayed by Jena Nardella (http://jenanardella.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/praying-for-the-nation/) following Michelle Obama's speech on Tuesday night of the Democratic National Convention.  May we all have the same faith, compassion, and integrity as the next few months of our election season unfold.  Let us pray...

 

     As we close this day, let us quiet our hearts in prayer.

God, I stand before You and ask that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing unto You.

I pray for our President, Barack Obama. May he know Your presence, oh God, as he continues to serve as a leader of this nation, as a husband to Michelle, and as father to his daughters. Help him to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you.

I pray as well for Governor Mitt Romney. May he know Your presence, oh God, as he continues to serve as a leader, as a husband to Ann, and as a father to his sons and their families. Help him to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with you.

I pray for our country in the next nine weeks leading up to this election – for those of us meeting here and for our fellow citizens who met last week. May we make our children proud of how we conduct ourselves. We know our human tendencies toward finger-pointing and frivolousness. Our better selves want this race to be honest and edifying rather than fabricated and self-serving.

Give us, oh Lord, humility to listen to our sisters and brothers across the political spectrum, because your kingdom is not divided into Red States and Blue States. Equip us with moral imagination to have real discourse. Knit us, oh God, as one country even as we wrestle over the complexity of how we ought to live and govern. Give us gratitude for our right to dissent and disagree. For we know that we are bound up in one another and have been given the tremendous opportunity to extend humanity and grace when others voice their deeply held convictions even when they differ from our own.

And give us wisdom, God, to discover honest solutions for we know it will take all of us to care for the widow and the orphan, the sick and the lonely, the downtrodden and the unemployed, the prisoner and the homeless, the stranger and the enemy, the thirsty and the powerless. In rural Africa, I am witness to thousands of HIV positive mothers, fathers and children who are alive today because Democrats and Republicans put justice and mercy above partisanship. Help us keep that perspective even as we debate one another.

God, I thank you for the saving grace of Jesus and for the saints who have humbly gone before us. I thank you for the words of St. Francis of Assisi whose prayer I carry with me both in my home in East Nashville and in my work across rural Africa.

As we enter this election season, I pray St. Francis’ words for us all.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

 

Is the Glass Half Full...or Half Empty?

The answer is yes.  It is both.  So which part do YOU focus on?  I heard a quote once that has stuck with me for several years now.  "You find what you're looking for."  For example, have you ever noticed when you're having a bad day, you discover more and more reasons why it's a bad day?  Or when you look for God working in your life, you discover more and more little blessings that may have otherwise gone unnoticed? 

I have recently stumbled across a website promoting the idea of eating non-processed, organic, whole foods.  After I found the website, then I realized two people in my life were doing the same thing, and then a stranger came by the church who teaches this way of eating.  I noticed my drive to my child's school passed right by a Trader Joe's where I could purchase many of these items.  More and more I was looking for people and places that promoted this idea.  Lo and behold, I found them.  

Has that ever happened to you?  Have you gotten involved in a new hobby, a new way of life, a new stage of life, or just in a certain mood, and suddenly you are stumbling upon people and situations that resonate with that mood or new chapter in your life?  It's not a coincidence.  We find what we are looking for.

If you look for reasons to be upset, dissatisfied, frustrated, disgruntled, you'll probably find it.  If you look for the good, the beautiful, the miraculous, the loving, you'll probably find that too.  There is so much in this world and the people we meet, that our minds have to find a way to filter some of it out.  So it filters out what you're not looking for.  But what we look for can also be an intentional choice we make when we wake up in the morning.  Choosing to start the day with a positive attitude can make all the difference in your day.

So when you wake up tomorrow morning, will you choose to look for the half full part of the glass...or the half empty part? 

Who Is Welcome in Church?

"We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no hablo Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.  We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.  We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast.

We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” because many of us have been there too.  If you blew all your offering money last night at the club, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.  We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!  EVERYONE ACCEPTED, UNCONDITIONALLY!"

I'm putting the above welcome on the front cover of the bulletin this Sunday.  It's not original as many of you may know.  It was "borrowed" from another church and has probably metamorphosized along its internet journey.  As I conclude a five week sermon series on Peter and Cornelius, it seems fitting.  I can see Peter endorsing this statement, as well as the Holy Spirit.  When did the church start becoming a "members only" club?  When did the church start putting restrictions on who is in and who is out?  Is this statement really that radical?  Is it really that strange for the church to welcome ALL people? 

I suppose for some it is.  I suppose Jesus' teaching is radical, radical enough to get him killed.  And although we think we have advanced so much as a human race, the things that are really the measure of society: acceptance, love, compassion, have not increased all that much in 2,000.  So while I should not be surprised that the welcome statement on the front cover of the bulletin this Sunday will be a complete shock and most likely cause some criticism, I will be.  I will be because I believe if Jesus were alive today, he would have "liked" this facebook status.  What about you?

Church: Bringing Different People Together?

The story of Cornelius and Peter in Acts 10-11 is my new favorite Bible story.  Maybe that's because I'm preaching on it for five weeks in a row and see so many ways it relates to life today.  The basic premise is that Peter is going from town to town sharing the Gospel when he and Cornelius have visions.  Cornelius' vision is to send for Peter and listen what he has to say.  Peter's vision is to eat the forbidden animals that appear on a white sheet.  But what's hard for us to really understand is that this devout Jew and devout Gentile weren't supposed to associate with each other.  Not talk to each other.  Not go into each other's houses.  They were as different as different could be in race, economics, religion, profession, and on and on.  Except for one thing.  They both had faith in God.

Seems to me that that's what church and faith and Christianity should be all about: bringing different people together.  People you might normally never associate with, or run into, or talk with.  That's what the early church did.  Rich and poor.  Jew and Gentile.  Slave and free.  Male and female.  Christianity brought really different people together.

I'm not sure Christianity in America still does that today.  Sociologists have called Sunday mornings the most segregated time in America.  Stories abound of homeless people coming into wealthy churches only to be told to go away.  When you walk in to a majority of churches, they are homogeneous.  Similar skin colors.  Similar backgrounds.  Similar class.  Why?  Well, birds of a feather...

Even when the issue is raised to consciousness, people withdrawal with excuses, "Well, THEY have their own worship style.  THEY have their own churches."  THEY could refer to old or young, black or white, English speaking or Spanish speaking, gay or straight, poor or rich, etc.  THEY simply means anyone who is different. 

How about we go back to Peter's day when he came to the realization, "God shows no partiality" and (I might add) neither should we?  If the Spirit was all about bringing different kinds of people together back then, shouldn't it be so today? 

So if you go to a church or are looking for a church, make sure it's one that is intentionally inclusive of ALL people or at least moving in that direction.  That's the only way this vision will become a reality.  As Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world," and (might I add) in the church.  

Between the Dreaming and Coming True

We all have hopes and dreams.  Dreams of what we want to be when we grow up.  Dreams of who we will marry.  Dreams of our children and their lives.  Dreams of certain accomplishments in life.  Dreams of how this world should be.  Dreams of how we can improve our lives, our houses, our families, our careers. 

I have lots of dreams.  Dreams of serving a vibrant, healthy, active, growing church that welcomes all people.  Dreams for my children to be healthy and discover God's love and purpose in their life.  Dreams for myself of being a more faithful follower of Christ.   

But the very nature of dreams means they are not a reality, at least not yet.  So what happens between the dreaming and the coming true?  Naturally, we're supposed to work toward making that dream a reality.  If we have a dream of graduating from college, we work hard for four (or more) years in order for that dream to come true.  But is making our dreams a reality just about hard work and our own efforts?

Between the dreaming and the coming true, there's something else we need to do.  Pray.  I don't mean pray that our dreams will come true, although some people do and I don't judge them for that.  But maybe our prayers should be more about if our dream is in line with God's dream and intentions for our lives.  I mean, lots of people dream of being rich and have all their material needs and wants met, but God knows that is usually not the path to being happy or finding purpose in life.  Maybe between the dreaming and the coming true we must focus on aligning our dreams with God's will for our lives and this world.

What our your dreams for your life, your family, your church, your neighborhood?  Have you asked God if those dreams fit into God's plan for you?  Are those dreams really in your best interest?  Or might there be another plan yet to be revealed?  Can you pray, "Not my will but your will be done, O Lord"?

Keep dreaming and praying...and praying and dreaming, with lots of faith and trust and hard work, you might be blessed to see that dream come true.  If not, then you'll be blessed anyway!

Why Is It So Hard to Love?

Do you remember those black billboards with white lettering that had "messages from God"?  I think my favorite was, "That love thy neighbor thing...I meant that." - God.  And yet 2,000 years later, it's still so hard to love our neighbor.  I'm not talking about smiling and saying hello and "being nice."  I'm talking about really loving each and every person because they are made in the image of God.  I'm talking about seeing and treating each person as a worthwhile, inherently good human being that deserves my love and respect.

The PCUSA, of which I am a member, has just had its General Assembly, a bi-annual national gathering.  Nowhere is that "Love Thy Neighbor" thing missing more than at that meeting.  While I did not attend, I watched some of it live and read first hand accounts of the experience.  I am ashamed to admit I did not see a lot of love, real love that shows compassion and demands justice for all people.  Sure, many talked about love, how they love all people, but actions failed to back up their words.  How can we love our Palestinean neighbors and yet not divest from companies that are literally tearing their houses apart?  How can we love our gay and lesbian neighbors and not allow their pastors to perfom wedding ceremonies legal in their home states?  How can we love the nominated vice moderator and then literally blackmail the General Assembly in threats until she resigns?   How can we love those who hold opposite opinions than "us" and then demonize them?

Why is it so hard to love?  At both the national level and local level.  In my experience, trying to intentionally create a church of love and acceptance has ironically led to anger and withdrawal.  O Lord, help us all.  Save us from ourselves.  And give us the strength to love our neighbors, ALL our neighbors.  Everyone loved, unconditionally.  Everyone accepted, unconditionally.  May it be so.  Amen.