VillagePastor

A New Year's Resolution Worth Pursuing

Working off unwanted calories in a spinning class a couple of weeks ago, our trainer warned us that it will be important to sign up earlier than usual, for after the first of the year, classes will fill up fast.  It never fails; it happens every January. There is something about the first of the year that gets people thinking about change, turning over a new leaf, and going on a crash diet.  Athletic clubs seem to be high traffic areas for the first three weeks of the year.  Than everything seems to go back to the way it was.

But reading a recent article (sent to me by one of my students) got me to thinking about a far better resolution than shedding pounds. In his “This One Leadership Quality Will Make or Break You”, Mike Myatt encourages leaders to consider a refresher in pursuitology. Leadership is all about pursuit.  If you want to become a greater leader in 2012, become a great pursuer.  So here are some mini resolutions this article has helped me to consider:

1-Resolve—to never be satisfied with static thinking.  Make 2012 the year of the pursuit of reading, the sort that stretches the thinking.  Here are some current books that have or are doing just this:

Craig Van Gelder-Missional Church in Perspective

David Rock-Your Brain at Work

Candace Millard-The River of Doubt

Eugene Peterson-The Pastor

Scot McKnight-The King Jesus Gospel

Jim Collins-Great By Choice

Stretching one’s thinking involves more than reading.  May 2012 be the year of meaningful conversations, the kind that expand one’s world view, alter former assumptions, and deepen one’s core convictions. 

2-Resolve—to realize the consequences if I am not in a pursuit mode. Failure to embrace pursuit is to cede opportunity to others.  As I often tell my kids—“this world is not waiting for you.  You must pursue it.”  There has to be a fire burning inside.  Otherwise, you will be forever on the outside looking in.  You will be waiting for your ship to come in, and discover, when it is way too late, that you have been standing at the wrong dock.  

3-Resolve—to pursue the right things.  I’m writing this as my dog snuck out the front door.  And once he does, it’s a chase after all the wrong things—whatever happens to be out there—trivial pursuits that can get him lost or killed.  It’s the same with us.  We can pursue excellence, or settle for mediocrity.  Pursue wisdom, or cede to foolishness.  Pursue change, or surrender to status quo. Pursue creativity, or give in to the mundane. Pursue Jesus, or yield to a life of emptiness. As Myatt puts it, “…nothing tells the world more about a leader that what or who they pursue.” Knowing what not to pursue is just as important as knowing what to pursue. 

4-Resolve—to pursue with the right energy.  Pursuit that is worthy is intentional, focused, aggressive, and unyielding. So here is my New Year’s resolution—to think carefully about the things that matter and go after them hard.  Guard against distraction (Lord knows there are way too many); steer clear of second best; of what is comfortable and convenient. 

5-Resolve—to pursue in a way that leverages velocity and scale.  I well remember a talk given by the CEO of Pepsico years ago in London.  He brought his best and brightest together and challenged them to avoid incrementalism—making small changes to small things.  Here’s what it looks like: cleaning out your inbox, answering your voice mail, and replying to any texts—and calling it a day.  It is spending the day in endless chitchat, scrolling down the latest comments on Facebook, reading the latest novel and chocking it up as study.  Small changes to small things is a waste of time.  So here’s my resolution—leverage the scale by giving more attention to making big changes to big things. 

6-Resolve—to enlist others in the pursuit.  Myatt notes that the best forms of pursuit bring others into the chase.  “Pursuit in its purest form is highly collaborative.”  So much of Scripture is addressed to the community, not the individual.  It’s a reminder that the sort of pursuit that really matters is corporate—not merely personal.  It is engaging the congregation in such a way that something has been transferred--they now have joined in the chase. 

7-Resolve—to pursue being a better leader.  To do less is to drift, devolve, and become obsolete. 

Spinning is great exercise, but at the end of the session, you are still in the same place.  Myatt’s challenge is give yourself to real movement.  Pursue! You cannot attain what you do not pursue. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Americans, God, and Christmas

There was an interesting article in the NY Times last week, “Americans: Undecided About God?” by Eric Weiner.  From his viewpoint, the Christmas season affords an opportunity to “reconnect with our religious heritage”.  He also sees it as a time to lament the “sad state” of our national conversation with God and wish there were another way.

Weiner identifies with the “Nones”, the roughly 12% who have no religious affiliation (25% among younger people).  Nones are the undecided of the religious world, who dabble in everything from Sufism to Judaism, who are looking for another way.  They may not believe in God, but they hope to one day.  It’s just that the current God of choice is not so inviting.  He is too angry, according to Weiner.  What is needed is someone to reinvent a new way of being religious—a religious operating system created by a Steve Jobs sort, who can create “religious” in a way that is straightforward and unencumbered, intuitive and interactive.

My first response is to applaud Weiner for his honesty, as well as his desire to find a God that satisfies the soul.  He sees a world in which God is not a lot of fun, an angry God who is constantly judging and smiting his followers.  Like him, I would have no desire to follow this sort of God. Like him, I would want a God who laughs often and well.

What’s unfortunate is that Weiner has apparently never met Jesus. If he claims to, it has been an imposter under a similar name.  Jesus is nothing like the God he seems to be rejecting.  No one has probably walked this earth and laughed like Jesus.  He not only went to some of the parties, He made sure there was plenty of wine.  No one has ever extended grace and mercy like Jesus.  No other God has submitted to human form, left the kingdom of heaven for the slums of earth, and emptied Himself in order to identify with us, feel our pain, and pay the price for our failures but the one true God.  This is what Christmas affords us an opportunity to connect with!

The One who marks the heavens and weighs the mountains makes Himself little so that He can make much of us.  Most gods of our making make themselves big in order to make us small.  They come to be served.  Jesus came to serve.  And yes, He is a God who does get angry, but it is an anger mixed with compassion and grief. There is mourning to be done for those who do not know the deathliness of their situation.  There is anger directed at the evil that corrupts our world and ruins our lives.  He takes evil and its deadly power with utter seriousness. This is why He came to Bethlehem. He is the essence of love as well as the Protector of justice.  He is a God who will bring to account those who rob the young of their innocence, create bombs behind closed doors, and oppress the poor. If God is not angry at all of this, who would want to follow Him?

Nor has Weiner really met the “Haves”, those who do have an affiliation with the community of Jesus, who do in fact embrace a faith straightforward and unencumbered.  Yes, some are running from organized religion.  This seems to be in vogue.  The church in all of its sweaty, smelly, concreteness can at times be unattractive.  But even the most spontaneous and prophetic movements cannot last without some institutional form. The alternative, anarchy, is not all that great (who wants to be part of something like Occupy Wall Street long term?) Institutions can impede the imagination, but buildings and liturgy and pastors can also provide the framework and accountability to do something great.  Our task is to love the church, in all of its smelliness, in the same way God loves a people He calls His Bride. 

After reading the story of Steve Jobs and his tendency to go ballistic and be abusive, I think I will stay with Someone who did not invent religion, but came to call us back to who we were created to be in the beginning.  I will stay passionate about Someone who invites us into the most intimate personal relationship, the most profound spirituality.  Jesus alienated the existing religious authorities because He addressed the issues of the heart rather than the hand.  It is the interior that is the real toxin, and only Jesus can heal us from our narcissistic tendencies and bring us back to a better center.

Weiner seems to view all of this as superstition, and prefers to identify himself as a modern day rationalist.  But the rationalists I have met generally have no room for God because that space is too crowded with self.  But maybe this fits Weiner’s worldview, a world that wants a god they can make of their own; a form fitted god that accommodates to man’s wants; worship reduced to the spiritual stature of the worshipper. It’s all rather empty.  Only the one true God, fleshed out in Jesus, can meet our needs.  Truly knowing Him, who would want another way?    

Does God Still Speak In Our Noisy World?

Does God still speak? Is there a frequency we must locate, in which His voice is unmistakably clear? For me, it’s not an easy question to answer. On one hand, I count on the fact God speaks. I would have nothing to say from the pulpit from which I preach three times each week if I did not believe God speaks. I read the numerous stories in Scripture in which God speaks—be it through a burning bush, a quiet whisper, a voice in the night, or a talkative donkey. On a mountain, the disciples clearly heard God speak, “This is My beloved Son, I take delight in Him, listen to Him!” I read of powerful encounters (Teresa of Avila), hear from people who have sensed the Spirit speaking into their lives in ways seemingly as real. Clearly God is a God who speaks.

And yet, God can seem so silent. I cannot say I have had tangible moments in which His voice has been audible such that it was clearly a tenor or a baritone sound. I cannot describe an experience like Jim Houston (Joyful Exiles: Life in Christ on the Dangerous Edge), in which he awakened in the night by a bright line and an overwhelming presence of God. I have had no angelic visions, no mystical encounters with strangers from heaven (well, maybe). In my travels, particularly to third world countries, I have spoken with believers who have shared amazing encounters with Jesus in dreams, moments that led to redemption and healing.

-to read the rest of the article go to Trans-formed

Bonhoeffer's Warning

In the late 30’s Dietrich Bonhoeffer came back to America for a second time.  The seminary in Germany was outlawed under a Nazi regime. This young German pastor had  himself become a member of the Resistance. He was informed by German authorities he must report for military duty.  And so Bonhoeffer sailed for New York. But within 24 hours of his arrival, he faced huge doubts.

Bonhoeffer was torn between the safety and freedom he experienced on this side of the Atlantic, and the need to be back with his brothers and sisters in the Confessing Church in Germany. In his biography, Eric Metaxas describes the turmoil Bonhoeffer felt.  Bonhoeffer wandered New York like a ghost.  He saw himself wasting days, perhaps weeks.  He felt himself a coward.  He ached for something of God, a word.

In an earlier visit (1930), Bonhoeffer found too much of the preaching intellectually thin and inconsequential, sermons reduced to parenthetical remarks about newspaper events. Attending a well known, liberal church, in the summer of 1939, he knew as soon as the worship began he was in the wrong place.  It was the empty preaching that, in particular, set him off.  He would later write in his diary: “The whole thing was a respectable, self indulgent, self satisfied religious celebration. This sort of idolatrous religion stirs up the flesh which is accustomed to being kept in check by the Word of God.  Such sermons make for libertinism, egotism, indifference…I have no doubt that one day the storm will blow with full force on this religious hand-out.”  After twenty six more days of doubts, Bonhoeffer left New York and set his face toward Berlin.  He would eventually go to the gallows built by Hitler and his regime.

I read these words wondering what Bonhoeffer would find today in our culture.  No doubt he would still find too many sermons that are little more than parenthetical remarks about newspaper events, worship self indulgent, and most all of it impacting nothing deeper than the emotions. He might still ache for a word.  He would also probably warn us that our times are perilous as well, and if we do not awaken, a storm will blow with full force.  The need for a clear word from God, a word that builds disciples, is more necessary than ever.

In a new book, The Missional Church in Perspective, the authors note that developing and deepening the Christian identity of every disciple has to be at the forefront of the contemporary church’s focus more than ever. The church cannot witness credibly to or participate effective in God’s mission without faithful discipleship. Just as in Bonheoffer’s day, the culture can “no longer be assumed to contribute constructively to Christian formation, and few families are equipped to do so. Thus, Christian identity must be cultivated intentionally, patiently, and comprehensively by congregations and other Christian communities.”

A big part of this goes back to preaching that takes serious the necessary preparation—contemplative exegesis as Peterson puts it.  Studying carefully, listening deeply for the Spirit to speak through the necessary exegesis. If the church doesn’t step up to this, the community of faith will continue its slide towards thinness, ill equipped to face the spiritual war we are in.