It is a sad fact that often the church can become bogged down in the political movements of the times. The reason for this is certain, churches are made up of people and people are political animals. One recent trend reported by sociologist Robert Putnam is that when there is a conflict between one's politics and the teaching of their religious community, most people will resolve the tension in favor of their political views. They will leave their congregation and find one where their personal political views can be affirmed.
As one who loves theology and talking about the faith, the fact that for this generation, politics seems to trump theology is distressing. Yet, looking at how people are coming together these days it is not surprising. We are all retreating into our bubbles where we all agree that the problems of world are someone else's fault. There seem to be few of us who want to learn why do other people think differently than us. Everyone seems to want to talk, prove and sell their point; few want to listen, learn, and change. Don't get me wrong there are people doing this but they seem not get much press.
Some will advocate that the church follow a hands off rule and never speak of politics ever and attempt to spiritualize everything. While I certainly understand the impulse, there are two problems with this. The first is a very practical one, by not speaking up one affirms the status quo. Now this certainly alright if the status quo is something you feel God is calling you to help maintain. However, if it comes merely from a wish to avoid any of the hard work of dialog or difficult conversation, one may be actually shut oneself off from where God is calling us all to be.
The second problem is that we are confessing that the Word of God has nothing to say about politics right or wrong. This reasoning ultimately confesses that God is about the world to come and not about the world we live in now. This is not what Scripture teaches us, God's Word speaks to our lives now, it has something to say about our world today. So how do we navigate these polarized times? We do what we always do; look to Jesus.
Historians know that the lists of the names of Jesus's disciples reveal a diverse group of people who likely held opposing political views. Judas Iscariot and Simon the Zealot may have been part of groups seeking the violent overthrow of the Roman occupation. Matthew was a tax collector working to uphold same said Romans. Phillip had a Greek name so may have been from a cultural accommodationist family. Johanna the wife of one Herod Antipas' (a Roman puppet ruler) court functionaries helped provide resources for Jesus's ministry in Galilee. Peter Andrew, James & John were working class fishermen. What brought this diverse group of people together was Jesus and the promise that the kingdom was near.
As we enter into Holy Week and read the accounts of Jesus' last days politics are everywhere in texts. The council wants to get rid of Jesus out of fear of the crowd on one hand, and the Romans on the other. The Roman governor wants to appease the mob at their town hall meeting. The Pharisees and the Sadducees try to make Jesus a pawn in their fight for supremacy over each other. Jesus ends up rising above their pathetic petty power plays to reveal the truth about the love of God.
When Jesus enters into Jerusalem he is at first hailed as a political messiah and then condemned as a political sacrifice to appease the Romans, with an ironic political insult nailed on a sign above his head. But notice how many people Jesus ministers too along the way. He teaches in the temple about the true nature of God, he reminds the disciples on the last supper they will never be alone. He heals the ear of a man sent to arrest him, he makes sure John and his mother Mary have each other to rely on.
Jesus calls us not so much to rise above human politics as to move beyond them with love. The heart of the witness Christ is to help reconcile our relationships with God and each other. This politics can never do, because in the end it will be all about a competition for resourses, power, or fame. In the end we serve Christ in polarized times by holding to proper priorities. We hold to our relationship with God in prayer, we show love to those who differ from us, and we work to protect the vulnerable. This can be done by conservatives, as well as liberals, progressives, and libertarians.
As a pastor I can only advise that if your politics are grounded in prayer, thoughtfulness, respect for others, and love, it doesn't matter so much where you come out. It is the process the counts. It we have healthy ways of discernment, we can hold together a diversity of political views and identities under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The reason for this is if we are connected to Christ we will be humble, because Christ is humble. If we are humble then we are open, and if we are open, we may see the solutions God has for us staring us right in the face.
Be blessed
Pastor Knecht
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Friday, November 18, 2016
An American Heresy: The Myth of Innocence and Abortion
The Myth of Innocence and Abortion
The so-called pro-life movement has always represented a contradiction to me. There is much advocacy for the rights of the unborn. I regularly see billboards with photos of babies in the womb along the highways and catchy slogans on bumper stickers on the backs of cars. My Facebook feed was filled with the so-called po-life telling me that if I didn't vote for Trump millions of babies would die.
But what I did not see was any compassion or concern for human beings once they were born. The political so-called pro-life movement is one of the most active opponents of providing health care for all in our society. They oppose the biblical mandate of helping the sick on the ground that it would enable the unwashed masses to get free abortions. At the same time many so-called pro-life advocates actively support the death penalty.
There are two reasons the so-called pro-life movement behaves the way it does. One is just good old fashioned selfishness. By advocating positions that conform to the views of the majority of Americans regardless if they are biblical or not, they hope to obtain influence, political power and monetary donations for their causes. Cultural accommodation is good for the religion business, which sells things rather than change lives. Cultural Christians espouse the concerns of businessmen rather than disciples selling prepackaged cheap grace in the forms inane music and sappy devotionals at Walmart prices (see Bonhoeffer, the Cost of Discipleship).
The second reason is theological, as the so-called pro-life movement embraces a dualistic theology which sees human beings as being born innocent. This ideology maintains that while in the womb the baby is completely innocent. Once born the child can choose good or evil. If the child chooses evil then he or she is no longer innocent and his or her life is forfeit. According to this world view. criminals can be executed because they have chosen evil. If mothers abort a pregnancy they are killing the innocent and liable for judgment. If that same mother brings the baby to term but advocates the killing of criminals or enemies in war she is still considered innocent. The problem with this is that people who hold this view call it Christian. It is not: it is the ancient Iranian heresy of manichaeism. It has more in common with the ideology of the so-called Islamic state than it does the teaching of Jesus. The so called pro-life movement is really a pro-innocence or pro-purity movement. When humans attempt to usurp the Lordship of Christ and judge who is pure or not by their own criteria it always ends up being demonic.
A genuine Christian pro-life movement would advocate for the elimination of abortion not because babies are innocent, but simply because they are alive and that life is the province of God and not human beings. It would also realize that the mothers and fathers of these children are created in the image of God as well and have intrinsic value in God's eyes just as much as babies do. It would not seek to outlaw and criminalize abortion and its providers but to work with allies on all sides to help people avoid being trapped in situations where there are only bad choices.
For both Christian scripture and tradition teach that there is no such thing as innocence. From the womb to the tomb, people are always good and bad mixed up. Every individual has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (see Romans 3:23) Also, there is no such thing as a completely pure or innocent person, even babies. (see Psalm 51:5) War, capital punishment and abortion are always expressions of humanity’s bondage to sin. Christians should work to minimize their occurrences, while demonstrating love, forgiveness and mercy to both those who commit and are affected by these actions. (see Matthew 5:38-42) This call for love, forgiveness, and mercy will only have meaning if we address the structures in our society which make it easier for people to choose death over life. It will only embrace the truth if it realizes that people rarely get the luxury of choosing between good and evil in a broken world. Most times we make choices and hope they hurt as few people as possible. (see Romans 7)
Always expecting people to make the right choice while giving them no help or incentives to do so is cruel and unjust. A consistent ethic of life will provide for others in need at every stage of their lives no matter if they are considered pure or impure by society. (see Luke 6:27-36). Jesus did not go to the cross because we were good; he went because we are loved, and God chooses to forgive us despite our sin. (see Romans 5:6-11). A consistent Christ based pro-life stance would be based on building relationships of forgiveness and trust rather than winning elections and triumphing over political foes. A consistent ethic of life would also save more lives than the unjust system we now have. Not only babies, but mothers. Not only mothers, but the sick. Not only the sick but the imprisoned. Not only the imprisoned but the strangers. (see Matthew 25:31-46). A consistent ethic of life would also help our world look a bit more the way Jesus envisioned it could be than America does today.
The so-called pro-life movement has always represented a contradiction to me. There is much advocacy for the rights of the unborn. I regularly see billboards with photos of babies in the womb along the highways and catchy slogans on bumper stickers on the backs of cars. My Facebook feed was filled with the so-called po-life telling me that if I didn't vote for Trump millions of babies would die.
But what I did not see was any compassion or concern for human beings once they were born. The political so-called pro-life movement is one of the most active opponents of providing health care for all in our society. They oppose the biblical mandate of helping the sick on the ground that it would enable the unwashed masses to get free abortions. At the same time many so-called pro-life advocates actively support the death penalty.
Only about one-in-ten (11 percent) Americans hold a “consistent ethic of life” position, opposing legalized abortion and capital punishment. In fact, in the general public, there is no significant correlation between attitudes about the legality of abortion and views on capital punishment. Fully two-thirds of Americans overall say they favor the death penalty for persons convicted of murder, compared to only three-in-ten who say they oppose it. Support for capital punishment is virtually identical to the general population among Americans who say abortion should be illegal (69 percent) and among those who identify as “pro-life” (69 percent). https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2011/09/15/like-rick-perry-most-pro-life-americans-ok-with-death-penalty/15543
Let me be clear at the risk of alienating my progressive friends, I believe that abortion is evidence of our bondage to sin. I would love to see a society where there are no abortions. But to risk alienating my conservative friends (I probably already done so have by the title of this post), I would also like to see a society where there is no death penalty and where the sick are cared for regardless of their ability to pay. I advocate that the centrist, historic, and apostolic witness of Jesus Christ calls for the consistent ethic of love for all that are alive. My biblical sources for this view are the red letter words of Jesus himself contained in Matthew chapters 5 and 25.
What troubles me most is the the result of the inconsistent ethic of life of the so-called pro-life movement, is a world where more abortions happen because of their actions. Abortion rates have long been linked to the health of the economy.
Abortion numbers go down when the economy is good and go up when the economy is bad, so the stalling may be a function of a weaker economy,' said University of Alabama political science professor Michael New. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346113/US-abortion-rate-rise-years-decline-economic-recession-blamed.html#ixzz4QN9znxBlHow is this so? This happens because by having a capitalist health care system that sees health care as a commodity rather than a public good; we give an economic incentive to abortion over childbirth. Most people who who hold a so-called pro-life view see no reason to change the nature of our market based health care system, but this is what the reality of it actually is:
Planned Parenthood estimates that in the United States a medication abortion costs between $300 to $800 and an aspiration abortion (in the first 12 weeks) between $300–$950. http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/early-abortion-options/
If you don't have health insurance, the average cost of prenatal care is about $2,000... The costs of childbirth can be steep. The charge for an uncomplicated cesarean section was about $15,800 in 2008. An uncomplicated vaginal birth cost about $9,600, government data show.www.webmd.com/baby/features/cost-of-having-a-babyIf we care about reducing or eliminating abortions we would work to fix the economic incentives, instead the so-called pro-life movement works to criminalize women and those who feel called to help them. My suspicion is that criminalizing abortion will only drive it underground and put more people at risk. www.efc.org.uk/young_people/facts_about_abortion/unsafe_abortion.html
There are two reasons the so-called pro-life movement behaves the way it does. One is just good old fashioned selfishness. By advocating positions that conform to the views of the majority of Americans regardless if they are biblical or not, they hope to obtain influence, political power and monetary donations for their causes. Cultural accommodation is good for the religion business, which sells things rather than change lives. Cultural Christians espouse the concerns of businessmen rather than disciples selling prepackaged cheap grace in the forms inane music and sappy devotionals at Walmart prices (see Bonhoeffer, the Cost of Discipleship).
The second reason is theological, as the so-called pro-life movement embraces a dualistic theology which sees human beings as being born innocent. This ideology maintains that while in the womb the baby is completely innocent. Once born the child can choose good or evil. If the child chooses evil then he or she is no longer innocent and his or her life is forfeit. According to this world view. criminals can be executed because they have chosen evil. If mothers abort a pregnancy they are killing the innocent and liable for judgment. If that same mother brings the baby to term but advocates the killing of criminals or enemies in war she is still considered innocent. The problem with this is that people who hold this view call it Christian. It is not: it is the ancient Iranian heresy of manichaeism. It has more in common with the ideology of the so-called Islamic state than it does the teaching of Jesus. The so called pro-life movement is really a pro-innocence or pro-purity movement. When humans attempt to usurp the Lordship of Christ and judge who is pure or not by their own criteria it always ends up being demonic.
A genuine Christian pro-life movement would advocate for the elimination of abortion not because babies are innocent, but simply because they are alive and that life is the province of God and not human beings. It would also realize that the mothers and fathers of these children are created in the image of God as well and have intrinsic value in God's eyes just as much as babies do. It would not seek to outlaw and criminalize abortion and its providers but to work with allies on all sides to help people avoid being trapped in situations where there are only bad choices.
For both Christian scripture and tradition teach that there is no such thing as innocence. From the womb to the tomb, people are always good and bad mixed up. Every individual has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (see Romans 3:23) Also, there is no such thing as a completely pure or innocent person, even babies. (see Psalm 51:5) War, capital punishment and abortion are always expressions of humanity’s bondage to sin. Christians should work to minimize their occurrences, while demonstrating love, forgiveness and mercy to both those who commit and are affected by these actions. (see Matthew 5:38-42) This call for love, forgiveness, and mercy will only have meaning if we address the structures in our society which make it easier for people to choose death over life. It will only embrace the truth if it realizes that people rarely get the luxury of choosing between good and evil in a broken world. Most times we make choices and hope they hurt as few people as possible. (see Romans 7)
Always expecting people to make the right choice while giving them no help or incentives to do so is cruel and unjust. A consistent ethic of life will provide for others in need at every stage of their lives no matter if they are considered pure or impure by society. (see Luke 6:27-36). Jesus did not go to the cross because we were good; he went because we are loved, and God chooses to forgive us despite our sin. (see Romans 5:6-11). A consistent Christ based pro-life stance would be based on building relationships of forgiveness and trust rather than winning elections and triumphing over political foes. A consistent ethic of life would also save more lives than the unjust system we now have. Not only babies, but mothers. Not only mothers, but the sick. Not only the sick but the imprisoned. Not only the imprisoned but the strangers. (see Matthew 25:31-46). A consistent ethic of life would also help our world look a bit more the way Jesus envisioned it could be than America does today.
Friday, October 21, 2016
The Only Point of the Church is the Gospel
These past few months seem to be strange times for our church and Christians in general. As write this we are in the midst of a national election that is bringing up powerful emotions in everybody. Some of us fear a Clinton presidency will bring about the end of all that they hold dear. Others of us fear a Trump presidency will bring about a police state to our county that will be complete disaster. Indeed, others of us lament the loss of civility and the possible ending of relationships if people knew how we really feel. No wonder mental health professionals are speaking of “election anxiety”. Like the emotions generated by 9-11 and the economic meltdown of 2008, this anxiety seems to be affecting large numbers of us.
What is a Christian to do?
Lots of voices in the culture are crying for me to as a pastor speak out. The caveat is that this is only if it is for their particular side, other opinions are greeted with disdain and if I disagree any legitimacy I may have is automatically called in to question. In North Carolina during the past few weeks both Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s purse who supports Donald Trump and ELCA Bishop Timothy Smith who criticizes Trump’s views on women, immigrants, and Muslims used the following quote to argue for supporting their respective views.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
-Martin Niemoeller
You know it gets serious when people quote a pastor who spent World War II in a concentration camp, worked with Dietrich Bonhoeffer to make a place a for Christians who refused to belong to a church that accepted the “Aryan Laws” and spent the postwar years trying to get Germany to grapple with how their society went so wrong. Both of these pastors from North Carolina are telling us Christians to be engaged and to speak out, but what should we actually speak?
I will answer with another quote, this one from missionary and theologian Leslie Newbigin:
“The business of the church is to tell and to embody a story, the story of God’s mighty acts in creation and redemption, and of God’s promises concerning what will be the end. The church affirms the truth of this story by celebrating it, interpreting it, and enacting it in the life of the contemporary world.”[1]
In short, we exist for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As scripture will tell us, this is whether the times are favorable or unfavorable. If Hillary Clinton wins the election and Donald Trump loses, we live out the gospel and help a wounded society. If Donald Trump somehow pulls out a surprise victory, we witness Jesus and work as Christ's ambassadors to a broken world. In addition to telling the Gospel story, Newbigin uses the word embody so the gospel does not devolve into a mere ideology. The actions he describes should look familiar to those who walk on the path of discipleship. Celebrating as when we gather for worship or fellowship in what the bible calls koinonia, it is God’s people gathering to live out the truth that we are one common humanity in relation to God. Interpreting, such as when we read the Bible and show how God’s story meets our story and the world we live in, and we grapple with how best to navigate all these relationships. Finally, he speaks of enacting the Gospel in today’s world, which means small acts of love which add up to become grace for the afflicted.
This is not just a Spiritual Thing about the Next Life
When we embody the Gospel, we start to live as if the Kingdom of God is already here. We welcome those world deems as unclean, we feed the hungry, visit the sick and those imprisoned sharing words of hope and deeds of love that bring spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual comfort. We do this because this is what Jesus did in the story of our sacred Scripture and because this is what Christ does today through those inspired by the Holy Spirit who serve their neighbors and world.
Because the Gospel is holistic it will always be political. Jesus was political; handed over to the Romans and executed with a sign in three languages saying “the king of the Jews”. His interrogation in John 19 is all about politics, “so you are a king” replies Pilate.
There will be those extreme secularists who will argue we have no voice or are just a voice among voices. Fundamentalists will say that we have nothing to say outside of those who already belong to their tribe. Only if one becomes indoctrinated into their rigid culture and adheres to their litmus tests of purity is one given a voice. Christ will call us to a different situation outlined in Scripture in such places such as Matthew 25. Our razor to cut to the heart of the matter will be to ask questions such as how does the politics of the world affect God’s children? It asks also questions like, who has the most authority? Or, who is most vulnerable?
In Christ Alone
The real heart of the matter in this toxic emotional environment engendered by the power politics of today is to ask the question where does my loyalty as a follower of Jesus Christ ultimately lie? The biblical witness, and the witness of the faithful agree; it is to Christ. Faithfulness to Christ is not synonymous with patriotism, and is certainly not synonymous with loyalty to a political party. Conservative Evangelical leaders who have made political party loyalty a litmus test for authentic Christianity have created a pernicious heresy completely antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Liberal or progressive Christians who castigate those who espouse conservative views conform to the same worldly attitude. The prevalent attitude of our culture was captured succinctly by journalist Matt Taibbi.
“Lie No. 1 is that there are only two political ideas in the world, Republican and Democrat. Lie No. 2 is that the parties are violent ideological opposites, and that during campaign season we can only speak about the areas where they differ (abortion, guns, etc.) and never the areas where there's typically consensus (defense spending, surveillance, torture, trade, and so on). Lie No. 3, a corollary to No. 2, is that all problems are the fault of one party or the other, and never both. Assuming you watch the right channels, everything is always someone else's fault. Lie No. 4, the reason America in campaign seasons looks like a place where everyone has great teeth and $1,000 haircuts, is that elections are about political personalities, not voters.” [2]
This is not the way of Jesus Christ; we are called to stand against such thinking. A person who has as their ultimate concern the furtherance of the Gospel will see the world differently than many. This person will also realize that my faith relationship with Jesus Christ may lead me to have different concerns than they do and that we can disagree in love. As I once heard Shane Claiborne say, it is how we disagree as Christians that really matters.
The world may not view this perspective as legitimate, but I have met many Christians who hold views that cross firm party lines. One can find a follower of Christ, who opposes abortion and the death penalty, who cares about the empowerment of women and worries that our jobs are going overseas, who is ready to welcome the refugee but worries about the size of government. In fact, if as a disciple of Jesus Christ your views conform perfectly to a candidate’s or political party's, I would ask you to go back to your Bible and think about things a bit more.
Hope for the World
My hope is that like the group that gathered around Jesus our church will have people across the political spectrum who will work together for the love of God, neighbor and world. If you will vote for Trump, we invite you to be with us. If you will vote for Clinton we ask you to join us. If you are frustrated with the process, we really want to include you in our walk with God. We have no choice but to do this because we exist only for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Be blessed
Pastor Knecht
[1] Newbigin, Leslie, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (1995, Grand Rapids MI Eerdmans) 76. Emphasis added
[2] Taibbi,Matt “The Fury and Failure of Donald Trump” http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-fury-and-failure-of-donald-trump-w444943 accessed 10-20-2016.
Friday, September 23, 2016
Fear and All its Friends
Psalms 55:1-2Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
don't pretend you don't hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you. (MSG)
When I heard of the bombings in our area last weekend I felt afraid. Not afraid of riding the train, or what might happen to my children, friends or family. I had no fear of terrorists running amok. I was afraid of our reaction, what fear will change in us. So I gave thanks to God for the two homeless men who found the bomb at the Elizabeth train station and reported it to the authorities before anyone could be injured. Indeed, I was even more relieved when a suspect was arrested. It was blessing to move on before fear could be stoked further.
Listening to an interview with film director Antoine Fuqua later in the week, I heard him begin his remarks about the unrest and conflict over the shooting of black men by police officers by saying everyone is afraid, black men, the police, the rest of us as well. Mr. Fuqua is right, and a large part of the dysfunction in the relationships between the differing groups of our society is due to the fears that each group has.
These fears are real. Black men have a radically different experience of American life than I do, and these experiences have led to very real and indeed rational fears. It is not one incident that has sparked these fears but the repeated daily negative experiences people of color have in America. Police officers also have very real and understandable fears. Service in the police is a very dangerous calling in our country. They are repeatedly placed in the most stressful situations that happen within our communities. It seems however that in certain areas (particularly in regards to race) that we are unable to listen to and understand our neighbor's fears. The problem seems to be that dealing with our own fears crowds out our ability to grasp the fears of others. Therefore with our empathy blocked, situations escalate.This problem is exacerbated by the fact that fear has seemed to become a preferred method of communication for many of us. Since the invention of the printing press, media has used fear to sell newspapers. What is different today is that in our social media age the boundary between the media and the general public has been blurred. If I post on my twitter or facebook account stories in the news, or my opinions of events, then I have effectively joined the media. We have met the media and it is us. So when I repost an article highlighting a particular fear, I am embracing, validating and spreading that fear. By embracing that fear I may be closing myself off to understanding the other. The more I broadcast my own fears, the less I am able to listen to you. The more I see other people's fears shouted from the rooftops the less able I am to feel that others will understand me. Perhaps this is why FDR famously said they only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
The only way I know to go forward is to follow the advice of St. Peter "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 NRSV). Indeed it is in times like these that our faith matters most. When we trust in who is God good enough to offer us salvation without condition (grace), it gives us a foundation to stand upon when dealing with our fears. When we pray, the first work to be done is within our own souls. It is to remove the veil of fear so we are able to receive God and love our neighbor. If we cannot empathize with their fear, we cannot love our neighbors. Furthermore, if I cannot empathize with someone else's fears, why would I have the nerve to think that they would even stop to give me the time of day?When we are better able to understand each other, we are better able to meet together and work towards solutions grounded in justice. So the idea is simple, ask God to help you deal with whatever fear you have today so you are more able to love others and understand that you are loved yourself. As with most simple ideas the practice will be harder than the concept. Perhaps you will be impatient or angry with me because I am really not offering a solution to anything, but just asking you to pray. Prayer is not a solution in and of itself, it is a means to work toward that solution hand in hand with God. Prayer is never the finish line, but is always the start.
I am hopeful because I know that around the country and around the world there are people of Christ who are in prayer about what is going on today. One of the underreported facts about what is happening in our country now, is that in every city where there has been unrest these past few years churches and faith communities have been on the front lines trying to do the very hard work of getting people together to work on ways to move forward towards mutual respect, dignity and justice. When these folks go to those front lines they are just as fearful as you and I, but their prayers help them move forward to build solutions. So answer the call to prayer perhaps all you have to lose are your fears.
Be blessed
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Fight Terrorism: Teach Generosity
Waking Up to the Same Nightmare
Terrorism is nothing new. It has been around my whole life. In my childhood, headlines reported acts by the IRA, FALN and the Weathermen. Europe had the Bade-Meinhoff gang and Red Army Faction. Israel has suffered terrorist attacks its entire existence as a modern state. In the 90's Timothy McVeigh attacked Oklahoma City, a cult poured sarin gas into the Tokyo Subway. Then we lived through the rise of Al Qaeda with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, 9-11 and the London and Madrid attacks. Now we have ISIS. While much press is always given how we can prevent future attacks, surprisingly little is given to how do prepare to respond when attacks occur. Given the reality of human history this point should not be overlooked.
So I would like for us to think about how we can prepare spiritually for when attacks come. Terrorists like ISIS not only attack physical and human targets they intentionally target the spirit of the community in their cross hairs. By examining what Jesus teaches us, we will have the tools to strengthen and protect our own spirits and the the spirit of the community we serve.
The Terrorist's' True Target: Goodwill
The primary goal of a terrorist attack is to disrupt the target society by instilling fear. Part of achieving this plan is to disrupt those who work for a civil society, destroy goodwill, so people will feel they have nowhere to turn and are cowed into submission. For example, ISIS wants the flow of refugees to stop, just like the Communists did when they built the Iron Curtain ISIS needs people to kick around, children to conscript into its army, people with skills to keep the water running, the lights on, and most of all to sell crude oil. When people leave the conflict zones, ISIS loses human capital to continue its struggle for domination in the Middle East. Our goodwill starves ISIS of resources. Their goal: instil fear to stop generosity. Our fight: stand up for our identity as disciples of Jesus Christ and remain gracious.
The Jesus Way
People forget, but the scholarship is clear; Jesus lived in a time when terrorism was rife. On Epiphany we will read how Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled the state sponsored terror of Herod. Two of Jesus' own disciples may have been identified with groups that may have engaged in acts of terror, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. Jesus was killed using a Roman method to intentionally inspire terror. So when you read the words of Jesus below, remember that he was no pie in the sky dreamer, but a person who lived and served in a very violent society.
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. ' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:38-48 NRSV)
Refuse to Submit
For ordinary folks like us, the Way of Jesus Christ may seem hard, but I will ask you to pray and think deeply, and hopefully see the grace in it. When we succumb to fear and take revenge for ourselves in contradiction to biblical teaching, we play by the terrorists' rules. The core of radical fundamentalist Islamic teaching is that Allah needs the terrorists to take revenge on the infidel (btw doesn't that really say their god is weak?). When we seek out revenge, we will only give them new motivation for further acts of their revenge. We will also be submitting to the scenario they wanted all along.
Countless Christian Martyrs and the the great peace leaders of the 20th century such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. realized the gift of Jesus' teaching. They understood it for what it precisely is, a courageous, comprehensive, and effective strategy to stop evil. They would not submit to an unjust system. When we stand with them, we are refusing to submit, and standing up to evil. As Paul wrote when we are gracious, it is as if we are pouring hot coals over their heads. This is because by being gracious and generous we are disrupting their agenda of violence.
This struggle we have is not just with groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda, the KKK, Neo Nazi's or Anarchists. It is is spiritual struggle against powers at work within our very communities and homes. These powers are calling us to become hard hearted and fearful. If we submit to them we lose, not just to them, but indeed we lose our very selves.
When humanity killed God's only Son, God did not take revenge. He refused to submit and raised Jesus to new life. God refused to submit to death and stood for life. Countless Christians will continue to to do the same, by serving and helping those who the world says should be their enemies. When we aid the Syrian refugee, we are fighting evil, When we clothe and feed the homeless, we are fighting evil. When we greet and welcome the neighbor from the county we can't find on the map, we are fighting evil. When we affirm human dignity of every person, we refuse to submit to the world's agenda. If the headlines have shocked you lately, maybe it is just the time to stand with Jesus and be generous.
Be blessed,
Pastor Knecht
Terrorism is nothing new. It has been around my whole life. In my childhood, headlines reported acts by the IRA, FALN and the Weathermen. Europe had the Bade-Meinhoff gang and Red Army Faction. Israel has suffered terrorist attacks its entire existence as a modern state. In the 90's Timothy McVeigh attacked Oklahoma City, a cult poured sarin gas into the Tokyo Subway. Then we lived through the rise of Al Qaeda with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, 9-11 and the London and Madrid attacks. Now we have ISIS. While much press is always given how we can prevent future attacks, surprisingly little is given to how do prepare to respond when attacks occur. Given the reality of human history this point should not be overlooked.
So I would like for us to think about how we can prepare spiritually for when attacks come. Terrorists like ISIS not only attack physical and human targets they intentionally target the spirit of the community in their cross hairs. By examining what Jesus teaches us, we will have the tools to strengthen and protect our own spirits and the the spirit of the community we serve.
The Terrorist's' True Target: Goodwill
The primary goal of a terrorist attack is to disrupt the target society by instilling fear. Part of achieving this plan is to disrupt those who work for a civil society, destroy goodwill, so people will feel they have nowhere to turn and are cowed into submission. For example, ISIS wants the flow of refugees to stop, just like the Communists did when they built the Iron Curtain ISIS needs people to kick around, children to conscript into its army, people with skills to keep the water running, the lights on, and most of all to sell crude oil. When people leave the conflict zones, ISIS loses human capital to continue its struggle for domination in the Middle East. Our goodwill starves ISIS of resources. Their goal: instil fear to stop generosity. Our fight: stand up for our identity as disciples of Jesus Christ and remain gracious.
The Jesus Way
People forget, but the scholarship is clear; Jesus lived in a time when terrorism was rife. On Epiphany we will read how Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled the state sponsored terror of Herod. Two of Jesus' own disciples may have been identified with groups that may have engaged in acts of terror, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. Jesus was killed using a Roman method to intentionally inspire terror. So when you read the words of Jesus below, remember that he was no pie in the sky dreamer, but a person who lived and served in a very violent society.
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. ' But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. ' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:38-48 NRSV)
Refuse to Submit
For ordinary folks like us, the Way of Jesus Christ may seem hard, but I will ask you to pray and think deeply, and hopefully see the grace in it. When we succumb to fear and take revenge for ourselves in contradiction to biblical teaching, we play by the terrorists' rules. The core of radical fundamentalist Islamic teaching is that Allah needs the terrorists to take revenge on the infidel (btw doesn't that really say their god is weak?). When we seek out revenge, we will only give them new motivation for further acts of their revenge. We will also be submitting to the scenario they wanted all along.
Countless Christian Martyrs and the the great peace leaders of the 20th century such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. realized the gift of Jesus' teaching. They understood it for what it precisely is, a courageous, comprehensive, and effective strategy to stop evil. They would not submit to an unjust system. When we stand with them, we are refusing to submit, and standing up to evil. As Paul wrote when we are gracious, it is as if we are pouring hot coals over their heads. This is because by being gracious and generous we are disrupting their agenda of violence.
This struggle we have is not just with groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda, the KKK, Neo Nazi's or Anarchists. It is is spiritual struggle against powers at work within our very communities and homes. These powers are calling us to become hard hearted and fearful. If we submit to them we lose, not just to them, but indeed we lose our very selves.
When humanity killed God's only Son, God did not take revenge. He refused to submit and raised Jesus to new life. God refused to submit to death and stood for life. Countless Christians will continue to to do the same, by serving and helping those who the world says should be their enemies. When we aid the Syrian refugee, we are fighting evil, When we clothe and feed the homeless, we are fighting evil. When we greet and welcome the neighbor from the county we can't find on the map, we are fighting evil. When we affirm human dignity of every person, we refuse to submit to the world's agenda. If the headlines have shocked you lately, maybe it is just the time to stand with Jesus and be generous.
Be blessed,
Pastor Knecht
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Discipleship as Reprogramming
How do we make choices?
As part of my summer reading I read Isaac Asimov's four classic robot novels. They are science fiction police procedurals. The main characters are a New York detective Elijah Baley and a humaniform robot Daneel Olivaw. They often engage in discussions about the how the programming of the robots affects the actions and decisions they make. As in most artificial intelligence stories, the moral dilemmas are highly intriguing . Asimov's fictional robots adhere to the three laws of robotics 1. A robot may not harm a human being, or through inaction cause one to come harm. 2. A robot shall obey all orders from humans that do not break the first law 3. A robot shall protect itself as long as it does not conflict with the first or second laws. The fun of the books is seeing what happens when the robots are put in situations where there are choices that cause a decision that brings a conflict in the programming. What these in fact are, are ways to discuss how people in the real world come up with the moral choices they make.
Human Programming
While real people may not have something equivalent to the three laws, we are programmed by our biology, environment, experiences, upbringing, culture and education. A great biblical example of this would be the wilderness temptation story found in Matthew and Luke where Satan tries to manipulate the basic human programming to have need for food (turn these stones to bread), power (see these kingdoms, they can be yours), and attention (throw yourself off the cliff and watch daddy come and save you!). In each case Jesus as God’s son shows he is not programmed as Satan would have liked. He demonstrates how the first commandment to fear and love God overrides the baser human instincts for food (man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God), power (worship the Lord and serve only him), and attention (Do not put the Lord your God to the test). The first commandment to love God puts things in proper perspective and allows Jesus to continue on with his ministry.
Discipleship, a life of following Jesus Christ and being in a healthy relationship with Christ is a lot about allowing God to reprogram us or update our programming. Living in a sinful and broken world, our programming is often damaged. Value judgements of the majority are taken in and accepted without question, because it is easier to do so. Negative experiences put us on the defensive. Life conditions may cause us to become self-centered, or others may convince us that we have no self worth or dignity. The problem of race that America is dealing with at this time is essentially one of bad programming. Americans have been programmed with a set of beliefs and actions that are neither grounded in biology or the Word of God, which both clearly state we are single common humanity. So overcoming this dilemma will require each of us to examine how the world has programmed us and work to change those lines of code which draw us away from God and cause conflict with our brothers and sisters.
Life 2.0
This can be done; I have seen it. I have seen addicts use faith to help them deal with their illness and change their lives. I have seen people whose first marriages broke apart have wonderful life giving and healthy second ones. I have watched self centered selfish people turn around and start caring for their neighbors because an encounter with God led them there. I have seen hyper self-conscious people afraid to talk with any one come out of their shell and build a healthy and appropriate self esteem. In short, in my ministry I have witnessed countless people who have with the help of God altered their programming. The real joy of ministry is watching lives be changed for the better by the Holy Spirit. Jesus encourages to do exactly this when he says things like this spoken during the Sermon on the Mount “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 (NRSV).
My favorite book of Asimov’s robot series was the last one “Robots and Empire” where two robots, the aforementioned Daneel Olivaw, and another robot Giskard Reventlov come to the conclusion that the three laws they are programmed with are inadequate. They begin to see that they actually cause moral outrages when strictly adhered to, like when saving one person will kill thousands. Their conclusion is that a fourth law is needed. Called the zeroth law, it becomes a preface to the other three, a robot may not do something that harms humanity as a whole. When the robots incorporate this law they become free and true moral agents. They are liberated when they show concern for the wider world. If you have not guessed by now I will tell you; Isaac Asimov really did not write about robots, he was writing about people.
When people allow God to help reprogram their lives with a concern for something beyond themselves they are set free. Adhering to the great commandments to love God with all your heart, soul, and might, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is not a constriction, it is a liberation. You become free to override all aspects of your cultural programming. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “only the one who believes is obedient, and only the one who is obedient believes”. What I am arguing is that only the one who is obedient is free, and only the one who is free is obedient. Faithful discipleship is liberation.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Seven Myths of Contemporary Worship
I began to preside over what is commonly called contemporary worship while serving as pastor of the Kaohsiung Community Church in Taiwan in 1994. In New Jersey, I worked with Messiah Lutheran in Oakland, to start their first contemporary service in 1999. At Holy Cross we only have this type of worship. Probably the only things these experiences actually have in common is the lack of a pipe organ, the absence of hymnals, and the projection of lyrics on a screen. The earlier forms were keyboard based with larger groups of singers and often called worship and praise. Then it moved on to styles that had a more melodic pop song style (think Michael W. Smith), later percussion and driving bass moved in heavily influenced by U2, these days country, southern rock, folk and roots music have also come into the picture. At Holy Cross today our songs come from artists such as Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Hillsong. Songs that are very different than the Twilla Paris songs of the 1980's. This type of worship is always in flux as new styles come into being. As I attend our synod gatherings and meet with pastors I have always seen there there are lots of misunderstandings about this phenomenon. I will try to offer a clarification of the attitudes I commonly read and hear of.1. The lyrics are bad theology
This is the number one insult I hear and read of, and frankly, it comes across to me as a merely an unreflective, dismissive, and disrespectful attitude used to justify one's own comfort with their prefered style. Many songs written in today's popular styles have wonderful and moving lyrics. A large portion of these songs such as Petra's We want to see Jesus Lifted High are just reworkings of the lyrics of traditional hymns (ie. Lift High the Cross) made fresh for a new generation. Often the artists are trying to combine their own love of a great old hymn with the newer forms of music they like to make. Chris Tomlin's Amazing Grace/ My Chains are Gone and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross/ the Wonderful Cross are great examples from a few years back.
The fact is that lots of traditional hymns and songs have bad theology as well. So are there contemporary, or rock based worship songs with bad lyrics? Of course! Just as there are bad lyrics in medieval, baroque, victorian, gospel and other organ based hymnody. When one examines ancient Israel's songbook, the Psalms, one can also find words that one should not base doctrine upon. Don't believe me? Check out Psalm 137:9 imagine a congregation singing this. Hymns and Songs in my view are more akin to prayer than teaching and reveal the longings and yearnings of the community.
2. The music is simplistic
At Holy Cross where I serve now, our Music Minister must work to get 4-7 instrumentalists to work in concert together every week. All songs are worked out to have multiple dynamics to to include the the entire worship team and better lead the congregation in song. The guitarists, keyboardists, percussionists, and others must come to rehearsal prepared in advance or else it does not work. I have been a member of various traditional choirs and choruses in my life and I can detect no difference in the amount of work involved to make good music whatever the style. Do some churches take short cuts? Yes they do, but lots of traditional church choirs just show up on Sunday morning and wing it too. Excellence is excellence, and it always takes work.
3. Less people are engaged in leading worship
Sometimes in the summer you will come to Holy Cross and only see three people up on the altar leading the worship songs. However, there are always two more on the balcony, one running the sound board another operating the media software. Right now most Sundays we have 4-5 on the balcony and 5-7 up on the altar, so that is 9-12 people every Sunday. We also have a scripture leader, a prayer leader, a person to lead announcements, and 5 people to help with communion distribution. Like most churches we also have a couple of ushers to help with the offering. Doing the math that is is 19-21 people in addition to the pastor engaged to help make worship happen for a mid sized Lutheran congregation. Engagement of a good percentage of people to help lead worship is not dependent on a particular style but on the intention of the pastor and church leadership.
4. It is hard to find people to help lead the songs
My experience over the years has been that it is harder to find effective traditional music ministers than effective contemporary worship leaders. I have found that it is relatively easy to find competent guitar players from within the congregation. One can often find keyboard players relatively quickly as well. The most difficult to find have been effective percussionists. In every congregation I have served we have had someone who played in a rock band, or had learned guitar or drums and was able to come forward and share their gifts. These people are in our congregations right now with these gifts untapped, it would be sad if we couldn't find ways to engage them.
Contemporary worship works best when it is firmly grounded in the congregation. When people from within the congregation are raised up to help lead the songs and make worship music, then the worship will have an authentic voice for the congregation. It will be "the work of the people" or a genuine liturgy. Any worship style brought in from the outside or imposed from above by arbitrary authority will work against this. Great worship works best from the bottom up, the congregation brings its best to the glory of God, if a traditional style does that for you, praise God!
5. Contemporary worship is not Lutheran (or any other
mainline tradition)
There is no legitimate reason why contemporary worship songs should be arbitrarily excluded from a Lutheran order of service. The grounding actions of our worship are proclaiming of the Word of God and administering the Sacraments. In the seventh article of the Augsburg Confession we read
For the true unity of the church it is enough to agree concerning the teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. It is not necessary that human traditions or rites and ceremonies, instituted by men, should be alike everywhere.¹The contemporary worship services in Lutheran congregations I have served all have had weekly communion. We have always had a weekly rite of corporate confession, we confess the Apostle's Creed, proclaim the Great Thanksgiving, use the time honored Words of Institution. They may not be in the same order as they were in the 1970's but the pieces of our tradition are all there.
The format we use allows for an expanded time to proclaim the Word through the sermon. We have also tried to use technology including electronic presentations (PowerPoint & MediaShout), film clips, podcasts, and streaming video to enhance our proclamation of the Gospel. It helps us reinforce the message to those attending, reach those virtually who are unable to attend physically, and help both dig deeper by having the sermon on record for review.
One of the things I really enjoy about contemporary worship music is that it more closely resembles the music I listen to for fun. Our current music minister leads our team in a style that resembles the alternative music I might hear on WFUV or WXPN (alt-rock radio stations in my area). This serves a useful purpose for me; it helps bridge the gap between secular and sacred in my own life. It helps me to see that all of my life is holy. This should not be an alien idea to Lutherans (or other Christians). Luther himself used popular forms of music as tools to write hymns to help lead congregations in song. Ulrich Leupold writes in the introductory section of Luther's Works Vol. 53.
The German folk song was the good earth from which all of Luther’s hymns sprang. Its style textually and musically is evident everywhere, and its patterns are often clearly recognizable. The very first hymn by Luther, “A New Song Here Shall Be Begun,” is modeled after the folk ballads, which told the stories of important events and personalities. Characteristic stock phrases and melodic turns of the folk song are found in all of Luther’s hymns.²
Luther translated the Mass into the vernacular, he made the Bible available to the people in the plain German language spoken at the time, and he used popular music to enhance worship. I would argue that those who endeavor to use popular and contemporary forms of music are trying to do some of these same things that Luther did himself. So there is no reason why would can not have faithful Lutheran contemporary worship.
6. Contemporary worship is attractive only to young people
In fact, some young people actually prefer traditional worship and old style hymns, on the other hand, we have had people in their 70's specifically come to Holy Cross because we have contemporary worship music. The early baby boomers are approaching their 70's and many of that generation were instrumental in leading the church to embrace these more contemporary forms. At Holy Cross we have a wide variety of ages that embrace our style, just as in the churches with traditional formats have wide varieties of ages embracing theirs.
7. Contemporary worship will lead to an increase in attendance
Worship Ought to Be Worship
In conclusion I would say that I long for the day when modifiers like contemporary, traditional, relevant, emerging, ethnic and liturgical are simply omitted when speaking about the worship we bring. One of the things we do other people to degrade their dignity is to make judgements about them and place them in categories of our own creation. Call me crazy, (some have) but I believe really great worship ought to be contemporary and traditional, relevant and timeless, ethnic and universal, emergent and liturgical, profound and joyful all at the same time. Impossible you say? Well I don't think so. When a diverse people gather together at the foot of the cross of Christ and have an encounter with God, amazing things can happen with new things and old. Whatever worship style or tools you advocate, may they be blessings for you to help reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
¹-Theodore G. Tappert, The Augsburg Confession : Translated from the Latin (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959), 32.
²-Martin Luther, vol. 53, Luther's Works, Vol. 53 : Liturgy and Hymns, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther's Works (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999, c1965), 53:196.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thanks, Atheists!
This post comes from colleague Linda Thurston originally posted on her blog January 24, 2014 you can find this and her other posts here
I recently read an obituary for a wonderful, faithful woman. It spoke of her love for her family and detailed her work with a variety of community organizations; it outlined her volunteer commitments and the career she made working on behalf of the disadvantaged. But for the mention of Vacation Bible School and other church commitments and the fact that her husband was a minister, however, a reader might never have guessed that her life of service derived from her faith in Jesus. There was no mention of God or Jesus anywhere in the obituary – not even a God-invoking euphemism for death or a mention of Jesus among the things that she loved.
This struck me because I’ve been thinking lately about how we Christians talk (or don’t talk) about God.
Perhaps you’ve heard about this new movement out of the UK called Sunday Assembly, which one of its founders described as, “all the best bits of church, but with no religion and awesome pop songs.”
As a recent NPR story put it, “There’s little God talk at Sunday Assembly.”
The movement’s website puts it this way: “The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrate life. Our motto: live better, help often, wonder more. Our mission: to help everyone find and fulfill their full potential. Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.”
The oxymoron-ish idea of a “godless congregation” and the photos of earnest non-worshippers, singing Rolling Stones tunes together hands in the air, make Sunday Assembly seem ripe for ridicule. News of a recent schism in the New York assembly will, no doubt, only increase the urge for parody among believers and non-believers alike. (See, it really is just like church!!)
But I’m not interested in making fun of Sunday Assembly. Rather, I’d like to thank them for the opportunity to open some conversation about what it means to be church. You see, it seems like these atheists have a better understanding of what church is about than some church people I know.
One of the founders of Sunday Assembly started the movement because she wondered, “is it possible to have all the wonderful things that church does, like create community and help others and encourage thinking about the world, yourself and improvement, but without the God bit?”
One commentator described what those attracted to the movement like about church – “”They miss the community, they miss the music, they miss the multi-generational coming together with people that you might not otherwise be hanging out with.”
So often, when church people talk about why they go to church or what they love about their particular congregation, it is these things that they talk about – the music and the community and the opportunities to help others. At least in the Protestant mainline where I hang out, people seem much less likely to mention God or Jesus.
Now it could be that for many people church really is about all these other things more than “the God bit,” and perhaps these folks really would be just as happy at a Sunday Assembly as at their local Christian church. But it could also be that we leaders of the church haven’t done a very good job with the God-talk – both talking the talk ourselves and teaching and equipping people in our congregations to talk it.
When we don’t do the God-talk, to the outside world many of our congregations seem indistinguishable from other local community organizations that help people “live better, help often, or wonder more.” How is the church different from the Kiwanis or the Girl Scouts or even a health club that collects toys for impoverished kids at Christmas?
The folks at Sunday Assembly, at least, understand what makes church different from all these other organizations including their own. It’s not the ethical teaching; it’s not the service to our neighbors; it’s not the pastoral care; it’s not even the collective singing or the intergenerational fellowship (although these are harder and harder to find in our society). It’s the God-talk. Period.
While sometimes the problem may be that we’re simply lacking any God-talk at all, sometimes the problem is that the God-talk in various congregations doesn’t sound like very good news. Our God-talk should be the “best bit about church,” the most “wonderful thing that church does.”
The church exists to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus Christ, to “preach the damn Gospel” in the immortal words of Dr. Timothy Wengert, to tell people that God knows them and loves them anyway, that they are beloved children of God, created with meaning and purpose and called to help do God’s work in the world.
This is what makes us distinctive. This is what we have to offer the world. When our singing and our potlucks and our good deeds overshadow our God-talk, then we stop being the church and just become one more Sunday Assembly. So thanks, atheists and other non-believers for this important reminder of what makes the church the church.
I recently read an obituary for a wonderful, faithful woman. It spoke of her love for her family and detailed her work with a variety of community organizations; it outlined her volunteer commitments and the career she made working on behalf of the disadvantaged. But for the mention of Vacation Bible School and other church commitments and the fact that her husband was a minister, however, a reader might never have guessed that her life of service derived from her faith in Jesus. There was no mention of God or Jesus anywhere in the obituary – not even a God-invoking euphemism for death or a mention of Jesus among the things that she loved.
This struck me because I’ve been thinking lately about how we Christians talk (or don’t talk) about God.
Perhaps you’ve heard about this new movement out of the UK called Sunday Assembly, which one of its founders described as, “all the best bits of church, but with no religion and awesome pop songs.”
As a recent NPR story put it, “There’s little God talk at Sunday Assembly.”
The movement’s website puts it this way: “The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrate life. Our motto: live better, help often, wonder more. Our mission: to help everyone find and fulfill their full potential. Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.”
The oxymoron-ish idea of a “godless congregation” and the photos of earnest non-worshippers, singing Rolling Stones tunes together hands in the air, make Sunday Assembly seem ripe for ridicule. News of a recent schism in the New York assembly will, no doubt, only increase the urge for parody among believers and non-believers alike. (See, it really is just like church!!)
But I’m not interested in making fun of Sunday Assembly. Rather, I’d like to thank them for the opportunity to open some conversation about what it means to be church. You see, it seems like these atheists have a better understanding of what church is about than some church people I know.
One of the founders of Sunday Assembly started the movement because she wondered, “is it possible to have all the wonderful things that church does, like create community and help others and encourage thinking about the world, yourself and improvement, but without the God bit?”
One commentator described what those attracted to the movement like about church – “”They miss the community, they miss the music, they miss the multi-generational coming together with people that you might not otherwise be hanging out with.”
So often, when church people talk about why they go to church or what they love about their particular congregation, it is these things that they talk about – the music and the community and the opportunities to help others. At least in the Protestant mainline where I hang out, people seem much less likely to mention God or Jesus.
Now it could be that for many people church really is about all these other things more than “the God bit,” and perhaps these folks really would be just as happy at a Sunday Assembly as at their local Christian church. But it could also be that we leaders of the church haven’t done a very good job with the God-talk – both talking the talk ourselves and teaching and equipping people in our congregations to talk it.
When we don’t do the God-talk, to the outside world many of our congregations seem indistinguishable from other local community organizations that help people “live better, help often, or wonder more.” How is the church different from the Kiwanis or the Girl Scouts or even a health club that collects toys for impoverished kids at Christmas?
The folks at Sunday Assembly, at least, understand what makes church different from all these other organizations including their own. It’s not the ethical teaching; it’s not the service to our neighbors; it’s not the pastoral care; it’s not even the collective singing or the intergenerational fellowship (although these are harder and harder to find in our society). It’s the God-talk. Period.
While sometimes the problem may be that we’re simply lacking any God-talk at all, sometimes the problem is that the God-talk in various congregations doesn’t sound like very good news. Our God-talk should be the “best bit about church,” the most “wonderful thing that church does.”
The church exists to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus Christ, to “preach the damn Gospel” in the immortal words of Dr. Timothy Wengert, to tell people that God knows them and loves them anyway, that they are beloved children of God, created with meaning and purpose and called to help do God’s work in the world.
This is what makes us distinctive. This is what we have to offer the world. When our singing and our potlucks and our good deeds overshadow our God-talk, then we stop being the church and just become one more Sunday Assembly. So thanks, atheists and other non-believers for this important reminder of what makes the church the church.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Where's My Hardware Store?
A few weeks back my six year old son hung on the coat hooks next to the front door in our vestibule. He pulled the entire rack out of the wall. I told him he had help fix it and pay for the materials necessary to do the job, which amounted to a small container of joint compound to fill in the holes where the moly-bolts were. He got his allowance money and we drove to downtown Springfield to buy our supplies at our local hardware store. We parked our car in the back of the store and went to the door and saw that is was locked. We looked in the windows and all the stock was gone, and got in the car and drove to the massive Home Depot in Vauxhall. I know this is not the first hardware store to close in recent years, but this affected me deeply because something I relied on to be there was now gone.
I like going to the small store and knowing the proprietor. The people in Home Depot are usually pleasant and I do not usually have any complaints with the service or products, yet the anonymity and the scale are intimidating when all I need is something small to do a quick job. The economy these days has made the small scale hardware store a thing of the past, unless a store has niche it is doomed.
I began to obsess "is our congregation like that hardware store?" Have the economies of scale and the expectations of people in our our area that the church will provide high quality program with minimal commitment conspired to doom the midsize congregation to oblivion. Statistics seem to be leading in this direction. Large congregations are chugging along, many small congregations do wonderful ministry by using their intimacy as a strength. The midsize church seems to be most at risk. The small congregation seems to be analogous to the home based business and the large to the big box store or prominent franchise. Where does that leave the rest of us.
We Are Not a Store
The hope that I cling to is that the community I serve is not a store, but as Eugene Peterson writes a “community of sinners gathered week after week… the Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them." (Working the Angles p.2) Our task is not to be a purveyor of goods, services, or an experience, but to simply bring people together with God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer shakes us out of our stupor and fear with these explosive words, which open his masterpiece The Cost of Discipleship: “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wears.” If we are to be Biblically faithful (rather than market driven successful) we need to call people into a relationship with God and their fellow sinners to join in this movement, which is dedicated to following our savior Jesus Christ. This means we understand that we are part of a wider family than our congregation and hopefully realizing that we are not in competition with the other expressions of Christianity in our vicinity.
We Still Need a Niche
Yet we still need to recognize that how the people of our communities engage the world matters. In a recent Alban Institute post, Peter Coutts blogs here “We live in a fully democratized, consumer-oriented society in which people believe they have the autonomous power to make choices, including within the realm of religious belief, practice, and participation.” So we have to use the tools of Law and Gospel to reveal the truth of God’s Word to the people we serve. The law is that every human choice whether to shop at the hardware store or home depot, or to go to the mid-size church in town or mega-church by the highway is bound by our innate sinfulness. The grace of God reveals that God makes himself available to be freely chosen. As Christian leaders we are called to help people make the right choice, the choice of Jesus, the choice of life. Hopefully if we really do it right, those who walk with Jesus will realize it really was not a choice at all.
The way for us who have more limits on our people and resources to begin to live out this calling is to help the communities we serve find their niche or place. This usually means leading people to prayerfully discern where their gifts lie, communities can then specialize according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to them. One community will allow people to see the grace of God through excellent and passionate traditional music, another will demonstrate it by serving the poor, another through good preaching, another through education, still another through support groups for people in critical phases of life, and even some that just provide a well rounded spiritual home. So yes my hardware store is gone, but our church still lives, breathes and moves to bring God’s love to our world.
I began to obsess "is our congregation like that hardware store?" Have the economies of scale and the expectations of people in our our area that the church will provide high quality program with minimal commitment conspired to doom the midsize congregation to oblivion. Statistics seem to be leading in this direction. Large congregations are chugging along, many small congregations do wonderful ministry by using their intimacy as a strength. The midsize church seems to be most at risk. The small congregation seems to be analogous to the home based business and the large to the big box store or prominent franchise. Where does that leave the rest of us.
We Are Not a Store
The hope that I cling to is that the community I serve is not a store, but as Eugene Peterson writes a “community of sinners gathered week after week… the Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them." (Working the Angles p.2) Our task is not to be a purveyor of goods, services, or an experience, but to simply bring people together with God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer shakes us out of our stupor and fear with these explosive words, which open his masterpiece The Cost of Discipleship: “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wears.” If we are to be Biblically faithful (rather than market driven successful) we need to call people into a relationship with God and their fellow sinners to join in this movement, which is dedicated to following our savior Jesus Christ. This means we understand that we are part of a wider family than our congregation and hopefully realizing that we are not in competition with the other expressions of Christianity in our vicinity.
We Still Need a Niche
Yet we still need to recognize that how the people of our communities engage the world matters. In a recent Alban Institute post, Peter Coutts blogs here “We live in a fully democratized, consumer-oriented society in which people believe they have the autonomous power to make choices, including within the realm of religious belief, practice, and participation.” So we have to use the tools of Law and Gospel to reveal the truth of God’s Word to the people we serve. The law is that every human choice whether to shop at the hardware store or home depot, or to go to the mid-size church in town or mega-church by the highway is bound by our innate sinfulness. The grace of God reveals that God makes himself available to be freely chosen. As Christian leaders we are called to help people make the right choice, the choice of Jesus, the choice of life. Hopefully if we really do it right, those who walk with Jesus will realize it really was not a choice at all.
The way for us who have more limits on our people and resources to begin to live out this calling is to help the communities we serve find their niche or place. This usually means leading people to prayerfully discern where their gifts lie, communities can then specialize according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to them. One community will allow people to see the grace of God through excellent and passionate traditional music, another will demonstrate it by serving the poor, another through good preaching, another through education, still another through support groups for people in critical phases of life, and even some that just provide a well rounded spiritual home. So yes my hardware store is gone, but our church still lives, breathes and moves to bring God’s love to our world.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Left or Right Mission Strategies?
Confrontation or Accommodation?
Christianity has always had a tension between challenging the culture it finds itself in on the one hand or learning to adapt and live with it on the other. During my time in Taiwan I learned about this tension by witnessing the polar opposite mission strategies embraced by Roman Catholics and Protestants. In many ways the Roman Catholic church sought to make peace with the culture and translate teaching and practice to the Chinese culture. Early on Roman Catholic missionaries accommodated ancestor worship into their proclamation. Ancestor worship is the central practice of Chinese folk religion. One is called to make sacrifices for and to one's forbears. If you have seen the Disney film "Mulan" you may remember how the shrine to the ancestors played a prominent roll in the film. By adapting its doctrine of the saints Roman Catholics sought a way to proclaim the Gospel in the Chinese context. They accepted where Chinese people were at theologically and made accommodation for them. Most Roman Catholic churches in Taiwan have a set place where one can pray to and for their ancestors. For the sake of discussion I will call this a left handed mission strategy.
Protestant missionaries from the beginning adopted the opposite strategy and basically continue to to so today. While the reasons for this are more theological than missional, the result ended up being an effective mission strategy. When one becomes a Christian as part of a protestant congregation in Taiwan, one gives up ancestor worship. In fact, many churches have a ritual demolition of the family ancestral shrine and any household idols around the time one is baptized. While we in the secular west may be aghast at this level intensity, many Chinese see it as a natural outcome of one's coming to Jesus. Most protestant Christians in Chinese contexts accept this. The reason for this acceptance is fairly clear. There are many in Chinese cultures who find the system of ancestor worship to be oppressive. It's system of obligations is particularly hard on women. To realize that one's loved ones are ultimately in God's hands can have an effect of profound liberation for a person. So I will call this type of delineating a clear alternative to the culture a right handed mission strategy.
Winners and Losers
Perhaps another way to look at this is to take a look at who are focusing our mission toward. When we embrace a left handed strategy that accommodates cultural trends, we are embracing those who are fine with the culture the way it is. In stark terms, it is mission to and for the "winners". When we take up a right handed strategy we are focusing on those beat up by the culture who want liberation from it. So a right handed strategy that presents an alternative to the culture is a a mission to and for the "losers." Now before we get on our moral high horse and either defend or justify ourselves, let's get both feet firmly planted on the ground and realize that Jesus ministered to both winners and losers. As we the lectionary texts from Luke are revealing to us this summer, Jesus sometimes used a left handed strategy and at others used a right handed one. The place for us to figure out how to proceed is prayer. We are called to discern, pray and to ask the Spirit to guide us how to minister to those God has placed before us. In the end most, churches have a mix of right handed and left handed strategies unique to their contexts.
Consumer Society
The discussion about whether to adapt or provide an alternative to the culture we live in the North American context will eventually always come around to how do we deal with the fact of consumerism. In sociological terms "the consumer" is the chief archetype of our society. Do we accept this and find ways to mission using the language and practice of the culture, or do we reject it and seek to provide a clear liberating alternative? The most fascinating aspect of this discussion for me is the fact that the many of the prominent conservative churches in our country have adopted strategies that embrace cultural norms of consumerism. Rick Warren (Saddleback), Bill Hybles (Willow Creek) and Andy Stanley (North Point) have all presented mission models that accommodate consumerism in some way. In short, the right wingers are using left handed strategies. Conversely much that I read from liberal circles makes consumerism synonymous with a form of demonic possession. Shane Clayborne, Brian McLaren and others from the emerging church movement (along with many who write at the Alban Institute) have embraced notions of ministering to those beat up by consumerism or a right handed strategy.
Please be aware that I have simplified things for the sake of having a discussion. The reality will always be a bit murky. I have accommodated aspects of the dominant culture into my ministry at times, and at others I have sought to fight against it. The simple point of this is to ask us all to be in prayer so that we are being intentional about which strategy we embrace. The point of this intentionality is not effectiveness but love. It takes intention to truly show love, this is one of the primary aspects of the cross and resurrection. Without love, it matters not whether we use our right hand or left, because without love we are not in mission. May you be blessed in your service to Christ today.
Keep the Faith,
Christianity has always had a tension between challenging the culture it finds itself in on the one hand or learning to adapt and live with it on the other. During my time in Taiwan I learned about this tension by witnessing the polar opposite mission strategies embraced by Roman Catholics and Protestants. In many ways the Roman Catholic church sought to make peace with the culture and translate teaching and practice to the Chinese culture. Early on Roman Catholic missionaries accommodated ancestor worship into their proclamation. Ancestor worship is the central practice of Chinese folk religion. One is called to make sacrifices for and to one's forbears. If you have seen the Disney film "Mulan" you may remember how the shrine to the ancestors played a prominent roll in the film. By adapting its doctrine of the saints Roman Catholics sought a way to proclaim the Gospel in the Chinese context. They accepted where Chinese people were at theologically and made accommodation for them. Most Roman Catholic churches in Taiwan have a set place where one can pray to and for their ancestors. For the sake of discussion I will call this a left handed mission strategy.
Protestant missionaries from the beginning adopted the opposite strategy and basically continue to to so today. While the reasons for this are more theological than missional, the result ended up being an effective mission strategy. When one becomes a Christian as part of a protestant congregation in Taiwan, one gives up ancestor worship. In fact, many churches have a ritual demolition of the family ancestral shrine and any household idols around the time one is baptized. While we in the secular west may be aghast at this level intensity, many Chinese see it as a natural outcome of one's coming to Jesus. Most protestant Christians in Chinese contexts accept this. The reason for this acceptance is fairly clear. There are many in Chinese cultures who find the system of ancestor worship to be oppressive. It's system of obligations is particularly hard on women. To realize that one's loved ones are ultimately in God's hands can have an effect of profound liberation for a person. So I will call this type of delineating a clear alternative to the culture a right handed mission strategy.
Winners and Losers
Perhaps another way to look at this is to take a look at who are focusing our mission toward. When we embrace a left handed strategy that accommodates cultural trends, we are embracing those who are fine with the culture the way it is. In stark terms, it is mission to and for the "winners". When we take up a right handed strategy we are focusing on those beat up by the culture who want liberation from it. So a right handed strategy that presents an alternative to the culture is a a mission to and for the "losers." Now before we get on our moral high horse and either defend or justify ourselves, let's get both feet firmly planted on the ground and realize that Jesus ministered to both winners and losers. As we the lectionary texts from Luke are revealing to us this summer, Jesus sometimes used a left handed strategy and at others used a right handed one. The place for us to figure out how to proceed is prayer. We are called to discern, pray and to ask the Spirit to guide us how to minister to those God has placed before us. In the end most, churches have a mix of right handed and left handed strategies unique to their contexts.
Consumer Society
The discussion about whether to adapt or provide an alternative to the culture we live in the North American context will eventually always come around to how do we deal with the fact of consumerism. In sociological terms "the consumer" is the chief archetype of our society. Do we accept this and find ways to mission using the language and practice of the culture, or do we reject it and seek to provide a clear liberating alternative? The most fascinating aspect of this discussion for me is the fact that the many of the prominent conservative churches in our country have adopted strategies that embrace cultural norms of consumerism. Rick Warren (Saddleback), Bill Hybles (Willow Creek) and Andy Stanley (North Point) have all presented mission models that accommodate consumerism in some way. In short, the right wingers are using left handed strategies. Conversely much that I read from liberal circles makes consumerism synonymous with a form of demonic possession. Shane Clayborne, Brian McLaren and others from the emerging church movement (along with many who write at the Alban Institute) have embraced notions of ministering to those beat up by consumerism or a right handed strategy.
Please be aware that I have simplified things for the sake of having a discussion. The reality will always be a bit murky. I have accommodated aspects of the dominant culture into my ministry at times, and at others I have sought to fight against it. The simple point of this is to ask us all to be in prayer so that we are being intentional about which strategy we embrace. The point of this intentionality is not effectiveness but love. It takes intention to truly show love, this is one of the primary aspects of the cross and resurrection. Without love, it matters not whether we use our right hand or left, because without love we are not in mission. May you be blessed in your service to Christ today.
Keep the Faith,
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Our Role in the Culture
A recent Alban Institute post Culture Streams outlined how culture can affect the congregations we minister to. It identified the macro culture with its large trends, meso culture which is all about regional ways that people interact and the local (micro) community culture. The question I would like to ask ministry leaders is what is our role in each of these areas. In order to start a discussion I will out line a few thoughts on each.
Our Role in the Wider Culture
I can honestly say that I have only seen a few of instances of a depiction of a clergy person in film or television that did not leave me creeped out (Rev. Book in the cult Sci-Fi series Firefly, the Vicar of Dibley from the BBC, one memorable episode about Rev. Lovejoy on the Simpsons are a few of the rare positive examples). Most often the clergy person is set up as a straw man (or woman) to further some aspect of the plot. They almost always lack any depth at all. The judgmental religious nut (who is always sexually repressed), the naive out of touch boob who has no idea of what real life is like, the goody two-shoes helpless (usually) guy who means well, and the wooden saintly figure are some of the typical archetypes.
In addition, most of the stories in the news media that people will see and read about the clergy are overwhelmingly negative. They usually involve one of our profession doing something criminal, stupid, or both (think Jim Baker or Jimmy Swaggart). Factor in that less and less people are coming to church and never see what we actually do first hand, and one can see that we should no longer expect prestige or a positive reception because of what we do. Therefore because of our wider culture trends we should have to expect to work harder at building trust, be vigilant about our boundaries, and be clear in our own understanding about what our role is. Most of all we need to learn to be patient with those we serve to demonstrate our genuine love and concern in Christ.
We still do have some significant privileges left that should not be taken for granted. the Federal government affords us a special status in the tax code. We are often still given positive roles in public ceremonies and events, and because the overwhelming majority of people are still interested in dialoging about God I have never found opportunities to engage in faith conversations lacking. We need to be thankful for these privileges and leverage them faithfully to help bring God's Word to our communities.
Our Role in New Jersey
The chief reason I no longer wear a clerical collar is that I am tired of being called "Father". As Jesus taught us our true "Abba" is in heaven. I am only the earthy father of Beata and Paul and honestly that is all I should be. As a Lutheran, I am called to preach the Word and administer the sacrements, to do what Eric Gritsch and Robert Jenson called "tending to the life of the Gospel." In a regional culture where the Roman Catholic priest is the primary archetype of our calling we will always have some explaining to do (even when we don't dress in black). People can see how we can serve God through our ordinary lives as neighbors, parents and friends.
The other major factor I have dealt with in our area is the pace of life. People just do not seem to have it in their DNA to slow down and let God breathe into our lives around here. This has had all kinds of implications in my ministry over the years. Worship service lengths are under strict (albeit informal) time covenants, prayers can be rushed through to get the the "real business" of the church, and everyone has limits on their time because they have to be somewhere else. The pastor can then be merely viewed as one more person making a demand on their time which always seems to be running through their fingers. However, it is precisely in this aspect of our culture where we may be able to help lead people toward a healthier way of living. Eugene Peterson identified "prayer and spiritual direction" as two of the three pillars of ministry (the other being tending to the Word). We can help people slow and down take time for the simple things so they can see how God works in their lives.
Our Role in our Congregation
I have served three congregations in New Jersey and each has had it's own distinct culture and the role of the pastor has varied greatly in each. One expected a high degree of pastoral care and affirmation, another revitalization and new life, and another reconciliation and unity to bring the congregation together to move forward in mission. I have always found that there is a tension between what I feel called to do and what the congregation culture expects. This tension can be creative and life giving if dealt with openly through prayer and discussion. I have grown both as a person and a minister because I have been given the opportunity to learn from those I am called to serve, it is certainly one of the greatest blessings of ministry. There is always lots more to discuss on this aspect and I look forward to those interactions.
Our Role in the Wider Culture
I can honestly say that I have only seen a few of instances of a depiction of a clergy person in film or television that did not leave me creeped out (Rev. Book in the cult Sci-Fi series Firefly, the Vicar of Dibley from the BBC, one memorable episode about Rev. Lovejoy on the Simpsons are a few of the rare positive examples). Most often the clergy person is set up as a straw man (or woman) to further some aspect of the plot. They almost always lack any depth at all. The judgmental religious nut (who is always sexually repressed), the naive out of touch boob who has no idea of what real life is like, the goody two-shoes helpless (usually) guy who means well, and the wooden saintly figure are some of the typical archetypes.
In addition, most of the stories in the news media that people will see and read about the clergy are overwhelmingly negative. They usually involve one of our profession doing something criminal, stupid, or both (think Jim Baker or Jimmy Swaggart). Factor in that less and less people are coming to church and never see what we actually do first hand, and one can see that we should no longer expect prestige or a positive reception because of what we do. Therefore because of our wider culture trends we should have to expect to work harder at building trust, be vigilant about our boundaries, and be clear in our own understanding about what our role is. Most of all we need to learn to be patient with those we serve to demonstrate our genuine love and concern in Christ.
We still do have some significant privileges left that should not be taken for granted. the Federal government affords us a special status in the tax code. We are often still given positive roles in public ceremonies and events, and because the overwhelming majority of people are still interested in dialoging about God I have never found opportunities to engage in faith conversations lacking. We need to be thankful for these privileges and leverage them faithfully to help bring God's Word to our communities.
Our Role in New Jersey
The chief reason I no longer wear a clerical collar is that I am tired of being called "Father". As Jesus taught us our true "Abba" is in heaven. I am only the earthy father of Beata and Paul and honestly that is all I should be. As a Lutheran, I am called to preach the Word and administer the sacrements, to do what Eric Gritsch and Robert Jenson called "tending to the life of the Gospel." In a regional culture where the Roman Catholic priest is the primary archetype of our calling we will always have some explaining to do (even when we don't dress in black). People can see how we can serve God through our ordinary lives as neighbors, parents and friends.
The other major factor I have dealt with in our area is the pace of life. People just do not seem to have it in their DNA to slow down and let God breathe into our lives around here. This has had all kinds of implications in my ministry over the years. Worship service lengths are under strict (albeit informal) time covenants, prayers can be rushed through to get the the "real business" of the church, and everyone has limits on their time because they have to be somewhere else. The pastor can then be merely viewed as one more person making a demand on their time which always seems to be running through their fingers. However, it is precisely in this aspect of our culture where we may be able to help lead people toward a healthier way of living. Eugene Peterson identified "prayer and spiritual direction" as two of the three pillars of ministry (the other being tending to the Word). We can help people slow and down take time for the simple things so they can see how God works in their lives.
Our Role in our Congregation
I have served three congregations in New Jersey and each has had it's own distinct culture and the role of the pastor has varied greatly in each. One expected a high degree of pastoral care and affirmation, another revitalization and new life, and another reconciliation and unity to bring the congregation together to move forward in mission. I have always found that there is a tension between what I feel called to do and what the congregation culture expects. This tension can be creative and life giving if dealt with openly through prayer and discussion. I have grown both as a person and a minister because I have been given the opportunity to learn from those I am called to serve, it is certainly one of the greatest blessings of ministry. There is always lots more to discuss on this aspect and I look forward to those interactions.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Do the old ways work anymore?
I am wondering how much has the way that people relate to each other changed in the past ten years. As I look around the church and country, I see much different religious landscape than a few years ago. Headlines speak of the rise of the "nones", people who have no religious affiliation whatsoever. However, many of these same people hold religious beliefs and even engage in practices like prayer or meditation. Many people who do hold religious affiliation attend their community's activities less often. Some of the stock answers to this phenomenon speak of the rise of secularism and so on. I am wondering if something deeper is going on.
I am currently finishing up a book called "the winner effect" by neuroscientist Ian Robertson. Much of the book revolves around how certain behaviors we engage in produce dopamine in the critical areas of the brain giving us a reward of good feelings when we do. All kinds of behaviors do this, but this happens especially when we experience a "win" no matter how small. Robertson also goes on to explain how many of the addictions people develop happen because they manipulate these same dopamine receptors in the brain. Gambling, drug addictions and so forth fool the brain and subvert a biological process in the brain leading a person to self destruct.
The question that I have is, is there something like this going on in human social relationships? Are the activities of media consumption and online social networking doing something similar? Do we get a shot of chemicals in the brain when we connect online, or view our favorite TV show, that mimics the good feelings we get when we are relating to friends and family in person? I almost want to answer the question in the affirmative. Statistics in such works as "Bowling Alone" and "American Grace" by Robert Putnam speak to the collapse of community and social capital in the US today. Is part of the reason because we can get the same good feelings of being in community when we are sitting on our sofa in our underwear? Do we feel that we get the benefit of community without the risk? I do think it is obvious that we are rapidly changing how we relate to each other. While much of the positivist tech press talks about the upside, I am sure there is a downside that we haven't thought of yet. While we hear many horror stories of the Internet exposing someone's dark side, the real risk seems to be the reverse. The Internet allows us to shape, control or manipulate our image very easily, while this is safe, no one gets to know the real you. Grace is always a gifted affirmation of the person and not a controlled one.
The practical ministry question that arises from all this is do the old ways of being in Christian community work anymore? If I answer yes then perhaps we just have to plug ahead a do what we have always done. If I answer no, do I have to learn how to be in this brave new world? I have no answers in this post just questions.
I am currently finishing up a book called "the winner effect" by neuroscientist Ian Robertson. Much of the book revolves around how certain behaviors we engage in produce dopamine in the critical areas of the brain giving us a reward of good feelings when we do. All kinds of behaviors do this, but this happens especially when we experience a "win" no matter how small. Robertson also goes on to explain how many of the addictions people develop happen because they manipulate these same dopamine receptors in the brain. Gambling, drug addictions and so forth fool the brain and subvert a biological process in the brain leading a person to self destruct.
The question that I have is, is there something like this going on in human social relationships? Are the activities of media consumption and online social networking doing something similar? Do we get a shot of chemicals in the brain when we connect online, or view our favorite TV show, that mimics the good feelings we get when we are relating to friends and family in person? I almost want to answer the question in the affirmative. Statistics in such works as "Bowling Alone" and "American Grace" by Robert Putnam speak to the collapse of community and social capital in the US today. Is part of the reason because we can get the same good feelings of being in community when we are sitting on our sofa in our underwear? Do we feel that we get the benefit of community without the risk? I do think it is obvious that we are rapidly changing how we relate to each other. While much of the positivist tech press talks about the upside, I am sure there is a downside that we haven't thought of yet. While we hear many horror stories of the Internet exposing someone's dark side, the real risk seems to be the reverse. The Internet allows us to shape, control or manipulate our image very easily, while this is safe, no one gets to know the real you. Grace is always a gifted affirmation of the person and not a controlled one.
The practical ministry question that arises from all this is do the old ways of being in Christian community work anymore? If I answer yes then perhaps we just have to plug ahead a do what we have always done. If I answer no, do I have to learn how to be in this brave new world? I have no answers in this post just questions.
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