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Warning Lights

June 30, 2022 /
TPMS Light

 

Friends,

Our family recently returned home from a much-needed time away on vacation. While skimming across our country’s interstates our car chimed and flashed a TPMS warning light. TMPS is “Tire Pressure Monitoring System.” At that moment, while I watched the little light flash, the steering wheel began to vibrate. The combined inputs into my neural pathways meant only one thing. I needed to get off the road quickly and check things out. Just prior to the exit, the vibrations went away, and I began to suspect they were actually coming from the roadway. After pulling into the gas station I checked the tire pressure and determined one was about two pounds lower than the others, but still within the safe range. With the problems identified and solved, we continued on our journey with no further issues. But it could have been a different story. Those warning lights serve an important purpose. They alert us to potential problems before they are really a problem and give us the time to take corrective action before a catastrophic vehicular event.

Of course, this post is not really about proper car maintenance. It is about life maintenance. I believe all of us have an LPMS. A Life Pressure Monitoring System. It’s just that some of us do not realize this is what we are feeling. We are like the person who puts tape on their check engine light to make it go away. The problem is out of sight and out of mind until the engine of life explodes.

What are your life warning lights? Indicators that tell you something is not right and you need to pause, assess, and correct. Maybe you find yourself irritable with people. Small things you would have brushed off you now can’t let go of. Perhaps, you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through social media, no longer looking at the posts, just scrolling, and scrolling and scrolling. Maybe you are snacking without thinking. Maybe you turn down chances to do things you know you love. The list could go on and on. What are your Life Pressure Monistory System lights and when they come on, what action do you need to take to correct your course and avoid a catastrophic life crash? Sometimes the correction can be as simple as getting up and taking a short walk outside or putting down the phone and picking up a  book or just taking a nap.

Blessings,
Stephen

Giving Credit: Special thanks to Dr. Brian Russell, who planted the seed idea for this post.

One Group’s Attempt to Live Like Jesus

September 28, 2021 /

Friends,

Last week I started reading Shane Claiborne’s book, The Irresistible Revolution, Updated and Expanded: Living as an Ordinary Radical. I started the book after hearing another pastor speak of reading the book and how it has been transformative for him. The book is an early memoir of a community that has sought to live the words of Jesus. 

“If you find yourself climbing the ladder of success, be careful or else on your way up you might pass Jesus on his way down" (p. 40)

I am currently four chapters, twenty-five percent, of my way through the book (I know it is a little crazy to suggest a book so early on, but I am doing it anyway).  As one who has never been at home in the consumer-driven American church, struggling to find a place to fit in, whose questions were not welcome, and feeling pushed to the margins I found Shane’s book both hopeful and challenging. I highly recommend the book to anyone searching for hope in these complex times.

"We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours. I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor" (p. 99)

I know that Shane is a bit of an enigma in the church world. A man who lived and worked with Mother Theresa but also spent time working at Willow Creek. Two church worlds that could hardly be farther from each other. His views are often controversial but they are spoken with such love and compassion it is hard to turn away and dismiss him. John Wesley once said, “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” I think, perhaps, this is a community seeking to live this out in our present day. There is hope in the margins.

"My friends and I had a hunch that there is more to life than what we had been told to pursue. We knew that the world cannot afford the American dream and that the good news is that there is another dream. We looked to the early church and to the Scriptures and to the poor to find it" (p. 104).

Blessings,
Stephen

 

Let Us Not Miss the Day

January 20, 2021 /

Dear Friends,

Twelve years ago, our nation swore in its 44th President, Barack Obama. On that day I said it was a day to celebrate. While many of us had significant philosophical differences with President Obama I believed we could celebrate on this day that our nation’s first African American was ascending to the office of the presidency. An incredible thing only fifty years from the civil rights movement and 150 years from the legal end to slavery in our country.

Today is another historical day for our country. On this day, Kamala Harris will recite the oath of office to become the Vice-President of the United States. The first time, a woman has said these words. Again, many have very significant philosophical differences with her, but in the midst of it, we must not miss the significance and opportunity of this day. One hundred years ago women gained the right to vote in our country. Today, we celebrate with our daughters at the site of a woman reciting the oath. Today we celebrate the opportunities that are available to our daughters that did not exist a few short years ago. Today we are able to participate in witnessing history. 

Yes, our differences still remain. Yes, there will be much vigorous debate about policy and the future of our country, as there should be. Tomorrow, we will take up our debate. Tomorrow, we will return to our divisions. But, today, let us not miss the chance to celebrate history and the hope it means for all of us.

Blessings,
Stephen

Portage the Falls

August 10, 2020 /

It was June 1805, and the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition reached the base of the Great Falls of the Missouri. “Lewis was thrilled to see the enormous waterfall, the Great Falls of the Missouri. It was 900 feet wide and 80 feet high with a ‘beautiful rainbow’ just above the spray. Lewis called it ‘the grandest sight’ he ‘ever beheld.'” The grandest sight was also a grand obstacle. The Corps of Discovery had spoken with Native Americans familiar with territory to learn of what lay ahead. Their expectation was a difficult one-mile portage of their equipment around the falls. What they found was a much more significant challenge:

The Corps would have to hike 18 miles to get around the five waterfalls. They left their heaviest boat and equipment hidden near the base of the falls. The other canoes and supplies were carried, dragged, and pushed. The Corps created makeshift wagons. When the wind was strong, they attached the boat sails to help move the equipment. The ground was rocky, uneven, and hard. Prickly pear cactuses were everywhere. The Corps wore through their moccasins every two days. The intense heat of the summer sun was interrupted by violent storms, with thunder, rain, and hailstones the size of eggs. Swarms of gnats and mosquitoes pestered them. Rattlesnakes and grizzly bears were a constant threat. (Library of Congress)

The eighteen-mile portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri would take thirty-one days. Before they could continue their journey up the Missouri River, the Corps would have to build new boats to replace the ones left behind.

There are many stories in the journals of Lewis and Clark that describe perseverance through unexpected adversity. Five months ago, we began a journey together as a church and community. We thought we would make a simple portage around a small snag. What we have experienced is the grandest sight and grandest obstacle of many of our lifetimes.

What has made it the grandest sight? Every preacher, it seems, has said, “The church is not the building. It is the people.” The last five months have challenged us whether we really believed it. What I have seen is a beautiful sight. Like a rainbow in the mist over raging falls, its beauty holds me, and I do not wish to walk away from it, even if I must. The vision I have seen is a church come alive. I have witnessed people carrying for each other and watching out for their neighbors. People smile behind masks. They wave as we pass, even if we have never met. Groups have gathered together to pray and study the scriptures in their homes. We have become less dependent on the programs and structure of the church to prop-up our faith and much more dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s awe-inspiringly beautiful, and I fear its loss.

I am also aware these five months have been unmercifully brutal on some. People are unemployed and facing eviction. Families are starving. Friends have died. Many feel left behind and left out. Loneliness, darkness, depression have been consuming. I do not wish for these days to continue and long for the morning to come that will bring joy.

What we are experiencing is an arduous trek whose end is not yet in sight. The end will come, and when it does, we will once again put ourselves back in the waters of a much smoother journey. To continue the journey, though, new tools, equipment, and methods will have to be fashioned. 

For many of our churches, we have rolled most of our ministry online, and in doing so, we have taken our in-person programming and put it online with few changes made for the medium. It has been like putting sails meant for a boat on a wagon. At some point, we will have to find a better way. Before the pandemic, online worship was never an effective replacement for in-person. Primarily online worship served two purposes. First, it allowed those who were not able to attend in-person, because of work, vacation, or sickness, to continue to stay connected to their familiar community. Second, online worship served as a way for persons to visit a church without having to visit the church physically. It was a very low commitment way to try out a community.

I firmly believe that online can be an effective medium for a church community. I also believe it will require changing our methods and expectations. Like John Wesley preaching on a coal pile or George Whitefield preaching in the fields, it will be uncomfortable, awkward, and not without its critics. I believe this is a time that calls for us to try anyway. Already there are many critics who say it can’t be done. Already there are many questioning the theological soundness of those who are trying. It’s time we turn off those voices and just try. We may fail, but at least we tried. To do nothing is to guarantee our failure.

What will we have to change and do differently? I do not know. Right now, we are still struggling to get around the falls. Even as Lewis and Clark put their newly fashioned boats in the waters of the Missouri above the falls, an even more significant challenge lay before them: The Rocky Mountains. To cross this obstacle would require leaving their boats behind entirely as they depended on Sacajawea, a female Shoshone, to lead them through uncharted territory. Perhaps, we will have to leave our canoes behind too and submit to be led by those whose voices we refused to listen to or value before.

Our journey is not at an end, so it is difficult to say what it will be like on the other side. But we do have glimpses, and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Blessings,
Stephen

 

Quote and Picture Source:
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/lewisandclark/aa_lewisandclark_portage_1.html

Uncharted Territory

July 13, 2020 /

Whatever there is to say about the territory we are in, I think it is safe to say we have never been here before. In the book Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger, I came across this question that stopped me and caused me to ponder a change of perspective about my surrounding environment:

Could it be that God is taking our churches and organizations into uncharted territory in order for the church to become even more of a witness for the future of the world? (pg. 202)

If so, what does this mean about the way we respond to our current realities? Do we step into them, or do we try and find our way back to familiar territory as soon as possible? What if this is not only true of the church and our organizations but our lives as well?

Blessings,
Stephen

Sources:
Bolsinger, Tod. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian leadership in uncharted territory, IVP Books, 2018.

Photo by Natalya Letunova on Unsplash

Standing on the Continental Divide

June 11, 2020 /

In March, our church Hope Wesleyan made the decision to suspend its in-person worship services. The primary foundation for this decision was a commitment as a church to love and serve our neighbors. In Ephesians 5, Paul’s charge is to “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us . . . .” Jesus loved us by laying down his life for us while we were still his enemy. When we were asked not to meet in-person but to find other creative ways to meet, we gladly accepted this inconvenience as an expression of our love for our neighbors. This commitment forms the foundation of our organizing for the return to in-person worship. Our first priority is the safety and well-being of our church family and the wider community. Our second priority is the public reputation of Hope in our community and the wider Christian church. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is addressing problems within the church at Corinth. He says this to them, “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good” (vs. 17). He then describes destructive divisions and favoritism within the community. For the sake of the church community and its witness in the city, it would have been better if they had not met. It is possible for our meeting together, even if we have the right to, to be more destructive than not meeting at all. We can unnecessarily put at risk the physical health of our church family and community as well as cause irreparable harm to our church’s reputation in our city. Therefore, these two priorities form the basis of our decision making.

Our commitment as leaders is to seek to provide for the spiritual growth and needs of all of our church family.

In the book, Canoeing the Mountains¸ Bolsinger describes the moment when the Lewis and Clark expedition reaches the peak of the Continental Divide as a “deep disorientation.” Their expectation was to see an open prairie leading to the Columbia River Basin and out to the Pacific Ocean. What they instead saw was mountain range after mountain range of the rugged snow-capped mountains like they had never seen before. It is hard to picture how disheartening and discouraging that moment must have been. Their expectations and plans were confronted by the reality of the Rocky Mountains. They were profoundly disorientated. Bolsinger warns that:

when we get to moments of deep disorientation, we often try to reorient around old ways of doing things. We go back to what we know how to do. We keep canoeing even though there is no river. At least part of the reason we do this is because we resolutely hope that the future will be like the past and that we already have the expertise needed for what is in front of us. (92, emphasis original).

In this moment, what was necessary for the Corps of Discovery was an adaptive shift. “This is the moment when they had to leave their boats, find horses and make the giant adaptive shift that comes from realizing their mental models for the terrain in front of them were wrong” (93).

As a church community, we have been confronted by an adaptive shift. We have climbed to the top of our Continental Divide. We expected to look onto the other side and see a return to worship and community as we were used to doing things. We planned for a celebration. Instead, we are faced with are the Rocky Mountains of uncertainty, snow-capped by state and federal regulations.

In the face of an adaptive challenge, Bolsinger says the first thing we do is recommit to our core ideology. We start with why we exist. He gives the following questions for organizations to answer when “facing-the-unknown moment:”

  • Why do we exist as a congregation, institution or organization?
  • What would be lost in our community, in our field or in our world if we ceased to be?
  • What purposes and principles must we protect as central to our identity?
  • What are we willing to let go of so the mission will continue? (94-95)

After recommitting to our core ideology, the next step is to reframe our strategy in light of our core ideology. “In adaptive leadership, reframing is another way of talking about the shift in values, expectations, attitudes or habits of behavior necessary to face our most difficult challenges” (95).

Third, in the face of an adaptive shift, we rely on learning. We always default to the level of our learning. Unless we commit to learning to do things differently, we will revert to what we have done before. We will canoe the mountains.

These moments of deep disorientation requiring adaptive shifts. Standing at the peak, we can choose to turn around and go back, or we can recommit to our core ideology, the mission of God. We can reframe our strategy and dedicate ourselves to learning how to navigate in this unknown world.

Blessings,
Stephen

 

Source Book:
Bolsinger, Tod. Canoeing the Mountains: Christian leadership in uncharted territory, IVP Books, 2018.

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

June 4, 2020 /

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice?

Is it when they are nominated to the position by the President and confirmed by the Senate?
Is it when they were appointed to a lifetime appointment on the Federal Bench?
Is it when they went to work for a prestigious law firm?
Is it when they served as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice?
Is it when they were admitted to a top law school?
Is it when they were admitted to their undergraduate institution?
Is it when they graduated from high school?
Is it when they attended a well funded and supplied elementary school?
Is it when they had access to health care and food on the table as a child?
Is it when their parent was paid a livable wage?
Is it when their mother had access to prenatal care?

The answer is, YES, to all of these. And the break in any one link the chain can close the door for a person sitting on the bench. When we speak of systemic racism, it is a recognition all of life is a connected system, and injustice in one link can have dramatic implications on another.

I am not a fan of affirmative action. I think that a person should be selected based solely on their skills and ability to perform the job. I think that colleges should not be required to admit certain students but should be allowed to choose the best and brightest regardless of skin color or gender. I think that employers should be allowed to have workforces that are made up of the best for the job and not be required to consider race or gender in their hiring practices. I think that the color of a person’s skin or whether they are male or female should not matter. We should base these opinions solely on who is the best for the job.

So what do we do when we see a lack of diversity in the workforce, on our college campuses, in government jobs, in the pulpits of our churches? We say the reason a woman, a Hispanic or an African American, was not hired for the job is that none applied, or there were none qualified who applied. And it is true. But it also hides another truth. The reason none were qualified is that none were given a chance to be qualified.

I wish I could say that left to themselves, employers, healthcare, church, and education systems will choose to do what is right. But we know better. Left to ourselves, we will all choose the path of greatest comfort and familiarity. A way that will not open the door.  A path that will draw red lines around who is in and who is outside of our community. It is for these reasons these programs are put into place. On our own, we will remain blind to what we must do and have been doing.

When does a person become a Supreme Court Justice . . . today.

Blessings,
Stephen

Today’s resource is the video Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man shared with me by a friend. The video is produced by Emmanuel Acho who is a former NFL Player and current ESPN analyst. Acho answers many of the questions we have. Watch it HERE.

I like to keep the peace

June 2, 2020 /

I like to keep the peace. Really I do. Conflict is painful and hard for me. I try to see the other side of things. I do not like to disturb the status quo. I do not merely dislike conflict; I feel conflict. It weighs like a million pounds upon my body. The single act of speaking up may last only a moment, but I will mull it over for days, months, even years. I have always been this way (and some of you already know my Enneagram number). What I am writing is not easy.

As a pastor, I have prided myself on having relationships and friendships with people across a diversity of spectrum from the very liberal to the very conservative. I firmly commit that all are welcome in the doors of the church. As we worship together, every one of us lays our experiences, ideologies, and commitments at the feet of Jesus to be examined and confronted by the Holy Spirit. Every one of us has sin within our hearts. Everyone one of us is in need of confession. Every one of us needs transformation of our whole being. Transformation by the Spirit of God happens within the practices and community of the church. If we cannot welcome all, then we cannot all be changed. Those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus love our neighbor because God first loved us. We forgive because we were forgiven. We show grace because we were first shown grace. My commitment and welcome to all remains unchanged.

But because of my commitments, I also resist speaking up. Particularly in the forums of social media and blog posts when understanding is so hard to be had. I also resist speaking because I know I can never fully get away from my role as a pastor. I tell myself that I do not want to engage my church in complicated, painful discussions. I do not want to alienate. I do not like people angry with me or our church. I do not like it when people leave the church because we do not agree and feel like we cannot speak to one another.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to be in Berlin, Germany. In front of some of the homes are small square brass markers. They mark the home of a Jew who as taken away by the Nazis.

Many of us want to say, that if we had lived in those times, in Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, we would have spoken up to stop the rise of the Nazis. We want to believe we would have hidden Jews within the walls of our homes. I want to say I would have been that person, I think I would have been the one who kept silent. Fear would have ruled the day.

All around us our black and brown brothers and sisters are crying out for us to speak up. To no longer be silent. To no longer dismiss their pain. They are dying around us. Recently, I participated in a conversation hosted by the leadership of my denomination. I offer here some of the bullet points from this conversation to help us begin to think more deeply and have the courage to speak up:

  • We cannot change our history but we can change our future. 

For over four hundred years the evil virus of racism has permeated our American culture. We can learn about our history and lament and grieve. We show the pictures of King marching arm and arm with white people in peaceful protest. We do not show the next picture of police dogs, beatings with batons, and water cannons turned on them. This is part of the story too.

  • Stop taking it personal.

As a white person, I swim the sea of my privilege. Like a fish may be unaware of the water around them I often do not feel or think of its existence. To be told that I am in the water is not a personal attack on me. It is just a statement of reality.

  • Stop minimizing another’s pain.

I do not have to understand another’s pain to be able to sit with them and mourn and grieve. Just because I don’t see it or feel it does not make it unreal.

  • Sin is the problem.
  • Favoritism is the problem.

You are not the problem, you are part of the solution. The Bible has a lot to say about sin and favoritism. Staying silent. Failing to learn. Failing to listen. Failing to seek to understand. These are not options. We can be part of the solution.

Let me say that again: You are part of the solution.

As I said in my note yesterday, each day I will offer you resources. Below are two videos (they may not be visible in the e-mail, just click the link to go to the message online and you will see them).

The first is an interview with Carl Lentz and Biship T.D. Jakes, the second is one with Charlie Dates and Beth Moore. 

Blessings,
Stephen

 

 

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It’s time to bring back the Stewardship Committee

May 23, 2020 /

Years ago, nearly every church had a Stewardship Committee. The committee’s job was to support the various ministries of the church through raising capital. Translated: Fundraising. Always on the lookout for new and creative ways to increase the income side of the ledger. Hold on! Before you delete this message, give me a few more seconds. This is NOT what I am mean by bringing back the Stewardship Committee.

Stewardship is about the management of another’s resources according to their owner’s wishes and expectations. Christian stewardship recognizes all that we have, our occupations, our resources, even our very lives, belong to God. Therefore, we are stewards charged with managing God’s resources according to his wishes and expectations.

So why bring back the Stewardship Committee? To flip the committee on its head. Rather than looking for more ways to bring resources into the church. Let’s bring back the committee to look at the resources we have and use them well. To give rather than to receive.

In this time of social distancing and restricted gatherings, many of us are tempted to focus on the things we do not have. In my church, we long for the time when we might return to in-person worship. We are frustrated by the inability to have children’s programming. We wonder when we will be able to gather without face masks and social distancing. There are many things we have lost. While we are focused on the things we do not have, we can too easily miss the things we do have. The things God has given to us to manage, to steward, well.

What are some of the resources we have? I have debated whether to list actual ideas here. I want this post to be about giving people permission to dream and do rather than to do the ideas I have heard. Still in hopes that it might help us think about what I mean. Here are some things we have:

  • We have a large field. Community Garden? Outdoor movie?
  • We have property. Make and install a Blessing Box?
  • We have a building. Food distribution point?
  • We have wi-fi. Access point for online learning?
  • We have a Transmogrifier, several of them.
  • We have paper, markers, crayons. What could be done with them?
  • We have ____________. What could be used?

Someone once said, “If you want to kill a good idea, form a committee.” After all of that, maybe we don’t need a committee, we just need to look around and dream. What do you see?

It’s not just the church. Look around. What do you have? What have you been given? How are you managing the resources of God?

Blessings,
Stephen

Missional Creed

May 21, 2020 /

For centuries the church has been guided by statements of creed. The most common being the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. The simple statements give voice to our core beliefs and direct our actions as a church. They are not perfect statements. Many have noted that these statements tend to lack references to the life of Christ and to his missional call to his people. Jesus said he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is saying not only is he the way to the Father, he is also saying he is the supreme example of how we are to live as Christians. So we should not too quickly miss the significance of his life and call in our basic statement of belief.

Recently, I came across The Missional Creed by David Gustafson. This statement seeks to give voice to the orthodox faith of the church. I offer this creed here to cause us to ponder. What do these words of creed say about the role, mission, and future of the church in the days ahead? What does it say about the way each of us interacts in our communities?

The Missional Creed

by David M. Gustafson

We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, who sent his Son into the world, and who now sends us into the world, as witnesses to his reign in heaven and on earth.

We believe in Jesus Christ, who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and became man, the Light of Light who entered our darkened world, to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the sick, and to set the oppressed free. For us and for our salvation, he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. On the third day, he rose as victor from the dead. He ascended into heaven where he is head of his body, the church, and will come again in glory and judgment, and reign in his triumphal kingdom.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, who leads us, the people of God, on the mission of God, to join in the work of the kingdom of God. In this, we are called as Christ’s holy and apostolic church, to bear witness to God’s love, mercy, and justice, to proclaim good news in word and deed, to make disciples of all peoples, for the redemption of all creation, to the glory of God’s holy name. Amen.

SOURCE: https://davidmgustafson.blogspot.com/2014/01/missional-creed.html

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