Where’s your focus?
If life is going to be something more than a go-through-the-motions, tread-water, maintain-a-daily-existence kind of endeavor, it has to have a focus. And the focus itself has to be the consequence of intentional choice. True enough: choosing not to have a focus—I’ll just continue to go through the motions, thank you very much—is a focus…of sorts. But there should be more to life than just living. There should be meaning. And meaning requires focus.
That said, you can focus your life in all sorts of ways, on all kinds of things—collectively, referred to as “things of this world.” It’s what the world teaches: focus on money, job, status, stuff. It’s what I meant when I wrote about live small, the very first of the discipleship practices. And let’s be clear: money, status, and stuff are not necessarily bad things to focus on providing such focus is in service to something bigger than ourselves…providing, that is, money, status, and stuff are not the primary, the most important focus of our lives. Discipleship needn’t be a call to scarcity.
Following Jesus—if we’re really to take this seriously—demands that the primary, most important focus of our lives is the Kingdom. Not the church. The Kingdom. Which is to say that the focus of our lives is to be living in such a way that what we do and who we are bears witness to the values and ethics and understandings God desires for all God’s children. That’s the point of all these discipleship practices, to direct us toward living not for a paycheck or a party but for something bigger, something, if you will, higher. The higher purposes of the Kingdom.
What, exactly, are the higher purposes of the Kingdom? Let me suggest five:
• Lordship of Christ—acknowledging that because Jesus is over all things, we are to follow Jesus in all things; we cannot be what we cannot see so, in knowing the life of Jesus, we know what it means to be a follower of Jesus
• love of God, love of neighbor—“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” Scripture tells us, to which Jesus added, “And your neighbor as yourself,” summarizing what is most important for us to do
• humility—it’s not about you because you don’t belong to you, you belong to Jesus who bought you at a price and calls you to be a vehicle by which others can come to know the love of Christ
• mercy—in a broken world, reaching out to and coming along side people to aid them in their suffering
• justice—working in the ways of Jesus to bring about the love of Jesus, that the shalom God desires for all people can be manifest
It’s no coincidence that, one way or another, each of the discipleship practices I’ve written about are implicit in these higher purposes of the Kingdom because the goal of discipleship is a Kingdom-focused life.
Some Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:5
Matthew 22:34-40
Philippians 2:6-11
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Missional Discipleship Practices, 6: Worship
As with prayer, we tend to make worship difficult. And, as with prayer, it isn’t. Or shouldn’t be.
We think worship we tend to think sanctuary and liturgy and pastors or priests, as if worship can only be done rightly in special places, in special ways, led by special people. There’s no doubt that services of worship, organized according to liturgies that include confessions and prayers and hymns and sacraments that we know and have meaning, held in sacred places set apart for such a purpose and led by people who, through their training and insight, make the services meaningful in ways they otherwise might not be, are a blessing.
Yet it’s also true that one person, alone, anywhere, anytime can worship God. Because it isn’t the time or the place or the leadership that makes worship. It’s the presence of Jesus Christ. And as Scripture itself reminds us in stories of people worshiping in tents and caves and prisons and mountaintops, Jesus is everywhere.
Wherever, whenever, however we proactively acknowledge we are in Christ’s presence to worship, certain basic realities of worship don’t change:
• In worship, we acknowledge the presence of God in the world and in our lives. This, in fact, is one of the most important professions we can make.
• In worship we are nurtured and renewed by the Word, the Sacraments, by prayer and the opportunity to give thanks. Indeed, most worship is an act of thanksgiving to the God who gives and sustains our lives.
• In worship we are reminded, even when we worship alone, that we are members of a much larger community—followers of Jesus who are doing the best they can to follow faithfully. And for all the gifts of worshiping alone, there is a greater gift of the synergy that arises when worshiping with others.
• In worship we are renewed to be sent out into the world as ambassadors of Christ. As with so much else when we follow Jesus, worship, for all its gifts to us as individuals, is always in service to something bigger than ourselves.
Some Scripture: Exodus 27:21
Acts 16:25
We think worship we tend to think sanctuary and liturgy and pastors or priests, as if worship can only be done rightly in special places, in special ways, led by special people. There’s no doubt that services of worship, organized according to liturgies that include confessions and prayers and hymns and sacraments that we know and have meaning, held in sacred places set apart for such a purpose and led by people who, through their training and insight, make the services meaningful in ways they otherwise might not be, are a blessing.
Yet it’s also true that one person, alone, anywhere, anytime can worship God. Because it isn’t the time or the place or the leadership that makes worship. It’s the presence of Jesus Christ. And as Scripture itself reminds us in stories of people worshiping in tents and caves and prisons and mountaintops, Jesus is everywhere.
Wherever, whenever, however we proactively acknowledge we are in Christ’s presence to worship, certain basic realities of worship don’t change:
• In worship, we acknowledge the presence of God in the world and in our lives. This, in fact, is one of the most important professions we can make.
• In worship we are nurtured and renewed by the Word, the Sacraments, by prayer and the opportunity to give thanks. Indeed, most worship is an act of thanksgiving to the God who gives and sustains our lives.
• In worship we are reminded, even when we worship alone, that we are members of a much larger community—followers of Jesus who are doing the best they can to follow faithfully. And for all the gifts of worshiping alone, there is a greater gift of the synergy that arises when worshiping with others.
• In worship we are renewed to be sent out into the world as ambassadors of Christ. As with so much else when we follow Jesus, worship, for all its gifts to us as individuals, is always in service to something bigger than ourselves.
Some Scripture: Exodus 27:21
Acts 16:25
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Missional Discipleship Practices, 5: Prayer
We make prayer so difficult. It isn’t. Really.
But, first, we have to get past the idea that proper prayer means saying the proper words in the proper way at the proper time, otherwise God won’t listen. Prayer, at its most basic, is simply talking and listening to God, no more, no less.
Consider this: a God who, by definition, is all-knowing, already knows what’s in our hearts and minds. We don’t have to give voice to our prayers for God to hear them. Which means that “proper” doesn’t enter into it: God will hear our prayers however, wherever, whenever they’re said. I’d even go so far as to say that prayer is less important for what we say and how we say it than it is for what the act of praying says about our faith—that we acknowledge God as the source of our help and salvation, that we turn to and trust in God above all others (including ourselves), that we recognize a God still active in the world is, through the work and power of the Holy Spirit, active in our lives, using for good whatever befalls us.
None of which is to say that we should pray carelessly or only to further our own agendas. The fact “proper” doesn’t enter into it doesn’t mean we can talk to God the way we would a telemarketer…or an employee. We can certainly be angry at God, praying angry prayers…and we can pray frightened prayers and lonely prayers and how-dare-you prayers. The Psalms—Scripture’s prayer book—is full of such prayers. As it is joyful prayers, worshipful prayers, prayers of thanksgiving and outright awe…also appropriate prayers to pray. However we pray, God is big enough to take it.
But prayer, equally, is about listening. If you’re like me, the biggest challenge in praying is to stop talking. I tend to treat God like God’s taking dictation: I speak my laundry list of concerns, God makes notes, then gets to work on my behalf. If, however, God knows what’s in my heart before I say it, my words are far less important than God’s answer. Which means listening, but listening not just with my ears. I may talk but God frequently answers my prayers in ways that don’t involve words at all: they involve other people, they involve experiences, they involve feelings. Understand “listening,” then, as “openness”…openness to all that is around you because God will answer your prayers as God chooses, how God chooses, when and where God chooses.
So, prayer in the life of a Jesus follower—not about “proper” but about this: faith that God alone is the answer…trust that God will answer…openness to how God will answer…patience for when God will answer…conviction to embrace and live out God’s answer.
Some Scripture: Psalm 5
Matthew 6:5-15
Romans 8:26-27
But, first, we have to get past the idea that proper prayer means saying the proper words in the proper way at the proper time, otherwise God won’t listen. Prayer, at its most basic, is simply talking and listening to God, no more, no less.
Consider this: a God who, by definition, is all-knowing, already knows what’s in our hearts and minds. We don’t have to give voice to our prayers for God to hear them. Which means that “proper” doesn’t enter into it: God will hear our prayers however, wherever, whenever they’re said. I’d even go so far as to say that prayer is less important for what we say and how we say it than it is for what the act of praying says about our faith—that we acknowledge God as the source of our help and salvation, that we turn to and trust in God above all others (including ourselves), that we recognize a God still active in the world is, through the work and power of the Holy Spirit, active in our lives, using for good whatever befalls us.
None of which is to say that we should pray carelessly or only to further our own agendas. The fact “proper” doesn’t enter into it doesn’t mean we can talk to God the way we would a telemarketer…or an employee. We can certainly be angry at God, praying angry prayers…and we can pray frightened prayers and lonely prayers and how-dare-you prayers. The Psalms—Scripture’s prayer book—is full of such prayers. As it is joyful prayers, worshipful prayers, prayers of thanksgiving and outright awe…also appropriate prayers to pray. However we pray, God is big enough to take it.
But prayer, equally, is about listening. If you’re like me, the biggest challenge in praying is to stop talking. I tend to treat God like God’s taking dictation: I speak my laundry list of concerns, God makes notes, then gets to work on my behalf. If, however, God knows what’s in my heart before I say it, my words are far less important than God’s answer. Which means listening, but listening not just with my ears. I may talk but God frequently answers my prayers in ways that don’t involve words at all: they involve other people, they involve experiences, they involve feelings. Understand “listening,” then, as “openness”…openness to all that is around you because God will answer your prayers as God chooses, how God chooses, when and where God chooses.
So, prayer in the life of a Jesus follower—not about “proper” but about this: faith that God alone is the answer…trust that God will answer…openness to how God will answer…patience for when God will answer…conviction to embrace and live out God’s answer.
Some Scripture: Psalm 5
Matthew 6:5-15
Romans 8:26-27
Monday, August 6, 2012
Missional Discipleship Practices, 4: Scripture
It’s just sort of a given that if you’re going to be a follower of Jesus, you’re going to spend at least some time reading the Bible.
This can be a little daunting. Especially if you’re just finding your way into Scripture. It’s a big book, and it isn’t always the easiest of reads. Furthermore, people can’t agree about it. They argue about where it came from, how to read it, whether or not it’s still applicable to life today. But I would say this: yes, reading the Bible can be daunting, but it’s important…one of the most important disciplines of anyone who’d follow Jesus…and it is absolutely applicable today, with as much to say to you and me as at any time since the words were committed to scrolls. That’s because Scripture, first and foremost, tells us about Jesus—do we need Jesus any less now than anyone has in the past?
My purpose in this post is not to provide a plan for reading Scripture (you can find one here). But I do have a couple of things to say.
First, it’s important to read the Bible not just for content, for what the words say. It’s important to read the Bible because it’s through the words of Scripture that the Holy Spirit so often speaks to us. Hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to you through Scripture doesn’t require Biblical expertise, that you know the Bible cover-to-cover and understand all it says (no one can rightly claim that). It simply requires a willingness to engage what you find with heart and mind open. Reading the Bible opens a line of communication with the Lord.
Second, it’s important to read the Bible in community. This doesn’t mean reading solo is a bad idea. There is much to be gained from time spent, alone, with Scripture. But if reading the Bible opens a line of communication with the Lord, what the Lord may be saying is probably best discerned corporately. It’s too easy to confuse your own agenda with the voice of the Lord if you’re the only one listening.
Third, it’s important to read the Bible as a discipline but not necessarily in the sense of I-must-read-three-chapters-a-day-or-I’m-letting-Jesus-down. The Lord is not, after all, limited to speaking to us only through Scripture. The Lord can speak to us through art, through music, through experience. In fact, because silence itself can often speak volumes, the Lord can communicate to us by saying nothing at all. Reading the Bible should be a discipline in the sense that it is part—indeed, the biggest, most important part—of an ongoing, consistent, intentional effort to listen to what the Lord is telling you, however the Lord is telling you, every day.
Finally, it’s important to read the Bible as God’s message to a missional people. God’s call to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-9) is the call to go forth and be a blessing to all the nations—a call that, one way or another, resonates throughout the entire Scriptural narrative, from King David to the Prophets to Jesus himself to Paul and the development of the early church. And it’s still the call God places on our lives today as followers of Jesus: go forth, live the Good News, and be a blessing to those around us. Understanding that the Bible is God’s message to a missional people (that’s you and me) is critically important because it reminds us that we are to listen to what the Lord tells us through Scripture missionally. Which is to say that we hear it not as being just about our own personal, individual salvation, but as being about the role each of us plays in helping grow the Kingdom.
Some Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Acts 1:6-11
This can be a little daunting. Especially if you’re just finding your way into Scripture. It’s a big book, and it isn’t always the easiest of reads. Furthermore, people can’t agree about it. They argue about where it came from, how to read it, whether or not it’s still applicable to life today. But I would say this: yes, reading the Bible can be daunting, but it’s important…one of the most important disciplines of anyone who’d follow Jesus…and it is absolutely applicable today, with as much to say to you and me as at any time since the words were committed to scrolls. That’s because Scripture, first and foremost, tells us about Jesus—do we need Jesus any less now than anyone has in the past?
My purpose in this post is not to provide a plan for reading Scripture (you can find one here). But I do have a couple of things to say.
First, it’s important to read the Bible not just for content, for what the words say. It’s important to read the Bible because it’s through the words of Scripture that the Holy Spirit so often speaks to us. Hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to you through Scripture doesn’t require Biblical expertise, that you know the Bible cover-to-cover and understand all it says (no one can rightly claim that). It simply requires a willingness to engage what you find with heart and mind open. Reading the Bible opens a line of communication with the Lord.
Second, it’s important to read the Bible in community. This doesn’t mean reading solo is a bad idea. There is much to be gained from time spent, alone, with Scripture. But if reading the Bible opens a line of communication with the Lord, what the Lord may be saying is probably best discerned corporately. It’s too easy to confuse your own agenda with the voice of the Lord if you’re the only one listening.
Third, it’s important to read the Bible as a discipline but not necessarily in the sense of I-must-read-three-chapters-a-day-or-I’m-letting-Jesus-down. The Lord is not, after all, limited to speaking to us only through Scripture. The Lord can speak to us through art, through music, through experience. In fact, because silence itself can often speak volumes, the Lord can communicate to us by saying nothing at all. Reading the Bible should be a discipline in the sense that it is part—indeed, the biggest, most important part—of an ongoing, consistent, intentional effort to listen to what the Lord is telling you, however the Lord is telling you, every day.
Finally, it’s important to read the Bible as God’s message to a missional people. God’s call to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-9) is the call to go forth and be a blessing to all the nations—a call that, one way or another, resonates throughout the entire Scriptural narrative, from King David to the Prophets to Jesus himself to Paul and the development of the early church. And it’s still the call God places on our lives today as followers of Jesus: go forth, live the Good News, and be a blessing to those around us. Understanding that the Bible is God’s message to a missional people (that’s you and me) is critically important because it reminds us that we are to listen to what the Lord tells us through Scripture missionally. Which is to say that we hear it not as being just about our own personal, individual salvation, but as being about the role each of us plays in helping grow the Kingdom.
Some Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Acts 1:6-11
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Missional Discipleship Practices, 3: Stewards
What I have is mine. I worked for it…I paid for it…it belongs to me. And what I do with it is up to me: whether I hoard it or share it is nobody’s business because it’s mine to do with as I please.
In a way of life that places so much emphasis on individualism—individual success, individual achievement—and measures the significance of that individualism mostly in terms of stuff…well, it just seems to follow that whatever we have, we own.
Yet the Bible has an altogether different take and, frankly, in a I-worked-for-it-I-paid-for-it-it-belongs-to-me world, it’s a tough sell. Tough or not, Scripture is unflinching: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. (Psalm 24:1). In parable after parable Jesus tells, God is always the owner of the land or vineyard, always the King, and you and I—we’re the tenants, the workers, the managers, the servants. The point is not our respective roles (who wants to think of themselves as a servant?). The point is the relationship (owner/worker) and what that relationship says about our possessions.
What it says is, we aren’t owners. We’re stewards. What we possess—all of it—is a gift from God, a gift given with the intent that we will use it to meet our own needs but, equally important, to do our part in meeting the needs of others. This doesn’t diminish how hard we work nor does it suggest we don’t deserve what we have. After all, God didn’t just drop our houses and our cars and our clothes in our laps. But it does remind us of the bigger reality: if everything in the world first belongs to God, what we have and the skills and opportunities we utilized to acquire it—all that belongs to God.
This follows from the first two disciplines. My life is not about me alone but about life lived with and for others in community. As a steward of God’s good gifts, I do my part in meeting my own needs…I do my part in helping meet the needs of others.
But I don’t do it from a sense of guilt or obligation. I do it—I give—because of what Jesus gave for me. If my life was worth his life, how can I not give? It’s an act of thanksgiving and an act of worship. And an act, if you will, of testimony. All that stuff measuring my success? It’s a means to an end much bigger than my own creature comforts and sense of security. They’re tools for doing my part for the Kingdom and, in the process, showing the world something of what it means to follow Jesus.
Some Scripture: Psalm 24
Matthew 25:14-30
In a way of life that places so much emphasis on individualism—individual success, individual achievement—and measures the significance of that individualism mostly in terms of stuff…well, it just seems to follow that whatever we have, we own.
Yet the Bible has an altogether different take and, frankly, in a I-worked-for-it-I-paid-for-it-it-belongs-to-me world, it’s a tough sell. Tough or not, Scripture is unflinching: The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. (Psalm 24:1). In parable after parable Jesus tells, God is always the owner of the land or vineyard, always the King, and you and I—we’re the tenants, the workers, the managers, the servants. The point is not our respective roles (who wants to think of themselves as a servant?). The point is the relationship (owner/worker) and what that relationship says about our possessions.
What it says is, we aren’t owners. We’re stewards. What we possess—all of it—is a gift from God, a gift given with the intent that we will use it to meet our own needs but, equally important, to do our part in meeting the needs of others. This doesn’t diminish how hard we work nor does it suggest we don’t deserve what we have. After all, God didn’t just drop our houses and our cars and our clothes in our laps. But it does remind us of the bigger reality: if everything in the world first belongs to God, what we have and the skills and opportunities we utilized to acquire it—all that belongs to God.
This follows from the first two disciplines. My life is not about me alone but about life lived with and for others in community. As a steward of God’s good gifts, I do my part in meeting my own needs…I do my part in helping meet the needs of others.
But I don’t do it from a sense of guilt or obligation. I do it—I give—because of what Jesus gave for me. If my life was worth his life, how can I not give? It’s an act of thanksgiving and an act of worship. And an act, if you will, of testimony. All that stuff measuring my success? It’s a means to an end much bigger than my own creature comforts and sense of security. They’re tools for doing my part for the Kingdom and, in the process, showing the world something of what it means to follow Jesus.
Some Scripture: Psalm 24
Matthew 25:14-30
Monday, July 9, 2012
Missional Discipleship Practices, 2: Community
The call to discipleship may be received individually, but it's lived in community.
That makes some of us uncomfortable. Our relationship with Jesus--if we have one--is personal. What we may read in Scripture or hear in sermons or encounter in books we process asking, "What does this mean in my life?" Faith, like so much else in our culture, is often seen as a private possession. And because we're not always comfortable with what we think we understand about our faith, we're reluctant to put ourselves in a position where we feel compelled to share of what we know. It might be wrong. It might sound stupid.
Yet God always calls people--even leaders--into community. You can pretty much search Scripture in vain for the story of an individual called by God to be alone. And so it was with Jesus: the disciples, called individually, but called to live their discipleship in community with and for others. And with the early church (see the book of Acts): Christians called to live and worship and serve in community.
There's good reason for this, and it has nothing to do with safety in numbers or that it's easier to remain anonymous.
This is, partly, unavoidable. We share our lives with people who have no apparent interest in Jesus. But, equally, it's intentional. Do-you-know-Jesus-Christ-as-your-Lord-and-Savior doesn't work. In-your-face proselytizing of any kind doesn't work. It's the kind of thing that gives Christians a bad name. The point, in fact, is not to proselytize at all. The point is simply to live life together, letting how we live say all we need to say about following Jesus.
And living in community doesn't necessarily mean going to church. Not that there's anything wrong with going to church. We should go to church. But for too long Christians have equated "being in community" with "being in church." Look at Jesus himself: how often did he gather with people to break bread or to teach, and how often did he gather them to go to church? Being in church should be an outgrowth of being in community, not the other way around.
Some Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Acts 2:43-47
That makes some of us uncomfortable. Our relationship with Jesus--if we have one--is personal. What we may read in Scripture or hear in sermons or encounter in books we process asking, "What does this mean in my life?" Faith, like so much else in our culture, is often seen as a private possession. And because we're not always comfortable with what we think we understand about our faith, we're reluctant to put ourselves in a position where we feel compelled to share of what we know. It might be wrong. It might sound stupid.
Yet God always calls people--even leaders--into community. You can pretty much search Scripture in vain for the story of an individual called by God to be alone. And so it was with Jesus: the disciples, called individually, but called to live their discipleship in community with and for others. And with the early church (see the book of Acts): Christians called to live and worship and serve in community.
There's good reason for this, and it has nothing to do with safety in numbers or that it's easier to remain anonymous.
- First, the Holy Spirit often speaks to us through the words and lives of others.
- Second, living our faith with others makes accountability easier.
- Third, communities provide support and can accomplish together what individuals alone cannot.
- Fourth, for all our cultural emphasis on individualism, our lives tend to be organized into groups anyway (not that all groups are communities, but we are used to living our lives with others whether at work or at the gym or in the neighborhood).
This is, partly, unavoidable. We share our lives with people who have no apparent interest in Jesus. But, equally, it's intentional. Do-you-know-Jesus-Christ-as-your-Lord-and-Savior doesn't work. In-your-face proselytizing of any kind doesn't work. It's the kind of thing that gives Christians a bad name. The point, in fact, is not to proselytize at all. The point is simply to live life together, letting how we live say all we need to say about following Jesus.
And living in community doesn't necessarily mean going to church. Not that there's anything wrong with going to church. We should go to church. But for too long Christians have equated "being in community" with "being in church." Look at Jesus himself: how often did he gather with people to break bread or to teach, and how often did he gather them to go to church? Being in church should be an outgrowth of being in community, not the other way around.
Some Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Acts 2:43-47
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Missional Discipleship Practices, 1: Live Small
Discipleship, ultimately, is about Jesus. But it starts with me.
Those two great truths of discipleship about who I can trust and what I can control mean that the path to discipleship has to begin with me. And that means taking a hard look at how I understand myself and choices I’m making about how I live.
First, because I don’t live in a vacuum, I need to be aware of what the culture of which I’m part tells me about who I am and how I should live.
Those two great truths of discipleship about who I can trust and what I can control mean that the path to discipleship has to begin with me. And that means taking a hard look at how I understand myself and choices I’m making about how I live.
First, because I don’t live in a vacuum, I need to be aware of what the culture of which I’m part tells me about who I am and how I should live.
What contemporary American culture tells me is that I am what I do, where I live, and what I own; that my happiness, my sense of self-worth and, ultimately, my security, are in material wealth. So it follows: the more I have, the more I am. And because I should always want to be more, I should always strive to have more. It makes the economic world go ‘round.
It also tells me that I should live for me (my own desires should define my life) and, if I have one, my family. Others live for themselves and their families. Each person, each family—autonomous. I don’t need to be concerned with how my life choices might impact anyone else.
Collectively, this helps explain why I live trusting myself first and foremost and why I believe that through my own efforts and material success, I can control most of what happens to me.
Yet Jesus says something rather different.
- My identity and security are not in what I own so that the more I have, the better I am. I can lose all of that tomorrow. My identity and security are in my relationship with Jesus.
- Choices I make about my life don’t impact only my life or the life of my family. Depending upon the choice, it can impact my neighbor, my employees, my community, people across the state, across the country, across the ocean. My responsibility as a human being doesn’t begin and end with me.
Living small is not just about the size of my consumption footprint. It’s about recognizing that my life is not about me. It’s the kind of life Jesus modeled during his earthly ministry: life lived mindful of our obligation to others.
I can think of it as striving for low maintenance living. That doesn't mean asceticism. It means mindfulness: knowing how much is enough, sensitivity to how my life impacts others, awareness of my responsibility to help others. The less energy I require to maintain my life, the more energy I have for living. For Jesus, for my family, for others, for me.
Some Scripture: Luke 9:46-48; 12:13-21
Matthew 20:20-28Monday, June 18, 2012
Two Great Truths of Discipleship
Discipleship...I believe there are two great truths:
The bottom line of what discipleship is about is accepting and learning to live these two truths.
As great truths go, these two are straight-forward enough, but unpacking them will take some time. Unpacking them we must do, though, because they are foundational to all we think we know about living for the Kingdom.
It's easy to make a list of those people and institutions we don't always completely trust: the government, the boss, the media. At the same time, there are those we want to believe we can completely trust--our spouse, our significant other, our friends--and we count ourselves blessed if we can. The reality is, however, that all these people are still human, and because they are human they are broken, and because they are broken they can fail. Which means they can fail us. This isn't cynicism. It's the consequence of a fallen, sinful creation.
Jesus, on the other hand, will never fail us, will always be there for us, will always care for us.
We are control freaks. It isn't a question of if, only of how much. We like to believe that if we just work hard enough, hoard enough, hold on enough, that we can control just about everything that comes our way. But that's one of the great lies of the human condition. In the proverbial flash of an eye, everything we think we have, all the control we think we possess, can be taken away, and there's nothing we can do about it. Anything we think we can control, we can't.
Except this: we can control how much of our lives we choose to trust to Jesus.
Everything we do in the name of discipleship rises or falls on our willingness to trust Jesus with our lives.
How do you understand the relationship between trust in Jesus and discipleship?
- the only one you can trust completely is Jesus Christ
- the only thing over which you have complete control is how much of your life you choose to trust to Jesus Christ
The bottom line of what discipleship is about is accepting and learning to live these two truths.
As great truths go, these two are straight-forward enough, but unpacking them will take some time. Unpacking them we must do, though, because they are foundational to all we think we know about living for the Kingdom.
It's easy to make a list of those people and institutions we don't always completely trust: the government, the boss, the media. At the same time, there are those we want to believe we can completely trust--our spouse, our significant other, our friends--and we count ourselves blessed if we can. The reality is, however, that all these people are still human, and because they are human they are broken, and because they are broken they can fail. Which means they can fail us. This isn't cynicism. It's the consequence of a fallen, sinful creation.
Jesus, on the other hand, will never fail us, will always be there for us, will always care for us.
We are control freaks. It isn't a question of if, only of how much. We like to believe that if we just work hard enough, hoard enough, hold on enough, that we can control just about everything that comes our way. But that's one of the great lies of the human condition. In the proverbial flash of an eye, everything we think we have, all the control we think we possess, can be taken away, and there's nothing we can do about it. Anything we think we can control, we can't.
Except this: we can control how much of our lives we choose to trust to Jesus.
Everything we do in the name of discipleship rises or falls on our willingness to trust Jesus with our lives.
How do you understand the relationship between trust in Jesus and discipleship?
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Importance of Discipleship to Community Groups
Community groups, incarnational communities, fellowship groups, mission groups--a rose by any other name, as it were, but whatever we choose to call them, they're central to the implementation of a missional/incarnational church. But they can also pose a real challenge, especially for a traditional congregation transitioning to a missional/incarnational congregation.
Partly it's that DNA thing again. New churches, starting from scratch, and especially if they're reaching out to the unchurched, can make community groups part of who and what they are from the proverbial get-go. Living your walk with the Lord in a community group is just part of what it means to do and be church.
But, for traditional churches especially, it's also about baggage. People in traditional congregations hear "community groups," they think "small groups." Small group ministries of various stripes have been church staples for decades. For many people, their experience of small groups was positive; for just as many, however, the experience was something else...a weekly commitment to forced intimacy that made them profoundly uncomfortable. The idea of yet another small group experience...no thanks..been there, done that.
And there is the matter of time. Being in a community group is just one more thing to have to make time for in a schedule already begging for mercy.
We're very mindful of all this as we gear up to launch our first community groups. And because we are, we've come to the conclusion that the success of our community groups hinges on us first emphasizing the importance of discipleship. We're certainly not alone in this. Mike Breen, among others, has argued that apart from a discipleship process, community groups and missional/incarnational church are doomed to failure. The key, we believe, is in educating our congregation that Christian discipleship, rightly understood, is naturally lived out in a community group. Such groups, in fact, are the best expression of living life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is not pedagogical slight-of-hand, either. The Scriptural, theological, and ecclesiastical basis for such an approach is sound.
Further, it's not about forced intimacy. It's about living your life with others. Appropriate levels of intimacy may naturally develop as a result, but there is no performance expectation as far as intimacy is concerned. Besides, we're all already living our lives with groups of people anyway. It's a matter of doing so with some intentionality because that's where our discipleship to Jesus and the work of the Kingdom leads us.
So, we're really working on ways to explain, explore, and emphasize discipleship as a necessary foundation for launching our community groups. In the coming weeks and months, I'll document what we discover.
In the meantime, we're interested in hearing about your experience. How have you defined discipleship vis-a-vis community groups? What role does discipleship training play in involving people in community groups?
Partly it's that DNA thing again. New churches, starting from scratch, and especially if they're reaching out to the unchurched, can make community groups part of who and what they are from the proverbial get-go. Living your walk with the Lord in a community group is just part of what it means to do and be church.
But, for traditional churches especially, it's also about baggage. People in traditional congregations hear "community groups," they think "small groups." Small group ministries of various stripes have been church staples for decades. For many people, their experience of small groups was positive; for just as many, however, the experience was something else...a weekly commitment to forced intimacy that made them profoundly uncomfortable. The idea of yet another small group experience...no thanks..been there, done that.
And there is the matter of time. Being in a community group is just one more thing to have to make time for in a schedule already begging for mercy.
We're very mindful of all this as we gear up to launch our first community groups. And because we are, we've come to the conclusion that the success of our community groups hinges on us first emphasizing the importance of discipleship. We're certainly not alone in this. Mike Breen, among others, has argued that apart from a discipleship process, community groups and missional/incarnational church are doomed to failure. The key, we believe, is in educating our congregation that Christian discipleship, rightly understood, is naturally lived out in a community group. Such groups, in fact, are the best expression of living life under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is not pedagogical slight-of-hand, either. The Scriptural, theological, and ecclesiastical basis for such an approach is sound.
Further, it's not about forced intimacy. It's about living your life with others. Appropriate levels of intimacy may naturally develop as a result, but there is no performance expectation as far as intimacy is concerned. Besides, we're all already living our lives with groups of people anyway. It's a matter of doing so with some intentionality because that's where our discipleship to Jesus and the work of the Kingdom leads us.
So, we're really working on ways to explain, explore, and emphasize discipleship as a necessary foundation for launching our community groups. In the coming weeks and months, I'll document what we discover.
In the meantime, we're interested in hearing about your experience. How have you defined discipleship vis-a-vis community groups? What role does discipleship training play in involving people in community groups?
Friday, June 8, 2012
Of Wineskins and Garments
I've written in the past about the fact that one of the challenges of leading a traditional church through the transformative process of becoming a missional/incarnational church is the need to nurture both simultaneously. A decision to go missional and, from the get-go, leave traditional behind is, to my mind, a denial of responsibility. Becoming missional is, almost by definition, a process, a movement of people from one way of living--not just one way of being church--to another. As such, it takes time: traditional and missional will exist side-by-side, and the timetable for coexistence is up to the Holy Spirit, not to me.
But...I've been spending time in Luke 5 lately and there is that business of the parable of the new wineskins. Jesus clearly is talking about new ways of being God's people and while he never mentions the word "church" how can we read his words and not think about the organizations and institutions of the faith? And if we do, it seems equally clear that Jesus is telling us that the old and the new cannot exist simultaneously without compromise at best, damage at worst.
Jesus, first in terms of garments, then wineskins, sets out that there is the old and the new. Further, he acknowledges that the old is torn which, read in terms of the church, can refer to the old ways wearing out or to actual splits in congregations and denominations. In either case, the new cannot be patched on to the old because that both disfigures the new and results in an old that is no longer of a piece. Shifting metaphors, Jesus makes it plain that old ways of being cannot hold new ways of being without ruining the old.
What Jesus' parable suggests to me is not that we must abandon traditional ways of being church but that we must not make the mistake of thinking that somehow we can piece together a viable expression of the Body of Christ using some traditional here, some missional/incarnational there. Or, to put it another way, we can't mend tears in old ways of being church with bits and pieces of new ways. And Jesus also reminds me that those who've always known the old will likely always prefer the old.
Damage is something I want to avoid, certainly to minimize. Maybe, therefore, for a time compromise is inevitable. But hasn't compromise always been inevitable? Indeed, any expression of the will of God that utilizes broken human beings can hardly be otherwise. But if we must compromise, let us do so faithfully, expecting that garments and wineskins old and new are to be in service not to comfort or vision but to the Kingdom.
But...I've been spending time in Luke 5 lately and there is that business of the parable of the new wineskins. Jesus clearly is talking about new ways of being God's people and while he never mentions the word "church" how can we read his words and not think about the organizations and institutions of the faith? And if we do, it seems equally clear that Jesus is telling us that the old and the new cannot exist simultaneously without compromise at best, damage at worst.
Jesus, first in terms of garments, then wineskins, sets out that there is the old and the new. Further, he acknowledges that the old is torn which, read in terms of the church, can refer to the old ways wearing out or to actual splits in congregations and denominations. In either case, the new cannot be patched on to the old because that both disfigures the new and results in an old that is no longer of a piece. Shifting metaphors, Jesus makes it plain that old ways of being cannot hold new ways of being without ruining the old.
What Jesus' parable suggests to me is not that we must abandon traditional ways of being church but that we must not make the mistake of thinking that somehow we can piece together a viable expression of the Body of Christ using some traditional here, some missional/incarnational there. Or, to put it another way, we can't mend tears in old ways of being church with bits and pieces of new ways. And Jesus also reminds me that those who've always known the old will likely always prefer the old.
Damage is something I want to avoid, certainly to minimize. Maybe, therefore, for a time compromise is inevitable. But hasn't compromise always been inevitable? Indeed, any expression of the will of God that utilizes broken human beings can hardly be otherwise. But if we must compromise, let us do so faithfully, expecting that garments and wineskins old and new are to be in service not to comfort or vision but to the Kingdom.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Relationship First, Church Second
The other night something happened that reminded me yet again of how much the cultural landscape has changed for the church.
Every week, a neighborhood here in Longmont hosts what's really a big outdoor party. In a park in the middle of the neighborhood they bring in a live band and food trucks. People bring lawn chairs, buy dinner, listen to the band, and they talk with one another. And as they talk with one another, relationships are furthered or, I imagine, started. It's a diverse crowd, but mostly 30-somethings with their kids. It is a very family-friendly environment.
I couldn't help but think: here is a microcosm of the future of the church. Here is our mission field. They will gather--hundreds of them--for food trucks and live music. Mostly, though, I'm convinced, they will gather because of relationships they already have (many obviously were there with friends) or, as they meet people, to form new ones. I saw very few people who appeared to be there alone. It was an experience they wanted because it was an experience they could share.
How many of them, I wondered, would be there if this was church? Even with the food trucks and the live band. If it were church, that's typically how it'd work: we'd identify a spot, bring in a band and food trucks, do some publicity, and see who shows up. And my guess is, it wouldn't be 1/100 the number there the other evening.
Thus, the change in the cultural landscape for the church. And it's about relationships. Used to, people came to church and, once they were there, formed relationships. Church first, relationships second. Now, people form relationships and only then, if at all, would they form a church. Relationships first, church second. Another missional reality: before we can be church with anyone in our mission field, we first have to be friends.
Every week, a neighborhood here in Longmont hosts what's really a big outdoor party. In a park in the middle of the neighborhood they bring in a live band and food trucks. People bring lawn chairs, buy dinner, listen to the band, and they talk with one another. And as they talk with one another, relationships are furthered or, I imagine, started. It's a diverse crowd, but mostly 30-somethings with their kids. It is a very family-friendly environment.
I couldn't help but think: here is a microcosm of the future of the church. Here is our mission field. They will gather--hundreds of them--for food trucks and live music. Mostly, though, I'm convinced, they will gather because of relationships they already have (many obviously were there with friends) or, as they meet people, to form new ones. I saw very few people who appeared to be there alone. It was an experience they wanted because it was an experience they could share.
How many of them, I wondered, would be there if this was church? Even with the food trucks and the live band. If it were church, that's typically how it'd work: we'd identify a spot, bring in a band and food trucks, do some publicity, and see who shows up. And my guess is, it wouldn't be 1/100 the number there the other evening.
Thus, the change in the cultural landscape for the church. And it's about relationships. Used to, people came to church and, once they were there, formed relationships. Church first, relationships second. Now, people form relationships and only then, if at all, would they form a church. Relationships first, church second. Another missional reality: before we can be church with anyone in our mission field, we first have to be friends.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Talk Less, Preach More
I just finished preaching five weeks on the book of James, which I wrapped-up not with words from James but from Paul. Familiar words, from his letter to the church at Corinth:
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Paul's words ring with a special resonance for the missional/incarnational church. For people who are products of a post-Enlightenment, postmodern, post-Christendom mindset, the fundamental tenets of Christianity are, well, ridiculous. But, no--such has been the case since Jesus himself: the message about the cross, Paul writes, is foolishness.
In a world where people increasingly tune out the claims of institutionalized religion even as they scan the cultural soundscape for spiritual frequencies that ring true, followers of Jesus can no longer preach Christ crucified with words alone. We must, as James would tell us, let the way we live preach for us...be doers of the Word.
As a church elder said to me last night, we Presbyterians sure like to hear ourselves talk. Indeed. Our mission field has tuned out the talk. They need to see faithful living.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Never Quite the Same Again
People who've divorced tell me that, once the decision is made, there is the fear that, somehow, life will stop. But they wake up, they walk outside, and life--the world--goes on...in some ways as if nothing had happened at all. Most everything that used to happen still happens. Yet, in your heart, you know you're in a different place, you've taken a step on a path that will lead you in a direction you've not traveled before...and whether the world changes or not, you'll never be quite the same again.
A decision to transition from traditional/attractional to missional/incarnational isn't divorce, obviously, at least not in the sense that we're separating ourselves from a relationship that has defined our lives to this point. We're still Presbyterian, still denominational, still connectional, still striving to do things decently and in order. Yet, in one very important way, the decision is a step in a direction we've not traveled before. A huge step. We didn't awaken the morning after no longer attractional but wholly missional--would were it that easy--but we all knew we'd never be quite the same again.
Missional church so often seems to be a young person's game. You read books and blogs on missional church, attend conferences on missional church--those responsible, those in the fore-front, those lifted up as leaders to follow and innovators to be emulated, are, for the most part, 20- and 30-somethings, the vast majority of whom are pastoring churches or heading ministries with pubescent DNA. I don't mean they're churches of teenagers--I mean they're young churches.
We're all heirs one way or another to the weight (many would say dead weight) of Christendom, but there's history and then there's history. A church that's been around ten years has a different relationship with history and tradition and we've-always-done-it-this-way-in-the-past than a church that's been around 150. The decision to be missional from the start is a very different decision than the decision to be missional after decades of being attractional. It's hardly a clean break, to extend the marital metaphor. You, in fact, don't want it to be a clean break. For better or worse, the history you have that others don't is a history that still very much defines the present for many in your congregation. You have a pastoral responsibility to honor and serve that. If you don't, the decision to become missional/incarnational is a decision to leave much of your congregation behind. However much God is calling us to a new thing, my guess is that God doesn't expect us to answer the call at the expense of those saints whom, for years, God called in other ways.
A decision for missional/incarnational is not about a pastor's vision--it is about Jesus' vision, because the church belongs to Jesus. Still, once made, life will go on, in some ways as if nothing had happened at all. Most everything that used to happen will still happen. Yet you will be in a different place. You will have taken a step on a path that will lead a direction you've not traveled before. And you'll never be quite the same again.
A decision to transition from traditional/attractional to missional/incarnational isn't divorce, obviously, at least not in the sense that we're separating ourselves from a relationship that has defined our lives to this point. We're still Presbyterian, still denominational, still connectional, still striving to do things decently and in order. Yet, in one very important way, the decision is a step in a direction we've not traveled before. A huge step. We didn't awaken the morning after no longer attractional but wholly missional--would were it that easy--but we all knew we'd never be quite the same again.
Missional church so often seems to be a young person's game. You read books and blogs on missional church, attend conferences on missional church--those responsible, those in the fore-front, those lifted up as leaders to follow and innovators to be emulated, are, for the most part, 20- and 30-somethings, the vast majority of whom are pastoring churches or heading ministries with pubescent DNA. I don't mean they're churches of teenagers--I mean they're young churches.
We're all heirs one way or another to the weight (many would say dead weight) of Christendom, but there's history and then there's history. A church that's been around ten years has a different relationship with history and tradition and we've-always-done-it-this-way-in-the-past than a church that's been around 150. The decision to be missional from the start is a very different decision than the decision to be missional after decades of being attractional. It's hardly a clean break, to extend the marital metaphor. You, in fact, don't want it to be a clean break. For better or worse, the history you have that others don't is a history that still very much defines the present for many in your congregation. You have a pastoral responsibility to honor and serve that. If you don't, the decision to become missional/incarnational is a decision to leave much of your congregation behind. However much God is calling us to a new thing, my guess is that God doesn't expect us to answer the call at the expense of those saints whom, for years, God called in other ways.
A decision for missional/incarnational is not about a pastor's vision--it is about Jesus' vision, because the church belongs to Jesus. Still, once made, life will go on, in some ways as if nothing had happened at all. Most everything that used to happen will still happen. Yet you will be in a different place. You will have taken a step on a path that will lead a direction you've not traveled before. And you'll never be quite the same again.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Missional in Ten Words or Less
The other night my wife and I found ourselves explaining missional church to another couple new to the idea. We found that we could talk about it in excruciating (probably) detail, telling this poor couple far more than they really cared to know. What was harder, we discovered, was summarizing the essence of what it means to be missional. Not a soundbite, by any means, but a way of communicating missional that people can remember and hold on to.
I found this disconcerting. I remember reading somewhere that you don't really understand what you're talking about unless you can summarize it in ten words or less. The fact that I went on quite a long time with this poor couple might suggest I know a lot about missional. On the other hand, it might mean that I've yet to internalize and get inside missional enough that I truly understand what it's about...a reminder, perhaps, that living the missional life is not, as the old cliche goes, a destination but a journey.
Still, it got me to thinking. As a fairly traditional mainline congregation that is attempting to embrace missional/incarnational church, we need to be able to explain it in a way that people can grasp without sitting through a lecture. I shared this with a colleague whose understanding of missional church is invariably spot-on. She suggested this: Moving out into our community to activedly participate in God's mission in the world. OK, it's 14 words, not ten, but I think it's pretty good. Then I found these words from Hugh Halter and Matt Smay: Living out the gospel in community together on mission. Nine words, which I massaged down to seven: Living the gospel in community on mission.
Not bad, I think. It covers what, to me, are the major components of what missional is about--living the gospel, community, and mission. Next time I'm asked to explain missional church, I'll give the short answer. Better yet, if possible, I'll just demonstrate.
I found this disconcerting. I remember reading somewhere that you don't really understand what you're talking about unless you can summarize it in ten words or less. The fact that I went on quite a long time with this poor couple might suggest I know a lot about missional. On the other hand, it might mean that I've yet to internalize and get inside missional enough that I truly understand what it's about...a reminder, perhaps, that living the missional life is not, as the old cliche goes, a destination but a journey.
Still, it got me to thinking. As a fairly traditional mainline congregation that is attempting to embrace missional/incarnational church, we need to be able to explain it in a way that people can grasp without sitting through a lecture. I shared this with a colleague whose understanding of missional church is invariably spot-on. She suggested this: Moving out into our community to activedly participate in God's mission in the world. OK, it's 14 words, not ten, but I think it's pretty good. Then I found these words from Hugh Halter and Matt Smay: Living out the gospel in community together on mission. Nine words, which I massaged down to seven: Living the gospel in community on mission.
Not bad, I think. It covers what, to me, are the major components of what missional is about--living the gospel, community, and mission. Next time I'm asked to explain missional church, I'll give the short answer. Better yet, if possible, I'll just demonstrate.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dancing with Who Brung Us
We've known it was coming. Long ago it ceased being if. Only when. Forces within the Presbyterian Church USA working to change ordination standards would, sooner or later, win a war of attrition. Opposing forces were increasingly weary of the fight, increasingly inclined to walk away. And when, in 2011, the inevitable happened and ordination standards did change, the equally inevitable soon followed. A new Presbyterian denomination appeared--the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians--and the split (some resist calling it a split, but it is what it is) we knew to be coming is upon us. Congregations are not cascading away, but make no mistake: the PCUSA as we've known it is circling the drain.
Many claim we are moving into a post-denominational era, that mainstream denominations are dinosaurs, their rupturing the inevitable consequence of too many congregations losing too many members trying desperately to embrace a center that simply will hold no longer.
Maybe. More definitely, I can say this: if the congregation I serve splits because the denomination splits, we can't blame it on the denomination. If we split, we have only ourselves to blame. The simple fact is that even if the PCUSA ceased to exist tonight, we'd show up tomorrow morning and the vast majority of the work we do, we'd do. We'd still plan worship, still order curriculum, still support mission and outreach...women's circles would still meet, the men's Bible study would still meet...we'd still have our youth groups and our community groups and our prayer groups. And we'd do this because our first allegiance is not to the PCUSA, or to our Synod or to our Presbytery. Our first allegiance is to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom, to the call God has placed on us to bless this community we call home. It is, I think, one of the basic tenets of missional living--Jesus has first call on our lives.
The congregation I serve is in no danger of splitting now. We will be in no danger in the future if, as we used to say in Texas, we dance with who brung us. The PCUSA can do what it will do. Our mission is living for Jesus and growing the Kingdom.
Many claim we are moving into a post-denominational era, that mainstream denominations are dinosaurs, their rupturing the inevitable consequence of too many congregations losing too many members trying desperately to embrace a center that simply will hold no longer.
Maybe. More definitely, I can say this: if the congregation I serve splits because the denomination splits, we can't blame it on the denomination. If we split, we have only ourselves to blame. The simple fact is that even if the PCUSA ceased to exist tonight, we'd show up tomorrow morning and the vast majority of the work we do, we'd do. We'd still plan worship, still order curriculum, still support mission and outreach...women's circles would still meet, the men's Bible study would still meet...we'd still have our youth groups and our community groups and our prayer groups. And we'd do this because our first allegiance is not to the PCUSA, or to our Synod or to our Presbytery. Our first allegiance is to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom, to the call God has placed on us to bless this community we call home. It is, I think, one of the basic tenets of missional living--Jesus has first call on our lives.
The congregation I serve is in no danger of splitting now. We will be in no danger in the future if, as we used to say in Texas, we dance with who brung us. The PCUSA can do what it will do. Our mission is living for Jesus and growing the Kingdom.
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