photo credit: Lomo-Cam

Sometimes when we turn something over we can see something new.

When we try a new approach

When we see things from a different angle

Sometimes to a have a new experience, it means trying a different side

John 21:1-7

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias (or the sea of gallilee). It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ”I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends (or Children), haven’t you any fish?” (notice he asks, expecting a negative answer)
“No,” they answered.

Jesus said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved (John) said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

This has always been a cool “last sighting of Jesus” story. It’s almost like an afterthought in the book of John, John is telling the Jesus story to you, and right before he finishes he says, “Oh yea, check this out… you gotta hear this..”

But the story is also filled with questions. It’s usually titled “the miraculous catch of fish” but you almost kind of wonder, was that really the miracle? And sometimes when we read this it feels almost like a teaching, or a parable… but it’s not.

□        Why don’t the disciples recognize Jesus?

□        Why does Jesus say to try to the right side of the boat?

□        And if the disciples don’t’ recognize Jesus why do they do what a stranger says?

□        Were there no fish swimming on the left side of the boat?

□        Only the right side?

□        Or were there no fish in the water at all, but when Jesus had the disciples switch sides, did the fish miraculously appear?

□        Or were there fish everywhere swimming like normal (because let’s face it, fish don’t swim only on the left or right side of anything – they are fish, “boat” doesn’t make sense to them) and then because Jesus commanded it, the fish just jumped in?

What kind of story is this?

It has been suggested by some that this is a moment of temporary disobedience in the disciples. That after a long weekend of garden, arrest, trial, flogging, execution, resurrection; the disciples have given up on the gospel and have resorted to their old way of life. As if after three years of walking with Jesus, Peter threw up his hands in disgust and said, “I quit, let’s go back to being fishermen.”

Early scholars blamed these fishermen for returning to their previous profession. One writer says, “The scene is rather one of aimless activity undertaken in desperation”

But I would argue, that you can’t really draw that conclusion from the text, the bible doesn’t say that. The text never says the disciples gave up a life of preaching and following Jesus. Sometimes fishing isn’t a symbol for anything… it’s just fishing.

Can’t a brother just want to fish?

Have you ever had such a crazy string of events, that you just have to do something relaxing, something familiar? Something normal for a change? Watch tv? Eat some ice cream, drive to the mall and look at shoes (so I’ve heard).

The disciples had a crazy weekend, filled with terror and tears – who blames them for wanting to go fishing?

Also notice the record of names – we have 7 men listed– had you ever thought about the fact that 7 of the disciples were fisherman? Why did Jesus call so many people from this one profession?

So we have these 7 men, they go out late at night and catch nothing all night long, something a professional fisherman would not want to admit so readily the next morning, and a stranger doth approaches and he says, “caught anything?”

“Nope.”

“Try the other side of the boat.”

Which to us sounds like a completely absurd request. Especially to a modern-day fisherman. Why would “side of boat” make any difference? A real fisherman would laugh at you for suggesting such a thing. Don’t you hate it when you have tried something over and over again and someone just strolls up and suggests the dumbest thing…

“Well did you plug it in?”

Yes…

But the suggestion to try the right side has some implications we’re not picking up on. The first is cultural…

It’s been thought  by some Greeks that the right side of the boat was the “lucky side” and that tying that side of the boat is like superstitious activity of wearing your lucky socks to a football game, or trying a particular “lucky pattern” at a slot machine, so a stranger yelling at you from shore, “try the lucky side” would not have been a strange thing to say.

The second is language…

The Greek word for – Right hand side is dexios meros. Dexios means “right” or “right hand” and is often used as a place of authority. We see this in verses like ..

Matthew 25:34

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

And the book of Hebrews often talks of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.

The 7 fisherman try it, they are successful and the bible says in verse

^v9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread (fish and bread? Who could it be?). ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.

So the miraculous catch is 153 fish. To me that doesn’t sound like a lot, I don’t know. Maybe if they were huge fish, I guess that would be cool. But 153 doesn’t sound like a thousand! Also 153 doesn’t sound “made up” either. I think a fisherman trying to embellish the tale would have made it sound more unrealistic.

But theologians will still try to find out what the number means, 153 must be significant. One ancient bible translator thought that perhaps there were only 153 types of fish that existed in the entire Sea of Galilee and therefore it was a symbol of reaching every tribe and nation in the world. (that sounds nice)

That’s kind of cool, but probably John mentioned the number as a matter of simple fact. With a group of men fishing, the common procedure would be for them to “one for me and one for you” count the fish they caught and then divide them equally to take to market.

Let me tell you what sparked this idea in me. I was reading my son a bedtime story and this is one of the chapters in his children’s bible that he likes. And as I was reading this to him and coming to the end… the ending picture hit me like a ton of bricks and I said out loud… “the gentles.” This is the gentiles. It makes the most sense. Let me show you turn back to…

Mark 1:16-18

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee (same place), he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ”Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

We see Jesus calling the disciples (and us) to be “fishers of  people.” (not fishers of men, the Greek word here is “antropos” meaning people, it’s the same place we get the word “anthropology” which is the study of humanity.

And this phrase “fishers of people” was not invented by Jesus; it had been used for years by Greek and Roman teachers. To be a “fisher of people” in that day meant to seek and to persuade others and to “catch” them with the truth. It was a philosophical phrase.

So certainly we can look at the miraculous catch of fish as being something “other” than a miracle story… it can also be a tie to this original call to be fishers of people. Jesus isn’t just giving them some fish and some income… he is reminding them of this very first calling.

“Come and I will make you fishers of people.”

It’s a miracle and it’s a teaching. It’s a miracle parable.

□        it’s a mirable

□        It’s a paracle.

Jesus calls them to be fishers of people, and for three years they begin a ministry not to the Jewish people, not in synagogues, but in the back alleys, the wells, the weddings and parties of the average person. Jesus’ “good news” was to save all anthropos – all of humanity.

A traditional fisherman tries to catch live fish and kill them to consume them. Fishing is about fooling the victims (fish) into thinking you have something to offer, but in reality it’s a lie… it’s a trick and the punch line is they’re dead.

But a “fisher of people” does things backwards. It’s a totally flipped around approach.

Christians seek to catch “dead fish” (people who are dead in their sins) a world caught in a rut, people tried and tired of their existence, who are looking for something new and untested, and spiritual, something wholly other….

And when they are caught in the grace of Christ, that’s when birth begins and they are truly made alive!

So here we have the fisherman and they are trying the things that they have always tried. In the same way, done the same way – and there is nothing – nobody to be caught.

The traditional, the “been there done that” is coming up with diddly squat.

It’s time to try new, it’s time to fish in a different part of the sea, it’s time to look to the “other side” because apparently, according to Jesus THAT is where the fish are.

Jesus comes along and says, try the “other side” – try the “right side” – the side of authority, the kingdom side – try things my way – try the Jesus approach… and see what happens?

153 fish.

There are fish out there.

There are people out there who can be lured in by truth, who are willing to be captured  by grace,  but who may not respond to the typical tried and true, normal, left handed,  approaches.

Are we preaching now?

Jesus called the disciples to be fishers of all people, and the early church began to flourish with the gentiles and those who had previously been on the outside. So perhaps when we look at this story and we see the net cast on the normal familiar side… nobody is biting, there are no fish there…. Either they have all been caught or they are not open to the story, and when we look at our churches and they seem to be neither growing nor shrinking, neither hot nor cold, we should be asking, well is it time to now throw the net onto the other side?

And what is the “other side” for us? And who are the people who live there? If the left side of the boat is familiar, then I would argue that trying the right side would be a place of questions and doubts and perhaps fear. It’s unexplored and it might be difficult to try.

You know when Peter says, “it is the lord” in verse 7, he says so not because he recognizes the Jesus, but because he recognizes the miracle.

Turn with me over to Luke 5:1-7

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (still another name for the Sea of Galilee), with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon (Peter), and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

So we have this miraculous story at the beginning and the John account at the end.  But here he doesn’t say “try the right side,” Jesus says “put out into deep water.”

“Deep” here is the Greek word bathos

It does mean “deep” as in of the sea, but it is also used as a metaphor in the Greek language to talk about the deep things of God. Isn’t that cool? Next time say to your friends, “Come let us talk about the bathos of God!”

To think of the vastness of God like the deepest darkest parts of the ocean.

In a presidential study in 2000, it was cited that 95% of the world’s oceans are unexplored. Meaning there is much in the deep that we are unaware of, have no knowledge of, and have never even seen.

How does Christ suggest that we catch fish? By trying his approach. By starting on the Jesus side of things, the righteous side, the side of authority, we find fish in the deep, in the areas that might seem unreachable and unknowable. In the darkness, in the shadows…

One British social reformer says it like this: “The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness.”

And I would argue that Christ is calling us there; out into the wilderness.

And isn’t there a deeper thing going on this story? Isn’t it really about perception? Christ is calling his disciples to a new way of seeing things.

Maybe you have always seen and done things that same way. Always cooked meatloaf the same way (terrible), always drive to work the same way, always write with the same hand, always sleep on the same side of the bed, “Well we always do – two songs, announcements, offering, sermon, four songs.”

But Jesus comes along and says, “how about you try crossing the road to the other side, do the thing that is unexpected, the thing that breaks the status quo. How about you hold the church picnic… at a park instead of the church lawn, how about instead of leaving a bible track for your waitress you leave actual money…”

Because a watching world is expecting us to do the things that we have always done. Are we presenting anything that they haven’t seen? And is it because our perception is…. Well there just aren’t any fish out there?

We’ve tried it our way and come up empty…but Christ reminds us that there is a deep deep ocean out there, a place where he is, a place that is full and heavy laden with people willing to hear the truth.

Or perhaps the deeper thing beyond perception is as simple as faith – when we commit to the tried and true, when we stand where it is safe and familiar. We stand on the side we have always stood on, we wear the same tie every Monday, we cook the same thing every Friday…

But God works on the side of the impossible, in the unseen places and it just takes our faith to cast our nets over to the other side and try things a different way.. to try things his way.

How do we show the world the bathos of God?

How do we look to the other side?

How do we visit the “right side” where Christ calls us?

Because I would argue THAT is what a watching world is waiting for. Is it weird to think that the fish were always there, but they were just waiting and hoping the disciples would notice them on the right side of the boat and to try something new?

Don’t you think that is what a modern world wants?

I think for so long we have thought our enemy was science or rationalism and we try to prove our faith to others. We try to show evidence for or against natural selection, we try to find proof in the pages of history and we seem to fall short of being able to prove God exists to an intellectual world.

Christ says, ‘throw your nets onto the other side.’

We don’t need to prove to them God made the world, or show them through facts and science that Jesus is lord. Science is the side that they know.

Show the world the Holy Spirit. Show them the power of God and the strength of God in your own life. Tell your stories about how you have seen God work with absolutely no rational explanation at all.

What God sounds more real anyway? The God you can prove with facts, or the God you shrug your shoulders at and say, “you know what, I have no idea.”

I think for so long our enemy as been evil. We try to rid the world of the devil, and darkness and we are so quick to pick up the sword and shield and we run off on our own holy crusade. But the true victor over darkness is a prince of peace – when was the last time we showed the world grace? Because I would argue the world has seen war, and violence and oppression and rule and government. But when was the last time it saw a Kingdom? But how often has the world seen forgiveness? What are the greatest examples of grace?

I think for so long our enemy has been immorality; and we tried to indoctrinate the whole world with our right morals and right living. But we don’t need to impose our faith on the world through protest and restriction. Convicting sinners of sin, before they can even admit there is a God is a loosing battle. Making the world snap to our way of doing things. I think Hate and boycotting is the side the world already knows.

Isn’t it time we showed the other side?

A church in New Castle Ohio has been picketing a local strip club for four years. They carry signs out front, try to keep the patrons from visiting by taking pictures of those who go inside and posting their license plates on the internet. And a month or so ago the owner and the girls got fed up and decided to turn the tables and picket the church. The girls wore bikini tops and had a barbeque and they sat out on lawn chairs and held up their own signs.

One girls sign read, “”If Pastor Bill is my ticket to heaven; I’d rather be in hell with my friends,”

The pastor responded by saying, “As a Christian community, we cannot share territory with the devil,” and he said. “Light and darkness cannot exist together, so the strip club has got to go.”

It sounds familiar. Its sounds like a story from any year, in any time in my life and it’s been tried and tried….And I am not going to criticize the church here or say they are haters, you don’t do something for 4 years because you hate it. I have read several versions of the story where people from this church have offered the girls help and support if they would just leave this lifestyle.

But sometimes as an outsider, it’s not as simple as strolling up and suggesting, “did you plug it in?” Lives can be messier and more involved than offering to mow someone’s lawn, or to pay for a few nights of babysitting.

So while it might be true that this church loves these girls and truly wanted to reach them and to put an end to this lifestyle; I would argue that Christians holding picket signs is a “side” the world has seen before.

One blogger tried to offer an “other side” approach he said, “how about everyone go to Applebees, order some potato skins, and work things out.”

Simple – delicious – I like it.

But it was actually a San Diego based ministry called JC’s Girls that ministers to women in the adult entertainment industry who got wind of this story and they flew out to Ohio to try an other side approach.

Two girls, Anny Donewald and Sheri Brown who are part of JC Girls first went to the strip club and spoke – and after that fist meeting 2 girls gave their lives to Christ.

Then the JC girls went to the church and spoke at the church. “It’s not our job to tell these women that it’s time to get out of there,” one speaker said during the sermon. “Just love them. (and) Let the Holy Spirit draw them out.”

And during the service, one by one, women from the church began filing into the street, hugging the strippers and apologizing to them, leaving both sides overflowing with emotion and tears.

“The girls who spoke to us really had an impact,” one church member said. “They made me realize I needed to be more compassionate.”

Pastor Bill was one of the last people out of the church. He went straight to a striper named Laura who was yelling at him, and crying through tears, “You think I’m a whore, I’m not. I’m just trying to take care of my kids.”

Pastor Bill offered his arms in a hug and Laura accepted.

This is what the other side of Jesus, the other side of grace, the other side of mercy, the other side of forgiveness and brokenness looks like. This is Pastor Bill, Anny and Sheri and then the Stip Club owner.

2 women from San Diego did in a weekend, what a Church community could not do in 4 years. How long do you hang your nets on the wrong side and shrug your shoulders?

I don’t care what you think, these 2 women are missionaries.

And they don’t fit the stereotypical picture of what a missionary looks or acts like, but our ocean needs more Anny and Sherry’s.

I think the side Jesus wants us to fish on is a side that asks us to hold people, and not signs.

I think someone should have tried the right side of the boat 4 years ago.

A third party from San Diego wasn’t tried.

Going into the strip club and talking to the girls on their own turf wasn’t tried.

An approach by someone other than a pastor in a pressed and collared shirt wasn’t tried.

The other side was tried and what were the results?

Salvation, forgiveness… And maybe… one day… 153 fish.

You see, the world expects us to meet in buildings.

They expect us to dress like Quakers

They expect us to start sentences with “well the bible says,”

They expect us to love babies, hate gays, send money to Africa, vote for republicans, have 2.3 children and listen to Jeremy Camp.

That’s the side that’s always tried.

But casting our nets to the other side teaches us that our fruitless labor is transformed by the presence of Jesus.

Our own efforts, our own style, our comfort zone, might be safe, and it might be familiar, but is it working? Or is Christ calling out to you from the shore?

On the right side there is fullness, victory, success fulfillment, peace, hope and abundance.
Because on the right side there is JESUS!

I love what Peter did. When the nets were full and about to break… He recognized that it was Jesus; and what did he do?

With no hesitation, no stopping, no blueprints or plans, no thinking… HE WENT OUT TO JESUS.
Forget the nets. Forget the fish. Forget the water.

Only one thing matters at this point… BEING WITH JESUS!

When Peter looked on that shore he no longer saw a stranger … he saw hope, he saw joy, he saw purpose, he saw meaning, he saw life, he saw truth!

And nothing on earth was going to stop him

I love what this writer says….

“Some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don’t understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they’re there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it’s the other side that matters.” ~ Jose Saramago

People who fly to Ohio just to talk to stripers understand that Jesus matters

Peter didn’t abandon Jesus in a temporary moment of relaxation… he knew what matters.

Jesus matters.

[You can read more about the Ohio story -here]

David: No author ever feels that they leave no stone unturned – after having written Jesus Died for This? What thoughts are still churning within you? What left over thoughts and or questions do you still feel need to be addressed?

Becky: As I continue along my pilgrimage, I’m learning to stop looking for easy answers and start asking the right questions. The challenge for me as a very active person who can be a bit of a chatterbox is to sit still long enough that I can really listen to the quiet voice of Gold that tends to get lost when I tune in a bit too much to the white noise around me or start talking to myself a bit too much.

At some point, I want to explore my ancestor Roger Williams’ legacy in greater depth, as I sense his views of religious tolerance can help shed some light into how the United States can move forward in an increasingly pluralistic society by placing the first amendment into its proper historical perspective. He was the first to debunk this notion that the US was founded as a Christian nation, a city on a hill, a move that caused him to get banished to Rhode Island and all but written out of the history books. I think the time has come to give my relative his rightful props.

One question that keeps coming up is “Why do you many people love Jesus but abhor Christians?” What the J is going on here? Too often the face of Christianity is someone who espouses a Fox style of faith. Yes, Christians should respond to such gross characterizations of Christ’s teachings but instead of bating Beck, I wish people of faith would exert their spiritual capital into enacting the Beatitudes. It’s my job as a satirist to keep nudging them along this path, while also illuminating those communities who are off in the margins working with those who are deemed to unsanitary and unsafe to be part of the cool Christian crowd – something tells me that’s when Jesus comes back to earth, that’s where he’ll be hanging.

David: You pointed out that the word emergent is not a new phrase when speaking of the church. In your opinion is the new generation the “emerging church” or are they the same church as their parents church, but with a new label (ie, new coke – or church with candles)?

Becky: As far as what constitutes a new church smell – frankly I find a lot of it stinks. Yes, you can find some hipster evangelicals who might swear, wear tattoos, marry same-sex couples (with the media in attendance of course), write provocative pieces as though they’re the first ones who ‘dared to doubt’ and other incendiary theological moves designed to build buzz. But here’s where I would suggest that seekers check out the funding streams to see who is bankrolling these efforts – they’re still evangelical to the core. Women may get to play at the table every so often but I’ve seen too many cutting edge church plants where 90% or more of the preachers/speakers remain white males that may claim to be at the forefront of the faith but then sign book deals with uber conservative imprints like Howard and FaithWords.

Now that I write for more secular than Christian publications, I’m starting to gain a much broader perspective regarding how Christianity is perceived by those outside of the CBA branded bubble. In particular, it’s become crystal clear to me that what I thought were major faith fights (e.g., The Emergents v. Driscoll) are in fact silly or inconsequential to those outside of select emergent and evangelical circles. This awareness has helped me to burst this bubble and report on what’s happening in the larger global context.

As I stated in my interview with the Austin American-Statesman, what gives me hope is that in my travels, I’m observing this growing underground movement of folks exploring what it means to enact Jesus’ kingdom here on Earth. They refuse to be branded and reject labels like emergent, organic church, missional, new monasticism and even Christianity. These folks tend to be very politically conscious but fight for change at the grassroots level because they’ve seen too many progressives lose their prophetic voice by becoming Obamatronics.

David: You often talk about being the outsider yourself, but don’t you think that Christ was also in your line of work?

Becky: Unlike Ann Rice, I’m not quitting Christianity though I consider myself definitely on the fringe of the faith. When I use the word “outsider,” I mean I’m not part of an identified movement. If pushed, I’ll admit to being Anglican but I am not part of any branded author/speaker circuit. Like any writer, I write for a number of publications but that doesn’t mean I share the organization’s viewpoint. At times I can get frustrated that at times a specific publication or website won’t touch hot button issues like abortion or LGBT rights but as long as my work isn’t censored, I’ll keep writing for that media outlet.

But while I’m not part of any Christian inner circle, I remain connected to people who are Jesus followers that struggle to live a life where we all (myself included) lived like resurrected people? I explore this question in this YouTube video asking what keeps us from being like Jesus, who went to the woman at the well and loved those whom society discarded?

Becky Garrison is a Contributing Editor forSojourners/God’s Politics blog.Additional writing credits include work for Geez Magazine, Killing the Buddha, Religion Dispatches, The High Calling and the now defunctWittenburg Door. When she takes a break from her laptop, Becky can often be found kayaking, fly-fishing or hiking.

Follow Becky onTwitter@JesusDied4This, listen to the “Jesus Died for This?” podcastand watch Becky’s You Tube channel. All of these focus on her book, “Jesus Died for This?”.

Becky Garrison’s latest book Jesus Died for This? Is a Satirist’s look at that part of the world that claims to be Christ’s followers. Chapter by chapter, Garrison takes her readers through several places in the world and some key events of her life, all the while narrating her journey through her witty and sometimes dark lens. Even though Garrison says she is the offspring of Karl and Nancy Garrison (a story Garrison tells you in chapter nine) her author’s dialogue sounds more like what I would expect the daughter of Dennis Miller and Kathleen Madigan to sound like.

And in case you don’t know what a satirist is, Garrison will tell you on page 101, “We’re the mavericks, the visionaries who buck hierarchy and prefer to work solo…we’re also the ones who say what has to be said without giving a rip who we offend. Hence we often find ourselves standing alone in a field because no one wants to be near us for fear we might shoot their sacred cow.”

That said, this isn’t reading for the average pew filler, or mascara wearing, bible belt, TBN supporter. Garrison is quick to fire her wit (and charm) at everything from the Holy Land to Christian conferences, to her own family, to comic con to Joel Olsteen and back again. My only criticism (and who am I to judge a published and respected writer, stop reading my review and buy her book) is that sometimes the chapters felt connected, as if she were taking me on a Bruce Feiler-esque journey and other times it felt as though I was reading entries out of her personal diary (and maybe those two are actually the same thing, I don’t know).

But each chapter entry does seem to ask that same question… Jesus died for this? He died for consumerism? For the emergent church? For the crystal cathedral’s Christmas program? For Pastor conferences? For church smart alecks? For fundies? For the homeless and for the unordainable? Maybe to answer the question here is Garrison in her own words…

“I realized along the way that I quit trying to find Jesus and simply let him do the talking, every so often I felt God’s presence when walking on soil, or I saw God’s face in other souls. Other times, I’d feel nothing. But that usually meant I either looked in the wrong place or didn’t sit still long enough for God to enter the picture. Now, even when I feel all alone, I no longer think that God has abandoned me. (After all, who do I think I am? – Mother Theresa?)”

I liked the book, it’s certainly not something I have read before or a book I could compare with others in my pastoral library.

photo credit: a4gpa

- The Other Side -

Someone tells you a story and you think you have all the facts, but then someone else with a raised hand says, “now, let me tell you the other side” and a whole new picture begins to form in your head.

Jesus comes along and says, “try the other side” – “try the right side” – the side of authority, try things my way – try the Jesus approach… and what happens?

Perhaps the traditional and the “been there done that” is coming up with diddly squat and you look around and wonder – well what would happen if we sailed off to deeper waters? What would happen if we tried things just a bit differently?

I think then we begin to dwell in the places that are holy and new and maybe the places and faces are unfamiliar and frightening, but the reward is… well.. unimaginable.

This is what I want to explore this Sunday…

Yes,  it’s true – some pastor was crazy enough to relinquish his pulpit to me and I will be preaching Sunday the 5th at 7pm at the Ethos service at Neighborhood Christian Fellowship in Covina California. (directions and address at the web site). You can also RSVP on the facebook page.

Please retweet this and repost this as much as possible, I would love to pack the place out with new and exciting faces, and if you are a reader of this blog, I would certainly love to meet you. Even if you can’t make it, I would love it if you could help me promote it.   Of course it will be recorded and I will post the sermon here after the 5th, but I would love to see everyone there.

Thank you

p.s. we need a drummer

photo credit: orphanjones

I have been a retail manager maybe 3 or 4 times for different companies. And in each one of those times it was never because a supervisor of mine took me aside and said, “Son, I like your moxy, I think you would be just dandy for our junior leadership program.”

Not once.

No, it was always because as a regular employee I would watch my managers and supervisors in their day-to-day work and I would think to myself… “I could do that. That work is not beyond my skill set – those men and women are not doing superhero work or rocket-science.”

So eventually I would pull a supervisor aside and ask if I could learn to do what it is that they do. Sometimes it meant learning on the job; other times it meant coming in on my own time – and eventually I bridged the gap between what they knew and what I knew.

Most of the time, the only difference between being a manager and being an employee was “knowledge;” and then with the knowledge, I had the confidence to act on that knowledge. And before long I was doing the work of a manager: which as most of you know, consists mainly of saying, “Hey, I really need you to come in to work tomorrow” and denying customers cash refunds.

So naturally I thought being a church leader would be the same process. I had already been a volunteer for several local churches, and I had been mentored by my share of youth pastors, so I decided it was time to bridge the gap between the “them” and the “me.”

I looked into the local Christian colleges and found at that there were 2 near me. Neither was accredited. So the next closest schools were Fuller in Pasadena or APU in Azusa, both in southern California; which was 6 hours away from me in Sacramento.

So I had to move, find a job, find an apartment, get married (well, that wasn’t part of it, but it was fun) enroll in college, study, graduate and become ordained. And really… after 10 whole years (that’s about how long it took me) the only thing I had at the end of it all of it was …knowledge.

I had 3 years seminary knowledge and a few months “Baptist knowledge.” And as of today, the story is still not finished for me. At this point in time, I am still NOT a pastor. I do not work for a church – In the end, all of my head knowledge did not land me a job.

And sometimes I really struggle to answer the question… am I a Christian leader?

Recently I had the opportunity to visit a local church where one of my old middle-school students was leading worship. Back in my days as a church volunteer, I was given 6 boys to shepherd and once a week they came over to my apartment for bible study, and Drew was one of the youngest.

So before the service has even started, Drew had the opportunity to introduce me to some people, and this is what he said, “This is David Kenney, he was my Pastor….”

And I could actually feel my heart race – my tear ducts swell up, my skin tense. Because he didn’t stop and correct himself or ever say, “Oh I mean he was just a volunteer.”

Long before I had the “right knowledge” that I thought; I needed, there was already a young man who thought of me as his pastor.

Christian leaders have always been these spiritual giants with mahogany desks and thousands of dusty books. They know words like immutability and exegesis and dropped names like Karl Barth and Ulrich Zwingli. The average pew person never even dreams of reaching that level of spiritual black beltedness.

But if it’s not about having the right knowledge or owning the biggest desk… what is it? And do those things have anything to do with what it means to follow Christ?

I want to talk about that tonight and I want to look at two popular approaches to Christian leadership: orthodoxy vs. orthopraxy.

Orthodoxy (theological rationalism) or “right thought.” It’s all about having the correct description of God and the absolute right definition of the gospel and election, and the afterlife, and end times, and justification, sanctification – you name it. People who follow the “right doctrine” approach believe that having the most “right beliefs” will lead to the very heart of God. “Everyone should think how we think,” is their motto.

Orthopraxy (theological ethics) or “right living.” These would be people who have a high moral system and believe in living in a “right” or “correct” way – and usually at the same time, they trying to evangelize others by imposing these same sets of standards. Similar to the vegans or food Nazis that want to rant on you whenever you (god forbid) try to eat processed food or a potato chip. “Everyone should act how we act” is their motto.

And many times as a Christian leader I feel like I fail in these two areas….

In orthodoxy I never feel like my theology is spot on, I am always learning something that changes what I thought was true yesterday. And certainly not all bible knowledge is useful. I once had a Sunday School teacher who felt it was a good idea to learn all of the books of the bible in order, but in the end of it all, all I learned was a string of words… head knowledge doesn’t always equal “obedient Christ follower.”

Other times I never feel like my orthopraxy is on target either. I will be out with my wife or a group of friends, or Wes and I will do something, or make some comment and I will get me the deepest darkest looks… “And you call yourself a pastor” they shake their heads. In other words, “whatever you just did… that probably wasn’t the best thing for you to do.” Or worse yet it’s the opposite (and I am so critical of this) that sometimes I simply do nothing at all and then it’s not my actions that are out of alignment, but my non-actions.

So there is this tension that exists as a Christian leader, what side do you fall on? Which is more important; orthodoxy or orthopraxy?

In John 14:6 Jesus makes his infamous statement, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

So arguably when I read this, I come to the conclusion that; if Christ is “the way” and he is “the truth” then you can not separate Christ’s teachings from Christ, just as you can not separate Christ’s ministry from Christ.  Therefore “Christianity” is about Christ – and not right beliefs, and not right actions. They may be byproducts of Christianity, but we can not mistake them for the founder of the faith.

Just a few chapters later in John at Jesus’ arrest, Pilate accused Jesus of being a King.

John 18:37-38

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” Pilate asked

The word Jesus and Pilate are using here is the Greek word Alathia (which means true in any matter under consideration, pertaining to God and humanity) In Roman mythology the Goddess of Truth was named Vertias and she was considered so elusive it was said she lived at the bottom of a great well.

Pilate… sees truth as elusive and unable to be known, so he asks a philosophical question, “What is truth?”

And the irony was “truth” the embodiment of all that is known was standing right in front of him

You see, God did not send us an orthodoxy or a paradigm or a religion for us to follow – he sent his son. So every time these questions come up for me; the implication of Christ’s claim is that all of life and all of truth is embodied within him.

Leonard Sweet says it like this: “Christianity has nothing to do with our vaunted religious subjectivity and everything to do with the greatness of God’s gift of Himself in the first-century Jewish rabble rouser named Jesus of Nazareth.”

The bottom line is: ethics, morality, doctrine and beliefs are all flawed. It is Christ, not religion that is truth, it is Christ, not religion that is perfect and it is Christ, not religion that saves us.

John Calvin said, “We ought to read the scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them. Whoever shall turn aside from this object, though he may weary himself throughout his whole life in learning, will never attain the knowledge of the truth; for what wisdom can we have without the wisdom of God?”

But you may find G. K. Chesterson’s quote a little simpler, “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”

And I would argue that you can’t have a love affair with right doctrine or right ethics.

So what was the example of Christ as a leader? What does the bible say?

Well, if Jesus read Purpose Driven Church, he knows he first needs a mission statement – so look with me at Luke 4 and we will discover together what Jesus’ ministry was all about.

Look at Luke 4:14-21

Jesus  went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ”The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus began his ministry by reading his mission statement and that was – to preach the good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight to the blind, and release to the oppressed.

In other words, for three years his mission was to free the world from the things that bound them. Right? Because…

□        Deafness binds

□        Blindness binds

□        Sickness binds

□        Poverty binds

□        Guilt binds

□        Ignorance binds

□        And sin binds.

And I would argue that everything Jesus said and did – related to the Isaiah 61 mission statement. Jesus was a liberator. He was a redeemer. And certainly this is what the bible records Jesus was doing in his day-to-day ministry…

Matthew 9:35 says,
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

What Jesus said he would do – is exactly what Jesus did.

So what does the bible record Jesus’ followers doing? Turn with me to Luke 9:1-6

(Jesus Sends out the Twelve)

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits…The disciples went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

So what we see the disciples of Jesus doing is the same thing we see Jesus doing.

Now go a few pages over to Luke 10:1-7 (Jesus Sends out the Seventy-two)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others …

(Hey, maybe if this program works for 12, maybe it will work for 72)

…and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves… “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

And verse 17 says, the seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Again, what we see the disciples doing is the same thing we see Jesus doing.

Well maybe that was a fluke, maybe it only worked because Jesus was around. What does the bible record the disciples doing after Jesus ascends to heaven? Turn to Acts 5:12-16

The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. .. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.

We see the disciples continuing the work of Jesus – performing signs and wonders, healing the sick and evangelizing. A disciple of Christ was a follower, a person who lived the example that Christ had set.

So if a Christian is a person who follows Jesus and does what Jesus did, then what is a Christian leader? Well, I guess more simply you could ask “what is a leader?”

And I think at its simplest…

□        A leader is someone who points the way

□        A leader is someone who influences

Because a person who simply has wealth, power, or talent is not a leader; unless of course they can use those gifts to influence the lives of others. And the same could be said for knowledge, status and job title. Just because it says “pastor” on the door doesn’t make you a pastor.

And consequently just because it says “English teacher” on your door, doesn’t mean you aren’t also somebody’s pastor.

A Christian leader is someone who points the way to Christ

A Christian leader is someone who influences others to follow Christ.

And the only truly successful way I know to do this is to do it with your own life and by your own example.

John Piper says it like this “to the degree that you shape others toward the image of Christ you are a Christian leader.” I love that quote.

Shaping others…

Influencing others…

Pointing the way for others…

Remember my story at the beginning of how I became a manager? It literally had nothing to do with being noticed by leaders, and everything to do with me noticing leaders. It was their already lived out lives that I took notice of – and then tried to emulate.

I always get asked how come we don’t have any written words from Jesus like we do other religious or spiritual leaders, and I would argue that it’s because we follow a man not a doctrine. Christianity is based on Christ.

When it’s their turn, the disciples don’t turn around and copy Jesus’ right action or right thought… they just simply “do” what they see their Rabbi doing. And this is exactly the example Jesus sets for his disciples.

In John 5:16-19 we read

Because Jesus was doing these (unlawful) things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day (meaning the Sabbath), and I, too, am working.” For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

What God does.. Jesus does…

What Jesus does… the disciple does…

And a leader shapes… influences and points the way….

When Jesus says that he is the “way the truth and the life” what he means is that he is the medium and he is the message. This is why simply right action and right thought don’t fully cut it. Because I believe you can “act Christian” without having the heart of Christ.

You can believe like a “Christian” without having the mind of Christ.

Being a Christian leader means leading through example, by leading through ones life. So first a Christian leader needs to have a relationship with the founder.
In Colossians 2 the apostle Paul writes these words…

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Paul lays out what is important here: complete understanding, knowing the mystery of Christ, and discovering all the hidden treasures of wisdom. This comes from a deep rooted, personal, loving relationship with Jesus.

But more interestingly, Paul says that his struggle is for the Colossian church and for the church in Laodicea. And Laodicea is actually the “they” that he has all of these hopes and dreams for.

Laodicea was only 9 miles from Colossae – so these 2 churches were pretty close. But what do we already know about the church in Laodicea when does it famously come up in scripture?

Revelation 3:14-19

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

So this is THE church that is neither one or the other, not black or white, hot or cold, they are middle, they are beige, they are bland, they are stagnant.

What do you think? Is this a church with direction? No, this is a community that has lost direction and is standing still. Paul writes…

v.17 “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

This is a church that is delusional, a church that is blind and living in a dream world. And Paul says, in his letter to the Colossians that he has all these hopes for them – that they may be

□        encouraged in heart

□        united in love

□        that they may have the full riches of complete understanding

(By the way – that’s the outcome of being a leader, when you can look at and recognize the potential growth within your area of influence)

But why does Paul wish all these things for them? It’s the second verse in Colossians 2

In order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ

Christian leadership is influencing, shaping and leading others towards Christ.

“to the degree that you shape others toward the image of Christ you are a Christian leader.”

Christianity is about Christ

As a Christian leader you should follow Christ with your life

Your life should point to Christ

Your life should be influenced by Christ

Christ should permeate from how you live and move and breathe.

And the sad part about Laodicea and perhaps the thing we are not always so quick to realize is this… farther down in Revelation chapter 3 is an equally famous passage.

In verse twenty. Jesus says…

v20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Very famous passage, but tell me where is Jesus? Is he outside the door of the sinner’s heart as is presupposed in famous paintings? No. He is outside the door of the church of Laodicea.

And why would Jesus be outside the door of a church? Well, we don’t know all the particulars, but I would argue if Jesus is on the outside then he is not … on the inside.

Meaning the church has become about self, about membership, about money, about building, about bulletins, worship-style, fellowship time, children’s programs, how the kitchen is cleaned, how the parking lot is utilized, what color the paint is in the sanctuary, what times services are, and all the other “stuff” that can blind us, bind us and immobilize us…from following the truth and the life…

And as much as we are all leaders and influencers in our homes, small groups and inner communities, we are also leaders of the Church. As much as we follow Christ in our personal life, we are also a team who follows Christ collectively and leads others to follow Christ collectively.

The church has its own versions of right action and right thought – the idols we make of how we think church “should be” or what a church “should do” – we spend so much time on church, that we sometimes lose focus of Christ.

Before I wrap this up, I want to go back to what I was saying earlier about orthodoxy and orthopraxy, I don’t want you to leave here thinking I have tossed those to the wind or tried to convince you that they are not important.

The Hebrew prophet Micah says in Micah 6:8

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

What does God want from you? Three things: to act, to love and to walk.

In the Shema – Deuteronomy 6:5 says

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Three ways to love God: with your heart, your soul and your strength.

So the Hebrew understanding of knowing and following God is not a two-fold process is it? But in fact a three-fold process. And that kind of makes sense when we are talking about our God doesn’t it?

An unknown work published in the 14^th century records these words, “Only to our mind is God incomprehensible, not to our heart.” (The Cloud of Unknowing)

I grew up in the church and very early on I learned that when the bible said two people “knew” each other that was “bible code” for “sex.” When Adam knew Eve… I read between the lines and I certainly didn’t imagine they were shaking hands. “Good to know you.”

So the Hebrew understanding of “knowing God” goes beyond simple head knowledge, or acts of obedience. It also moves within this third realm of the heart, with love, with knowing and feeling God move.

This gives us the realm of “Orthopathy” or “right feelings.”

And the problem for most of us is… “right feelings” sounds weird to us. The bible has several passages that talk about the inclination of a person’s heart, or the bend of wickedness within each one of us to sin, so it doesn’t seem natural or right to follow our feelings…

But the question then becomes, well if we are so sinful that we can’t trust our feelings, or our love, then why do we think we can follow our minds in orthodoxy or our strength in orthopraxy? If we are corrupted, aren’t we corrupted through and through?

Because it’s not only feelings that can get us into trouble. I would argue that when we rely on any one of these 3 we become less the disciples we were meant to be. If we were all orthodoxy we become like the Pharisees sitting and judging on our high horses and failing to be followers of the risen Christ. There is no love in us and there is no movement in us and like our books we age with dust and our lives amount to nothing but knowledge.

If we devote our lives to orthopraxy, we become tireless activists hoping to change the world by our own strength. If we only devote our lives to orthopathy then we becomes like the hippies of the 60s and 70s and we view everything as good or God, or mystical or spiritual and we fail to properly judge and edit what is right and wrong.

A true disciple of Jesus would “follow” Christ the way that the 12 did. They listened to his teachings, the went out into the world and did what he did… and third, they knew him… personally. They loved him.

You know maybe that’s all that it is… if the bible says “faith hope and love and the greatest of these is love…” why reject orthopathy? When perhaps it is the simplest answer to our questions on Christian leadership.

Our most famous passage John 3:16, says God gave the world Christ out of a love for the world.

Paul writes a similar thing in Philippians 2:1-8

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!

Here Paul lists the characteristics of Christ’s love for the world, and he says these were Christ’s strongest attributes; humility, sacrifice, selflessness, servanthood, meekness, and weakness.

These are all submissive words. These are all relationship words, marriage words; because the church is the bride of Christ.

Christ loves his bride – He doesn’t talk bad about her, he lifts her up, he sacrifices for her and in turn the church submits to him. The church has no room for any other loves but Christ.

Jesus loves his church and we love him.

And we in turn love the Church, because Christ loves the church.

Orthopraxy can easily become about how much I have done.

And Orthodoxy can easily become about how much I know.

But Orthopathy tempers those both with love and reminds us that

□        It’s really about a relationship with the Rabbi

□        It’s really about a bride and a groom

□        It’s really about a mission to free the world.

Jesus says in John 13:34-35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

So love for the disciple is not only important, it’s essential. And it’s not simply a love without definition – but it’s a higher standard – to love others as Christ loved.

Shakespeare wrote “love comforts like sunshine after the rain.” Love has no limits, dimensions or comprehension, it is blind and also a many splendid thing, it goes beyond action and knowledge and is the author of silly songs, it makes us act like we are fools, love liberates the slaves and it destroys barricades, it’s the universal language, love has been said to conquer all, and that it lifts us up where we belong….and a wise man once wrote “love is all we need.”

You see a love affair needs love and the bottom line is: you will influence the lives of others when you love them.

Somewhere in the middle of acting justly and loving mercy and walking humbly lies what it means to be a disciple.

Jesus’ mission statement was outward focused and love centered. And for 3 years he loved a world so much that he gave himself to liberate it from chains and shackles; and his disciples knew him and loved him so much that even after he left, they continued his work.

If I ask myself the question, “Am I a Christian leader” I have to also ask… am I continuing that same work of Jesus?

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photo credit: antwerpenR

It seems when you ask a group of people of any age for their spiritual questions, the ones that roll in are the same ones you always hear.

• Why is there evil in the world?
• What is God’s Will for my life?
• What is Heaven like?
• Is Jesus coming back soon?
• Can Satan hear my prayers?

And unless you’re R.C. Sproul it seems many of those questions still seem to be unanswerable to the average pew sitter.

Many times a good ploy from the pastor is to do a “ask me any question” series. I remember my previous pastor did it a year ago, he called it “Ask Dr. Bob” and he wore a Doctor’s lab coat. We have done it in youth group before and it’s mostly either questions about sex, or heaven or sex in heaven.

Well recently my Pastor, Chris Lewis has taken it upon himself to answer these age old questions and I can not begin to tell you how thorough and simple he has made these talks. I don’t normally pimp other pastor’s work, but this series is certainly worth a listen. Some of these sermons are literally the BEST I have ever heard on the subject.

1. Can I trust the Bible?

2. Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit?

3. Can You Lose Your Salvation? Armenian vs. Calvinism

4. What God hath joined together - Divorce

(I would also give Rob Bell’s recent Divorce sermon a listen)

5. Just Do Something – How can you know God’s Will?

So I decided to read this book strictly because I felt this is where I was… living in Plan B. A pastor with a Masters Degree who now works with college students and retirees as a ride operator at Disneyland….yea, my life is so Plan B.

The book is filled with bible “stories about every day men and women whose plans didn’t work out. It’s full of people trying to figure out what to do with a life that wasn’t turning out the way they expected.” (page 11)

Chapter by chapter Pastor Pete (I wonder if that’s what his church members call him?) spells out some simple reassuring points to meditate on.

The book certainly is not a “do these six things and your life will turn out fine.” It can’t be… no book can speak to your Plan B, or your situation and certainly no pastor or author can “fix”  this time that you are walking in right now. This isn’t a self-help book (at least not in that regard). No, this book reads more like a devotional where each chapter contains a  bible story and a few of Pete’s own journeys as a church leader.

The best part about reading this book for me has been the “confirming” that I hear from another Christian. I have felt God telling me to stay close to him in this time, to continue to be patient and to stick close to other believers who can continue to encourage and pray for me – and those are some of the things that Pete talks about.

There was one part of the book that I kind of stopped at, it was about the old Christian verbiage, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”

Pete writes, “…it sounds so sweet and biblical, like something my Grandmother wold have done in needlepoint and hung on the wall in her home. Where in the world did we get such a whacked theology? Where is that verse in the bible? Hallucinations 4:32 maybe?”

Well, Pete is right – that verse is not in the bible – at least not written that exact way.

But 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.”

So perhaps a rephrasing of that would be “God will never give you more than you can handle.” But certainly the passage seems to be talking about sin and temptation and not the various trials of life that come our way.

One of the things I loved the most and took away from this was something Pete said about walking in these times of darkness. “When plan B is creating havoc in your life and God doesn’t seem to be doing a thing, can you still worship him? Can you still follow him? When he’s not orchestrating the circumstances of your life the way you desire, do you still trust enough to seek him with reckless abandon?” (page 119)

Why do our lives “change” when the world around us changes? Should we  be like a “reed blowing in the wind;” something that is moved and changed by our surroundings? Or should we be like the one who built his house on stone (Matthew 7:24)? Plan B can only be as strong and as devastating as your foundation.

Just last night on the news I saw that a little 10 year old boy was killed by a semi and the first thing I thought was… that entire family just “took a left” on the road of life. Tomorrow will not be the same… everyone in that family will be touched by this and their lives will be forever different. This will bring tears, and shuddering, moments of silence and isolation and ultimately questions about why. But regardless of our natural situation and the world and events that come our way, we should maintain a foundation of Christ first and Christ alone.

The reality is, life brings pain to all of us and through it all our anchor needs to be the saving grace of the cross. To make it through each day, I think we could all use some “power beyond ourselves.” So rather than cursing the sky and shaking our fists at the heaven’s we should be leaning harder on the one who is our shepherd.

In your Plan B make Psalm 18:2 your daily mantra…

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

photo credit: carianoff

In my continued search for a job and calling, this quote from William Vanderbloemen is helpful…

“We are all interim pastors. Unless we are the pastor when our church closes, or we happen to be the pastor when Jesus returns, we are all only in our churches for a temporary stay. And I believe the most critical task for a church leader is to do all he can to secure the long-term future of the church.”

I recently had coffee with local pastor and he was telling me the story of how he received his calling and his years of successes and failures. “A few months after I was hired on,” he told me. “The welcome wagon quickly became the angry mob.” In other words, the people that first hired him, over time became his biggest opposition.

But I didn’t see it as a bad thing. The job of a search team is to find the next pastor for the future of the church, but it might not be the future “you” had in mind. The best pastor for the job, in the long run, may not be the best pastor for you; and that’s fine.

…And I would argue the same thing for laity and volunteer leadership as well. All of our responsibility is headed towards the future of God’s Kingdom and the advancement of the gospel. We should never be looking down at our feet, but always out ahead of us. “Does this secure the future of our mission and vision as a church?” or is it only for the “right now” to satisfy those already present?

My wife and I have both had a favorite quote in our church leadership careers and surprisingly they are both from the same man; G.K. Chesterson. He once said, “The church is the only institution that exists solely for the benefit of nonmembers.”

Pastor Dan Kimball says it this way, “Our American culture has also become increasingly focused on consumerism and individualism, which has impacted the way followers of Jesus live out their faith, causing us to often see the church primarily as a means to meeting our own personal needs and wishes, instead of seeing the church as a supernatural community and family serving one another and on a mission together, here to serve God and serve others before ourselves.”

And arguably since the bible tells us that we are in fact ALL priests (Exodus 19:6) and that we are all here for a short period of time (Job 14:5) – then each of us in an interim. But I guess I am totally forgetting that Paul said all of this long before me..

Philippians 2:4

Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

photo credit: Stephen Cummings

I got “dissed” the other day for claiming I was in a theological “malaise.” This came from my header (a sentence I doubt many people read). It states “reciprocal ecclesiology in a pseudo post-modern malaise.” And it’s basically a lot of fancy words all strung together that essentially says “I don’t know how comfortable I am sitting in the now after-modern church, and this is my take on how I see it.”

A more direct translation might be: A measuring of church doctrine in a not real after contemporary general uneasiness

Malaise is an out of sorts feeling, sometimes its described as those moments or days right before you get really sick. And certainly the now modern.. current.. (however you want to say it) church doesn’t make me “sick.” But the future certainly adds a general sense of unbalance and dizziness. That’s not a critique or a bash, I think anyone who is honest about the global church in the here and now would say the same thing.

And don’t get me wrong, I love the church, I am excited about its future and the continuing advancement of the Kingdom of God – it’s just that these are some strange times to be living in. Of course the Lord is with us, the church will not grow apostate, the bride of Christ will always shine, but these next few years will be akin to a toddler learning to walk for the first time. And as any parent can tell you – those months can keep you alert and a little worried.

Founding editor of the religion department at Publishers Weekly, Phyllis Tickle writes these words about this uncertain future of which I speak…

“Always without fail, the thing that gets lost early in the process of a reconfiguration is any clear and general understanding of who or what is to be used as the arbitrator of correct belief, action, and control… The Reformation,…was to answer the question… sola scriptura, scriptura sola… While we may laugh and say the divisiveness was Protestantism’s greatest gift to Christianity, ours is a somber joke. Demoninationalism is a disunity in the Body of Christ and, ironically, one that has a bloody history… Now, some five hundred years later, even many of the most die-hard Protestants among us have grown suspicious of “Scripture and Scripture only.” We question what the words mean – literally? Metaphorically? Actually? We even question which words do and do not belong in Scripture and the purity of the editorial line of decent of those that do. We begin to refer to Luther’s principle of “sola scriptura, scriptura sola” as having been little more than the creation of a paper pope in place of a flesh and blood one. And even as we speak, the authority that has been in place for five hundred years withers away in our hands.”

A new generation is beginning to ask questions and beginning to formulate a truly classic theology. Pastor Dan Kimball describes it as “vintage faith.” We are standing on the precipice of a new reformation, one that looks further back – beyond the Catholic or Roman influences and tries to tap the life vein that was originally Christ.

Tickle goes on to say, “The new Christianity of the Great Emergence must discover some authority base or delivery system and/or governing agency of its own. It must formulate—and soon—something other than Luther’s Sola Scriptura which, although used so well by the Great Reformation originally, is now seen as hopelessly outmoded or insufficient …”

That last sentence might scare you, but it shouldn’t. Because I think we use the bible so often to “correct” our lives and “prove” our motives that we never stop to reflect that the bible itself speaks of a more correct and a more true authority available to us.

John 14:15-17

“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth… the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

The counselor that will remind us and be with us forever is the Holy Spirit the living God.

Luther said “only the bible and the bible only” and we carry these heavy oversized books to church saying it’s “the word of God…” but what does John say?

John 1:1-5

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

The word of God who was here on earth since the beginning is Jesus the living God.

And this is no disrespect to the bible, I love the bible, am a teacher of the bible, own several bibles, could live on “sola scriptura, scriptura sola” for the rest of my natural life and be more than content.  But that’s the great thing about this new reformation… they don’t want just a heavy book anymore or worse… a relationship with a book or a life of reading a book.

No, they want to carry God in their pockets, feel God on their shoulders, speak God with their tongues, see God move in their lives and have a real relationship with a living, breathing, God.

I think this new reformation is going to begin to look at the Holy Sprit the way the early church did. Not as some ethereal mystery figure or discussion item in Christology classes, but as a vital source of strength, and power and interpretation and mediation.

And that is awesome!… but it also has me feeling a little sick to my stomach. Which might explain why some people were always falling to their knees or to their faces in the presence of God and his angels – a true direct interaction with the Holy should make us feel uncomfortable.

A malaise is a real and honest feeling to have.

photo credit: brh_images

So I have to give my wife credit for this one,  she passed along a news article to me about some Ohio strippers who turned the tables on a local church and picketed the congregation one Sunday morning.  It seems the church was picketing the strip club once a week, so the owner and girls got fed up and decided to play “fair is fair” to see if the local church enjoyed bikini clad water gun fights on their front lawn.

They didn’t.

The Ohio pastor rebuttals, “I will put a roof over (their) heads, and (their) bills will be paid, and (their) children’s bellies will be full,” he explains.  He just wants to offer the girls “a way out.” But, I doubt the employees (who are sometimes Mothers and married women) see picket signs and video taping their patron’s license plates as “helping.”

I wonder why the church thinks that picket signs, protesting, bull horns, pamphlets, tracts, filming surveillance footage and otherwise obnoxious behavior can be classified as “helping.”  Not to mention loving – or loving your neighbor as yourself. What are those steps anyway? How do you go from the bible and the teachings of Jesus and “take the log from your own eye” to… protesting-sign-carrying-jerks?

Is this still the image we as a church body want to convey to a lost world in 2010?

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is one of my all time favorite science fiction books. And sure, Frankenstein’s monster killed a little girl, a violinist and later, the scientist’s own bride, but I have always been as equally scared of the angry mob carrying pitch forks and torches. And when you read the book, Shelly has a way of helping you to feel sorry for the Monster, you realize that he is the fault of the creator and not because of some own twisted choice to be evil. The Monster just wants love and to be left alone. But the turn is, the creator in this story doesn’t want to redeem his creation, he only feels remorse for having made him and sets out to kill what he gave life to.

I think Strippers are a lot like Frankenstein….

(actually I just wanted to say that, my analogy isn’t that tight)

But seriously, I think most people who are in the adult industry, or who manufacture weapons or cigarettes, alcoholics, drug addicts and any other malcontent the church might be after…. I don’t think these people “asked” for the life they got (most of them). For the most part, I think at one time or another we’re all handed a pile of dirty stinky smelly “life” and you pick your options.

“Well, I had it rough and I never became a stripper.”

Well good for you – here’s a cookie.

But it’s unfair for you or I to sit back in our polished pews and judge a sinful and broken world. I actually think casting judgment on anyone (even other Christians sometimes) is a very dangerous place to be standing. Yes, I know there are verses that appear to condone discernment and judgement, but I see a lot more that talk about love, and forgiveness and mercy and grace.

Plus if we truly want to call ourselves “Christians” – well then I certainly never see Christ judging the lost or those on the fringes. He appears to constantly welcome in children, women, the sick, half-breeds and anyone else the church has “judged” to be inferior. He even tells a woman “caught in sexual sin” what?

“Neither do I condemn you.” (John 8 )

The good news is our creator does want to redeem us – he sees our flaws and brokenness and he wants to love us regardless. He isn’t out in the parking lot taking pictures of our license plates, he isn’t shaming our life choices and he isn’t even demanding that we change… Jesus illustrates that the father simply waits for his lost children to come home (Luke 15:11-32) all so that he can show them extravagant grace.

You know, I think we picket and point fingers because it’s easy. It’s real easy to tear others down, to criticize how they love, or how they raise their kids, how they teach the bible or how they earn a living; being a back-seat critic is safe and it places us up out of harm’s way.

I can find fault with anything.

But Jesus didn’t tell me to judge the world – he told me to love it. And if the world doesn’t receive me or the message of the gospel.. what am I supposed to do? (Matthew 10:14)

Walk away.

“But then how will the strippers ever know we disprove of their lives?!”

John 16:8 - When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

God is the judge and he is the conviction of sin.

Those are his jobs.

He does them best.

What do you and I do?

Matthew 10:7-8 – Go and announce that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons.

Announce

Heal

Raise

Cure

… and if we’re not received?

No torches

No pitchforks

No picket signs

No hate mongering

No defaming websites or email

Just walk away.

[Read what happens next in this story- here]