A church for those who've wasted life - their own and maybe yours too

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt

Jesus tells a story in Luke 15 about a father and two sons. It's a story I had the pleasure of getting to recount and explain this past Sunday. The youngest son is often described as prodigal, which means recklessly wasteful. This young man tells his father to his face he wishes he (the father) could die so he (the son) could finally live. The son then promptly wastes what the father gives him in the name of freedom and self-indulgence. In the most happy and surprising turn in the story, this recklessly wasteful son is welcomed home and even celebrated by his father (whom the son earlier wished dead!). The older son, who stuck around serving the father, is furious at the celebration...

As are many of us toward people in churches just like yours and mine. Some of those who sit and stand next to you on a Sunday morning cut corners (even commit fraud!) in their workplaces, have slept the night prior with someone who is not their spouse, and have even hurt you or someone you know. Yet sometimes we think in protest, "Others must know who they are and what they are doing and yet they still welcome such as these, they are still greeted, they are made to feel included." Indeed, we expect the welcome, forgiveness, and call of Jesus to be what transforms a person's life (Titus 2:11-15), not a starting line of moral conformity followed by Jesus' stamp of approval. Otherwise, Jesus would be called the "Affirmer" not the "Savior." For some, truly grasping this grace ("activated love") of the Lord Jesus takes a while and in the meantime such people may even call themselves a "Christian." In fact, I may even be describing you. But if I'm not - I want to appeal to the patience shown to you through Jesus Christ and also to consider the alternative - a church full of older brothers. 

In a small section of his book, The Prodigal God, Tim Keller talks about how during the early years being a Christian was considered abnormal and then helps us consider why we should desire for prodigals to be attending (and sometimes "messing up"!) our churches. I'll quote him at length because what he says is so good for us long-time church goers to hear:

It's hard for us to realize this today, but when Christianity first arose in the world it was not called a religion. It was the non-religion. Imagine the neighbors of the early Christians asking them about their faith. "Where's your temple?" they'd asked. The Christians would reply that they didn't have a temple. "But how can that be? Where do your priests labor?" The Christians would have replied that they do not have priests. "But...but," the neighbors would have sputtered, "where are the sacrifices made to please your gods?" The Christians would have responded that they did not make sacrifices anymore Jesus himself was the temple to end all temples, the priest to end all priests, any sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

No one had ever heard anything like this. So the Romans call them "atheists," because with the Christians were saying about spiritual reality was unique and could not be classified with the other religions of the world. This parable explains why they were absolutely right to call them atheists. 

The irony of this should not be lost on us, standing as we do in the midst of the modern culture wars. To most people in our society, Christianity is religion and moralism. The only alternative to it (besides some other world religion) is pluralistic secularism. But from the beginning it was not so. Christianity was recognized as a tertium quid, something else entirely.

The crucial point here is that, in general, religiously observant people were offended by Jesus, while those estranged from religious moral observance were intrigued and attracted to him. We see this throughout the New Testament accounts of Jesus' life. In every case where Jesus meets a religious person and a sexual outcast (as in Luke 7) or a religious person an a racial outcast (as in John 3-4) or a religious person and a political outcast (as in Luke 19), the outcast is the one who connects with Jesus and the older-brother type does not. Jesus says to the respectable religious leaders "the tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom before you" (Matthew 21:31).

Jesus' teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, button-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, it must be more full of older brothers that would like to think.

2016 Resolution: Grow into a Wiser Person

I want to be someone who not only makes good decisions but consistently great decisions, which will bless my wife, my kids, my neighbor, my church and will bring maximum glory to God. So I thought I'd pass on this resolution for 2016 and then point you to a couple of sources to help if you'd like to resolve to join me. I just spent the last three days on a prayer and planning retreat - primarily meditating on the Book of Proverbs. Talk about humbling. 

My main takeaway was this: I barely know anything about life. I checked this conclusion against some old journals and notes I'd jotted down. My twenties were full of more self-assurance than I'm happy to admit. When I turned 30, I started to doubt how much I really know. Now, as I get closer to 40, I'm much more confident in my ignorance (By 50 I hope to be fully convinced!). No matter your age, perhaps you feel similarly. What God showed me is that a heavy dose of humility accompanied by a full admission of ignorance is indeed good preparation (Proverbs 28:26), but I need to keep going. What's the next step? 

According to, Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived outside of Jesus himself:  

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom (Proverbs 4:5).

No one is going to spoon feed us wisdom nor does it typically just fall into our laps (nor our inboxes or Facebook feeds). We have to go out and get it. Seek after it, pay attention, ask good questions - and do this everyday. 

Proverbs recommends two consistent and reliable sources of wisdom - a wise God and wise people.

1. So make a Bible reading plan today before the clock strikes midnight. We average 35,000 conscious decisions per day - relying primarily on our own common sense (at best!) to make them (though Proverbs suggests this isn't a reliable source of wisdom - Prov. 3:5, Prov 28:26). Rather, with the feeding and renewing of our mind with the Word of God comes a better ability to test and approve God's will with everyday decisions (Romans 12:2). Get wisdom by getting in His Word every day.

• Custom Make your reading plan with the option of delivery to your inbox. 
• Select among these pre-made plans.
• Join me in this 2-year Plan (I find trying to read in one year that I often rush through something God is trying to tell me)
• Here's a list of questions to ask when reading it to help you again to apply what you are reading to life. 

Proverbs 28:9 - "If one turns his ear away from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination." Consider both the wisdom and warning of this statement. Such a person considers his/her own words to God as more valuable than His Words to us. Imagine telling God: "I don't really want to hear what You say but will you please listen to me." Yet those of us who regularly move our lips upward but never crack the Book open are effectively saying just that. 

The very real God assigns perhaps His harshest warning for that person's next prayer: abomination. Perhaps it's not healthy to ponder too long on the harshness of that assessment but rather recognize God is lovingly trying to warn you about something He feels very strongly about - your growth, your flourishing, your becoming the person you've always wanted to be. 

2. Consistently get around people who possess and are seeking godly wisdom like you (a.k.a. Join a Community Group). Here's the link. Sign up before you talk yourself out it (and for those of you with children but short on funds, the church has set aside funds specifically to help with childcare for CG participation - simply let myself or Pastor Brett know).

Proverbs 14:7 - "Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge."

Proverbs 27:9 - "Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel."

Whom are you around most consistently? A fool or a friend. From which kind of persons are consistently trying to get wisdom? A fool or a friend. The weight of Proverbs suggests it is sometimes appropriate to stick it out and love someone making foolish decisions - but our relational priority ought to be getting around brothers and sisters seeking wisdom (Hebrews 10:24-25, Galatians 6:10). 

Wishing you a happy 2016!  Auld Lang Syne.

Why I've fallen back in love with y'all

When Katie, Mason & myself moved in 2005 from the frozen tundras of Chicago, Illinois to the pollenated southern United States (Tallahassee, Florida), I made a conscious decision that I would not give in to the use of y'all - be it in conversation or correspondence. I've always taken a little extra pride in employing correct grammar (it's the English Lit major in me - we have very little practical application of our studies!). I felt grammatically free of y'all after the now four of us moved to the multicultural Cayman Islands. I even secretly harbored a few  "told-ya-so" moments when listening to some Southern American friends struggle to try to explain y'all to persons of other cultures here in Grand Cayman. 

Falling back in love with y'all. Until, that is, in the Fall of 2010 when I re-discovered the brilliance of y'all. I was reading the book of Ephesians and I was astonished to re-read multiple prayers, teachings & exhortations as addressed to more than one person (as most of the New Testament is written to churches - 2nd person plural - not individuals). But it would be easy to read all of these brilliant verses as written to individuals because while the Original Greek has an expressed grammar that communicates "you" (plural), the English language does not. The British utilized "thou" as the second person singular for some time whilst reserving "you" for 2nd person plural. That faded by the end of the 17th century though. Back to Ephesians. Consider the difference y'all makes to how God's Word to us is understood & received:

1. Y'all were dead in your trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1)
Received individually (you): My story is that I was most definitely dead & following ways of the world, but some people's story may be different - some grew up Christian.
Received corporately as a church (y'all): There is not one person who wasn't dead and running in the other direction from God before He rescued them. Not one! We all collectively share some version of the same story.

2. But now in Christ Jesus y'all who were once far off have been brought near through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13)
Received individually (you): I've been brought near for a personal relationship to God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit - because of what Jesus did. Every day is great if it's just you and Me, JC! 
Received corporately as a church (y'all): I've been brought near for a personal relationship to God - it's personal but not individual. I've also been brought near to others to experience with them eternal fellowship with God. 

3. [I pray] that y'all, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and how long, how high and how deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17).
Received individually (you): Jesus, please fill my cup to know and experience your love as an overflow. Please also fill up Jimmy's cup that he might experience this too.
Received corporately as a church (y'all): Jesus, help us as a church body experience the overflow of your love. Jimmy & I will only experience loved pushed to its boundaries as a community - benefitting from one another's encouragements, gifts, wisdom, prayers as expressions of Your love.

4. Let know one deceive y'all with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6).

Receieved individually (you): Jesus, please help me stay alert today for even the subtle lies of this world. Help me fight them off and remember they are empty promises.

Received corporately as a church (y'all): Jesus, help us as a church body fight off lies and empty promises. If one of my family members falls under deception, it could affect us all. Use me to encourage someone in the truth! Protect especially our Elders and leaders from the latest fads and false teachings.

Ephesians reminds us that Christ didn't so much die for individuals as he did for the church: "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25).

Curtain #1: Dividing mankind
from the Holy of Holies

How we went from you to y'all. By taking upon Himself the sin of the world as he died on the cross, Jesus was made unfit for His eternal community - Father, Son, Holy Spirit - "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani" (Mark 15:34). His y'all was cruciformed into an alienated and isolated you. His eternal community - His forever church forsook Him. He did this to make you and I into a y'all. Remember the tearing of the temple curtain that occurred after he breathed his last (Mark 15:38)? Scholars have longed tried to figure out which curtain the gospel writers were referring to - because in the temple there were two curtains. Curtain #1: Divided the Holy of Holies from the Court of Men. This curtain kept sinners from perishing in the pure presence of a perfect God. Curtain #2: Divided the Court of Men from the Court of Women & the Court of Gentiles. It was a glorified airplane curtain dividing Coach from First Class (some of us just want to sneak a peek of what goes on in First Class). Curtain #2 symbolized that there are social divides that are not to be crossed. It is my opinion that the gospel writers are purposely vague on which curtain was torn - because they meant for their readers to consider both barriers obsolete. Through Christ's death, every dividing curtain is brought down (Ephesians 2:14). Thus, it's no longer you but y'all (you + Trinity) and it's not longer you but y'all (you + the church to which you belong).

Applying y'all to you. You are going to experience the goodness, the comfort and the encouragement of a communal God (Father, Son, HS) this Christmas Season. We can be confident of this because God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Such good is not simply meant for just you but for y'all! Who is your y'all with whom you will share blessing upon blessing? Who is your y'all with whom you will experience together the width, length, height, & depth of Christ's love?

This Advent Season, I've loved watching families of Sunrise light our church's Advent candles and lead us in a Reading. Doing it in the privacy of their home would suffice, but isn't it so much richer that they do this with community?! Equally, I can't wait to sing "Silent Night" on Christmas Eve. How much more full is the experience with a couple hundred family members letting their light shine forth! Maybe your y'all is comforting those in your church community who are lonely this Christmas or having a non-married member of your church to your home on Christmas morning for breakfast or to open stockings (what a blessing it would it be to even prepare for them their own stocking!).

Through Christ, we have a personal relationship with a Divine Community - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's meant to be personal, but it cannot stay individual. It's not meant to be. I'm just speaking the truth...y'all.

(If further interested: (1) Here's a ya'll version of the Bible!!; (2) Here's a respectable Brit who favors using y'all for the Bible; (3) Here's a longer article from a Southern-American theologian- contains extra nuggets of insight; (4) Here's an article on the Remarkable history of y'all) 

8 reasons why enjoying God with others is better than you and Yahweh "doing your own thing"

This past Sunday I had opportunity to teach from Psalm 40 and try to explain why this prayer-song was a kind of pattern for David's spiritual life - and ebb and flow from worship in private prayer closet (in his case - fields and caves) and public worship with God's people (whether it be dancing before an Ark in his underoos or in the sanctuary). My emphasis for Sunday was upon how running back each day to the private prayer closet - alone with God - serves to re-fuel and sustain every effort of corporate worship.

However, I did make a brief comment: Public, corporate worship - hearing from God's Word together and singing it to one another and to God - protects and enlargens the prayer closet. This is the other side of the coin in developing intimacy with God. The impetus behind that brief comment largely stemmed from a sermon I read last week by David Clarkson.

David Clarkson (1622-1686) was a colleague and successor in the pulpit to the famous Puritan John Owen. His sermon is entitled: Public worship to be preferred before private from Psalm 87:2 and it contains an absurd number of Roman numerals that will cause you to either grow dizzy or begin to form a shape (various Star Wars or Lord of the Rings characters are common) if you look at them (or through them) for too long. 

Ultimately I disagree David's his overall assessment in part because of the inherent dangers of vanity that accompany overindulgence in worshipping God in the midst of others, which Jesus warned us about (Matthew 6:5-6), but mostly because it begs the question: Why would you try to pit two friends against each other?!. The private re-fuels and sustains genuine, lasting public worship while the public worship protects private worship from becoming introspective, selfish, heretical while spurring on insights in to God, the Bible, life that you wouldn't have noticed yourself. Each serves the other as a good friend would. But many of his points are insightful, well-girded by Scripture and so worth taking a gander.

Without further ado, here are 8 reasons (Clarkson gives 12 but 4 of them are, in my estimate, not well-supported) to stop telling yourself: "Oh, I'll just stay out later and spend time with God by myself on the beach when I wake up" or "Must...hit...snooze...button.  Sleep...better...than...preacher" or "God understands that I have ____ going on or ____kids or need to put in ____ extra hours at work" and instead enjoy the benefits promised in God's Word of gathering together to grow from and gladly respond to God's Word.

1. The Lord is more glorified by public worship than private. This first point by Clarkson should makes sense. More people means more voices singing, more gifts at the table, more testimonies of thanksgiving - but also more opportunity for the Holy Spirit, through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:1-3), to make unlikely unity out of such diversity of backgrounds, ethnicities, interests and seasons of life. For brining unity where there would otherwise be relational chaos, God receives maximum glory.

2. There is manifest more of the Lord's presence in public worship than in private. Clarkson argues for this beautifully: "The Lord has a dish for every particular soul that truly serve him; but when many particulars meet together, there is a variety, a confluence, a multitude of dishes. The presence of the Lord in public worship makes it a spiritual feast, and so it is expressed in Isaiah 25:6."

4. There is more spiritual advantage in the use of public worship. For instance, certain deeper spiritual truths which one tries to suss out on his/her own, can be apprehended more readily and precisely when he/she listens to good preaching and worships together with others. Clarkson rightly quotes Psalm 73:16-17 here. Asaph has just been querying GOd as to why the wicked and proud prosper - it all starts to make sense once he arrives to the sanctuary to worship God together with others. For one thing, you realize the true prosperity you possess in community and being a part of the church of the living God most acutely when you get there.

5. Public worship is more edifying than private. In private, you seek God merely for your own good, but in public you seek the good of both yourselves and others. Every person who trusts Jesus brings with them a gift "to serve one another" (1 Peter 4:10), "for building up the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12), and "for the common good" (1 Cor. 12:7).

6. Public worship is a better security against apostasy than private. Heresy is a fun word, but apostasy - yikes. The former has to do with believing and espousing a false teaching or truth but often without contrarian motives. Apostasy, however, is the espousing of false teaching as an act of willful rebellion. Either way, when one locks himself or herself in the private closet without bouncing ideas about the Bible, truth, Jesus off someone else, it's easy to stray the course - often without contrarian or malicious intent. I remember years ago doing this once for the first sermon I ever preached during our preaching lab in seminary. The combination of wanting to preach something more 'original' and not really running my notes by anyone else made for an interesting teaching from II Corinthians re: how people should plant churches. There was some errant content in there. Lesson learned. "Where there is no guidance, a people fails / but in an abundance of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs 11:14).

8. Public worship is the nearest resemblance of heaven. A wedding feast, a banqueting table, a heavenly city are all descriptions that entail more than just you and J.C. over a candlelight dinner. 

10. Public worship is the best means for procuring the greatest mercies, and preventing and removing the greatest judgments. So next time you hear about your church conducting a prayer meeting, a prayer vigil, etc, I would caution against the "I'll just join in from home" approach. The number of verses to support the above statement are astounding. Joel 2:15-16: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly, gather the people. Consecrate the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, even the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room and bride her chamber" (you can read Joel 2:17-18 for God's response). II Chronicles 20:3-4 & Acts 4:31 are other poignant examples of God calling His people to come together or using His people as they come together to seek Him.

12. The promises of God are given more to public worship than to private. There are more promises to public, and even the promises that seem to be made to private worship are applicable and even more powerful in the context of public worship. A great example is Revelation 3:20 - often quoted as a most encouraging verse (ie. God is knocking at the door of your heart). But really this invitation is extended not to an individual but to a church. Jesus will come in and fellowship with the church body that hears His voice and invites Him through the door.

We need Sunday because all is not yet Sunday

I've been thinking and reading a lot this week about worship as I prepare to preach on this final avenue of how our church's leadership envisions carrying out our God-assigned mission to introduce people to Jesus and help them grow by his grace.

I am looking forward Zac Hicks leading us in praise and worship when myself and one of our elders attend the Liberate Conference in Ft Lauderdale, FL next month. He wrote a very thoughtful blog post entitled "Why the Tension between Public and Private Worship?" as to why we need to diligently drive ourselves to corporate worship every Sunday. His conclusion stems from the following quote from a book written in the 1960s (by a non-hippie named Jacques Von Allmen) called Worship: Its Theology and Practice. Von Allmen writes:

[Corporate Worship] is necessary because the Kingdom of God is not yet established in power. [Corporate worship] as such is necessary because the whole of life has not yet been transformed into worship. Thus it suggests that the Kingdom exists already, like the leaven in dough, but is not yet established. It shows that Sunday is other than weekday, that all is not yet Sunday. 

Hicks rightly relates Von Allmen's brilliant observation to the already/not yet tension of God's Kingdom that exists through Jesus Christ. One day everything will be perfect - including a perfected and constant community wearing white robes and worshipping the Lamb with no more hunger nor thirst to beset us (Revelation 7:13-17) - but until then we lean into little tastes of divine perfection to keep us going in advancing His Kingdom. God has called us to display saltiness to the world. What does this mean but a kind of set-apartness or difference that makes our lives attractive or 'taste good'.

"You are the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13)  

"Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?" (Mark 9:50)

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person" (Colossians 4:5-6). 

Blanding through Blending. However, Satan, through the wicked tripartite combo of sin/demonic/world, seeks to blend us in and remove our flavoring (consider, for instance, Paul's description in Ephesians 2:1-3 of lemmings following what most think is just the way of the world, but is really Satan's way and increasingly adopted as our own stubborn way). So when we chicken out of sharing a little bit of good news about Jesus with a co-worker, tell & then convince ourselves: "Hey, I have rights too!" (self-serving act to follow), throw in your coarse joke you would never say around church peeps, thoughtlessly use the person working on the project with you for your own gain (or use your child or spouse for that matter) - these are ways we lose flavoring as we begin to blend in with everyone else and, suddenly, voila! : "See! Christians aren't any different." Yet, it's always a struggle to prevent blanding through blending. In fact, it's probably why you are reading this blog entry now: You're feeling tired/blah at work or beaten down by the same ole circumstances at home and could use a pick me up. So you read this in your inbox or clicked on a link that brought you here.

Sustaining your Flava. Sunday corporate worship then becomes essential as the start-to-the-week push you need - a reminder that there are others like you on the same mission, at the same well in need of the same grace, and opportunity to remind each other of God's goodness through hearing and singing the Word of God. Likewise, M-F, private prayer closet worship re-fuels us for the day ahead. God uses time in His Word both corporately and privately to remind us of promises that HE is better, to re-focus us on His mission, and to drink in the amazing reality of grace and forgiveness through a return trip to the cross. He brings you to focused time of worship with the entire church on Sundays or with HIm alone to pray against (and in some cases for - see: people) and re-arm yourself against forces that seek to make your life blander through blending. 

The Forever Sunday. Psalm 34:8 is one of Katie's favorite verses (it hangs above our kitchen sink): "Oh,taste and see that the LORD is good! / Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"
The provocative language in this verse is the "Taste and See" as it hints that the God of

the Universe can be experienced as sweetly and readily as a good steak is tasted or a Cayman beach is beheld. But I've often failed to meditate on the means of such blessed and experienced goodness - namely, "taking refuge in Him." A refuge is not a place a person remains or lives out his/her life (notice the Psalmist doesn't say: "residence" or "place of business"), but a place to which a person returns or even runs - recognizing their need for help, safety, and re-fueling. We are promised that one day we will have no need of certain now-essential-items like four walls and a roof because God will be our home (Rev. 21:3), no need for tissues or therapists or pastors for that matter for their will be no more crying or pain (Rev. 21:4), no more places of worship because God the Father and God the Son will be ever available to satisfy our praises (Rev. 21:22), no more Sun because God will bring light through the Lamb our lamp (Rev. 21:23, 22:5), no fear because there is no one bad (Rev. 21:27). 

So until our worship looks like that, we must (and we get!) to gather on Sundays, each of us bringing along a gift to serve and encourage the other, building one another up for the week ahead so that those we encounter M-F might so taste and see God's flavor in us - the difference in us - that they'd join us first for the following Sunday and then the forever Sunday. 

Relating to my church when I don't have kids

Katie and I recently returned from an amazing vacation during which, for the first time in seven years, we were able to leave our kids behind. One of the nights we were away a single friend in our church body, who is very precious to us, was gracious enough to watch our children. In some ways, it might have been easier to have our boys stay "with a friend" that night - a typical nuclear family. But three factors opened the door: (a) Intentionally broadening our horizons (and conversations and things in common) to befriend our brothers and sisters free of children; (b) That person intentionally broadening their horizons to befriend a family with children. Katie, myself, and our boys were immensely blessed by our friend taking two nights (one to orient herself with their schools and their routines) to serve our family;  (c) Jesus Himself, through whom such possibilities of unlikely friendships become possible (see Ephesians 2:11-22). And so we reached out and asked a favor which she could meet and did...

As the years go by participating as a significant member of one's church and you are single without children or married without children, I recognize there exists a distinct possibility of feeling alienated or, at least, just that little amount of distance from those with children - enough to hinder friendship beyond the occasional handshake, hello, and hug.

I've pasted below (was having problems with the url link) a wonderful testimony by a woman named Erin Lane - who is both a significant member of her local church and who has chosen to be married without children. I think she gets somewhere near the heart of the right reasons to choose life without children or, if unable to have children or single, some ideas to connect and be a blessing without children. Both those with and without children might profit from her story...

I am a young Christian women who doesn’t have children. I suppose the more interesting thing to folks is that I am a married woman with no plans on having future children of my own. I have ventured so far as to call this choice not just a lifestyle preference but a sacrifice, and one that serves the common good.

The common good is a concept that is as illusory as it is necessary. I understand what it means and am able to give voice to it on a larger scale only in as much as I can witness it playing out locally. I could spout arguments as others have about how our remaining childless may be good for this reason or that, but the best argument I can give for our choice is that it’s good for my neighbor. This I’ve seen with my own two eyes. I’ve heard it with perked ears.

We were hiking along a leaf-littered path, making our way up to the hermitage. I was on the heels of our pack leaders, two women who looked to be in their early forties. They chatted easily with one another, and I eavesdropped behind them. This, I determined, was less awkward than side winding around them and forging a path to the top of the mountain alone. We were after all on a church women’s retreat. “Community time” was part of the point.

It didn’t matter that they were taking about their kids, and I had none.

The theme of our retreat was celebration. The context was the Sabbath. Jennifer, our speaker for the weekend, told us of her time living in Jerusalem as a Christian single woman and how the city became a ghost town on Friday afternoons as people scurried home to prepare for their weekly day of rest. Sabbath wasn’t just a day of self-care, as it is sometimes practiced today in the West. It was about a community resting in rhythm. Singles and marrieds came together to eat, drink, and bless each other as one family.

“You can join us, you know,” the one in the running jacket said looking back at me. “But you might be bored.”

I laughed, awkwardly, and propelled my pace. “I don’t mind hearing about your kids.” Women are always apologizing to me for talking about their kids. They want to assure me that they’re not “that kind of woman.” I want to assure them that I think motherhood is a vocation to mull over just as much as mine is as a writer.

The other woman with a fleece tied around her waist caught me up. “We were just saying how there’s no way we could take a Sabbath with small children at home.”

Running woman continued. “I can give Dan time off from the kids to relax, but that means I’m taking them to the park or dreaming up an art project or just supervising free play. And then we switch, and I go for a run or grab a glass of wine but there’s no way we can really rest together.”

She tilted her face up to the hills, as if she were talking to herself now. “Those young women talk like it’s easy to rest. But the weekend isn’t restful.”

I strained my neck further so that it stuck out ever so slightly between them. “That’s where I come in.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, it sounded like a strange thing to say to these strange women I had just met. I had only been going to this church a little over a year but, still, I said, “That’s where a woman without children comes in.”

Without kids of our own, we practice the ministry of availability. When the sign-up sheet at church goes around for our night of ministry to the homeless, my husband and I always take the slot no one wants – the overnight guests. We are the ones with back’s strong enough to sleep on couches in the church parlor but old enough to handle a crisis together between either male or female guests. We don’t have to arrange a sitter for the dog we leave at home, and we can catch up on sleep in the quiet of our house come morning.

Without kids of our own, we practice the ministry of flexibility. It is that season of life when many of our female friends either have a belly full of baby or breasts full of milk. Young ones with new names are popping up down the block and across town at rates we’ve never before witnessed. We are learning there are feeding schedules and sleeping schedules and nary a moment for the happy hours and dinner parties of yesteryear. Fine, we say. Let us come to you. Not doing dairy because Malificent has reflux? We’ll thicken our broth with flour. Not sure when Alastair will wake up from his nap? We’re just watching Nashville, so text us when you’re ready. We have time. We’re not going anywhere.

And finally, without kids of our own, we practice the ministry of hospitality. We welcome the stranger in other people’s children. “I don’t want to staff the nursery during worship,” a young mom once lamented to me. “I’m always at the nursery.” Just because I don’t have kids, doesn’t mean I don’t like them—or understand the gifts that they are.

It was like I said on that long walk up to the hermitage. Let me watch your kids. Let me help you to be available to your partner. Let me help you be flexible with your friends. Let me help you be hospitable to the stranger in me. It’s not that you can’t practice these ministries as parents, only that it looks different when you are committed to a nuclear family.

We’ve gotten some flack for our decision to remain childless that’s hard to understand. People argue it’s not natural. That it’s selfish. Or that it’s endangering the future of the human race. I don’t think the future of the human race has ever been served by all people making the same choice. It’s the diversity of our choices that allow for us to rest in rhythm as a church community. It’s when the music starts to play and we begin to tap our feet and after listening for a beat, we can say, “That’s where I come in.”

  

What makes a church unique? (part I: the problem of uniqueness)

A friend of mine here in Cayman recently received an email from a co-worker entitled: "Only the King James Version is the real Bible." The introduction to the email claimed that any person or church using a translation other than the NIV was denigrating the deity of Christ and the existence of His Kingdom. That's meshugenah!. Beyond the facts that there are good reasons to be both thankful for the KJV translation (see 17th-19th centuries + only English translation) yet also move on to other more reliable translations (see here for more), the larger question this email brought to our minds as my friend and I discussed it was:

Why are many churches so aggressive about making a little thing into their ultimate thing? 

Our conclusion was ultimately that churches often feel the need to set themselves apart. In a consumer market in which all churches find themselves and each must decide to what extent they are going to play that game, many churches feel like they need to not just make Jesus their thing (every church gets to claim Jesus) but Jesus + something else.  This something else makes us unique.


Enter the church of which I'm blessed to be a part - Sunrise Community Church. Since we are non-denominational, pretty new to the scene (ie. new to being a church), non-sectarian in our doctrine/beliefs, thankfully our people are pretty much immune to the pressure of distinguishing our church according to "+ something else." Right? Mmmm...not so much. 


This became clear to me during our search for an associate pastor. Not only did the other elders and myself find ourselves describing & distinguishing our church in ways that weren't just about Jesus, a truly cautionary tale made it clear to me that even churches trying to keep the Big things Big and the small things small can get caught up in this. One of our pastoral candidates mentioned, off-hand, that should he come to visit & preach, he would wear a tie. I cautioned against this primarily because I've never seen anyone in our church wear a tie and people feel weird when I wear dress shoes twice a year (cuff links three times - but that's only because a dress shirt I got from a TJ Maxx Clearance Bin that lacked sleeve buttons...Get it together Van Heusen!!). This caution crystallized how many of us promote our church according to the following terms - we are casual, welcoming, wear whatever you want, & 'not legalistic.' And in promoting it we might become just as rigid as KJV-mania in keeping to it -  how accepting would we really be toward someone who regularly donned a formal, full-length dress or a coat and tie (especially if he was one of the pastors!!)?? At the very least, there would be looks and whispers.


What about your church? How do you describe/promote it to others so as to make it sound unique, different, distinguished? 


So what does God's Word say should make unique the gathering of God's people? That's the subject of my next post: What makes a church unique? The glory of uniqueness. 


As I discovered this week, the whole Bible (yes, including the Old Testament) echoes a consistent theme.

Leaders that Lead, willing 'followers' and everyone in between

Let me immediately open by saying, one, the concept of leadership in the Christian setting has been exploited for so many ill-gotten purposes that we should first remember that the greatest leader is the greatest servant (see Mark 10:43). Second, any good leader is a good follower. As the apostle Paul exhorted one church: "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). The best leaders are those who follow Jesus while happening to be in the midst of others. To put it another way, you can't be a good shepherd until you're a good sheep.


But I ran across a verse and chapter in Scripture yesterday that made me grateful for both faithful leaders and equally as faithful non-leaders amongst the people of God, in families, and especially in local churches. I wanted to share it. It's from the Book of Judges. Deborah - the acting judge - and Barak - Israel's acting military leader - have just been used by God to achieve a great victory over the Canaanites in this new land. Having won, Deborah & Barak release a patriotic duet on LP and the following is the opening line:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,                                                                    that people offered themselves willingly,                                                               bless the LORD!   (Judges 5:2).

Grateful for the faithfulness of "non-leaders." Remember, at this point, God's people have just inhabited this new land and really began to identify with this "each tribe gets a piece of the pie" thing. Was like everybody being in a new little clubs with fancy rights & privileges and then left to figure out how not to be "clique-ish." Isn't this so easy to do as a Christian? We throw around terms like "child of God" because we are through trust in Christ. Also terms like "heir," "priest," "gifted" because we are in Christ. However, we begin to worship the status, prize it above all possessions to the point where we can, frankly, act like spoiled brats (yours truly included). We don't just want the privileges of being part of a family (and its primary expression through the local church) but we want to receive the privileges the way we want (most preferable, most comfortable) and without cost. Many, however, take time to grapple with a leader's vision and, most importantly, take time to look to Christ - the leader - and are thus able to recall the burden and responsibility of leadership that stems from Him. That's what happens here in Judges. Many among the tribes band together to ally & defeat a force and culture which perniciously threatened their faithfulness to Yahweh. How easy it would've have been to stay home playing with their new toy! To take their gift and stay home. I'm so grateful to God for Sunrise Community Church where, for the most part, people have by-and-large taken the time to listen to, grapple with, & get excited about the vision God has imparted for our context and look to Christ, whereby they are able to sympathetically pray and support myself and other leaders. People rarely ask: "Why should I serve?" but, "Where can I be most helpful?" So willing! 


Grateful for leaders who lead. Bless Yahweh for leaders who take the lead! That seems obvious, right? Leaders lead. But reality is that there are many who call themselves "leaders" but don't step out to make the hard choices and endure pain as well as criticism along the way. They issue their informal version of a "gallup poll" & each time take the path of the prevailing tide. I remember Stuart Briscoe once saying, "Every pastor needs to have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of an elephant." It's true. I'm grateful for leaders who keep plodding along especially in the midst of pain and, at best, partial success (as all ministry is - not everyone will trust Christ, not all marriages will be saved, not everyone will get 'on board' in love & unity, and, for families, not every child will soon respond in faith & obedience). Deborah and Barak endured this. There were some tribes who decided to play with their new gift and stay home when their brothers were at war. Deborah & Barak wonder: What happened, Reuben? Where were you? (see vv.15-16). They pine: Gilead, Dan, Asher, what gives?! (see v.17). I can't tell you how many times as a leader where significant persons didn't show up - yes, I've been tempted to text/call the person: "where are you?" and have even given into this temptation. But, oh, for the leader who carries the pain as a response to Christ's carrying his pain and keeps moving forward and then encourages those present who do step up (as Deborah/Barak do - see especially v.9: "My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people"). 


Response. The threat for Israel both grave and obvious. The Cannanites had wealth, cities, politics, art which were far superior to the Israelites all of which was under the guise of worship that promoted materialism and sensuality. What's the grave & obvious threat in your context? To your church? To your family? Let's be grateful for, pray for, and plan for (what do I need to do/change?) leaders & faithful people who exemplify the first line of Deborah and Barak's hit track:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,                                                                    that people offered themselves willingly,                                                               bless the LORD!   (Judges 5:2).

A Gospel of Ethnic Inclusion

While at this church plant/young church conference in Orlando, I was challenged by a fellow pastor: In order to last in remaining committed to the vision of a multiethnic church, a leader's heart must be seized by the conviction that God wants His church to be multiethnic wherever possible. 


Well, living in Cayman...it's possible. I cannot think of a place in the world with a population under 60,000 people that has as many nationalities and ethnicities represented as Grand Cayman. And lookie here, it' happening even at SCC. Our challenge is not just to have it present but make sure we are seized by the conviction that such inclusion should not only happen but that those who might otherwise feel like outsiders experience and wholeheartedly believe they are fully included.


Origins of an inclusive gospel. It's hard to read the New Testament and not be convinced of the power of the gospel to bring persons into reconciliation-- even, no, especially persons of different ethnicities. We see this happen in the largest church in the New Testament, where people are first called "Christians" and from which missionaries are sent out to the known world (Antioch -- see Acts 11 and 13). Christianity first exploded in what is documented as the most multi-ethnic, multi-national city in the first century Roman world. 


We also see this in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 2: 11-22 speak of Jesus destroying dividing walls of hostility between Jew and Gentile. The world will take notice when Christ is the glue that bonds the most unlikely of persons. No doubt, I'll be preaching on this passage at some point in the near future. If the reason isn't obvious, you're not from Cayman, or you just moved to Cayman and this point wasn't covered New Resident Magazine, I'll tell you why: There are some tensions in Cayman between the Caymanian and Ex-pat population. Why? There are various reasons but much of it centers around $$$$, like most social struggles of this nature.


There is much I want to say here, more than I can in this blog post, but a commitment to our church being increasingly multiethnic and multinational through the power of the gospel is not really a matter of if or even a matter of when, but a matter of how. 


A deeper conviction. My heart is seized by this conviction. I want to briefly share how this conviction settled deeply into my heart this week during some mornings alone with the Lord. Through two of the most important and powerful verses in the New Testament, both of which reside in Ephesians 3. "The manifold wisdom of God might be known" (Eph. 3:10) and "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or imagine" (Eph. 3:20). Aren't those great verses. One pointing to how wise, how awe-inspiring the gospel is. It is multifaceted wisdom. The second gives reaffirms what we've seen in prayer, to ask by faith but God often does more, and gives us further confidence that He'll continue to do so. 


But what's the context? The context is the gospel, specifically (as Paul talks about 'his' gospel in Ephesians) a gospel of ethnic inclusion.


Let's check it out. From here on in, it's all Scripture baby...hang tight:

• "For this reason, I, Paul a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles..." (v.1).
• "This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the same gospel" (v.4).
• "To me, though I am the very least of the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" (vv.8-10).
• "For this reason I bow my knees..." (v.14)
• "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power that is at work within us" (v.20).

Do you see it? The manifold wisdom of God is how the gospel includes and unites radically different people into the same promise of life and the same family of everyday living. God being able to do more than we ask and imagine (in Paul's mind and hopefully ours) is seeing people who would otherwise never relate, relate more regularly and fervently than two soccer moms, diving buddies, or financial gurus. 


If this is going to happen, the power isn't going to descend impersonally but it's going to be within us (v.20) and, specifically, it's going to happen through the church (v.10).  


I'm not sure this is the key to church growth. But I am sure God wants to do it, He can do this and more, and we have the opportunity to display the manifold wisdom of God to not just the world but spiritual beings. Let's aim to please Him and trust Him to provide the rest!! 

The 'Shadow Side' of Relationships & Community (Part II)

Last week's rant was about 'The Shadow Side' of Relationships & Community from the perspective of the prophet Jeremiah. I then blog-committed (stronger than a Facebook Commitment but slightly weaker than a gym membership commitment) to address the following two questions:

(a) Why it is that we can feel lonely with people surrounding us ? (b) How we might consider striking a healthy & God-honoring balance between an unyielding trust in God & learning to trust our brothers & sisters in Christ? Soooooo...let's do this like we ain't new to this:

Why is it that we can feel lonely with people surrounding us? The Christian answer you often hear to this is: "God has put a 'God-shaped' hole in your heart that no one but Him can fill." Biblically-speaking, there is actually a good deal of truth to this answer (but sadly diagrams of God-shaped holes are still impossible to draw). God has put something in each person that allows him/her to connect with Him relationally -- a spirit (Hebrew: ruach; Greek: pneuma...or as Rob Bell has learned to spell it 'Nooma'). We find this word, which is sometimes used interchangeably with 'soul,' in I Corinthians 2 as Paul is speaking of having one's eyes opened to the mystery of the gospel:

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. - II Corinthians 2: 10-11

One of the implications one can draw from these verses is that God uses His Spirit to reveal His thoughts to our (lower-case) spirit. Paul also says in Romans 8:10, "If Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness."

Our spirits then are a relational property by which we have the capacity to 'connect' with God. I recently described this to a friend as being like an electrical outlet -- the spirit laying dormant until God plugs in the cord of His Holy Spirit. So when God commands in Malachi to "Guard your spirit," (see Malachi 2: 15,16), he's saying to guard your relationship with Him (or guard your capacity to relate with Him).

Isn't this cool? There is a theological reason, a biblical concept both for understanding the "God-shaped hole" idea and, more importantly, for why you can be connected to all other sorts of people but relationally you still feel unconnected -- because your 'spirit' has not been connected to the only Source that can spark & revive it.

If you believed that surrounding yourself with people would prevent loneliness, then you're essentially a monist (not to be confused with someone who studies Mona from "Who's the Boss?"...anyone get that reference? Anyone...?). Monism is the belief that a human being is essentially only one element -- body. That the body consists of all that a person is. So. according to this view, biblical terms like 'soul' and 'spirit' are just other expressions for 'the person' or for the person's 'life.' If you're a monist and you believe human beings to be relational, then there would be no reason why we should, in the long run, experience any relational dissatisfaction. Bodies relate to bodies...unless, as I'm suggesting, there lies within each of us something other than just flesh & blood.

How we might consider striking a God-honoring balance between an unyielding trust in God and learning to trust our brothers & sisters in Christ?

The answer lies, as it often does, in one's motive. I'm going to assume we all agree that trust is forged through building and working on one's relationship. So why ought we get away and work on our relationship with God? And why ought we, at other times, stay put and work on our relationships with people?

The famous mid-20th century professor & theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who essentially was martyred for his faith) puts this better than anyone in his little book Life Together, which he wrote to describe his convictions regarding nature of the local church:

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when he called you; alone you had answer to that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape from yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone you are rejecting Christ's call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called.

Let

L

you.

Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear the cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone, even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you.

How does this relate to motive? When you enter into community, are you finding your sense of 'rightness', your worth, your 'justification' in their acceptance or in God's ? Do you find yourself forgetting Christ, his teachings & your responsibility before him when you are in the joy/euphoria of relationships. Are you looking to bring Christ & your relationship with him to bear as a blessing? Put succinctly: When entering community, are you looking to satisfy or build up self through others or longing for others to be satisfied in Christ as you build Him up?

When you enter into solitude, are you doing so not only for yourself but for your brother & sister in Christ? To pray for his/her needs? Do you get away in order to come back refreshed and ready to serve not only your friend but 'the least of these', your enemies, and the guy at church who rubs you the wrong way?

We can strike a God-honoring balance in trusting both God & our fellow brother & sister in Christ by making sure we take community to our time with God and be sure to take God to our time in community.

Of course, only by His grace!