I am resolved no longer to linger

I started singing I am Resolved by Palmer Hartsough today and it made me think about the coming New Year. I kept singing the first verse over and over.

I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world's delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.

I have never done New Year's resolutions before. Not really. To be honest, I've always thought of resolutions as a sign of weakness. If you had something that you needed to do better or, do period, what is it about a new year that makes us think that you can do it now? As if the New Year possesses some magical endowment of commitment and resolve… It's really kind of strange concept that we have adopted but I do appreciate the idea of new beginnings. Many people see their children this way. As if they may have really messed life up but here is a chance for me, in a way, to get things right this time. The problem I have always had with this sort of thinking is that it always puts us in a posture of waiting. Waiting to see how this new year goes, if we'll really stick to our guns this time, if in 20 years I'll be happy with the way my kids lived so that I can feel better about me, waiting to finally be discovered for my hidden talents and the world will pay me loads of money for it, waiting for everyone to realize that I am sexy.

What in us tells us certain aspects about our character, preferences, religious practices or even physical appearance are in need of adjustment anyway? If we really believed half the garbage we were told as children we'd be fine with ourselves just the way we are. All those after school specials telling children that it's ok if you are a little tubby or if your nose is longer than the other kids or if you're not as good a sports. I've always secretly wanted to kick the writers of those segments in the shins and tell them that it was just the way I was and they needed to be ok with it. It's like the most cliché dating advice that everyone gives to the nervous dater: "Just be you." Which we all know no one believes or practices till they've been married for a while and seen the ugly side of naked. And yes guys there is an ugly side to naked and it's always us. We desire to change because we see the reflection of ourselves in comparison to those around us and we either shine brilliantly or pale in comparison. New Years rolls around and we decide to be like that guy or that girl.

Here's the problem: Becoming more like others never makes us happy or satisfied. Which leads us to the real problem: We are not happy or satisfied. Why?

If we believe we'll be completely happy when we are skinny and in shape, why wasn't Jesus, Richard Simmons? Pick your poison here but the point is that Jesus wasn't a guru on physical fitness or personal finance but he did come to change us.

Here's the flip side though, the part I'm dealing with…What does it say about you spiritually when the rest of your life is discombobulated? How can you tell others to stop sinning and make time to read your Bible when I can't find the time to do my laundry or run a lap? While there are those who will retreat into 'I'm in this world not of it' the truth is there is a connection between the spiritual and the physical. One day there won't be but right now there is. We have to deal with that. As Christians the more we disassociate ourselves from the physical the more and more people will retreat from us. Culture is not to be feared, it needs to be changed. This is the kind of change I think Jesus promoted. When he spoke of the kingdom of God (which he talked about more than anything else…) he spoke of the kingdom in carnal terms. The kingdom of God is like this or that because he understood that we could understand carnal things because we are carnal. For those of you without your church vocabulary cards, carnal literally means "of the flesh" or worldly. He also spoke about a kingdom that was coming, that would grow and flourish. We're not doing that either…. Can you imagine if a preacher today stood up in front of the church and proclaimed: "the Kingdom of God is like American Idol." There would almost certainly be hushed whispers and talks of how to get rid of this guy, which just goes to prove there are Pharisees in the American church. It has almost become culturally unacceptable to allow culture and religion to intersect let alone converse. Sound familiar?

So I am resoluting to make resolutions. Hartsough's song calls us to be set apart and away from the world so that we can have a more intimate relationship with Jesus, but I am resolved to no longer linger in religious obscurity but reveal the kingdom of God by asking the power of the Spirit to change the world and to please include me in the process somehow. It's a big step for me, I have a hard time admitting my shortcomings and being transparent. Maybe that should be my first resolution? So check in throughout the week to see what they are and you'll probably see some bright spots in your life in my pale reflection.

Pleading for Fruit

Since at Christmas time there is usually a little more grace allotted to others via little baby Jesus, I feel free to write the following:

Growing up in a traditional conservative church I get the heebie-jeebies even thinking about saying this out loud: I think I agree with the Charismatic. I know….

Have I sold out to liberation theology? No

Am I going to be teaching the prosperity gospel? No

And no it's not entirely fair to associate those with charismatic churches

But what I am going to start saying is "Where is the Spirit?" In most conservative churches, bible studies, pie fellowships and Wal-marts I have always heard the charismatics criticized as being just an emotional bunch of goofballs and I apologize to all you charismatics out there who hadn't realized this yet. And you know what? There are some emotional goofballs out there. There are also some genuine followers of Christ who love the Lord. Just like it's not fair to pigeon-hole conservatives as emotionless statues…We are missing something here though. I remember growing up hearing sermons about getting drunk on the spirit, just don't act drunk! and Lessons like the Holy Spirit will guide your words, if you memorize enough scripture, etc. We see no miracles and if you speak in tongues we will ask you to be quiet. It's not that we don't believe in speaking in tongues, it's that interpreters became extinct with the fall of Rome. Right?? Here is where the charismatics get it right and we don't: They read scripture and believe that everything there is possible. We read the bible and the minute anything uncomfortable happens we assume the people then were much dumber and God needed a light show and sleight of hand to get their attention. When did God say, I'm sending my son to be brutalized and spit on by all of you sacks of dirt so that you no longer have to do what's uncomfortable. What we need to hear is what the charismatics say about us: We don't have the spirit because we exhibit no fruit. There are more but that one should hurt enough for now. If it doesn't bother you, may I recommend auditioning for the role of the Tin-man in your local theatre, you'd be perfect.

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Go out there and ask this simple question to strangers, does this list reflect my church? You will quickly discover two things:

1. Most people have never heard of or seen your church
   
2. Churches, when known of, are defined by style. "Oh that's the church with the Rock band." Or "Don't they just sing hymns?" or "Yeah, they have a Gregorian chant service don't they?"
   

Never in my experience has anyone ever said to me "Yeah that's the place that really knows how to love people!" or "Man, the kindness and goodness of that fellowship is intoxicating!" And do you know why they don't say that? It's because our churches aren't doing that! We are selfish, backstabbing know-it-alls, and that's my short list. There is rarely joy seen in our worship (or sometimes allowed, that can get out of control….) and patience, especially with each other, well let's just say we're too busy for patience. I could go on but I won't because frankly, it's getting a little uncomfortable for me.

So…am I going to become a charismatic? Here is what I want to be; I want to be excited about church, I want to be excited about worship, I want to get lost in the moment, I want the church to change the world. I truly believe that if we truly believed God we could conquer culture, we could save lives, we could be bold enough to speak the gospel in the face of criticism and eloquent arguments. Some of you are probably at this very moment making the case for "Well Craig, it really seems like a lot of this is for you and you have a lot of "I wants" and it just seems like these are internal changes that you need to make." If that's the case then why do we have church at all? Why do we meet? If these are all changes that I can make on my own why not just attend the 1^st church of Craig and be done with all of you? The answer is simple: we are meant to do this together. We are meant to deal with and struggle through issues so that together we can become stronger and more faithful. This attitude that lifts up the ego as paramount and tells us we have to go away and study and understand before we act is ridiculous. We need to do:

do Love

do Joy

do Peace

do Patience

do Kindness

do Good

do Faith

do Gentleness

do Self-Control

And do them in abundance!

“There’s an App for that”

This past Sunday night some friends and I gathered with bowls filled to the brim with mashed potatoes (with homemade gravy of course!), green beans, hot rolls, chocolate chip cookies, fried chicken and roast beef. While this sounds like the beginning of a perfect Sunday pot-luck, the food wasn't for us. We carefully heaped generous portions into aluminum to-go dishes while the food was still hot and then neatly stacked them together in a large cooler to keep them warm because we were hitting the streets to give it away.

As we were pulling out of the driveway we began to joke about how we would find hungry people at that time of the evening asking if "there's an app for that"?

Turns out there is!

It's called Lovebag and while it cannot GPS locate homeless or hungry people it does give you good ideas on what to hand out in care packages, how to start a conversation as well as some phone numbers and websites you can contact to get more information or find out how to get more involved. While our boxes of food were not necessarily up to Lovebag code we pressed on. We had prepared 20 boxes of food and were already a little nervous and probably a little reluctant to get started. Having never done this before, questions like,

"Do we stop?"

"Should I pull over?"

"What should I say?"

"Is this safe?"

began to surface as the new conversation. But we were all truly excited when we found our first victim. Someone mustered enough courage to shout out through the window of the truck we were in to yell: "Are you hungry!??" To which he excitedly nodded. We leaped in the back of the truck and began assembling all the essentials: Box of food, Utensils and a neatly wrapped package of baked goods. We noticed he had a hungry looking dog as well so two plates were given so everyone had a meal. Out of our 20 boxes we were able to hand out 10 meals in all. For us it was a tremendous success. 9 people were able to eat last night who might otherwise have gone hungry and probably do most nights.

We forget sometimes that we treat food as a given in our lives. We, like anything else in our lives that are routine, take it for granted. It is a reminder for us all when we serve those without how rich we truly are. If you have access to the internet to read this you are rich and probably, without even wondering, expect to have dinner tonight. This past Sunday Carl Etchison challenged us to replace three meals this week with a simple cup of rice. We are to do this to remind us of the simple pleasure of having food that others usually don't and would jump at the possibility to eat. My confession to you is that I don't want to do that. I love rich sauces made from vinegar and wine reductions seasoned with fresh herbs and homemade stocks. Deep intricate flavors that cause tastebuds to dance. I am a food snob. This challenge while difficult must be done though. After last night I no longer want to be "that guy." I'm not going to cease liking what I like but I no longer want to take what I have for granted but live in a Holy satisfaction whether there is food or there isn't.

One of the striking things about our experience last night was the recipient's willingness to speak of God. Almost everyone said "God bless you" at receiving a meal and I wasn't even sneezing! We say something significant when we say "God bless you" to someone else because we're not saying what we usually say: "God bless me."

In their poverty, they said to us God bless you. In their poverty they are offering whatever blessing God has allowed them pass along to us. There is not app that can make you be selfless. I know that on my own I am self serving and not generous so I'm turning to God and asking that the Holy Spirit empower me to eat the rice, to change my heart and say God bless you.

Something to think about:

For me to eat a decent meal at a decent restaurant it usually costs me approximately $15. Last night I spent $15 on my portion of the meal we assembled ( Pot Roast and to-go boxes) It made enough to feed 20 people. We fed 10. How would I have better spent the $15? A Chicken fried steak for myself or feeding ten people who might not have eaten last night?

 

Generation ἀποθνήσκω

Here are some statistics I shared with the group of elders I met with last Tuesday and at worship last night that I thought you might find them interesting/convicting.

(Statistics are for Americans, believe me they would be worse if we went international…)

Consider themselves to be believers / followers of Christ

Those between the ages of:

55-75     64%

35-55        36%

18-35        4% (predicted since not all are above the age of 21 yet)

17% of those between 18-35 attend church at least once a month (they did once on month to get the percentages up…).

98% percent of church growth in America right now is from transfer growth, meaning that all other means (mostly new converts) makes up only 2% of church growth.

Here is what this should tell us. We are on the right track by trying to reach this missing generation. Eventually those other two generations will be gone and we will be left with what we have built. A group of churches that only survives by inviting in those who were angry or frustrated enough to leave their last church residence.

Something has to change.

Who will do it?

You have to. Sideline Christianity cannot be afforded if we expect the church to survive. We have to take the gospel outside our walls, outside our homes and especially outside of our comfort zones. People! If we really believe that we are people who are known for love the greatest love we could ever enact on someone's life is to reveal the one who loved them enough to die for them. Again, to reach people no one else is reaching, we have to do things no one else is doing! So start doing something, that would be different.

Techo for Jesus

For all of you worship junkies out there, Elevation Church is in my opinion going to be one of the next leaders in worship development. You can check out their stuff by going to thier blog at www.elevation-worship.com . On the blog you can watch thier team perform one of my favorite songs from Hillsong "To know Your Name". Now I have never been nor do I believe I will ever be a big Techno, hip hop fan but I really appreciate a church that is making strides to reach out to different flavors of people through music. Especially when its done well! Check it out and let me know what you think.

Can I come?

"Can I come?"

This question has been the theme of my last couple of weeks. It's a little sad that in Christianity we have developed such a denominational club mentality that being invited and welcomed amongst Christ followers isn't assumed when we gather for worship and fellowship. I used to work for a church that actually had closed small groups. Groups who had specifically told our small groups pastor that they did not want him to send them any "new" people because they were content with the people they had. What? As we have begun meeting on Sunday nights for worship I have had several conversations, e-mails, text messages and even coffee meetings with people asking if they can come. I have been surprised every time because I have assumed that because we gather under the banner of Christ that being welcome is a given. I'm not convinced it's the banner of Christ that has the issue though (insert sarcastic glare here). The problem is that we behave like clubs more than we do communities and fellowship is a commodity that is exploited for our ego more than for edification. What we need is another good unity movement. We need a movement that doesn't estrange pastors from each other but encourages them to meet and pray together, to challenge one another and here's the tough one; to love one another. When John wrote in his first pastoral epistle that in the Church (note the capitalization) we should be known for our love for each other, he wasn't just speaking about love for each other in our local bodies but that we should have a love that knows no borders, customs or preference.

It truly breaks my heart to know the level of distrust that exists amongst the body. The strange competitive spirit between pastors that everyone knows is there but is never spoken of. The competition is more about popularity amongst Christians than anything so it's a competition where the victor has already been declared. His name is Jesus and you'll never win no matter how many butts you pack in the pew. So as we have begun to walk this path of fellowship together one of my prayers has been that we can find another group to work with, share resources, vision and be a shining light to our community of what unity can be.

Tuesday December 1^st I have meeting that may allow us that opportunity. A group of leaders here in our area has heard about what we are doing and is very excited about the possibilities of us working together. I will be going to make a presentation to them and to discuss our hopes and dreams of reaching people that no one else is reaching. I simply ask that you pray for this meeting. That Gods glory is sought out above all else, that in our plans, goals and dreams we seek to find the path of His will. If this is something you can commit to on our groups behalf everyday till the meeting please comment below with a simple "I Will". I covet your prayers on this and as usual if you have questions feel free to comment or email me.

Makin the Pizza

Saturday we ventured into an interesting experiment to collectively create the perfect pizza. Ambitious? Yes. Possible? No…. We did what any large group of people do when needing to make important decisions regarding anything. We committeed up! We broke up into small groups to go away separately and then return to the larger group with the perfect pizza. Sounds easy right? Well here were my instructions:

1. You must return to the group with the same pizza as everyone else; this includes shape, crust, sauce, toppings and cheese.
   
2. You are not allowed to speak to other groups, txt message them or facebook or twitter them regarding said pizza.
   
3. Not only must rule #1 be followed but the pizza must be in my opinion the best pizza EVER.
   

Surprisingly, there we no objections to the rules and everyone retreated to their respective corners to create their perfect pizza. We had six groups and I'll let you guess how many different pizzas we had we gathered back together

That's right: 6.

So I asked everyone why this exercise didn't work. Here were some of the interesting responses.

"We couldn't communicate with each other."

"There were too many people in my group!"

"Too many variables in order to be successful."

"Mine was right, everyone else just didn't get it right."

 

While humorous, each of these statements I have heard in the past regarding churches and why those within feel they cannot move forward or be successful. What was wrong with the pizza game is not that making the perfect pizza isn't a good and worthwhile goal and should be abandoned. The problem is the system we chose to exist in. We all agreed to the rules at the beginning and then never questioned them. We happily went to our committees hoping that we would arrive at our intended destination. The response from our group was incredible after we received the results. We spent 10-15 minutes discussing what was wrong with the system. No one said "Hey, could we try this a different way maybe?" But the point I think was to arrive there and realize how easily we fall into that rut. I also wanted everyone to realize that we all have our own ideas about what is best concerning everything, even pizza. How much more passionate will we be (should we be) about church? The point being that no matter what we are not going to arrive at the perfect church.

This past week I was thinking about what we are going to be about and the more I looked over and thought about our should and could list the more an adjective kept coming to mind: Restoration. Restoring relationships to God and people, restoring the church to a mission of love, hope, justice and mercy, restoring the communities image of the church etc. So that is why we are test driving the name Restoration Church on the poll question. Let me know what you think.

We also decided to go ahead and set a meeting time. So now starting this Sunday November 15^th we will be meeting at our house @ 6 p.m. We'll have a time of worship and prayer together and afterwards we plan to have pot-luck dinner, so dig out those recipe books! Hope to see everyone there.