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June 30, 2012
Old School D&D
First, I must begin with my gaming bona fides. I’ve been gaming since I was a little kid and have watched the evolution of video games from blips on a screen to a full blown cinematic event. I have seen tabletop roleplaying games evolve from miniatures wargaming to a shared storytelling event and back to a form of miniatures gaming. (As well as the interesting phenomena of seeing tabletop games try to emulate video games.)
In the midst of it all, I have constantly heard of an “old school revival” (some use the term Old School Renaissance but I’m using revival for obvious reasons) that is occurring among gamers. For those on the video game side of things, this has meant a return to playing Nintendo, SNES, and Sega games from the 80s and 90s while for those of us who enjoy tabletop games it has often meant a return to the roleplaying games of our youth.
In the middle of it all, we hear the term revival bandied about and it is often used to mean a resurgence in the selling, buying, and playing of these games. Christians use this term in a similar way. For many, this is a time when people will come to an increased devotion to their faith and its practices or they use it to express a time when there is a large increase in church attendance. (I have also seen the word used to describe a time when both of these should be happening concurrently.)
I, on the other hand, see “revival” in a very different way. It is about building communities of people that transcend the boundaries of age, race, gender, and/or economic background. Having traveled to, and spoken at, a variety of gaming conventions, I have encountered tabletop gamers involved in the “Old School Revival” bringing their spouses, children, and/or a number of friends to these conventions. They are also reigniting old friendships long forgotten and rebuilding relationships they had thought lost or broken. I have also seen new friendships formed and a great amount of interaction among people with wildly different tastes. It is really a heartwarming sight when you step back and watch it. It’s even better when you’re a part of it!
I have also seen something similar happen among video gamers. I have been to my FLGS and listened (yeah, guys, I do listen!) while video gamers stand around and talk about the “old” games. I’ve seen parents introduce their kids to the games they played when they were younger and I’ve watched the bonds between parent and child cement a little more each time. These games are transcending generations and this “revival” is building new communities of gamers.
For Christians, this should be especially true. If we want to experience an “old-fashioned Holy Spirit led revival” then we will begin building communities that accept people from all backgrounds. There will be an excitement and joy surrounding our interest in the faith which will help us pass it own to those who haven’t been around in some time. It will see us gathering at the strangest of times to sit down and share with one another and possibly roll some dice….errrr….fire up the Atari…..ahem…..I mean break out the Scriptures and pray for one another. This type of revival will see sins against God and neighbor forgiven, broken relationships restored, and old friendships renewed.
Oh, and guess what? This type of revival gets a bit messy so be ready to deal with it. Just as gamers will argue about what was the best video game system from back in the day (NOT Colecovision) and others will argue about what was the best tabletop RPG system (obviously Moldvay Basic D&D) so Christians will argue and disagree over various passages of the Bible as well as a variety of doctrines. The key to is that we’re still getting together, enjoying the arguments, having some Cheez Doodles and enjoying one another’s company. (And, for Christians, I’d add in the person and presence of Jesus.)
Now, go slay some orcs and goblins then grab your Bible and when you see me around let’s sit down and have a cold drink and recount all of our old school stories together.
June 21, 2012
“If a customer cannot be seen, heard, felt, smelt, or dealt a hand of cards, if he casts no shadow, empties no glass, and never visits the men’s room can he really be said to be there? Even if you’re having a conversation with him at the time?”
(Jake Stonebender, Involuntary Man’s Laughter, Callahan’s Secret)
I first read these Callahan stories in the early 1980s when my mother bought me a subscription to Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine for my birthday. I was a voracious reader and these magazines brought me in to the world of science fiction in a new and exciting way. The Callahan stories were written by Spider Robinson and they were a mixture of humor, satire, and pundemonium. (Yes, I spelled that correctly. If you don’t get the joke, maybe you will before the end.)
One of the stories I remember reading was Involuntary Man’s Laughter (IML) and it was recently brought back to mind after reading a blog post from one of my former seminary professors, Andrew Thompson. IML was a heartwarming short story that set my young imagination alive but, in many ways, has a great deal to say to us today. Knowing that the story was written in the early 1980s, you should realize that it was very much ahead of its time.
This short story starts out with the Cheerful Charlies (a couple that cheer people up for a living) sharing with the people at Callahan’s Saloon a case with which they’re having trouble. A young man has a form of Tourette’s Syndrome that causes him to twitch and bark in such a strange manner that anyone who watches it will involuntarily laugh. The young man is very intelligent and had a great sense of humor until the disorder took full effect. As often occurs in the Callahan stories, the problem is brought before the patrons of the bar and an eventual solution is settled upon. And what was it? Well, they set up a dedicated modem (remember those?) connected to a keyboard and terminal where the young man could chat with the people at the bar and share in some of their more outrageous games. (One of which was making very bad puns.)
In today’s world of instant communication, this would seem to be a bit of a no-brainer but when it was written in the 1980s this idea was groundbreaking. Yes, the technology was available but the idea of multitudes of people around the world using such technology was a fantastical concept for most of us.
So, what does this have to do with Andrew Thompson’s recent blog, “To Tweet or Not to Tweet?” He states that, “Real community is something that happens ‘in the flesh,’ and it involves complicated relationships that must be navigated with care, sensibility, and ultimately love.”
While I try to avoid the heresy of gnosticism just as much as the next pastor, I have to disagree with Dr. Thompson. There are quite a number of online relationships that I have made over the years and many of them have grown through online communication. I stay in touch with people via Twitter and Facebook regularly and many of these people I have not had the opportunity to meet with personally. I have received phone calls and emails from people with theological, moral, family, and/or financial problems. Some have contacted me because they don’t feel as if they can speak with someone in their local setting and in many cases they just don’t have a religious leader whom they trust.
I have been building online relationships for roughly 15 or more years and I have seen it at its best as well as at its worst. The key to it all is knowing that the person on the other side of the screen is a real human being. You do need to have some type of contact and many people need an assurance that something genuine is occurring. This is why much of my life is lived online. This is also why I speak at conventions and make myself available wherever I go. I’m trying my best to live out the life of the Gospel but it is also important that people realize I am legit. Yeah, that’s the word…..legitimacy. This is what people are looking for in online relationships and, yes, online communities.
So, Andrew, (hope I can call you that) I would really like to talk with you more about this if you have a chance. As embodied beings, we do crave actual contact but in a world where that is not always possible we must find some way to facilitate community for those who are not in a place where it is readily accessible.
“…by that time Doc Webster had come up with the idea of Billy applying for a grant to start up a computer network for shut-ins, and we were all on the way to becoming good friends. Oh, once in a while I’d get a mental picture of the man on the other end of the hookup and giggle in spite of myself. But he never knew it. I’ve always hated that hairy old nonsense about high technology being inherently dehumanizing. And as Doc Webster said, Billy’s barks were much worse than his bytes.”
(Jake Stonebender, Involuntary Man’s Laughter, Callahan’s Secret)
June 15, 2012
Waffles, Bacon, and late night spirituality. Who's up for it
What does The Church Impossible look like to you? This is the question that starts off the next installment of my musings on this topic. Ryan’s answer to this question was very simple, “If (church) started later on Sunday or had a day and night service.” Different times and, possibly, different days might make it easier for him to attend a “traditional” church service.
This answer speaks to me personally because, as I’ve mentioned before, I spent many years working in retail. There were times in my life where I would be in church on Sunday morning, engaged in some type of ministry, and then immediately have to leave after worship so that I could go to work. In fact, the first charge I served in The United Methodist Church consisted of three churches. (For those of you who don’t know what a charge is, it is the designated area to which a United Methodist minister is sent. A charge may range in size from one church to as many as six congregations with only one minister serving all of them.)
My schedule on those Sundays had me speaking at 9AM, 10AM, 11AM and then immediately driving 70 miles back to the house to drop my family off so that I could be at work by 1PM. (Needless to say, I wasn’t always at work on time but I was very fortunate to have a manager who understood my situation and was very gracious. It did not hurt that he was Youth Director in his own church.)
In this type of situation, it is awfully hard to build community and forge relationships with others. You end up becoming a glorified public speaker if you don’t watch out. Thankfully, there were times during the week I was able to spend with some of the church members and this helped a great deal. I also made sure I arrived at the first service well before it started so I might visit with members who arrived early.
However, this hasn’t always been the case. I’ve also had a number of jobs that kept me out of church on Sundays and it was often difficult to find time to spend with other Christians in worship and good, theological discussion. Yeah, in the South we call it “Bible Study” but it always goes beyond just looking at a passage of Scripture. Real experiences enter in and people end up sharing a great deal more about what is going on in their lives while asking tough questions about God, the universe, faith, and doubt.
So, how does The Church Impossible handle this situation? I can easily hear Chef Irvine telling restaurant owners that aren’t serving dinner to remain open later so that they might increase their customer base. Now, don’t misunderstand me. Some of the marketing activities that the church has acquired bother me but this is something we seriously need to reexamine. It all boils down to this simple principle Christians should have learned from Jesus: Meet people at their point of need. Just as a restaurant might cater to a crowd that works strange hours (Waffle House has made this model work for over fifty years) so should the church. We live in a world that has people going 90 different ways from Sunday and the old times and programs do not reach them.
The church, sadly, has forgotten history. This is one of our biggest mistakes. Most people don’t realize that many of the early Christians worshipped two days a week. Since most of these early believers were still very Jewish in their practices, they observed Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. They also spent time worshipping in synagogues during those days. However, as followers of Christ they would rise up early on the first day of the week and gather in honor of Jesus’ resurrection. Then they would head off to work.
We even see this in Scripture by looking at the book of 1 Corinthians. Paul has a go at the wealthy people who have eaten a meal meant to help build community and they have left nothing but scraps for the poor laborers who could only make it after they’d finished working. Heck, some of them even drank the good wine to the point they were drunk before the others arrived. What fun is there in doing that? (Don’t answer that question, okay?)
So, if this is a problem that has been faced by the church down through the ages why are we so unwilling to change how we do things in the modern world? Is it because we have become less flexible? Are we so ingrained in the way we have done things in the past that they have taken upon themselves some type of divine authority?
The Church Impossible is only going to exist if we are willing to reach out to people and change the way we do business. We must, out of compassion, step out of our comfort zone and see about having alternate service times and different ways of being the church. We may even need to examine how we do these services so that we are able to help those who find themselves working extended hours. Are we willing to take the time and gather for a community meal? Would we, unlike the Corinthians, leave the buffet line open for those who might come in late? Are we willing to hang around a bit longer so we can spend time with those who have questions or just need to spend time with someone?
What would it take for The Church Impossible to make these changes? Would we roll with it or would we ignore a potential “customer base” and keep doing things the way we have always done it? Chef Irvine and any other good business person will quickly tell you that is a sure fire way to go out of business very quickly.
June 13, 2012
Church Impossible? Is a Makeover Feasible?
Okay, Chef Robert Irvine inspired the title of this blog post. Why? Because my wife and I love to watch the show Restaurant Impossible. If you’re not familiar with Restaurant Impossible, it is a show about restaurant makeovers. Chef Irvine comes in and fixes dying restaurants that are losing money and customers. He takes $10,000 and tries to fix it in two days.
We enjoy watching the show because we often find ourselves cooking together and we get interesting cooking tips from it. I also enjoy watching it because of the years I worked in retail and the business experience brought to the show portrays a savvy that is often unknown to many of these small business owners. Chef Irvine comes in and sees people running restaurants with little to no business background yet they believe because they spent enough money on the location or “customer base” they will automatically succeed. Quite a few of those he has helped didn’t even know how to cook much less track their inventory or understand a basic ROI. (Return on Investment)
So, what does this have to do with the church and geek life? Well, most geeks I know like to eat so I think I have that area covered handedly. In fact, I would add foody as a new category of geek. As for the church, I began to ask myself what would it look like if we had someone come in and give it a makeover. What would churches look like? How would we react? Would we end up in tears like many of the people on Restaurant Impossible? Would we take the money, get our quick fix, and in a few months go back to doing things the same way we have done them before?
With that in mind, I asked friends from Facebook and Twitter who fall somewhere in the range from atheist to nominal church attendee about how they’d like to see the church changed. I have tried asking regular church attendees but most people don’t really like answering that question because it would mean making changes and people do not like change.
I’m not going to judge the spiritual life of those who were kind enough to answer my questions because these are people who I believe the church is missing out on. We need them to help us create The Church Impossible. I think I’ve had some good comments about what this type of restaurant…..errr….church should like. The first comment goes well with this theme:
Miller said: “To me a church would go back to the original model, a big picnic, where we get together to discuss life, our beliefs, our challenges, and how to over come them. One that encourages us to truly treat each other like the brothers and sisters we are. A church where everyone follows the “rules,” and no one is “higher in the eyes of God” then anyone else, because no one is. We are all equal. No one is better because of some position they hold in a church.”
There is the restaurant model right there! I think there is a reason that Jesus ate with people on a regular basis. A shared meal is a time when people of all different types can sit down and discuss things. Jesus ate with the hypocrite and the sinner. You can’t beat a table like that because the conversations were often pretty good. The only problem I believe Jesus faced was that he could not get the sinners and the hypocrites to eat with each other. I have to be honest; in The Church Impossible this is the type of thing that will cause it to be a great success.
I don’t know about you but I have found it becomes increasingly difficult to be cruel to someone when you have a nice, full belly. The proportion to which you’ve been fed is directly related to how angry you’re going to get. It really becomes even more difficult when you eat with someone on a regular basis . (Hmmm, so, ministering to the needy may actually require us to feed them regularly and maybe sit down and talk with them. Crazy thought!) Instead of believing that familiarity breeds contempt I believe it brings people into relationships and that’s what will build The Church Impossible: relationships.
The Church Impossible, according to Miller, should also be a place where we live out the equality that the Scripture points out so well. Forget the myth that the Bible doesn’t believe in equality. Read Galatians 3:28 and come back and talk to me. So, The Church Impossible is a place where we sit down, discuss our lives, our spirituality, our struggles, and hurts in a nonjudgmental way. Damn, that’s crazy talk ain’t it? We can’t do that, can we?
More to come in my next post. I’m hoping you will feel free to leave comments and interact with me by helping to answer the question, “What does The Church Impossible look like to you?”
June 6, 2012
Transgenerational Community in the 21st Century
I’ve been at the meeting of the Memphis Annual Conference for the last few days and it has caused me to think about building communities across all age ranges. The reason I’m thinking about this is because I see a greater variety of people using communications tech every year. Retired pastors check in on Facebook, delegates use Twitter, pictures being posted online by proud grandparents and the use of media continues.
In small towns and major cities, I have seen grandmothers using Facebook to keep track of their grandchildren and I have seen teenagers texting their pastor with a prayer need. Men and women in the military easily jump on to Skype just so they can stay in touch with their families and, even when away for years at a time, they are able to watch these children grow. Personally, I have been able to dialogue and develop friendships with people from around the world just using a laptop and a wifi connection.
The question we find ourselves asking is, “Are these communities?” Well, let me act like a halfway decent pastor or counselor and ask a few questions in return. First, does praying for an individual build community? Second, does raising support for someone in need build a community? Third, is going to a strange city and meeting someone you have talked to online for over a decade help build community? Of course, these questions are not limited to just three and I could continue thinking up many others until the battery on my Macbook Pro dies. That’s not the point. The point is that communities and how we view them are changing and they’re not limited to age, gender, culture, or economic background. So, are we willing to build scary, transgenerational, transeconomic, transgender, and transcultural community? I don’t know.
February 12, 2012
There has been so much talk about “The Call to Action” and “Vital Congregations” on so many levels within the United Methodist Church that I almost (note: I said, “Almost”) hesitate to write about it. I have seen messages from Bishops in a number of UMC publications, read blogs by people who used to serve on the General Board of Discipleship as well as a number of blogs by ordained elders and local pastors. It seems that everything written by the Bishops that I have read (especially what I see in the most recent issue of Circuit Rider magazine) highly favors this Call to Action. However, some ordained elders and local pastors are unsure on this matter while others are openly against it.
For those of you who don’t know what the Call to Action is, it is something that is being implemented right now throughout the United Methodist Church. It seeks to move the denomination toward growing what it refers to as vital congregations and will use marketing metrics to help decide whether a congregation is vital and/or a minister is effective in their calling. This will also mean a massive restructuring of a number of our agencies on a very large scale.
So, what does a geek like me have to say about it? After all, I have only been a part of the UMC since 2003 and have only been a vocational minister within my denomination since 2007. Do I really have a right to talk about it? My response is adapted from the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, “Why, Yes! Yes, I do!”
As a quick background, I went back to college in 2006 and graduated in 2008. My Bachelor’s of Science is in Organizational Management. The program I was in was geared toward working adults thereby requiring me to do a research paper. Being the geek I am, I decided to do a paper on how the United Methodist Church might minister best to people who work in food services and retail jobs. I did quite a bit of research and my ultimate observation was this needed more study. Unfortunately, I did not have time to do this because before I graduated I ended up serving three local congregations and immediately after graduation I was moved to a new charge so that I might attend seminary.
I know this is getting a bit long but please try and hang in here with me.
I give this background because I investigated using marketing practices with United Methodist ministry. I even examined our denomination from a franchise model and threw in quite a few other ideas from my experience in retail management as well as from my studies in class. There were a number of things that I saw as working to grow the organization if it was viewed as a business. It was at that point I realized I had to stop because this is not ministry. This is not spiritual vitality but, rather, this is organizational vitality which we often find opposed to one another. (There are times when they are aligned but, in my experience, that has been rare.)
So, after years of working in retail, sales, collections and a variety of other fields, I thought I would give my insight into what it takes to make vital congregations. Oh, I might also add that I have been studying the Scriptures for almost two decades and am completing my M.Div. in May just in case you’re interested. Maybe this background will help you understand my viewpoint a bit more clearly.
Here is the best way to produce vital congregations and I am going to quote from one of the best marketing gurus of the past 30 years: Seth Godin. He says, “Caring, it turns out, is a competitive advantage, and one that takes effort, not money.” Or, as the Apostle Paul and Jesus put it, “the whole of the law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:14) If we want our pastor’s to be vital pastors then the answer is simple, “CARE FOR OUR PEOPLE!” If we want our congregations to be vital congregations then we teach them to “CARE FOR PEOPLE BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CHURCH!”
In marketing terms, for those of you still in that mindset, I’m talking about product placement. Christians should be placing the product (themselves) out there in the world in such a way that it is unmistakable. Be Christ to the world and let the world see it.
Programs, metrics, restructuring, guaranteed appointments, apportionments, bishops, elders, local pastors, and congregations are all useless. The only thing worth a frik in all of this is whether or not Christ is living in us in such a way that we are truly caring about each other and the world around us. You can do everything in the world to get people into the building and you can cajole and manipulate them into giving money but if you want to truly transform the world and make disciples then, as Jesus said, “love one another.” (John 13:35)
If we want to fix things, we need to get over ourselves and all of our plans and marketing dreams and begin to actually love the people around us with the love of Christ Jesus. The fix doesn’t begin on the organizational level but, instead, begins in the hearts and minds of Christians who are “strangely warmed” in such a way as to live out this faith in the world around them.
Oh, and it also means that we have to be willing to say to those cruel, unkind, hate spewing people that claim the name of Christ that we truly question whether the living Christ dwells within them. Those Christians who define their “love” but the number of people they hate really need to examine themselves and see if they’re following the Christ who said, “Forgive them….” when talking about those people who were killing Him. We also need to tell them to flee the wrath to come because wrath always comes down hard on an unloving heart. Yes, let’s get off our rear ends and actually call people to love others in a radical way and if we get a few people willing to live in such a manner then we will see vital congregations growing but, most importantly, we will see the world around us changing.
Thanks for your time…now get outta hear and go love someone in the name of Jesus. Maranatha.
December 9, 2011
Yep, here I am actually blogging again and it’s the month of December when my life is crazy busy. For a geek, I really don’t blog enough but that’s probably because I spend most of my time talking in one way or another. Plus, writing all these papers for classes makes me feel like I should be more “formal” in my blogs but today I’ve decided to sit back and rant for a little while…..
So, what am I ranting about? This whole crazy war on Christmas thing. I’m pretty well sick and tired of it. I’ve been in and out of “professional” ministry for close to twenty years but I have also spent my time working in retail and other “real” jobs. I remember working at Books-A-Million a few Christmases ago and telling one of our customers, “I hope you have a nice holiday.” She gave me this rather sad look and said, “It’s okay to say Merry Christmas.” Well, of course I knew it was okay! The company had not told me to stop saying Merry Christmas….I was just being pleasant. Most of my life this time of the year has been called the holiday season.
So, why was I used to it being called the holiday season? Well, I grew up in the frakkin’ 20th century, that’s why! I understand that I might meet Jewish people celebrating Hannukah and I also knew that most people I met didn’t even really understand the religious implications of the Christmas season. In fact, I grew up in a home that rarely went to church and much of Christmas’ religious qualities largely went unnoticed…..and you know what? I wasn’t the exception to the rule! I had friends who went to church every Sunday and I don’t remember them talking about Jesus or the Virgin Birth. I did, however, hear a lot about the so-called Wise Men (who, if you look at the Bible, didn’t show up until Jesus was 2 or 3 years old) because, hey, they brought gifts! That, for me and most Americans, is what Christmas is (or was) all about! It was about giving gifts to your friends and family while spending some quality time together!
So, how did we spend Christmas in my household? In my teens, my older brother would bring his family over and we would all hang out and eat. We would catch up on what had been going on in each others lives and sit around playing Bourre’ (a card game involving the loss of much money between us). There would usually be an argument or two, some smiling, singing and eggnog if I could slip a glass or two my way. On Christmas Day, we would tear into the gifts, laugh a little, eat some more and then, if we were lucky, we went to a movie.
Now, I will be honest. This is one of the experiences in my life that I have found to be pretty blasted typical of most Americans. So, how do I view this holiday now that I am a pretty serious (well, I do joke a lot but that’s not the point) Christian and a minister to boot? First of all, I start celebrating Advent. This begins four Sundays before Christmas and it is a blast for my family and me. We prepare our hearts for the continual coming of the Living Christ into our lives and look forward to that Day when the Second Advent will come and New Creation will break out across the face of the world. (Or, in geek terms, when God breaks down the dimensional walls between heaven and earth and kicks Cthulhu in the gnads while making everything into the New Eden. Hey, I’m an idealist, go with it.)
So, what does this have to do with the <insert booming preacher voice> War on Christmas? Not….A……Damn……Thing! Yep, I said it. Can you imagine the Prince of Peace worried about a “war” on a day that the church arbitrarily chose for Him? Can you imagine Him being upset about it? This fellow who “possessed no splendid form for us to see, no desirable appearance ” and “was despised and avoided by others” wouldn’t really care about this whole thing would He? (See Isaiah 53 for more details.)
So, my fellow Christians, I am not going to let you off the hook. Are you worried about the “War on Christmas”? Well, don’t get ticked off because people are not celebrating this Holy Day (yeah, that’s where holiday comes form) the way you think is appropriate. Don’t take out your anger on some poor, unsuspecting retail clerk and do not expect greedy corporations to toe the line and have people saying “Merry Christmas.” This whole holiday is commercialized and you’re worried about whether or not someone selling you some junk made in a sweat shop is giving you the right, trite phrase? Get a life.
If you want to celebrate the true Spirit of the Season then why don’t you take all the gifts out from under the tree, take them back to the store and use that money to help fund a local food bank, the Salvation Army, or the benevolent ministries of your local church. Then get up on Sunday morning, worship the Living Christ, and then go out and help in those soup kitchens. Or, maybe, why don’t you do like the repentant Ebeneezer Scrooge and “honor Christmas in your heart, and try to keep it all year.” How do you keep Christmas all year long? Feed the hungry, help the poor, visit the prisoner all the while showing them your love for this Jesus by living this new, redeemed life He has given you.
Do you still love me? Hope so. If not, that’s okay to……
August 29, 2011
I have really been thinking about what to write for this article and it suddenly hit me. This month will be the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Many people are telling us that ten years ago our lives as Americans were irrevocably changed. News accounts, reports and blogs constantly speak about the heightened security concerns around our country and I have heard numerous pundits talk about how we are raising a generation that will experience fear as Americans have never experienced it before.
However, as a person who knows a bit about history, I believe similar things were said during the 1940s about the attack on Pearl Harbor, and in the 1950s there was the “Red Scare” that swept across the USA. In the early 1960s, I have talked with many people who have told me how their lives were drastically changed after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the 1970s, I personally remember the Iranian hostage crisis that had many wondering whether there would be a global war because of these tragic events. Even in the 1980s, I remember when President Ronald Reagan was shot and the fear that spread through many of us in that moment. It was also during this time that the AIDS epidemic began to sweep across the country.
Why do I mention these tragic past events when many will be remembering the lives lost on September 11, 2001? Simply because it is the nature of human beings to be fearful. We are afraid of tragedy and loss and we are afraid of the “other.” After 9/11, I remember people who were believed to be of Arabic descent being beaten and hurt just because of their racial identity. I also remember similar stories from the 1970s after the Iranian hostage crisis. We, as human beings, have at our heart the desire to scapegoat others and place all of our fears upon them. In responding negatively to them, we engage in “sacred” violence by pouring out these fears on the stranger.
I would ask that during this month of remembrance all of you would do as Jesus would have us do. Welcome the stranger, love and pray for your enemies, be good to those who would spitefully use you and share God’s mercy with all that you meet. Do not look for someone else to blame for the ills in the world because, as my teachers told me in Junior High, when you point one finger at someone else you are pointing three back at yourself.
Let us remember these great words from the prophet Isaiah during this time, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” (Isaiah 26:3-4) Our peace and hope is found in God and through God’s Spirit we are able to overcome our desire to blame someone else. Let us walk the path of peace for the honor and glory of our Savior Jesus Christ.
God’s Best Always and in All Ways,
Pastor Derek
June 27, 2011
Well, I’d hoped to put up my Pastor’s Corner every month but it seems June flew by and I did not put one on the website. However, I’ve been working on some thoughts for July and I thought I’d go ahead and publish them a few days early.
Missions and Thinking Theologically! Two topics that may seem unrelated but they’re both on my mind as I prepare this months Pastor’s Corner. I’m writing this immediately after our Missions Sunday at Cypress and continue to be amazed at the generosity of our church. We raised much needed funds for the Mountain TOP ministry which will go to help minister to people living in a state of systemic poverty in Tennessee.
So, what does this have to do with thinking theologically? To put this simply, theological thinking is my way of talking about seeing God’s work in each and every action within our world. It is often easy to see God’s work when a mission worker comes to our church and has a video to show us what has been happening in their community. We may even see God working in the life of our church when we support these ministries through our gifts and offerings.
However, the difficult question we must ask ourselves is where we see God working in our own lives! Are we growing in grace? How are we sharing that grace with others? Where do we see the presence of the Living Jesus working in the world around and through us? Do we experience Jesus in our work? In our play? These are difficult questions but if we cannot answer them openly and honestly then we are not ready for mission! It takes theological thinking to live as a missionary to the world around us and, in this season of Pentecost, these words from the Acts of the Apostles apply to our own lives, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…..to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
I’m sure most of you see where I’m leading. I believe God has great plans for our churches if we are willing to listen to the Spirit and we will become stronger witnesses for Christ. Please examine your hearts and see where God is calling you. Our mission trip to Mountain TOP is quickly approaching so please contact the office if you are interested in attending or supporting however God may have called you.
There are also some great plans coming up for the fall. I’ve been praying over our Wednesday Night Ministries and will be meeting with all of our ministry team July 13th to discuss what I believe has been laid upon my heart. I am excited and hope you are as well! As your pastor, I encourage you to be in prayer over these ministries so that we might be as the early Apostles: in one accord.
In the words of Paul, “Finally, Brothers and Sisters, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11)
God’s Best Always and in All Ways,
Pastor Derek
May 28, 2011
Easter has just passed and, for many, it seems as if the Christian year has come to an end. However, after Easter we are called to wait expectantly for Pentecost. I have said time and again that in living out the Christian year we are brought through the life of the Gospels and this allows them to play out in our lives on a regular basis.
So, what is Pentecost about? In preparing our hearts for this season, we are reminded when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and fulfilled Jesus’ promise that He would never leave them nor forsake them. That very same Spirit that fell upon the Apostles during those early days is available to us and communicates the presence of Jesus to our lives. It is through this Spirit that we are connected to Jesus because the Holy Spirit gives witness to Jesus. The Spirit tells us about Jesus, Jesus tells us about the Father and the Father spreads His love abroad in the world. This is the divine dance of the Triune God at work! So, with these words in mind, it is my hope that you will prepare your hearts for an experience of this Triune God over the next few weeks that we might be empowered to be disciples of Jesus. Please have prayerful hearts as we seek to have God move in our lives and our community.
It is my hope that the coming sermon series on 1 Peter will help us build a closer relationship with Jesus. While I’m preaching through this book, I hope you take time to read through it and familiarize yourself with it. This is a great book in the New Testament that helps guide us in knowing the Living Christ and in knowing this Christ we will serve our brothers and sisters better.
On a separate note, we also have the pictures for the church directory coming up. It is my hope that you will sign up for the directory because we really need it updated. If you’re unable to have your picture taken, we understand but we would really love to have any updated information added to the directory.
We also have special services coming up as well. Fairly soon, Mother’s Day will be upon us as well as the graduation of many of our High School students. I think it is providential that these two events occur during the same month. Without the helping hands of our mothers, many of us would not have made it through those years of High School nor would we have had the encouragement to go on to college. So, please spend time in prayer for our students and our mothers during the month of May.
God’s Best Always and in All Ways,
Pastor Derek
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