Everything That's On My Mind

Rick Meigs has a good post this morning over at The Blind Beggar about the tyranny of personal preferences. For too long Christians have considered the church service to be their refuge from the outside world, just like the "hideout" most little boys have growing up. It's a place to escape, to feel comfortable and safe, to be reassured and "fed". It's a place where we can pretend we're superheroes without actually having to fight any monsters. We've turned the church service into a clubhouse meeting.

Don't misunderstand, we need to be safe and reassured. We need to be comforted and healed. The church (i.e. the body of Christ) needs to perform that function. The church service (i.e. the main meeting where we invite the community to show up) should be a time when we set aside our personal preferences and do our best to communicate the Gospel in terms and forms that the "uninitiated" can grasp. Of course, that assumes that we actually care enough to invite the community to show up.

Rick quotes Breaking the Missional Code* which is a book I've just finished reading. There's a whole lot there to digest, but I'll probably reference it more in future posts. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is concerned about the growth of the Kingdom of God in North America. We no longer have the "home field advantage" trying to reach our community. We're living in post-Christian society and we need to start acting like it.

* You may be asking "what in the world does 'missional' mean?" You could just read the book to find out but if you just can't wait, check out Rick's other site, Friend of Missional.

Erika Haub has a great post on the simplicity and difficulty of servanthood. I particularly liked the insight about the situations ("dipstick moments") that reveal the depth of our commitment to servanthood. To paraphrase her post, the measure of a servant's heart is not how often you take on the role of a servant, it's how you react when someone else treats you like a servant. That's powerful stuff.

HT: Jesus Creed

Baptism is a joyous occasion, but this is probably taking things a little too far. Fortunately, I don't have to worry too much about it. This would be pretty difficult in our tank.

HT: Monday Morning Musings

Along the lines of our January prayer emphasis, here's a good article on praying for parking spaces. Come on, you can't tell me you haven't done it at least once.

On New Year's Eve, I preached a sermon entitled "How Deep Is Your Love?" and challenged our congregation to pursue a deeper commitment to loving God, loving each other, and loving the lost in 2007. I intend to blog more on this topic throughout the year but for now I highly recommend checking out Keith Schooley's variation on a theme from that message over at The Schooley Files.

Skye Jethani has written a very thought-provoking article on the Out of Ur blog. Here's a quote:

"Seeking survival and fearing irrelevance, have we clothed our faith with the forms of our American culture to the point that our Christianity has morphed into something entirely different—a folk religion altogether consumerist in spirit and content?"

This is an interesting question, but I think it's the wrong question. Is there a folk religion in the U.S. masquerading as Christianity? Without a doubt. When 80+% of the population self-identifies as Christian, there's clearly some poor definitions of Christianity being used. The real critical question is, what is the cause? I don't think survival and relevance are the issues.

I suppose you could say it's semantics but as I define it, relevance is not evil even though some treat it as such. It can be overemphasized but that's a symptom, not the disease. Relevance in proper balance is simply communicating and applying the Gospel to an existing culture. This is what Paul did on Mars Hill, it's not a new phenomenon indicating the arrival of Laodicea.

The real problem is not a desire for relevance but a desire for comfort. We want to be comfortable in our world, and we want our world to be comfortable with us. We want to live just like our neighbors so they won't feel uncomfortable around us and we'll feel accepted. Too often faith is compromised for the sake of fitting in. Peer pressure is not just a problem for teenagers, it's just as bad or worse for adults. We must realize that this world will never be comfortable with the message of Christ, and we cannot be (or shouldn't be) comfortable in this world. I don't think we need to beware relevance OR irrelevance. We need to beware becoming comfortable. If we become comfortable, we cease to be salt and light.

I'm not saying we need to go back to the days of Holiness legalism just so we can make people uncomfortable. That's not the kind of discomfort I'm talking about. We're not called to find creative ways to make people uncomfortable around us. We're called to be Christ-like by loving, sacrificing, healing, caring, giving, praying, and worshipping. If we can even come close to accomplishing that, it will create plenty of appropriate discomfort.

 This video is just brilliant. I wish I knew more about video editing...or at least knew someone who could do it.

BTW, Happy New Year!

HT: FilmChat

Anticipation. It's an integral part of the Christmas holiday. The anticipation children feel today is nothing compared to the longing for a savior that led up to Jesus' birth. Simeon and Anna only touched the surface in Luke 2. And yet, the anticipation doesn't end with the birth of Jesus. We celebrate the birth of our Lord, yet we long for His promised return.

The past year or so has been tumultuous for so many. People I care about deeply have endured much pain and uncertainty. At the same time, I have seen God do amazing things in the lives of others. Followers of Christ live in this constant tension between the "already" and the "not yet" in so many ways. God has already done "exceeding abundantly above" all that we could ask, yet we long for more. We long to see His kingdom established in greater ways in our hearts and in our world. It's a constant challenge to keep the two in balance. Too much focus on the "already" and we find ourselves getting complacent, too much focus on the "not yet" and we become ungrateful.

So as we celebrate Christmas, I rejoice in the birth of our Savior, yet I look forward to His return. I rejoice in what He has done in my life, yet I look forward to living a more Spirit-controlled life in the future. I rejoice in what He has done in our church, yet I long for more. I rejoice in the answers to prayer we have received, yet I long for other prayers to be answered as well. I rejoice in the lives that have been changed by the power of God this year, yet I long to see so many more transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As you celebrate Christmas, remember that the joy of Christmas is not just that He came, but that He is coming again. Rejoice in what He has done, but don't forget that He's not finished yet. There is so much more He has in store.

This will be a totally self-indulgent blog post, so please forgive me. It may not interest anyone but me, but I am excited that the Stax Records label is being revived. For the benefit of the un-hip, Stax Records was the southern cousin of Motown Records back in the 60's and 70's. Even though I grew up in Motown, I've always had a greater affinity for the Memphis sound. It was raw and passionate, rather than Berry Gordy's slick and smooth productions. Booker T and the MG's, Stax house band, is arguably the greatest rhythm section ever assembled. Along with The Memphis Horns, they created the foundation for recordings by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and others. Some of these recordings have been hard to find on CD, so I'm looking forward to the reissues that will be forthcoming.

Thanks for your indulgence.

P.S. If you're ever in Memphis, don't miss the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, as well as the Memphis Museum of Rock and Soul. They're dynamite museums for music lovers.