The Church of Tomorrow is Challenged Today.

 Have you ever heard of Beloit College?  Well I never did, not until I read an article on my web browser.  Each year for the past ten years, a Professor and Public Relations Director take the time to remind their faculty at how much cultural references change.  They call this the Mindset List.

 This list does a couple of things.  First it introduces the older faculty to the ways and means colleges students think and relate to each other and the world.  New references can be words, phrases, or public perceptions, which the incoming freshman class consider normal, and to those who find themselves to be older may consider nonsensical gibberish.  (In fact I don’t know how many college students use the word gibberish today.)  Second, the world changes very fast, and it can be difficult to keep of with these changes.  To read a more detailed article, and review the actual Mindset List go to http://www.observer.com/2010/daily-transom/beloit-college-mindset-list-what-kids-these-days-dont-know

 For me as a Pastor trying to help churches affectively impact the ever changing culture around them, a Mindset List makes a lot of sense.  For it reminds me, that as a church, as a body of Christ, as a living working example of God’s love, to make the message of the Gospel mean something to the young minds and hearts of today, I have to try to relate to them on their level.

 To do this, I cannot push aside their perceptions of the world.  I cannot become offended that they see the world differently then I do.  Because, after all, it’s the same God, isn’t it?  It’s the same God who was with me in the world of my past; the same God who is in our shared presence; the same God who will go with us into the future.  So in our quest to grow the Kingdom, which in turn grows the church, while it is important to introduce the Gospel, and teach them to walk as people of faith, it is equally, if not more important, to validate the perceptions and cultural references of a generation that is coming of age.

 Read the list.  It’s eye-opening, shocking, astounding, and challenging.  But then again, I believe that’s the way we’re supposed to serve God.

 P3

A Thought for Lent

Has it snowed much where you live?  At my house, we’ve accumulated about 9 inches (with few more expected before the day is done).

I am one of those nuts who actually likes snow.  I like to sit and watch it fall, I enjoy driving in it,  I like to wrestle in with my son, I like to play with my snow-blower.  Yup, I can hear you now, Pastor Paul is a nut-job; I completely agree.  But let me explain why.

Snow is an important part of winter: snow crystals enshrouding any surface if befalls.  Layer after layer grows as it accumulates into a dazzling blanket of white.  Like any good blanket, all that is touched, abides in a feeling of safety and comfort.

For this  period of time, the activity of God’s creation (nature) goes dormant, taking a rest until spring comes.  The Life within creation does not stop, rather is slows down incredibly, becoming ready to burst into spring with new life, and new growth.  To me, Winter and Lent go hand-in-hand.

For like winter, when we enter into the season of Lent, we are encouraged to stop the movement of “Life-as-usual” routine of our faith journey, and take stock of what we are, our relationship with God, and how we reveal that relationship in the service of our daily lives.

While this can sound a bit threatening, for it calls us to be vulnerable from time to time.  This makes us feel isolated and alone.  But in this journey we are not alone.  In the same way the snow of winter enshrouds all it touches, the Holy Spirit enshrouds us with a dazzling layer of safety and comfort as we journey towards Easter.  We are reminded that the God who was with us when we celebrated Christs birth, is making good on the promise to be with us always.  God is with us as we journey with Christ to the cross, through His death and with him in the resurrection (new life!)

In the journey of Lent, like creation awakening into spring, we awaken from our dormancy as buds of new growth.  From the dormancy of “Life-as-usual” we ready to bring forth the beauty and wonder of God’s love to the world.  But this emergence cannot happen without a time of preparation: Lent.  As the snow enshrouds creation, God’s Spirit enshrouds us.

How are you letting God prepare you to grow?

I hope you enjoy the snow.

p3

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU WIN OR LOOSE.  IT MATTERS HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME.

During my college years, I enjoyed participating in the Intra-mural sports program.  Various groups of men and women would make up teams and compete for right to say “We are the Best!”  The other side of that message was, “And You’re Not!”

Being a Corpulent Cleric, it should come as no surprise that I was a corpulent college student.  I lived in the dorm which housed the football team, and being that I wasn’t one of them, they did want me.  Recognizing this fact, I decided to join the team made up of the “Non-Traditional Students”.  These were men who were in their early 30′s-early 50′s, who wanted to get a college education.  Most were out of shape, and on their way of becoming a bit corpulent themselves.  I felt right at home.

We recognized that there was no way we were going to defeat students who were college athletes.  We realized there was no way we could challenge other students who were “in shape”.  But we did know who we were, and what skills we brought to the game, and goal of our opponents.

• We weren’t very good at offense, but we made up a great defense (defense doesn’t have to run as much).
• There would be no over-time, because we were going to lose.
• We would have better after-the-game-parties because our meals would be home-cooked (not college cafeteria).
• And we could make a joke out of everything, mostly ourselves.

We called our Team the “Non-Athletic, Defense Society”, our philosophy ”It doesn’t matter if we can win or lose, its how much we can [have fun with] the other team.”  Sometimes this resulted in other team yelling at us, “You’re not doin’ it right”.  And to their way of thinking, they were right.  For our goals were different.  They wanted to win, and they expected to want to win as well.  But we knew we were going to lose.  So we focused on having enjoying each other on the way on the journey of defeat.

Our strategy was unconventional.  Instead of running across the line of scrimmage, we would run away from it; instead of standing parallel to the line of scrimmage, we would stand juxtaposed; instead of getting angry when the other team scored a touchdown, we actually cheered them on.   We did anything and everything we could go get the other team to stop thinking about “grinding us into a pulp”, and just enjoy the game for the game-sake.  That’s exactly what we as the N.A.D.S. were doing. . .  we played because we loved the game.

When you love what you’re doing, I mean truly love it, then it really doesn’t matter who you’re playing with, it doesn’t matter whose on your team.  All that matters is y’all enjoy playing together, for the sake of playing.

As Christians, we already know where our goal will take us; we will join our Savior in Heaven.  But between then and now we become bogged down with doin’ it right.  I know I’m guilty of this from time to time.  It’s very easy, too easy to be focused on, “Doin’ it right!”  And I know for myself, when I focus on “Doin’ it right”, I never have time to stop and examine, “Why am I doin’ it this?”, and more importantly “For’s whose glory am I doing this?”  Who determines if we have won or lost?  My answer, if you are a child of God, you have already won.

God sent his son (Jesus the Christ) to save us from our sin.  When we accept him, we go through a conversionary experience of joining God in his will and purpose.  We have Jesus come and fill our hearts (a convergence of God with ourselves), while at the same time, we have a desire to stop living by the standards of the world (Doin’ it Right) and live by the teachings of God’s will (abiding in his love).

When we do this, our obsession with how we do things, will be replaced by a heart that loves what we are doing (big or small) because God has Called, Commissioned, and we have Committed ourselves to doin’ it.

I hope to see you Sunday  P3

Annual Meeting, Sunday February 7

Its Annual Meeting time; a time when we as a church gather together to reflect upon how we have heard and responded to God’s call for us to serve the Kingdom.   We will hear from our various team leaders, review our fianial status, and have the opportunities to ask questions.  The meeting is preceded by Potluck meal, so bring a dish to share with friends and family.  After we break bread, we will get down to business.   Hopefully we will be done in time for the Superbowl.

If you haven’t had a chance to sign up, please do so by calling the church office, or just jot you name down on a sign-up sheets outside of the Sanctuary.

I hope to see you at the meeting.

P3

Haiti: How Do We Respond?  How Do We Serve?

I have never been to Haiti.  I have never experienced an earthquake.  I don’t even know what it is like to suffer through the overwhelming shock and anguish of a national catastrophe’.  What I do know how to do is recognize suffering and pain.

I loose my breath.  I feel small and weak.  I want to ask questions of “Why and How did this happen”.  But I am called, commissioned, and committed to serve my God whenever and wherever possible.

If feel the same way I do, then I encourage you to stop and pray for the people of Haiti.  Then, if you are able, I’d like you to go to the link at International Ministries www.internationalministries.org, and see how your response can be supportive.

P3

 

Did you Know that the Holy Spirit is our Friend?

For Christmas, my son was given a Simpson’s Jigsaw puzzle.  Now this wasn’t any ordinary puzzle, when all the pieces were assembled, it made a 3 dimensional sphere.  Kinda’ cool.  He labored for hours  putting the pieces together.  Sometimes he’d pushed too hard and the thing imploded.   This resulted in my son exploding, where his mom and I would calm him down, help him find some peace of mind, and then choose how best to proceed.  This meant he had to start all over again.  But when the puzzle was complete, what did he do?   My son used this sphereical problem puzzle to play catch with his mother and I.

Have you ever worked a puzzle: a jigsaw, rubiks cube, or figuring our how things come together?  When working a puzzle what is the first thing that you do…. turn over all the pieces… I put together the border, and begin to fill in from there.  I see which pieced fit where, which pieces go with what color scheme and so on.

I look at the picture on the box to guide me so I will what the completed puzzle will look like.

There are some puzzles and problems which we simply cannot figure out with our a helper or a guide.  Sometimes this guide is a picture or instructions, or someone to help us find a peaceful way.

For Christians, Jesus promised a helper.  This helper is called the Holy Spirit.  When we have problems in understanding what God wants us to do, what good decision to make, when to help…. the Holy Spirit is there helping us to see and understand.

I like to think the Holy Spirit as a friend who is can be in each and every one of us.  God created and is above us, Jesus is walking beside us, and the Spirit is in us helping to work out and work through the puzzlesin of life.

Sometimes that friendly voice is quietly giving suggestions while at other times, they are a bit loud.   At other times the Holy Spirit offers a picture, a map, or  a vision that shows me what things will look like someday.  If that’s not an act of devoted friendship, I don’t know what is…

The Holy Spirit is a friend who helps.  Helps us to grow our faith, helps us to understand God’s love.

P3

 

HAPPY 2010

When I was a kid, I wasn’t a very good student.  I spent most of my days struggling to understand what the teacher was saying.  When a test or quiz was given, my hands would sweat, and I’d become completely overwhelmed.  This usually resulted in me failing the test.

My loving parents would do their best to encourage me.  They’d offer their help, offer me prizes for good work, create a schedule for me to follow, sometimes they would even threaten me with disciplinary action.  None of this helped.  (I don’t blame my folks, they could not understand what I could not explain.)

Then one day, in 9th grade, my english teach said, “Today is a new day in the marking period: we turn to a new page in the grade book.  Everything you did last marking period is in the past, all of you are starting with blank slate. ”    When I started to not only realize that, but believe and live it, my grades started to improve.

So here we are in the  beginning of 2010.  A new page of the calendar, for some a brand new calendar (mine is made up of drawings from our children here at the church–only $5),all of this is symbolic of  a new beginning.

I don’t know what your 2009 was like; the victories or defeats, the joys or concerns, the struggle to just break even.  But I know that we have a God who allows us to treat every new year and every new day, as a blank slate.  A day to wake up and let God show you something new and exciting.

When we allow that happen, we begin to see just how great, wonderful, powerful, graceful, and peaceful the joy of God’s love really is….

I hope you have 359 days of blank pages and new beginnings.

P3