...And Bring Your Bible

One of my heroes in Christian teaching is John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California. I admire him and his teaching so much that once Brad Gartman sent me a Valentine card "from John" and pasted it on my office door. I just went back and read that last sentence, and realized I probably shouldn't put things like that in print on the internet. Oh well.

I attended a conference where John Ortberg was teaching about teaching. He remarked that all great Christian teaching, in addition to conveying biblical truth, has the side effect of drawing people into the the Bible to read it and study it themselves. By that definition, most Christian teaching is not great. I wonder how many sermons spark an appetite to go and read the Bible? How many people walk out of church believing more strongly that the Bible is dull, irrelevant, unhelpful or inaccessible? How often do people listen to a "trained professional" (pardon my gag reflex) and walk away thinking, "wow, I never could have figured that out on my own"? Perhaps worst of all, how many times do people not connect the authority of the Bible to the point of the message? If John Ortberg is right--and I think he is--all those results are the wrong ones.

Biblical literacy, both in and out of the church, is at an all-time low in America. The most quoted "Bible verse" in America is, "God helps those who help themselves." The Barna research organization found that 82% of Americans believe this quote from Thomas Jefferson is actually a direct quote from the Bible, even though it directly contradicts the biblical view. The King James Version of the Bible (translated into English in the year 1611) is still the most widely used version of the Bible in our country, even though few can understand the archaic language. Added to this is a curious practice of the contemporary church: in an effort, I suppose, not to stigmatize guests who don't have a Bible, it has become normal for there to be very few Bibles brought to church services or meetings. Instead, texts are printed in a program and/or projected on video screens.

I want to encourage Springs of all ages to start bringing a Bible to church on Sunday as a matter of habit. We will still project texts on the screens for those who don't have a Bible and as a visual aid for all of us--nothing wrong with that. But actually having a Bible in-hand has some distinct benefits. First, it communicates something to all of us collectively; it's a visual statement of the Bible's value at our church. Second, it's a habit-builder. Just opening it and reading it at church is a starting place for opening it and reading it elsewhere, like at home. Third, it will actually help to have the text in front of you throughout the message.

Some people have the Bible on their PDAs or their smart phones--Great! In fact I recommend it. I probably read the Bible online more often than I do on paper these days. Honestly, it's easier for me to print the texts in my message notes than to have a Bible on the platform, but I'll be reading from a Bible on Sunday.

I'll be using the TNIV translation most of the time (Today's New International Version). You're certainly not required to use this one, but if you want to follow along word-for-word with me, that's what I'll be reading. It's available at most bookstores (Mardel has it, but Lifeway does not carry it). The NIV translation is very close to this one and more prevalent. We'll pick up the subject of translations another time, but feel free to shoot any questions my way if you have them.

I'm looking forward to jumping into the Bible with you on Sunday...and if I do my job, throughout the week!

Finding Your Niche

I had a great conversation yesterday with Kris McLendon, our awesome children's ministry director. She attended a children's ministry workshop in Dallas last week, and I wanted to hear all about it. While I hoped the workshop would be helpful and informative, I was just impressed that Kris had taken the initiative to sign up for it and attend. When a person is that proactive about something, you know they're passionate about it. I was struck by that passion, listening to Kris talk about what she learned, the people she met, the encouragements and the challenges she sees in our ministry to kids and families.

Each of us is in one of two camps right now. Neither camp is bad, and both have great people in them. One camp includes Kris; people who are really passionate about what they're doing and identify with it as a calling. The other camp is populated with people who are helping to establish the church and desire to minister to people, but they don't necessarily identify personally with what they're doing. Their motives are right, they're doing a great job, and they're very much needed, especially now when the church is in its infancy. But my prayer is that everyone will find their way to the camp where Kris now finds herself. When you identify with what you're doing as a calling, and are passionate and excited about it, it's a whole lot more fun and, frankly, you're much more effective. I believe God wants both of those things for us: excitement and effectiveness. So how do you get there? Here are some of the major ingredients:

• Kingdom Vision. It's not all about finding your niche. Before that, it's what you think life is all about. If you catch a vision for what God is wanting to do in your community, you can clean fish in that effort and be more fulfilled than most people. Conversely, if it's still all about you, nothing you do in the Kingdom will be fulfilling. You may already be in the right place, doing the right thing, but a change God works in your heart will be the spark that changes everything.
• The Obvious. Whatever your role is in the kingdom, it's already there, right in front of you. You've probably been passionate about it for a long time. Maybe you think there's no place for it in the kingdom (my wife, for instance, was an actress for years before she knew there was any ministry value in it).
• Trial and Error. Sometimes you just have to try things out until you find the right fit. Nothing wrong with that. So throw some stuff on the wall and see what sticks!
• Confirmation. Don't miss this one. This is the church's job. Your Christian community plays an important role in your calling. They will confirm or deny it, and unless there is some moral reason not to, you better listen to them. Confirmation from the church is our protection against embarrassing ourselves (think American Idol tryouts--there's nothing more pitiful than someone running out there to do something when people around them can plainly see they're about to humiliate themselves; I often wonder, where are their friends and family?).

A couple of pitfalls to avoid:

• It's not all about Sunday morning. For just as many people, it may be about an aspect of neighborhood life, serving people in need, praying, providing hospitality--making the lives of others better in any number of ways. Churches often make it seem like joining a ministry team in the church's infrastructure is the only way to really serve God. The early church hardly even had any infrastructure--certainly had no committees--and they seemed to get along just fine in the 'impacting the world' category. Your niche might be with kids, like Kris's, or teaching and leadership, like mine. And it might be something completely different, which is more than okay.
• Don't go it alone. Nobody serves in the kingdom alone. Never have, never will, never should. Serve in your Christian community. Serve in and with your neighborhood group. Serve at your table. Serve your family and your friends, and serve with your family and friends. None of our gifts or callings are that great by themselves, but there is amazing Kingdom synergy when our various gifts are employed together. When Paul said, "You are the body of Christ," he meant all of us together, not any one of us individually.

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

If you've found your calling, leave a comment and tell us about it--it might help someone else in their discovery process. If you're still looking, ask a question and see what come back.

First Cancellation

This weekend, I did something I hadn't done since we started the Springs: I cancelled our table gathering. It was a big week too. We had new folks coming for the first time. Our neighbors were planning to be there. We were actually concerned about there being too many people in the house at one time, and were talking all week about how we were going to start new groups. Then Elizabeth got strep throat, and our house became off-limits to anyone who didn't want an infectious disease. The other couple in our group who have hosted before weren't available either, and in the end I decided to cancel it. Don't know if I made the right decision, but here are some of the thoughts that have run through my head.

First, I realized how desperately I want my friends and neighbors to experience real community. That hasn't always been the case, and the feelings I had marked real change in my life. I got really uptight about people missing the opportunity that the gathering at our house represented. Experiencing real community has elevated its value in my life without me realizing it.

Also, it became clear that our table is still a meeting. That's not all bad, and I think our table will always be partly a meeting, but I know it can be--and is becoming--more than that. One day I won't be able to cancel it. One day the table will be able to move across the street or into the yard on a moment's notice. One day the interaction between members of the group will be daily instead of weekly, and the weekly meeting will be only a small expression of much deeper and more important connections between people. There is already evidence of that deepening. Most of us now see each other or talk by phone or email multiple times each week. We have real relationships, we're not just a group of people who meet once a week or so. We do favors and ask favors of each other. Talk at the table now spontaneously goes to things that are important to us, not just small talk, which is possible because we're at least somewhat aware of each other's lives. We're also aware of each other's quirks...and no one is bailing out on anybody.

Third, I became keenly aware of the importance of proximity and connection to biblical community. I may have been most reluctant to try a last-minute reschedule because I didn't want to ask my neighbors to drive out of the neighborhood for their first table experience. From their perspective, it would be a quantum leap to drive to a stranger's house in another neighborhood instead of walking across the street to our house. One is a meeting, the other is dinner with friends. It's amazing how much difference that makes.

Hunks vs. Punks

Is there any way for BOTH teams in the Super Bowl to lose? Just asking, 'cause I can't stand either one of these teams and I can't find any reason to cheer for either of them. Maybe it's for the best. Since I don't really care about the game, I'll spend more time focusing on people. We'll be spending the afternoon with our neighbors, and the festivities will be highlighted by the Hunks vs. Punks football game. The Hunks are us dads and other old men, and the Punks are the kids, ranging from grade school through high school. Both the Hunks and the Punks are already talking smack, so it should be a real throwdown. After all, this is for a whole year's worth of bragging rights on our block.

Super Bowl Sunday is a great opportunity for neighborhood relationships. There are only a few days a year that are national excuses for neighborhood parties, and this is one of them. Take advantage of it and get together with your neighbors! The game is almost irrelevant. Good food, fun and games, and the commercials are just as much fun.

Important relationships always start somewhere, like "we met at a Super Bowl party several years ago." A couple in our table group were talking just last night about their desire to help some friends who are going through a difficult time. They have that opportunity because they've invested in the relationship for several years, and it probably started with some informal gathering where they met. It doesn't happen overnight (so don't rush it), but it does happen IF you decide to engage.

The only problem is that we Hunks keep getting older, and the Punks keep getting bigger and stronger...

God-wrestling

My oldest son's name is Jacob, which means in Hebrew, "he grasps the heel." Jacob was the son of Isaac in the Old Testament, the brother of Esau, who wrestled with God in Genesis 32, at which point God changed his name to Israel, which means "he struggles with God." It's interesting to me that Israel's namesake is famous for having it out with God in an all-night wrestling match. The Bible is full of these kinds of stories, of people presumably loved and favored by God who fight with him: Job is a notable example; many of David's psalms are poetic wrestling matches; Jeremiah decides to quit on God at one point, and finds himself caught between his anger at God and the drive he feels within him to do God's will; not to mention the "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" question from Jesus himself (which, by the way, is Jesus quoting from Psalm 22).

Even though this is common in the Bible, I don't think many people today feel that it is appropriate to fight with God. As in other dysfunctional relationships, our tendency is to stuff it. We're angry at our circumstances, we perceive that God is late to the rescue, we're convinced that God blew it here or there. Yet our Sunday worship is typically rosy...and typically dishonest. Or we avoid God altogether. Somehow we've come to believe that this is how God prefers to be honored, or perhaps we're just too afraid of him to say what we really think.

I'm convinced that one of the best things some of us could do is have a big fight with God. I feel quite sure God can take it. One of my favorite God fights on film is from Forrest Gump, in which Captain Dan climbs the mast of his boat during a storm and yells at God through the wind and rain. Like Captain Dan, we somehow find on the other side of the fight that God isn't as against us as we thought, and we find God's benevolence after--perhaps only after--we've gotten a few things off our chest.

Passive-aggressive relationships with God don't work. Shake your fist in the air and get it over with. Fights with God tend to be win-win.