The Worst Mistake Made by Churches

by

0

“I can’t, I have no choice, I’m in a rut, I’m stuck:”  These are all phrases from the Land of Should.

The Land of Should isn’t simply an emotional dilemma.  It’s a spiritual dilemma.  The Land of Should is a place of Exile.   Exile is that place where one has no choice, or no capacity to choose.   Population in the the Land of Should suffer as people of Exile.

Churches, as signs of God’s age come alive, are places where freedom is standard.  Freedom is the rule.  Freedom is the foundation.  Freedom is the sign.  The sign that boldly declares that salvation has really,  not metaphorically, not conceptually, not abstractly, come.

The worst mistake churches make is saddling their congregants with traditions,  harsh theology, pious confessions, and strict rules of abstinence.  Freedom comes from a life in Christ.  There is no freedom in the Land of Should because the Land of Should is a place of Exile.

The worst mistake churches make is leading their members into Exile instead of Freedom.

 

 

 

Don’t Tell Me, Show Me.

by

0

It is tempting for me to tell others what I know.  Judging from sermons I often hear, I am not the only one who succumbs to this temptation.  I listened to three sermons this week;  three different speakers on three different topics.  There was one commonality, throughout the presentations.  The speakers were all expert tellers.  

Communicating is hard work.  Telling is so much easier than showing.  In sophomore English my young professor would say, “Don’t tell me, show me.”  Thirty years later, I love to write.  And so I do a lot of rewriting.  Each rewrite gets closer to showing my readers my ideas instead of telling them my ideas.

I could write something like this:  ”As a teenager, I cut class often.”  I’m telling you.  But if I wrote this: “Often, cool afternoon breezes blew through this football shaped field behind our house.  As a teenager, I’d lay on my back under the hum of the power poles reading novels, self help books, the Bible, and biographies.  This field was my high school classroom.”   Now I’m showing you.

Or, I could preach something like this: “This passage in First John is so important.”  But if I preached this:  ”1st John is poetic.  1st John is direct.  1st John appeals to our emotions.  1st John appeals to our sense of morality.  1st John calls us to hope and believe.”  In the first instance, I’m telling.  In the second instance, I’m showing.  My use of repetition sets an energetic cadence.  And by identifying and communicating the scope of 1st John, I’m showing my audience — my congregation — how 1st John is so important.   I’m showing and not telling.

“Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.”   This is the encouragement from British poet Matthew Arnold.  So, my friends, Show, don’t tell.  If you must, “show and tell.”  But please, don’t simply tell.

Critical Performance Indicators.

by

0

Occupation
The Bible tells the grand story of God’s love.  But it also tells the tragic story of a people living in exile.  Early in the story we watch Israel get shipped to foreign lands.  They become enthralled to foreign kings.  Later, the plot thickens and the Israelistes find themselves living in exile right in their homes.  Rome has occupied their land and rules with an iron fist.

The life of Christ marks a massive turning point in their history.  Though the Israelites lived under Romes occupation, Jesus proclaimed and brought freedom.  It didn’t matter who was in political office.  Interestingly, this new freedom came with new markers for continuing exile.  Hell.   I find it somewhat amusing that the subject of Hell which has been written about so fervently in recent years, has largely been ignored as a place of exile.  

Freedom & Grace
As I prepared a presentation on exile yesterday, I began to reflect on my own experience.  If humans can experience freedom regardless of our circumstances, then the reverse is also true.   We can experience exile.  At times in  my own history phrases like  ”I can’t”, or “I’m in a rut”, or “I’m stuck” dominated.  These confessions signaled a life being lived in exile.  Conversely the key performance indicators of freedom are “choice, opportunity, possibility”.  This capacity to choose is a particular grace.

How ironic it is that the communities around us sometimes talk about freedom but exemplify exile.  So, love your choices.  Because choice is a key performance of freedom and a very specific kind of grace.  And remember, if your key performance indicators are frustration and unhappiness, you may be living in exile.

 

Our functional schizophrenia

by

0

We all live at least two lives.  Life One — let’s call it — is lived inside our heads.  Life One is really our self image — the picture we “see” of ourselves.  Life Two is the life we live in public.  Our actions, habits etc. are lived in full view of our family, friends, co-workers and spouses.   These two lives are standard issue for human beings.

Life One and Life Two are a kind of functional schizophrenia that serves us well.  For example, it seems to be a unique capacity of human beings to communicate across the divide between Life One and Life Two.  Life One can envision possibilities for Life Two and actively pursue those possibilities.  Human achievement is birthed from this unique capacity.

Life One and Life Two are the first two members of a three person tribe.   The third member of your tribe is Community.   This tribe member functions as a kind of feedback signal.  Negative feedback, especially continuous negative feedback, can birth significant unhappiness in Life One.  Positive feedback, on the other hand, can create health and maturity.

Respect the feedback your community is providing.   This feedback is a key to alignment.  When Life One and Life Two are aligned, you capacity grows.   You are prepped and able to experience significant personal power and deep satisfaction within your tribe.

 

 

 

The Little Town that Could.

by

0

Once upon a time. . .

There was a small town that owned a manufacturing plant.  The plant manufactured gadgets which were wildly popular in their day.   Everyday the townsfolk would cast and assemble gadgets and sell them the world over.  But as the popularity and functionality of the gadgets diminished, so did their desire to keeping making them.  They sold fewer and fewer gadgets.  Their enthusiasm to manufacture the gadgets waned as their unsold inventory grew.

Regardless, the town’s folk kept coming to work.  But because their unsold inventory was so great, they didn’t actually make more gadgets.  Everyday they’d show up for work, punch the time clock and sit around the assembly lines and casting equipment.  They’d drink coffee and eat sweet rolls.  This routine became wildly popular until the coffee got weaker and the rolls got smaller.

Every week like clockwork the sales manager would arrive and plead with his workers to get out and sell some gadgets.  The problem wasn’t the gadget, he’d tell them.  The problem lie in the motivation of the workers — they need to use these gadgets when they are at home and when they are on vacation.   When the world sees their gadgets in action, then the world will see how great these gadgets are and then the world will start buying these gadgets again.

 

Appearances Shouldn’t Matter!

by

1

For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

This bible verse has been burned into my brain since my elementary years.  Such lessons led me to believe that appearances shouldn’t matter.  Such is the rhetoric of lessons in the “Land of Should“.

The Land of Should is seductive.  It is a siren, luring men, women and children to the depths of the abyss.  Politicians and preachers, teachers and public administrators can become ambassadors for the Land of Should when they call us to retreat into their heads and hearts — when they call us to live in the way things “should be”.  The Land of Should is a call to live in a densely populated land, flowing with anger, guilt and shame. We  succumb to the Land of Should when we can’t or won’t take responsibility for our own lives. 

When we live in freedom, we live in a land full of personal capacity and responsibility.  The Father of the universe laid it our for us in the person of Jesus and Jesus was eager to say “follow me”!   That call is more than sophistry.  It is more than rhetoric full of attractive solutions.  It is a land of responsibility.  And because it is a land of responsibility, it is a land of opportunity and joy.

Live in freedom.  When someone says “you should” or “we should” smile and say, “I live in the land of opportunity.  Would you like to join me?”

What’s Your Game

by

0

The rules of a game must be observed.  Playing politics in the North American context means you must be inclusive.  If you work in the North America Church, guard your reputation.  If you provide yard services, be loyal and committed to your customers.  All games have rules.  Refusing to play by the rules only means you’d rather take your coloring book and sit in the corner.

Universal skills
Being effective in the game of life can be tricky business.  Perhaps three skills that scale well in any context:  observe, navigate, excel.  I consider these a kind of universal handbook, a universal translator if you will, that can help in any context.

Observe:  Know the direction you must move in order to play.
Navigate: Conduct the transactions of your turn in the currency that is valued.
Excel:  Use your personal talents and gifts in ways that magnify your capacity.

Play well.  Have fun. Play hard. But please, know the rules.

The Prophetic Voice

by

0

It is often assumed that the prophetic voice orbits around truth.  In my life these voices have been important.  I have read books.  I have listened to lessons.  I have attended worship services and listened to sermons.  Some voices teach, others admonish, and a few actually encourage.

I wonder a lot these days about listening.  This weekend, I listened to three sermons and now I’m wondering if the prophetic voice has become the point rather than the process. Have proclamations of truth (often static) become the final destination — the final understanding — which we, as hearers, settle on?  Doesn’t it seem that the prophetic voice is the beginning?  Isn’t the prophetic voice the starting line for our personal journeys?

 

 

The Final Iteration

by

0

The church is an enterprise that works tirelessly to upgrade its current customers while continuously working hard to find or create new markets.  Zero growth in the church means that management of the enterprise has grown to believe their current product is the last iteration anyone will ever need.

This is akin to saying the Osborne is the epitome of portable computers.