Perspectives: What is this?

 

What do you see when you look at this image?  I see a profile - an eye ridge and a nose.  What I see and what you see may be different, but that's OK, isn't?  

Neither one of us is wrong.  It's OK to have different perspectives.  

Book Review: Impact! Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry

Information about the book

Impact! Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry  by Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford.  Market Square Books, Knoxville, 2018.  (Cokesbury Link)

Summary

To quote the introduction, "We, the authors, believe in the power of laity in the local churches.  The church likely rises and falls with the missional investment of the laity....Our hope for this resource is to rekindle the spark and set the laity on fire - on fire for Christ....It is our core belief is that a church who demonstrates ministry with IMPACT is a church that has a strong movement for the Christ-centered laity.  This lay movement understands the purpose of the church and what it means to be a fully committee follower of Jesus Christ who transforms the world

Impressions

Overall, I thought it was a good book.  There were several moments of ah-hah and highlighting.  I purchased the book because I'm leading a Certified Lay Ministry course in our conference and thought it would be a help as I prepare a session around the call of the laity.  It didn't provide the material I hoped for, but I do see how it will be applicable to other sessions in our course, including the purpose of the church, worship, intentional discipleship, and relationships.

I am confused that almost the entire Impact focused lay leadership centers around the transition of a new pastor into a United Methodist church - how do accomplish that successfully.  It's excellent material, but it is about 20% of the book, and doesn't seem to relate to the main theme.  I was hoping for something else in a chapter with that name.

I purchased the Kindle version of the book - and this is only a small criticism - but the Kindle version could use formatting and editing.  There are Title words missing in the sections, and its difficult to see where chapters begin.  It didn't impact (haha) my reading of the book, but the manuscript did seem unfinished because of the editing issues.

Posts about Book
Posts on my blog that reference this book can be found here.  

Logos - Psalm 23

When I read this Psalm, the memory that comes back most clearly for me is from over 10 years ago.  I was part of a team from our church that was serving as youth counselors.  We planned a retreat to Spring Heights for our youth and the programming for the weekend was completely centered around this Psalm.  Together, the adults and youth talked about what each line meant – we worked on memorizing it – we had the youth explore it artistically.  The youth’s insights on the Psalm were inspiring to me, but I don’t know if what we – the adults - did made any difference in the lives of the youth who went on the trip.

The Psalm says, “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.”  Gary Simpson, who is the senior pastor at Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, provides a great image of this for us.  He explains that the scriptures are dripping with God’s goodness.  God is good before humans are even created.  God goes in front of us before we arrive anywhere.  The Hebrew word used in the Psalm for the word prepare is arak – and it also means “to arrange.”  So, wherever we are going, God’s goodness has gone before us, making the arrangements ahead of time – bringing light in darkness.  Preparing the place for us.  God’s mercy, according to Simpson, “is made necessary and non-negotiable soon after humans were created.”  Our sin makes God’s mercy necessary, and God moves behind us, in God’s mercy, with extravagant generosity, cleaning up the messes we make.

 So, I don’t know if the work we adult counselors did made any difference to the youth, but I do know, and I can rest in the assurance, that God went before us, and brought light and goodness into what we did, and God followed us, fixing what we did wrong, in God’s boundless mercy.

 

Perspectives: Change Necessary

 I bet it was beautiful in its day.  Today, it needs some changes.

Book Review: Guide to Preaching and Leading Worship

Information about the book

A Guide to Preaching and Leading Worship by William H. Willimon.  Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2008 (Previously published in 1984)

Summary

Quoting the introduction, "This handbook is a practical guide to enable you to be an effective preacher and liturgist.  Too much is at stake in the life of the church for us pastors to be anything less than competent committed, and well-informed "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Cor. 4:1).  Topics included are planning the service, public prayer, sacraments, and preaching.

Impressions

I purchased the book to be used as a reading for a CLM class I am leading.  The session where we'll discuss this book is one centered around planning worship, so I hope it will be a help for them.  It is focused on being the pastor, with the assumption that pastors are clergy.  My CLM students may (or may not) be assigned as "pastors" to churches, so I hope they can see the information around the bias toward it being for clergy.

I do think it provides good information regarding the planning of worship and preaching.  I am especially impressed with the emphasis on evaluation and how to go about change.  I especially like the chapter on prayer, and think it will be helpful to the CLM students.  I like the emphasis on using lectionary readings for biblically-based sermons.

I did find some of the Bishop's proclamations about worship to be - pardon me - not up to date. For example, the rule that scripture should be read only from a bound book, with no modern paraphrasing seems out of step with modern worship where young people bring their phones to the lectern to read.  I'm not sure he would find the Common English Bible to be appropriate (at least not when this was written).  The idea that preaching is the realm of the pastor (only) - and I may be misunderstanding him in this - seems to exclude lay activity - although I love the statement that lay people should be included in planning and implementation of worship and should be well trained.

Devotional - Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.  With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.  They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 4;32-35)

There is a gentleman in my church named Scott.  I think many churches have a scott – he’s an ever-present volunteer, a lay person who works in the church making repairs, gathering food for the food pantry, working on the backpack ministry, cooking in the kitchen, working with the United Methodist Men, reading scripture – Scott is involved in practically everything.  He’s a quiet presence, but he is always present.  When we are having an involved discussion in Sunday school, Scott’s answer to the question – whatever the question is – is “Love God – love your neighbor.”  This is what Scott believes, and I know that not only because of what he says, but because of what he does.

His actions reflect his belief.

Our scripture this evening is from Acts – the very beginnings of the church, and these verses describe that early church.  The passage begins, “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul,”

What did they believe?  They were followers of Christ – probably not called Christians yet – but they believed in Christ, and they trying to live lives as disciples.  A disciple learns from the master, and their master, and those who taught in their master’s place, taught to Love God and love your neighbor.

Those who saw the early church may not ever have heard of Jesus – but they saw the evidence of what Jesus had taught by the actions of his church – The church preached of Christ’s resurrection, and they made sure no one was needy.  They loved God and they loved each other.  They loved their neighbor.

And we know the rest of the story – the church grew.  More people came to follow Christ and to live as Christ taught.

Sometimes, I think, when we are worried about church membership, we plan new and exciting programming.  When we are worried about church finances, we talk about how many bills there are to pay.  When we are worried that youth aren’t attending youth events, and children aren’t in VBS, we nag parents and bring guilt upon them. 

When, really, we aren’t following programming or bill-paying.  We aren’t called to live lives of guilt and worry.  We are called to follow Christ.  And when we do that – when we love God and love each other – the rest will take care of itself.  When we know WHY we are a church – and we tell others WHY we believe in Christ, then that is what calls others to join us.

Prayer:

Creating, loving, God, help us to remember that we are a church, created to love you and to love each other.  This is the WHY of what we do.  Help us to remember that as we do the work you have given us.  Inhabit our conversations and thoughts this evening, thank you for bringing us together, and create in us a commonality of purpose, reminding us of the WHY of what we do.  In your son’s name, Amen.

 

Perspectives: Shadows and Fear

 

Shadows and fear.  How much do we allow them to control us?

Call me Back

Hoyt Hickman, in his book Worshiping with United Methodists, wrote about Jesus’s words, “Do this, as often as your drink it, in remembrance of me.”

He wrote, “The word remembrance has a meaning stronger than we ordinarily mean by the word ‘remember.’ We might better use the word ‘recall’ in the sense of to ‘call back’ — ‘Do this to call me back.’”

This is part of the holy mystery, isn’t it? That we can worship in a way that doesn’t just remember Jesus, but that calls him back to be with us, in that moment.  Communion isn’t a scrapbook event, where we think about Jesus.  It’s a meal WITH Jesus and all the saints.  It’s a family dinner. 

Use any of the words you want.  It is holy ground.  Thin place. Encounter.

I remember going to the funeral of the father of a pastor in our Annual Conference.  He led those gathered in communion, and he talked about it as worship where we gather with those who have gone before - a meal with his father. And his Father.

Recall.  Calling Jesus back.  Remembrance.

 

Mystery

How comfortable are we with mystery?

I was reading Hoyt Hickman’s book, Worshiping with United Methodists.  As he spoke about communion, he called it a Holy Mystery.  “Ultimately, the communion (koinonia) we have with God and one another in Jesus Christ is a mystery.”  He lists several times in the Bible that the word mystery is used.  I like the last one especially.  “We are ‘stewards of God’s mysteries.’” (1 Cor. 4:1).

“When a pastor or other ordained minister presides at this holy table in the name of Christ, she or he is a steward to whom is entrusted a sacred responsibility to pass on to the congregation a treasure that is beyond the understanding of any of us....None of us is so wise to have plumbed the depths of the mystery.”

How comfortable are we with that idea?  Are we able to rest in the idea that we are not wise enough to understand the holy mystery - communion or even any other part of our faith?

I think sometimes we act as if the faith is plain.  Easy to understand.  Black and white.  Right in front of our face. 

Sometimes it is.  Love God. Love your neighbor.  It’s simple enough to understand (not really simple to do, but that’s another story).  I’m glad Jesus said it was THE commandment.

What do we have to give up when we rest in the idea of mystery?  That God is too complex for us to understand, and none of it is simple?  We have to give up our pride, I think.  We have to give up judging others.  We have to let go of the idea that we have the answers and someone else doesn’t.  And we have to give up the idea that we are right. 

Are we comfortable in the mystery?

 

Perspectives: Path