Communion

Every Friday we had communion at Camp Glisson this summer. We would all file into the large (but not quite large enough) chapel to take communion. It was always the most somber affair the close knit staff could muster up. We worked in boy-girl pairs and every week as each "couple" served their campers communion we would keep score for the "best couple" award. I never won. Even the weeks that I thought I would win for sure I lost miserably. One week the kids went crazy. It all started when one of the exceptional campers started singing a solo and, after messing up, continued to giggle uncontrollably. It went downhill from there when the campers started clapping with every song. It continued when the worship leader started picking songs that people can't clap to ... and the campers proved him wrong. (Lord * Prepa*re Me to * be a sanc*tuary.) It continued going down in flames with uproarious applause after each of the 42 benedictions. We were in the un-airconditioned chapel for almost 3 hours.

My family went to a random church in Washington, PA because we didn't leave early enough to get to Pastor Rod's church. There were obviously some problems in the church. I am guessing that the problems were silly, superficial, and centered around communion. Some people wanted to take communion by "rip and dip" and others wanted to kneel at the altar and recieve communion from the trays and shot glasses. The church compromised by offering either option. They made grazing stations out of the eucharist. They had sullen youth handing out bread and juice or you could go to the altar and kneel to recieve communion. People chose one or the other - and didn't look very friendly towards those who attended the opposite grazing station. My family and I ripped and dipped.

My Godfather(you) tells the story of when one of his daughters was sick and he begged her to drink just a little bit of juice. (I can just hear Rachel politely declining the offer of more jews.) He begged her to try and keep just a little bit of bread down. This was communion.

Pastor David Lake told the (now infamous, lesbian) story about a woman who had lost her partner. She had been going to church for a while, but refused to take communion. The pastor asked her what her partner's favorite food was. Immediately she was taken to that comfortable happy place of sharing a meal with the one she loved so much. The pastor explained communion as our time of remembering God and the comfort His presence brings.

Today my friends and I had a french picnic in the cemetery. We had fake champaign and very tasty sandwiches while we talked, joked, and loved on one another. We invest in each other, love each other, and hope the best for each other. I can't help but file that experience away with my other communion stories.

Several Falls students are repulsed at me because I think that a non-Christian can take communion. They read me scripture that calls down a curse on anyone who abuses communion. I consider their argument a bunch of scat. I think that when Christians get in the routine practice of drinking juice and eating bread that we lose something. When we get in the practice of offering a little fake champaign, a tasty sandwich, and an open heart toward those who do not yet know the Savior ... I believe that will bring life.

So, I'll be Totally Random Tonight...

I'm taking this online class on Communion. You'd think that after pastoring for almost ten years I'd have a handle on communion - but, you'd be wrong. Here's a quote from a posting that someone made in the class (commenting on a Communion service):

But wow! There is communion but no Eucharist! Where is the ananesis? the distinctly Jewish Christian way of remembering the work of the Trinity in creation, redemption and anticipated consummation? Where is the epiclesis? the invocation of the Spirit on the assembly and on the sharing of bread and wine?

Um...ananesis? epiclesis? Communion but no Eucharist? Um...consummation? (okay, I know what that last word MEANS - but I'm not even sure that I get the whole sentence).

Please understand, I am in no way mocking this poster. He has a depth of understanding communion that I don't and he's not trying to show off, or look important or whatever. Those are words and phrases that he associates with communion - and there is some serious depth there (theological and spiritual).

So, it turns out, I have a lot to learn about communion. Oh, I'll still probably celebrate it "wrong" - but I'll know why it's "wrong" and why I'm doing it that way. I know all the rules for grammar (heh, I know my writing wouldn't show it) but I routinely break the rules - with a purpose. I was just at a seminar on worship and digital media and the presenter was talking about composing images for worship and he said that we need to learn the rules of composition because they give you the tools to present an image in worship that will have the intended effect (like leading the eyes to the most important part of the image and the "rule of thirds") but there will be times that you need to break the rules and that's okay, because sometimes breaking the rule can be very effective and powerful but we have to remember that if you break the rules once in a while, it moves people to where you want to them to look but if you break the rules all the time, well, that's just bad design. How's that for a runon sentence? Heh, reads like the Apostle Paul in Greek (well, in form, not content, because there's really nothing innately spiritual about good and bad design or even, for that matter, run on sentences...oh, there I go again...).

More randomness later...

Institutional Christianity...sigh...

Well, it won't be any consolation, but I'm getting sick again too...and Lori has kidney stones...sigh...

I get the whole grace thing. You'd think that in a Christian institution there would be more. Clearly, it's more INSTITUTION than it is CHRISTIAN.

Take God's word to Joshua, though: Be strong and courageous!

You may be the only voice of reason some of these kids hear. You've already impacted one freshman's worldview - and you know you keep mine challenged and fresh.

Not long ago you wrote (I think on barneyisfat blog) that when the world sucks, you can still find hope in the reality of Jesus' atoning death and resurrection. Let it be true for you this weekend.

I'll be praying for you - Lori will be praying for you. Rachel will be praying for you. Elie...will run laps around the house, but she'll be thinking of you.

Get some rest. I won't be blogging at all this weekend (I know you wait with baited breath for my every post - or is that with bait-like breath...heh...just kidding, don't get 'rhoid rage on me, now...) I have a conference tomorrow and a pile of stuff to get ready for worship on Sunday. I MIGHT get to it the blogs on Monday (but I'm taking an online class and spent a bunch of this week doing that).

Oh wait, it's not all about me. Sorry.

We're praying...

I'm on steroids this week. So, if you see me writing posts that are very mean ... well, that's why.

I have a huge problem with the faithometer view of life. I'm depressed right now. I have been sick with pneumonia for a few weeks. I got gratis (yes, a perversion of the latin word from "free" used to signify a fine or work detail) for failing roomcheck while I had pneumonia. I'm just saddened that grace has so little effect on how things work at this school. I'm sad that with 1000 christians college students in Toccoa there isn't any difference made in the community. I'm sad that with this many Christians no impact is being made. None. And then I get depressed.

And, since I'm depressed about that I get easily frustrated with how things are going. My roomate skipped all of his classes so he wouldn't be killed in a "spy-game" all campus activity. He isn't going to leave this room until the person he has is dead. I had planned to sleep most of the weekend so I would feel better, but - never mind. My best friends are both going away for the weekend. I have a test I didn't study for, 30 Bible Chapter summaries I didn't do, and a lot of sleep to catch up on.

Now, I'm on steroids so I can have a reason to be angry at the world.

Snake Oil

So I was thinking about what you said at the end of your post: are we just taking a gimmick that worked at a church and applying it on a large scale? Or, is this just organic oil...

I dunno. I think that God can work with both. I don't think that God needs any gimmicks to prove that He is holy, righteous, merciful, loving, worthy of our worship... It seems like sometimes WE need some gimmicks to kick us in the pants to REMEMBER that God is...

But God can work in, and in spite of, the "organic oils" that we try to use. I have such a high view of the soverignty of God that I believe that if tomorrow morning God wanted me to wake up as a piece of buttered toast (Kafka's got nothing on me - heh), then tomorrow morning I'd wake up as a piece of buttered toast... I don't think that God is going to do that, but I believe that God COULD if, for whatever reason, He wanted to.

Having said that, I also have such a high view of the integrity of God that I don't believe He would ever FORCE me to become that piece of buttered toast (okay, this metaphor is getting way out of hand). I've referenced it before, but one of the most profound statements that our senior Pastor here at First UMC (Bill Starr) ever said in a sermon was, "God gave us the dignity to choose to love Him."

Think about that. God - being God and able to make/do whatever He wants - CHOSE to let us CHOOSE.

So - it's not the "organic oils" - or the kite with the five tails and the neato ads on TV (though I like them) - it's the power of God working through us and in us and, again, sometimes in spite of us to work His ultimate purpose out. If I am willing to let God work in me, God can even use my penchant for relying on "organic oils" or gimmicks or whatever... Because God is God.

So, that brought to mind a song by Kansas (again, Michael will probably have to Google that band name...I know I'm old, but sheesh...) from their In the Spirit of Things album:

Rainmaker

Kansas

Have you ever seen a miracle - you couldn't doubt or imitate

What's it really worth to you to shake the holy hand of fate

Well I did what I could to make ends meet

Been a gunrunner and a medicine man

In a Kansas town I was a rainmaker - there the hand of fate got out of hand

Rainmaker Rainmaker save this one horse town

Rainmaker pray to heaven

From the Flint Hills the land was cracked and dried

Thirsty streets in misery

I took the sign down that said medicine man

Put one up that said rainmaker - that was me

So the townspeople gave me money up front

To light a fire - pray, and dance around

I'd convince them it'd rain so they'd all go to bed

And I'd make my break clean out of town

But I started this dance and a storm kicked up

The sky went black from coast to coast

It was too late to stop - it was to late to pray

I had summoned down the Holy Ghost

Oh the searing wind and the clouds of dust

And hell came raining down

What came out of me and the powers that be

Was the last of that one horse town

(really, really long instrumental break here...)

Rainmaker Rainmaker save this one horse town
Rainmaker pray to heaven

Rainmaker Rainmaker save this one horse town
Rainmaker pray to heaven

(Save us, Save us)

Rainmaker Rainmaker save this one horse town
Rainmaker pray to heaven

Hey, Remember Me?

Sorry I've been out of it for a while. Blogger lost my last post or two so I've almost given up on it...

But, I remember when Lori and I were facing some serious phyiscal problems and someone from the church gave us, I'm not making this up, "Miracle Oil" that they had purchased from some evangelist-type (might even have been good old Benny himself, not sure). You could anoint with it (of course) but you could also use it topically and internally (in a variety of delivery methods that I won't go into here). The key, of course, was that "if you have enough faith this oil will cure you of ANYTHING" and, if you die, well we just need to check your "faithometer" to see if you had enough faith. Oops, haven't invented that one yet...

Sheesh, no wonder the world looks at the Church and shakes its (collective) head...

I check www.umc.org daily. I just feel that a church this big should have something to report every day. It doesn't. Of news recently the California-Nevada conference (arguably the most liberal) is boycotting and protesting the new Survivor. I'm glad that someone is doing something.

My sister went and heard Bishop Bickerton speak at Erie First on Sunday. He talked about believing and dreaming. I flew a kite at annual conference. A few pages and delegates flew the kites to show off the new campaign. I like the new campaign and am excited about it ... but, I can't help but wonder if we are putting a band-aid on a broken arm.

My roomate gave me an organic oil that supposedly would cure my pneumonia. I got new anti-biotics and I felt better after 48 hours on the new meds. He still thinks that it was the organic oil that saved my life. Now, I'm okay with his dilusions of grandeur. That's fine. But, a friend of a friend is in the hospital dying of pneumonia (she is on AIDS cocktails right now her pneumonia is so bad - and the doctor's don't know what to do.). My roommate wants to know why I haven't adviced my friend to give her friend some of the organic oil. I'm appauled by this ... but, he is totally serious.

So, I wonder if that's what we are doing. We have found a gimmick that worked on a church (which happened to have a revival) and now we are going to do the same thing on a much larger scale. I hope that this campaign isn't an organic oil when what we need is strong antibiotics.

I'm less frustrated now. I feel much better after spending some time in prayer about it. Sometimes doing what God wants you to do is difficult when you are surrounded by peope who are hellbent on stopping you. I have met so many wonderful Christian people who disagree with me adimantly and yet are entirely capable of loving me and sharing God's grace with me that they often overshadow the few who are rabid in their hatred. Sometimes vice versa.

Frustrated

I'm frustrated right now. I have just engaged myself in two conversations about gay rights. The first was with a freshman who said(and I quote) " I don't think we should go around killing gay people, but ...(long pause)" We discussed the viewpoint that AIDS could be good cure for homosexuality. It is always so sad to hear someone who really believes this. I think that the kid ( a very nice kid with a heart for the Lord) didn't really accept the teaching, but was not far from believing it.

The next conversation was with a few friends and a few people at the table I didn't know. Their premise was that homosexuality was a "special" sin. My point was that if we commit one sin we are guilty of all of them and that even if there are different levels of sin Jesus took the punishment for all of them for all people. They were thouroughly unimpressed. I realize that there is a lot of bigotry, hatred, and xenophobia that has to be waded through before people can be convinced that really this one sin is no worse than any other, that our sin is just as bad in God's eyes, that all sin is ultimately a "lifestyle" sin, and that our fear of their sin doesn't help them hear about the Savior.

So, here I am. I'm very frustrated by both of these conversations. But, I'm glad that they happened. I think in the first conversation that the boy will go and really start thinking about what I said. I think that he even might realize the call to reach out in love to gay people. In the second conversation I spoke my mind and acted civilly while they behaved poorly. I think I did what Christ asked of me and that they hid behind a mask of fear. I pray for more conversations that frustrate me and serve to enlighten others.

Advent Sermon

Okay - I like the idea...I'm fuzzy on the details, of course, but I like the general concept...

What do you think Isaiah thought when he wrote that stuff. I mean, yeah, the whole "day of the Lord" thing sounds great - whole new world...the evil are wiped out...everything is good and people live in the presence of God...

But that whole suffering thing really stinks... "by his stripes we are healed..."

Of course, Isaiah entered into the whole thing kind of wondering what is going on...

"Here I am, Lord!"

Okay - so, you're going to talk and talk and talk, they won't listen. Their eyes and ears and hearts will be closed. No matter what you tell them - even though it comes RIGHT FROM GOD - they won't care...

Um... "How long, O Lord?"

so, I have though of an idea for our advent sermon (in the format of Hot Metal Bridge). I think it would work really well if you were Isaiah and were writing down the prophesy about the Messiah and I came in and argued with you about what you were writing. I could even be you emenuensis (sp) and be writing it down and start arguing.

Like every time you would say one of the "he will be pierced for our transgressions" or something negative I would object and recall one of the "the government will be on his shoulders" passages. And we could use this to explain that Jesus wasn't what the people were expecting - but exactly what they need. It needs a good bit of work, but it's a start.

Saint John Wesley

I'm sure you're right about that. I think Wesley himself would go to Africa - just like he came to America (though I would hope he would do a better job this time around). Of course we've sainted JW - cut out all the bad stuff and remember just the holiness stuff and the revival and the "mini-reformation" of the Anglican Church (I wonder, does the CofE call that a rebellion like they do the American Revolution? heh)... Read his journal sometime. Okay, don't... I never did. But I got some highlights in Methodist History class in seminary...

There's the Aldersgate experience - and that was foundational and formational (is that a word?)... But, even after that moment he doubted his own salvation. He might have been mildly bi-polar - or somewhat clinically depressed - or something. He was way up and way down at times. One story I remember from Meth. History class was his missionary journey to Georgia. He was a miserable failure as a missionary. AND, to make matters worse, he wanted to marry a certain young lady and when she said no, he refused to serve her communion... Her husband (she, obviously, wanted to marry someone else) sued JW for defamation and a bunch of other people unhappy with JW's ministry in Georgia piled on the charges. He ran back to England...

But that's one (admittedly big) failure in a faithful and hugely productive career. One of the things that I really respect about JW - besides the fact that he could screw up royally like me (heh) is that he remained an Anglican priest until the day he died. He LIVED the idea of reformation from within. Though Methodism became a separate denomination, it was never his intention. He scheduled the Methodist meetings so that they would not conflict with CofE worship and meetings - he was totally committed to seeing the CofE transformed. And, in a way, it was....

John Wesley would be at the forefront of the AIDS fight. He would have been figting against HIV/AIDS in the 80s. He would be sending missionaries in droves to Africa to contain the epidemic - he would call Christians to fight fearlessly and to serve people. He would ask Christians to give generously towards research and healthcare for AIDS patients. He might even pass out condoms in church? I don't know about that last one.

[Another panelist, Diane Carter, is an HIV/AIDS educator in the Washington area who visits schools and conducts workshops for young people. She has been HIV positive for years.“The church is in need of bold leadership to face this cunning disease,” she said. “Face it: people have sex. We have to be able, at least willing, to address that. Let’s have condoms in our churches. Do an HIV/AIDS outreach every Sunday and make the congregation knowledgeable. We have a big job ahead of us, and I hope the church will join us.” -- (taken from www.umc.org)]

I love this statement. I think it's tremendously liberal. I would like to go to a church where they pass out condoms. Actually, I would like to even go to a church where an issue like AIDS is addressed. There was an HIV/AIDS walk down Peachtree Street in Atlanta. A large Southern Baptist church hired security gaurds to make sure no one stood on their grassy lawn to watch the walkers/runners ... Peachtree United Methodist Church opened their lawn and gave out free water to the people. They reached out in love to a lot of people on the fringe of society. Not exactly passing out condoms, but still liberal enough to make me exceedingly happy. I think good old John Wesley would approve.

So, THAT'S What John Would Do...

No, no. You're on to something. I bet he'd be preaching in the parking lots. Not interrupting the business (which would be a pretty un-christian thing to do, I think - I mean, it's not like it's porn...heh, read the note below...). Anyway, Wesley didn't go INTO the mines to preach sermons (maybe to minister, don't remember that one from Church history) but he went to the fields near the mines to preach to the miners - and then in the open air all over the place when churches wouldn't let him in. I know he went to prisons to minister to prisoners - not sure where else he went - but that was less preaching and more doing...

Man, now I can't wait for the new Walmart to open. I can see it now... :)














**** I forgot to add this note yesterday when I posted this: Someday I'll take a picture of it, but in Brookville, PA (at the exit right off I-80) there's an adult bookstore (heh - the PC name for a porn shop) and right in front of it someone (an individual or a church, I don't remember which) put up an anti-porn billboard right out front... I'm kind of okay with that. I'd like to think that the pastor was talking to the owner, though... I remember a book store that used to sell porn and the owner came to saving faith in Christ and he turned it into a Christian book store...

**** and, since I'm on this subject - I can't find the source but a friend was at a semiar (for men) and the speaker just kept hammering the point that that woman you're oogling is "someone's little girl" and that really hit home to me (since I have two little girls of my own) and has really helped me shut out some unwanted mental moments... And then I saw something yesterday at Post Secret (thanks a lot emergingminister.com...) http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/ it's the very first postcard this week (I don't want the image on my blog so you gotta go there before Monday) and shuddered with horror...but I know it probably happens...

I think John Wesley would get kicked out of a lot of Wal-Marts. There are lots of poor people who need to hear about Jesus at every Wal-mart. I think he would preach a lot of sermons in Wal-Marts.

What Would John Do?

Ah, good old John... Yep, he is credited with the quote. In searching to verify that it really was John Wesley, I stumbled on another nugget from him:

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.


It would seem that our denomination's founder looked ahead about 200 years and saw the possibilities...or, he looked back at what had happened over the 200 years of the Church of England's existence... Do we need a New Methodist Reformation? I bet in the 1740s John and Charles had the real "progressive" churches - and from that core grew another great revival...

But go to England and see Wesley's chapel today in Bristol (no, really, go there: http://newroombristol.org.uk/ ). While there are still worship services held there (so the website says), it's a MUSEUM. If Wesley would be unhappy about anything it might be that the chapel that helped launch revival through the Old and New Worlds is a tourist attraction now.

BUT - that's our need to hold on to yesterday. God is the God of today.

What would John Wesley do today? Ooo - where are the fields to preach in today? One thing is sure, he'd share the word again and again and again - he rode 250,000 miles on horseback, preached some 42,000 sermons (still doing 3 a day, in different places, no less, at the age of 87 - man, I don't preach three a WEEK most weeks...).

So, What Would John Do? How would he "catch on fire with enthusiasm"?

"Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come from miles around to watch you burn." -John Wesley

I'm not entirely sure that this is a John Wesley quote, but boy I sure hope it is. I hope it is because every week there are hundreds of churches that model themselves after John Wesley's teachings where people come to watch the congregation burn. There are hundreds of churches in this country that are doing something right. John Wesley didn't want a new congregation to form ... but it did. I am proud of that denomination ... I don't know if Wesley would be.

I have pastors with whom I can talk, argue, discuss, debate, dialogue, disagree, pray, and petition. It's a beautiful thing. I can go to any United Methodist church and I always feel welcomed - even if the congregation isn't that nice I know that I can worship there. My heart does a little dance every time I see the new United Methodist commercial on TV. I celebrate at the number of growing UM congregations in North Georgia. I hope and pray for the same thing to happen in WPA. I excitedly read Bishop Bickerton's words. I am jealous that my sister gets to go and hear him this weekend at Erie First.

And I have a certain excitement that burns. I take other college kids with me to church each Sunday. A lot of them are kids who hate church. They love God, but are so fed up with church. There's a certain excitement in making church worthwhile again. I love my friends. Two of my friends told me that I have a good heart. It was nice to hear that because sometimes I feel that I just keep giving of myself and people are just getting angry with me. I fight for what I believe in and sometimes that pisses people off, but at the end of the day I am constantly reminded that I am changing how people view Jesus ... and that's what I think He wants me to do.

So maybe I'm just pouring gasoline all over myself and that's why people aren't flocking from miles - it's weird enough that people will notice, but after the match goes everyone will come running. I'm excited.

Addendum 14A

So I spent most of the past three days PRAYING for the rapture - theologically correct or not... Man, that was some awful bug I got... However, Michael has it only partly right...if only I COULD have thrown up...

Suck Factor Addendum #14A:
Thursday night (and Friday night without me) the praise band played at a mid-sized (physically - small-sized membership-wise) church in the area. They were having two nights of "renewal" or "revival" or...well, I think they called it two nights of "witness." They were so sincere in what they were doing - the advertised, they brought in two very different speakers for the two nights - they got a...well, at least passable worship band... They put a lot of energy and some resources into the two nights.

Nobody came.

Well, that's not to say that there weren't any people in the place. The first speaker asked the crowd of, oh, maybe 25 how many weren't from that church to raise their hands - only the band and the speaker's family raised their hands...

So, twenty people came - all from the church...for...revival...

Maybe that's exactly what they need, though. Here's a suck factor addendum. One of the reasons the church sucks today is that we keep doing the same things we've always done - the same way we've always done them and then we complain that they don't work. We NEVER analyze what we SHOULD be doing, who we SHOULD be reaching. Why have these services in the church? I'm thinking that if you rent a store front or, heck, just meet on the front lawn you're going to get more people to at least see you, aren't you?

We used to have our annual revival at the last church I served. Always the same format, always the same turnout.

I'm ready to get a little bolder, now. I want to get to the the people instead of expecting the people to come to me. I want to show the world who Jesus is and what He did for me and for them. I want people to be excited about God again, not because the music was good or the preacher is funny or the drama was edgy - but because God is really worth getting excited about...

I guess that has to start with me, huh?

Wondering where my next step will land me...

Quarantined

Well, this post will be under quarantine for a few days. Michael has strep/pneumonia/the black lung and Bill has a stomach flu. I'm starting to wonder if God wants us to start writing about why the church RULZZZZ!!!1!!!1!! Maybe then I wouldn't be dying and Bill wouldn't be puking. So, have a nice day - enjoy a nice meal at a fancy restaurant - and check back later.

The Suck Factor 357 - Not only do Christians suck individually. We gather together and pat each other on the back for sucking. Hooray.

It isn't bad enough to pretend to be a Christian and sit at home and enjoy your comfortable life, but we gather together once a week and discuss our lives, gossip, talk (minimally) about Jesus, and sit there with a smug grin = = = = = = > on our faces ... we're so proud of the fact that we suck. Why? What if our church meetings dealt with the realities of life? What if we were to bear each other's burdens, share with each other, or (gasp) love one another? Would we be able to sit with smug grins = = = ^ on our faces? probably not. We would probably show the joy of loving Christ on our faces.

Tonight...on the Suck Factor

Heh, great! Now I have this whole Bill O'Reilly thing going in my head... the "No Sin Zone" heh...

Anyway, you just hit chapter two of the analysis of the Suck Factor: selfishness. Everybody's so self-involved that they don't see what's going on around them. That's an aspect of hyper-conservatism, too... you know, it's all about me and my salvation. Of course, it's an aspect of hyper-liberalism...it's all about me and God as I define God... Yeah, it's all that simple and black-and-white.

Good analogy, by the way. We're the Bride of Christ - we've got it all. So, what do we do with it? Well, we KEEP it, of course. What good is having everything if you go and give it away? I mean, really...

If it's all about me, then it's not about Jesus. Reason number...what...343? that churches suck: people care more about themselves than they do about Jesus...

Of Jane Austen Characters and Suck Factor

I slept for 12 hours last night. Then I took a nap during one of my classes because I was still tired. I'm going to a junk food party tonight at a professor's house. Being invited to my professor's house is my favorite part of going to a small Christian college. I wouldn't miss it for the world ... and this pneumonia isn't the world.

Let's compare the Jane Austen Characters to The Suck Factor. Not that the plot sucked, just the characters.

In Sense and Sensibility all of the characters are wealthy. They are wealthy enough that they can sit around all day. The Miss Dashwoods are all wealthy enough that it doesn't matter what they decide to do. Marianne declares her love for dead leaves, Elinor shows no emotion, Margaret hides when company comes, and the mother is a twit who only tries to marry off her daughters. That is their job, ultimately, to marry. If they marry well - the have finished their job.
And here the church sits, horribly blessed. We are married to Christ ... I can't think of a better union from our point of view. Our job is done.

Is that why we suck? Is it because we feel that our job is done? Have we gone so far from the great commission that we feel our job is finished - even with so much left to do.

My favorite character, Ms. Jennings is a widow for whom "the only thing left to do is marry off everyone else's children." She speaks her mind, tells jokes, and a myriad of other things a polite woman shouldn't. In this (horribly constructed) analogy I want to be like Ms. Jennings. I've found my happiness - now I want others to find that happiness.

Maybe if more Jane Austen Characters weren't so consumed with themselves I would like them better - especially if they at least accomplished something.

OK Mr. Random Post

Let me pull ONE thing from Michael's last post - Jane Austen's characters. Why do you hate them so? Think about the era she's writing in and the roles of men and women. I can't stand most of the novels of that era...mostly because I can't stand the era itself (however, to be completely hypocritical, I enjoy the poetry of the era)...

Gimme something to commiserate with Mike... 'cause misery loves company...

We had our first night of drama practice at church. Only 4 girls showed up, but the script I had written required 4 people. I'm excited about the things we have planned - if only I could convey that excitement.

They took time in chapel to address issues of importance to the student body. It was so pathetic. One girl wrote in about her stress level being so high that she cries all the time. The student body laughed. One boy wrote in about a problem with masturbation. Everyone giggled and/or were offended by the word. Then they went to the next question with nothing of substance being said. They didn't, of course, address my friend's question about Why we don't reach out in love to homosexuals. That would have been too risky. Why does the church suck? We are afraid of risk. ? . I think that most prefer a sucky church to having to take risks.

I still have pneumonia. No significant improvement. I made it through all of my classes.

I hate the characters in Jane Austen novels. I like the novels and the writer, but her characters I hate. They don't accomplish anything with their lives. How must it feel to leave this earth knowing that nothing changed because of you. My sister called me crying to tell me how different the world would be without us. It sounds so much like bragging, but in reality we both had times that we wouldn't have made it through without the hope we had in Christ. She is right. In my short 19 years I have done a lot of ministry, filled a lot of positions, and done a lot of good. I don't think I have anything to brag about. I was just along for the ride.

Disconnected

Yeah - I'm with you there, Michael. I think that we ALL have it wrong as far as the Rapture/End Times thing is concerned...

Isn't it funny that so many believers are SO worried about what the end of times will be like that they can't seem to live in the NOW? I mean, I know a couple of denominations (or "affiliatons" if you take my meaning - some of the newer denominations don't like to be called denominations) that actually have a mandatory eschatological position - in other words, if you aren't a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, Premillenial Christian, then you're a heretic... Sheesh... like I have God soooo figured out, or something...

So, what is the Church around you doing right? Where are we actually BEING the Body of Christ? Clearly, it's not happening at school...

Around here... Well, at First we're just now putting resources (people and money and vision) behind our Evangelism committee - NOT because we need to make more members (we're actually GAINING membership without ANY work on the part of the Evangelism Committee), but in a real effort to connect Jesus with people. We're not very good at it, but we're trying. We put a real effort in our area to minister to the kids through Vacation Bible School and our weekly after school program - with mixed results. If numbers matter, we give something like a quarter of a million dollars in various mission giving (above and beyond our operating expenses, salaries, program committees, etc.) and we have a huge number of people who do outreach into the community. My problem with those kind of numbers is that there's no way to tell if there's any kind of connection between the giving (money and volunteer hours) and faith. Does Family Services see the large donation our church gives them every year as an act of faithfulness and in response to God's grace? Or do they see it as a line-item on their budget? Do the people who come to the soup kitchen see the volunteers there as ministers of God's love and mercy or as folks who ladle out the gravy? I don't know. St. Francis of Asisi supposedly said, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and, if necessary, use words." But we don't use the words enough... So, was our VBS just "free babysitting" or "a passionate outreach to the lost with the transforming message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ"? Viva!!

Disconnected. I feel that way too often (heh, especially when I'm railing against the injustice of the freaking idiot who goes forty freaking miles an hour on the freaking highway except in the freaking passing zones... What would Jesus do? ARGH!! James and John would have wanted to call fire down from heaven, I just know it...and if I had a rocket launcher on my car...).

Okay, maybe I AM disconnected from my faith WAY more than I should be. Why is that?

So, the church is taking steps - maybe they're baby steps, but they are steps... And so am I.

There's a great verse in a Rich Mullins Song called Hard to Get (by the way, the Jesus Record is probably the greatest Christian album ever produced..):

And I know You bore our sorrows

And I know You feel our pain

And I know it would not hurt any less

Even if it could be explained

And I know that I am only lashing out

At the One who loves me most...

And after this all I really want to know

Is if You who live in eternity

Hear the prayers of those of us who live in time

We can't see what's ahead and we cannot get free

From what we've left behind

I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears

All the words of shame and doubt,

Blame and regret

And I can't see how You're leading me

Unless You've led me here

To where I'm lost enough to let myself be led

And so You've been here all along I guess

It's just Your ways, and You are

Just plain hard to get...

That's me, sometimes... Lost enough to let myself be led... And so the disconnection isn't so bad, sometimes, I guess. It puts me in places where I have to trust God...

And the connection? Well, I'm still not too good at telling people about my relationship with Jesus. I can preach, no problem. I can do good works. Piece of cake. But to just tell somebody why I love Jesus...not there yet... So, my actions are still disconnected from my faith...

Thinking back on all of this, I think the whole post is a little disconnected...but it makes sense to me...and, somehow, I make sense to God. I LIVE in that truth...

Eschatology, no. I never really got that excited about eschatology.

My friend Kent (I use his real name because not many Toccoa Falls people read this blog yet, and I'm not going to say anything untrye anyways) is always excited to talk about eschatology. He is a fastidious conservative and likes hearing me speak liberal heresies because it is the extent of excitement in his life. Maybe someday God will send some lightning and make our discussion real exciting. He always tells me his viewpoints in hopes that I will say something really liberal about the end times. I don't know what he expects me to say ... maybe that Jesus isn't really going to come back, but I definetly don't believe that so I won't be saying it. I generally tell him that I'm not real interested in the end times.

I care more for the current. I'm reading a book by Steve Brown, a conservative evangelical radio show host, he talks about doing a show with Tony Campolo, a liberal evangelical. He admits that during breaks he would sip his coffee while Tony would go and witness to the crew. Most of the crew was pagan ... and Steve never cared. I care more for the current. I would rather talk to people about what's going on right here right now. When we get that whole "how to live out life in the fullness and Glory of Christ Jesus" thing down ... well, then I would be much more willing to deal with my views of eschatology.

But, we don't have that down yet. We suck at it actually. We quote dueteronomic scripture to justify our hate ... but, we don't even live out the sermon on the mount. What a sad state we're in. Personally I don't know what I think about the end times. I always think of "Lord, haste the day" when I think about the rapture. I'm cool with whatever God has in store for me. I'm okay with whatever happens. I don't need to know what exactly will happen.

Back to my friend Kent. Kent feels that Christians need to do everything in their power to get rid of all sin in their lives. He spends so much time worrying about sin that he never gets to experience the joys of freedom. There is something to very freeing about Grace that is easy to lose. When we spend all of our time worrying about things like eschatology we risk losing that freedom.

I hate to be simplistic, but I'm a little bit more concerned with what God has for my life right now.

The Suck Factor

I know he was kidding, but Michael made a great observation in the COMMENT back in the post titled "OFFERING" (right under the rotten banana):

How great would it feel to publish a scientific study focusing on the "suck factor" of churches.


(yep, that's a REAL vacuum cleaner...)

You know what? I think that Natural Church Development is just that. Oh, it's not as...um...cool? as calling it the "suck factor" - but that's just what NCD talks about - "minimum factors."

You know what, Mike - we should re-write the whole NCD system and call it "The Suck Factor." Heh...

Seriously - I can go on and on about why churches suck - but I think the bottom line is not focusing on Jesus. There's a huge difference in TALKING ABOUT Jesus and LIVING FOR Jesus. And, like most of the dedicated Christians I know, I'm pretty good at the former, not so good at the latter...

And I think we need to focus not on who we WANT Jesus to be - but who the Bible reveals Jesus to be.

I just had a conversation about a woman who, though she is devout Southern Baptist, she's really a full-blown TULIP Presbyterian (the caricature, not the reality) on the inside. You see, she believes that God picks who He wants to go to heaven, and she's sure that He doesn't want her... And no matter (it seems) how hard my friend has tried to convince her that it's not true, she can't shake it...

And that's not the Jesus I see in the Gospels. That's not the God I see in the Bible...

And yet, I can't seem to conform myself to the image of the Jesus I DO see in the Bible...

Rather, maybe, I won't let the Holy Spirit conform me to His image...

Silly Michael...

...don't you know that the "Rapture" is just a theological construct of the second great awakening that embodies the hopes of Christians everywhere to avoid any serious persecution because, as we all know, God loves us too much to let anything bad happen to us...

...or it's Jesus coming back in a blaze of glory that the whole world will see and fall to their knees and realize that they were wrong all along and repent (but it'll be too late - so they'll burn...)....

...or it's Jesus sneaking back to take out the "real" believers but everybody else will just think it was aliens or something or that maybe the terrorists have some wierd new superweapon that only takes out the churchgoing goody-two-shoes...

...or it's Jesus taking the real beleivers out of the world so that they don't have to suffer through the Great Tribulation - which will leave buses to crash off of bridges and airplanes to drop out of the sky, killing all those heathen masses who are going to hell anyway so why not just end it now...

...or...well, clearly we don't really get the whole Rapture thing, do we? I mean the collective we, of course, not just you and me...because WE get it...um...

Anyway, I had a busy weekend and then Monday was a holiday and Tuesday was my day off...and I HATE checking in on blogs at home because I still have FREAKING dialup...sigh... now that that is off my chest...

...do you wanna talk eschatology?

Michael is starting to wonder if he missed the rapture (yes, I could have missed it at Toccoa Falls - everyone would just rebuke it in the name of Jesus - like they do suffering) and how the heck Bill Beatty made it and he didn't. How?

In the back of my childhood Bible there is an index of sorts. A place where, when in need of a specialy inspiring and relevant topic, one can find where to find things in the Bible. It has such categories as: when friendships fail, financial losses, and doubting God. It doesn't have a section of what to read when the church sucks. Yep, I've checked it twice - there is no suck-factor remedies listed in my Bible.

I could pull an Old Testament segment out of the Bible, - about rebuilding the temple, worship rituals, or evan a psalm of frustration -but at this point it would only seem trite and contrived. I have such mixed emotions. I love God, the United Methodist Church, my church in Toccoa, and my friends (my church). Why do I feel such animosity towards the church?

My church in Kane was a wonderful place. I had great friends, great support, and wonderful role-models. I never heard the message of a saving love of Christ there. I guess this is a pretty big downfall. It was a social club. The sermons were good, the music exceptional, and the community great - but, it was a social club. Sure, I learned a good bit of the Bible, all about morality, and how to be a good person. I still like these teachings - but they weren't Christ.

I had a time when I went to all of the churches in town. My dad was always afraid that this would negatively affect my image in town as a good Christian. A good Christian - ha! I realized that every church in town was the same as mine. None of the churches brought Christ to the people.

I stayed in church - probably out of a sense of duty, and perhaps becuase I thought I could change things. I went to annual conference. I amended the budget from the floor of conference. I love the United Methodist church becuase I think that it can change things. It can get it's act together and really reach the people with the message of Christ. I still have hope.

My church in Toccoa is reaching out to people. It follows the homogeneous Unit principle (people like going to church with people that are just like them) to a T ... and there are no black, poor, or immigrant people in a church in an area that has all of these things. Yes, it's rich and white. Yes, but, it also reaches out with Christ's love. My pastor called me to make sure I was still doing alright this afternoon (I had called him for prayer this morning.) My Sunday School class (in the 40s -60s it was called the "pairs and spares" class ... now everyone is over 70 and the name doesn't seem appropriate -it's called the Charles Trogdon Wesley class, now.) sent me a card thanking me for showing up.

At Camp Glisson, over the summer, I saw Christ's church in some incredible ways. So very formative to me were those experiences that I will never forget them. Never. I love that image of church - of the girl who struggles with eating disorders praying over and crying with the gay kid who is experiencing Christ's love for the first time. How beautiful is God's love.

I have all of these things on my wall in my dorm room. A painting and pictures from Glisson; pictures of the pipe organ from Kane First, pictures of Becka and Mandy at the church Easter Egg hunt; the card from my Sunday School class, and the scripture verse from Sunday at Toccoa First; and pictures of family, nature, and friends - the church in so many ways. So many forms. In the center is a picture Rebecca's best roomate painted for me. It is abstract at best - and I'm sure there is no intentional hidden meaning - but, to me it has so much meaning.

It is a color war - every color represented - and quite unsettling to the eyes, but a flower and it's roots are growing out from off to a side. I believe that out of the war of fighting sects, denominations, views, arguments, and churches that love is waiting in the wings to grow into something beautiful. The flower isn't fully formed in the painting - there's so much more root than flower - but, it offers hope. So much hope. I still have hope for the church.

Offering

I "happened" on this passage this morning:

Malachi 1:

7 “You place defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.


So - maybe I'm oversimplifying the "suck" factor of our churches. Maybe it's that we haven't been obedient. Maybe we're making excuses for what we're offering God that even the IRS wouldn't believe...why do we think the Creator of the Universe will accept them?

AND - I have to wonder if we're not all bringing the "defiled food" to God's altar...