Sadly, I feel that I end up having to say this at the beginning of many of my posts, but I'm deeply sorry that it has been so long since I have written anything. Life has been out of control. Or more specifically, schoolwork has been out of control. This semester has definitely been the most stressful in that sense than any of my other semesters. If there is ever a chance of me dropping out of school and going back to working at Blockbuster, this is probably when it will happen. But even though things have been busy, they have not been all bad. My good friend Angie flew out from California to hang out with us Midwesterners this last weekend, and that was a ton of fun. We went to a corn maze and made a sweet video that you need to go on facebook and check out. Angie is very cool and good at Wii and is very smart, and she has a blog that you should go check out; there's a link in the Bloggolution bar on the side. Speaking of that, Jessie recently created a blog, so you should check that out too: www.runningthroughmoments.blogspot.com.
Tonight I'm returning to a theme that I know have touched on several times before, but it's an important one, I think, so I will rehash it again now. I've been thinking lately about the various places we seek approval. A lot of people like to come off as an independent renegade, so they say that they don't care a lick about what anyone thinks, but I usually doubt that. We work so hard to make sure that our friends, families, acquaintances, and even random strangers have a positive view of us. We like to be liked, and we turn to the world to receive that approval.
But there's a problem. The world will constantly tell us that we aren't good enough, and we'd better do all we can to pull ourselves up to the level of its acceptance. So we have to change our appearance so we can look like that guy or try to be as smart as that guy or to be as athletic as that guy or to have as much money as that guy, and it goes on and on and on. In effect, we're left to pull ourselves up by our own hair so that we can reach the plateau that the world tells us we need to achieve. But no matter how hard we try and how much we fix ourselves up, we always come up short. There is always some other area in which we need to improve ourselves.
It's similar with God in a small sense, but thankfully, it's much, much different. Like the world, God also tells us that we aren't good enough. We don't live up to the standard that God has set as acceptable. But he says, "You're not good enough. And that's ok. I can make you good." We aren't told to lift ourselves up God's perfect standard. He gives it to us, and he accepts us as we come. He isn't put off by our lack of talent, our asymmetrical features, or our annoying idiosyncrasies. He genuinely likes us and wants to be with us.
One of the dumbest things we do as humans is that we keep chasing after the world's elusive approval instead of God's. It doesn't make sense. We receive our own self-worth from the opinions of others, even though it always fails, and all the while God is saying, "I love you and care about you and accept you as you are!" Why can't we be happy with that? Why do we keep trying to draw water out of a dry well when there is another one overflowing right next to it?
There's a children's picture book called Are You My Mother? In the book, a little baby bird hatches while his mother is gone, so he goes around, asking all sorts of things if they are his mother. He asks a cat and a cow and a dog if they are his mother, but they each say no, so he moves on to asking a boat and a plane and a power shovel. I think we are sort of like the baby bird. It's like each of us is holding our little hearts, and we go through life asking all sorts of different people and things, "Can you guard my heart? Can you protect it and let me know that I'm good enough? Can you satisfy?" But in the end, all of those things fail to do what we ask, because we weren't made for them. As the baby bird is finally united with his mother in the end of the book, we need to turn to God, hand our hearts over to him, and allow him to define us and let us know that we're alright.
Last winter I went on Ozark's Spiritual Formation Retreat. It was really good and helped me get a lot of things on track that I needed to. On the first night of the retreat, one of the professors read Psalm 62 to us, and we just meditated on it a bit. Here's a few select verses from that psalm: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken...Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him."
I remember that when I heard this psalm, what stuck out to me most was the repeated use of the word "alone." God alone is enough. God alone is fulfilling. I especially like it in connection with the word "fortress." It makes me think of a castle. A castle is built of a bunch of different stones. If my life is a castle, if my self-worth is a castle, those different stones may be where I draw that worth. So the different stones may be all the different relationships that I depend on to make it through life. Obviously, the biggest stone should be God, but there are other smaller stones for my friends and family and such.
The problem with this castle is that it's unstable. If I build my worth even in part on what other people think of me, I'm sitting on a pretty shaky structure. Granted, I've been blessed with some people in my life that have always been there. But if I establish myself on this friend or that family member or that girl, I'm building on the wrong thing. God alone needs to be my rock and fortress. Even if his stone makes up the majority of the castle, it's not enough. He needs to be the whole thing, because he's the only one who is perfectly sturdy. A castle built on anything else is always in danger of collapsing.
I've written before that contentment can be a difficult thing for me to attain. And I imagine that I'm not the only one. When situations don't work out the way I want them to and when I feel let down by circumstances or by myself, it can be hard to be satisfied knowing that God still has my back. I might feel like I need something else in addition to that, but the truth is that I don't. I'm not totally sure how to deal with that. I guess we just need reminders, and we need each other for encouragement.
It's like kickball. I might be the last kid picked by the world. But I'm chosen by God. And his kickball team generally wins.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
When Church Runs Long
"'Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.' When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call.' With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.' Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."
-Acts 2:36-41
I've been a Christian for a long time. There has never been a time in my life when I was not involved with the church. I went to the little kids' Sunday School classes when I was young and I sang "This Little Light of Mine" and I made plenty of crafts out of popsicle sticks and googly eyes. I went to the camps and CIYs. And now I go to class for 19 hours a week and learn about the Bible and how to best tell people about Jesus. And for as long as I can remember, Sunday mornings means church. Because of that fact, along with my own apathy, church can unfortunately seem very ho-hum. When I wake up on Sunday mornings, my first thought is not, "Man, I can't wait to see what God's going to do at church today!" I expect to go church and sing some songs and listen to a sermon and eat some donuts and then come home. Nothing more. Everything that happens at church is completely expected.
But today I saw something that I've never seen before. For the last several weeks, our preacher has been preaching a series called "The Journey." It's been all about what conversion to Christianity means. The first week was about faith, the second about confession, the third about repentance, and finally, today was about baptism. Of course, the sermon ended with a pretty overt invitation for people to be baptized. There was no time like now, the preacher said. It's what God has commanded us to do, and it's how we begin our lives with him.
I tried to keep count of how many people were baptized, but I lost track around 20. I would guess it ended at about 30-35. Old people were baptized. Young people were baptized. Guys were being baptized and then turning around and baptizing their brothers. An Ozark student was baptized. For I don't know, 40 minutes, people just kept coming up to surrender their lives to Christ. The service went quite a bit longer than is typical. It was insane. I had never seen God get so out-of-control. Or more accurately, I had never seen Christians allow God to be so out-of-control.
In a way, I was sometimes skeptical. I mean, there's a system for these types of things, you know? First you mark on your attendance card that you're interested in becoming a Christian, and then one of the elders comes to your house for coffee, and then you meet with the senior minister, and then you read some stuff, and then you come forward at church and are baptized. You can't just run up into the water because you've heard God speak and want to give yourself to him, can you?
We want to have control over so much of what happens in conversion. And for good reason. We want people to understand what is happening when they're baptized. We don't want them making this decision just because it's the "churchy" thing to do or because their friend did it. I was baptized when I was nine years old, and I think it was too soon. I think I believed in Jesus, but I didn't really understand what it meant to be a Christian, to no longer live for myself but only for him. Yet at the same time, there is incredible value and power in someone simply saying, "I don't know everything about God, and I don't know what the road ahead may hold, but I know that I need Jesus and want to belong to him." It's so beautifully faithful and trusting. It's almost like the type of trust a child would have. And word on the street is that that's what Jesus is looking for.
I've been doing a lot of reading about the history of the church recently. Not so much by choice, but due to the fact that I'm taking Church History Readings this semester. What that means is that instead of going to class, I just do a lot of reading and then take quizzes on the books I read. There's a book due every two weeks, but I'm not much of a fan of staying on top of my responsibilities. So I spent this last Friday and Saturday morning reading 400 pages of history. Fun weekend. But anyways, I read about all these crazy revivals in the life of the church where people would travel from miles just to hear a preacher proclaim the gospel, and then thousands of people who give their lives to Christ. Some of the stories are absolutely nuts. Of course, it's just history. The world has changed since the time of the Great Awakening. People are much more sober and well-educated. They won't get caught up in spiritual excitement. Revivals are dead.
What we forget is that there's still a Spirit that likes to reassemble skeletons' dry bones and breath life in them. That there's a God who is still reconciling creation to himself. That there's a Christ that is supreme over the universe. Sure, these great revivals we read about happened a while back, but the God who initiated them is still working. Maybe the problem is that we're too busy cramping his style. We get so concerned about controlling what happens in the church that we're not listening to the head of the church. We want people to come to our churches, so we only preach practical self-help sermons and put the good news about Jesus' resurrection on the shelf. I hope revivals aren't dead, and I wonder why one can't start in little Carterville, Missouri until it stretches across the entire globe.
None of the people at church made it to the buffets as early as they usually do today. But there was a great deal of rejoicing and celebration among the angels in heaven this morning. And somehow, I think that may be more important that an early lunch.
-Acts 2:36-41
I've been a Christian for a long time. There has never been a time in my life when I was not involved with the church. I went to the little kids' Sunday School classes when I was young and I sang "This Little Light of Mine" and I made plenty of crafts out of popsicle sticks and googly eyes. I went to the camps and CIYs. And now I go to class for 19 hours a week and learn about the Bible and how to best tell people about Jesus. And for as long as I can remember, Sunday mornings means church. Because of that fact, along with my own apathy, church can unfortunately seem very ho-hum. When I wake up on Sunday mornings, my first thought is not, "Man, I can't wait to see what God's going to do at church today!" I expect to go church and sing some songs and listen to a sermon and eat some donuts and then come home. Nothing more. Everything that happens at church is completely expected.
But today I saw something that I've never seen before. For the last several weeks, our preacher has been preaching a series called "The Journey." It's been all about what conversion to Christianity means. The first week was about faith, the second about confession, the third about repentance, and finally, today was about baptism. Of course, the sermon ended with a pretty overt invitation for people to be baptized. There was no time like now, the preacher said. It's what God has commanded us to do, and it's how we begin our lives with him.
I tried to keep count of how many people were baptized, but I lost track around 20. I would guess it ended at about 30-35. Old people were baptized. Young people were baptized. Guys were being baptized and then turning around and baptizing their brothers. An Ozark student was baptized. For I don't know, 40 minutes, people just kept coming up to surrender their lives to Christ. The service went quite a bit longer than is typical. It was insane. I had never seen God get so out-of-control. Or more accurately, I had never seen Christians allow God to be so out-of-control.
In a way, I was sometimes skeptical. I mean, there's a system for these types of things, you know? First you mark on your attendance card that you're interested in becoming a Christian, and then one of the elders comes to your house for coffee, and then you meet with the senior minister, and then you read some stuff, and then you come forward at church and are baptized. You can't just run up into the water because you've heard God speak and want to give yourself to him, can you?
We want to have control over so much of what happens in conversion. And for good reason. We want people to understand what is happening when they're baptized. We don't want them making this decision just because it's the "churchy" thing to do or because their friend did it. I was baptized when I was nine years old, and I think it was too soon. I think I believed in Jesus, but I didn't really understand what it meant to be a Christian, to no longer live for myself but only for him. Yet at the same time, there is incredible value and power in someone simply saying, "I don't know everything about God, and I don't know what the road ahead may hold, but I know that I need Jesus and want to belong to him." It's so beautifully faithful and trusting. It's almost like the type of trust a child would have. And word on the street is that that's what Jesus is looking for.
I've been doing a lot of reading about the history of the church recently. Not so much by choice, but due to the fact that I'm taking Church History Readings this semester. What that means is that instead of going to class, I just do a lot of reading and then take quizzes on the books I read. There's a book due every two weeks, but I'm not much of a fan of staying on top of my responsibilities. So I spent this last Friday and Saturday morning reading 400 pages of history. Fun weekend. But anyways, I read about all these crazy revivals in the life of the church where people would travel from miles just to hear a preacher proclaim the gospel, and then thousands of people who give their lives to Christ. Some of the stories are absolutely nuts. Of course, it's just history. The world has changed since the time of the Great Awakening. People are much more sober and well-educated. They won't get caught up in spiritual excitement. Revivals are dead.
What we forget is that there's still a Spirit that likes to reassemble skeletons' dry bones and breath life in them. That there's a God who is still reconciling creation to himself. That there's a Christ that is supreme over the universe. Sure, these great revivals we read about happened a while back, but the God who initiated them is still working. Maybe the problem is that we're too busy cramping his style. We get so concerned about controlling what happens in the church that we're not listening to the head of the church. We want people to come to our churches, so we only preach practical self-help sermons and put the good news about Jesus' resurrection on the shelf. I hope revivals aren't dead, and I wonder why one can't start in little Carterville, Missouri until it stretches across the entire globe.
None of the people at church made it to the buffets as early as they usually do today. But there was a great deal of rejoicing and celebration among the angels in heaven this morning. And somehow, I think that may be more important that an early lunch.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Praise From ______
People like attention. Nobody wants to be just another nameless face in the crowd. We all want to be known, to have people wave at us and yell, "Hey David, how's it going?!" And then there are the unfortunate incidents where you think you see someone unexpectedly wave at you, so you sheepishly raise your arm to wave back, only to realize that they were actually waving at someone behind you, and you feel like a complete idiot and decide not to make eye contact with anyone for the rest of the day.
But the point remains that we all like to be recognized. The reason FFA kids spend so much time learning how to judge livestock is so that they can get a nice shiny medal to drape around their necks. Grown men spend hours playing Pac-Man at the laundromat so that they can enter their initials in the high scores list. Band students nearly make themselves go crazy from practice in hopes of nailing that sweet oboe solo. And perhaps too often, Christians do good things, waiting to be applauded for being so spiritual or loving or pious.
In John 5:41-44, Jesus says, "I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?"
If there has ever been someone who had the right to bring attention to himself, it would be Jesus. He could do whatever he wanted. He would have been the most interesting person in any conversation, and he could one-up anyone's clever comment or funny story. He lived a sinless life and could have gone around saying, "Hey everybody! You should all come tell me how great and awesome I am!" But Jesus' focus really wasn't on himself as much as it was on glorifying the Father. He wasn't all that concerned about whether or not everyone thought he was the best thing ever, and he was the best thing ever. Actually, he knew that people would hate him and want to kill him, but he didn't change the things he said or did just to suit their preferences. His sole purpose was making God happy, and he knew that if he did this faithfully, the Father would glorify him (Jn. 8:54).
I wrote for my high school newspaper, and I was always excited on days when new issues would come out. It was always satisfying to see a byline with my name on it on the front page, and I would see a bunch of students at lunch or in classes flipping through the pages that I had worked on. It was even better when I was the editor my senior year, because each issue I would have a column where I could write about whatever I felt like, and not only did my name appear, but my beautiful picture as well. I loved when another student or a teacher would see me and comment that they thought my column was funny.
It's the same kind of desire for recognition that creeps its way into the rest of our lives, even our pursuits to do good things for God. All of us want others to notice all of the great things we do from time to time, unless I'm the only one with an inflated ego. We like it when the little old ladies at church tell us how much they loved our sermon, when we get asked to lead worship for a chapel service, and when all the lazy bums in a congregation notice us dutifully stacking chairs. We put little pictures of ourselves looking thoughtful on the sidebar of our blogs. So even when we're working for God, we try to slap a sticker with our name and smiling face on it, just so people know who's responsible.
I wonder how many of us are willing to be anonymous for God's sake. Would I be content spending my life humbly serving at a little church in the middle of nowhere if it meant bringing more glory to God? Would I be happy if no book ever has my name on the cover, no conference has my picture on the speaking schedule, and no podcast has my voice broadcast to cyberspace? Not to mean that we shouldn't dream of doing crazy-big things for God, but we have to make sure that we're actually doing them for God and not ourselves.
Tomorrow (Sept 22) is National Elephant Day. Go nuts. Life is good.
But the point remains that we all like to be recognized. The reason FFA kids spend so much time learning how to judge livestock is so that they can get a nice shiny medal to drape around their necks. Grown men spend hours playing Pac-Man at the laundromat so that they can enter their initials in the high scores list. Band students nearly make themselves go crazy from practice in hopes of nailing that sweet oboe solo. And perhaps too often, Christians do good things, waiting to be applauded for being so spiritual or loving or pious.
In John 5:41-44, Jesus says, "I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?"
If there has ever been someone who had the right to bring attention to himself, it would be Jesus. He could do whatever he wanted. He would have been the most interesting person in any conversation, and he could one-up anyone's clever comment or funny story. He lived a sinless life and could have gone around saying, "Hey everybody! You should all come tell me how great and awesome I am!" But Jesus' focus really wasn't on himself as much as it was on glorifying the Father. He wasn't all that concerned about whether or not everyone thought he was the best thing ever, and he was the best thing ever. Actually, he knew that people would hate him and want to kill him, but he didn't change the things he said or did just to suit their preferences. His sole purpose was making God happy, and he knew that if he did this faithfully, the Father would glorify him (Jn. 8:54).
I wrote for my high school newspaper, and I was always excited on days when new issues would come out. It was always satisfying to see a byline with my name on it on the front page, and I would see a bunch of students at lunch or in classes flipping through the pages that I had worked on. It was even better when I was the editor my senior year, because each issue I would have a column where I could write about whatever I felt like, and not only did my name appear, but my beautiful picture as well. I loved when another student or a teacher would see me and comment that they thought my column was funny.
It's the same kind of desire for recognition that creeps its way into the rest of our lives, even our pursuits to do good things for God. All of us want others to notice all of the great things we do from time to time, unless I'm the only one with an inflated ego. We like it when the little old ladies at church tell us how much they loved our sermon, when we get asked to lead worship for a chapel service, and when all the lazy bums in a congregation notice us dutifully stacking chairs. We put little pictures of ourselves looking thoughtful on the sidebar of our blogs. So even when we're working for God, we try to slap a sticker with our name and smiling face on it, just so people know who's responsible.
I wonder how many of us are willing to be anonymous for God's sake. Would I be content spending my life humbly serving at a little church in the middle of nowhere if it meant bringing more glory to God? Would I be happy if no book ever has my name on the cover, no conference has my picture on the speaking schedule, and no podcast has my voice broadcast to cyberspace? Not to mean that we shouldn't dream of doing crazy-big things for God, but we have to make sure that we're actually doing them for God and not ourselves.
Tomorrow (Sept 22) is National Elephant Day. Go nuts. Life is good.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Going to the Chapel
I went to a wedding this last weekend. That's what Ozark people do on their weekends--they go to weddings, because there's one pretty much every weekend, and we all really like cake and little cheese cubes. It was a very nice wedding, with a very simple service and a ton of guests and a little candy buffet at the reception. Fun was had by all, although the lengthy drive along I-44 was less than riveting, except for the mysterious fog that was centered on an adult video store by the highway on our way home.
Many weddings have a time of special music during the ceremony when one of the participants' friends sings a song while the couple takes communion or lights a unity candle or pours some unity sand or whatever, and this wedding was no exception. I always feel like this time is a little bit awkward, because the song usually goes a little longer than the partaking of community and the sand, so it ends up with everyone standing around while the musician finishes up. During this time, you can see the couple talking to each other a little bit to break the awkward tension of just standing there.
I commented to my friend sitting next to me at the ceremony that I always wonder what the couple is saying when they're talking up there. If they follow the tradition about the groom not seeing the bride on the wedding day until the ceremony, then this is the first time the two have talked all day. It's got to be a terribly odd time, I would think. So I thought about what I would probably talk about, and it would probably involve such enthralling statements as: "Hey...so....how are you?" or "So what'd you have for lunch today?" or "Did you see that the Reds won last night?"
I'm a pretty poor conversationalist as it is, and I can't imagine that I'm going to become wildly entertaining when I'm dressed in a tuxedo on stage with all of my family and friends staring at me. So if the future Mrs. Heffren is out there reading this, I apologize far in advance for that slot in the ceremony. But hopefully by that time, you'll already know that I'm fairly lame and at least have become used to that fact. If you haven't realized it by then, I guess you're in for a pretty long life.
Many weddings have a time of special music during the ceremony when one of the participants' friends sings a song while the couple takes communion or lights a unity candle or pours some unity sand or whatever, and this wedding was no exception. I always feel like this time is a little bit awkward, because the song usually goes a little longer than the partaking of community and the sand, so it ends up with everyone standing around while the musician finishes up. During this time, you can see the couple talking to each other a little bit to break the awkward tension of just standing there.
I commented to my friend sitting next to me at the ceremony that I always wonder what the couple is saying when they're talking up there. If they follow the tradition about the groom not seeing the bride on the wedding day until the ceremony, then this is the first time the two have talked all day. It's got to be a terribly odd time, I would think. So I thought about what I would probably talk about, and it would probably involve such enthralling statements as: "Hey...so....how are you?" or "So what'd you have for lunch today?" or "Did you see that the Reds won last night?"
I'm a pretty poor conversationalist as it is, and I can't imagine that I'm going to become wildly entertaining when I'm dressed in a tuxedo on stage with all of my family and friends staring at me. So if the future Mrs. Heffren is out there reading this, I apologize far in advance for that slot in the ceremony. But hopefully by that time, you'll already know that I'm fairly lame and at least have become used to that fact. If you haven't realized it by then, I guess you're in for a pretty long life.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
This Is The Song That Never Ends
"Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.' Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
-Revelation 4:8-11
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!' The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped."
-Revelation 5:11-14
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.' All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'"
-Revelation 7:9-12
This may be the best post I've ever put up, simply because it's going to include very few words from me and already has a lot of Bible in it. There's a worship song that's pretty popular in churches right now called "Revelation Song." I've been hearing it a lot for the past several months, and I really like it. A lot of the words are straight out of the passages above, and it very much has a "throne room" feel to it. It's good.
I think there's something really cool about the church singing praises to God together. I understand that worship is a much bigger concept than singing songs at church, but I still think that singing songs is an important part of it, and when I use the word "worship" here, that'll be what I'm talking about. But anyway, communal worship is an incredible thing. The various members of Christ's body coming together to amplify the sound of adoration to him. And of course, we experience this in a limited sense now. Most churches are small, only a couple hundred people or less. Even the biggest churches aren't more than fifteen or twenty thousand. But then we look at Revelation, where all the church is gathered around Christ in worship, and it's absolutely mind-blowing.
During worship at church a few weeks ago, we were singing "Revelation Song," and I thought for a moment just about all the people that I've been fortunate to have worshipped alongside in my life. The guys from my floor as we sit behind the deaf ministry students in chapel. Homeless guys in Atlanta. A hundred sugar-charged sixth graders in Indiana. My friends in California. Villagers spouting off Spanish in Honduras. My mother and grandmother. The old ladies at my home church. And one day, all of us will be back together, shouting and singing and dancing for God. And people won't complain about style or instruments, because all of the focus will be on Christ, who will have overthrown Satan and ransomed his people and is ruling the universe. And all the problems and hurts and crap that I deal with now will no longer press on my mind, but as the hymn says, "And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." That's something worth looking forward to, I think.
That's it for tonight. No criticisms or sarcastic remarks or urges for you to change something. Just something I'm excited about, and that I hope you are too.
I preached at my home church last week. The audio from it is up online if you care to hear the voice that unfortunately accompanies my typing: www.tccchurch.org/sermons.html.
-Revelation 4:8-11
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!' The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped."
-Revelation 5:11-14
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.' All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'"
-Revelation 7:9-12
This may be the best post I've ever put up, simply because it's going to include very few words from me and already has a lot of Bible in it. There's a worship song that's pretty popular in churches right now called "Revelation Song." I've been hearing it a lot for the past several months, and I really like it. A lot of the words are straight out of the passages above, and it very much has a "throne room" feel to it. It's good.
I think there's something really cool about the church singing praises to God together. I understand that worship is a much bigger concept than singing songs at church, but I still think that singing songs is an important part of it, and when I use the word "worship" here, that'll be what I'm talking about. But anyway, communal worship is an incredible thing. The various members of Christ's body coming together to amplify the sound of adoration to him. And of course, we experience this in a limited sense now. Most churches are small, only a couple hundred people or less. Even the biggest churches aren't more than fifteen or twenty thousand. But then we look at Revelation, where all the church is gathered around Christ in worship, and it's absolutely mind-blowing.
During worship at church a few weeks ago, we were singing "Revelation Song," and I thought for a moment just about all the people that I've been fortunate to have worshipped alongside in my life. The guys from my floor as we sit behind the deaf ministry students in chapel. Homeless guys in Atlanta. A hundred sugar-charged sixth graders in Indiana. My friends in California. Villagers spouting off Spanish in Honduras. My mother and grandmother. The old ladies at my home church. And one day, all of us will be back together, shouting and singing and dancing for God. And people won't complain about style or instruments, because all of the focus will be on Christ, who will have overthrown Satan and ransomed his people and is ruling the universe. And all the problems and hurts and crap that I deal with now will no longer press on my mind, but as the hymn says, "And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." That's something worth looking forward to, I think.
That's it for tonight. No criticisms or sarcastic remarks or urges for you to change something. Just something I'm excited about, and that I hope you are too.
I preached at my home church last week. The audio from it is up online if you care to hear the voice that unfortunately accompanies my typing: www.tccchurch.org/sermons.html.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Be There
Last August I wrote a post called "Dead Space." It was about how the gap between my weeks on camp teams and the beginning of the fall semester seemed like a barren desert in which I loafed purposelessly for two weeks. And now, an approximate year later, I find myself in a similar situation. It definitely doesn't help that school is starting a week later this year, giving me one more week of staying up till 2 a.m. watching episodes of House on my computer. (By the way, my trip to California was a ton of fun, and it would have been nice if I could have somehow stayed there for a couple more weeks playing Wii and hanging out with movie stars.) Needless to say, and as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm very excited to get back to Joplin on Saturday. I don't do so well sitting around by myself all day. I need other people to keep me sharp, I think. It feels like my mind is trudging through mud lately, and consequently, the remainder of this post will be pretty uninteresting, I'm sure.
For my internship this summer, I had to read Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields. I've had the idea for this post tucked in the back of my mind for a while, and I thought for sure that I thought of it because of a section of that book. But I just spent 15 minutes trying to track down that passage with no luck. So here's what I will say about Purpose Driven Youth Ministry: It uses an absurd of acronyms that are supposed to help the reader remember the main points (H.I.T.; H.A.B.I.T.S.; S.A.G. 5; S.H.A.P.E.; R.E.L.A.T.I.O.N.S.H.I.P.S.; M.I.N.I.S.T.R.Y.). Obviously, these ridiculous acronyms didn't help me remember anything, nor would they have helped you.
In spite of all these random letters, there was one idea that got me thinking in the book. Or at least I think I was in the book, but since I can't find it, maybe it was actually birthed from my own mind somehow. So now I will finally begin to get to my point. Far too often, we do a poor job living in relation to our current situation. In a sense, we need to live in the moment. I don' t mean living in the moment in the sense that we all go get trashed every night and blow our money on endless luxuries and making out with as many girls as possible. I try to not endorse being an idiot. But what I mean is that, because of our schedules or worries or wishes or whatever, we don't do a very good job dealing with what's laid before us.
Each of us are thrown into numerous situations every day. We're faced with decisions, we engage in conversations, we're confronted with problems, and we perceive needs. It's important that we learn to deal with life according to the moment, according to what it's giving us at any second. But instead, we're often too focused on how things were or how they should be or how we wish they were, and we miss what's right in front of us. We need to be present. We need to slow down our super-charged minds and take life one minute at a time. We need to be attentive to those with whom we're talking. We need drink in all of the enjoyment we can in good times, and we need to ask what we can learn in bad times.
We can't do anything about whatever present situation we're in. For example, if my hand is on a hot stove, I can't change the fact that my hand is on that stove at the moment. It's already done. I can only do something about whether or not my hand is on that stove a split second later, namely by jerking it back. It does me no good to think, "Man, this hurts. I really wish my hand wasn't on this stove right now." Then my mind is disconnected from the present, and I just end up with a charred appendage and a hampered NBA career. So the point is this: Be present. Live in the moment. When you're in some situation you don't like, deal with it. When you're talking with somebody, pay attention to what they're saying. When you're at IHOP at midnight with your pals, laugh hard and eat a lot of pancakes. And when you're at Ozark and see a skinny kid with glasses walking around looking hungry, buy him some Chick-fil-A. It's all about the moment.
For my internship this summer, I had to read Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields. I've had the idea for this post tucked in the back of my mind for a while, and I thought for sure that I thought of it because of a section of that book. But I just spent 15 minutes trying to track down that passage with no luck. So here's what I will say about Purpose Driven Youth Ministry: It uses an absurd of acronyms that are supposed to help the reader remember the main points (H.I.T.; H.A.B.I.T.S.; S.A.G. 5; S.H.A.P.E.; R.E.L.A.T.I.O.N.S.H.I.P.S.; M.I.N.I.S.T.R.Y.). Obviously, these ridiculous acronyms didn't help me remember anything, nor would they have helped you.
In spite of all these random letters, there was one idea that got me thinking in the book. Or at least I think I was in the book, but since I can't find it, maybe it was actually birthed from my own mind somehow. So now I will finally begin to get to my point. Far too often, we do a poor job living in relation to our current situation. In a sense, we need to live in the moment. I don' t mean living in the moment in the sense that we all go get trashed every night and blow our money on endless luxuries and making out with as many girls as possible. I try to not endorse being an idiot. But what I mean is that, because of our schedules or worries or wishes or whatever, we don't do a very good job dealing with what's laid before us.
Each of us are thrown into numerous situations every day. We're faced with decisions, we engage in conversations, we're confronted with problems, and we perceive needs. It's important that we learn to deal with life according to the moment, according to what it's giving us at any second. But instead, we're often too focused on how things were or how they should be or how we wish they were, and we miss what's right in front of us. We need to be present. We need to slow down our super-charged minds and take life one minute at a time. We need to be attentive to those with whom we're talking. We need drink in all of the enjoyment we can in good times, and we need to ask what we can learn in bad times.
We can't do anything about whatever present situation we're in. For example, if my hand is on a hot stove, I can't change the fact that my hand is on that stove at the moment. It's already done. I can only do something about whether or not my hand is on that stove a split second later, namely by jerking it back. It does me no good to think, "Man, this hurts. I really wish my hand wasn't on this stove right now." Then my mind is disconnected from the present, and I just end up with a charred appendage and a hampered NBA career. So the point is this: Be present. Live in the moment. When you're in some situation you don't like, deal with it. When you're talking with somebody, pay attention to what they're saying. When you're at IHOP at midnight with your pals, laugh hard and eat a lot of pancakes. And when you're at Ozark and see a skinny kid with glasses walking around looking hungry, buy him some Chick-fil-A. It's all about the moment.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
One Internshp Wiser
Right now, I could look out the window and gaze upon palm trees. What that means is that I'm not in Kansas right now. We don't get palm trees in Kansas. We get sunflowers and wheat and trees that drop those hot rock things that kids at camp rub on the cement and burn each other with. I have taken a temporary leave of absence from the Midwest and am visiting my dear friend Wendi in California, but she's working right now so I am pouring my heart out to all of you as I sit on this couch with a nice leaf-pattern. I had never been in California before. Honestly, from what I've seen so far, it really isn't all that different from most other places. Kobe Byant hasn't introduced himself to me or anything yet. I feel like I haven't really been on a vacation for a long time. I've gone to lots of places, but they've generally all been for Bible Bowl or conferences or camps and such. I think it's rite of passage from boyhood to manhood to take a mildly irresponsible trip across the continent just to hang out and have some fun.
On Sunday I finished my youth ministry internship at University Christian Church in Manhattan. Along with letting me feel important for having a little desk in a church office, the internship allowed me to learn a great deal about God, myself, and ministry. Because it would a real shame if I walked away from my internship none the wiser for my experience. So even if I really didn't learn anything, I'm at least going to try to make something up right now so that I have something to write.
Maybe the most important thing I learned this summer is the importance of supportive relationships. Ministry is difficult and can be draining. And when you work so much with youth, it can be hard to build good relationships with other people your age that you can just hang out and have fun with. People that you can talk to when things are tough. I'm so used to always being around so many other college students while I'm at Ozark that it definitely felt like something important was missing when I had so much time to myself this summer. All the people I met and worked with in Manhattan were awesome, but I very much missed all my friends, which is in large part why I ended up at Panera every night with a glass of Pepsi and a laptop with facebook open. So what I learned is that it is so important to build relationships with people outside of the ministry, just to help you keep your sanity. I've been thinking a lot lately about community, so I don't want to write out everything now because there's a bunch that I want to save for a later post.
For me, that supportive base is especially necessary when it comes to middle school ministry. I love middle schoolers; I really do. But it's hard for me, and I still have a lot to learn about it. I guess different people are naturally wired for different kinds of ministry. And I don't know if I'm built for middle school ministry. Many middle schoolers like fun, crazy, energetic, entertaining guys. I'm none of those things. I like to sit around and talk and play cards. But that doesn't mean I just back out of working with middle schoolers. It means I work harder at it. A lot of times we abandon our weak spots as a lost cause, forgetting that God works in our weaknesses. And by the end of the summer, I felt like things with the middle schoolers were much better, but there's still room to grow.
One final thing I learned this summer is something that I've already known and written about, but that God constantly reminds me of, and that is that ministry success ultimately depends on God. If we think we can do it ourselves, we'll fail and look like idiots and possibly cause more harm than good. Our job is rather to bring what little we might have and let God use us to accomplish his mission. We join God in what he's doing; we don't stomp into the wilderness as a renegade bent on saving the world by our own might. We allow God to be the force behind our ministry, to use us as his tools for his purpose.
So that's my summer. I'm sure (or at least I hope) that I learned a lot more on my internship, but I guess I've already written about most of it, or perhaps I'm just forgetting it all. I'm becoming increasingly stoked about getting back to Ozark, and the more I think about it, the more excited I become. If you happen to see me at the annual ice cream social, or maybe just strolling around campus, just wave, and if you're lucky I'll wave back and show you my sweet California tan.
On Sunday I finished my youth ministry internship at University Christian Church in Manhattan. Along with letting me feel important for having a little desk in a church office, the internship allowed me to learn a great deal about God, myself, and ministry. Because it would a real shame if I walked away from my internship none the wiser for my experience. So even if I really didn't learn anything, I'm at least going to try to make something up right now so that I have something to write.
Maybe the most important thing I learned this summer is the importance of supportive relationships. Ministry is difficult and can be draining. And when you work so much with youth, it can be hard to build good relationships with other people your age that you can just hang out and have fun with. People that you can talk to when things are tough. I'm so used to always being around so many other college students while I'm at Ozark that it definitely felt like something important was missing when I had so much time to myself this summer. All the people I met and worked with in Manhattan were awesome, but I very much missed all my friends, which is in large part why I ended up at Panera every night with a glass of Pepsi and a laptop with facebook open. So what I learned is that it is so important to build relationships with people outside of the ministry, just to help you keep your sanity. I've been thinking a lot lately about community, so I don't want to write out everything now because there's a bunch that I want to save for a later post.
For me, that supportive base is especially necessary when it comes to middle school ministry. I love middle schoolers; I really do. But it's hard for me, and I still have a lot to learn about it. I guess different people are naturally wired for different kinds of ministry. And I don't know if I'm built for middle school ministry. Many middle schoolers like fun, crazy, energetic, entertaining guys. I'm none of those things. I like to sit around and talk and play cards. But that doesn't mean I just back out of working with middle schoolers. It means I work harder at it. A lot of times we abandon our weak spots as a lost cause, forgetting that God works in our weaknesses. And by the end of the summer, I felt like things with the middle schoolers were much better, but there's still room to grow.
One final thing I learned this summer is something that I've already known and written about, but that God constantly reminds me of, and that is that ministry success ultimately depends on God. If we think we can do it ourselves, we'll fail and look like idiots and possibly cause more harm than good. Our job is rather to bring what little we might have and let God use us to accomplish his mission. We join God in what he's doing; we don't stomp into the wilderness as a renegade bent on saving the world by our own might. We allow God to be the force behind our ministry, to use us as his tools for his purpose.
So that's my summer. I'm sure (or at least I hope) that I learned a lot more on my internship, but I guess I've already written about most of it, or perhaps I'm just forgetting it all. I'm becoming increasingly stoked about getting back to Ozark, and the more I think about it, the more excited I become. If you happen to see me at the annual ice cream social, or maybe just strolling around campus, just wave, and if you're lucky I'll wave back and show you my sweet California tan.
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