As many of you may know, I just returned from an eight-day trip to the Navajo Nation, my seventh since 2004. This year, the team helped with the construction of a new church parsonage at Ojo Amarillo, New Mexico. We also put on a Vacation Bible School for the area children.
I find coming back from the mission field strange and disorienting, far more than going out. Mission experiences can be strong (even overpowering), yet when we get back to "the World" everything is just as we left it. It can almost feel like we never left at all. It's far too easy to jump right back where you left off, filing your mission experiences away as pleasant memories.
On the other side of this, the mission field can be very alluring. It can be so refreshing to step out of our day-to-day lives that it's tempting never to return! Even when you get back, you can leave a part of yourself out there.
Neither of these extremes is healthy; we must seek a middle path. Can we come back from the mission field energized by our experiences, yet able to incorporate into our ordinary lives some of what we discovered Out There? That's the question I'm trying to answer this week!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Kind Words
I was just re-reading an email from Ted, a guy I knew in college. His wife, Kate (also an old college friend), made him listen to my recent Come-To-Jesus sermon (Thanks, Kate!). He sent me some thoughtful words of encouragement, which are much appreciated (and needed).
In his email, Ted wrote, "The modern Christian seems to want a Savior but not a Lord." This simple sentence seems to sum up many of my frustrations at the moment. We may yearn for the Kingdom, but whose kingdom? I long for the Kingdom of GOD, right here, right now. Putting my life under the lordship of Jesus Christ was at once the hardest and easiest thing I've ever done.
Hard because we are a culture of individualists. We elevate the Self, placing it on the highest pedestal. We admire self reliance, self control and self sufficiency (self, self, self). I'm as guilty as the next guy. As a child and young adult, through my twenties, I strove to be a Complete Person (Behold, Modern Man!). I took Donne's words, "No man is an island, complete unto himself," as a challenge. I could be complete; I would be complete. Such is the struggle of the Modern American Man. The cost of giving up this struggle is so high that most of our churches are populated by women and children. This amount of humility and submission is simply UnManly!
Yet my decision was also easy. Once I came to accept the reality of this Jesus, that he is who he claimed to be. Once I came to believe the unbelievable, I was faced the the Big Question: "So What?" If I believe that the creator of the universe longed to be in relationship with me, how must I respond? If he loved us (me!) enough to walk among us, enduring shame and death, how must I respond? What would it say if my life were to go on unchanged, without interruption?
When we come face-to-face with Jesus, the only two reactions that make any sense are to crucify him or fall on our knees an proclaim him as Lord.
In his email, Ted wrote, "The modern Christian seems to want a Savior but not a Lord." This simple sentence seems to sum up many of my frustrations at the moment. We may yearn for the Kingdom, but whose kingdom? I long for the Kingdom of GOD, right here, right now. Putting my life under the lordship of Jesus Christ was at once the hardest and easiest thing I've ever done.
Hard because we are a culture of individualists. We elevate the Self, placing it on the highest pedestal. We admire self reliance, self control and self sufficiency (self, self, self). I'm as guilty as the next guy. As a child and young adult, through my twenties, I strove to be a Complete Person (Behold, Modern Man!). I took Donne's words, "No man is an island, complete unto himself," as a challenge. I could be complete; I would be complete. Such is the struggle of the Modern American Man. The cost of giving up this struggle is so high that most of our churches are populated by women and children. This amount of humility and submission is simply UnManly!
Yet my decision was also easy. Once I came to accept the reality of this Jesus, that he is who he claimed to be. Once I came to believe the unbelievable, I was faced the the Big Question: "So What?" If I believe that the creator of the universe longed to be in relationship with me, how must I respond? If he loved us (me!) enough to walk among us, enduring shame and death, how must I respond? What would it say if my life were to go on unchanged, without interruption?
When we come face-to-face with Jesus, the only two reactions that make any sense are to crucify him or fall on our knees an proclaim him as Lord.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Try, Try Again
After months of inactivity, I'm trying to be a better blogger. I'm looking for a good way of linking my personal blog and my church blog. I think, in the end, that I may just need to copy-and-paste common posts between them. Ug.
Life has been hectic. I'm struggling to motivate my congregation. For a long time I've been in the front, urging them to follow. A few weeks ago, I got behind and started pushing. Reactions have been mixed, to say the least. If it weren't for the calling of God, no sane person would do this job!
Things are calming down, but I feel stuck in the same rut. How do we call people deeper into relationship with Jesus? How do we call them past their comfort zones? Hard questions with no easy answers.
I'm convinced that the way to begin is to expect more of people. For decades we've been expecting less and less, and we have been succeeding fabulously! The time has come to expect more.
Life has been hectic. I'm struggling to motivate my congregation. For a long time I've been in the front, urging them to follow. A few weeks ago, I got behind and started pushing. Reactions have been mixed, to say the least. If it weren't for the calling of God, no sane person would do this job!
Things are calming down, but I feel stuck in the same rut. How do we call people deeper into relationship with Jesus? How do we call them past their comfort zones? Hard questions with no easy answers.
I'm convinced that the way to begin is to expect more of people. For decades we've been expecting less and less, and we have been succeeding fabulously! The time has come to expect more.
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