A Confession

I have something to confess; I found the UnChristian book terribly boring.  Really.

I had to read it a second time to do this group and it got worse the second time around.  

While the topics are good to talk about, I think the answer to the question, "Are Christians judgmental, homophobic, too political, sheltered?"  is...

YES!  

And, there is not really a heck of a lot more to say after that except maybe, "WE REPENT, WE HAVE TOTALLY MADE A MESS OF ALL THIS!  WHAT WERE WE THINKING?"  

I think things got like this because we have no idea what it means to be the church or follow Jesus.  Oh, and when I say "like this" I don't just mean the UnChristian stuff, I also mean how we have made the church to be the most uninteresting, dull, navel gazing, totally unrelated to my life, kind of place.  Just my personal opinion.  Yeah, the UnChristian stuff is important but I don't think it is the real issue.  It is the fruit, not the root.

Today, I was thinking about all this as I sat in my minivan breathing in the fumes of the Rolling Hills United Methodist Church's parking lot while my son was in his trumpet lesson and I was feeling a certain amount of sadness BUT THEN I picked up the book I had with me--- "The Tangible Kingdom."  I have read this book a couple times but I read a lot and so had this good feeling but wasn't totally sure why.  So I read the first four chapters and thought, this is totally what the Cal-Pac book group needs!  I laughed, I cried and (here is the big thing), I wanted to keep reading.

So, give it another chance.  There are really get books out there that will challenge and inspire us.  Interested?  

Watch a video here

UnChristian?

So, what is next?  I have felt like this was just a start in looking at issues.  I have also had contact with folks who were reading along but did not respond due to the newness of this tool (figuring out how to sign in was new to many people).  I'd like to continue this discussion and have a couple suggestions:

1.  We could continue along on the same topic, but  (I think) a better approach with "The Like Jesus But Not The Church" by Dan Kimball.  Dan is a pastor and so he sees beyond the statistical approach of UnChristian.  Read more here.

2.  We could read another book today's church.  Here are some possibilities:

"The Tangible Kingdom" (Halter & Smay):  Funny, insightful and (I found it to be) helpful.  But these guys are not UM and so you'd have to do some translating. Read about it here.

"Dirty Words: The Vulgar, Offensive Language of the Kingdom of God” This is by a UM pastor and is very good.  Read about it here.

All three are worth reading.  I used the first one more than UnChristian when I did the sermon series; I have gone back to both Tangible Kingdom and Dirty Words even months after I read them.

So, let me know your thoughts about the next study and any closing thoughts on what your response to UnChristian is.

Judgmental?

In one of the churches I served we began a second worship gathering. It was to attract people to church who wouldn't be comfortable in our relaxed, but traditional, gathering (meaning, a choir and an organ). And, as God would have it, a whole new group of people showed up.

One week, a family from the 11AM (modern worship, the new worship), showed up at the traditional worship. The family sat with a look of shock on their faces the whole worship. Afterwards, the teenage daughter said to me, "This is not my church" - meaning, this looks so different than who comes to the 11AM, how are these people part of my church? While I loved her reaction, (it was so real) what I loved even more was that no one at that traditional worship did anything to communicate that this family with their tattoos, piercing and contemporary clothing (read, less clothing on the girls than many were used to) wasn’t part of their church. They embraced this family and anyone else who happened to show up, helping everyone find a welcome.

I wish more of our churches were like this.

We are known as a judgment people--which I think is a way of saying we are unfriendly to those "not like us.' How did this happen? Don't we follow a Savior who ate with everyone?

One of the strengths of the UMC is that we do not offer a black and white view of the world. We see the complexities of life and have an authentic word to offer our world. But are we doing this?

We could start this weekend to make clearer who we are by saying something as we begin worship like:

"This is a place for people who know that the world is a complex place and it seldom can be seen only in black and white terms--if you are searching for a community that is seeking to follow the way of Jesus in the midst of life's ambiguities, welcome!"

"Welcome to worship, we believe in diversity--we are all different and that is how God wanted it.  As different as we are we share two things: none of us are perfect and all of us have an inner hunger to know God.  So, if you are looking for a place to explore what it means to follow Jesus in complex time, welcome."

What do you say at your church that helps let people know that this is a place where they can be who they truly are and find a welcome?  

What might you say this Sunday?

Link to video

Hi All, Doug Nason at SMUMC created this for the series we did. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9dKk88ATPc

Political

How do we talk about politics as people of faith?  Most of my experience hasn't given me many (any?) good models.

I remember being a new pastor in the Conference and going to some big Cal-Pac meeting.  A DS type person stood up as part of the meeting and said some words about a ballot message that was in the news.  He proclaimed something like, "We all think this way..."  and "Anyone who really follows Christ sees this topic this way."  At the time I didn't have any idea how I felt about the issue but at that moment I knew that I was at the wrong meeting.

Another confession.  I have a terrible dislike of Annual Conference when it gets political.  I am especially bothered when someone who is very tradition/conservative/right leaning says something at the mic and everyone around me makes noises like, who thinks like that?


How do we bring our faith to our politics and do it in a way that is thoughtful and humble?  Any ideas?

Sheltered?

Don't you love this list?  When asked to describe Christianity, outsiders said:

+The Titanic--a ship about to sink but unaware of its fate.

+A powerful amplifier being undermined by poor wiring and week speakers.

+A pack of domesticated cats that look like they are thinking deep thoughts but are just waiting for their next meal.

+An ostrich with its head in the sand.

+A hobby that diverts people's attention.

Who wants to be part of that?  Fewer and fewer young people, that is for sure.

The world is a very different place than it was 25 or even 10 years ago.  

Have we kept up?  See if these normal parts of life are part of YOUR life...

+Are our friends from a variety of ethnic and social economic backgrounds?

+Do we understand the change in sexual ethics and substance abuse realities?

+Do we count among our friends the loners, the fatherless and those who self-injurer?

Being part of the kingdom of God begun in Jesus Christ should be anything but boring.  Do people think we are boring because we don't connect with real life, we water things down and don't challenge people, we are stuck in some parallel 1950's universe, or because we are bored with the faith and reflect that in our behavior?

"I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn."  (John Wesley)  That inspires my passion, does it yours?

Today I want to offer a challenge.  Get out of your own world this week by:

+watching a TV show you'd never watch--watch, don't judge.

+having coffee or a meal with someone who looks interesting to you.

+watching this video and notice the passion of the young people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-afZJ9_TIM

Get outside today and see the real world.

Week Three- Homosexuality

I have been in the local church preaching most Sundays for about 18 years and in all that time I never preached on homosexuality until this year. Why? Probably the same reason many of us don't talk about this. Certainly, it is a difficult topic to talk about and I think most pastors want to talk about it in a way that is faithful, compassionate, biblical and honest and wonder how to do that--at least I did. You can see what I eventually came to at smumc.com (video June 29, 2009)

What do you think? Have you talked about this in church? How did it go? Were young people part of the conversation?

Nicole

Week Two - Get Saved?

This chapter made me smile as we are not often known for wanting to "save" people. Our version of this may be something like...

"We need to get more young people in this church."
"We need new/young people to do the work around this church, we are tired."
"We need the young people to financially support the church more than they do."

Often lacking any reference to faith, our focus is often on the need for more bodies to do the work of running a church.

How did we get to this place? How do we talk about this issue in the local church? How do we turn our attention toward sharing the good news of God in Christ instead of this misplaced focus?

I think of Steve and his reflection on how we don't seem to know what the gospel is. When you share what the gospel is, what do you say?

Tom Bandy says something like, "What is it about your experience of Jesus Christ that the world can't live without?"

Got an answer? -Nicole

Week Two-September 1, 2009

Is being a Christian about “being good”? That is what many people think and so it is quick hop, skip and a jump to see that most Christians aren’t good.

Humanity is a mess. And Christians are part of that mess. If Christianity is mostly understood (and I think it is) as being good and nice, then anyone can see we are hypocrites.

But is that what Christianity is? Is it a faith of rules and regulations?

There is much to talk about in this chapter, but for me, it is a chapter that goes back to our core—what is following Jesus about? Rules and Regulations? Or surrendering to the God we meet in Jesus Christ and offering radical hospitality to everyone? These are very different ways to look at things—very different.

I have a family member who was pressuring another family member to be a Christian—his approach was the soft sell, “Christianity is just about being a nice person,” he said, “You want to be a nice person don’t you?”

Actually, I don’t think that is what it is about at all.

I recently skimmed a book (a bad habit with library books) that had this amazing line, it said that following Jesus was about “the end of striving.” I related to that very much. In Jesus, I find the one who says, “give up the perfectionism, give up trying to hold it all together, lean into me and let me remake you—I will change you and show you how to really love.”

Being real about who we are and what we are dealing with shows us to be regular people who need God. This is what we have to offer others—nothing more or less.