Courage

Posted: April 4, 2012 by Glenn in diversity, enemies, enemy, ministry, Mission, racism, racist, religion, respect, self denial, sexist, war
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During last Sunday’s sermon the pastor referred to Matthew 16:24, where Jesus tells his disciples that if they want to be his followers then they must be willing to deny themselves.  This is one of those passages that is easier to just skip.  It is much simpler and less confusing to talk about a religion that teaches us to be good “Christians” rather than to engage a faith that asks us to abandon an entire way of life.

Self-denial has never been a favorite sermon or bible study topic.  Taking Jesus’ words seriously have the potential to disturb the status quo and the status quo is comfortable.  To be honest I like things to be comfortable, predictable, safe, and secure.  These are the foundations of an uncomplicated life.

Self-denial removes me from the center.  It may even move my family, church, community, and country from the center.  According to Jesus, self-denial naturally leads to cross-carrying and cross-carrying leads to aloneness.

Jesus carried the cross 2,000 years ago because carrying the cross was what needed to be done.  Without the cross there could be no Easter and without Easter there could be no resolution to the sin problem.

When Jesus calls his followers to cross-carrying it is a call to courage.  It is a call to stand-up for truth even when no one else wants to hear the truth.  It means exposing and naming the powers that have neutralized the church’s prophetic place in the world.

When we name racism as a current sin, we risk our popularity.  When the church declares that we need a president of color because another white man will just reinforce the worst of our prejudices and stereotypes, we risk being called non-Christian.  When the church stands up against the raping of the environment just for cheaper fuel, we risk being called extremists.  When the church stands for the stranger and alien in our midst, we risk being labeled unpatriotic.

Friends, this is the call of Easter; a call to self-denial, cross-carrying, and truth telling.  It will not be easy.  It will not make you popular and you may end up feeling very alone.  Know this; we serve a High Priest, Jesus Christ, who understands.

Effective

Posted: March 30, 2012 by Glenn in accomplish, ministry, relationship
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Every once in a while I decide to organize my life.   I file all the papers scattered around my office, delete old emails, reorganize my inbox folders, and sort the books on the bookshelf.  For a day or two I feel better about myself and slightly more efficient.  Within a week I am back to my old ways and feeling like I should reorganize my life.

What is it that makes for effective ministry at the personal and institutional level?  I have been to seminars that proclaim the virtues of time management.  There are the books and charts I have poured over outlining healthy organizational structures.  Well-meaning friends have advised me develop comprehensive policies and procedures.  All of this is good, but I sometimes wonder if all of this is a smoke screen designed to keep people and programs committed to ministry from following their call.

Some of the best advice I ever received was from a stranger.  It was his belief that we show value to others by choosing to waste time with them.  It is not surprising that potential employers shy away from hiring people who value wasting time and hanging out.  On one hand I understand this; effectiveness and efficiency are seen as opposite sides of the same coin.  This is too bad.

Hanging out or wasting time with other people are the activities that develop understanding and respect for the other.  When we understand and respect each other it becomes much simpler to work with each other.  In a world that is religiously pluralist, culturally diverse, and ideologically separated – understanding, compassion, and empathy will only emerge if we take the time to simply be with each other.  Wasting time together and hanging out without an agenda.

I cannot help but wonder what the impact would be if we started to value time together just hanging out over developing programs and structures?  I am not sure that Jesus ever started a program, but his time on earth just hanging out changed everything.

Fear, Violence and Death

Posted: March 22, 2012 by Glenn in Beloved Community, death, Desmund Tutu, diversity, enemies, enemy, Martin Luther King, MLK, multicultural, racism, racist
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This past Monday I was in Los Angeles when I received a text from my wife, “there was a fatal shooting at 29th and Franklin, it happened just as the High School was letting out.”  I live a 31st and Franklin.  The 18 year old victim died.  My son turns 18 later this year so when I hear of an 18 year old being shot to death in my neighborhood, it becomes personal very quickly.  According to my neighbors this was a gang related shooting.

The news this week has also been dominated by a shooting in Florida.  An unarmed 17 year old was shot to death justifiably, according Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law.”  In what world is shooting an unarmed teen justifiable?  Can we really claim to be a Christian Nation and have laws that allow us to kill each other?

Philosophically what happened in Denver is as “justifiable” as what happened in Florida.  A gang member was simply standing his ground – protecting his turf.

I can almost understand why people without faith believe that standing your ground is important and correct, but what I cannot understand is how anyone in the faith community could even begin to endorse a law like this.

Stand your ground laws help to legitimize prejudices, assumptions, and stereotypes.  It is not surprising that both of the dead teens happen to be black.  It is this is population that has been victimized most by society’s irrational fears.

We are not going to get past things like racism, prejudice, and fear by creating space for justifiable murder.  If anything, allowing civilians to arm themselves makes these issues more contencious.

Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Desmond Tutu, and Jesus had it right all along.  Swords and guns must be transformed into instruments of peace.  When we arm each other it becomes too easy to let fear dictate our actions and fear too often leads to unwarranted violence.

Ministry 101

Posted: March 15, 2012 by Glenn in assumptions, CCDA, community, culture, Denver's west side, faith, Family, John Perkins
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I have a friend who likes to talk about his decision to come to Denver’s Westside.  It was 1965; his thought was that he would stick around 3-5 years, because that was the commitment needed to fix poverty, violence, and poor education.  It is 2012 and he is still there.

There is a popular idea among church and ministry leaders that goes something like this: “I will stay around just long enough to work myself out of a job.”  On the surface this sounds noble, empowering, and a little romantic.  However, the more I think about this notion the more I dislike it.

Authentic ministry always includes things like presence, community, mutuality, and walking alongside the other.  When leaders stand behind statements like “I am going to work myself out of a job,” it often becomes permission to stand apart from those we have been called to work with.  Standing apart is not terribly Christian.

A number of years ago John Perkins wrote about ministry in and among at-risk communities. For Perkins ministry needed to be done together and it needed to be done right. Perkins proposed three “R’s” for ministry – reconciliation, redistribution and relocation.  Anyone who has taken these ideas seriously knows that it isn’t about working yourself out of a job. It is about becoming a part of a community.  When you join a community their issues become your issues.  People cease to be ministry projects that require fixing or guidance and instead become family and friends who need a hand to hold.  When we become family, walking away becomes unimaginable.

Lonely

Posted: March 8, 2012 by Glenn in Uncategorized
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One of the more interesting sections in all of Scripture is some of Jesus’ final words, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”  Peter Rollins describes this as divine abandonment – the moment when God abandons God.  As I have reread many of the Easter passages this week.  I am struck by how lonely Jesus must have been during his final week.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, people greeted him like a conquering king.  Jesus knew he had come to die and within a week some of these same people would be shouting “crucify him.”  In the upper room, Jesus’ disciples thought they were enjoying another Passover meal together.  Jesus was sharing some final moments with his closest friends who didn’t have a clue.  What emotions was Jesus experiencing as he sat around the table?  What was he thinking as he washed the disciples’ feet?  In the garden Jesus asks his friends to pray with him and these friends choose sleep instead.  During Jesus’ trial his best friend denies him three times.

Loneliness has to be one of the most painful of all human experiences.  I am an extreme introvert. I am good at being alone, but being alone is different than loneliness and loneliness is not fun.   Henri Nouwen describes it like the Grand Canyon – a deep incision in the surface of our existence.

Why is the call to Christian leadership and ministry also a call to loneliness?  This is the irony of ministry – we call people to community, mutuality and interdependence but find ourselves on the outside looking in.

In a strange sort of way it is the loneliness of ministry that opens up a space for community, support and unconditional love.  It is in our loneliness that we become most aware of our need for each other.  This dependence on each other is what builds the family of God.

Wounded Healers

Posted: March 1, 2012 by Glenn in Uncategorized
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If you are like me, pain is not something you go looking for.  I can honestly say that I actively avoid pain if possible.  The other day someone asked me if I had a tattoo; my response came quickly – “I have no moral concerns about tattoos but I cannot imagine willingly submitting myself to the pain involved in getting one.”

I find it interesting and somewhat disturbing that the pain, failures, and shortcomings in my personal life tend to be the primary sources for empathy and meaningful connection(s) with other people.  Wounds have a way of breaking down barriers; they humanize each of us.

In many ways the logic is obvious.  Parents who have suffered through the tragic death of a child have a better sense of how to be present and available when someone else faces the same circumstance.  Pastors who have been through a contentious divorce are less judgmental of other leaders going through the same experience.  Alcoholics Anonymous has always assumed that the addicted are better, more effective healers of the addicted than are non-addicted experts and authorities, including pastors.

This is not a blog about going out and looking for pain, nor is it a permission to engage in destructive behavior for the purposes of becoming a better, more effective healer.  What I am suggesting is that churches and places of ministry create spaces for people who have suffered tragedy, lived a life of addiction, or even broken the law.  Too often woundedness, pain, and sin are viewed as things which eliminated people from ministry.  It is exactly these experiences that become proving grounds for pastoral care.  It was Henri Nouwen who said, “In our own woundedness, we can become a source of life for others.”  Richard Rohr also talks about this- that the point of our deepest pain/wound is also the place of our greatest gift.

This is a blog about redemption.  Rather than run from the woundedness in your own life, redeem it, use it as a source of healing and comfort.

Scams

Posted: February 24, 2012 by Glenn in Uncategorized
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It is an election year here in the USA.  Scams, misdirection, and invented truths seem to emerge as a normal part of the political process we all must endure.  Separating fact from fiction almost becomes a spectator sport.

In politics I expect scams; I get annoyed, but I have figured out how to deal with it.  In the church scams, especially the believable scams, have a way of effecting how we live, believe, and act.  Take for example the rapture, probably the biggest scam to impact the western church in the last 100 years.

As an early teen I remember going to hear Hal Lindsey, a famous “end times” writer.  He had just finished writing The 1980’s, a Countdown to Armageddon.  I was so afraid of being left behind that I went forward every night to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.  For months and possibly years afterwards I remember sneaking upstairs every morning and looking into my parents’ bedroom just to make sure I hadn’t been somehow forgotten and left behind.

It is only recently that I have had the courage to explore for myself what the Bible has to say about the “end-times.”  Did you know…?

  • That the word “rapture” does not even appear in Scripture?
  • That there is no mention of a rebuilt Jerusalem temple anywhere in the New Testament, including Revelation?
  • That neither Daniel nor Revelation uses the word Anti-Christ?
  • That there is no record in Daniel or Revelation of the Anti-Christ making a covenant with Israel?
  • That there is no mention that Jesus will set up an earthly throne in Jerusalem?

Barbara Rossing, in her book The Rapture Exposed, reframes the rapture scam best when she states:

“There is no rapture in the story of Revelation, no snatching of people off the earth up to heaven.  Look at it this way: It is God who is raptured down to earth to take up residence and dwell with us – a Rapture in reverse.”

A rapture in reverse, it almost sounds biblical – God coming to us.

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