Flying Bunnies in Worship. . . Have Mercy

 

I heard a story, and it is true.

A pastor and their congregation were having challenges in the realm of communication. The congregation felt that the pastor, in the act of preaching, had great affection for the proverbial bunny trail. The congregation, or at least some of the members, had expressed their concern to the pastor, through their representatives, asking the pastor to stay on point. While receiving this critique, the pastor either did not fully agree with the assessment, or was unaware of the exact meaning of the congregations commentary.

On a Sunday, following the critique, the pastor diverted from the focus of the sermon and was on a bunny trail. In the middle of this diversion, a member of the congregation, who had helped deliver the critique, stood up and said, "there you go again." "This is what we were talking about. You are on another bunny trail."

Being interrupted, the pastor could have done any number of things. They could have prayed and then sat down. They could have walked out of the pulpit and the church. They could have heard the critique anew, gathered themselves, and finished on-point. Instead, the pastor entered into a debate. The pastor countered the claim and would not surrender their point. 

Seeing and hearing an immovable spirit within the pastor to amend their ways, members of the congregation became resolute in their own thinking. Several talked and decided to bring toy stuffed rabbits to worship with them. When the pastor was, in their opinion, on a bunny trail, they would toss the toy rabbits into the air. Thus, for a season, there were flying bunnies in worship.

I have many thoughts on this story, but my first is simply this, "Lord, Have Mercy!"

Cowboy Church?

A packed house sings along at Cowboy Church

Reflections on a visit to SacRiver Cowboy Church   
December 29, 2013
_____
How does worship in a livestock sale barn resonate with people?
Very well.

The Sunday after Christmas is typically a low attendance Sunday for many churches as members travel to visit family and friends. At SacRiver Cowboy Church, located at the Springfield Livestock Marketing Center, the low Sunday happened the week before, when precarious weather kept many people from attending worship. That week there were 710 people in three services.

SacRiver holds two services on Sunday and one on Thursday night.
At each of their services they feature music, preaching and they would say, friendliness. The music is contained in a self-published hymnbook. The 100 songs hail from the camp meeting tradition and feature a heavenward theology. The style of presentation is reminiscent of the TV show Hee-Haw, a mix between cowboy country and bluegrass.

During the song time three key things happened. First there was an elongated greeting time. It began with asking visitors to raise their hands. I was not going to raise my hand but those around me who knew me to be a visitor helped me raise it. This was followed by a song where everyone stood and shook hands with people all around. One would have thought the logistics were poor for such an activity, but they did not let theater seating deter from extending friendliness.  This was followed up by calling out birthdays and anniversaries. The song leaders grand-son led the singing of "happy birthday/anniversary". He is 2 or 3 years old. The people next to me said he does it every week.

The second feature in the song time included the announcements. The placement had no clear indicator, it was simply time to have the announcements. The person who gave them is a "regular" and the band created a little intro ditty to precede his entrance. After highlighting 3 or 4 things happening in the church, one of which was a potluck following service, he gave a brief homily. He read a 3 or 4 paragraph story one might find in Chicken Soup for the Soul. He finished with these words, "something to think about." And then the band resumed.

The third feature was a musical number provided by a guest contributor. Before the guest sang the band leader indicated that they had gathered at his home to practice before coming to worship. While the feel was "folksy," "country," and whimsical, it was rehearsed. 

Following several songs "the preacher" took up the mic to deliver a sermon. On the last Sunday of December the sermon came from 2 Corinthians 1 & 2. The thematic element centered on the importance of reconciling relationships. The tension that Paul and the church in Corinth faced was viewed as paralleling many relationships that people have today. Paul was viewed as a sage or psychological guide who knew how to reconcile relationships. He was someone who could guide the Corinthians and contemporary listeners. The place of Christ was that of doing that which we do not have the capacity to do, particularly, work change in another's heart toward us. We can forgive, we can extend kindness but for full restoration Christ will have to work in the space that exists between two people, and in the other persons heart.

The sermon followed the text in a brief commentary kind of style. The delivery was folksy. There were elements that showed it was a studied text. 

After the sermon the band led the congregation in two songs, I Come to the Garden Alone, and Happy Trails. Following the singing the congregation stood and began to move toward the upper room, where the potluck meal would be served. 

Missing from the service were two elements of worship that are generally considered essential in worship (for a protestant non-sacramental church); Prayer and Offering. The case can be made that singing is an act of prayer, even a vital element in prayer, yet if this is the thought, the lacking piece in prayer was a place for God to speak to the congregation and the persons gathered. It was a one way monologue and we did all the talking.

Also missing was a corporate offering. After reading the web site, which has a very brief explanation of beliefs and practices, it looks like SacRiver places a low priority on offerings to the Church. The Church has only one paid staff person and their facilities are either very low cost or free. Their need for offerings for the life of the organization is low. Upon reflection, I think they receive an offering - but it was received in boxes at two stations where regulars know they can also pick up a song book. Their stated focus is on two elements, worship and friendship, both of which they carry out with a simplistic approach.  

Their web site is interesting both for its descriptions and its lack of completeness.
web site: https://sites.google.com/site/srccorg/what-we-believe

The ethnography of the Church is strikingly pagan - in a patristic sense of the word, culturally and theologically. Those who gather know that they are "from the country and we like it that way." A good guess would be that 70% of the congregation are 65 years of age or older. The population group with the lowest representation looked to be the middle age person, 35 - 65 years in age. The racial make-up was 99% anglo-saxon. The attire resembled the offerings at two major cowboy outfitters in Springfield, PFI and Race Brothers.

A number of questions come to my mind following a visit there.
1) How did a handful of people seven years ago grow into a gathering of over 800 people with an incredibly simple approach, and with very little by way of resource investment? Can their stated methodology of familial and friendship contact be enduring over time?
2) What about the next generation? Is there a concern for the next generation - musicality did not necessarily reflect that, unless you're a unique soul who likes bluegrass and cowboy country. However, it could have been concerns about the next generation that pushed many out of their established churches and into this non-orthodox approach.
3) How does the church growth/planting model(s) intersect and interact with this non-church growth model growth?
4) What are the 4 or 5 key motivations and what kind of a Kingdom construct does it portend? I wonder if cultural affinity and preservation is one of the leading motivators? I wonder if it parallels "simple theology"?    

While I have questions, my overall experience was kind and warm, like Wesley's among the Moravians. 

Blackberry Patch . . . A Metaphor

Last weekend Pastor Bob Casady and I presented a sermon at Schweitzer UMC on the act of Jesus cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem. This is part of a sermon series through the Gospel of Mark.
To open the sermon we made a video of cleaning out a balckberry patch. Here is the link: http://vimeo.com/53041002

Some Reflections on Ruth

In preparing for preaching out of the story of Ruth a week ago I did some side writing; thinking about things that did not make it into the sermon. Here are some of those thoughts.

__________

The significance of the whole Ruth story reminds me of a multi-layered salad my aunt brings to family gatherings, this is a story packed with significance and zest.

A Thanksgiving Liturgy – a reminder that God is the Lord of the harvest

The text opens with news that Naomi has received; there is food again in the land of Israel. The reason that Naomi and her family went to the land of Moab was a famine. The return of Naomi takes places because she has heard that the Lord has visited his people, there is a crop to be harvested. The events of the whole story unpack through the season of harvest. Because the story connects deeply to the harvest, its placement in Israelite worship was during the season of harvest. It stood as a reminder that God was visiting his people and actively caring for them. Think of it like a liturgy you might have at Thanksgiving. In re-telling the story of Ruth you were reminded that God is the giver of all good gifts; food, life, children, and love. And those gifts may at times be sparse, but God is always faithful.    

A Challenge to Ethno-centrism – a reminder that David came from non-Hebrews

If you turn to the last chapter of Ruth you will find that from this covenant of faithfulness that Ruth pledges to her mother-in-law Naomi, this Moabites, this outsider, will become the great-grandmother of King David. The scriptures are showing a lineage of God’s people and in that line are non-Hebrews. This reality would be significant in the history of Israel when a revival broke out and some prophets were saying (Ezra & Nehemiah – 450 bc); we need to be a pure people, we should not have non-Hebrews among us. There was pressure to put divorce spouses who were non-Hebrews. The story of Ruth confronted those assertions with humble tenacity and said, our revered King David descended from a faithful non-Hebrew. 

Included in the way of Jesus and early Church

If you turn in your Bibles to the opening chapter of Gospel of Matthew you will find that Ruth is in the genealogy of Jesus, named there with three other women; all of them having some kind of moral or religious scandal associated with their story, and all of them included in the work of God.

An Exemplar to the Early Church

Within the life of the early church, Ruth became an incredible example of God’s enfolding gentiles into His Kingdom. It was also an example of the kind of confession one would make if they were going to follow Jesus, for in the time of persecution, you had to be ready to go and live and die. Ruth’s comment of faithfulness to Naomi was redirected, even as Chris Tomlin has done in his song, “I Will Follow,” to be a covenant with Jesus and the Church. Today there are followers of Jesus who make similar covenants because they live in lands that are hostile to the person of Jesus and his followers. To pledge faith in Christ is to make an all-in declaration.

Course correction without shame

Throughout the story there are comments or actions that people take which are corrected, because they are out of step or out of line at the moment, but correcting course is accomplished without shame.

In chapter 1 Naomi declares her new name to be Marrah – bitter because of the loss of her family and stability. The reply of Ruth and the women of Bethlehem is silence. They are willing to let her assessment stand even though they may have a different perspective. The different perspective will be born out when she welcomes Obed, her grandson, in chapter 4.

In chapter 2 Ruth heads out to Boaz’ field to glean some barley. While there Boaz instructs her to go along with the women who are in the field (v8). When she recounts her day to Naomi she says he told me to stay with the men (21). Ruth contradicts or twists what Boaz has said.  Naomi seems to catch that something is not right about what Ruth has said. She adds a course correction, it is best if you stay among his women (22). Ruth may have had many reasons for going among the men, possibly more barely to gather, or drawing close to a man for protection. Naomi corrects her and without shame.

In chapter 3 Naomi sends Ruth to the threshing floor of Boaz for a rendezvous that could take advantage of Boaz’ state of tiredness so that Ruth and Naomi would be under his care. However when Ruth makes an overt offer of bonding, Boaz corrects the course. He is honored (maybe blushing) at the offer (v.12), but insists that things must be done in proper order (13). Boaz corrects course, recognizing that the goal is honorable; he intends to see that the way to the goal is likewise honorable. In doing so he adds no shame to Ruth or Naomi, instead he blesses with a great amount of grain (14-16).

In chapter 1 and chapter 4 we find people who opt out of the story. In Chapter 1 Orpah, the other daughter-in-law of Naomi, decides to return to her home country after Naomi has urged her to do so twice. Many commentators speak ill of Orpah because she turned her neck on Naomi. Interestingly the text makes no such judgment; she has honored the request of her mother-in-law. The text is also silent on the man in chapter 4 who decides not to “redeem” Naomi’s land and her daughter-in-law. These two acts are recorded as if the people gave full consideration to what might be involved and their action is honored with no shame.

Running through Ruth is a description of actions and course corrections that are done without shame, but add honor to all the characters involved.

There are some of the layers within the story of Ruth, many more can and should be written about.

In Jail in Mexico

Over the course of my life I have visited people incarcerated in jail.  Every visit has been through a glass screen and over a phone.  Today was different.  I went into a maximum security prison in Mexico.

Yesterday after church a man approached one of our missionary contacts and asked if any of the team from Michigan would like to accompany him on Monday for his ministry to the prison.  Since we're out of our comfort zone, why not.  I agreed to go.

Today, Hector arrived about 1:30 and wanting to know if I was ready.  I changed my clothes, and grabbed my Bible and off we went.  I wasn't sure what I was going to be asked to do.  But preaching was a high possibility.   


The prison is about 5 miles south of the church we are working on.  It doesn't have the barbed wire of Michigan prisons, but the guard at the gate meets you with an AR-15 or M-16.  Getting in proved to be easy, and thanks be to God, so was getting out. 


The journey in the prison was through the prison yard to a church or chapel building.  When we arrived the prisoners were singing music.  The sound was different from yesterday at church.  The church mostly sings songs translated into spanish from Passion, or Hillsong, or Chris Tomlin.  The prison church was singing stuff that had a south of the border sound. 


I was asked to preach and I went through the story in Mark 2 of Jesus healing the paralytic man.  My preaching went for about 15 minutes.  I turned to the interpreter and said, I think that is it.  He said, oh, we have about another hour.  We turned to the text and began digging deeper.  The interchange was lively and beautiful.  The attentive stance of the men was a gift of grace.  Mark described Jesus as being at home or in the house in Caparenum, he was "in the house" within the prison. 

After the sermon I prayed for these men; a great priviledge.  They had a benediction and then greetings.  Most came up and shook my hand and gave me a big hug.  I have no thought that I added much to the Biblical understanding of the men within the prison.  They have a small seminary and know their Bible's well.  I have a sense that Jesus welcomed me in that place, that I stood in the house of God, a preacher, a confessor, a vessel, and mostly a recepient of God's grace.

As I walked out Hector passed me an item that the prisoners had given him, a small pepper mill.  Inscribed on it was San Lucas (Gospel of Luke) 1.37 - "For nothing is impossible with God."

Indeed.  Thanks be to God. 

 

Squirrel Inc.;a fable of leadership through storytelling

My mother-in-law blesses me often by passing good books along to me, especially books that wouldn't normally rise up on my radar.  My mother-in-law works for Gerber Company in what used to be a corporate library, but as names change, I think she's in the knowledge information center, or something like that.  In her work she comes across books that are written primarily for business application or leadership and yet have good insight for life in general.  A recent book she gave me was Squirrel Inc.; a fable of leadership through storytelling, by Stephen Denning, 2004.  Jossey-Bass.

This work is similar to Andy Stanley's book on preaching.  Both books speak to people who stand in front of other people and are called to be leaders in some form.  In Stanley's work he suggests that Pastors/Speakers orient their sermons/talks around one point, and the work in accomplishing that often pushes one to story.  The first point of departure for Stanely is what he calls "Me" - beginning with a story about the speaker and how the point to be made is connected in some way to the preacher.

In Squirrel Inc., Stephen Denning, writes to business leaders about the power of "story."  Dennin suggests two types of leadership exist.  The first is the prevelant one that is stressed in most leadership books.  The primary path includes; hiring the right people, setting high goals, confront brutal facts, fix the systems, reingeer the process, enhance quality, streamline procedures, install a culture of discipline, re-form and flatten the structure, enhance interpersonal mechanics, build skill inventories, etc.

The alternative path that Denning proposes is described as:  "swimming in the richness and complexity of living.  It breeds out of the connections between individuals  As an organizational participant, the leader grasps the interrelatedness of the people of the organization.  The leader sees employees, clients, and partners as living, thinking, feeling individuals.  Each individual has a history.  Each individual is significant." (149)

The best means of accomplishing this kind of leadership, Denning suggests developing ones leadership through narrative, storytelling.  He offers this rationale:  "narrative - unlike abstractions and analysis - is inherently collaborative.  Storytelling helps leaders work with other individuals as coparticipants, not merely as objects or underlings.  Storytelling helps strengthen leaders' connectedness with the world.  Isn't this what all leaders need - a connectedness with the people they are seeking to lead?"(149)

Denning suggests leaders can utilize storytelling to:

• spark action/communicate a bold new idea
• communicate who you are/communicate personal and the firm's identity
• transmit values
• get everyone working together
• share knowledge
• tame the grapevine
• lead people into the future

The enjoyable side of the book is that Denning uses a story to illustrate how using stories can be integrated and bring transformation, not only to a company or particular culture, but to the person who is willing to be be shaped by stories.  As a follower of Jesus, I concur, and view THE transformative story as the story of Jesus.  The story that is transformative not only for our business, but our lives is His Story, and how we respond to it, receive it or reject it.  The response scripture and the church tell us vital is faith, confessing Christ as Lord, and being a person whose story is taken up into His story.

Here's a final thought from Denning on leadership:  "Before I met you, I had success, yes.  Things worked but they weren't wonderful.  I functioned in a fashion.  But nothing flowed.  Nothing soared.  I had imagined that leadership had to do with the fabricaiton of products, with results; that it was a drag race with winners and loosers.  I've come to see that those are just by-products.  You can only be a leader if others believe in you.  They only believe in you if you believe your own story.  If the story doesn't rise up from the deepest recesses of your being, it risks being superficial and unfulfilled." (144-45)

Many thanks to my mother-in-law for sharing a good work.

Communicating For Change, by Andy Stanley & Lane Jones

This new year brought a reading assignment from my Free Methodist district group - Communicating for Change, by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones. The book (2006) is concerned with the task of preaching, both its motivation and its method.
Revealed in its title is the motivation Stanley understands with preaching - that it's purpose is to bring about change, or lead to transformation, among those who hear preaching.
The front half of the book the authors convey their principles with a parable. In the parable they take up the question, what's the purpose of preaching? A response they've viewed as part of homiletical debate is: a) to teach the Bible to people, or b) to teach people the Bible. This response, part of what they generalize as the homiletical education, they, in the end, wipe away. Preaching, in their estimation, isn't primarily about teaching or knowledge transfer, but it's about conveying knowledge in a form and fashion that changes a person's life. And the ultimate change is embracing Jesus as Lord.

The motivating factor does not consume the majority of the story or detailed description. The major portion is on mechanics. Given a differently stated goal, they proceed to say the methods have to change. Out in the yard for sale are three point sermons, alliteration and acrostics. The main course proscribed is a one point sermon. At the end of the book Stanley says he generally preaches for 40 minutes on one point.

Along the way they keep returning to their theme, they are consistent with one point. they do offer some steps, not points, steps, to arrive at their goal:

• Determine your goal
• pick a point
• create a map
• internalize the message
• engage your audience
• find your voice
• start all over

Also offered profusely is Stanley's method of outlining a sermon; Me-We-God-You-We. Begin, he says, by conveying a sense of who you are a person who is speaking and begin to create, or display the tension that exists in life, then note how that tension is universal, how We all face the question in some way or another. Next, discover what God has to say to the question, apply it to You, and close with how God's application creates, shapes, changes the world/community/family We live in.

Reading through Stanley's thoughts I've found myself saying, I can do better, I must do better. The one aspect most challenging to me was to "listen to yourself." He says that's where communicators really can improve. That's going to be one of my tasks going forward.

Christmas Eve Meditation

Here is my Christmas Eve homily. Our Peace Now. Text: Micah 5.2-5a.

Sam Thielman, a film critic for World Magazine, wrote, “Going to the movies has always been a good way to figure out what’s on everybody’s mind, and if you didn’t know we lived in a world filled with natural disaster and economic failure before you walked into the theater, you certainly know it coming out of Zombiland, 2012, 9 and now The Road.” (p.22, Dec. 19, 2009)

If Thielman’s original comment is true, that movies reflect what’s on our collective minds, then tonight, in this place, we have much need to attend to the words of the prophet Micah and the singing of the angels – “that a in the City of David, a Savior has been born to you . . . glory to God on the highest and on earth peace, to those on whom His favor rests.”

Micah, a prophet of the late 8^th century B.C. was greatly concerned with the rejection of the covenant between the children of Abraham and Yahweh, God of the universe. That rejection was showing itself in many religious, political, and practical facets. Micah like other prophets said, there is a price to be rendered for abandoning God, that price was being illustrated across the northern border as Israel, the break away brethren, succumbed to Assyrian attackers and became a decimated country side.

What kind of future did Judah have? Would Judah have the inner strength to stand alone? If she needed help, where would it come from? Could the prophets help? Would the Lord strengthen the armies of the King of Judah?

Micah said, “not these kings, nor these prophets. To have a day of peace we’ll have to revisit Bethlehem, the small town in the shadows of Jerusalem. To find a King who can rule justly and mercifully like David, will require one whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Isaiah, prophesying about the same time said, a shoot from the stump of Jesse (11.1), will appear and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him.

Micah said out of Bethlehem would come one who would stand and shepherd his flock, leading them and guiding them – not driving them. Out of Bethlehem would come one who would stand in the strength of the Lord – and not the strength of armies or alliances. Out of Bethlehem would come one who would stand in the majesty of the name of the Lord – not in the majesty of pomp, office, or attire. Out of Bethlehem, a least likely place, would come our peace.

To the people of Micah’s day – peace could have been interpreted as the cessation of war. Some today might make the same equation. If we’d bring our troops home from foreign lands, if we’d lay down our arms, then we’d have peace. It doesn’t take long before such notions are dislodged. Many of us, far from war zones will see the films which speak of present or approaching doom. We’ll see them not for entertainment alone, but our minds are uneasy, our spirits jittery, our souls on edge. Maybe, we think, if we face it, it won’t be so bad. Maybe there will be a sort of peace that comes.

Micah described peace not as an emotion, a feeling, a state of mind or being, a lack of hostility – those can be aspects of peace, but peace in its fullness is a person. Messiah, one from Bethlehem, from Jesse’s stump, one whose lineage is old, will be our peace. Peace is found, Micah says, in a person.

The angels appeared to Shepherds encamped around Bethlehem to tell them, one is born in their midst and sleeping in a manger in their hometown, maybe their manger. To the shepherds, came the Shepherd – though small and vulnerable, Messiah has come. And to them, comes peace. They are invited to look on the one who is the Prince of peace, the Savior, the Messiah – for on them rests the favor of God.

As we gather here, to worship, to adore Jesus, we gather with hearts often panting for peace. Tonight, hear the good news, our Peace has come – into a world still very much at war, into a world which looks to thrive on anxiety and despair. Peace has come. And His favor, his protection, his joy, his peace is available to all who look to Him.

I want to share a story of the power of His peace.

The Truce of 1914

In 1914, when soldiers in Europe marched out to the first great European war of the 20^th century, they said they would be home by Christmas to celebrate their victory. But the young men were not home by Christmas. The war dragged on and on for years and Europe was never to be the same again.

In December of 1914, however, a strange thing happened on the Western front. It was Christmas Eve, and the weather suddenly got cold, freezing the slush and water of the trenches in which the men were bunkered down. In the German trenches, soldiers started lighting candles. British sentries reported that there appeared to be small lights, raised on poles or bayonets and, although these lanterns clearly illuminated the German troops, the British held their fire. Even more startlingly, British officers saw through binoculars that some enemy troops were holding Christmas trees over their heads with lighted candles in their branches. The Germans, who celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, were extending holiday greetings to their enemies.

A few German soldiers started singing carols and it was soon picked up all along the line as others joined in harmonizing. Then they began singing “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” The British immediately recognized the melody and began singing “Silent Night” along with the Germans.

Then occurred one of the most unusual incidents in military history. One by one, soldiers on both sides laid down their weapons and ventured into no man’s land – too many of them to prevent their superior officers from objecting. An undeclared truce had broken out spontaneously, against all orders and the rules of military combat.

One eye-witness account of the unofficial truce is given in the wartime diary kept by veteran Frank Richards. In it he wrote: “We stuck up a board with ‘Merry Christmas’ on it. The enemy stuck up a similar one. Two of our men threw their equipment off and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads as two of the Germans did the same, our two going to meet them. They shook hands and then we all go out of the trench and so did the Germans.”

They gave each other small gifts from chocolate bars to tins of processed beef. Others joined in and as the day progressed, this mass fraternization spread along the front to include soccer matches between the two forces. Men who, the day before, had been shooting to kill were sharing family snapshots.

The men sat around campfires together singing the choruses of Christmas carols. “Silent Night” being the favorite since it was known by both sides. Before midnight they said their farewells and returned to their own lines.

Where ever you’re at tonight, whatever duties are before you, whatever conflict before you, or trials ahead of you – may the Prince of Peace be your Peace now. Welcome Him. Embrace Him. Adore Him.

A moment of success

Yesterday I stumbled across a sermon web site on another web site as I was working on another project. That discovery led to a helpful discovery - a place where churches can upload their sermons. We had been trying to get this done at the Church I pastor and had not met with much success. Yesterday, was a moment of success. So thankful to the Lord for helping us.
You can find some of the sermons of CMFMC at http://sermon.net/cmfmc.
You can also find a player for the sermons on this blog.

May you find the Lord faithful to your prayers and granting you success in the endeavors He's placed before you and called you too.