Roles

I have been turning over a saying in my mind for several months now. Earlier this year Dr. Ralph Winter passed away and I was reading about his life and reflections from his family, friends, and co-workers. Something that came up repeatedly was his love for a Dawson Trotman saying that goes something like this. "Don't spend your time doing what others can do, spend your time doing what others can't do." That is probably not exactly right, as far as a quote goes, but you get the idea.

Dr. Winter seemed to apply that thought to his life and ended up with a role that he was uniquely qualified to fill. So I look around at our church and I ask myself that question. Am I spending my time doing what others should be doing or am I doing what others can't do? It seem that if I am going to use the unique talents and abilities God has given me I need to be working on this.

Somewhere along the way I came across an addition to this that goes something like this. "Spend your time doing what others can't do, or you can't motivate them to do." (Not exactly sure where this came from.) That is a little more awkward but something that I think a lot of pastors relate to. We see the potential but can't motivate people to act for one reason or another.

Turning it yet again I began to think about what it would be like to inject more of a servants heart into it. "Do what anyone can do to free others up to do what only they can do." The idea here is that if I take the mundane tasks it will free people to do the really important stuff that no one else can do. The added benefit is that while I do the mundane tasks I can feel like a martyr, and therefore more spiritual. :) Or at least I can feel like I've done penance. (The scene where John Newton is mopping the floor in the movie Amazing Grace comes to mind.) Okay, so maybe it isn't so servant oriented after all, but at least it sounds good.

I guess this quote needs to spin around in my mind some more.

Connecting

As a pastor I regularly agonize over the sermon I'll be giving on the next Sunday. But it doesn't stop there. I agonize after I've given the sermon too. At least for a little while.

There is an interesting phenomenon that many pastors experience that goes something like this. The worse you feel about your sermon the more likely people will tell you how good it was and how it was the right message at the right time. Likewise, the better you feel about your sermon the more likely it was a flop.

One way to explain this is to bring the Holy Spirit into it. The logic would be that the Holy Spirit can take any sermon, no matter how bad it may be, and move people's hearts with it. But the pastor who feels really good about his sermon needs to be humbled so the Holy Spirit is not as active following such a sermon.

I suppose it could also be that it is revealing a disconnect between the pastor and the congregation. He is touching chords that he is not seeing on the one hand and playing chords in the other instance that are relevant only to him.

Of course, it could also be that the entire phenomenon is a figment of the imaginations of a collective of pastors who are paranoid and uptight. Why does this option seem so much more likely?

Wind

Continuing education is a wonderful thing and well named. Or maybe "ongoing" would be better. Unfortunately we lose the sense of the ever onward and upward idea these words convey and replace it with the idea that our very next seminar, conference, class, workshop, etc. will find us at the ultimate answer. Here it is! This is it! Proven! At least until it is time for our next ultimate answer.

I wish we had more of a sense of "adding to the knowledge base" or "expanding our horizons" when it comes to our quest to be updated, freshened, inspired, grown, and personally and professionally developed. That would help us maintain a healthy posture toward these learning experiences. We wouldn't be overly enthusiastic or harshly dismissive of what we were learning. We would allow it to filter through who we are and the context we find ourselves in and truly help us grow.

No doubt we partakers share a lot of the blame for this problem. We want the final answer. It would make life so much easier. The magic pill or the super shot sound wonderful. We need to temper our enthusiasm a bit.

But some of the blame lies with the sponsors and presenters. They are selling, after all. It is their livelihood, their passion, and their life's work. I just think they would help their own cause if they were more realistic about their product.

There are a few who seem to get it right (Reggie McNeal comes to mind.) but most leave me with the feeling of "chasing after the wind." I think the cure from my side of things is to maintain a focus on Jesus. Anything else is just more wind.

Discipline

Someone once said that educators, politicians, and pastors are the three groups of people who have the hardest time with accountability. A lot of truth in that. But I also think that this abhorrence of accountability is the result of having some other character traits that make them good educators, politicians, and pastors. In spite of this, I think we pastors should be accountable to others but also focus on personal discipline.

I was in Africa for my 7th-11th grades of high school. The boarding school I went to only went through the 9th grade. For my 10th grade the school agreed to allow about 4 of us students to attend even though we were using home school curriculum. I guess the thought was the structure and resources would help us. By 11th grade we apparently caused too much trouble because they decided to stop the program so I was a true home-schooler for 11th grade.

For some reason my parents allowed me a lot freedom with regards to my schedule as long as I got the work done. A teenage boy in Africa is a wonderful experience and I spent most of my day hunting, fishing and playing soccer. After supper I would work on my school work before hitting the sack and repeating the routine.

Funny how teenagers prioritize. It wasn't long before I started falling behind in my school work. When my dad found out I was over a month behind he put his foot down. No more fun until I caught up. I worked hard until I got my "toys" back but then I had to be disciplined to keep them. That was a tough year and the first time I had to really force myself to be disciplined for a long period of time.

I think pastors need to think about self-discipline every day. There are a lot of good things I could be doing but I need to consider what is the best thing I could be doing. There is a lot of tension between passion and your work. Even though something is your passion doesn't mean there aren't times when you have to do things you really don't want to do. I'm quite sure Jesus was passionate about his redemptive work but I know there were parts of it he didn't want to go through.

So my daily prayer of discipline???? Lord, let this cup pass if possible, but if not, give me the discipline to do your will. Amen

Worship

Saw a beautiful sunset the other day. Absolutely stunning. I was reminded of how incredible God is. It was a very worshipful experience as I humbly felt overcome by his magnificent presence.

I know that there is a scientific explanation for sunsets like this. I suppose it has something to do with light, water droplets, and fine grains of dust, and maybe a few other things thrown in. I don’t believe that those players in the masterpiece have any feelings at all towards God. They are simply objects of his creation. But that doesn’t matter. To me it is all God. They play a part in his revelation whether they like it or not.

Sometimes I hear people say that they are worried about how we approach music in churches today. “It’s not worship, it’s a performance. We shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves, we should focus our attention on Jesus. It’s not about us, it’s about him.”

Well, yes and no. If you have the right attitude, isn’t playing or singing with all the ability God gave you an act of worship of the highest order? Isn’t watching someone perform like that very similar to watching that amazing sunset?

And what if the performer isn’t a follower of Jesus and couldn’t care less about God. When that performer performs at a very high level aren’t they still revealing the magnificence of God anyway, just like the water molecules and light?

Sure, there will be times when inappropriate use of talent occurs. But that works both ways. Failing to use the talent God gives us is just as bad. When people fail to play or sing to their highest ability what is that saying about God? Yeah, it might be excellent technically speaking, but unless it is inspired playing it really is tepid. Does that really reveal God’s magnificence? Or is it just a false humility that really says that the really good stuff we can do is all ours and God has nothing to do with it.

So I don’t care how people participate in worship as long as they participate. If that means they sing along, fine. If it means they sit and enjoy the show, just as good. In either case I’ll be praying they have the focus on God.

As for me, I just want to be mindful of his great creation whether it is a beautiful sunset, awe inspiring mountain ranges, or someone’s virtuoso performance. And the next time I see someone pick up a Stratocaster I’ll be rooting for them to play the hell out of it. Pun intended.

My One and Only Post on Health Care

Wow. Talk about a lot of debate and argument. A lot of lies, half truths, kind of truths, and mostly truths. One thing for sure, it is an incredible complex issue and though there are sources of information that try to simplify it, I'm not sure that's possible. It's a perfect environment for the fear mongers.

The current debate seems to be about the public option. This is key because it flies directly in the face of those who say that a competitive marketplace creates the best and most efficient system. On the other side are those who believe that a government run system has been proven effective in other countries and is the way to go here. Public option proponents claim that the current system isn't as competitive as we think. But instead of fixing it they propose the public option that, despite what they claim, will become a single payer system for all intents and purposes. But it is also obvious that the current system isn't working either. I have a hard time even listening to Republican counter-proposals in light of their failure to address the issue during the last 8 years.

I am also surprised at fellow Christians who imply that to not support the proposed universal health care system is anti-Christian. I'm sure there are so called Christians with all sorts of different motivations for their opinions. But like most issues there are perfectly good reasons for Christians to oppose it and those views should be accepted gracefully. Some fear that UHC will limit the amount of money spent of research. I personally think that will not be the case but I understand the concern. (Free market systems can actually stifle innovation too. And this doesn't include the loss of innovative capacity in unrelated fields due to innovator's not being in the right situation due to fears of losing health coverage.)

I have my own concerns about the proposal. I don't want to do something that could have a net negative impact on poor people. In other words, it wouldn't do a lot of good to have UHC if it created an economic environment where the same poor could no longer afford to eat due to an adverse reaction by the job market. I also think it is important to consider all poor people and not just Americans. I know that's not popular but I'm a Christian first. So what happens if drug companies don't make as much profit in the US as they do now? Will they still make drugs available to third world countries at reduced cost? Just how much does our current health care system indirectly support health care in poor countries?

When it comes down to it, the worse part of the proposal is that it ends up in the hands of politicians. I'm cynical enough to have this be a major factor. I think I'm right to be concerned because instead of building and improving on a system (like Massachusetts) that has had at least a degree of success they jumped right to what will give them the most control. Go figure.

It will be interesting to see what happens. I am saddened by the allegations with regard to what is the Christian response from both sides. I believe it is possible to have legitimate points on both side of the issue.