Christ Seeker

Why the call is important...

Heeding the call of God to "enter the lists" once again and contend for the Jesus Truth in our time is not simply a nice suggestion or just a good idea.  It is absolutely essential because of our propensity as a species for self-destruction.  Consider Scherer's words as he surveys the cultural landscape in the midst of WWII...(words, by the way, that could aptly describe our own time as well!)

"Mankind by exalting himself has finally become the puppet and the pawn of his own success.  The child of nature has triumphed over the child of God and has found in the triumph his own inexorable defeat.  Life in two dimensions has come off with all the garlands, and they are withered.  In its long rebellion against authority, in the violent assertion of its own mastery, it has cleared from the field both God and the human soul, to wander now among the ruins...The civilization which stemmed in Greek philosophy, and towered high in medieval cathedrals, has flowered in department stores.  The ends of life have become the goods of the body.  Existence has been turned into a continuous bank-run; and the bank is now closing.  That, I submit to you, is what crisis means.  It means that when an order has become thoroughly secularized it has committed suicide.  It means that the Kingdom of God is not a by-your-leave or an if-you-please; it is still a Kingdom, and to rebel against it is to pay the price of treason."  (11)

Now that last bit is so much a scare tactic as it is a statement of reality.  A reality without God.  Without God we spiral out of control and to our own destruction.  Without God, we fill the void with drugs, sex, money, possessions, power, you name it.  Anything to satisfy the cravings of the human heart.  And what we really, truly crave is transcendance.  We long for a purpose outside of our own appetites.  But without God we stumble in the darkness, searching in vain for a reason for living.  For something more than simply the weekend party or weekly paycheck or, as is the case for more and more people, basic survival.

Thankfully, God provides.  He doesn't leave us blind, walking in the darkness forever.  He sends us those whom he calls to guide us to the light, to show us the way back to Him.  And so when we talk about answering God's call, what we are really talking about is allowing ourselves to be used by God to bring light and life and joy and meaning and purpose into this world.  So the other day, I am having coffee with this group of men and one of them shares about his prior marriages.  Immediately, I am faced with a choice.  I can go with the flow and let the conversation spiral down into the typical ex-spouse bashing that usually takes place in such situations or I can, through a few honest, heartfelt questions, help the conversation flow in another, more healthy direction where this man can share a bit of what he's learned and how he's changed.  By simply and humbly asking him to share a bit more deeply, this man opened up in some amazing ways and the following morning thanked us for letting him talk about his past so openly.  This is why answering the call to share the love of Jesus with others is so important...

How many people truly have someone in their life with whom they can be transparent?  Someone they can share their struggles, hopes, and dreams?  One in six Americans (according to a recent Gallup poll) struggle with serious depression.  Sociologists like Robert Putnam at Harvard have charted the breakdown of community over the last several decades.  As we struggle through tough economic times, people are turning to drug or alcohol or food abuse to medicate their pain.  Or tragically, they physically take out their frustrations and fears on those closest to them.  What would happen if these people, caught up in such self-destruction, could experience the tangible, incarnated love of Jesus through us?  What a difference we can make...if we just answer God's call.

Not out of guilt.  Not because we "should".  Not because we feel obligated.  Not because "God said so".  But because we authentically want others to experience the joy we have in Jesus Christ.  Because we want those who are not yet part of God's family to trade in the world's "withered garlands" for a crown of glory.  Because we long for them to trade in their flat, two-dimensional existance and exchange it for a life of full, living color lived in three dimensions.  A life defined not by what we do or how much we make or what toys we have or the difficulty of our circumstances or the pain we have experienced but a life defined and shaped solely by God's creative and redemptive purposes.  This is life in the Kingdom of God.  And it is the life God calls us to share. 

We are all called...

Of course, "the voice of the Lord calling laborers into His harvest is as varied as human life itself, as manifold as the endless patterns of the fields and the clouds.  It comes to every living soul by every conceivable channel." (6) 

I want to reflect on two very important ideas when it comes to the issue of calling.  First, there is this myth that "being called" involves some mystical, far out experience.  To be sure, there are times when the Lord speaks very clearly but it doesn't necessarily involve the heavens opening, lightning strikes, thunder claps, and booming voices.  Yes, Damascus road experiences do happen but they are not be taken as the standard way God calls His people to His service.  Scherer points out, "Amos must not be forgotten, with his long brooding on the social injustices of his day.  Isaiah may not be forgotten, with his sudden consciousness in the midst of national catastrophe that the Great God wanted another man.  Jeremiah may not be forgotten, with his reluctant answer to that pressure which had kept growing within him until it seemed the culmination of an age-old purpose...and James and John may not be forgotten, or Matthew and Peter with the face they saw, and the presence that would not let them go, the love that haunted them down the dreary roads and set them apart for the gospel of God." (5)  Yes, God's call comes to us in the midst of life as we live it.  It comes as often as not as a still, small voice somewhere deep inside drawing us out, claiming us for something greater than ourselves.  We doubt it.  We resist it.  We thrust it aside.  We struggle with it.  But in the end, the claim God has on our lives is greater than the claim we have and so we surrender.  And in that surrender we discover life has incredible meaning and depth and purpose.

And let me hasten to add here my second point which is to say that this calling doesn't just come to full-time vocational ministers.  I think of the many teachers I know who experience the thrill of working with students who love to learn and agonize over those students who don't.  I think of the police officer I know who understands and lives the motto, "To serve and protect", to the point of offering his life on an almost daily basis to keep society safe.  I think of the heroes who ran INTO the twin towers even as every instinct for self-preservation cried, "Get out!"  I think of a physician I know who is just as concerned about the spiritual well-being of his patients as he is their physical well-being.  I think of the soldier in the field who fights for freedom and I think of the peace activist back home who is just as committed to the same ideal.  I think of the single mom who works three jobs to make ends meet so that her child can have a better life.  I think of the engineer who works so hard to to create systems and machines to make our world a better place.  I think of the business man or woman who is driven not by profit but by the desire to create jobs for people and produce a product that adds value to our lives.  I think of the relief worker who gives so much of themselves in refugee camps at home and abroad.  I think of a social worker I know who is absolutely overwhelmed by her caseload and yet finds the time to drive supplies around to families in need.  If we have the eyes to see, we begin to understand that no matter what our job title may be, our fundamental vocation is to "keep alive and cogent on this earth that awareness of Almighty God which is the soul's creaturely response to its Creator...to open minds to the splendor that shines forever on the face of human life; to the beauty and the mystery of godliness; to the horses and chariots of fire that range themselves about this beleaguered place...to throw wide the door of every narrow room and let in the mountains and the sea...to hold all hearts everywhere under the creative spell of the Infinite." (6)

So can we once and for all dispense with this notion that our lives are made up of a bunch of hermetically sealed compartments?  As if God's hand does not cross over into "work" or "recreation" or "family" but is somehow relegated to what we do for an hour or so on Sunday morning?  Do we dare to aim higher?  Dream deeper?  See farther?  Can we muster up the courage to take our stand on "the threshold of God's two worlds of sense and spirit, and there, under the quiet hand of the Master of Life, interpret for all that will hear what there is about living that is most firmly true and most deeply real?" (7)  I pray with all my heart we can!

Adventures in Church Planting

The following posts/reflections were written during my time preparing for or engaging in the work of church planting.  The call to church planting is the call to live life right on the ragged edge where Gospel meets Culture and is certainly not for the faint of heart. I believe these posts reflect the ambiguities of such an experience well and should not be read as firm conclusions as to what I believe about church.  Rather, I think reflect more an exercise in "thinking out loud" and I learned a great deal from the conversations that ensued as a result.  Recently, I found God "re-calling" me from the edges of His Kingdom to serve Him once again in an established community.  And while I will always treasure the experiences of the last year, particularly the friendships that were formed, I find myself looking forward to the established rhythms of Christian community. 

To all my friends and colleagues who are still engaged in the Xtreme work of Church planting...you remain my spiritual heroes!  I will be praying for you and supporting you in any way I can.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

More thoughts to ponder...

This certainly squares with my experience not only with the Millenial generation but also Generation X which is my generation.

Some key Scripture passages on Christian community...

Without a doubt, there are millions of different ways to live in "Christian community". Some are good and lead to an increase in faithfulness and spiritual maturity.  Others are not so good and only reinforce habits of the heart that keep us far from God. And still others are downright destructive - see Jonestown or the Branch Davidians as examples. Imagine for a moment that you have never heard the Gospel or experienced authentic Christian community.  How would one begin to sort through the myriad of options out there to find a spiritual home?  And, on the flip side, how can those of us who are engaged in Christian community already continue the hard work of transformation so that we can become a spiritual home for those seeking to follow Jesus?  Here are some key Scriptural passages that certainly should guide our thoughts and actions...(all passages from Eugene Peterson's, The Message)

Acts 2:42-47:

They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved. They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God.  People in general liked what they saw.  Every day their number grew as God added to those who were saved.

Acts 4:32-37:

The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.  And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person’s need.Joseph, called by the apostles “Barnabas” (which means “Son of Comfort”), a Levite born in Cyprus, sold a field that he owned, brought the money, and made an offering of it to the apostles.

1 Corinthians 14:26-33:

So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight. If prayers are offered in tongues, two or three’s the limit, and then only if someone is present who can interpret what you’re saying. Otherwise, keep it between God and yourself. And no more than two or three speakers at a meeting, with the rest of you listening and taking it to heart. Take your turn, no one person taking over. Then each speaker gets a chance to say something special from God, and you all learn from each other. If you choose to speak, you’re also responsible for how and when you speak. When we worship the right way, God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony.

Galatians 3:28-29:

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.

James 5:13-20:

Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.  Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again. My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

I am sure that these just touch the surface as there are many more we could cite.  But I think this gives us a good picture of how the early church sought to order their life together in authentic Christian community.  Did they do it perfectly?  Nope.  All one has to do is read through Paul's letters to see the struggles they had.  Thankfully, though, they never gave up and we now stand as inheritors of what they persevered to create under the guidance and with the power of the Holy Spirit.  And in a world of rapid change and massive cultural shifts, the question is pressed...what kind of community are we leaving behind?  Do we offer a spiritual home for the weary traveler?  Or merely a set of religious goods to offer the consumer? 

Meaning of Data...

Rise of the non-religious...

Another great link for folks looking at cultural shifts in society that are going to have a huge impact on the 21st century church...

Companion #5: Pain

Bzzzz...Bzzzz...my cell phone rings and the person on the other end asks to meet me for a cup of coffee.  Life has gotten to them again.  Stress.  Crisis.  The pressure is building and they simply need someone to talk to about what they are going through. 

Beep...a text message hits my phone.  Another friend tells me they need to catch up with me that evening.  Long hours at work.  It's hard on them.  Hard on their family.  They are struggling to keep their head above water.  For whatever reason, just talking it out seems to make the load lighter. 

Bounce...bounce...bounce goes the ball.  The final ball game is over.  A few guys are sitting around cooling down from all the exercise.  The conversation gets personal.  Struggles are shared.  Questions asked.  They just need someone to listen for a bit. 

Brrrppp...Brrrppp...Brrrppp...cards are shuffled and then dealt.  The smell of cigarette smoke is in the air.  Beers are poured and conversation ensues.  A man dealing with a painful divorce. Doesn't want to go home.  Too much tension.  Struggling with his kids.  Life is upside down. 

The sounds and smells and experiences of life.  Life is not lived in the abstract.  It is lived in the midst of tension, heartache, and pain.  In fact, it is pain that lets us know that we are truly alive in the first place!  Dr. Philip Brand is a world-renowned physician who specializes in treating Hansen's Disease or, as it's more commonly known, leprosy.  It was Brand who first discovered that leprosy does not so much rot the flesh as it deadens the nerves.  It takes away are ability to feel pain.  And because a person with leprosy can't feel pain, they do things or allow things to happen to their bodies that they otherwise wouldn't.  Heat, cold, puncture wounds, abrasions, blisters, sprains, strains, you name it...they simply can't feel it and therefore aren't aware of the devastating impact such things have on their bodies.  Pain, Dr. Brand argues counter-intuitively, is a gift.  It helps us remain healthy, vital, and strong.  It plays a critical role in sustaining life and therefore should be embraced not avoided. 

I'm convinced he's right.  And what I am discovering is that I am a spiritual leper.  Out of fear, I tend to avoid pain.  Out of fear, I tend to avoid suffering.  But I can't escape it.  Nor can you.  Nor can anyone. We live in a tormented world.  People are dying, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  They don't have enough to eat.  Clean water to drink.  Or ways to combat disease.  Wars rage.  The innocent suffer. Millions are displaced.  Children are abused.  Marriages are lost.  Families broken up.  People lose jobs.  And they lose hope.  They are in pain.  Their lives are full of pain.  And they want to share.  They NEED to share.  They are more than willing to share if we will simply listen.  If we have compassion.  If we are willing to go to where they are, live among them, and love them honestly and faithfully in the name of Jesus.    

Overcoming spiritual leprosy means relentlessly pursuing authenticity and transparency as a community.  It means building relationships that are vulnerable and honest.  This is our passion and our commitment as a community.  We want this for one another and for the people God brings into our lives on a daily basis.  We believe with all our hearts that this is how we experience God's grace and love in tangible and concrete ways.  But it isn't easy.  Pursuing such authenticity in community means having the courage to embrace pain and thereby overcome it in the name of Jesus who himself embraced ultimate suffering on the cross.  This is what it means to follow Jesus and to have truly Christ-like, Jesus-shaped relationships.  And it is into such relationships that we are called to invite those we meet along the way. 

Salvation, dear friends, isn't just about getting our ticket punched to heaven.  It is a reality we can taste and see and experience in our daily lives.  And the more authentic, the more transparent, the more vulnerable we become with one another, the more we will experience the grace and peace God brings in Jesus Christ.  As a church, we have put with, even encouraged in some places, "spiritual leprosy" for far too long.  My brothers and sisters, it is time to stop running.  It is time to embrace life. To embrace pain.  To embrace suffering.  To embrace even death.  It is time...to follow Jesus.

Companion #4: A man named Barnabus...

Yesterday, Christ met me through an unlikely person.  (By the way, I am finding this becoming more common as I walk along this missional-incarnational journey.)  Michael is becoming a great friend.  He is a gifted actor, a loving father, and a faithful husband.  His spiritual journey began when he was a young person in the Roman Catholic Church but as of right now, he is more agnostic than anything else.  He is wise and friendly and always willing to listen and share from his life experiences. 

So I was in the coffee shop reflecting on what God is up to in Allelon.  The challenges we face.  The struggles we are having personally and corporately as we learn what it means to truly follow Jesus.  The depth of the relationships we are building.  The joy of seeing our lives begin to reflect the life of our Lord and Savior.  All of this was bouncing around my brain when Michael walked up.  After exchanging a few pleasantries, he asked how I was doing.  I shared with him in brief all of the stuff that was on my mind.  My desire to see our community experience deep, transparent, authentic relationships.  My passion to invite others into this journey so they can experience God's unconditional love and grace.  My hopes and dreams of a church that gathers to bless, not itself, but the community.  And my personal struggle with uncertainties, doubts, etc. as I seek to lead us on this way.  Michael listened so patiently and then shared some of the wisdom he had gleaned from his current experience of trying to start an local acting company.  We quickly realized we were engaged in very similar work, albeit in different arenas, and the conversation began to fill with wonderful energy as we shared our excitement and passion with each other. 

At the end of our time together, I thanked Michael for how he had encouraged me and lifted my spirits.  And now looking back, I realize that God sent Michael into my life yesterday as a kind of Barnabus or "son of encouragement."  You see, I was wrestling with God over some serious stuff and Michael allowed me the space to "think out loud" a little bit.  Furthermore, he was able to share what he was learning in his own life and his wisdom restored some much-needed perspective to my life. 

Since then, I have marveled at the faithfulness of God in my life.  I cannot tell you how many times in the last nine months or so that I have met different people from different walks of life and different faith backgrounds who have spoken a "word" into my life at just the right moment.  It reminds me that no matter how difficult or uncertain or ambiguous or strange or exciting or stressful this life may get, God is with me always even to the end of the age. 

Companion #3: Doubt

The other night I was out having a beer with a friend of mine who is not a follower of Jesus but is seriously considering becoming one.  The place was busy.  It was loud.  There was a karaoke contest going on and the same three people kept signing up to sing.  Though the quality of the music was terrible, their stamina was certainly impressive!  Anyway, we practically had to yell across the table to get in our conversation and he asked me this question.  "Do you ever have doubts?" 

Man, do I ever.  There are times when I doubt my ability, my faith, and my convictions.  There are times when I doubt my calling, my qualifications, even my faith.  I have what I call my "Wal-Mart Greeter" days when I just want to hang it up and go greet people at Wal-Mart.  There are times when I doubt whether this missional vision will take hold or prove sustainable.  There are times when I wonder if I am on the right track or have gone off the rails.  I have doubts as to God's provision, God's timing, and God's direction/purpose for the community I lead. 

So I shared all these with my friend and that felt a bit weird.  After all, here I am trying to introduce this guy to Jesus and I am letting him know that I have doubts?  That there are times when I question?  Somewhere deep inside me I felt a powerful resistance towards being open and honest about my doubts.  A significant part of me wanted to pretend like I had it all together.  As if true faith provides all the assurance one might need in this life.  But I knew that would be a lie.  So I shared as transparently as I could about what I was feeling.  And in doing so, I received this profound insight from my agnostic friend...

"That's what I like about you...your faith isn't plastic.  It isn't perfect or ironclad.  Your faith leaves room for questions.  I like to think that if there is a God out there, he must be big enough to handle my doubts." 

Wow.  Whether my friend realized it or not, I heard the still, small voice of Jesus speaking to me through his words.  God is big enough to handle my doubts.  What a biblical message!  Reminds me of God's relationship with Moses.  God was big enough to handle Moses' doubts about his leadership abilities, his stuttering, and his fears.  God was big enough to handle Moses' doubts when he was in Egypt and plague after plague didn't seem to soften Pharoah's heart.  God was big enough when the people complained about the food, the water, the size of the Amorites (they are giants...we are grasshoppers), and the length of the wilderness journey.  No matter what the issue, no matter how mad or frustrated or discouraged Moses got, God was big enough to handle it. 

God is big enough to handle Doug Resler's doubts and questions and struggles as well.  God is big enough to handle the challenges we face in Allelon as we seek to become a truly missional community.  God is big enough to deal with our anger, our frustration, our despair, and our doubts about the future.  We just have to let him.  I just have to let him.  I have to surrender my doubts and fears to him.  God is using my doubts to take me ever deeper into intimacy with him. And I am learning anew what it means to trust, to love, and to have faith. 

Companion #2: Faithful Friends

Not all companions are of the emotional variety.  Some are very real.  Flesh and blood.  Just as John Nash was accompanied by his wife and friends in his struggle with paranoid schizophrenia so I have been delighted to discover some very faithful friends along the way.  In fact, were it not for these friends, I would surely be in trouble!  The missional life is simply unsustainable if undertaken on one's own.  The forces, both external and internal, arrayed against it are simply too great to overcome on our own.  This has always been the case, of course, but in the context of a culture whose prevailing mythology involves the cult of individualism, it is easy to forget this fundamental biblical truth - "It is not good for man (human beings) to be alone." 

Alone we are subject to all kinds of temptation.  Alone we lose perspective.  Alone we have blind spots.  Alone we are left to the tender mercies of the evil one who knows all our vulnerabilities.  Ecclesiastes is so quick to point out the poverty of the "lonely" condition.  "Pity the one who falls without another to pick him up...alone who can keep warm?...one is easily overpowered..."

But two...two are better. Two means having a companion to lift him up. Two means having someone to help keep one warm. Two means being able to resist the one seeking to overpower.  The New Testament also affirms this idea in a letter Paul wrote to the Ephesian church.  In that letter, he identifies the spiritual powers that we are up against - "our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places..."  But he also reminds us that we are not defenseless!  God has put significant resources at our disposal.  Truth like a belt, righteousness like breastplate, the Gospel to shod our feet, faith like a shield, salvation as a helmet, and the Word of God as a sword.  However, as a young person pointed out to me one time, there is nothing mentioned to guard your back. 

The reality is that we can take up the full armor of God and still be defenseless if we don't have a faithful brother or sister guarding our back. What I have discovered is that missional church planting should only be done in groups.  Particularly if we are to follow the example Jesus set for us when he sent his disciples out two by two.  When I have been down or discouraged or frustrated or angry, it is amazing how God will use someone within our group to pick me up or give me perspective.  And as we continue this journey together and build deeper friendships, the ability to renew and restore flagging vision or strength increases.  We grow wise as to one another's faults and weaknesses and can do the kind of gentle confrontation necessary for our spiritual growth.  We can challenge each other to continuously conform our lives to Jesus' life.  Embracing these deep and abiding and transparent relationships in our community is critical to the missional journey.