An Irresistable Revolution

When I got back from New Orleans, one of my associates put the new book, The Irresistable Revolution in my hands, by Shaine Claiborne.

On the opening pages he comments on how celebrities and pop stars have rallied others to address poverty...
But most Christian artists and preachers have remained stangely distant from human suffering, offering the world eternal assurance over prophetic imagination. Perhaps it should not surprise us that Jesus says that if the Christians remain silent, then the rocks will cry out...or the rock stars, I guess.

Meanwhile many of us find ourselves estranged from the narrow issues that define conservatives and from the shallow spirituality that marks liberals. We are thirsty for social justice and peace but have a hard time finding a faith community that is consistently pro-life or that recognizes that there are "moral issues" other than homesexuality and abortion, moral issues like war and poverty. So some folks just end up trying to save individual souls from their sins, and others end up trying to save the world from "the system". But rarely do we see that the sickness of our world has infected each of us, and that the healing of our world not only begins within us but does not end with us. pages 17,18

It's good to see Shane championing the gospel and willing to break convention to do it. He has spent time in a leper colony in Calcutta, visited Iraq to protest the war and lives in community among the poor of Philidelphia. He gives me hope for the future of the church. Sometimes I feel so entrenched in churchianity that I wonder if we will ever truly embody the good news. Maybe God will use Shane to create a new kind of christian and a new kind of church.

Like many young people, Shane talks about his discoveries as if he is the first one to see them...( my dad used to smile at rock stars singing about sex and say, "They act like they invented it")...but other than that, I think it's a good read that will challenge every serious follower of Jesus.

Don't let his politics offend you. That's not the point and besides, how can you deal with the message of God if it doesn't somehow cause you to rethink everything...even mom and apple pie!

I Don't Want to Be Safe Anymore

I've been off-line for a few days...letting my New Orleans trip percolate. There's a shift taking place inside of me. I think my trip opened my eyes to see something about who God is and what it means to follow in a new way.

Before we left to help with the Katrina Relief our team saw a video about a church in Covington, LA (Trinity Church) that was helping people with the devastation. One man who went to help said this at the end of his time of serving...."I'll never be the same. I'm not safe anymore. My church won't be safe either." By not being "safe" he was saying that he couldn't live the predictable, orderly, Sunday Christianity any more. He saw that following Jesus meant not only helping the poor and disadvantaged, it meant being WITH them in their pain. Not just "fixing" them but standing with them and identifying with them.

When I heard him say that, I thought, "I want that. I don't want my life or my church to be safe either." Well, I can't speak for the church yet, but for me, I'm feeling pretty dangerous...pretty unsafe in the sense that my focus is much more toward meeting people where they are at. I think I've already had that orientation, to a degree. But one thing that's easy to do in a helping profession is to think in terms of fixing - almost like a surgeon. You go in, help and leave... untouched by the moment because you know that if you open your heart up too much to all the pain around you you might get swallowed up and then be of no use to anyone. That's a valid concern but it can also be an excuse to remain aloof. And if that's people's take on me, I'm not helping them to see Jesus because Jesus was never aloof.

more to come...

Hearing the Whisper of God

A number of people on our Katrina team went on the mission thinking that God would speak to them in a profound way. Few got the experience that they were expecting. I wrote them this note when we returned...

Katrina Team;

At Cafe DuMonde and in the truck going home people were saying that they didn't get the big AHA moment that they had hoped for on the trip. That didn't surprise me. I guess as I get older I "hear" God in the subtle things, not the big AHA moments.

This morning I read this in my devotions...

"We misunderstand God altogether if we think he deals coursely with our souls (meaning that he makes things obvious). If we consider what has really influenced our lives, we will find that it lies in a few silent voices that have preached to us, the winds which have passed across our soul so gently that we scarce could tell when they were come or gone. Even in the midst of the battle, when coarser weapons fail, let us not forget the lesson of Elijah: [who said...]
'A great powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks be fore the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquatke came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.' (1 Kings 19:11-12)

When God speaks he speaks so loudly that all the voices of the world seem dumb. And YET, when God speaks he speaks so softly that no one hears the whisper but yourself". Bread and Wine, page 129-130

I think God will be whispering to us all for a long time about our experience. So I encourage us to listen, reflect and then share what we hear with each other...even months from now.

I pass these thoughts along because you might be wondering how God speaks to you.

Looking Back on New Orleans

Sitting here looking out at a foot of snow inside of a warm, odor-free house makes me feel like New Orleans was a dream. Yet I know I was there because when I look at my house I'm always thinking how I could best knock out a wall or tear down the cubboards! Kinda weird. I also get sad whenever I drive by a nice shopping center with cars because so many in New Orleans are vacant and boarded up. (Picture: the team suits up for the first time, ready to enter the mold infested home.)

So, was it worth it? We traveled 2500 miles and spent $2500 to gut two houses. Only 199,998 more to go! Yeah, it was worth it. I'd do it again in a heart beat. I can't right now, but I hope our going will inspire others to take the baton and run with it. Like so many things, no one act of compassion/kindness is the answer. The answer is in a lot of people doing as much as they can for as long as they can with the help of God to empower and encourage them to keep at it. (Picture: this is the first house we worked on. The FEMA trailer is in front. The owner just moved into it on Thursday.)

New Orleans is in very tough shape. They won't turn the corner on this problem for years. Our team tried to come up with a way of relating what we saw but we can't. No one picture captures it. You really have to experience house after house and mile after mile of devastation to appreciate the magnitude of what happened down there. (Picture; Kate, Tom, Phil and Karla take a break.)

I mean, just think of where you live. Imagine that EVERY house needed to be repaired at some level. Imagine that MOST of the homes were unliveable and people were camping in a trailer or tent or even living in their car while their home sat rotting. And then you have to travel across town to find a store that wasn't damaged to buy what you need. Then imagine that most of your neighbors aren't even bothering to return because it hurts or costs too much. So, even if you do restore your home, the neighborhood may be a rotting ghost town. (Picture: a house was pushed off it's foundation and onto a car from the rush of the broke levee water.)

Our trip is over but I hope our heart holds New Orleans close to us. And I hope it's sensitized us to the needs that exist all around us and how we can help others instead of always looking out for our own needs. (Picture; this is what the house looked like after knocking out walls, etc. day one. After day two the toilet and all walls were gone as well.)

This Sunday at Cedarbrook our team will give an overview of our trip. We are looking to send another team down to New Orleans this Spring. Would you like to go? If you live in another city, I bet you can find a group going down that you can join. Or, just grab a few friends and contact Samaritan's Purse. They are a top notch organization that is doing a great work down there. Click here for more photos of the area. (Picture; our crew takes one last photo at base camp before heading home.)

New Orleans: Job Accomplished

We stumbled onto a great hole in the wall restaurant in the French Quarter (Coops).

We spent the last two days back in the Ninth Ward in St. Bernard's Parish (click for photos). The north side of this district got 20 feet of water. We were on the south side working in a house that got five feet. We drove through the neighborhood that was next to the levee breach. I was wiped out - totally leveled and washed away in parts - just depris remaining. I got a picture of a house on top of a car.

The sad thing about this district is that there was a million gallon oil spill from the local refinery (Murphy Oil). Because the oil made all the homes toxic the local city can't take the garbage. But Murphy Oil won't take the garbage unless the home owner settles with them. So the homes that are gutted have all kinds of gross stuff in front of their homes for weeks and weeks. Rats and cats and dogs are feeding off the refuse. Very gross.

We worked our butts off the last two days! We are exhausted - but in a good way. Today it was 85 degrees and we put in the longest day yet. People were pretty wiped but stuck it out until the end.

When we "gut" a house we start by taking out the furniture and personal items. We didn't have to do that in the first house. Taking out this stuff was pretty emotional for some of us - just imagining the family and all of their loss. After that we strip the floor and ceiling molding, knock out the sheetrock and pull up the wood floor, lineoleum, whatever. I spent most of the morning ripping out kitchen cupboards and built-in dishwasher and stove/oven. Then I moved on to the bathroom where I beat out the tile around the tub and walls. I've got a bad elbow so Phil took over, then Tom. I think they were getting into it. Swinging a sledgehammer is pretty fun. I was jealous!

We head back tomorrow at noon. I want to take the team to Cafe du Monde for coffee and bignets. You can't leave New Orleans before doing that. We'll recap our experience and then head to Memphis for the night. One more entry tomorrow.

New Orleans: Day Two

We finished our first house today then decided to take a peek at tomorrow's work before heading home. It's in the, now famous, ninth ward- one of the hardest hit areas.

As soon as we crossed the river we saw what we hadn't seen so far - devastation. Yesterday I talked about the internal damage to homes. In the ninth ward there are homes off their foundation, shrimp boats in neighborhoods and we saw an in-ground, concrete swimming pool in someone's front yard. Not sure how that happened.

But when we got to our house it had already been gutted by another team earlier this week. So I don't know where we'll be tomorrow.

The ninth ward is a large area, probably two miles or more east to west and a mile north to south. It's homes and shopping centers. It looks like a war zone. Just about every business is boarded up - whole shopping centers. And the neighborhoods are mostly deserted. People have moved to live with relatives or friends. We talked to one family that was back just to clean up then they are leaving. They don't have any neighbors that are staying. It's all very weird. I don't see any answers to this other than to bulldoze acres and acres. The ninth ward had an oil spill contaminating the floodwaters, so I don't see how people can even consider rebuilding. I guess when that's all you have, you do what you have to do.

We've talked to a few people but no dramatic encounters. Still two days to go. But I really think the best encounters so far are within the team. I'm really enjoying getting to know everyone and working hard together. It's a great experience and something that I know will serve as a model for the rest of Cedarbrook.

I'm taking the crew out for some Cajun food tomorrow so I won't be writing again until Friday. Thanks for your interest and prayers for us.

Live from New Orleans

Hey...here we are. I'm reporting in.

We made it down through incredible storms. We hit hail in Illinois and the temperature went up 30 degrees after that. Very weird. Ribs in St. Louis then on and off torrential downpours yesterday. We arrived to a very humid 78 degrees and a traffic jam. That surprised us. We had heard that New Orleans was a ghost town. Not so...at least not on the freeways. They are packed solid.

Our hotel is a big gym with 80 air mattresses. Comfortable. Good food. Nice hosts (Samaritan's Purse). We went through an orientation this morning and finely got to our house project around 11am. More surprises. We were braced for horror but if it wasn't for the piles of wood outside of some homes, and the porta-potty's on every other street corner, we'd never suspect a problem just driving down the street. If you turn off into a neighborhood you start to see what's wrong. Big trees uprooted. Houses boarded up or covered with blue tarps. The absence of normal life. Contractors looking for their assignment. You can't really tell things are wrong on the outside (in our neighborhood, that is).

Our house was a small two bedroom. We were told that we'd probably have to shovel out a foot of mud and carry out personal belongings but neither were true. The house was empty and no mud. But it was clear that there had been water up to the ceiling. Mold was growing all over and the ceiling had fallen in in the bedroom. The neighbor told us that two people had to be rescued by cutting holes in their attics after being stranded for days.

Our 14 members jumped into the work. We've got a great team. Everyone seemed to know where to go and what to do. It's not rocket science. We pull down everything but the studs and floor boards! Lots of dust and it's full of contaminants because the water is full of who knows what (oil, chemicals, sewage, etc.). We wear Tyvek suits with repirators and goggles. We look like a cross between aliens, astronauts and KKK members.

We sweat like dogs but thankfully the weather was like Wisconsin in the spring today; 72 degrees, low humidity and a nice breeze to cool us off. Another surprise.

I'm falling asleep writing this. I don't usually work this hard writing sermons and meeting people! You get the gest. I'll write again tomorrow if things change. We should finish our house tomorrow and move on to a new one.

Pray for us. Safety. Teamwork. Divine encounters. Oh, one funny thing. Most of the other 65 people here are college kids. Our team is feeling reeaaallllly old but at least they have lights out at 9:30pm. Works for me!

Headed to New Orleans

I leave in a few hours for New Orleans with a team of 14 people from Cedarbrook. I'm excited and a bit nervous at the same time. I've never gone on a trip with so many unknowns. And if anything goes wrong, I don't know how much help there will be around us (stores, gas stations, hospitals, etc.).

But beyond a desire to help others in crisis, I'm going to help Cedarbrook and I'm going to help myself. I'm convinced that the essence of the human condition is selfishness and the only way to address that is to go at it head on - by serving others. (Sorry if that sounds a bit negative but I really think it's true. Self love blocks a lot of good things from happening in our relationships and in the world in general).

Our selfishness is so pervasive - so much a part of who we are - that it's hard to escape. We even serve others to benefit ourselves!

Serving others is something that everyone talks about doing but rarely gets to. I know that's true for me. At best we fund others to serve, which IS a good thing, but we have trouble finding the time to actually do it ourselves. It's so much easy to pay someone else!

I don't have time to go to New Orleans. I'm just doing it and letting everything else suffer because I felt I had to make it a priority - for my own good and the good of the church.

Serving strikes at the heart of our condition because it reveals our selfishness. Our team might leave today full of good will toward men, but I know that it won't take long before we are inconvenienced. It will be hard work. We won't all get along. The living conditions will be substandard. The food may be poor. And that's only the first day!

Add seven more days to that and you start to see how spoiled you really are. You aren't the all loving, all compassionate person you thought you were. Serving shines a spotlight on your heart and then it shines a spotlight on where you need to turn to find a well of love, compassion and strength. That well is God. And that's why people who serve regularly are different. They are in touch with their own weaknesses and they are usually in touch with God's grace.

I hope that happens with us this week. And I hope it begins a pattern in both my life, the lives of our team and the life of Cedarbrook.

Stay tuned. If I can get internet access I hope to post a journal of our trip here.

Faith Starts with a Person

I've had the honor of talking with a number of people lately who are struggling with believing in God. They've heard all about how other people believe but they are personally struggling with believing.

I went home thinking about their struggle and then I realized that if I was them, I'd struggle too. For me, faith in God- at least a personal God - starts and ends in the person of Jesus, not the experience of someone else.

I was with a different group of people last month ( a new group we started at Cedarbrook called "Out of the Box". It's a discussion forum for people that aren't in "the box" of the church - people who aren't sure what they believe.) One person asked my associate and me what made us believe. It was interesting because we both came to believe for different reasons. My associate had a dynamic spiritual experience that convinced her that God existed and Jesus was, in fact, God.

But for me, I was struck by the person of Jesus. As I studied the New Testament I became convinced that it was an accurate document of a person that really lived and said the things that were written. Once I was convinced of that, the rest came naturally. If the Bible is telling us the truth about what Jesus said, then you can't be passive about it. It might be convenient to think that Jesus was "just a good teacher" or that people made more of Jesus than he really was (ala DaVinci Code) but that is only to your loss. For me, and countless others that I've had the pleasure of knowing, believing in Jesus and following him has been to my gain.

If you are searching, I recommend a book about the accuracy of the New Testament called, The Case for Christ. It's very readable. A former writer for the Chicago Times talks about his own skepticism and how his research of the New Testament brought him to faith in Jesus. You owe it to yourself to give it a read!

Do we have to forgive to be forgiven?

The comment in my post below mentioned what Jesus said about how we are forgiven according to how we forgive.

But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing. Matthew 5:15

That's one of those verses that sets you back on your heels! Did Jesus really mean that? I'd say yes and no. No, in the sense that I doubt if any of us will fully forgive everyone. None of us are that pure in our motives. Plus, we may have even forgotten a few people along the way that we should have forgiven but didn't. I don't think we have to lay awake nights worrying about that. If we had to be perfect forgivers to be forgiven then we'd be earning our forgiveness, wouldn't we?

But on the other hand, yes. If you aren't someone interested in forgiveness then you aren't someone interested in God. Forgiveness is at the core of who God is. It's only the hypocrite who says they love God yet refuses to forgive. Isn't that what John was saying...

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

In an odd sort of way, one of the greatest ways we can get to know God is through being deeply offended. It's in learning to forgive that we learn the depth of our sinfulness (we don't want to forgive) and the magnitude of God's love. But in saying that I hope you find other ways to know God.

The Faces of Forgiveness

I teach on anger and forgiveness on a regular basis. I find forgiveness to be a fascinating subject - something that strikes at the core of what it means to be both human and divine. Anyway, there is a new book called The Faces of Forgiveness by two profs from Bethel University and Seminary. It's pretty deep, but the research facts on forgiveness were interesting.

Stephen Sandage said that there are three key components to forgiveness;

1. Humility; the ability to understand that you are made from the same stuff as the next guy. Because of that, you are capable of doing the same evil to others as has been done to you. This keeps you from overreacting and treating your offender like scum.

2. Empathy; flows out of humility. Because you understand your ability to do wrong, you are able to put yourself in the shoes of your offender. You don't excuse them but you are able to see how they could do what they did.

3. Differentiation; the awareness that you are distinct from others. It's the opposite of being emmeshed or co-dependent. The co-dependent person needs affirmation from people. When they are offended it is very hard for them to forgive because they can't stand alone. Their anger is the only thing that protects them. But the differentiated person can more easily forgive because they find their worth apart from the affirmation of others.

Something to think about.

To Go (to church) or Not to Go

When I'm on vacation the biggest decision is always whether I should go to church or not. I had to make that decision this week. It's interesting to me because it puts me in touch with all the people that decide to venture into Cedarbrook back home.

I actually thought about it all week. My first decision was to not go. I don't like most churches and I didn't want to risk having a bummer experience. After all, it WAS my vacation. I could be sleeping! But I was intrigued by a church within walking distance. It met in the local high school and they had a nice banner displaying when they met along with their website. It looked like something Cedarbrook would do.

Having a website is a big plus. I thought I'd at least give them the benefit of the doubt and check them out on-line. You can check them out yourself here. Nice website. They are only two years old but they seemed to know what they were doing. I realized that if they didn't have a website I probably would have never visited. Too risky.

After going to the website my fears of a bad experience were alleviated. So I took the small risk and walked over this morning. It surprised me to realize that I was nervous going to church! Funny. I never think about that being how people feel. But I was. I was nervous about how long the service might go...nervous that they might zero in on me and overwhelm me and concerned that I'd be subjected to a long sermon that I might not agree with. I'm not sure if anything else made me nervous.

The whole experience was painless. The music was good. The sermon was alright (I felt like the pastor overemphasized the importance of me serving in the church). When it was over after 60 minutes I was surprised and relieved. I've been known to walk out of churches that don't know when to quit. So it was refreshing for them to quit before I was thinking about it.

Overall it was fine. I won't rehash all my reservations about church (see below). I left underwhelmed. I really want people to walk away from a church experience inspired to live a better life and feeling like they encountered God. I want people to feel compelled to come back - not sure why - just feeling like it's the right thing to do. I want people to feel like they tapped into something so deep and mysterious that one visit isn't enough, only the beginning. (I have no idea if people ever leave Cedarbrook feeling that way. But that's my goal).

So, was the experience worth my time? Well, as a spiritual experience, no. Being a visitor from out of state changes things. I was more of a fly on the wall/observer. But as a learning experience, yes. It was good to be on the other side of the church equation. I just want church to offer more...

Reclaiming the Early Church Character

I just finished my series on Church: It's Not What You Think It Is. I attempted to cast a new vision for church. Over the years we've managed to reduce it to a one hour Sunday meeting. But the Bible describes something much richer -something that revealed the heart of God when people encountered it.

I offered the following suggestions as to how we can move from being independent, self-centered followers of Jesus to followers that are willing to share their lives with each other, like the early church.

1. We can change the way we think. That is, think more corporately (we & Jesus) and less privately (me & Jesus).
2. We can change the way we talk. We need to be less sarcastic and superficial and start being more authentic, encouraging and forgiving – attitudes that will help build trust and intimacy so we will want to share our lives with each other.
3. We can change the way we behave. The shared life isn’t just a love fest of Jesus followers but at its core are values and ideals that we strive for as a community.
4. We can change the way we spend our time. We need to learn to be more selfless, involving ourselves in the lives of others rather than isolating ourselves to only help ourselves.
5. We can change the way we spend our money. The word devotion implies every part of our being. That means even our money will be devoted to our shared life.
6. We can change the way we relate. Randy Frazee, in his book, The Connecting Church, makes five observations about how effective communities relate. They are spontaneous, available to each other, meet frequently, eat together and live in close proximity.
7. We can change where we live. Living close to each other won't guarantee developing community, but living far away will make it hard.

Living a shallow faith is easy and it's available on every street corner in America. But claiming a transforming faith bears a cost. There's a sacrifice, even a death. But it's rewarded with a resurrection that only God can give. Let's give it a try. (Click the link at the top for an in-depth look at these points.)

Bono Doesn't Like Church Either

Did you catch Bono (U2) speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast last week? He had some great things to say about social justice. He drew a great distinction between charity and justice. I encourage you to read the whole text (link below). But he started out talking about why he doesn't like church...

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here—Muslims, Jews, Christians, all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God. I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.

Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here—but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was… well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays… and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land… and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash… in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment…

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV. Even though I was a believer. Perhaps because I was a believer. I was cynical… not about God, but about God's politics. Bono (click for link to entire text )

I can't blame him for his cynacism. I've shared the same feelings at various times. But the Bible paints a picture of church for me that has made me a flaming idealist. For my thoughts on how church can be something you are willing to give your life to see my recent sermon series.

Church as Reconciliation Center

From a recent message on living the shared life...

I think the world desperately needs a working model for conflict resolution. We need to learn how to disagree with someone without ridiculing them or divorcing them. It seems like everyone I know is quick to say how much they "hate conflict" and it's no wonder. No one likes to do something when they are clueless.

I think the working model I'm looking for is supposed to be the church. I’m convinced that one of the primary purposes of the church is to be a reconciliation center on earth- a training ground for conflict resolution. We are supposed to become experts at this. And when we do, the world will get to see God up close in how we treat each other. Unfortunately churches have failed miserably at this. We can follow Jesus for decades all the while harboring anger and resentment toward people that are closest to us.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t change. We can do better than that. And when we do the world will sit up and notice. They’ll see God in our midst and instead of running away from church, they’ll run to it, because they’ll see that we have the answers they are looking for. They long for these answers because God made them relational, just like us.

Are You Afraid of Becoming a Religious Clone?

I've been speaking at church about church being a community of believers that follow Jesus together. I'm passionate about that idea but I'm also not naive. I realize that the thought of doing anything together scares some people to death.

I think we often fear sharing our lives with other people in the context of community because we think we have to give up our individuality. We think that we have to look and act and vote like everyone else which makes us afraid that we are going to turn into some kind of religious clone. So we keep our distance. Sunday’s are in our comfort zone - passively listening and observing - but getting more involved than that is a little too scary! We don’t want to get sucked into some kind of in-grown spiritual community that makes us weird. Right?

I know that happens in some churches but that’s not at all what God wants for us. The truth is, you actually gain your identity in true community because you finally see how the gifts and talents that God gave you can be used.

I see this happen at Cedarbrook all the time. People live a life that consists of mostly work and survival. Then they come here and get involved. At some point they offer to help serve in some area and, what do you know, they discover a talent they never knew they had. Or, they find a place to use a talent that they knew they had but never had a place to express it. Their individuality actually blossomed in the context of community rather than it being stolen from them. The community called something out of them that was lying dormant all this time. And now their life is more fulfilling.

So...be cautious, yes. But don't keep to yourself. God has something that he wants to release in you and through you that can only be revealed in the context of community.

Cancel Sunday Services?

I'm in the middle of a teaching series on the church (Church: It's Not What You Think it Is). It's fun for me because it's the culmination of 30 years of church experience. I've never had the chance to teach these things in depth and so I'm enjoying the opportunity. I'm excited to see the fruit it brings long term for us.

One of the things I'm pointing out is that most believers have a Sunday-only mentality about church. They approach church in a very independent way. I'm contrasting that with having a 24/7 mentality that is more corporate. But the thing that strikes me as odd is that I'm teaching this on Sunday. The "big-event" of the week for a church is the hour on Sunday but what I'm teaching is that Sunday shouldn't be that central. Catch the irony? If it wasn't for the big-event I wouldn't be able to reach as many as I do.

I thought that the best way to reinforce my teaching would be to cancel Sunday services for three months. That would definitely make the point but it would probably destroy the church too! We are too big and have too many new people to make that work. They wouldn't understand what we are doing and we'd just lose them. Besides, there is great value in corporate worship and teaching. I just want us to learn how to balance that out by developing relationships outside of Sunday.

But I like the thought! We need to do something to shake us up - to stop making our church experience all about us. We have to repent of the way we've made our faith a private affair and not a corporate one. We don't realize that one of the reasons that church leaves us cold is that it's so self-centered. We've made it that way because it's convenient in our fast-paced society. But a self-centered church experience is like drinking salt-water...it only leaves you wanting more.

A Tainted Experience

I write this blog primarily for people who want to check me out before they attend Cedarbrook. A big determining factor in choosing a church is the pastor so I help people get inside my mind a bit by writing. This blog gets a few hits a day from people like that or people who did a search for a topic I covered or people tired of watching the grass grow and looking for something a little more stimulating (or maybe less!).

So, you can imagine my surprise on Monday when I saw that 40 people had hit my blog by 9:00 a.m. (Over 250 by Wednesday). As I mentioned below, my post on Why I Don't Like Church got reprinted in a national blog. If 250 clicked the link that means that many more actually read it. I guess I had my fifteen minutes of fame! It was fun to see a national dialogue by fellow church leaders over a few paragraphs that I had written.

But I have to tell you that I was disappointed in some of the response. There were well over 50 different people who posted a comment. Many agreed. Some offered balance. But more than a few felt a strong need to correct me - some at great length. Now, I don't mind correction. My wife knows I need a lot of it (not to mention everyone in my church). But the correction was a bit ironic because it tended to embody the very problem that my post was addressing - they were more interested in telling me how wrong I was than in really understanding what I had to say (only a handful of people contacted me directly to gain a fuller understanding of my thinking).

As I read the comments I found myself reading the first few sentences to determine if I'd bother to read more. If the tone was negative or clearly off-target I skipped it. I could tell that they misunderstood me and were just looking for an excuse to rant. I wasn't there to listen to that so I checked out.

Then I realized that that's what people do every Sunday with me or any preacher that comes across in the same way. When we are more interested in telling what we know than connecting with the true concerns of our audience, they will check out...every time. That was the point in Why I Don't Like Church and ironically my critics proved it!

I'm sure the percentage of critics to readers was small. That's good. But it's sad that the critics often get the most ink, isn't it? And the taste in my mouth from the experience was a little tainted. It makes me less eager to get feedback. I'm afraid that's exactly why many people are slow to return to church.

How We Dehumanize the Soul

My posts on Why I Don't Like Church got picked up by a national church leadership blog/newsletter (Monday Morning Insight). It's been interesting to read the dialogue (click the link. Most people posted their comments there and not here).

I was pretty amazed to read the negative comments. I didn't think my words were that radical. I probably should have qualified one of my statements by saying that the church has made a mistake by believing that their SOLE purpose is to dispense information. A lot of ministers were offended by the ommission of the word "sole". Yes, yes, we are called to preach the word - the truth. Of course. I'm just trying to bring some balance here because there are too many walking wounded and the wounder is the church!

I personally love information and thoughts. That's a weakness of mine and I'd guess of many preachers. So, before I preach I always have to ask myself, "Is this just cool information that I like or will this really breathe life into people looking for God?"

Paul said that "the letter kills but the Spirit brings life." That's exactly what I mean. If you understand Paul, you understand what I'm saying.

I think I'm more sensitized than some of my critics to this issue because I've had countless conversations with people that have been cast off by church. Whether they accurately perceived the insult or not (as one person posed) doesn't matter. What they are sensing is a disregard for their humanity. And that's what I was getting at with my post about Jesus yesterday. Jesus was able to pinpoint sin in people and they walked away encouraged or at least thoughtful, not wounded.

As it says in Hebrews, the Word of God is able to discern between soul and spirit...it's able to separate between sin and sinner. It's able to value the human while showing them the destructiveness of their thoughts and actions. We are not always so successful. And when that happens we dehumanize our audience. We invalidate not only their thoughts or actions but their very being. We may not have meant that but that's what they heard and that's why they are so wounded. We often miss this subtlety and often justify our positions as simply "preaching the truth of God". But we are missing something and losing people because of it.

Why People Don't Like Church

This past week a number of people have written me their stories about why they don't like church. I spoke to this briefly in my sermon today called, "A Church That Looks Like God" posted 01/23/06.

As people have told me what they don’t like about church it often has something to do with being excluded. Church leaders told them that because they believed the wrong thing or behaved the wrong way that they weren’t acceptable to the church. They couldn’t attend the church or take communion at the church or be married at the church or burying someone in their family. It's very offensive.

Now, I understand that churches have the right to their doctrines and their moral codes. And they have the right to include or exclude anyone they want. But when they condemn and reject people they aren’t looking like God. And that’s sad.

Somehow Jesus was able to reveal people’s sin to them without rejecting them or making them feel like pond scum. Somehow, when Jesus pointed out a person’s sin they walked away feeling like he believed in them rather than feeling condemned by him. So I think that a church that looks like God will find a way to do the same. They’ll find a way to affirm people without approving their sin. And I think they’ll find a way to include people without compromising the truth.