follow me.

"The most common invitation of Jesus in the Gospels is: 'Come, follow me.' He does not say, 'Figure out who I am' or 'develop a right set of beliefs and an impressive theology.' He does not even say, 'You must have complete faith.' No, he says, 'Come and follow me.' 

The invitation of Jesus is an invitation to come along with him on the journey of faith, to learn along the way, to be tested, and to be stretched (after all, walking is good exercise). To follow Jesus is to walk with him, to discover that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Want to be a Christian? Then put on your walking shoes and get going. Don’t wait until it is convenient or understandable. Don’t wait until you think you are worthy, and for God’s sake don’t tell anyone else on the journey that they are not worthy – if Jesus invites them, that’s good enough. Just get going. Follow Jesus.

And, walk, walk, walk."

- excerpt from Michael Coyner.

you're crazy.

You're Crazy.  When was the last time someone said that to you?  (Now hear me - this is in no way trying to be insensitive to those who have mental illness, or struggle with the pain and frustration that it brings.)  But this is an expression that we use isn't it?  I have a feeling that we don't regularly hear this word because we are not doing anything that would justify its usage.  We are a safe people.  From my perspective (as a pastor) this is something that I wish people would say more often to me.  Trust me - they have said it, and if they haven't said it, then they have felt it.  But I wonder if I (like many of us) have reached a place of safety in our decision making and leadership?  

Similar to this - what was the last thing that you failed at?  If you can't easily think of something, you are not trying enough new or creative ideas in your work/home/job/ministry/community.  Sentimental Contentment leads to Apathy.  We have to keep trying or we will become trapped in the same places of which we know.  The safety of our decisions and our actions will lead us to a place where we are liked by all, but the mission of the church may not advance.  This is a major issue in our church today. We are creating priests but we have lost the prophetic voice.

A pastor is seen as one who just takes care of the sheep... the problem is that we have forgotten that in taking care of the sheep they have to be led somewhere.  Remember the whole "he leadeth me beside still waters" thing?  The Good Shepherd is taking us somewhere, and as Pastors our calling is not to take care of the status quo to ensure another year of appointed ministry.  We have to lead our people.  In my opinion, our leading requires some decisions that will make our people feel sometimes uncomfortable, scared, and even for them to doubt our sanity.  I know that there are a lot of pastors that are great caregivers and their gifts vary much like the body of Christ.  I am not saying that all pastors need to fit into the same mold or box of leadership, my point is that they have to be people who are willing to take their people somewhere.  We can become so busy taking care of where we are right now that we forget to move our people to a place of still (and I would add) living waters.  If you doubt this - then see General Conference 2012.  In my humble opinion: Too much time was taken trying to figure out what we are doing now that they forgot to make decisions that will help our future.

So - where are you taking the people under your care?  My hope is that the following would be an epitaphic summary of my ministry.

"And his wife told his kids he was crazy, and his friends said he'd fail if he tried."  John Mayer (Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967)    

John Mayer.

I dig John Mayer.  I love music.  Not a shock to the two of you who actually read this blog.  

(shout out.)


But what I really love is the connection that music makes with faith.  While some authors have no desire for an intentional connection, the truth is still there.  John Mayer just released his new album - "Born and Raised."  I considered using him as part of my Gospel and ___ Series, but in the past few years John became a bit more synonymous with being a jerk and saying stupid things rather than his incredible talent for writing and performing.  So he was put on the back burner.  Well... who knew that redemption would come to even John Mayer?  I am not speaking in the full salvific weight of the term (though one never knows...), but more so in his enlightenment as a human being.  This is clearly seen in his new style and album.  


John moved to Montana to get way for a while.  You can note his new Montana style in his hair, clothes, and even guitars.  Everything is stripped down, rustic, and free.  Born and Raised is similar in style.  Freedom has come to John and this is clear in his first single "Shadow Days".  (See Below for full lyrics).  
Isn't it fascinating that through retreat, John was able to find himself again?  Maybe he didn't 'find himself' but discovered who he was supposed to be for this time in his life.  As Christian, this act should not be foreign to us.  We are a people who, like our Savior, practice the spiritual discipline of solitude and silence.  We need to take the time to evaluate our souls, and in our busy world, we rarely take that chance.  Unfortunately the church has not helped this discipline because in order to get people to on the 'retreats' we fill them with fun activities that everyone will enjoy.  Instead of silence, prayer, reflection, and solitude, there is shopping, games, fellowship, and food.  I believe in the core principle of fellowship- don't get me wrong.  But when Jesus went off to pray, he went off to pray.  It wasn't about who was going with him, what they were going to do, or where they were headed.  John, like Jesus, just went off into the wilderness.  He came back a new person.  This is what happens when we take some time to take a good hard look at our souls.  We see our need for grace and live into this reality.
  
Shadow Days-

Did you know that you could be wrongAnd swear you're rightSome people been known to do itAll their livesBut you find yourself aloneJust like you found yourself beforeLike I found myself in piecesOn the hotel floorHard times have helped me see

I'm a good man, with a good heartHad a tough time, got a rough startBut I finally learned to let it goNow I'm right here, and I'm right nowAnd I'm open, knowing somehowThat my shadow days are overMy shadow days are over now

Well I ain't no troublemakerAnd I never meant her harmBut it doesn't mean I didn't make it hard to carry on
Well it sucks to be honest
And it hurts to be real
But it's nice to make some love
That I can finally feel
Hard times let me be

Changeless & Change

There is great insight when one can know the difference between what is changeless and what can be changed.  Below is some reflection from the teaching of Dr. John Ed Mathison.  I am grateful for his leadership and time that he has taken to invest in younger leaders.  

What is changeless when it comes to the church?

The Man  - Hebrews 13:8

The Message – John 3:16

The Mission – Matthew 28:19

What can be changed then?

Mindset – Philippians 2:5

Methodology- 1 Corinthians 9:20-22

Ministries – Acts 10:45

Let us not be confused that if we change the things that need to be changed that we are in any way changing the core and fundamental truths about who Christ is, what he has come to do, and now the calling that He has given to us as His body. 

Methodism began as a movement and it has now become a monument... how can we recapture our movement again?  

Finding Contentment.

Richard Foster powerfully depicts the benefits of contentment, then challenges us to think through this paradox: as Christians, we cannot be contented with what is wrong, destructive and sinful:


“Think of the misery that comes into our lives by our restless gnawing greed. We plunge ourselves into enor- mous debt and then take two and three jobs to stay afloat. We uproot our families with unnecessary moves just so we can have a more prestigious house. We grasp and grab and never have enough. And most destructive of all, our flashy cars and sports spectaculars and backyard pools have a way of crowding out much interest in civil rights or inner city poverty or the starved masses of India. Greed has a way of severing the cords of compas- sion. How clearly the Apostle Paul saw this when he warned that our lust for wealth causes us to fall into ‘many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction’ (I Tim. 6:9).
But we do not need to be imprisoned to avarice. We can be ushered into a life of peace and serenity. With Paul we can say, ‘If we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.’ (I Tim. 6:8)
I wish I could end our discussion of contentment on this high note. But as you have probably already real- ized, contentment has certain difficulties. The great problem with a principle of contentment is its tendency to baptize the status quo, to give religious sanction to present conditions. It is the kind of counsel that the powerful enjoy giving to the poor and defenseless. Often it is the very spirit of discontent that has prompted wonderful changes for the good. There is a kind of holy restlessness that inspires important social advances. And so we are faced with the practical issue of knowing when our disquiet stems from a God-given concern to improve con- ditions, and when it is the result of self-serving greed. There are, of course, no fool-proof answers, but I share the following guidelines in the hope that they may at least turn us in the right direction.
First, we can share the concern with other brothers and sisters whose discernment we respect. Second, if our restlessness has its root in anguish over the plight of those whose condition is clearly desperate, most likely it is of the Lord. Third, if the concern involves the well-being of our children, it is often right. Fourth, if we are want- ing to improve our own state, we should not automatically assume that it is wrong. Fifth, let us consider if our discontent has its source in a lack of inward peace with Christ. Sixth, we need to learn to distinguish a genuine psychological need, such as cheerful surroundings, from an obsession. Seventh, we must grow in our discernment between desires that spring from Heavenly Love and those arising from the love of money. Eighth, by an act of the will we must still every motion that is centered in greed.” 


(Richard Foster, Freedom of Simplicity. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981, pp. 88, 89) 

Setbacks

For further reflection and growth...


“Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplica- tion with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” --Philippians 4:6-7, NRSV


Scriptures to read this week:
Mark 2:1-5 (for insight into how God means for us to bear one another up, read 1 Corinthians 12:20-27) 
Matthew 6:25-34 (to see how Jesus encouraged his friends to apply these principles in everyday life, read Luke 10:38-42)
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (for more on the importance of supportive relationships, read Romans 12:8-9) Psalm 91:1-4 (what does a person who trusts God sound like? 
Read 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18) Proverbs 3:5-8 (for insight into one of the main ways we can incorporate God’s wisdom into our life, read Psalm 19:7-11)


Ask yourself:
Is my faith resting on a foundation solid enough to handle whatever “storms” may come my way? What steps can I take right now to strengthen my relationship with God and with others? 

6 Important Words -

This Sunday at Tabernacle as we continue in our Game of Life Series -

6 Important Words: I am sorry. I forgive you.

C. S. Lewis describes the difficulty and the spiritual importance of forgiveness:

“I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him….not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says ‘Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.’ But excusing says ‘I see that you couldn’t help it or didn’t mean it; you weren’t really to blame.’ If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive. In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites. Of course…there may be a mixture of the two….There usually is some amount of excuse, some ‘extenuating circumstances.’ We are so very anxious to point these out to God (and to ourselves) that we are apt to forget the really important thing; that is, the bit left over, the bit which the excuses don’t cover, the bit which is inexcusable but not, thank God, unforgivable. And if we forget this, we shall go away imagining that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses….
When it comes to a question of our forgiving other people, it is partly the same and partly different. It is the same because, here also, forgiving does not mean excusing. Many people seem to think….that if you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or bullied them you are trying to make out that there was really no cheating or no bullying. But if that were so, there would be nothing to forgive. They keep on replying, ‘But I tell you the man broke a most solemn promise.’ Exactly: that is precisely what you have to forgive. (This doesn’t mean that you must necessarily believe his next promise. It does mean that you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart—every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out.) The difference between this situation and the one in which you are asking God’s forgiveness is this. In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s we do not accept them easily enough….One must therefore begin by attending to everything which may show that the other man was not so much to blame as we thought. But even if he is absolutely fully to blame we still have to forgive him; and even if ninety-nine percent of his apparent guilt can be explained away by really good excuses, the problem of forgiveness begins with the one per cent of guilt which is left over. To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian character; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
This is hard….How can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’” (Lewis, The Weight of Glory. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1980, pp. 178-183.)