It was such a small comment.

But I felt offended a bit, insulted.  I did however apply Prov 12.16 to the situation.  It says a fool shows their annoyance at once but the prudent overlook an insult.  That is something I try to do when I am frustrated.  It helps me to not get into unnecessary arguments when they can be avoided, and many times I have discovered that the person who said the annoying thing didn’t mean anything by it.  They meant no offense.

It was the right thing to do.

But later that day I ended up saying something much more thoughtless to someone else.  I never meant my words to be hurtful but they were.   An off-hand remark that I didn’t even notice at the time, but as soon as I was told about it I hurt for them. The person I said it to very graciously brought it up to me privately later.  They offered grace before I even had time to ask for it.

My realization of how easily I can hurt someone with my words makes me desire to offer grace all the more.  What I receive I want to give.

Peace, Jim

I can understand the frustration that many feel when they think about our current political system.  I feel that pursuit of power and lack of willingness to serve is not connected with any political party.  It is a part of who we are as people.  So, I get the idea that “Just vote them out,” only replaces one problem with another.  We are almost always in campaign mode and the problems of our country and world require more focus than they receive.

I can also understand the frustration of those who look at the ways the OWS movement is getting in the way of the commerce of the regular working class people they are claiming to represent.  The excesses, the question of whether it will ever really amount to anything.  Who are the 99%, do they really represent me, and what is it that they would suggest that is better?

This article certainly isn’t the first to handle that dilemma, but I like it and wanted to pass it along.  Thoughts?

Here is the story from Tamara Gignac of the Calgary Herald.  Please know, it isn’t the heart of what Paul Ade is doing that is the problem as much as the cheese factor of the naming.

CALGARY — Tiny ghosts and goblins hoping for sugary snacks may find something odd in their loot bags this Halloween: a bible.

A Calgary pastor is promoting Jesus Ween, a faith-based alternative to the traditional holiday fare of candy and spooky garb.

Instead of chocolate bars and gummy bears, he’s asking people to shun demonic costumes and instead dole out pocket-sized bibles or other “Christian gifts.”

The idea has caught on in communities across North America, according to Jesus Ween creator Paul Ade. He’s hoping it will bring a new perspective to an otherwise pagan festival, he said.

“I do not associate myself with ghosts, demons, Satan and witches. These are things I want to get rid of,” he said.

“If it’s OK for a child to know about demons, it should also be OK for a child to know about Jesus.”

Jesus Ween has attracted international attention, with media reports circulating as far away as Britain.

The Calgary man’s efforts to reinvent Halloween even prompted parody south of the border, with recent gags from U.S. pop culture satirist Stephen Colbert and late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel.

Ade admits he was surprised by some of the negative reaction from the media, but insists he doesn’t take the criticism personally. “I can take a joke. I can laugh. This is not about saying, ‘Jesus for everybody and nothing else,’” he said.

As of Thursday, Jesus Ween had more than 4,000 supporters on Facebook. Fans of the movement have erected billboards in Toronto and some people have put bumper stickers on vehicles.

The pastor has 200 “kid-friendly” bibles ready to distribute to Calgary children on Monday. “I don’t think we’re ruining anybody’s fun. Getting a bible is not getting a bomb. It’s nothing really bad,” Ade said.

But some local Christians say they see nothing pious about Jesus Ween and wonder why the anti-Halloween movement has attracted followers at all.

The insertion of Jesus into a harmless holiday reserved for treats and spooky pumpkins is a turnoff, argues John Van Sloten, the pastor of New Hope Church.

“I think it’s awful. It feeds into the stereotype that to be a person who follows Christ is to be against everything outside of the church,” said Van Sloten.

“I’m kind of appalled by someone doing this.”

Paul Verhoef, a Christian chaplain at the University of Calgary, isn’t a fan of the idea either. If people feel compelled to put a religious twist on the day, he’d rather they perform simple acts of kindness on Oct. 31.

For instance, students at the university are dressing up in costume and asking for food donations to give to the Interfaith Foodbank, an event dubbed Trick or Eat.

“If you want to respond to Halloween in a way that says, ‘Let’s live our lives more deeply in a particular faith,’ Jesus Ween seems on the lower end of a thousand possibilities,” said Verhoef.

Nevertheless, Ade says he has the support of much of the city’s evangelical community, to say nothing of the scores of supporters in other parts of Canada and the United States.

He’s optimistic Oct. 31 will soon be associated with Jesus, not bloody zombies and evil spirits. “Those that love the idea have not been as vocal as those who don’t,” he said. “Most of the Christian pastors we’ve talked to personally believe this is a great deal.”

Like many holidays celebrated in North America, Halloween — which means All Hallows Eve — has both pagan and Christian roots.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

What is clear here is that the church leadership is trying to blend two things that I feel are not good to blend.  1) the scriptural challenge to help one another out – this one I like; and then 2) the cultural value of keeping others away from us – this one I don’t.

It would seem that the church is so comfortable maintaining distance between the leadership and the members that they don’t see the disconnect.  So you get “Please help out by sending over meals – but give them to the limo drivers, please don’t come by our home.”

Am I the only one who is bothered by this?

If you want a brief rundown of the ensuing years, hit this.

And so began the Protestant movement, even though it wasn’t called that until a number of years later.

I am a product of that, especially now that I am a pastor of a non-denominational church near Va. Tech.  My question is, “do we as Protestants, or better yet, do I as a Protestant, protest too much?”  This question comes up as we as a church are in the midst of a series on the Lord’s Prayer.  A prayer that many recite weekly in church’s all over the world.

We as a church don’t.

And my question is, is that good?  Is it good to include in the general flow of a Sunday gathering time something that can easily become rote and mundane?  Or the counter, is it wise to not regularly participate in one of the traditions the church has widely participated in over the centuries?

My concern with the former is that we can easily mishandle very sacred things.  A bit like eating on the good china everyday somehow reduces the specialness of it.  But my concern with not engaging in its reading and reciting is that I am pushing away something very valuable just to show that we are different.

To be fair, to me and the elder team I lead with, we have thought about this a great deal.  We aren’t just pushing away tradition for the sake of pushing away tradition.  But, on the anniversary of this moment in time that truly created a fork in the road, I do wonder if there are areas I simply protest for reasons less well thought out.  How much of my decision making is influenced by the fact I am a Protestant, who is in ministry primarily among generations that are much more comfortable determining what they are against than what they are for.

So… thoughts?

Peace, Jim

I think that God is calling me to focus on a posture of grace and receptivity in this next season of life and ministry.  Just before my sabbatical started, I had the opportunity to be a part of a coaches’ training time through Ecclesia.  A good friend was leading it out.  Overall great stuff, fairly Jungian (in a good way), listening stuff.  The leader, Brian helped me to bring together the discipline of asking good questions and through doing so, helping someone hear God’s voice.

What struck me was how difficult it was to not insert my own.

In his fantastic book, Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcom Gladwell hits on that very thought.  “The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.” (p. 265)  His point is that we have the capacity to, in areas that we feel competent and experienced in, to make blink judgements.  Draw conclusions in two seconds.  The longer I walk with God, I grow both more comfortable and less with that.

I am probably more comfortable, challenged, and clear on what God wants me to do than I have been in a long time.  I am seeing fruit from my efforts – it is working.  In the way I have asked God to make it work, on the timeline that I have asked for it to work.  It doesn’t always happen that way, so I love the ride.  That gives me a sense of confidence.

But I am learning I need to handle my confidence carefully.  The line between confidence in God’s work in my life and through my life and arrogance can be a very thin one.  I should know, I have crossed it many times and fully expect to cross it many more.  This isn’t a new thought.  Eugene Peterson, a writer who truly is a pastor for pastors, says that it is out of arrogance that pastors don’t submit to keeping a sabbath.  That they grow more confident in their own power and ability and so look to God less and less for his.  “American religion is conspicuous for its messianically pretentious energy, its embarassingly banal prose, and its impatiently hustling ambition.” ― Eugene H. Peterson

So, God has been taking opportunities like my coaches training, sabbatical, and watching men and women that I have been building into take those things and apply them their own ways, to show me my limits.  My weaknesses.

Paul the apostle said this, “Each time he said, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. 2 Cor 12.9

I am working to get there.

Again, this needs to be emphasized.  I love that God has blessed me with at least some wisdom and experience.  Scripture refers to it a bit like a prize you receive if you persevere.  I love that I have been serving in the context of [nlcf] for this long.  I love that it seems that my gifts are useful.  So the issue isn’t the wisdom, or the strength that it brings.  The issue is that all too often I can forget that God gave that wisdom to me, that this isn’t my accomplishment.  God has done the heavy lifiting.

Also, weakness in this context doesn’t mean I am hopeless, quite the opposite.  God is calling me to remember that I have been adopted into his family.  That he is available to me personally and as I move as a part of the family of God.  I am not weak at all, God gives me more than enough to walk through everything I will encounter…  My weakness means that I don’t rely on my own power, but his.  Not my own wisdom, but his.  Not my own plans, but his.

So, one of the things I saw over my sabbatical was that this next season of my life needs to involve more careful listening, more focus on how I need to move in God’s power and not my own.  My weakness is my strength.

My prediction is that I will do it better than anyone ever has before.  Count on it.  :)  Oh wait….

Peace, Jim

They would be right.  My last posts were in the buildup to my sabbatical in May.  It does beg the question, how has the cyber-world managed without having me dropping quality content a couple of times a week?  :)  

I’m back.  And I have been reflecting on my reflecting.

Last February marked the start of my 15th year with [nlcf].  Last April I turned 40.  Last August, Emma, our youngest started at Blacksburg Middle School and our oldest, Noah, started High School.   In September I developed my first knee issue.

Many things that remind me that I am getting older.  Don’t get me wrong, overall I like getting older.  I like the wisdom that God is giving me as I walk through life.  I love the experiences that I am acquiring, love seeing our kids get older and take on new challenges, inlcuding the always overlooked middle child, Seth (I should know, I was a middle too). If I have to grow older, God has given me the greatest woman that I could ever hope for to grow old with.  

But, it begs the question, if 15 years, likely 1/3 of my work life is already in the books, is there anything that God would like to say that I haven’t been willing to hear, able to hear, ready to hear?  In Romans, Paul was led by God to write a very simple statement that is quite a bit more complex to live out than it seems.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Rom 12.2

Seems fairly straightforward, no?  But that was just my question to God.  Am I being more conformed to the pattern of this world, or more conformed to the pattern of the kingdom of God?  It would seem the difference would be obvious, but it isn’t, at least not to me.

• Has my effort to build God’s kingdom actually been about building mine?
• Has my focus on what God is calling me to do actually become a way to tune him out?
• Has the fact that for the past 15 years my walk with God and my job have been so intertwined made it so that my relationship with God is less about God and more about my job?
• And if I don’t have this to do full time, what will it be like for me at home?  Will the kids want me there, Tracy?

I really wasn’t sure about any of these things.  But I knew God was walking me into a time where he could bring much or all of that into clarity.  Sometimes its great to get answers, and other times, the scariest thing God could do is give us a strait-forward answer to our question.  

Over the next few weeks I’ll share some of the thoughts I came across.  I don’t claim that they will all help anyone else.  My hope is that they will, but the main purpose of this is to reflect on my reflection.

Peace, Jim

I am sensing God’s voice in a few areas, have done some very prelimary work on the next book, read ten others, and have been able to study a number of scriptural areas in great depth.  All this while our family planted a garden, traveled a bit, took a few naps and have had a lot of family time!

My sabbatical ends Aug 6 and things will be nuts for a while.  I should be back in the blogging groove by early Sept.

Peace!

Jim

Fair question with an easy answer.  Since May 15^th I have been on sabbatical, and for the roughly month and a half before that, I was getting ready to go on that sabbatical.  It got a little nuts.

The first six weeks of my sabbatical is intended to be a writing sabbatical where I would be able to do some very preliminary work on the next book; very preliminary.   I also want to continue some things to help promote the first one.  The second six weeks would be straight sabbating.  Some focused reflection in the morning and then just enjoying whatever we as a family wanted to do, by ourselves or with friends.

A bunch of people have asked what the point of a sabbatical is.

• Is it just an elaborate word for vacation?
• Is it an indicator that Tracy and I are about to move somewhere else?
• Am I taking it because my life is spinning a bit out of control?

To the second question.  No.  Certainly God has the ability to guide us wherever he chooses to, but, no indications that we are leaving the area or [nlcf] anytime soon.

Now for the first question, is this just another word for a vacation? The simple answer is, kinda.  The word we get vacation from is actually vacationem (nom. vacatio) “leisure, a being free from duty.  It also means freedom or release from an occupation or duty.  So, in that way, it does fit.  This summer I am not doing the things that I have spent the last 15 years doing in my ministry work as they relate to my job.  No teaching, no coaching of staff and leaders, no meetings, no planning, no assessing, no networking or helping out with any of the churches, congregations, and non-profits [nlcf] has started or helped to start.  I certainly continue to live my life as a follower of Jesus, I just don’t do certain occupational activities I have been doing for [nlcf].

That is certainly a release from my occupational duties.  And it has been great!

However, it doesn’t fit most people’s idea of a vacation in other ways.  The term sabbatical comes from the Mosaic code of the Old Testament.  It meant, the 7^th year where the land was to remain untilled, slaves were to have been released, and debtors relieved of their debts.  If you look at the Mosaic code, you get the intent of the sabbatical or Sabbath year.  It wasn’t just do take a random break, it was to take a reprieve from the demands of yearly planting so the ground could actually be more fruitful in the future.  It was to stop doing some things to remember more fully who God created them to be.

That is very similar to what I am trying to do. I have been on staff with [nlcf] for 15 years.  I started as a staffer who had never led a small group and who was still a pretty new follower of Jesus.  Think of where I started as the equivalent of the corporate mailroom.  As the years progressed I have had just about every job in [nlcf] you can have.  I even led worship one pitiful Sunday.

The reason I think God guided me to ask for the sabbatical this summer, and the reason I think he guided my co-pastors, friends and Tracy to encourage it, was that I needed to take time away and let the ground remain untilled.  Get away from the demands of helping to guide a church and all that requires and take time to allow the ground to soak up a few extra nutrients.  Step back a bit and reflect on whether I am becoming more fully the man God has created me to be.

I have already had more time to spend with my family, and that has been wonderful.  God speaks to me so much through them.  I have already read five great books and look forward to many more.  I have been able to sit down and read Leviticus in a sitting (not everyone would say that is a good thing)   I have had more time than normal to pray and more time than normal to reflect.  We have had a few neighbors over, with plans for more.  We have had the opportunity to help a few people that needed it.   We have planted a garden for the first time ever and I am getting to some yard and house work that has been long overdue.

We look forward to going to several other local churches to see how they approach God as a community and that will be great.  We will get to spend a couple of weeks at the beach as well.

Tomorrow, or maybe later , I will go into more of why I think this time is so valuable in spite of the difficulty of getting everything ready.  I will also get to the issue of whether I am taking this sabbatical because I am about to spin out of control. Until then, thanks to everyone who is doing a bit more this summer so I can do a lot less.  Mike and Joe, you have made me feel very free to really get away.  Thank you.  Sarah, you not only helped me get ready for this, but you have been a great gatekeeper so that I don’t get drawn into things that I would like to get drawn into, thanks!   Jeanette and Steve I suspect one of the things we are seeing through this summer is how unnecesary I am.  I have had no doubt you two can handle whatever comes up on the campus side this summer.  Thanks.  To the rest of the staff team (especially the wise one who took me off the staff listserve ) thanks for praying for us during this great time.  To our board, thanks for approving it when we are working on big stuff with both congregations, planting another church and starting a Masters cohort in the fall.  Some would have said to wait, but didn’t.  Thanks.

Until tomorrow-ish.

Peace, Jim

And I remember his friends.

11 “Three of Job’s friends were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. 12 When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to demonstrate their grief. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. And no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.”  Job 2.11,12

So, Job’s friends hear that he is suffering and decide to come and comfort him.  When they got there, his pain is so overwhelming they just sit with him for a week.  Just spend that time with him.  Amazing.

Then they started to talk.

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job: 2 ”How long will you go on like this? Your words are a blustering wind. 3 Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right? 4 Your children obviously sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. 5 But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, 6 if you are pure and live with complete integrity, he will rise up and restore your happy home. 7 And though you started with little, you will end with much. 8″Just ask the former generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors. 9 For we were born but yesterday and know so little. Our days on earth are as transient as a shadow. 10 But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you from the wisdom of former generations. 11 ”Can papyrus reeds grow where there is no marsh? Can bulrushes flourish where there is no water? 12 While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither. 13 Such is the fate of all who forget God. The hope of the godless comes to nothing. 14Everything they count on will collapse. They are leaning on a spiderweb. 15 They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last. They try to hold it fast, but it will not endure. 16 The godless seem so strong, like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden. 17 Its roots grow down through a pile of rocks to hold it firm. 18 But when it is uprooted, it isn’t even missed! 19 That is the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it.20 ”But look! God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he make evildoers prosper. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. 22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be destroyed.”

I remember the first time I read this I almost yelled at the page.  ”You are wrong Bildad!  Watch what God is going to do”  I thought this about all Job’s friends.

But as I have read this account over the years, I don’t know, I think I’m starting to see the wisdom in what they were saying. Basically Bildad was saying that our actions impact how God responds.  He talked about how reeds cannot grow where there is no marsh.  He cautioned Job not to trust his own wisdom too much, to learn from the wisdom of others.

How is any of that bad?

I have started to realize that I kind of like Bildad.  Sometimes I wonder if I am a bit like Bildad.

The more I read the account of Job the more I wonder if it wasn’t that what Bildad said was wrong, as much as it was that he was overly confident that he was right.   Bildad was taking the information that was available to him and was simply coming to a conclusion that made sense.

One of the many wild parts about the account of Job is that we the reader got to see behind the curtain a little bit.  Certainly that was part of the reason it was written the way it was.  The Holy Spirit wanted us to see the reality of Satan, the fact that he really does accuse us and cause us great harm, and the fact that while God doesn’t stop him completely, he does keep him bound within certain restraints.

What we see that Bildad didn’t, was that there was much more going on than he was seeing.  What we see that Bildad didn’t was that Bildad himself, in his assessment of what was happening, hadn’t left room for God to do things that none of them expected.  That yes, God was going to allow Job to walk through true horror.  And at the end of it that God would restore everything.  That yes, God wasn’t going to fully restrain Satan (as we have talked about many times before) but that Satan was still subject to God.  And that yes, because Job went through what he did, we gain a great deal of information about the reality of the world we exist in.

Bildad hadn’t left room for God to be unexpected.  I wonder how often I am the same way?

Too often I fear I simply take the data, run it through the algorithm I have developed, then watch the answer spit out the other side.  As my sabbatical progresses I am wondering if God is wanting me to give him more room to be unexpected.  I am wondering if he wants me to be slower to draw my conclusions and quicker to engage him through the Spirit.

We will have to see how that goes, eh?

Peace, Jim