I guess I have a few concerns about this whole . Â I mean, beyond the potential misuse of millions of dollars in endowment
money…
What is clear here is that the church leadership is trying to blend two things that I feel are not good to blend. Â 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. Â 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?
On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar  approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation.
If you want a brief rundown of the ensuing years, hit .
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. Â My question is, “do we as Protestants, or better yet, do I as a Protestant, protest too much?” Â This question comes up as we as a church are in the midst of a series on the Lord’s Prayer. Â 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? Â Is it good to include in the general flow of a Sunday gathering time something that can easily become rote and mundane? Â 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. Â A bit like eating on the good china everyday somehow reduces the specialness of it. Â 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. Â We aren’t just pushing away tradition for the sake of pushing away tradition. Â 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. Â 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
So… what did you learn over your sabbatical? Â Â I mean, the question itself is tough. Â But I do feel that God showed me
a couple of things…  One of the things that I have been reflecting on for the past number of months is my posture. Not my physical posture, although that is something I have been trying to be more aware of. My spiritual posture. My emotional posture.
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 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, , 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.
Whew… Â As they say where I grew up, it has been a bit of a while. Â
They would be right. Â My last posts were in the buildup to my sabbatical in May. Â It does beg the question, how has the cyber-world managed without having me dropping quality content a couple of times a week? Â 🙂 Â
I’m back. Â And I have been reflecting on my reflecting.
Last February marked the start of my 15th year with [nlcf]. Â Last April I turned 40. Â Last August, Emma, our youngest started at Blacksburg Middle School and our oldest, Noah, started High School. Â In September I developed my first knee issue.
Many things that remind me that I am getting older. Â Don’t get me wrong, overall I like getting older. Â I like the wisdom that God is giving me as I walk through life. Â 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. Â
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? Â 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. Â 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? Â But that was just my question to God. Â Am I being more conformed to the pattern of this world, or more conformed to the pattern of the kingdom of God? Â It would seem the difference would be obvious, but it isn’t, at least not to me.
I really wasn’t sure about any of these things. Â But I knew God was walking me into a time where he could bring much or all of that into clarity. Â 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. Â
Over the next few weeks I’ll share some of the thoughts I came across. Â I don’t claim that they will all help anyone else. Â My hope is that they will, but the main purpose of this is to reflect on my reflection.
Peace, Jim
Just checking in to update that my sabbatical is going very well. Â If anything, it is going by too fast!
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. Â 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. Â I should be back in the blogging groove by early Sept.
Peace!
Jim
So, a number of people have contacted me and asked about why my postings have dropped over the past few months.
Fair question with an easy answer. Since May 15th 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.
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 7th 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.
I remember the first time I read Job. Â I remember reading the wild account of God and Satan interacting. Â I remember the tension of a real Satan that was seeking to harm humanity in real ways being allowed some freedom to work by God, while at the same time being contained beyond a certain point as well. Â I remember Job’s life being ripped to shreds by Satan. Â I remember Job’s very visceral suffering, his understandible anguish at the loss of so much in his life. Â I remember Satan’s claim that Job would eventually curse God and I remember wondering if he would.
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. Â When they got there, his pain is so overwhelming they just sit with him for a week. Â Just spend that time with him. Â Amazing.
Then they started to talk.
At a coffee shop and restaurant I frequent I was called on the carpet for what Harold and his devotees have been saying.  My friends’ eyes would gleam as they razzed me for being connected to the same faith as Family Radio.  Honestly, I used to get so angry when a Christian would step up to the bad quote plate and swing for the fences.  I would have to answer for them.  It seemed like every bad quote, every unkind, unreflected on sentiment, made my faith seem more and more silly to more and more people.  These people were seen as jokes and Jesus (and I) was often thrown in with them.
Harold Camping, founder of the Christian station Family Radio, also known as the man who sounded the May 21 Doomsday alarm, warned the world will start falling apart as each time zone reached the six oclock hour. Â First we would experience an earthquake that “would put what Japan experienced to shame,” we would experience the Rapture, followed by five months of suffering for those who remained on earth. Â Â The 89 year old Camping has predicted the end of the world before. Â On Sunday he was quoted by the San Franciso Chronicle as being “flabbergasted his calculation was off.” Â Again.
Oh Harold.
But I don’t get angry at people like this anymore. Â I do get angry at the problems they cause. Â The followers of his highly obscure
teachings, his weird numbering of the 3,000th anniversary of the flood of Noah, a thirty three year season of tribulation of the church, and a level of certainty of the year of the death of Jesus that few share, have been devastated.  Their faith is understandibly shaken.  Life savings’ have been spent on getting the word out about what was to happen on Saturday.  Even Camping’s own family has been torn apart by all this.
I do get angry at that.
For me, I try to look at what is going on in the world around me and look for what God is trying to say to me through it. Â What I noticed is that I really don’t think about Jesus’ return very much. Â With so many challenges in my life now, Jesus’ second coming rarely comes to mind. Â That is not a good thing to me.
And so, we are delivered to the last day of this posting. Â It is so perfect that this prayer is our prayer for today. Â I have been saving this one as it touches on the the truly profound human suffering that Christ endured. Â Let this be our focus on this Friday, the day that our Messiah was crucified.
I have loved this journey with you. Â It has been a blessing to me even as I hope it has blessed your soul as well.
BLOODY LORD, you are just too real. Blood is sticky, repulsive, frightening. Â We do not want to be stuck with a sacrificial God who bleeds. Â We want a spiritual faith about spiritual things, things bloodless and abstract. Â We want sacrificial spirits, not sacrificed bodies. Â But you have bloodied us with your people Israel and your Son, Jesus. Â We fear that by being Jesus’ people we too might have to bleed. Â If such is our destiny, we pray that your will, not ours, be done. Â AMEN. Â — Stanley Hauerwas.
For the last time in this series.
Peace, Jim
And now, we are at the next to the last post in this long series. Â 
THANK YOU LORD, for making us thankful. Â We thank you for life itself; for the energy your passion for your creation gives us; for friendships though which we discover our lives; for love that reminds us we are bodies; for that body called the church, where our bodies are enlarged; for the Eucharist, the great thanksgiving, in which we are made part of your redemption. For all this we thank you. Â AMEN. Â — Stanley Hauerwas
Thankfully with you, Jim
