Summertime
There is so much going on this summer. I'm excited and a little scared. I'm preaching on whole books this summer starting this Sunday with Genesis. Yep. The whole book of Genesis in 20 minutes. I haven't been this excited about a sermon in a long time. I think the excitement comes from having the opportunity to show people that the Old Testament is a boring prelude to the New Testament but a vital piece to understanding just how awesomely unbelievable God is and how we don't have to flip pages until we get to Matthew to see Jesus. Stephen Covey said to begin with the end in mind in his best-selling book and that's what I get to do in Genesis. Exciting, I tell you!
Today I launched a new newsletter for the church that I had a blast planning out and designing. Still need a good name for it, but it was fun to write nonetheless.
I'm starting a DMin program called Beeson Pastor Program in August. Well, technically I've already started. I had 16 weeks to read 19 required books. I'm on my way toward completion and I've got two classes I'm taking from July 29-August 24. Can't wait.
Focus
I have a hard time with focus. It really bothers me. Not focusing means details and commitments fall through the cracks. I can't count the number of times I've disappointed people, even in the last week, because I'll say, "I'll do that.", yet forget to do what I said I would do. Or, worse, let it keep dropping to the bottom of the list.
I'm committing myself to greater focus. More than that, I'm committing myself more to Jesus because he never disappoints. One of the ways I'm doing both is by keeping reminders of what's most important in my desk: Word, water, and table. "Take ye authority to preach the word." "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." "Do this in remembrance of me."
Growing in Prayer
I started teaching on some basic matters of discipleship last night and we began with prayer. I'm attaching the notes I wrote up below the fold for those who are interested.
Why pray?
Communicaiton is the most important aspect of any relationship. Prayer is how we communicate with God.
The more we communicate, the more we value what God values and when that happens we start making choices and living more like God in Jesus Christ lived. In order to do this we must abide or remain attached to Jesus in prayer:
John 15:1 (CEB)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. 2 He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. 3 You are already trimmed because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything. 6 If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
μένω - abide, remain, stay. How does a person become a disciple or an apprentice of another person? By staying close. If we want to be a disciple of Jesus we must stay close to him and there's no way to stay close to Jesus that doesn't involve prayer. We must pray.
How many of you feel like you have arrived in prayer? That it's like breathing to you?
Me too. There's a danger in telling people you're going to teach them to pray and that danger is that you shouldn't come off like you know very much yourself. We are all pilgrims and beginners in prayer. A seminary degree means you've completed coursework, not that you know how to pray. Maxie Dunnam writes in his Workbook on Intercessory Prayer, "Emphasis is on growth, not perfection." We're going to emphasize daily, constant growth.
Maxie also says that we learn to pray by praying. Amazing. We're going to spend sometime tonight praying. I'm not going to ask you to pray out loud but I'm going to just to model my limited understanding.
Luke 11:1
Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus was praying and his disciples wanted to know how to pray, so he showed them with the Lord's Prayer. In Matthew 6:5-14, Jesus is preaching the sermon on the mount and says several things about prayer. If we want to pray then we should look to Jesus and learn to pray the way he did it.
Matt. 6:5
“When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. 6 But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
When you pray, don't put on a show.
Matt. 6:7
“When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard.
Don't babble or heap up empty phrases.
8
Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.
Remember, God knows you better than you do and knows what you need. This ought to be of great comfort to us.
9
Pray like this:
Not, pray only this, but pray like this. It's a prayer but it's also a pattern. Let's look at it more closely.
9b
Our Father who is in heaven,
uphold the holiness of your name.
Recognize God's sovereignty and holiness.
Matt. 6:10
Bring in your kingdom
so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven.
Recognize that God's rule is preferable to our control.
Matt. 6:11
Give us the bread we need for today.
Provide for me - God is the source of all our sustenence. Remember, Maslow's heirarchy of needs. Basics are breathing, food, water, etc. Then safety, then love and belonging, then respect, and on down. We don't live in a time and culture in which we need the basic levels of needs, but we need safety, love, and all that. So it might be that we need to pray for that which we cannot provide for ourselves - that which is outside of our control.
Matt. 6:12
Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,
just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.
Forgive us and help us to forgive others. Hard, hard, hard. Peter Kreeft says "Do you realize that everytime you pray the Lord's Prayer you're asking him to damn you to hell if you don't forgive others?" We must keep our hearts free from bitterness and unforgiveness.
Matt. 6:13
And don’t lead us into temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Keep us from temptation and evil. Notice he doesn't say "harm" or "evil that other people do to us." Keep our souls, more or less.
Remember, "Emphasis is on growth, not on perfection." Persistence is the key.
Luke 18:1
Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, 5 but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” 6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? 8 I tell you, he will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on earth?”
E.M. Bounds
He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, he will be in the last place the remainder of the day.
Mark 1:35
Early in the morning, well before sunrise, Jesus rose and went to a deserted place where he could be alone in prayer.
Let’s give is a shot. With persistence, let’s pray like this:
- Recognize God’s sovereignty and holiness.
- Recognize God’s rule and that it is preferable to our control.
- Provide for me - God is the source of everything we need to be sustained.
- Forgive me and help me forgive.
- Keep me from temptation and evil.
Then, intercede.
James 5:13
If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
Creeds and Confessions
Add this to my list of reasons for why I am thrilled to have Tim Tennent as the president of Asbury Theological Seminary. Admittedly, I haven't done any thinking at all regarding the use of creeds, confessions, and affirmations in worship. When I arrived at my current appointment four years ago, the church did not employ creeds, confessions, or affirmations but I wanted to make sure we did in our traditional worship service. I started a rotation that would begin at UMH 800 - the Nicene Creed and would go to UMH 889 - Affirmation from I Timothy 2:5-6; 1:15; 3:16. My rotation skips the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Canada and The World Methodist Social Affirmation. Dr. Tennent has made me rethink my pattern.
I'll add that the most important thing that this post has illuminated for me is how uncritically I've led worship and planned the elements of worship. I mean, for crying out loud, I've not even noticed that the Confession from the Korean Methodist Church or the Modern Affirmation lack statements about the crucifixion and resurrection! I've been saying these creeds since I was a kid and they don't mention the two most important pieces of the gospel proclamation.
Thanks, Dr. Tennent, for helping me to pay attention.
Good Friday
I got all my stuff migrated over to Hover and Squarespace this morning and am loving the new setup. Great companies.
It is Good Friday and, as someone wrote on Twitter, the entire state of Arkansas is talking about a sin instead of the Savior who came to free us from the penalty and power of sin in our lives. May we all look to Christ for our forgiveness and salvation.
For today, it really would be worth your time and attention to read this wonderfully written account of the crucifixion from the perspective of the centurion who said, "Truly, this is the Son of God." It was written by a seminary classmate and is creative and moving.
Sunday's coming!
New Digs
I'm moving my domain to Hover.com (who are awesome) and my hosting to Squarespace (again, awesome). If you're keeping track, most of this is a result of what I've heard on This Week in Tech, MacBreak Weekly, and Back to Work.
Enough with the commericals.
It'll take a couple of days for everything to work over, so.
Separation of Church and Property
This is one of the most interesting stories I've read this week. Get Religion is a great site and I highly recommend it. It's especially important for us United Methodists to understand how these rulings play out given the events in Ohio during the last couple of years and the specter of a church split that's been hovering over General Conference ever since the "amicable separation" was brought up eight years ago.
Indeed
I have a bit of a Mike Breen man-crush at the moment. I've begun to read Building a Discipling Culture (Kindle Version) and read this very early on:
The problem is that most of us have been educated and trained to build, serve and lead the organization of the church. Most of us have actually never been trained to make disciples. Seminary degrees, church classes and training seminars teach us to grow our volunteer base, form system and organizational structures or preach sermons on Sunday mornings and assimilate newcomers from the Sunday service. As we look around as Christendom is crumbling and the landscape of the church is forever changed, a stark revelation emerges: Most of us have been trained and educated for a world that no longer exists.
However, the call to make disciples still remains. It never wavers and never changes.
Breen, Mike (2011-08-16). Building a Discipling Culture (Kindle Locations 94-99). 3DM. Kindle Edition.
(Emphasis mine) I bear the marks of that kind of education as I try to lead and make disciples within the church I lead and the community in which I live. Seminary was great but one thing I've noticed about post-seminary life (I graduated 9 years ago) is that putting all the pieces together is up to me and there were several classes that I took that were out of date as soon as class was over (not to mention dreadful for an introvert like me. Walk up to three random strangers to talk to them about Jesus for an evangelism class? Ugh).
Churches and denominations shouldn't require a Master of Divinity anymore. If they're going to require a masters level education at all it ought to be more like a Master of Missiology. How else are we going to make disciples in an ever-changing world?
How Artists Do Theology
Written by a seminary classmate of mine. Out of my own neurosis which has grown out of C.S. Lewis' An Experiment in Criticism I've not paid much attention to the visual arts (those of you who have read the book will understand) but this wonderful post gives me a desire to give this kind of art a shot.
Maybe I'll go do some theological thinking at Crystal Bridges.
Glorious Relief
I've always scored a very strong "I" in the Meyers-Briggs Inventory which means I am an introvert. My wife has never been able to understand why I was never embarrassed to eat alone in a restaurant or go to the movies by myself. Most of the time, I prefer to read a book over going out with other people. When I attended the Acts 29 Bootcamp in Dallas last March, Matt Chandler directed us to pray together in groups of 3 or 4. I immediately dropped my head in prayer and hoped no one would ask me to join them. When I attended our conference's Connected in Christ program for a total of four weeks over two years, I always went to my room as soon as evening worship was over rather than hanging out with the rest of the group.
I've been called anti-social but, thankfully, Susan Cain has pointed out that I'm "differently social" and so are all the other introverts in the world and the church. I just picked up Cain's book Quiet and am looking forward to reading the rest of it.
If you're interested in reading a little bit more about introverts, check out this post by Alastair Roberts. He is a very sharp thinker and shares a bit about his own life of introversion as well.
I for one look forward to one day meeting Alastair so that we can shake hands and then read quietly together.
What Would Help My Marriage?
Last week was a crazy one in terms of marriage and sex talk by famous pastors. Ed Stetzer did his usual excellent analysis on the information that came out and you can read that here. (I love Ed. He's one of those rare helpful people who wants to help churches of just about any denomination get better at the Great Commission - including Methodists like me. Thank you, Ed, for your kingdom focus!) I don't want to comment on everything in the post, just something that stuck out to me about pastor Ed Young's upcoming bed-in.
The bed-in is supposed to draw attention to Ed and his wife Lisa's new book Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse. I've not read the book yet. I might not because, believe it or not, I feel a little over-sexed by the culture both inside and outside the church. My wife and I enjoy each other and feel practically no inhibition in our bedroom. I'd say that some of the safest and carefree times of our relationship together are when we, to borrow a phrase from Tommy Nelson's Song of Solomon series, renew our marriage covenant. When I look at our relationship and think about deepening our intimacy, sex isn't where we need the most work.
Are we the odd couple within American Christian churches?
What would really deepen our intimacy with one another?
I know the answer to that and I want to trot this thought out there for people who might be thinking, "You know, sex really isn't our problem." Let me entice you to read a blog post that I'm about to link by providing a snippet from a comment left at that particular blog: "I will say that few things make me feel more loved and cared for by my husband than when he___". Now, how would you fill in that blank? How would your spouse fill in that blank? As I judge a book by its cover, Pastor Ed might tell you that sex is the key. While that is important to a marriage, what might turn out to be the most underrated key to lasting intimacy is prayer. (Pastors you should definitely read this post by Brian Croft about praying with your spouse. It's where I took the comment I mentioned).
You want to try something that will increase your vulnerability? Want to really lay yourself bare and naked before the one to whom you have pledged to love and serve "till death do us part"? Want to increase intimacy and, hey, maybe even improve your sex life because you have an even greater connection and commitment to one another? Pray together.
Sure, you expect me to say that. I'm a pastor. I think you should pray. I'm also a gigantic hypocrite because that is one of the biggest weaknesses in my own marriage and I've made a commitment to destroy that weakness. Since that barrier to intimacy is on my mind, sure, I'm thinking a lot about how prayer can contribute to intimacy with my wife. Maybe it would help you, too.
Asbury Seedbed
Asbury Theological Seminary (my alma mater) has just introduced a new resource called Seedbed. Check out this initial post which are two videos, one from J.D. Walt and the other from President Timothy Tennent.
I'm really looking forward to the future of Seedbed.
The Preacher's Danger
I am thinking of unfortunate scholars in foreign universities who cannot 'hold down their jobs' unless they repeatedly publish articles each of which must say, or seem to say, something new about some literary work; or of overworked reviewers, getting through novel after novel as quickly as they can, like a schoolboy doing his 'prep'. For such people reading often becomes mere work. The text before them comes to exist not in its own right but simply as raw material; clay out of which they can complete their tale of bricks.
This is what Bible reading has become for many of us and it is a soul killer. What does it profit a preacher to mine a bunch of alliterated sermon ideas yet forfeit the Word of life waiting for us if we would only linger?
Christmas Eve
From the Bidding Prayer:
And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed; the sick in body and in mind and them that mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; all who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.
Lastly let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.
Service Sheet here
Via
Merry Christmas!
How Efficient is Your Bible Reading?
His post reminds me of a line from Alan Jacobs' book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction:
If most of us read too fast, most of us also read too many books and are unwisely reluctant to return to something we think we already know.
Sermon and Preaching Links
I'll Pray for You
If you're wondering how I was able to take a peek into your past and see accurately it's because I've done it, too. I've had that sinking feeling of knowing I promised to pray but forgot to. I've even developed a habit of not even offering to pray in the future because I know I won't remember to pray even if I write it down.
Until now. Pastoral care, meet iOS 5.
I'm a shameless Apple shill. No doubt. I like things that have a low frustration factor and I can count my frustrating Apple moments on one hand.
But this isn't really about Apple. It's about how easy it is to set a reminder to pray for someone using iOS 5 with Reminders. There's probably always been some workaround to this, but I find Reminders incredibly easy. For instance, I promised to pray for some folks Saturday morning when I'll be out of town. In the past, I'd have a 98% chance of forgetting. This time, however, I set a Reminder for Saturday morning at 10AM.
Boom! Now I know I'll remember to pray.
It Is Finished
O Death, Death, He is come.
O grounds of Hell make room.
Who came from further than the stars
Now comes as low beneath.
Thy ribbèd ports, O Death
Make wide; and Thou, O Lord of Sin,
Lay open thine estates
Lift up your heads, O Gates;
Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors
The King of Glory will come in.
- Gerard Manley Hopkins
There's lots, lots more in his catalog. Lots.
It's 100 Degrees Outside
- The world lost a major voice in the proclamation of the Gospel yesterday. May we humbly and boldly pick up John Stott’s mantle.
- J.D. Walt on why spiritual disciplines often miss the point.
- My friend, Lenny Luchetti, has a book coming out next year on preaching. I can’t wait to read it and benefit from it’s wisdom.
For Future Reference
This is a very real issue and many times we pastors do not seek out the kind of confiding, accountable relationships that would be of great benefit to us for one reason or another. I'm convinced that many pastors slide into depression because we internalize so much and do not share it with anyone for one reason or another.
Part 1 by Paul Tripp (who looks like the older, Christian version of Ron Swanson)
Part 2 by Garrett Higbee
Part 3 by Steve Viars