Christmas Rest

(Gransdson and Grandpa on Christmas Eve)

O ye, beneath life's crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow.

Look now for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing

O rest beside the weary road

And hear the angels sing. (Edmund Sears)

For my yoke is easy; And my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)

I love Christmas Eve. The church is decked. The hymns are beautiful. Christmas is upon us whether we are ready or not.  There is no more making ready for Jesus.  No more wrapping of gifts. No more trips to the post office. No more swiping of the credit card. The baby comes and again He makes His home in our hearts.

And it is just the beginning...

Because then there is Christmas day.  It is full of wide-eyed wonder.  The anticipation of weeks and weeks finally arrives. Families gather and presents are presented.  Gifts are given and gifts are received and unwrapped.  And after the gifts are opened, we prepare food, we assemble toys, we clean up, we do the dishes...and, then, the beautiful hymns come reverberating through our head, "O rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing."

But there is no time to listen, let alone to rest beside the weary road.

Soon, we will be boxing up the Christmas decorations. The season of Christmas will slide into Epiphany.   The Christmas tree will come down and the elf will go back on the shelf.  We will drift into ordinary time and back to work and our forms will, once again, be bending low...

And I am convinced that all of this why our Savior came. God wants more for us in life than painful steps and slow. God desires for us to see the light and experience the wonder and enjoy our families gathering and gifts given and received, and not just at Christmas, but all year long.  And if it sounds exhausting, it's not that we don't desire Jesus to come and live in our hearts, we just realize that we don't have the time and resources to make Christmas happen more than one day a year.  Not like this.  In our labor, we miss the promise and the real Christmas magic: The yoke is easy and the burden is light and glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing.

We can do Christmas differently. My wife and I are already talking about simplifying next year. We are getting rid of some old stuff, and God has snowed us in.  I believe it is God's way of telling us to rest beside the weary road and let the Savior come again in to our overwrought hearts. In fact, it is my prayer for me, our family, your family, and Christ's church to dare to take time in the midst of it all, to stop, to wonder, to see the beauty, and hear the angels sing. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

White Wave Manifesto: The House of God

(Our "Restoration House")

·                     All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Acts 2:45)

.·                     Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; (1 Corinthians 6:19)

*          Thus says the Lord: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool' what is the house which you would build for me, and what is place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and all these things are mine," says the Lord. (Isaiah 6:1-2a)

Stephen quotes and exegetes the Isaiah passage (above) in Acts 7 and is promptly stoned to death.  And even today, the suggestion that the church can be healthy without a building, in many circles, is met with stony anger.

Our family lives in an older home in an older neighborhood. It seems that the domicile is in constant need of repair. A friend has christened it, "Restoration House." The name is not quite as cool as "Wuthering Heights" or "Misselthwaite Manor", but it is apropos.  There are, of course, the immediate needs...a leak in the sink, and a back door that doesn't work right, and a water heater that doesn't heat water.  And there are the needs that we know are coming and we pray won't happen today...an ancient furnace that needs replaced. A sewer line that is crumbling with the weight of fifty years of earth.  It takes a lot of time and energy to keep up with the Restoration House.

It also takes a lot of time and energy to keep up with the house of God.  And that isn't a bad thing, until it begins to erode the main thing.

Sometimes, when I am working on the bathroom or even mowing the lawn or cleaning up the kitchen, one of our sons will come in and ask, "Daddy, will you play with me?" The miracle is that they keep asking even though they know the usual rejoinder, "I'd love to, buddy, but I have to finish fixing the chicken coop."

We do the same thing in church. We get busy painting bathrooms and vacuuming the carpet and cleaning the windows. We replace gutters and we plant, weed, and water the front flower bed. And there is nothing wrong with these things, until they erode the main thing.  "Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourselves." (Luke 10:27)

Our relationship with the house of God can just as easily become a substitute for God as our relationship with our house can become a substitute for our family. I've sometimes wondered what would happen if we were to sell our churches.  What would happen if we were to sell our homes? In the short-term, there might be flashes of anger and tears of disappointment.  Stones might be thrown.  But in the long run, my suspicion is that neither the body of Christ or my own children would suffer greatly. In fact, we might just rediscover the main thing.

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.

White Wave Manifest: Friends for the Journey

Will...and a couple of friends.

*          Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? (I Corinthians 6:15a)

*          It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you
and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples...(Deuteronomy 7:7)

As a parent, I admit, it is easy to get distracted by the accomplishments of other parents' children.  "My son just made first chair cello in high school...and the varsity swim team...and is fluent in ancient Aramaic. We always knew that he was gifted.  After all, he was potty-trained at ten months." Then, I think of my own child, who does an awesome "pencil" on the diving board, loves to bang on the drums with his friend David, and is fluent in Laffy Taffy jokes. Is that so bad?  And if it isn't, why do I feel so inadequate as a parent?

And as a pastor, I admit, it was easy for me to get distracted by the accomplishments of other pastor's churches. "We just broke ground on our new arena...and we baptized 300 last week...and we are sending three million dollars to international missions this year alone!" Then I think of my own church. We stripped-out our angel tree, one  year, by the third week in Advent!  And I remember making a hospital visit and found three other parishioners had already been there that morning. One year, our membership didn't decline by a single person. Is that so bad? And if it isn't, why do I feel so inadequate as a pastor?   

For parents and for pastors, in families and in churches, the problem is that we often put our emphasis on the wrong things.  As parents, we celebrate what our children do, not who they are. As churches, we celebrate the numbers and tally up our successes and pay no mind to what really counts.

I remember one fall, we took our children out of all fall activities. No more soccer. No more cub scouts. No more Aramaic. There was school and church and lots of fun climbing trees, and building awesome Lego creations.  Most importantly, our sons figured out again what it was like to have friends for the journey.

What if we did the same thing as a church?  What if we quit counting members?  What if we actually deleted the membership roles all together? Would things change? Could things get any worse?

* Only 10% of all Christians possess a biblical worldview that informs their thinking and behavior. (Barna, George, The Habits of Highly Effective Churches)

* Of the 38% of Americans that attend worship, only 22% of them engage in any additional  Christian education.(Willimon, William, The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry)

So, maybe it is a time to quit counting and discover, again, those things that are really important; things like visiting church members in the hospital, spreading a little light in dark places, and climbing trees.  Maybe we, as a church, can quit counting and figure out again what it is like to have good friends along for the journey.

Church Stopping. More being. Less doing.

White Wave Manifest: Household Chores

(Sam, mowing. Now, about the leaves.)

And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all the people also will go to their place in peace." (Exodus 18:22-23)

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to tech you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. (Hebrews 5:12)

In our home, there are household chores.  My wife and I will drive to the bus stop and run the chain saw, but the boys are expected to run the vacuum and put the dishes away.  Instead of constant reminders and supervision, it would be easier, sometimes, for us to just take care of it; mow the lawn, take out the garbage when it is overflowing, or wash the dishes.  My wife is very capable of setting the table and feeding the chickens and splitting the wood herself, and there would be less headache for her if she did just that.  If our boys weren't expected to pack their own lunch, life would be much easier for the two of us and more comfortable for them.

However, being comfortable and easy is not the goal.

Jethro, Moses' father-in law, told Moses to appoint other leaders to help judge the people, not so that they could remain comfortable in the desert, but so that they could 'go to their place in peace.'

In the New Testament, the early church is reminded that they need to teach others the faith and care for new believers, not constantly need someone to feed them.

We still need these reminders today; no one person should be expected to do everything and we all need to share in teaching others the faith.  Sometimes, we seek to stay comfortable where we are.  We are comfortable in hiring someone to preach, teach, and outreach for us. Sometimes, we hire more than one person.  It allows us to say where we are and drink milk. And for church staff, it is often easier for them to do the preaching, teaching, and outreaching for us rather than train, equip and nag us to do it ourselves. 

However, being comfortable and easy is not the goal.

But what if we hired part-time staff?  What if we hired the human resources executive to handle payroll and the college professor to teach Sunday School?  What if there was a stay-at-home mother or a retired Grandfather with lots of experience with young children and we employed them to run the children's ministries?  

Most of the time, our churches don't need more full-time ministers. They need less.  Jesus chose tax-collectors, fishermen, and harlots over professionally trained priests, lawyers and clergy.

I am not suggesting that we fire our full-time pastors, just that we don't think of them as full-time. Rather, we should think of them as part-time preachers and part-time chaplains, and part-time visionairies.  This leaves room for others that might be called to preach, or call on shut-ins, or dream big dreams for the church.  

It won't be easy, for church members or for pastors, to share the household chores, but being comfortable and easy is not the goal. It is time for us to eat a little solid food.

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.  

.

White Wave Manifesto: Re-entry

Fo

(They were babies once! Christmas 2010)

For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD.  Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. (Leviticus 25:3-4)

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon, and learn from me, for I am gentle an lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28030)

We try to be intentional as a family.  We try not to over-schedule or over-commit. We try to keep a Sabbath weekly. We try to speak kindly to one another and be kind to one another. We work on sharing our things and sharing in household chores.  And our life together, with the exception of a few hiccups here and there, is pretty good.  However, my wife and I have noticed that for several years, there is something we call "re-entry."

Re-entry is that period of intensity at the very beginning of Christmas break when all three of our boys get to spend, not just a few hours a week, but entire days together.  Superficial niceness can't cover all the close contact.  And, at first, it is kind of  hard.  They have to re-learn life together.  There are more dishes to do. There is more sharing that is required. There is just more time...more time for fun, but more time for frustration.  But once we get past that moment of re-entry, the atmosphere changes and the boys rediscover just how much they enjoy being together.  It is Christmas magic...for them and for us.

In a similar way, in many of our congregations, life is pretty good.  We try to get together on the Sabbath and speak kindly to one another.  We try to be kind. We work on sharing our things and sharing the chores that come with life together. With the exception of a few hiccups here and there, is pretty good. However, after a few years, it can be...even for all of it's pleasantness...pretty superficial.  

Our churches need an intense time to be together without all the distractions that keep us from running deep with one another. This is where church-wide sabbatical comes in to play. Not for a week, but for a whole year everything that is non-essential is allowed to lay fallow.  There are no more committee meetings. The choir sings familiar music.  There is no mission trip. There is no Easter egg hunt or Trunk-or-Treat, and there aren't five services on Christmas Eve.  We take a deep breath and then hit re-entry. 

After fifty-six years, the little church that my wife and I were serving dared to do just that. We took a break and put programs on hold. We limited church work to the bare essentials.  There was still one meeting a month for essential business, but we tried to keep it short.  There was no Easter requiem or Christmas cantata and we dusted off some old hymns and used resources from the lectionary.  The youth did mission work around town instead of across the country.  The senior ministry went on hiatus.  

It was hard, at first, but once we got past re-entry, the whole atmosphere changed.  We had always felt good about ministry, but we rediscovered that we actually enjoyed being together.  We ran deep with one another and fell in love again with the One who first loved us.  We learned not only that we could rest as a church, but that we should. It was a little bit of Christmas magic.

I have come to the conclusion after nearly fifteen years of professional ministry that the best thing that the church could do for the church and for the world, is stop.  After all, His yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.

White Wave Manifesto: Ecclesiastical Vacation

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,

            but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)

                     He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. (Psalm 23:2)

"In our product-driven society, work, especially networking, makes us feel important and productive.
Of course it may also make us feel cranky, put upon, overtired, frustrated, thwarted,
bored, and miserable-but who has time to think of that?
Who wants time to think of that.
We do. We just may not know that we do." (Julia Cameron, Vein of Gold)

We still talk about it.

That trip we took to the Redwoods two years ago. We had driven all day to get there. The sun was starting to set, so we pulled over into the nearest picnic area we could find and entered into a whole new world. It was amazing. Some of the trees had been standing there since the days of Christ. Our middle son, seven at the time, bailed out of the car before I came to a complete stop and began running from tree to tree until he found a snag that he could climb.  Up he went and from his elevated rostrum shouted joyfully into the maritime dusk, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for taking me to this place. I have been dreaming of this place my whole life!"

We need to get away. We know it...even if we don't because when we don't, we get cranky and miserable and bored. Life loses it's liveliness. There's a reason that many employers encourage their employees to take vacation time...they are more productive when they do and those around them like them better when they get back.

It's the same way with the church.  We need time off. We need to re-consider the idea of ecclesiastical vacation.  When was the last time we took a vacation as a church family?  There isn't a Biblical mandate to take four weeks off, but there is a mandate to rest; to enter into quietness and trust.  How much vacation time do you receive at work?  Do you take it all. You should. It isn't just a good idea, it is "your salvation."  

But do we believe it?  Do we really trust that the church can exist for four weeks without our input and our wisdom and our hard work?  It really is the question.  It isn't a question of whether or not we can stop. It is a question of whether or not we really trust that God will move when we stop.

There are, of course, some practical considerations when taking an ecclesiastical vacation just as their are practical consideration when heading to the Redwoods.  For example, the chickens need to be fed and the mail needs to be picked up and the flowers need to be watered. The point in leaving home is, in part, that we can't do the things that we normally do.  Likewise, when we leave our church home it has to be long enough and far enough away that we can't do the things that we normally do. Arrangements will have to be made for the lawn to be mowed and the bills to be paid.  Staff needs to be informed that they are not to stop by the office and answer phones or do correspondence.  The point is that we actually leave the church.  It will be okay.

And we will be freed up to go see the Redwoods or experience a different kind of worship. Our souls might be fed while hiking a fourteener in Colorado. We can listen to God's word and not worry about preaching or singing or ushering or greeting. Or, perhaps our sacred desk is a fly-fishing stream or a week taking in the culture of the city. Maybe we can find our very own, two-thousand year-old Redwood snag and clamor up to new heights and exclaim with new excitement in our voices, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Lord, for taking me to this place. I have been dreaming of this place my whole life!"

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.

White Wave Manifesto: A Congregational-Sabbath Blueprint

(www.freeimages.com 1307880)

I wonder...

I wonder what would happen if the church didn't rely on our own strength and actually trusted God for strength.

I wonder why we insist on making the church move when the church is a movement of God.  

I wonder how effective the church has been for all of our hard work and how much more effective it would be if we allowed room for God to work.

I have enclosed a "blueprint" for a new church development or for churches wanting something new. It would take courage.  Major things would have to change. But imagine how different things would look if we gave control of the church back to God.

Over the next five weeks, I will look at each of these steps in more detail.  Until then, I have offered them to you in toto.  

White Wave Manifesto: A Congregational-Sabbath Blueprint

A. Stop: For four weeks every year.

·                     In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,

            but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)

·                     He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. (Psalm 23:2)

           

B. Stop:  For one year every Seventh

·                     For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.

                But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD.  

            Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. (Leviticus 25:3-4)

             

C. Stop: Paying full-time staff

·                     For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God

            prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:10)

*         For by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles              of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. (Hebrews 5:12)

            

D. Stop: Counting Members.

*          Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? (I Corinthians 6:15a)

*          It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you             and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples...

E. Stop: Maintaining church buildings.

·                     All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and

            possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Acts 2:45)

.·                     Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you

            have received from God? You are not your own; (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Church Stopping: God of Rest

(Shirk Ranch, photo from www.lesstravelednorthwest.com)

"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm  46:10a)

"The industrial era at climax, in the panic of long-anticipated decline, has imposed on us all its ideals of ceaseless pandemonium. The industrial economy, by definition, must never rest. Rest would deprive us of light, heat, food, water, and everything else we need or think we need. The economic  impulse of industrial life (to stretch a term)  is limitless. Whatever we have, in whatever quantity, is not enough. There is no such thing as enough. Our bellies and our wallets must become oceanic, and still they will not be full. Six workdays in a week are not enough. We need a seventh. We need an eighth.  In the industrial world, at climax, one family cannot or will not support itself by one job. We need a job for the day and one for the night. Thank God for the moon! We cannot stop to eat. Thank God for cars! We dine as we drive over another paved arm. Everybody is weary, and there is no rest. (Wendell Berry, from the forward to Living the Sabbath by Norman Wirzba)

You all might have guessed from the delinquency of this post that it has been anything but a restful week.  It was a busy week with school and practice and getting ready for company to visit. 

In addition, the boys and I have been spending every waning daylight hour on an addition to the tree house. Actually, it is a brand-new tree house. We are thinking something akin to the Swiss Family Robinson version...so we have a long way to go!  We closed the pool and cut some firewood. I preached on Sunday and noticed a leak in the ceiling below our one working bathroom on Saturday. I guess when it rains it pours.

And on top of all of this, after several weeks of illness for the boys, double pneumonia for my wife, I was called in to work at 8:00 pm on Saturday and stayed until 1:00 am on Sunday.  In the midst of the madness on Saturday night, my wife sent me a text at work, "We so need a Sabbath!"  She was right, of course, but a late night call on Sunday sent my wife on an impromptu, 2.5 hour road trip to take care of a family member that is being admitted to the hospital.

Whew!

Everybody had gone through seasons like this. It seems hard to rest.  Sometimes, it seems impossible and we paddle like mad just to stay afloat. We hold on for dear life as our life lives us and God whispers, "Be still and know that I am God." 

It seems that life is less about doing more as it is about being more alive.

So on Sunday night, after preaching my sermon and working in our yard, I sat down and didn't get up. I couldn't move, so it was easy to finally be still.  My wife and I agreed that the bathroom leak could wait. Instead of working on it, we made some popcorn and had a family devotion with my parents who were visiting all the way from Wyoming.  Then we watched a movie.

Sure, the bathroom is still leaking, winter is fast approaching, daylight hours are shrinking, and a loved one convalescing...but even in the midst of this whirlwind of a life, God still commands us to be still.  It's a commandment because it's not natural, but it's a commandment wrapped in a promise.  The promise is that even when our lives are spinning out of control and we can't keep up, we can know that God keeps us.

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More being.

Church Stopping: God of Peace

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3)

(Photo courtesy of Rev. Charles Smith)

To the biblical  mind menuha is the same as happiness and stillness, as peace and harmony. The word with which Job described the state after life he was longing for is derived from the same root as menuha. It is the state in which there is no strife and no fighting, no fear and no distrust. The essence of good life is menuha. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters' (the water of menuhot). In later times menuha  became a synonym for the life in the world to come, for eternal life (Abraham Heschel, The Sabbath)

I've been watching the World Series with some interest this year. Of course, I'm thrilled that the Royals are in it (again!) this year and one game away from winning it all in front of the home crowd.  It has been so exciting  for me personally and something our whole family  has been able to enjoy together.

I'm also curious.

I haven't seen, in the the four games played so far, anyone leaving in the middle of the game. It's puzzling to me, for someone who has been going to church my whole life and read a little bit about church history, that there haven't been any boycotts among those in attendance of all the supporters of Amendment 14F.  And surely, there's a closet postmillenialist that can be singled out for the error of their ways. Furthermore, there must be a conservative pro-lifer sitting by a progressive supporter of the ordination of women that should be separated for the sake of purity.  And I'll have to ask Charles, who was actually at the game, if there was anyone vocally opposed to the color of the bathrooms and the quality of the announcements.

But I haven't seen it. I haven't read about the Royal fan base dividing into those that prefer American League Rules and those that would prefer National League Rules.

Maybe it isn't a fair comparison. After all, I know that the people that attend these World Series games have paid good money to attend and churches have free admission,  However, even those who haven't purchased a ticket to watch in person seem united in their support of the team.  There is "no strife and no fighting, no fear and no distrust." There is menuhot. There is peace within Royal nation.

Not so in the church.

In churches that I have attended and in churches that I have read about, there is often fighting and fear and distrust.  As Christians, in our effort to stand for what is right and in our zeal to act on deeply held priniciples, we willingly separate ourselves from friends and family members.  Sometimes, there is nothing but strife and fighting and fear and distrust. There is no menuhot.  There is no peace. And we do it in the name of God.

What's the difference?

It seems to me, at a baseball game, the issues that divide us simply don't matter because the thing that unites us is so much bigger than any of the issues that might divide us.  On the other hand, at church, we believe that being faithful to the issues that divide us is being faithful to One that died to unite us.

I'm not saying that we should compromise our principles on marriage, on eschatology, on ordination, or on bathroom color.  But maybe we should stop. Maybe we should stop trying so hard to be right and maybe we should stop being so willing to divide on principle.  Maybe we should stop and return to the "waters of menuhot" and remember that we have been called to "be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3) Indeed, for this God has died.

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.

Church Stopping: God of Wonder

(Photo from freeimages.com # 1404961)

You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that  you eat of it you shall die. (Genesis 2:17)

For one whole year were were a fallow field, resting, listening, waiting, fermenting. We put up a bulletin board - a big one - with dayglow orange and chartreuse letters saying, "People with a Passion for Jesus".  If somebody had a nudge from the Spirit or a passion they's write it out and post it on on the board and if somebody else wanted to join in that with them they's sign their names. I, frankly, didn't think it would work for a minute. I was wrong. People signed up for all kinds of things - people who'd never worded on a committee or done anything. I kept having to sit back and trust God to run the church because I didn't have a clue about what was going on. (Pastor David Digby in A Concise Compendium of "The Ames Story"

It really isn't that big of a deal, is it? We don't really die after all when we reach for the tree of knowledge of good and evil...do we? Our hearts keep beating. Our lungs keep breathing. Our blood keeps pumping. So why does God make such a big deal about the tree of knowledge of good and evil anyway? Isn't knowledge...especially of good and evil...a good thing?

These are all questions I have asked of the Fall.  After all, I like knowledge.  Maybe you do to. I like to know what I am doing and why and with what results.  And there are a lot of things I know and there are a lot of things you know...we delight in knowing. We know praise and worship music. We know high-church liturgy. We know that we are right on a particular theological or social justice issue.  We know who has the authority to preach and serve communion and baptize.  

And this Room of Knowing in which we live is not a bad place.  It is just small.  There is a library in the corner with a book we have read again and again. Again, we reach for the knowledge we know so well and die to the wonder of what we don't.

The Unknown Country, just outside the Room of Knowing, is vast and full of wonder. It is a land wild and free, and sometimes fierce; where Jesus walks on water and prophets run for their lives. It is a place where axe heads float and herds of pigs rush into the sea.  It is a place where the dead are raised and the the mountains quake and the sea monsters roll. This is the place where the dying believe and the child plays by the cobra's den and the lion lies down with the lamb.  This is a place where Santa still makes his midnight ride and God still whispers that some day, and some day soon, and in some way that we cannot plan or coerce or program, they will no longer hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain and the knowledge of God will be like oxygen-completely filling the earth and quickening our hearts.  

I'm not suggesting that the church operate from the seats of our pants.  I'm not suggesting that we don't plan and meet and figure out how to do all things well.  I'm just suggesting that maybe, sometimes, we stop, put down that book and reach for the door.  Let us venture out where we "don't have a clue what is going on" and see what God might be up to.

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.

Church Stopping: Job Site or Candlelight?

(Photo from www.freeimages.com #1569226)

I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

But I have this complaint against you. You have forgotten your first love!  (Revelation 2:2-4)

Churches need sabbaticals as much as individuals. Spiritual stagnation deepens in the soil of freneticism. A congregational sabbatical can be a time for nurturing spiritual roots, a time for slowing down and taking the time to listen, to pray, and to learn. But it means just what it says--taking a sabbatical from the routine and schedules that define a church's life. The usual work of committees and departments is suspended, especially the development of programs. Only the bare essentials to keep the machinery going are maintained during sabbatical time. The governing body can attend to necessary business but this, too needs to be kept at a minimum. Established groups, such as church school classes, women's and men's groups should also be involved in sabbatical time, either by choosing not to meet or focusing their time on prayer an study. The point is to step away from customary activity. Renewal will not occur if the old routine is maintained. it would be like a teacher taking a sabbatical but continuing to teach  It is the break form routine that helps to create the space for something new to emerge. (Reclaiming Evangelism, Jan G. Linn)

It was during my continuing education at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary I kept reading about the benefits of sabbath and sabbatical...not just as individuals, but as congregations. There wasn't a lot specifically written about church sabbatical, but there was enough to keep me hunting. It was as if I had discovered gold in the bottom of my pan; it was new, it sparkled, and there had to be more of it if I just kept looking!

At the time, I was serving a little church that ran as much on elbow grease than it did on prayer. It was a church that valued a solid work ethic sometimes more than a solid soteriology.   I knew that sabbatical was what we needed to get past our good work and become reacquainted with our first love.

Oh! We knew the value of a job well done. We enjoyed the praise of our peers.  We knew that our work was God's work, however, we weren't moving forward.  We were losing steam. We found our palms a little thick and our souls a little thin. We found that we had fallen out of love.

It is easy to do in any relationship.  Instead of a wonder-filled romance, we become a good team. We drive the kids to soccer and we mow the lawn and we do the laundry...and we do all these things because we love the people we serve.  After all, we are good Ephesians. We work hard and endure patiently.  Sometimes, we burn the midnight oil but we never quit and, sadly, we forget our first love.

"What happened?" we ask.  "How did we get here?" The answer is found in the middle of our good intentions. There we discover that we are so busy working that we forget that Jesus is out in the front room with Mary at his feet, just waiting for us.  But we simply don't have time. There is just too much to be done. (Luke 10:38-42)

Or is there?

While it is true, even in our smallest churches, that there is always a project that needs to be done and there is always a position that needs to be filled, is our inability to stop an unspoken declaration that the church has become an unrelenting task masker of our own design?  Or is our sabbath resistance the piercing revelation that our faith is simply not strong enough to let God sustain us...not even for a year...while we sit at His feet and fall in love again?

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.

  

Community Sabbath (Week Six): Kake, AK

(World's largest totem pole and Tlingit woman in Kake, AK.  Photo from TripAdvisor)

"Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." (Psalm 116:7)

In the summer of 2000, my wife and I spent a few days in the small Tlingit village of Kake, AK.  We were filling the pulpit of the Presbyterian Church while the pastor spent some time on vacation.  Kake is the home of about 500 people and the world's third largest totem pole (132 feet!) and stunning natural beauty.  While we were there, a short trip out our front door, up the main street, and on to the bridge provided a good observation point as black bears fished for salmon below.  

In fact, sometimes, it felt as if there were more black bears then humans.  

I arrived one week prior to my wife by float-plane from Sitka, AK.  I was dropped off with my bag at the end of the village marina greeted by a dog that looked something like a wolf; only bigger and meaner. However, he kept his distance as I prayed in earnest for divine intervention and watched helplessly as the float plane soared away.  I could only hope that this really was Kake and there had not been some mistake.  

I walked from the empty marina towards Main Street with the big wolf-like canine still following me at a distance, growling and getting closer.  I didn't see another human for several minutes as I walked in what I hoped was the direction of the church.  Later, I would learn that it was hunting season and most of the village had piled into boats and dispersed to the surrounding islands. (I believe that this is the reason the pastor trusted his congregation to a couple of seminary students for two weeks!)  

Eventually, an old pickup drove by and the driver, somehow, could tell I wasn't a local.  He asked me where I was going and I told him.  He was kind enough to offer a ride.  His name was Stanley. I was so thankful for Stanley and quickly jumped into the pickup.  I watched as the wolf-like dog sauntered back towards the marina. Stanley turned the pick-up around and drove me to the church, pointing out some of the local points of interest.  Stanley was unable to go hunting because of a fishing accident that had taken his arm.  He was happy to have someone to share the local lore of the village with and I was happy to have someone to talk to.

After a quick driving-tour of the town, Stanley dropped me off at the manse.  The manse was a comfortable log cabin with spectacular views Keku Strait and Frederick sound. I settled in and went over my notes for tomorrow's service before walking the empty beach.  Though the beach was deserted, God seemed present in Kake, somehow, in a way that I had not known before. Maybe it was because there were no cars, no noise, no TV; no distractions. Or, maybe it was the feeling of complete dependence and wild adventure.  Somehow I imagined Jesus walking with me just as he had walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, visiting with the disciples with the salted wind tussing at his hair.  

I was told that the Sunday service started at 10:00.  I didn't know if any one would show up. I didn't know if there was anyone in town, but I was ready.  At 9:00, I showed up at the church.  There was no one there, but it was a beautiful place and I went over my sermon a couple of more times.  It was the most polished sermon that I have ever preached. At 9:45, the organist showed up and went through the music for the day.  We visited, and at 10:00 AM on the dot, I welcomed the three people that were there.  After the Call to Worship, the Opening Hymn, and the Prayer of Confession, I read Scripture and began my sermon. That was about the time the rest of the congregation showed up.  There were approximately twenty, and I thought that must have been pretty much everybody that was left in the town.

I was to learn, in my brief stay in Kake, that time was not regulated as much by the clock as it was by relationships.  There was no hurry to get going on time and no worry if things ran late. It was jarring at first, then it was peace and rest.  

In a couple of days, my wife and her parents came over to Kake by ferry from Sitka where they had been staying.  We spent our time doing puzzles and watching the whales breaching in the distance as they made their annual migration to their winter breeding areas in Hawaii. The four of us would take a daily walk up the road to the bridge and watch the black bears fish for salmon.  My wife and I, fresh from the cornfields in Iowa where we were going to school, took long walks on black sandy beaches where we were able to unwind from our seminary studies and breathe in the salt air and dream big dreams of where we would live and where we would serve and begin planning for a brand new family.

It was during that second week of our stay that a lady in the congregation we were serving passed away.  Somehow, word got out to the village people dispersed throughout the archipelago that this matriarch of the community had entered her final rest. The marina began to fill up with hunting boats and the village began to swell and surge like an incoming tide.  I was summoned by a couple of the other pastors in the village. Plans were made for a service at the Presbyterian Church followed the next day by a celebration of life at the community hall. On the third day, we would board a vintage WWII landing boat and take the remains for burial at Grave Island.

In those three days, it was amazing for me to see the community come together; neighbors helped cooked meals and prepare music and had long visits.  All the pastors of the community came together at the community center because the entire village was there and that included members of their own congregations.  Stanley even hooked me into singing with the Alaska Native Brotherhood Choir.  (It was one song, and I have never been invited to return.) By the end of three days, grief had been tempered by the joy of knowing that a faithful daughter of God had been welcomed home and the simple joy of a community glad to be called together

As I reflect on that stay in Kake, AK over a decade ago, I still remember how rested  I felt.  Even in the midst of preparing two sermons and a funeral homily, time seemed to stand still. 

The village of Kake is still not a fancy tourist destination. It is a bit off the beaten path and a little bit weathered and cracked around the edges. There is still probably a big, angry dog guarding the town from interlopers stressed out by time.  But somehow, in that pocked of human civilization by the sea, the people had tapped into an ancient rhythm of life that I have experienced only episodically since then...a rhythm of life that is not governed by exhaustion and trying to fit one more thing in, but a rhythm devoted to the One and then fitting life around Him. A rhythm the ancients called rest; they called Sabbath.

I would love to go back to Kake now that we have children.  I would love for them to see the raw beauty of God's creation, but, even more, I long for our children to experience that rhythm of life...it is a life that doesn't demand more to make us full but rather dwells in fullness as its only demand.

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.  

(<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g31021-Kake_Alaska.html#20527557"><img alt="" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/39/39/c5/world-s-tallest-totem.jpg"/></a><br/>This photo of Kake is courtesy of TripAdvisor)

Community Sabbath (Week Five): Pixar

(Picture by budding Pixar Animator, Sam Snook)

"So God created humanity in his own image, in the image of God he created humans; male end female he created them." (Genesis 1:27)

Creativity, it seems, is a very important part of being a human.  After all, we have been created in the image of the Creator.  Maybe we are not all artists, but we are all creative.  We are creators of speech and relationships. We are creators of homes and gardens and music and airplanes and treehouses.  We were created, it could be argued, to create.  And so we are drawn in large numbers to the worlds created by Pixar; the creator of such memorable movies as Toy Story, Cars, Planes, and Monsters, Inc. 

It was interesting for me to learn that Ed Catmull, president of Pixar, takes a ten-day silent retreat every year for "care of the soul." (Global Leadership Summit, 2015)  This practice illustrates our normal approach to Sabbath: We carve out a day, or a part of a day, or ten days if we can, to connect with God.  From that connection with the Creator, our lives are shaped and brought back to the divine image we were created with.  As a result of our time with God, we begin to connect with who God created us to be and we begin to connect again with those God gave us to be with.  

And there is good evidence that the best of Pixar's creations mirror, in very creative ways, the story that God has written on the storyboards of our hearts.   

Consider, for example, one of my favorite movies, Cars. The hero, Lightning McQueen, discovers that there is something more valuable than winning; friendship.  In Lightning's self-sacrifice, we are reminded of the Gospel story where Jesus, who instead of winning, brings others to the finish line through self-sacrifice.

And in Planes: Fire and Rescue, the broken Dusty Crophopper sacrifices his own life to save others.  In the end, he is restored and brought to new life. As we are told near the end of the movie, Dusty is now, "Better than new!"  There is hope in our brokenness.

It can be argued that these stories tell Biblical truths and reflect a connectedness to the Creator. The problem with my theory is that I haven't been able to find evidence that every Pixar employee takes a ten-day silent retreat every year. So, how did Pixar get to the point of bringing to life these stories written on the deepest part of our hearts without intentional Sabbath?

As we look closer at Pixar, we discover that computer scientists, animators, and other employees, while encouraged to decorate their personal workspaces in whatever way suits them (i.e, as a castle, spaceship, tiki lounge, etc.) work takes place in an open environment that fosters corroboration with other employees.  (Business Insider, April 2, 2014, Drake Baer)  

Could it be for us as individuals that cultivating our personal creativity and interpersonal relationships would connect us with the Creator?  And could it be for us as a church that cultivating individual creativity and encouraging interpersonal relationships could reveal the stories that God is writing in our midst?

Yes!  In fact, I believe that cultivating personal creativity and nourishing interpersonal relationships are Sabbath.  If you are feeling stuck in your Sabbath keeping, cultivate your inner Pixar.   First, do something creative; Maybe you could pick up a pencil and paper. Maybe a guitar.  Second, reach out to those all around you.  Listen to their story.  If you do these two thing, chances are that you will connect with the Creator of the universe and you will discover the story that God has been writing on your own heart.  

Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.

Community Sabbath (Week Four): Trinity Presbyterian Church, Wichita, Kansas

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing you own interests on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it by not going your own ways, or serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14)

In eleven years of ministry at Trinity Presbyterian Church, I came to know this quirky, fun-loving, and diverse congregation to be united by one universal and pervasive ethos: hard work. However, all of the loving care for the building and grounds had not led to increased growth.  The carefully crafted children's ministry had not led to spiritual vistas.  Multiple choirs and brilliant sermons had not parlayed into a burgeoning budget. There was a growing sense that something was wrong and the status quo could not be sustained. "I have noticed people," said one church member , "working harder and longer than is really humanly possible."  Another pillar remarked in a congregational meeting, "At this rate, in ten years, there won't be a Trinity."

The panacea, I was convinced, to cure our ecclesiastical busyness and spiritual ennui, was a year-long, church-wide Sabbatical!  It wasn't an easy sell.  "If you need a Sabbatical, Pastor Geoff," I was told by one especially busy member, "you take one. I like what I do in the church!"

Undaunted...okay, a little daunted...I set out on visits to Sunday School classes, Bible studies, and small groups armed with facts and figures and the Biblical merits of community Sabbath. I devised sermon series, fielded questions, and brought in another pastor who had navigated the surly pre-Sabbatical waters in his own congregation.  

It helped, and so we launched into our year-long, church-wide Sabbath in January of 2010.  It was thrilling. We dropped the evening programs and encouraged the congregation to spend time with friends and family. The choir sang some familiar tunes and shortened practices.  We didn't go on our annual mission trip, opting to serve closer to home. The senior ministry dropped its monthly luncheon.  We streamlined our worship using pre-prepped resources drawn from the revised common lectionary.  We stopped, for an entire year, meeting in committees. In every way possible, without actually closing the doors, we streamlined our church work so that we could participate in God's work

It took a lot of courage. Not everyone elected to participate.  But most did and the results were palpable.  We grew closer to the Lord and we grew closer to one another.  We were able to discern where God was leading us as a people.  As one church member put it, "I see more people becoming involved besides the core group that always participates. There's more energy and the realization that each one of us is called to be a minister of the Word to the world around us-at work, school, or play."

I am very proud to have been a part of our church-wide Sabbatical.  I think it is okay to be proud because it was so clearly not about me. It was about what God began to do in all of us. And that was pretty awesome.

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.

Community Sabbath (Week Three): Hi-Lu Farms

(Photo from www.freeimages.com, #1573842.)

“And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey...”
(Exodus 3:8)

Growing up on the Hi-Lu dairy farm on the plains of western Kansas, it may come as no surprise that Maggie McIntyre and her four sibling learned early on the value of hard work.  After all, there was always work to be done. There was the herd of 40-60 Brown Swiss cows that needed to be milked every day. There were also fields of wheat, corn, milo, alfalfa, and soybeans that needed to be cared for and grass pasture that needed to be managed.  There were chores at home and chores in the field in addition to the normal demands of homework and school activites.  

For Maggie, this hard work has translated into a highly successful legal career and a happy marriage all while raising two very active and talented teenage boys.  In every way, she leads a productive and busy life.  However, Maggie will be the first to tell you that productivity and busyness are not the measures of a good life. 

"My father always took a Sabbath," she says.  "On Sunday, we milked the cows and we went to church. My mother prepared a roast or fondue, something simple. But that was it.  No other work was done. If we were in the middle of harvest, we stopped. After church, we spent the rest of our day visiting with friends and relatives, relaxing, playing croquet and watching sports on TV." 

For her parents, Howard and Irene Lutes, keeping of the Sabbath was an important part of practicing their faith, and not just on Sunday.  Maggie would often find her father praying and reading before dawn and her mother would sometimes take a break in the middle of the day and go to the study to read her Bible. "I think it is hard to really have a relationship with God if we don't invest any time in prayer and meditation," Maggie says. "Stop light prayers are good, but we need to dedicate an hour or more every day if we are going to have a real relationship with anybody, including the Lord."

"It is counter-cultural, for sure," Maggie says. "Even back then in rural Kansas, our neighbors didn't always stop for the Sabbath.  In fact, one of our neighbors, whose wheat field was across from the church, always harvested on Sunday while we were having church. It was hot, so the windows of the church were open.  His combine was loud and it was disruptive to the service.  My father didn't like that."  

In ancient Egypt, the Hebrews were enslaved to their Egyptian taskmasters.  In today's busy, outcome-based world, we are sometimes our own taskmasters.  After being delivered from slavery, ancient Israel took time every week to remember that they were no longer slaves.  They took time every week to celebrate the benevolent God who delivered them to a land flowing with milk and honey; a land much like Hi-Lu Farms.  We need that time as well.

"Church shouldn't be secondary.  And not just Sunday morning, but Sunday evening and Wednesday night.  That is how I was raised and how I have raised my own family.  As a result, my boys didn't always get to do every activity that their friends did, but I wasn't going to go to soccer tournaments on Sunday.  They didn't always like that, but I hope that they understand why we made that decision.  If we are too busy, our relationship with God suffers."

"Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.