Saturday, January 24

Today’s Readings: Psalm 54; Jonah 3:1-10; John 3:22-36; 1 Corinthian 4:1-15; Psalm 9

I had a rather surreal experience this past week. I had the opportunity to return to the seminary from which I graduated and participate in a discussion about the emerging/emergent church movement. As I walked into a classroom in which I had sat so often as a student, I became aware of some fundamental shifts that had taken place within me over the past seven years. I realized, for instance, that seven years ago I believed that books were the greatest source of information regarding the practice of ministry. Now – while I still believe that books can be an importance source of information about the practice of ministry – I believe that the Spirit provides a far greater source of grounding for the practice of my ministry. Seven years ago I believed that the institutional church was in need of change. Now, I believe the institutional church is in need of transformation. Seven years ago, I believed that religious leadership was about fixing things. Now, I believe that spiritual leadership is about facilitating things. Needless to say, the changes within myself caused me to feel a little out of place. As I sat with those feelings, I found a great deal of comfort in Paul’s words from today’s passage from 1 Corinthians. “It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself.” Those words encouraged me to stop trying to rank myself using my own standards from the past and simply accept myself for whom I am today: a servant of God. That is the only standard that ultimately matters. I wander what standard you use to evaluate your own life. Do you use your own standards, the standards of another, or God’s? Til next time…

Friday, January 23

Today’s Readings: Psalm 88; Jonah 1:17-2:10; John 3:16-21; 1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Psalm 130

As I’ve alluded to in my blog on more than one occasion, Jonah is one of my favorite books in the Bible. I love it for several reasons. I love it because it is so easy to relate to. I also love it because it has many challenging lessons with which we can wrestle. Today’s reading from Jonah is a good example of this. You see lots of us have very specific ideas about how things are supposed to unfold when we cry out for help. If we cry out for help when we are out of work, for instance, we are supposed to find a job in our field that pays the wages we expect. If we are having relationship problems and cry out for help, we are supposed to find reconciliation that takes the relationship back to the way it used to be. If we cry out for help when we are fighting an injury or illness, we expect to be restored to our previous condition. Jonah reminds us that our requests aren’t always met in exactly the way we would like them to be. When Jonah was tossed off the ship and into the turbulent water, for example, he cried out for deliverance from the waters. And where did he end up? In the belly of a fish. And when Jonah cried out to God from the belly of the fish for deliverance from the fish, where did he end up? On the shore - with a command to head directly to the dreaded city of Nineveh. The lesson for us today is to be honest with ourselves when we find ourselves crying out for assistance. We ought to ask ourselves, “What do I really want? Do I truly want help, or do I really want a specific outcome?” If we truly say we want help, we need to make sure we are open to receiving it on terms other than our own. Til next time…

Thursday, January 22

Today’s Readings: Psalm 109; Jonah 1:1-16; John 2:23-3:15; 1 Corinthians 3:10-17; Psalm 139

Over the years, I’ve found that many lay people have a huge misconception about those of us who are pastors. Most folks assume that the vast majority of us receive our calls very early in life and that we whole-heartedly embrace our calls from the moment we receive them. I have found that’s often not the case. While many of us do have a sense of call that emerges fairly early in our lives, many of us spend years doing every thing within our power to resist that call. And why is that? I suppose it has to do with sensing the magnitude of the call. That’s one reason I love the book of Jonah. It presents a realistic portrayal of an individual responding to his or her call. Of course pastors aren’t the only ones in life who receive calls. I believe that every person has a call. For some that call is to be a parent, for some it’s to be a doctor, and for others it’s to be an unpaid caregiver for a loved one... And many individuals unconsciously find themselves doing what we pastors do in response to our call – running away from them! Today, I would invite you to spend some time meditating on what you feel is your call. Once you’ve spent some time contemplating your call, pay attention to your first response to that call. If you find yourself starting to run, know that if it is truly your call – chances are things will work out: whether you cooperate initially or not. Til next time…

Wednesday, January 21

Today’s Readings: Psalm 22:1-31; Isaiah 49:1-7; John 2:13-22; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

In the 1990’s a trend started within many of the mega-churches in our country. In an attempt to meet every perceived need of those attending, they started bringing in goods and services for their members. This was an intentional part of their growth strategy. Some churches, for instance, would bring in bookstores that sold books and a variety of religious goods. Other churches then went the next step and brought in coffee shops so people didn’t have to stop at Starbuck’s on their way to church. As someone who LOVES his coffee, I can certainly understand the appeal of such a decision! All of this, however, created an atmosphere of “one-stop shopping” in some of our churches that went unquestioned for over a decade because – from all outward appearances – such an approach seemed to work. The mega-churches grew like wildfire during the 1990’s! But does just because something “works” mean that is a healthy spiritual approach? I would say no. Today’s reading from John raises the question about what is/is not a healthy approach toward building spiritual community. In that passage, Jesus made it clear that there were more important things than simply the wants of the individual that should drive the life of a faith community - the primarily thing being the integrity of the house of worship. As you look to create spiritual community in your own life, what are you looking for? Are you looking for a “shopping mall” that can promise to meet all of your personal wants, or are you looking for a place that helps you connect with God? There’s an important difference between those approaches. Til next time…