Friday, September 27, 2013

Thoughts on "Pastor Appreciation"

Most Christians (and their "pastors") are aware that October is traditionally seen as "Pastor Appreciation Month." While I am ALL for congregations appreciating their ministers (heaven knows MOST congregations have NO idea how hard their staff works, much less how unappreciated they are!) after 25 years in and out of ministry I have some thoughts I would like to share. It is NOT my desire to belittle ANY attempt to bolster your minister (by ALL means DO IT)...but there are a few things that I would like to share that I hope will be food for thought before it is too late.

1. Ministers don't need or want "knick knacks"
I know that they are cute and OH so hard to resist...but the truth is...we frequent the bible book stores too and if we actually wanted any of that stuff...we probably would have bought it for ourselves (at least we would have gotten the one we wanted that way!).

2. Minister don't want a passive aggressive pokes at self improvement
We ALREADY know we need improvement---another sermon book from Andy Stanley will not boost our self esteem. One more volume of John Maxwell telling us how we SHOULD lead is probably not going to establish you as #1 on the Christmas card list either.  I LOVE books!!  That being said...I am also VERY selective of the books I choose to read (SO MANY BOOKS SO LITTLE TIME)...if you think a book is the way to go I suggest a gift card to Amazon of CBD so that they can choose for themselves.

3. I HATE ties
There was a time when I felt compelled to wear them and when someone bought me another one...especially a "novelty" type tie...I loved it and wore it.  Now...I only wear ties to weddings and funerals that I am officiating...I have 2,487 ties in a box in my closet...PLEASE don't add any more to the mess.

4.  Rick Warren is NOT your minister
The "ministers" who are fortunate enough to author books and speak at seminars based on their experience and what they did to grow their congregations have ALMOST NOTHING in common with those of us who are "gutting it out" in the trenches trying desperately to survive week to week.  Therefore, we really have NO interest in their DVD's, books, magazines, or for that matter...their help.  Accept us for who and what we are...(whether you like us or not) just as we try desperately to accept you for who and what you are instead of our "ideal" congregants.

5.  I LOVE to eat...but I am tired of the jokes.
Just what I need...another gift card to a "food establishment" that I don't even like.  I know it LOOKS like I will eat anything, anytime, in any place (sort of like the guy in Green Eggs and Ham AFTER he tries them!) but the reality is..we would treasure your company more than your contribution to our waistlines.  As much as we love to receive our favorite foods...they ALWAYS taste better when we are allowed to share them with you!

ALL TONGUE-IN-CHEEK ASIDE...

Here is a quick list of things that might shock, surprise, or make your minister's day!:
  1. No negativity Sunday (a day with a moratorium on complaining and griping about anyone or anything)
  2. Extra vacation (most people cannot arrange this for their minister...but they could offer to keep the kids for a date night or even a weekend away).
  3. Genuine concern about the spiritual and emotional well being of your minister.
  4. Time..share it with your minister at THEIR convenience.
  5. Bless them with encouragement about who and what they are (JUST AS THEY ARE)
  6. Money...I know it sounds cliche but these days...every little bit helps (genuine generosity is the key--God loves CHEERFUL givers).
  7. Do something for the people they love--most ministers sacrifice too readily for their families--so help them make it up to their families by encouraging and sharing with their families (ministry really is a family issue--both the good times and the bad times have an affect).
  8. Cards--some ministers keep files of encouraging cards and notes so that they can look at them when it gets harder and be reminded of why they got into this thing to start with...its not much but it is better than nothing.
  9. Gifts Cards---seem to be all the rage these days...I am not at all against them---they are just too easy for the buyer--no one really has to put thought or planning into it.

I encourage giving gifts that will mean something to them, and to you--think in terms of "making a memory" instead of, "oh crap...it's the last Sunday in October and we haven't done anything for Pastor Appreciation month yet!"

I believe, help me in my unbelief.

Friday, September 6, 2013

On Choosing a Bible

In my years as a youth minister, associate minister, worship leader, senior minister, and professor I often have been asked... "I am wanting to get a new bible which one should I get?"

My answer is ALWAYS the same...find a bible that you are comfortable with, one that you will read, buy it, read it, and keep on reading it! (what good is it to have a bible that you never read). That answer never really seemed to satisfy anyone...so finally I just typed up some thoughts and now I print this out and share it with those who ask...



Recommended Bible Versions:
The RIGHT bible depends on a LOT of variables—there a several good translations to choose from. Here are the translations I choose to use and why I use them:

New American Standard Version: for my money the CLOSEST to the original Greek and Hebrew.  It retains some of the “archaic” (primarily used in KJV) language (which I find useful in the Psalms especially) but is readable too.

The New International Version:  ***CAUTION…I prefer the 1984 version, which is now getting more difficult to find)…newer versions are “casting a MUCH wider translation net” and I have not agreed with their choices. The ’84 version still has some minor issues but all-in-all true to the text and VERY readable.

King James: Yeah I know, not always the best translation, and newer versions are based on better manuscripts…but if you are over the age of 45 it is THE standard…I never preach or teach out of this version…but keep an original and a NEW King James in my office for reference.

English Standard Version (ESV): a former professor put me onto this version in the last 5 or 6 years (even though it has been around longer than that)…I find it a fairly “happy medium” between the NIV and the New American Standard.  It is, in places, easier to read than the NASV, but I also believe it stays pretty close to the original text.

For PURELY devotional reading:
These are NOT “translations” of the text but mere “paraphrases” that are intended to read more “conversationally.”  I NEVER study out of these versions but I do read them devotionally and I do consult them after doing textual analysis. For instance, I would never teach the Sermon on the Mount out of Peterson’s version The Message…but I really like the way that he states SOME things.

The New Living Translation: I know they call it a translation…and it is BETTER than the original “Living Bible” paraphrase…but I still do not think this is anything more than a better paraphrase (others would argue).

The Message: as stated above, this is my “go to” paraphrase…again…I NEVER study out of it…but I do read it devotionally and look at it when surveying a variety of texts.

Study Bibles:
Study bibles come in a variety of translations—some are good, some are better for a variety of reasons.  I also caution those who ask because study bibles, by design, also carry with them assumptions about difficult texts, translation, and theology. To that end these are the ones I recommend:

The New International Study Bible (NIV version)
Thompson Chain Reference (used to only be available in NIV…but now I think that they have expanded.)
The Quest Study Bible (NIV version)
ESV Study Bible (English Standard Version)

Others I am familiar with but do not own:
HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible)—I hear good things about this though I have only scanned through them.  I do know that they are also available in KJV and NKJV.  I have heard that many who are disgruntled with the newer versions of the NIV have opted for this version (since they come from a primarily Calvinist publishing house I always “approach with caution”).

NLT Study Bible (New Living Translation)—again my preference is for another version…but some of the study notes are quite helpful.

Life Application Bible—I was given one of these as a gift.  It is, in my opinion, NOT a study bible in the same sense as some of the others but it does have a lot of helpful annotation and additional material.

There you have it.  My advise is STILL the same...buy a bible you are comfortable with, one that you will read..take it home and READ IT! 

I believe...help me in my unbelief.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Hector the Collector



I don’t even remember how it started…I was reminiscing the other day about kids I went to school with.  Some moved away, others stayed and we graduated high school together. Some I remember vividly, others not so much.  Back in those days (which I imagine is STILL the case) there was the “in-crowd” (usually the “haves”), and then there were those who were definitely “out” (the “have-nots”) and then there were those who were somewhere in the middle (the truth is that they were probably “have-nots” who were just on the fringe and desperately wanted to be in the “in-crowd”).

It was a relatively new time—the 70’s and 80’s.  The 60’s made it “far out” to be on the fringe of society but by the late 70’s and early 80’s in Midwestern America too far out was no longer cool.  Within each social classification there were any number of sub-groups (now made famous by Ferris Bueller’s high school secretary [played by Edie McClure] when she said [speaking of Ferris]): “The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, d*ckheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.”

Hollywood was quick to take advantage of our “coming of age” with movies like” Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, the aforementioned Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Risky Business, St Elmo’s Fire, Dirty Dancing, and the list goes on…

There is a single theme in all of this…people who “belong,” people who “don’t belong,” and people who either desperately want to belong or desperately don’t want to belong.

I can remember those years in Jr. Hi and High school…the faces of those who never really seemed to “fit” anywhere (I seemed to remember thinking I was one of them). I remember those who had no trouble fitting in anywhere (they usually had the best cars, and the nicest clothes, and somehow always had money to spend even though they didn’t work??).  Then there were some people who just seemed plain invisible…almost forgettable, like you could see them every single day in the hallway but never speak to them and find it hard to recall what they looked like (which is pretty odd because I came from a VERY small town with a high school where everybody knew everybody else). As I take a stroll down memory lane…I wonder where they are today?

I LOVE the closing scene of The Breakfast Club…as Bender walks across the football field with his back to the camera, his boots unlaced, and his un-kept hair and appearance disappearing from the frame…he stands with knees locked and raises his right hand, fist clenched, in defiance of the social paradigms and classifications…I loved it, it was perfect, not only the perfect ending to the movie but to what seemed like an endless but completely unnecessary struggle. Today, they are gathering in our nation’s capital, and people all over the U.S. are remembering another perfect moment…the 50th anniversary of MLK’s “I Have a Dream" speech—while certainly more “historic” than Bender’s defiant gesture—both evoke the same type of emotion in me. And now…nearing 50 I wonder…

When my wife and I were first married 25 years ago I bought her a present…a book (I know… "how romantic”)—but at the time she was teaching children and loved the author (she had no idea that the author was already famous for writing songs and drawing cartoons for Playboy magazine…but I did) I too grew to love the children’s books and I have learned much from him. Shel Silverstein died in 1990—perhaps completely underrated for his contributions and understandings of culture.  His poem “Hector the Collector” from Where the Sidewalk Ends, remains a favorite. It is a simple poem about a boy who collects things…usually things that others find no value in (they “called it junk”), but Hector cherishes these things and “loved these things with all his soul.” In fact, Silverstein writes, he “loved them more than shining diamonds, loved them more than glistenin’ gold.” 

As I reflect on Hector, my past, my future, where I am now and what I do I am reminded that with age comes, at least some, wisdom, and maturity (I hope). I wonder where they are now…’cause I want to tell them something. I have learned that God collects broken things…things that others think of as junk, people that have been cast away by society, people who are “invisible” to others and who won’t matter their whole lives (or even in death).  I know that now…because I am one of those people. I am Jackson Brown’s Pretender who “started out so young and strong only to begin and end there.”

Rich or poor, well known or nobody important…we share a commonality…we are broken…broken by what the bible calls sin…the poor choices in our lives. I am thankful today that God, like Hector, loves us more than diamonds or gold and was not content to leave me broken…how you say?  “What can make me whole again…nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

I believe…help me in my unbelief.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Prayerful Beginnings?

I HATE beginnings. The beginnings of movies usually take too long to reveal the plot.  As an introvert I would rather make a trip to the dentist than to face the beginning of something--like a new school semester, a new job, a new situation, etc... UGH!!! Even the thought of it causes a small amount of anxiety and fear of the unknown.

However, IF Heraclitus is right and everything in the universe is fluid (that is to say it lacks permanency) [he states "one never steps in the same stream twice"] then everything all the time is new (nothing is permanent) and each thing we do is somehow a beginning even though it may appear that we have done this very same thing over and over again.

I have been teaching on prayer lately (in fact, I am convinced that I teach and read about prayer because of the guilt that I have about not actually praying enough). I have found a LOT of helpful information in a number of resources...but every time I close my eyes and try to focus it seems like that awkward first time again.  My mind wonders, guilt ensues, I quickly think that prayer is descending into a diatribe at best and a soliloquy at worst!! As J.I. Packer puts it..."it has become a duty and not a delight" (see the work here: Packer, J.I. and Nystrom, Carolyn "Praying: Finding our Way Through Duty to Delight).

I never seem to get beyond the fumbling to the "good part."  Theologically I am there.  I believe, know and understand that God loves me, wants what's best for me, and wants me to communicate with Him.  I just sense silence and not communication. I still pray, badly, but I seem to spend a LOT more time lately NOT asking things--perhaps I lack the faith to ask because of the silence I have experienced.  If I were a deterministic Calvinist I would simply chalk it up to God's determinism and let it go...but I am not.  Like Rich Mullins, I keep thinking that He is playing "Hard to Get."

But then I happened upon this Thomas Merton quote:

We do not want to be beginners [at prayer]. But let us be convinced of the fact 
that we will NEVER be anything but beginners, all our life!

Interesting...as much as I HATE beginnings I wonder if it is worth starting over with a new perspective?  Paul sheds light on a similar problem in Romans chapters 9-11 where he finally figures out that the majority of the human problem is a problem in perspective...we cannot see what God sees, nor can we know what God knows-- "His ways are not our way." Instead of praying my perspective I should seek a new perspective from the One who sees all!!

Each beginning will always be difficult...but I like that I never face it alone.

I believe help my unbelief.

Friday, August 9, 2013

5 Miles of Bad Road in the Middle of the Wilderness (Or Why I've Kept Going)

I just got a call (a digitally recorded call...I might add) at my church office about...are you ready...aerial photography.  You know...those fly over shots you see of businesses and farms and other cool stuff.

Don't be confused...I am NOT against aerial photography (sometimes I think the pics are pretty cool)--but I just don't see our leadership going for it and I have no idea where we would hang such a thing or why.  But last night and that phone call reminded me of a few things.

After the call I sat and wondered what my life might look like from an aerial view?  Sometimes people plot their journey like a line graph...showing the peaks and valleys and the ups and downs...but I wonder how my life might look from an overhead perspective? I can only imagine!!  I don't want to see a line graph...it would only depress me!! But an overhead perspective where you get the BIG picture...might look a LOT different.

I have a feeling that it might look like some broken up road in the middle of nowhere...probably like SO many "cow paths" that I walked to fish in a farm pond...weeds growing up both sides, there's only dirt where the cows walk, and where the tractor passes by...then there is the stuff that the cows leave behind...that seems to be everywhere...including the bottom of your boots!  Yeah it has been a tough last few years.  A piece of road I NEVER thought I would hit when I was in my 20's and 30's--back then was a struggle too..but for different reasons and in different ways...as I approach 50 the struggles have changed, my perception of them has changed, and how I deal with them has changed as well.

About 6 years ago I moved to my present location to be an associate minister (in retrospect I'll confess...with a LOT of expectations), in a congregation that everyone thought would soon be pushing 200 and beyond.  After only a few months there the senior minister announced that he was leaving--I applied but was not given the position---though disgruntled I stayed and tried to move forward in the position that I was in.  Another senior minster was hired, after two years he announced that he was leaving...I was told I would not be considered for the position (BTW...by that time I had been in the ministry for 20 years with 10 years experience in the pulpit)...so I quit.  That's right...that night...on the spot I quit...not knowing how I would support my family or what would happen...it was basically like a "secular" job...I gave my two weeks notice and that was the end of it.
I considered leaving the ministry completely but to be honest...at my age...in our location...there's not much out there.

After a couple of months of supply preaching I was asked to become the interim of a small congregation about an hour from home. I agreed for the short-term.  The congregation had been through some problems, attendance had diminished, and they were (and still are) in financial trouble due to the split. I began to drive over three days a week--for almost no financial support--things got a little better.  As I prayed, (and frankly...feared) God laid on my heart to pursue this ministry as a missionary...perhaps I could get financial backing from others to support our efforts there...I did, He did, and we did. That was nearly three years ago and I am still the interim minster there...but we have set a a timeline for change...only God knows what this year will bring (changes...definitely changes!!).

That's my story...as Paul Harvey was wont to say...here's the "rest of the story." 

At my last position I had the great pleasure to meet up with a missionary from Haiti.  In fact, I got to travel to Haiti for a week of short term labor for the Kingdom.  In the waning months of my tenure at the church he contacted me about working with him to start an institute to teach Haitian nationals how to be ministers...I think he called it "A Haitian Bible College"--I am not at all sure why he contacted me except that he knew I had an advanced degree and some experience teaching college students.

LONG story short--the dream became a reality and this Fall I will begin my third year teaching Haitian students at the institute via online technology.

Last night that same missionary came to my house for a visit.  He told me, with GREAT joy, how the institute, though still small in size was making a HUGE impact in its area in Haiti.  My students are working in private schools, helping at the church (doing youth work), are being ordained as deacons in their local churches, there is even a new vision of a church plant that will use the students from the institute to help plant the congregation in a rural place where no church exists (property has even been donated for this purpose)--there is a dream of a medical clinic near the church that will serve the area--reaching both physical and spiritual needs. 

DON'T MISUNDERSTAND...I didn't do or cause ANY of these things to happen...for the Haitians I am mostly a face on a video screen that talks too much. However, in the "mess" that is my current life situation I was reminded that I need to step back and see what God is doing in the middle of my mess.

I have thought about, wanted to, prayed about, cried out to God, written out...you name it...I HAVE WANTED OUT...the ministry is hard on people and families and we (unfortunately like SO many others) have bore the brunt of the negative side of what it means to serve in God's Kingdom.

An aerial view might look better than I think...to me it would probably look like 5 miles of bad road in the middle of the wilderness...but from a BIGGER perspective...you know how those aerial pictures are---they are so far away that all the small stuff that seems out of place when you see them from the ground...go unnoticed from the air...everything that in everyday life seems to occupy and clutter seems insignificant from a bigger perspective.

I tend to only see the glass 1/2 empty with WAY too much stuff cluttering up the landscape.  God's see it too (I am certain) but today I was reminded why God sees the BIG picture...and that is why I keep going...because I trust someone sees something better in the distance than I am able to see. So let us "not grow weary in doing good"--but keep our eyes on the "Author and Perfecter of our faith"--what might look like 5 miles of bad road in the middle of the wilderness might look like something else to Him!

I believe...help me in my unbelief.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Book Outline: Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes



I wanted to share a sentence outline of a book from last year that I shared with an introductory level class.  This is NOT so much a review of the work per se as it is a survey of the content to help you know whether or not you might want to pick it up for yourself.
 
Written Outline of: Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible. By E. Randolph Richards & Brandon J. O’Brien. InterVarsity Press, ©2012.

Written by two authors, who have spent an appreciable amount of time as missionaries outside of the western cultural context, this volume attempts to point out what they call “blinders” (presuppositions, assumptions or bias) that those reared in the Western cultural context hold that may skew or prevent the Western mind from interpreting or understanding Scripture correctly.







Using the metaphor of an iceberg they split the book into three distinct parts: (1) what is “above the surface”; (2) what is “just below the surface”; (3) what is “deep below the surface.”

Outline:

1)    Western bias and suppositions that the authors claim are “above the surface.”

a)    Mores in the East and West, how they affect the biblical text and how our understanding of them affects our interpretation of the biblical text. 
i)       Are we aware of our cultural bias when we come to the biblical text?
ii)     Can we stop cultural bias from affecting how we read Scripture?
iii)    Diversity in a pluralistic society—is it helpful for understanding the Bible?

b)    Ethnocentrism through Western eyes and the inherit problems with race, ethnicity, and gender in the biblical narratives. 
i)       Will a postmodern, egalitarian, interpretive scheme get us closer to the truth?
ii)     Were these issues as important back then as they are today?
iii)    Do these issues prevent us from seeing what scripture is REALLY saying?

c)     Thinking about linguistics, language, and the need for clarity when reading Scripture.
i)       Is the West falling short by failing to REALLY comprehend the semantics of biblical languages?
ii)     If we know the biblical languages are we still affected by Western bias in our translations?
iii)    Because English is vastly different from European (much less Ancient Near Eastern) languages—have we misinterpreted the bible? 
iv)   Has our language bias forced passages to say things that they were never really meant to say?
v)     Because the West typically holds to a “correspondence” view of language and reality can we REALLY talk about biblical reality based on non-biblical (Western) interpretations?
vi)   Is this work merely a postmodern “language game” intended to redact or revise scripture based on a specific cultural ethos?

2)    Western bias and suppositions that the authors claim are “just below the surface.”

a)    Community: Western social individualism and the concept of collectivity.
i)       Sociological perspectives on the bible and how interpretations vary based on cultures.
ii)     Has the “radical individualism” of the West caused us to miss important truths in Scripture?
(1)  Does Western individualism taint the narrative model of Scripture?
(2)  What underlying sociological assumptions drive our individualism?
(3)  Is it possible to overcome this particular bias?
iii)    The Church as a sociological union—the concept of community is more than a collection of individuals.
iv)   Is there too much “me” in my interpretations?
v)     Can the West ever grasp the depth of collective intimacy that the bible presupposes?

b)    How does the “Honor/Shame” concept affect the Eastern and Nomadic cultures presupposed in the biblical narratives?
i)       Does the “honor/shame” concept influence Western notions of morality and ethics?
ii)     Individual responsibility to the concepts of right and wrong and the collective societies’ notion of shame and honor color the biblical texts: How? Why? Can the West grasp this concept which appears beyond the grasp of their rugged individual ethic?
iii)    How does language and semantics affect the Western understanding of the concepts of shame and honor?
iv)   In light of the shame/honor information how should our interpretations change?
(1)  Does the shame/honor model call for a reinvention of the Western conception of morality?
(2)  How do we in the West live now IF this model should change our presuppositions?

c)     The concept of time in the East and West and how it influences biblical interpretations.
i)       Time as a linear measurement of past, present, and future: a Western idiom?
ii)     Has sociological individualism made us a slave to our clocks and calendars?
iii)    How has our assumptions about time (past, present, and future) affected our understanding of various biblical passages?
iv)   Two biblical terms for time: kiaros and chromos—what they mean and why they are important?
(1)  Which “kind” of time are we living for kiaros or chronos?
(2)  Is the bible more about chronos or kiaros—why does it matter?

3)    Western bias and suppositions that the authors claim are “deep below the surface.”

a)    What is more important in life and interpretation: rules or relationships?
i)       How science and the Enlightenment shifted our focus away from relationships to objective truths that are scientifically verifiable.
ii)     How and why are relationships more important than rules?
iii)    Do rules undermine relationships?
iv)   Is this based on the community vs. individual society?
v)     Are both relationships and rules of value to a society?
vi)   Can we actually live without either of these as a society?
vii)  How does our understanding of these concepts change our perceptions about biblical interpretation?
(1)  The OT as a rule driven but relationship valued example.
(2)  The NT as a relationship driven but rule valued example.

b)    The concepts of virtue and vice in life and scripture.
i)       Which should we pursue?
ii)     How does our pursuit of these in our life presuppose how we come to the biblical text?
iii)    Making interpretive assumptions and priorities based on both virtue and vice on our lives.

c)     Finding the center: seeking God in the midst of a world that promotes Self.
i)       Understanding why Self is not all it has cracked up to be.
ii)     Why the Self influences our biblical reading.
iii)    Finding ourselves amidst the social construction of reality.
iv)   God and the Self—is there any hope?
(1)  How the Self completely changes the way we come to SOME texts in scripture.
(2)  The Bible, oddly enough, is NOT about me and me alone as an individual!
(3)  Understanding how we got where we are in light of biblical interpretation and the Self.
(4)  How might our views change if we REALLY understood that not every text will speak to me directly?

4)    Conclusion:  three steps for removing cultural blinders.

a)    A disappointment: it is NEVER as easy as three steps!
i)       Embrace the complexity of scripture, culture, and self.
ii)     Beware of overcorrecting in light of this complexity—not everything needs to change.
iii)    Be teachable—it is never too late for “old dogs to learn new tricks.”
iv)   Embrace error—don’t see being wrong as failure—sometimes we learn best when we learn by trial and error.
v)     Read together—a way to overcome Western individualism is to understand the community context and practice it—two (or three or four) heads are better than one!