Leaning Forward

Ooodgay eyebay

So, this will be the final post of my blog, Just the Right Words. It's time to move on and I've got a couple of new ideas I'm working through. Since May, 2008, I've written 1329 posts, have had 985,567 page views, averaging about 740 views per day. It's been a lot of fun, has sharpened my dull skills, and has helped Harriet and I fight mental illness for almost four years. More than anything, Just the Right Words has permitted me to rant and rave about life and politics and faith and just about every other topic that has scrolled across the screen in my head. Lately it's become something of an obsessive chore. So, it's time for something new. Thanks for reading and commenting, both of you. You're cool.

Perhaps more than anything, Just the Right Words has been therapeutic, a place to bleed in public and receive the encouragement and support of many friends as we have grieved this year. The grieving isn't over and we're still grappling with the loss of our son in many ways, day by day. Being able to air some of these mysteries has been a genuine blessing. I am truly grateful. Even if no one read my vents it was good to get them out on paper, a catharsis that is healing. But, even our grief is moving in another direction these days and maybe it's time to steer this thing in that direction too.

In my head? Maybe another blog that leans more to the right, tackles more political and cultural topics, and hits a little harder. The writing classroom is a good one, I love language and developing an ability to express myself, and will most likely do another in the months to come. Next time, I won't be so obsessive about it, will probably write less frequently, and will push the envelop a little about touchy topics.

So, as Curly Joe would say, "ooodgay eyebay".

An unreached people group

If the numbers are accurate, the dynamics of mission must be shifting if we are to impact the largest unreached people group in the world. They tell us that 50% of the world population, that is one-half, is under the age of twenty-five. It means there's been a recent inversion that has sent the baby-boomers, my generation, to the the second spot on the generational cohort list. The millennials are now number one. 

What is wrong with this picture? It should be very obvious. The traditional, main-line church is in a graying mode, that is, it is growing grayer with each passing year. Baptists are also losing ground in the commission to impact the nations, and this unique age-nation too. They say that only 10-13 per cent of the under twenty-five generation is even loosely attached to a church. It is a stagger- ing statistic reality that should be sounding alarms in the evangelical community.

Really, however, it isn't. Typically, church people will blame the youth and their crazy ways for the disconnect between the church and this age-group. So, with the world experiencing a seismic shift in 1990 with the World Wide Web, everything for the newer generations changed too. So, here is culture zooming along at the speed of thought while the church is hawking buggy whips and business as usual. Of a truth, many congregations are cultural throwbacks, reflecting not the new thing God is doing day by day int he here and now, but the things God was doing in the church back in the fifties, sixties, or seventies. As one observer said, if the nineteen sixties ever come back, the church will be ready. That is, the majority of churches.

So, we can load the blame for being different on the young people. Thank God they are. We can, how- ever take the majority of the heat for trying to keep this old wineskin going when it cannot hold the new wine of what God is doing today. A couple of months ago the leaders of an established and declining congregation told me they're rather die than change. That may be a prayer request that is answered because they are well on their way to it's fulfillment. With an average age of over 75, they are on the short list of extinction unless something changes.

This is a no-brainer for people who understand the truth of Scripture and the nature of the church. Change isn't the big no-no in the church because it is established in creation, a factor in every micro-fiber of this universe, the one constant is all things. Every thing changes. A church that will not contextualize it's mission in the current environment is pulling against the things God wired into His world. This kind of concept cannot survive.

What should be the order of the day is developing strategies for influencing and impacting the younger age cohorts. Shoot, for a boomer like me, these age-groups represent my grand-children. Certainly I want to be a church they are eager to attend and be a part of. It's puzzling to me there could be one single Baptist who wouldn't want to be that kind of church too.

We're to be aggressive in this too. It means going to the hightways and hedges, as the evangelists used to say in translating the word of Jesus, and compelling them to come in. They amy be our larget unreached people group, and we must reach out to them.

Even when I am old and gray, God, do not abandon me. Then I will proclaim Your power to ‹another› generation, Your strength to all who are to come.
Psalm 71:1

 

 

 

How to Survive a Shipwreck 3: Storms

Storms are certainly inevitable. Sail long enough and you'll get caught in one. Shipwrecks aren't all that odd either, as proved last week with the wreck of a modern ocean-liner off the coast of Italy. But,they don't have to be fatal. Humans survive shipwrecks all the time, real ones and metaphorical ones too.

Today our text takes us into the real storm the travelers to Italy faced. Already their voyage has involved the unpredictable nature of the sea. Now, a "northeaster" assaults their vessel and threatens the boat, the cargo, and the lives of the crew and passengers.

But, some things happened to preserve them. They survived this element of the storm because they took definitive strategies that protected them. Today, we will outline five broad biblical strategies from this text. We can implement them too as we encounter the shipwrecks of this life.

If you would like to participate in the Live Event @ Youversion.com, enter their web site, look for the Live Events tabs and enter Northwood Baptist Church or Postal Code 29406. The Live Event is titled How to Survive a Shipwreck 3: Storms. The Scriptures from today's event are posted, there are a couple of questions you may answer, and a poll you can participate in. It's just an added dimension to enhance our understanding of the text and the message.

Today we'll also hear another shipwreck testimony. Remain prayerful as another member of our church family shares a testimony of faith. Prayerfully this word will encourage and bless us all.

Blessings for a day of inspired worship and learning in the Word of God.

When I grow up to be a man

So, Gary Mathis of our associational staff asked me to be the guest speak for the annual Men and Boys Outdoorsman Retreat at Bonnie Doone Conference Center last night and today. Of course, I said "yes" and am there right now getting ready for a great day of man stuff. There will the archery, retriever demo, target shooting and qualifications, a pistol range, turkey calling, and a a couple of wild game meals. Plus, probably a good bit of camo, and an overflow of testosterone.  

It's always a blessing to be asked to participate in these kinds of events, and I'm glad I said "yes". But, I have to admit I'm the most unlikely candidate to speak at this kind of event you could imagine. Well, yes, the manhood thing appeals to be and I'm proud to be male in every way. Sports has always been on my personal agenda, I do have a Concealed Weapon Permit and a few handguns, and am a avid animal lover, especially when prepared medium well. In all frankness, I'm not much of a hunter, rarely go fishing, and only own one pair of camo pants. Harriet has given me some of the popular Columbia brand outdoor wear for Christmas the past couple of years, mostly off the sale rack. What's more, I doubt if Oliver (our ten year old Shi tshu) would qualify as a proper hunting dog either.

But, I won't be intimidated by all that stuff because it doesn't make a man anyway. In fact, my topic for the weekend is "When I Grow Up to be a Man" and will be a review of King David's life , when he became a man, and the resume he bought into to his leadership of Israel. There's also a few coming of age tales that should make things interesting. It's going  to be a fun day.

And who's to say who's a man and who isn't. I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express one night---

The physics of church (and life): mmmmmmmm

Like life, the physics lab can be a noisy place. The test instruments all clank and bang and give off the sounds of friction, resistance, force, power, energy, lift, drag, velocity, and all the other testing parameters. There are fulcrums, inclines, pulleys, weights, levers, transistors, electrical meters, and other gadgets designed to prove the physical laws God calibrated into His creation. Bump and grind go the mechanics of our world, visibly displayed. They somehow make all the mathematical formulas and calculations more comprehensible.

Over them all is the constant whirring of another machine. It is a slight hum, the mmmmmmm of all of the physics functioning in proper order. It is plugged into an electrical outlet and the power surges through it's wires to the inner mechanism. An electrical motor runs deep inside the machinery. A fan operates almost silently. It is the air-conditioning unit over in the corner. It's motor forces cooled air from it's vents at three speeds. The amps and volts and ohms over-ride the resistance of hot air and sends the coolness in a stream throughout the room. Thermo-dynamics converts the the warm air into a temperature that is set on the mechanism. It blows at three determined speeds. Wow, the physics of every day life. 

A lot has to happen to make the thing work. The schematic was drawn with precision by an engineer of air, an architect of coolness. We only pay attention to it when one of the machine parts malfunctions and the flow of air is interrupted. Then it makes some noise, maybe puffs smoke, even fills the air with a fowl odor, a breakdown in the physics. One of the components, perhaps many, aren't working properly. Now we're sweating. So, we may bang on the lid, give the outer covering a swift kick, switch the power on and off, try un-plugging and re-plugging.

Eventually, we'll most like call a specialist to regain efficient operation and cool air again, someone trained in repairing these things. With precision and delicacy they will identify the problem, present solutions, replace or repair broken parts, and get the thing moving again as soon as possible. You know, you can't live without air these days.

The physics of church, and of life, naturally, break down occasionally too. Sometimes we can make minor adjustments to reactivate the machinery. Other times, a specialist is required. We can consult the ultimate physics text, the Bible, for instruction. There may need to be some re-wiring, cleaning of the lines, re-attachment of contacts, smoothing of surfaces, elimination of resistance, polishing some friction, or other calibrations. But, the machinery, that is, the human body, the heart and mind for human relationships, the church too, are very fine equipment, designed with great care. When the connections are right, the angles properly set, the connections rightly made, and the instructions are followed as designed, this machinery works well too.

Over the noise of the lab we hear mmmmmmmm!

Pray that it is so.

The physics of church (and life): resistance

The days of going simple are over in this physics lab. Resistance is an electrical force and all the formulas and calculations in the electrical lab are too remote for me to bring near. In short, then, resistance is a conductibility measure. Basically, it is the measure of how much current flow flows through a conductor per the voltage applied. Got it?? Maybe not.

So, there are poor conductors, super-conductors, and of course, semi-conductions. Most metals are super-conductors, and most non-metals are poor conductions. This may explain why copper will transmit voltage almost unimpeded, and a candy bar will melt when jolted.

Cool. So don't insert a bobby pin into a wall outlet, the physics lab lesson we learned when we were but toddlers. Perhaps the ultimate lesson here is that electrical current cannot flow through every element. Some materials are resistors to the current flow. So, the delivery of voltage to an electrically powered object can be inhibited by trying to pass that voltage through a poor conductor. So, take that lesson out of the laboratory and bring it to my house and to church!

It's obvious isn't it! I mean, the definition itself is a clue to how resistance affects us personally and in our corporate lives, even at church. Say the jolt of electricity, the charge of current, is the Holy Spirit of God. Yes, all the peripheral terms apply---force, energy, power, work---and they are transmitted to us (1) in our own spirit, and (2) through the Body, the church. Poor conductors can stem the flow of voltage to us in many ways. As Scripture affirms, some people can become disconnected from the Head of the Body, and the delivery system is totally kaput. Still, others, including ourselves, may be out of step with the Spirit, creating a disconnect that minimizes power and energy. Resistors---people, events, doctrinal error, ministry miscalculations, lack of prayer, Biblical variance, ineffective leaders, to mention a few--- can reduce the voltage to such a degree that the person and the organization are self-propelled. Then, all you have is the pop culture version, the fun and games church, with people driving the mechanism.

Church demographics aren't all that brilliant these days. It may be an electrical problem, a circuit that is broken, the voltage reduced because poor conductors are in the transmission chain. This may sound on the judgmental side, perhaps negative. However, it must be part of the explanation for the poor voltage in many people, congregations, and denominations today. Don't try to say the power of God is diminished or the Word isn't super-charged! Get real! If the church varies from the first century model in Acts we can't lay it off on Him. No, there must be some poor conductors or semi-conductors in the wiring!

At a personal level, this is significant as well. Life itself---the people who comprise our circuits, our activities, devotional routines, worship, study, habits, hurts and hang-ups (as they say in Celebrate Recovery), the places we go---may be poor- or at best semi- conductors, things that stanch the flow of the current from God to our spirit. When this happens we are often ill-equipped for the exigencies of life, unprepared for the more demanding things we encounter. 

Believers are to be filled with the spirit (see Ephesians 5:18). This verse pre-supposes continuity of action, something that happens over and over again.

This is how to overcome resistance---in the lab, in my own life, and at church.

The physics of church (and life): friction

Simply stated, friction is the force of two objects rubbing together. Well, there's dry friction, fluid friction, lubricated friction, skin friction, internal friction, and the sparks that fly when you and your wife are haggling over the remote control.  Of course, the rub is the rub. It doesn't have to be bad because without it, things wouldn't move. But, if the fit os wrong, or alignment is off a bit, friction can also be the stuff of blisters, raw places, irritations, abrasions, and irritations. Thanks to friction, first aid is a thriving business, as well as counseling, lubricants, machine works, and something as simple as climbing stairs. At church, friction, managed properly, is good.

Friction makes things stop and go. It can bring a vehicle to a gradual slow-down or a screeching halt. At the same time, friction can propel an object forward with sudden acceleration or step it forward bit by bit. Friction connects a set of tire to the road, and cause water-planning on the same wet roads when the car's moving too fast. It is a resistant force that can slow things down or move them beyond their intended speed. Only when the works are not properly calibrated or measured or utilized dos the friction become a problem. Then, the rub is the rub and the result is red, swollen, and irritated.

So, take friction to church. Well, if the Bible correct, the message and the mission is always going to create a certain level of friction in a world moving the other way. When Scripture mentions "stumbling blocks" and "trouble" and some of the other predictable frictions when the church and the world run up against each other, there can be sparks. Yet, this is the very rub that draws the Gospel to that world. The Good News happens to the max in that friction. This stumbling block thing is the power of the Gospel, what thrusts us into that world. The friction works.

Internal friction advances the mission, fellowship, and even theological foundations of the local church. Once again, the natural leanings of the human species is confronted by the spiritual character of faith, creating a tension that moves faith forward. The tenets of faith are fixed and established. But, human spiritual growth challenges and stretches us under the friction of being transformed into the very image and likeness of Christ. Once again, friction create forward motion.

Then, there's the friction of ill fitting people and ideas and vision rubbing together in the church. Sadly, but far too often, churches experience the raw and exposed nerves, the abrasions of friction among believers who have different theological ideas. This even happens between spiritual leaders, pastors too, and their congregations. Somewhere in the call process there is a mis-match, an eagerness to create a good fit that overlooks important considerations. It is a serious miscalculation. The rub is irritating, dangerous, injurious.

Think life in the friction process too. It's a natural element of just about every interaction, contact with other people, organizations, ideas, concepts, and activity at every turn. Most friction is positive. Yet, at times there are miscalibrations, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, an explosion that can endanger life, relationships, careers, or just about any other precious reality in life. Lubrication helps. Medication can soothe abrasions.

But, fit is significant, having the right people on your bus, the birds of a feather thing, making some adjustments along the way, applying lubrication when needed, insuring the contact is moving you forward. The physics of church and the physics of life are identical. Friction is inevitable and natural.

Band-aids are not. If you have them on everything, something is out of alignment and the friction is not good. Maybe Galatians 5:22-23 will help.

 

The physics of church (and life): dynamic

Think "dynamic". A personality culture instantly imagines the high octane people magnets that bring life to the party, some pop to the room, and mesmerize the crowds with their smooth talk. In this world "dynamic" is a personality type, the extroverted, self-assured leader who gets things done and makes things happen.

At church "dynamic" is a skilled verbalist, a great leader, or a church on the move. Like the culture in general, the church tends to treat "dynamic" with the same personality generalizations, giving the label to people or congregations that make a good appearance or garner some attention. In the numbers game, "dynamic" also translates "big". 

In the physics lab, "dynamic" is the opposite of static. In physics, "dynamic" is defined as energy or objects in motion. So, God's creation is "dynamic". He calibrated life, breath, motion, reproduction, constant living and moving and changing, into even the smallest of the particles of the universe. As a result, life is always in a state of flux. It is the nature of things, organic growth, atomic movement, the motion of a world created by a living God.

Dynamism seems faster these days. While the elements of time and space and the character of matter are essentially unchanging since creation, technology has fast-forwarded the time-tables of dynamism by making more things happen in those well-defined moments. Things seem faster, though they really aren't. It is an appearance because more information and activity and decisions are crammed into the time allotments established 6,000 years ago.

But, dynamic isn't about speed. That's another experiment in the lab, the tests of velocity. Dynamic is about life and growth and activity. Everything is in a state of constant motion. Only when force or energy or power or torque or work or any of the other elements of motion interact with an object can the dynamism create movement. So, there can be plenty of motion without a millimeter of movement.

So, the point, Mr. Wizard, is that nothing is static, everything is dynamic. Enter the unchanging world of the church once again. While the world around us is zooming at nano-speed many spiritual leaders are stomping the brakes hoping to impede the movement and change. Success in some spiritual groups and organizations is the degree to which their leaders cling to what has defined them in another age. In our own denomination there is a retro move that yearns for another time, another way, something past.

Scripture is a living book that leads us to a living faith through faith in a living Lord. This life is defined in terms of newness---the new covenant, the new life, the new way, the new creation---the new thing God is doing at all times. Throughout the Book is the language of the dynamic, not static, nature of faith. It is a living, breathing faith, entrusted to the Body of Christ---the living Body. His mercies are new every day, the Body is being nourished and edified every moment, a miraculous multiplication growing the Body, edifying it, building it up.

There's some activity and motion out there today. It's dynamic by some accounts, certainly able to draw a crowd, raise an eyebrow or two, even construct a media event with broad distribution, church gone prime time. But, again, the dynamic thing God is doing isn't about motion or speed or even "wow". It's about the nature of the Body and the character of life. They are active and growing, pulsating with life.

Dynamic!

The physics of church (and life) : static

Life is not static. In physics, this means nothing stands still. Everything moves, everything changes, molecules and atoms and the basic stuff of life are in constant motion. Even though a body may be at rest in the lab, the particles that comprise it are swirling and circulating and rotating in ways that mark the dynamic nature of things.

The theologians will declare that there are things that don't change---the person and character of God, the Word of God, the love of God, and the attributes that define Him. Of creation, however, nothing is static, standing still, unchanging. Life is motion. More, faith is motion too, a growing drynamic of life. To remain the same is unnatural.

Certain Christian factions fight against creation seeking to preserve that which is in constant motion. Perhaps the greatest distancing factor today between the church and unbelieving populations is the way many church people seek to maintain what was. In a world of flux, while everything is changing, some believers are intent on status quo in an organism established to grow. So, regardless of formulas and calculations, lab experiments and physics definitions, static isn't possible. Like atoms, the church and the power and the energy and the work of the Spirit are dynamic in nature. This organism pulsates with life. It cannot stay the same. 

The church and faith and the spiritual life are about growth too. Faith is not static but is the substance of things hoped for. In the same way, Christ is not rotting in a grave or tomb but is victorious at the right hand of the Father, the resurrected and living Lord. We are taught to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3:18). Over and over Scripture speaks of the Christian life as a growing, living experience. The words and terms of faith define a vibrant, fully engaged life that not only grows, but multiplies and spreads, organic in every way. Even the church is the Body of Christ, a body that is alive and arranged according to the pleasure of the One who created it.

Tradition? Sure. The teaching of Christ and the apostles forms the tenets of our faith. The Bible is the Living Word. But, the church is the repository of the new wine of the Gospel. And, you know what Jesus said about those old wineskins. They just won't hold up under the effervescent froth of the new wine. It cannot be static.

And, such is life. It is always moving, stretching, growing, and expanding. It is the dynamism God factored into the physical laws of His creation. To maintain or hold constant or preserve or be static is to go against what God intended. Such are dead churches and ineffective believers. They're not the norm. They are abnormal. Sure, they may be average these days, but not what God planned. You see, His world is dynamic and not static. The physics of life govern even the spiritual dimensions. To try to keep things the same is not in the plan.

At root is the personal dimension. We are not to remain static either. As Paul wrote, there is a process happening in growing believers, transformation. He penned, "He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself" (Philippians 3:21). When we're the same, is is only natural that we try to keep things around us the same too.

But, life isn't static. And, neither is faith.

How to Survive a Shipwreck 2: Seasons

Two shipwrecks are on the radar this morning. Of course, one is the detailed ancient record of an un-named vessel remembered by Doctor Luke in Acts 27. The other is the national shipwreck of our nation occasioned by Roe v. Wade SCOTUS decision, January 22, 1973. They both weigh on us today.

Take the Acts text first. Today we're working through Acts 27:9-13 and thinking about sailing in the seasons. They chose to sail on in the difficult winter season, a treacherous few months in the Mediterranean. Like the voyagers in Acts, most of us learn there are times in life when the reality of a shipwreck is more probable than others. One of the repeated learnings in this journey is the truth that life is essentially movement through the seasons. At first we generally think of them as segments of time, the phases of life---adolescence, puberty, the teen years, young adulthood, mid-life, and the senior years. This is the path, in a limited sort of way. But, the seasons are more. They are also the moments when we are vulnerable, the unpredictable times when trouble invades and we are brought low or our emotions are triggered for some response.

These are the seasons of life for which we must prepare Today we'll review Acts 27:9-13 with this idea in mind. The seasons are especially dangerous times. We must prepare for them.

On the second front, today we'll pray for reversal of Roe v. Wade, the SCOTUS decision that opened the door to the abortion shipwreck that may be the most destructive element of our national epoch, a least in modern time. The caviler taking of human life is a blight on our national character. We must pray as never before for politicians who will risk the ire of an American minority to stand with life. This is a shipwreck we cannot ignore.

Lately I've noticed the power of the American citizenry when we're irritated. Many banks reversed their plans to charge ATM and debit card fees when their customers complained loudly. NetFlix abandoned a new and more costly movie rental formula when the pubic spoke to them about it. Verizon changed their plans for additional fees when the public cried out. Politicians will examine the abortion issue if we make enough noise. So, make some noise, please.

Shipwrecks are inevitable. We can survive them, however, if we'll listen to Him and follow His guidance through the storms.

Amen!