Friday, January 30, 2009
Why We're Not Emergent - A Review, continued
I have posted the second and concluding installment of my review of Why We're Not Emergent on my blog at liberaladventist.blogspot.com.
When Did God Show Up?
A few weeks ago five ministers gathered for lunch in one of our churches. The leader for the day invited us to think of one event in our ministry when God showed up. We were asked to tell a story of a time when it was clear God had used us as his agent to accomplish something that mattered.
I wish you could have been there. One pastor told of showing up in a rural district, his very first pastoral assignment. As he talked with the folks he found out they owned property for a new church. The building they were in was decrepit. He became strongly convinced God had called him there to build a church. And they did--against large odds. As soon as the church was up, even before they had occupancy, he was moved. But he knew that God had sent him to that church for that mission.
Another pastor told of losing his temper publicly while dealing with a chronically disruptive woman. He was terribly embarrassed. But over the next months, God clearly used his "inappropriate" outburst as a catalyst to move the church out of deeply entrenched dysfunction into a new and healthy life. God showed up. God used him.
There were other stories that day. Good ones. I left encouraged, warmed. More confident in God and closer to my friends in the ministry.
We all stumble at times. Most of us are sometimes painfully aware of our inadequacy. But God called us into ministry. He chose us as agents of the Kingdom of Heaven. And sometimes he lets us know we've done something significant for our Master.
What's your story? Rehearse it often. Keep it vivid in your mind.
And the next time you're with clergy friends, ask them their story. When did God show up--unmistakably--while they were engaged in his service.
I wish you could have been there. One pastor told of showing up in a rural district, his very first pastoral assignment. As he talked with the folks he found out they owned property for a new church. The building they were in was decrepit. He became strongly convinced God had called him there to build a church. And they did--against large odds. As soon as the church was up, even before they had occupancy, he was moved. But he knew that God had sent him to that church for that mission.
Another pastor told of losing his temper publicly while dealing with a chronically disruptive woman. He was terribly embarrassed. But over the next months, God clearly used his "inappropriate" outburst as a catalyst to move the church out of deeply entrenched dysfunction into a new and healthy life. God showed up. God used him.
There were other stories that day. Good ones. I left encouraged, warmed. More confident in God and closer to my friends in the ministry.
We all stumble at times. Most of us are sometimes painfully aware of our inadequacy. But God called us into ministry. He chose us as agents of the Kingdom of Heaven. And sometimes he lets us know we've done something significant for our Master.
What's your story? Rehearse it often. Keep it vivid in your mind.
And the next time you're with clergy friends, ask them their story. When did God show up--unmistakably--while they were engaged in his service.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Agnosticism and Preaching
Agnosticism and Preaching
[Last Friday, I wrote the first part of a review of Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be). I’ll try to get to the second and final installment of my review next week.]
Agnostism: not knowing.
It’s tough being a preacher when you’re an agnostic, when you are so perplexed by elements of the Christian faith that that you don’t know quite what to say or even what to think.
Sometimes, agnosticism can be a wonderful thing. On occasion, when a preacher acknowledges publicly, I do not know, this acknowledgement may draw questioners closer to the community of faith. Questioners in our audience hear our confession of not knowing as respect for their questions and their quest. We make it safe for them to continue their journey inside the community.
Private agnosticism can temper our preaching with humility. We are aware our insight into God is partial at best and defective in ways we cannot see. This awareness keeps us from bombast and pomposity. It helps us build bridges between God and the doubtful ones in our congregations.
Being publicly honest about what we don’t know can help questioners feel at home in church. Privately confronting ourselves during meditation and study with the limits of our knowledge helps us empathize with the perplexed and troubled. But when it comes time to preach, no matter how beleaguered we are by unanswered questions and doubts, we are called to say something good and true.
Preachers stand in the place of Jesus. We follow our master to the front of the congregation and stand to preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim liberty for the captives, to declare the year of the Lord’s favor. We stand up to speak the truth.
Some who fancy ourselves as intellectuals could fill volumes with what we don’t know. Some of us could fill volumes with the stuff other people "know" that they shouldn’t know. But when it comes time to preach, forget all that.
There is something you do know, something only you know in just the way you know it. One reason God called you to preach is so that little bit of truth, that tiny facet of understanding, could be voiced aloud.
So whatever it is you don’t know, this week when you step in front of your congregation, go beyond it. Tell them something good. Tell them the truth.
[Last Friday, I wrote the first part of a review of Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be). I’ll try to get to the second and final installment of my review next week.]
Agnostism: not knowing.
It’s tough being a preacher when you’re an agnostic, when you are so perplexed by elements of the Christian faith that that you don’t know quite what to say or even what to think.
Sometimes, agnosticism can be a wonderful thing. On occasion, when a preacher acknowledges publicly, I do not know, this acknowledgement may draw questioners closer to the community of faith. Questioners in our audience hear our confession of not knowing as respect for their questions and their quest. We make it safe for them to continue their journey inside the community.
Private agnosticism can temper our preaching with humility. We are aware our insight into God is partial at best and defective in ways we cannot see. This awareness keeps us from bombast and pomposity. It helps us build bridges between God and the doubtful ones in our congregations.
Being publicly honest about what we don’t know can help questioners feel at home in church. Privately confronting ourselves during meditation and study with the limits of our knowledge helps us empathize with the perplexed and troubled. But when it comes time to preach, no matter how beleaguered we are by unanswered questions and doubts, we are called to say something good and true.
Preachers stand in the place of Jesus. We follow our master to the front of the congregation and stand to preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim liberty for the captives, to declare the year of the Lord’s favor. We stand up to speak the truth.
Some who fancy ourselves as intellectuals could fill volumes with what we don’t know. Some of us could fill volumes with the stuff other people "know" that they shouldn’t know. But when it comes time to preach, forget all that.
There is something you do know, something only you know in just the way you know it. One reason God called you to preach is so that little bit of truth, that tiny facet of understanding, could be voiced aloud.
So whatever it is you don’t know, this week when you step in front of your congregation, go beyond it. Tell them something good. Tell them the truth.
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