The "E" Word
I’ve never been much of an evangelist. Actually, I’m quite against most traditional forms of evangelism. So it’s been interesting for me to participate in the Thompson Scholar seminar at Columbia Seminary this week entitled, “Evangelism for the Rest of Us.” I’ve quite enjoyed the conversation thus far.
To guide our conversation, we were to read Martha Grace Reese’s book, “Unbinding the Gospel.” I also read Brian McLaren’s, “A New Kind of Christianity,” George Hunter III’s “A Celtic Way of Evangelism” and skimmed Bill Hybel’s “Just Walk Across the Room.” I may review some of these in the future — actually, I know I’ll review McLaren.
The evangelism discussion is still very much in-process for me at the moment, but I wanted to put out a few bullet points and see if the blogosphere had some comments:
- Christendom churches just expect people will come to their church if it is attractive enough, but this model just isn’t true anymore (if it ever was).
- Though Evangelism Committees keep coming up in discussion at the seminary — usually because they’re quite problematic, actually — this makes me consider the committee structure in our congregation. There is no committee that focuses on issues not directly related to those who attend worship often. This is a problem, but I also think we have too many committees!
- A primary question to answer for yourself is: what difference does it make if people are Christians?
- Prayer is a good way to start pretty much anything, especially evangelism or “sharing the good news.” I know I could totally work on my personal prayer life, and I bet I’m not the only one in our congregation.
- I wonder if the life cycle of some congregations, if a focus on evangelism could actually be a bad idea. If the body isn’t comfortable in its own skin, it might not be time to invite more folks in to rock the boat. Of course, this can be a catch 22.
- Also, I have a million questions on evangelism in rural communities. What of sheep stealing from other churches? How things are interpreted in the community is huge and would need to be an integral part of the conversation.
More later, for certain. But there’s a few bullets for thought for now.
Language and Cancer: What to say, what not to say
“If some metaphors can lock you in enemy territory, others can be a key to help understand what is happening to you. They can be both oppressive and transformative.” So ends an essay by Neil Small, “After the Battle, Journeys with Cancer: Changing Metaphors of Illness”
A few months ago, I went down to the county courthouse and watched a CCTV event hosted by the Hospice Foundation of America entitled, “Living with Grief: Cancer and End-of-Life Care.” It was a good few hours, and I learned a lot.
A book of the same name was published in conjunction with the event. Neil Small’s article on the metaphors we use when speaking of cancer was probably the most immediately helpful. Neil draws significantly on Susan Sontag’s book “Illness as Metaphor” in which she apparently argues against metaphoric thinking when dealing with disease. But as Neil and Sontag acknowledge, metaphors are all over our disease speak like white on rice.
Sorry. Seriously, though, here’s two takeaways from the article.
1. Though use of battle language can be helpful for some patients and families, it might be difficult even harmful for others. For example, if someone’s cancer is incurable, then speaking in terms of “winning the battle” or “fight” or “war” is just not helpful. In fact, it totally misrepresents the situation. This is not to say that battle language might be helpful for some in some circumstances, but to be aware of its inherent danger.
2. An alternative, and perhaps more helpful metaphor, is that of journey or walk. It is a metaphor that can incorporate the ups and downs of cancer treatment, and is able to be used by patient and family alike. As a pastor, I found it a helpful metaphor as it allows me to speak of heaven and death as an arrival, a destination, rather than something to avoid at all costs.
The article is much more complex than this, but those are the takeaways: battle language can be quite problematic, journey language is more likely helpful.
Presby 101 Class Reflection
I’ve led a Presbyterian 101: Reformed and Always Reforming sunday school class over the past four weeks. This won’t seem unusual for many of you, but from what I know of our history here, pastors haven’t taught much in the past few years. So the class was my first real teaching opportunity in my 9 months as a pastor in Hallock. In short: I enjoyed it, I think some others did too, and it still has me thinking.
I’ve been wondering:
- What the heck does Presbyterian identity mean in Minnesota anyway? I mean, we’re surrounded by Lutherans, and we share huge swaths of theology with them. Is it worth it to point out a few of the distinctive PC(USA) traits?
- We briefly touched on predestination on the theology day; it didn’t sit too well with folks. Will Presbyterians ever be able to move past the major misinterpretations of predestination (as fate or determinism, as scary rather than joyful)?
- We spent most of the class time talking about “what we believe” or “what some presbyterians historically have believed” and very little time talking about what class members believed. Did I contribute to the tendency for us to be scared to share our personal beliefs? Do I have any idea what members of our congregation actually believe?
- During the class on worship, several members commented that they had visited presbyterian churches around the nation and even those had a presbyterian feel — described as open, friendly, a similar order of worship and style. Honestly, this surprised me but was interesting.
- In this congregation, we don’t offer much teaching between high school and the “adult bible school” class which is a self-led bible study with the average student age of around 70, I’m guessing (it’s awesome, I’m just being descriptive). Are we dropping the ball on other opportunities, or is that how small churches should work?
- What opportunities are there to continue some teaching through sermons or sermon series? A friend of mind preached on predestination recently (in a “hard issues” sermon series or something) and it was well received. Considering a sermon series of sorts later this summer…
Social Media & the Church Conference
Just wanted folks to know that my alma mater, Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. is hosting a conference this summer entitled, “Social Networking Media in Congregations: Possibilities & Practicalities.” Here’s the info. After a brief glimpse, it looks worth checking-out for sure. I’m glad to see Columbia’s new president, Steve Hayner, is giving a keynote address. Steve knows his stuff, and I’m proud that the one leading Columbia was on Twitter before it was cool.
Chronos Management
I know I excel at some things, like sleeping. At others this, I know I struggle….like remembering names. Managing time, though, is beyond me. It’s not beyond me in that I know I can’t do it. In fact, I very well might be quite good at time management. It’s just hard to tell.
I had an interesting conversation with a pastor friend last week in which he said something like, “Everyone assumes I’m so busy, but I’m not. I have a lot of time to do anything I want. My congregation just runs itself.” I do know, for certain, I am not like this pastor. Yes, our congregation could function perfectly well without me, but I do feel really busy. And I’m pretty certain it’s more than just a feeling. I am busy.
So the question: how, if possible, might I improve my time management? What tips do you have for pastors so that they might use their time to God’s glory?
OK, so here’s the main tension I feel. The culture is all about time as a commodity, time as something to be managed, something to fight, something to beat. But the Christian take on time is different. First of all, time is a gift from God. It shouldn’t be something to wrestle, but something to embrace.
So in the New Testament, there are two words for time. “Chronos” is chronological time, sequential time as we usually think of it. “Kairos” is a more complicated term, a time more qualitative than quantitative. Kairos time is the moment when God deems something appropriate, the right moment almost regardless of the time on the clock.
The go to verse to show kairos is Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The TIME is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” That’s kairos time — a God moment.
So as a pastor, as a Christian, I am aware of the danger of being sucked into thinking time is something to fight against, something to be freed from. In fact, God might be using time to do God’s business. But, all that being true still doesn’t necessarily mean I feel as if I use my time wisely, or that my time is best spent to serve, or even that the way I spend time is faithful at all.
Here’s a few things I’ve figured out re time and ministry, but I’d love to hear more from you all:
- Emails can wait. When getting to the office, reading for 20-30 minutes is a real handy way of scheduling study time.
- Saying “no” is a gift. Saying “no” is often a good idea.
- No matter how many hours I work in a week, it’ll always feel like there’s something more to do.
- Twitter and Facebook are really valuable ministry tools, but I needn’t use them constantly.
- Thinking of my day in blocks is helpful. If I have meetings at night, cutting afternoon work short is a good idea.
- Schedule time to study, don’t just say “I should read this week.” (Ok, I’m no good at this, but I’m aware at least.)
- Sometimes, often in fact, opportunities for real ministry are unscheduled — the conversation at the post office, the person who pops into the office unscheduled.
- Writing a sermon while at the office just doesn’t work. I need to start scheduling more time away from the office and not feel guilty about it.
- Visits — along with study — tend to be the first thing that get cut from a busy week. Some visits to those ill have to be done, the other visits get pushed off easily.
Ok, I’ll stop there. Often, when thinking about this stuff, I recall Eugene Peterson’s book “Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness.” He gets this stuff, but I also don’t quite think his experience is easily translatable to other contexts.
So this friend of mine who says he’s not busy, says what he primarily does is “Spend my days listening for God, and enabling my congregation to do the same.” Maybe that’s something else to keep in mind. May God’s time allow it.
image by Rich DuBose
Pastor's Newsletter Column
still a bit of time before this goes to press; as always, I’d appreciate any comments
A Wee Word from the Pastor
I usually try to avoid the talking heads on TV, but in recent weeks Glenn Beck has made himself unavoidable. Perhaps you missed the media fracas—if so, consider yourself lucky. Perhaps you have not heard of Glenn Beck, the polarizing author, talk show host, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist—if so, bless you. But since Beck recently made some sweeping generalizations about Christians and Christianity that caused quite a stir, I figure I should probably write a little something in response.
To catch you up: on a recent television show Glenn Beck claimed that “social justice is a perversion of the Gospel” and urged Christians to leave their churches if their congregations preached “social justice,” or if their websites contained the words “social justice.”
On the surface, we Hallock Presbyterians are safe and sound—at least since I’ve been here. I checked: we don’t have a website with the words “social justice” (we don’t have a website at all!). And I did a computer word search of my sermons and the words “social” and “justice” have never appeared in the same sentence together. Whew!
But Beck, not known for apologizing or backing down, ramped up his rhetoric. After many Christians responded negatively to Beck’s critiques, starting petition campaigns and speaking out online, claiming that it is the call of all Christians everywhere to seek social justice, Beck took things to the next level. Beck dedicated a week of his show to fighting the Christian-based organization Sojourners’, and its founder Jim Wallis. Now Jim Wallis is another guy happy to spend some time in the spotlight. Wallis did so by peddling his books, (including “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It” and “Rediscovering Values”), but also by responding with sound judgment and helpful history.
In a recent Washington Post Op-Ed article “Christians Stand up to Glenn Beck” Wallis writes,
While the term has sometimes been used to support ideologies of the left and right, social justice is in fact a personal commitment to serve the poor and to attack the conditions that lead to poverty. These are some of the most passionate beliefs of a younger generation of Christians and one of their most compelling attractions to Jesus Christ.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the archetypal “social justice Christian” and the one from whom many of us have drawn inspiration. King inspired me to build movements for change, not to build big and tyrannical governments, as Beck has charged. King clearly called for more than private charity: He called for changing structures and, yes, for using the “government” to end racial segregation and establish voting rights for African Americans. And it was King acting in what he believed to be obedience to God, not a preference for totalitarian governments, that led to remarkable achievements of helping to realize a more just society.
Wallis is right to defend those of us who seek “social justice” in the world. Indeed, leaders in the Roman Catholic Church, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and even Glenn Beck’s own Mormon church have publically challenged Beck’s understanding of social justice.
The Presbyterian Church is no different. The six “great ends of the church” that are outlined in the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are:
- The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind
- The shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God
- The maintenance of divine worship
- The preservation of the truth
- The promotion of social righteousness
- The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world
It’s pretty near impossible to seek the full fellowship of God’s children without working for social justice. The “promotion of social righteousness” is integral to the PC(USA)’s essential purpose.
I will refrain here from any further cultural analysis of Glenn Beck or the justice-seeking state of the mainline church in the US at the moment. What social justice really looks like is a topic for another day, as are the ulterior motives of Beck’s show. But since First Pres Hallock doesn’t have a website, and since I haven’t said it explicitly from the pulpit in the past six months, let me be clear: Individually, and as a body of believers, an essential part of our response to God’s love is our call to seek social justice. Call it “mission,” call it “social justice,” call it “whirled peas”—whatever—but, with God’s help, let us seek it together.
What is Due Diligence in Preaching?
One of the most important things I do each week as a pastor is prepare for and proclaim the word. As a Minister of Word and Sacrament, my role — and indeed, the office to which I was ordained — is tied to this public proclamation. Of course, preaching need not be done by an ordained minister, but in our imperfect system, it usually is. And so, much of my week has to do with preparing to deliver a sermon on sunday.
Since I’m a preacher’s kid, I had a fair idea of the challenges of such a weekly task even before I signed-up. I
knew about the anguished Saturdays of sermon writing, and even more, the reticence to do anything on Saturday past 9 pm. But I did not anticipate the huge challenge of organizing one’s week around sermon writing.
This all may be highlighted slightly as I’m in a 3/4 time position, but I bet most weekly preachers have the same issue. Basically: there’s so much more to do in my work as a pastor than write a sermon. In fact, almost every week I work my 3/4 time and, only then, get down to writing the sermon. I might have done some sermon prep before my 30 hours, but rarely do I start writing. And never have I finished.
And so I wonder. If sermon preparation and delivery is so important, then why is it always the last thing I do each week?
The Larger Catechism overwhelms me by saying:
“Q 159: How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto? A: They that are called to labor in the ministry of the Word are to preach sound doctrine, diligently…plainly, not in the enticing word of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; faithfully…wisely…zealously, with fervent love to God, and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edification, and salvation.”
I’ll surely never preach fulfilling the full meaning of all those adverbs, but I could probably preach better if I devoted more time earlier in the week to preparation. I don’t know for sure, but in seminary and when I was preached every few weeks at my congregation in Scotland, I probably was able to devote 16 plus hours to preparing each sermon. Heck, maybe 20. Were I to do that now, I’d have to cut out huge chunks of my other tasks. I really appreciated Reverend Mother’s post last week “preaching weekly v. preaching monthly” in which she admits she lowers her standards when she preaches weekly. I get that. I do the same. It bothers me, but that’s life, I guess.
But I wonder what would happen if I re-prioritized my week so that my exegetical work, outline, and writing happened on the front side of things. I’d surely get less accomplished otherwise, but my sermons would improve and, ideally, it could also improve the focus of my congregation. I’d maybe come to meetings less prepared and might put a visit off until next week, but the sermon on sunday would be a bit stronger.
One of the commenters on Reverend Mother’s post said Robert Farrar Capon said something about preaching using the analogy of gourmet cooking. “He spoke of the need for the preacher to bring good bread every Sunday rather than a gourmet meal.” I just wonder if the bread would taste better if I baked it by Thursday rather than by Saturday.
So, you experienced preachers and sermon hearers out there. What say you? How important is that proclaimed word of God each week? If you’re a preacher, do you put off writing until Friday or Saturday? If so, what does that say about your dedication to your calling as a preacher? What is due diligence in preaching?
image by Simon Cataudo
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