Pray to Your Audience of One

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I have a vague memory from my childhood when I prayed in a family or other group gathering. Someone, perhaps a sibling, snickered at the words I chose in my prayer. My mother, the ever protector, responded quickly, “He wasn’t talking to you.”
Jesus taught that prayer was never a public performance but a private one. Here are his words again from The Message and Matthew 6,

“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

Instead of doing a dance for the world, you do your dance for God, your audience of one, The One. Instead of proclaiming your righteousness, you seek alignment with the heart and desires of God. Paul Thorn offers a great image for when God is your target audience and simple prayer in a phrase in, I Hope I’m Doing This Right, Continue reading “Pray to Your Audience of One”

Make God Your Target Audience

I’ve spent a good bit of time with songwriters in Nashville. Like writers of books, a question they are commonly asked is, “Who is your target audience?” The question presents a challenge to any artist seeking the approval of others for a work that contains their personality and soul. However, the question does present a wonderful opportunity for reflection. Consider this image of a theater.

In the theater to the right, where would you place the following?
sanctuary
Preacher
Choir or Singers and Musicians
Congregation
God

The common response is to place the preacher, choir, and musicians on stage, the congregation in the audience, and God everywhere. We discuss worship as in any theater. My favorite complaint about a preacher came from my aunt, who is a Methodist, after they had just had their first Sunday with their ‘new preacher’ appointed to their church by the Bishop. She was very frustrated because he preached past 12:00 committed an even greater transgression, he started talking about food. “Now David,” she said to me, “you don’t preach about fried chicken after 12:00 when everybody is hungry and thinking about lunch.” She complained to me as if pastors were all part of a Union, and I might be able to take care of their long-winded preacher problem for her.
Soren Kierkegaard challenged our thinking of worship and said that we have the audience wrong. The congregation is not the audience. God is the audience. Those who gather for worship is on stage. The preacher, singers, and musicians are all backstage prompting the congregation. It is not our pleasure which is the final judge but God’s. It is not whether or not we consider a service meaningful but whether God finds meaning in our service, in church and out, on holy days and every days. Continue reading “Make God Your Target Audience”

Let it Go

My body breathes naturally, inhaling and exhaling, taking in air and letting it go to make receiving the next breath possible. What my body does naturally, I find quite challenging. I take in life, counting my many blessings, naming them one by one, then grasping tightly for all I’m worth. When I need a little help remembering how important it is to release in order to receive, I look to two of my favorite and most encouraging songs both which have the same title, Let it Go.

Two of my favorite and most encouraging songs have the same title, Let it Go.

Continue reading “Let it Go”

Reaching Out

 

moment 1 e

Preaching a sermon is often no easy task, but it’s great when you can share one with a friend. I appreciate my friendships that have lasted over time. One I’m especially proud of is my relationship with Rodney Beard. Rodney started a Bible study at the Saturn Plant in Spring Hill. He took a bold leap of faith and began Living Word, a church that has been in at least five different locations since and has outlasted the Saturn factory. Here is the only sermon I’ve kept on dvd and recently figured out how to post it on youtube. May you each have a friend like this who you share a common vision for what the world might be, praying in unison, “Thy Kingdom Come!” while you reach out together.

 

Flood Words

This past Sunday, a group of us gathered for The Moment at Boyd Mill farm. We listened as Carol Warren and Dale Whitehead told us about the waters that covered their farm four years ago and the emotional response that comes with such trauma. As song writers, they found the lack of words difficult and challenging, so that’s what they sang about.

Words Won’t Come        Nov. 2010
Carol Warren and Dale Whitehead

The landscape changed while I was away
Found it just re-arranged, nothing more to say
Barn in the trees, the water left it there
Things that it held- like other memories- scattered anywhere…

And words won’t come
Words won’t come

Breathe in the bottom land, and then ask me why
Stir up the sand, unpredictable skies
Dig in the dirt, then carry the tune
We’ve known hurt, but always knew what to do….

Now words won’t come,
Words won’t come
Words won’t come,
words won’t come

Now I’m mapping the route, and washing the blood
Drank through the drought, and swept out the flood
Lost half the crop and most of my mind
No pen to paper can save me this time

Cause words won’t come
Words won’t come
Words won’t come
Words won’t come
Continue reading “Flood Words”

Out of The Crowd – Introduction

Out of the Crowd front  cover 21

The common assumption from Sigmund Freud to Thomas Jefferson is that we are each born into the world as autonomous individuals.  Contrary to popular belief, we are born into families, communities, histories, and cultures. We are so apart of these groups that to become a mature individual, claiming our place in the world, finding meaning in our lives, and our calling from God takes a lot of work and courage. We are not born as single souls but part of crowds as small as a family of three to as large as a global cultural crowd. Though referred to by other words like collective, system, herd, mass, mob, enmeshed system, fused emotional group, and the world. I’m used crowd as did the writers of The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as philosophers like Tactitus, Epicurus, and Kierkegaard, along with Sociologist Gustave LeBon, and Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. The purpose of the book is to help individuals come out of their crowds and into their calling, not just for the hope of each life, but for the sake of the world. Change on a large-scale starts in a very small way. I call it the Rosa Parks Philosophy. When she chose to take a stand by keeping her seat, the world started to change. A great movement began with one person. Scott Peck referred to the power of the individual this way,

The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual…. For it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost. 

Inside this book, find out home to come out of your crowds and become a life that can help change the world. Read the first chapters by clicking on the book cover.

 

 

 

Getting John the Baptist Out of Your Head

Becoming Beloved

Sometimes, I have John the Baptist living in my head which can make my brain a very uncomfortable place to be. The Gospel of Matthew describes John like this in Matthew 3:
Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
If you’re going to have someone residing in your brain, I encourage you to choose someone not clothed in camel’s hair, it’s quite itchy. I also suggest someone who doesn’t eat bugs, and someone who doesn’t yell. John yells a lot.
 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to (John)…  when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?… 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Continue reading “Getting John the Baptist Out of Your Head”

Be The You

Part of coming out of the conforming pressure of culture and crowd is to discover and grow the particular personality God created you to be and is calling you to become. Here is a section from Out of The Crowd.

When asked about my role models for preaching are, I don’t mention Billy Graham or Karl Barth. I speak of the story tellers, because to me, they are the most memorable. One of my favorite routines by Bill Cosby was on The Tonight Show back when Johnny Carson hosted. It went something like this…

When George Washington was a little boy, his father gave him a new hatchet. When playing by himself, he took his little hatchet and chopped down his father’s favorite cherry tree. Upon finding the tree, George’s father came and asked him, “George, did you cut down my cherry tree?”

George replied, “Father, I cannot tell a lie. I cut it down with me little hatchet.”
Do you think George’s father punished him? Of course he did. He didn’t know that he was THE George Washington.
Thomas Alva Edison growing up was a curious boy. He once burned down the family barn because he wanted to see what would happen in a fire that large. Do you think his father punished him? Of course he did. He didn’t know that he was THE Thomas Alva Edison.
Mark Twain pushed over an outhouse that fell down a hill and into the Mississippi River. Do you think his mother punished him? Of course she did. She was in the outhouse when he pushed it over. And she didn’t know he was THE Mark Twain.

So, when Jesus’ family came to restrain him because he was making a stir around town and people were saying that he had lost his mind, they didn’t know he was THE Jesus. So, too, with all families in crowd mode, they see the family member and not the particular individual. Likely, your family will try and restrain you because they don’t know you are THE you. Continue reading “Be The You”

Standing Up To Jesus

Out of the Crowd Front Cover1As a pastor, there are some passages you think about for years. Either you avoid them, or you come up with some simple solution that might satisfy a Sunday morning sleepy congregation, but if you stay with it enough, one of the characters may leap off the page and grab you, even smack you around a little for dumbing down for too long. The Syrophonecian woman has done that to me and for me.

There is the old hymn, “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” but this woman did something far more courageous. She stood up to Jesus.

I’m in the proofing stage of a book about coming out of the crowd and taking a stand as a mature adult. She’s a great role model as she stands up for her child to the Son of God himself, who, as I read the encounter ends their conversation laughing out loud.

Out of The Crowd – The Syrophonecian Woman

Jesus did not have an administrative assistant to set his schedule. We don’t have old copies of Jesus’ calendar so that we can see the persons and groups Jesus wanted to encounter and when and where he wanted to see them.
His encounters often seem random, as if the people Jesus meets are haphazard like the woman who happens to be at the well in the middle of the day or the blind beggar on the outskirts of Jericho. Perhaps, it is these particular individuals and personal encounters that Jesus was looking for in each location, not just happenstance, but his purpose all along. If we had seen Jesus’ calendar, we might have seen the names of these individuals, one by one. Each particular, each unique, each encounter distinctive, like this woman. While others had to stand up to family, religious crowds, even soldiers, she had to stand up and claim her place as beloved, even when Jesus told her the opposite. Here is their encounter in Mark 7,

Jesus journeyed with the disciples to the region of Tyre. Upon arrival, Jesus secretly entered a house.
A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. The woman was not Jewish but a Gentile of Syrophoenician origin. She begged Jesus to help her daughter.
Jesus replied, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to dogs.”
She answered Jesus, “But sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
Jesus laughed and affirmed her answer. He said, “You may go, the demon has left your daughter. She is well.”
The woman went home and found her daughter lying on the bed, the demon gone.

Imagine you are this woman. You have heard that Jesus was coming. Your daughter is ill. You want to help your daughter, but her problem is far greater than anything you can do, so you go looking for Jesus. All you have heard are stories, but you’ll try anything for your daughter. Even those closest to you daunt you, “He won’t see you,” or “They won’t let you in.” Their discouragement might have been enough to stop you, but you weren’t just going for yourself.
You get through the barriers of those who try and keep you from seeing him. When you make your way into the house, you see him, your hope. You take the position of subservience; you fall to his feet as a beggar seeking mercy from the only one you believe can help you by helping your daughter. You plead, “My daughter is ill. Can you… Will you please help her?”
Jesus does not raise you up. He does not lift you from the floor. He speaks down to you in a condescending attitude that you had been afraid you would hear from him if you got this far. His tone implies that Jesus can but won’t help your daughter. He confirms it with an insult, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Essentially, this is, “I’m here for the children of Israel, the children of God, not your child, and not you. There is not enough to go around – not enough food, not enough love, not enough help. No one throws scarce food meant for the children to dogs – like you.” Jesus insults you, your gender, your race, your people, and tells you that you are less than a person and so is your daughter, you are less than human, you are animals, you are dogs and don’t deserve help.
Jesus, who had earlier, taught, “Don’t let evil things come out of you,” lets the insults fly, and does so at the dinner table, not only an important symbol in Judaism, but for the early church, and for Jesus. While he had given many sinners, traitors, and social reprobates places at the table, here he denies her very right to health and life for her child and gives her a metaphor that not only doesn’t allow her a seat at the table – Jesus puts her under it.
There are multiple excuses granted to Jesus for this behavior, “He was tired and hungry. This just shows he’s human, we can all be rude when we are tired and hungry.” “Because Jesus was human, he had his own bigotries and prejudices.” “If you knew the Syrophoenicians and the evil they had done over time, you’d see she deserved it.”
These excuses overlook the underlying implication of Jesus’ journey. Though she’s an intruder to their dinner, it may be that she’s the very reason that Jesus came. While in this region, Jesus didn’t go see any of the Jews living there, didn’t go meet with any leaders or philosophers, didn’t go to any place of teaching or worship, didn’t meet with any government leaders. After this encounter, they leave the area. Though she seems like an intruder, she may have been exactly the person he was looking for, the encounter he expected, the moment he wanted. If so, then perhaps this insult is just the gift she needed from him for her to claim her place as a beloved daughter of God.
Jesus challenged her with the insult, but he also gave her other images: children of God, a table, and the house of God. Though Jesus threw scarcity at her, he offered her images of abundance in God’s house. Because it is God’s house, the rules change, and she knows it. First, the insult, being called a dog. If you are a dog in the house of God, then you are loved. God’s love is infinite. An infinite love cannot be added to. So in the Master’s house, in the house of an infinite loving God, the dogs are loved infinitely. So if the children are loved more, infinity plus one, it is still infinity. She does not debate his insult, she removes it of all power by placing herself at the table of God, the God of infinite love. Granted, she may not have known the math or added infinity plus one in her left-brain, but she felt it. At God’s table, it doesn’t matter if you come as Moses or a mutt, sit at it, or beneath it. The table is God’s table and therefore a wondrous place to be.
Jesus also gives her another hint. Bread. He implies that there is not enough bread for her or her family and that God’s chosen get it first. Again, she is onto him. This of course is Jesus, the guy who feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. Here he speaks of scarcity… there is not enough food to go around. She gets the metaphor and speaks in abundance. There is room. There is plenty. She answers him,
Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.
She speaks of a limitless power of God where even the crumbs, the leftovers, the discarded is more than enough. So, she refused to accept insult because she believed that God was abundantly loving and gracious. She claimed her place. She would not be forced to take a place in a world where some are the beloved of God and some are dogs. She would not accept an image of God that valued one race, one people, one gender higher than another, one at the table and one below it. She claimed a value giving love, and for her, the categories of the crowd disappeared.
If you meet Jesus, and he calls you something other than “Beloved,” then he’s challenging you, pushing you, calling you out. If there are others, perhaps some in the name of Jesus or even of God, who perhaps call you something less than “Beloved of God,” no matter how large their title or nice their robe, they do not speak for God.

Faith in Flight

A couple of pastorates past, I was assigned to a community committee consisting of representatives from thirteen different congregations. I replaced another staff member who had gone for two decades. When I arrived, I was asked what church I was representing. I told them where I was from and whose role I was taking. That seemed to be enough. They didn’t need to know any more – not even my name.
I listened and read as word by word we toiled through the bylaws of the organization for two hours. At the end, I raised my hand, told them my name, and asked, “Since I’m new here, can someone tell me what this group does?”
The moderator replied, “That’s a very good question. I think we can discuss that next time. I was also thinking that it would be good for us to go from quarterly meetings to monthly meetings. All in favor?” People raised their hands. “Opposed?” No one raised his or her hand. I abstained. How could I vote against something when I had no idea what they did? There was nothing in the bylaws to tell me. Continue reading “Faith in Flight”

Can Hymns Happen?

In a denomination of any flavor, a new hymnbook is a giant undertaking. With talk of another Presbyterian Hymnbook on the way in my home denomination, it makes me wonder, “How does a song become a hymn?” When I was young, one way we learned was through sneaky cartoons they slid in between episodes of Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo. The educational cartoons were School House Rock teaching us catchy ways to remember that Verbs were action words similar to a flying super hero and Conjunctions tied a sentence together as one train car pulls two together to form a train. My favorite was on how a Bill becomes a law sung by pitiful little Bill who wailed, “I’m just a bill, yes, I’m only a bill, and I’m sitting her on Capital Hill…” and took the unsuspecting viewer through the process of how a bill becomes a law. Continue reading “Can Hymns Happen?”

What’s Love Got to Do With It? Love and the Baptism of Jesus

How did Jesus understand love and what it meant to be loved?

Some languages have it easier. The Greeks have more than one word for love. They have eros, philio, agape. Those choices seem to have suited them well. Yet, to write in English, I haven’t found a lot of help in substituting Greek or any other unfamiliar words. To explore love in the mind of Jesus, in the psychology of Jesus and how he loved rather than new words for ‘love,’ I propose in Jesus that we see love in two forms, two types, two kinds which are both familiar and universal.

Continue reading “What’s Love Got to Do With It? Love and the Baptism of Jesus”