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Tag: community

  • Hold Them in Love

    (July 4, 2017) 10:46 AM Shot this pic in Dallas.

    You’ll notice that “community” is used instead of “church.” This is the high calling of the body of Christ, including your local church and mine: to live in community. (Some day I will stop using the word “church” to translate the Greek ekklesia. If people around me aren’t doing it, that’s no excuse for me not to try. An ekklesia is a group of people who have something in common as opposed to an ochlos, a “crowd.”) This illustrates something important for me. I am being lured back to the simple ways of Jesus. And I am finding the process so convicting. The humility of Christ doesn’t grant us permission on this Fourth to call out our fellow Christians for feeling patriotic or to harp about a revolution in 1776 that was probably at odds with Paul’s teaching about submission to civil authority in Romans 13. Oh my. This approach, it seems to me, is based largely on the habit of being negative — seeing only (or mostly) what’s wrong in our culture and even in our church culture. In Matthew 25, Jesus condemned those on His left not because of something they did but because of something they failed to do right. This is how simple the Gospel is. “Whatever you do for the least of these, My brothers and sisters, you do for Me.” In other words, Jesus is describing (as in the church sign above) a community, and a community that cares. If, on my website, I’m constantly calling out gays or liberals or Trump-supporters or Trump-haters, how can I ever expect to befriend them with a view to sharing with them the love of Christ? I’ve already alienated them. As my seminary evangelism professor once told me, “You’ve got to play the music, Dave, if you want to say the words.” We take our marching orders from King Jesus, and last I checked I don’t think He was asking us to defend homeschooling or eldership or a political brand. Believe what you want, but be careful of becoming apologists for your views. That’s the theme, by the way, of my little book Christian Archy. One example I used was pedagogy. Practice homeschooling if that’s your personal conviction (it was ours), but remember that other Spirit-filled Christians might view education differently, and you can both hold your convictions in love because you are in community, not pontificating from a keyboard. Following Jesus never comes with a permission slip to get up on our high horses. In their book The Tangible Kingdom, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay write, “People in America are not ignorant of Christianity…. They’ve seen so much of pop Christian culture that they have a programmed response to us: Ignore, ignore, ignore” (p. 125). Representing a kingdom alternative to the world does not require a boo-hooing of everything else in our culture.
    Well, Dave, isn’t it time you stopped preaching to the choir and got real? How are you going to change? After all, aren’t you the greatest of sinners? (Answer: Yes.)
    If I see a serviceperson today, I will thank him or him for their service without stopping to think (not even for a nanosecond) about politics. I will watch tonight’s fireworks and marvel at this Chinese invention. I will listen to Sousa and tap my feet. I will take a long walk. (I don’t need to be in “church” to experience God.) I will look for Him in a grandchild’s smile or in the reflection in a pond or in the scent of a gardenia or in feeding my puppy a treat or in taking a bubble bath. I won’t feel guilty that I live in a free nation. Instead, I will seek to leverage that privilege for Jesus. For starters, I will ask God to help me to make the most of every opportunity that lies before me both on the internet and at home, school, work, and every area of my life. I will ask Him to knock down a few of my defensive walls. Like Jabez, I will ask Him for broader horizons to share my faith. I will think long and hard about people I know who are not yet heaven-bound and will add them to my salvation prayer list and intercede daily for them. I will ask God to soften their hearts to the love and saving power of Jesus and to convict them of their sins. More importantly, I will ask God to make my life a light that points them toward heaven.
    Friends, the amazing thing is that it’s within our power how we will view this national holiday. With a snub we can create enmity; with charity we can work miracles, even the miracle of leading someone to the Savior. A put-down, even if it seems well-deserved,  might make us feel good for a while, but loving encouragement can heal a multitude of wounds. And boy could our nation use some healing right about now.
    So ….

    • Have your convictions.
    • Hold them in love.
    • Act civilly toward all.
    • Be Jesus to everyone you meet.

    It’s a tall order, but it’s not one-sided. “Remember, I am with you, day after day after day.” The Lord has big-time plans for Americans who, on the one hand, value their liberty, but who, on the other hand, leverage it for the Gospel.
    Happy Fourth!
    (From Dave Black Online. Used by permission.)
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  • On Needing Each Other

    by David Moffet-Moore

     
    [ene_ptp]This is my first blog on the Energion Discussion Network; thank you, Henry, for the opportunity. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Knote, gave us an assignment to write an essay about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I did not pick astronaut, fireman or cowboy. I wanted to have a Ph.D. and be a published author. Henry has been part of fulfilling that childhood fantasy. Again, thank you. Now let’s see if I have anything worth reading!
    I grew up in a Methodist parsonage and learned as much about ministry by watching my Dad as I did in seminary, or at least it seems that way sometimes. Dad put in long hours, loved his church members, and bore his burdens quietly. He never returned to a church once we left it. He was always a solo pastor, never on staff or with staff. I grew up thinking of him like the Lone Ranger, except without Tonto. Each episode ended with him riding out of town on Trigger, saying “Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!” and then, “Who was that masked man?” “Why, that was the Lone Ranger!”
    The Lone Ranger works alone, never complains, does his job without expecting assistance or appreciation, never asks for help or seeks companionship, and, once done, never returns. My Dad was a Lone Ranger pastor; I am not! I will take all the help I can get. I readily seek out those who might have answers for my questions or solutions for my problems. I am big on being part of a team. Throughout my ministry I have recruited people with the necessary skills, with energy and commitment to do the assigned tasks, and who appreciate the opportunity to work together. One of my slogans is “Working together for the common good and the glory of God.” “TEAM” stands for “Together Everyone Achieves More.”
    Ministry can be a very solitary profession and I am an extreme introvert; still, I know I need others. I depend on clergy colleagues and prioritize opportunities for fellowship with other clergy. We are social creatures and I believe we are born needing one another.
    Genesis 2:18 records, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’” Jesus, though being God in the flesh, still gathered others around him, to eat and travel, sleep and live together as his disciples. Even God has companionship in the doctrine of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In his mission travels, Paul depended on the company of others: Barnabas, Silas, Luke and Timothy.
    The only place I know where scripture defines an individual Christian is 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” Paul defines us individually based upon our membership in the body, emphasizing the intimacy of our unity, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Cor. 12:26)
    In undergraduate, I took a course in the role of the frontier on our American psyche. One of the lessons we learned was the myth of rugged individualism. Even on the frontier, people found ways to socialize and support one another: barn raisings, quilting bees, harvesting together. Even the mountain men gathered for their regular ‘Rendezvous.’ We are a people who find our individuality while gathered in community.
    I was in a two-year course in spirituality titled, “The Academy for Spiritual Formation.” It was sponsored by the Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee. One of our speakers was a Greek Orthodox priest and professor. The Upper Room has a large chapel and beside it a smaller prayer chapel, with a sign over the door, “Alone with God.” When the priest saw it, he spontaneously laughed. “Alone with God? How can one ever be alone with God? With God, we are with all the saints and angels in glory! With God, we are never alone!”
    So, when I am not at a colleague group, not attending a conference, or sharing with a fellow pastor, when I am studying for the sermon, or struggling late at night with a problem, I remember: with God, I am never alone. As great as my need is, God’s grace is greater still, and by that grace I will never be alone. Thanks be to God!
    I’ll end with an advertisement: I urge you to check out the Academy of Parish Clergy, an international and interfaith association of parish professionals. We emphasize personal growth, professional development and mutual support. With regional colleague groups, an annual conference and a quarterly journal, it’s a way for us to support one another even when we are separated. www.apclergy.org.

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    Click on a book cover to get more information about that book.

     
     
     

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