For those with a low Christmas ...

But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ (John 11:37)

The setting of "some of them" is at the tomb of Lazarus. He has died and while Jesus is there outside his tomb "some of them" ask the above question, and their question raises the following question for me: 'Can impossible possibilities really be possible in Jesus?' And the answer is, "Yes!"

On a personal level that is especially good for me to hear right now as I watch a family member go through the aging process. Curiously, while watching over my family member until late hours last night I was reading parts of Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N. T. Wright. He speaks of how the resurrection can be experienced today in this life.

And in light of last night's experience and today's devotional reading from John 9-11 that ends with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, I wrote and prayed this prayer. May it ring true for you as well.

Lord God, for the daily experience of the resurrection in this life I give You thanks.
For me, such an experience gives life meaning, value, purpose, insight, hope, and empowerment to resist evil and do good through love.
Your gift of experiencing your Son's resurrection in my daily life helps me to walk through experiences like sorrow, remorse, guilt, despair and depression.
All of such is being risen from life as it is to life as it not only will be but can be here and now by just holding on to hope in you.
Again, praise be to you.
Amen.

The Misunderstood Jew ... comments ...

Amy-Jill Levine is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter professor of the New Testament at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. I have just finished her book about Jesus entitled The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus.

As just one example, it was very helpful to hear her view of Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and tax collector that is in Luke 18:9-14 as I was preparing to preach from that parable.

Honestly, she gives a view of Jesus that makes your eyebrow raise, but then did not Jesus do that as well?

Praise and Prayer Request

Again, I wish to thank you and God for the “formational and spiritual growth leave” during July of this year. On the physical side I got in the habits of a healthy diet and walking. On the social side I balanced paying attention to my family together with time alone. On the mental side I journaled, dreamed, and read five works in the areas of pastoring, preaching, evangelism, and connecting with God. On the spiritual side I continued my Life Journaling (Scripture reading and reflection); and added to that reading Genesis, Matthew and Philippians.

I also did some personal property care such as washing the windows, sealing the driveway, clean and organize our garage, replace kitchen cabinet door knobs, and hang a new light in our dining area.

My leave followed this structure. For the first week I worked at getting my mind off of our work here for such is recommended in order to increase creativity. During that time I read a 100+ page work on the battle of Franklin while visiting the historic markers mentioned such as the Carter House and the McGavock Confederate Cemetery in Franklin. The next two weeks I just read and reflected on where we are and where God may be calling us at AUMC. The last two weeks I began to allow this reflection to be a means of God continuing to reshape me into the husband, father, grandfather, pastor, and leader God is seeking me to become. Such is a continuing work.

All of this is a significant part of what James S. Stewart, a classical Scottish teacher of preachers suggests in his book Heralds of God in his chapter entitled “The Preacher’s Inner Life”. Honestly, I believe this can apply to all who follow Jesus.

· Be utterly dedicated to the work God has set you aside to accomplish. This means that we are to be absorbed by our great God-given task (201).

· Be dedicated to prayer … “for every family, every soul by name” (203).

· Be one marked by humility of heart. Humility comes from the magnitude of the task … anything we achieve is God’s doing (208).

· Be a person of authority. Authority comes from the fact that it is God’s Word, not our own, that we proclaim (213).

· Be one on fire for Christ. When all is said and done the supreme need of the Church is people on fire for Christ Jesus!

Pray that I am on fire for Christ Jesus and I will give the same prayer for you as well.

The Celtic Way of Evangelism

This is part of a title of one of George G. "Chuck" Hunters book. The full title is The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West (2000).

He opens by telling the story of St. Patrick who brought the gospel to Ireland in the late fourth/early fifth centuries. Patrick began by studying the community and shaping the presentation of the gospel in word and deed for the setting where it was heard and seen.

Hunter's reflections upon Patrick and his followers' 'Celtic model' of evangelism, it was shaped around three areas. They were: fellowship; ministry and conversations followed by belief; and, an invitation and commitment to Jesus. For him, this was more a 'right-brain' experience stirred from intuition, emotions, imagination, art such as music and poetry, and experience.

Who Stole My Church?

I finished a day and a half reading Who Stole My Church? What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century. The author is Gordon MacDonald written in 2007.

It is a fictional work where a pastor tells the story of a congregation that is changing in order to reach the community around them. It follows the basic style of C. S. Lewis book, The Great Divorce, because each chapter in both deals with different individual response to change. And MacDonald also tells of how the pastor and others in the community of faith deal with that response.

The question in the book's title comes from a parishioner asking it because that person's present-day church is totally different from that character's past. It was worth my time to read. It includes "points to ponder" that are discussion questions in the back of the book for each chapter. I can see this as a book for various groups at church to explore and ponder.

Connecting With God: A Spiritual Formation Guide

Connecting with God is a 12-week long course that explores God and God's relationship with us. The authors of this are Lynda Graybeal and Julia Roller. The introduction is written by one who is known for his work on spiritual disciplines: Richard Foster.

I have been using it during my 5-week formational and spiritual growth leave reading three lessons per week. Through it, I have been exploring areas such as living, talking, meeting, listening, hearing, perceiving, seeking, seeing, sensing, encountering, wrestling, and walking with God.

Each day begins with a devotional reading from Christian authors. And then it is followed by a 'My Life with God Exercise' that includes a Scripture lesson and four means of reflection upon that lesson until you finish with 'taking it further'. I do like the way it is structured and a prayer that pulls from both Psalm 25 and 27. It goes as follows:

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

Make me to know your ways, O LORD;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in truth, and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation,

for you I wait all day long.

"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"

Your face, LORD, do I seek.

Give ear to me words, O LORD;

give heed to my sighing.

Listen to the sound of my cry,

My King and my God,

for to you I pray. Amen.

To you, O LORD; to you ... may all be to you.

Rethink Church: Change the World

The United Methodist denomination like quite a few denominations is recognizing that experimenting in order to discover the best way(s) to relate to people is required. In essence, it has always been that way because no two individuals or groups are exactly alike. Even Jesus, the best of the best, used various ways to relate to people well. To one, a new acquaintance, he would listen first and then speak (John 4); and to another, a close friend, he would say (in my own words): "Come on now, you are not getting it" (Matthew 16:21-23).

Mike Slaughter, in his book Change the World: Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus, speaks of his experience of rediscovering ways to reach people where they are as the Lead Pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church. It is worth the reading. It is a 118-page book that has discussion questions at the end of each chapter. To introduce you a bit to the contents the titles of the seven chapters are: missional vs. attractional; inclusive vs. exclusive; disciples vs. decisions; micro vs. macro; multiplication vs. expansion; mission vs. mortar; and courage vs. compliance.

The words of hope I see in his book that briefly tell the story of the beginning years of ministry at Ginghamsburg is a bit similar to the work of God through us at Arlington UMC in Nashville. Such are words of hope.

Unchristian: What a New Generation Really thinks about Christianity ... and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons

I just finished this work that was published in 2007 this morning. It is a representation of the viewpoint of people that were born between the years of 1965 and 1983 (the 'Busters') and between 1984 and 2002 (the 'Mosaics').

Their point is the Busters and Mosaics see the church as unchristian. In Kinnaman and Lyons words, "they think Christians no longer represent what Jesus had in mind ..." (p. 15). Whether or not it was intended this is how the church has come across to these two generations. They, the Busters and Mosaics, see us (the church) as: hypocritical; too focused on converts; anti-homosexual; too sheltered; and judgemental.

The authors of Unchristian ... not only present the descriptive definitions of how we, the church, are seen by those born between 1965 and 2002, but they also give us good advice from various leaders as we seek to engage people and the world with the love of God.

This work has helped me to realize that we, Arlington United Methodist Church, are on the right road in our vision to "change the world by loving our neighbor". That is, we are directly feeding the hungry, offering the good news of Jesus in varied styles, and listening to the community as we shape our actions. But as always Kinnaman and Lyons affirms that the shaping our action through listening and loving is never complete.

Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church by Mark Deymaz

I just completed this work on Monday. It gave me a beneficial way to give reflections on where we are at the moment. 'We' refers to the staff and laity of Arlington UMC in Nashville, TN where we live in a diverse community of over 40 languages with persons from economically rich to poor.

Part One of work explores the biblical mandate to cross artificial borders. In this section he explores three areas: Jesus' prayer in John 17; the boundary crossing that occurs in Acts tying together Jewish and Gentile believers; and the letter of Ephesians that speaks of diverse people being made one in Jesus.

Part Two explores what he calls "core commitments" of a multi-ethnic church. They are as follows: embrace dependence; take intentional steps; empower diverse leadership; develop cross-cultural relationships; pursue cross-cultural competence; promote a spirit of inclusion; and mobilize for impact. In this section he challenges the theme that has been taken from Donald McGavran's work in Church Growth which does encourage us to work on attracting people just like us. To that Deymaz would ask, 'Is that what Jesus did?'

Part Three tells stories of three local churches using the "core commitments". The first illustration was a local church planted in a diverse community. The second told of how a declining church that crossed the 'boundaries' in order to grow. And the third told of a transformed homogeneous church becoming heterogeneous.

Let's say it was worth my reading. It gave me a means to determine where we are at the moment. That is we are in the areas of "empowering diverse leadership" and I am seeing the possibility of further "developing cross-cultural relationships" by requesting a leadership feedback team that crosses cultures.

View from the Balcony

At one of the workshops I attended this calendar year, we were asked questions numbered 2-5 that have been very helpful to me. And to them I added questions 1 and 6.

1. How do you see the General Church? (This can be interpreted as the worldwide church or a particular denomination.)
2. How do you see your local church?
3. How do you see yourself personally?
4. How do you see yourself from a different angle?
5. What is your local church organized around?
6. Now replace the word "church" with the words "family" and the word "yourself" with "your family" and answer the same questions moving to clarifying your understanding as a family leader.

I will say that this has indeed been of help in clarifying the church and family functions of leadership. The leader at the workshop entitled these questions as having a "view from the balcony".

It is time ...

Wow! It seems to be that I am on overload right now. Lent is beginning ... lessons, leadership, preparation for Easter, digesting what I have become more acquainted with about the continuing changes in our nation that applies to our locality.

It is time to walk away for a while to listen, understand, and apply the guidance of the voice of God.

Snow ...

What a snow we have had in the last 24 hours. For the Nashville area having 4-6 inches is exceptional.

Lord, help us to take our time on the roads and good decisions as we drive.

Two things for New Year's Day

• Praise to God for giving us gifts such as friendships in 2009.

• Prayers to God as we move into 2010.