Go out into the world...

I am currently enduring a torn up house because we are sanding and polishing the floors in two of our rooms. When it is done, I think we will have two very nice rooms but the process is not exactly pleasant.

It did make me think about our own process of renewal. Most of us could name at least a few qualities, features, or behaviors that could stand to be refinished. Like an old floor, we’ve learned to live with them but when we stop to think about them, we would like them changed.

The problem is that it takes effort to sand and polish these changes to our person. In our reflections, we know it would be nice to have it done. We would even enjoy the new self. But it is hard to “live with a torn up house and the smell” to accomplish the results.

I think it was Ben Franklin who used to make lists of things he would like to change about himself and then proceed to work on them one at a time. What is one thing you would really like to change? If you were to change it, what behaviors would you have to employ? I read somewhere that it takes 28 days to change a habit. That is, if you engaged in a new practice for 28 days, you could alter the pattern of your life in a new direction.

Whether it is developing a habit of brushing your teeth daily or spending one-half-hour reading a passage of scripture for the purpose of listening to what God might say to you through it, there is a spiritual aspect to focusing on the improvment of self. Perhaps it could be a daily practice of choosing one person who you would do something nice for. Maybe it is deliberately identifying three things for which you are thankful for on this day.

Whatever it is, try it for 28 days and see if you like the new shine to who you are.

The March issue of O magazine reported that a survery in October by the American Psychological Association found that 80 percent of us find the recent financial crisis a significant cause of stress – up from 66 percent last April. Of course every symptom has to have a name and this one is called “Money anxiety disorder.”

Your first response might be “duh” or how much money did they spend on discovering the obvious. However, this might be an opportunity for some significant ministry. What if the presbytery in concert with the Board of Pensions, held a financial workshop for clergy and educators on their own financial stress in the current situation.

Think of the multiple advantages of doing so. First, it would demonstrate some clear concern for church leaders in a time of stress. Second, it would allow them to share with each other in seeking how to respond to this economic crisis. Third, it would introduce them to an excellent resource in the Board of Pensions. Fourth, some of the ideas presented might help them in this crisis.

I think a lot of pastors feel caught in a bind between their concern for the financial situation of their church and their own personal and family needs. Naming this issue could also be useful at such a conference.

There might also be some helpful material that could be shared for helping their congregations also discuss their own “Money Anxiety Disorder.” Sometimes crisis like these are important opportunities for understanding the gospel at a deeper level.

In previous blogs, I have suggested the value in examining our call. Rarely are calls so pure that they are perfectly understood. We are speaking of the Eternal communicating to the finite. As that communication takes place, it must be formatted in a manner that the one receiving the call can understand. I am fully confident that God called me to ministry but the first awareness of that call happened when I was only 12 years old. It had to be couched in language and imagery that a young boy could understand. In my case it appealed to my hunger to feel important and a sense of adventure. As childish as it may seem now, I saw a picture of a missionary walking through a jungle and there was a lion in his path. The combination of being sent by God and also facing lions in the jungle seemed to be a perfect focus for my life.

Over the years the nature of my call evolved and was reshaped several times but it did not violate the original sense of adventure and of serving something bigger than myself. What I am suggesting is that there is value in moving beyond that first experience of call without violating the underlying truth of God connecting with you.

When you think of the story of Israel, their sense of the presence of God was often couched in a framework that would need to be reformulated several times in their journey. The authenticity of the call was real but it was important not to be frozen in their original understanding. They believed that God had called them to be a special people. When they were defeated as a nation and sent into exile, it would have been easy to conclude that their original call was false. It was the prophets who guided them in reexamining what it meant to be the People of God. This reexmination eventually revealed a broader understanding of God’s presence that included not just their nation but God’s intention for the whole world.

There is power in reflecting on the different forms that your understanding of your call has taken. How has your life experience reshaped your understanding of that call. Sometimes, like for Israel, that will occur because of a traumatice experience of failure. It is not the truth of God that is at stake in such an experience but rather whether you are now prepared for a deeper understanding of God’s role in your life. What may seem like a serious defeat can be the bubbling yeast that will give rise to a profound experience of the redeeming presence of God in your life.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35 It is striking to me how often members of a multiple staff team in a church have difficulty sharing their ministry in a manner that embodies this instruction of Jesus. Whether it is a clergy, an educator, or a church musician, most have experienced some sense of call that has led them into their profession. While it is good Presbyterian theology to acknowledge that all humans have a call from God, it is certainly true of those who work professionally for a church.

I don’t think clergy have enough opportunity to explore the changing nature of their call but I am certain that it is a rare occasion when an educator or musician is asked about their call. Wouldn’t it be good to have someone outside of the church staff to guide the staff in sharing and hearing about God’s call in the lives of each member of the staff? That conversation could follow the pattern laid out in yesterday’s blog for clergy colleagues.

I also think it would be beneficial for some of those conversations to take place with a blend of clergy, educators, and musicians from other churches. Again, the new mix changes the dynamics and can lift up refreshing perspectives. A variety of such conversations across the presbytery or ecumenically could help build a sense of shared community among the churches.

Within the context of Christian ministry, we are called to be part of the one Body of Christ. Far too often we find ourselves living in silos of ministry cut off from similar efforts by our colleagues. Picture the impact on the world if they could witness the full demonstration of our loving one another as Jesus commanded us.

I’ve been out for a couple of days but following up on the last blog, let me explore some possible ways that a judicatory official might engage pastors and educators in discussing their call. It is a different dynamic if that is done in a private conversation, a shared conversation with colleagues, or in a public conversation. Each has their value, both for the one sharing and the one hearing. The context I would like to explore today is having that conversation with other colleagues. You can translate into other traditions, but I will use the lingo of Presbyterians.

The General Pesbyter selects three or four pastors to have lunch with him or her. The topic of conversation, it is made clear, is looking at the pressures that affect our understanding of our call. The group is deliberately chosen to reflect at least some theological diversity and each participant is serving a different church. All participants are asked to set aside two hours for the lunch.

The General Presbyter explains that s/he wants to have an informal but intentional conversation with them about their experience of God’s call and how it is experienced in their particular setting. S/he begins by reading the baptism and temptation story from Matthew 3:13-4:11. This combination lays out both Jesus’ experience of call and the temptations that he confronted in living out that call.

With that as a background, invite each person to share their sense of call and some of the current features in their current position that build pressures and or temptation to compromise that call. Begin with each one sharing their experience of call, starting with the General Presbyter. Having heard these stories of call, then invite them to explore some of the pressures and or temptations that they experience that compromises that call. Again, to establish a climate of honesty, it would be good for the General Presbyter to begin that conversation. I’m not sure whether it would be good to have each share their personal struggles or to have them do so as a group. The latter invites a more general exploration of the subject which may be better in such a short period of time.

The third part of the conversation is to share what resources each has discovered that helps strengthen them as they continue to respond to their call and resist the temptations to distort their response as well as accept forgiveness when they feel they have done so. It would seem appropriate to conclude with shared prayer so that each might lift up concern for the others as they join in responding to God’s invitation in their lives.