L.D. Turner
***This is a slight revision of an article that I published in an online Christian magazine about 10 months ago. The magazine does not archive past six months and several folks have written in for copies of the brief report on house churches in America. In light of these facts, I decided to publish the article here on the blog for those who might be interested.
The face of Christianity is gradually changing across America as the first decade of the 21st Century moves toward closure. One striking example of this change is the growing popularity of house churches. Congregants of house churches meet in member’s homes, rather than a centralized church building.
“I am more fulfilled and feel much closer to God,” said Agnes Stanford, a house church member from Birmingham, Alabama. “When I used to go to a standard church, I felt like I was anonymous, just one of a huge crowd. I never had the opportunity, even in Sunday School Class, to discuss the issues I felt were important. I always had someone else telling me what I needed to study.”
Stanford was not a member of a mega-church, although her comments would lead one to believe that she was. Prior to joining a local house church, Stanford attended a Baptist church with an average weekly attendance of 125. Her house church has only 22 members.
“If things get too big, we just break off and start another congregation,” continued Stanford. “Right now, we don’t let it get any bigger than 30 to 35 members.”
Small numbers and more spiritual intimacy are the strong selling points of the house church movement.
“We are a close knit group and try to keep it that way,” said Arnold Stratton, pastor of the house church attended by Stanford. “We are like an extended family and try to support one another in whatever way is needed. We also like to keep things as simple as possible.
Recent research reveals that there are close to 100,000 house churches meeting in the United States at present, and this number may be conservative because many house churches are not affiliated with any national organization. Members of house churches consistently feel that this type of set up allows for more in depth spiritual study and closer fellowship. Further, members tend to take their spiritual development more seriously.
“The people who join us want more than the spiritual fare they receive at larger, traditional churches,” said Stratton. “That’s not a criticism of the traditional brick and mortar church. Those churches do a lot of good, but they are not really set up to help people walk the Christian walk at a deeper level. What we do is try to provide what they are not able to provide. Most of our members say they won’t go back to a standard church again.”
The trend toward revamped worship and study experience is not a new phenomenon. For some time now churches have been seeking new and more relevant ways in which to feed its existing members, while at the same time, bringing new seekers into the fold. Striking an appropriate balance between these two priorities is not always easy.
“I ended up leaving my former church for more than one reason,” said John Starbroker, a 55-year-old insurance salesman. “It was the toughest thing I ever had to do. I had been going to that church since I found the Lord when I was just 16 or so. Everything was great until about five years ago.”
Starbroker went on to tell a tale of increasing strife within the congregation between the older members and the younger believers. It was a disagreement that escalated into a conflict and finally erupted into what Starbroker called “guerrilla warfare.”
“It finally got so bad that people who had loved each others as brother and sisters for years got at each others throats in a big way,” related the insurance salesman. “My wife Gail and I talked it over and decided to hit the bricks before someone threw us under the bus as well.”
Starbroker said that the church eventually fired its pastor; hired a new one; fired him within five months; and then underwent a split in which life-long friends no longer spoke to one another.
“This isn’t what the Lord had in mind,” quipped Starbroker after a service at the house church he now attends.
“I love this place because people genuinely care about each other,” said Gail Starbroker, John’s wife. “It’s not that we don’t have conflicts, we do every now and then. But we get it out in the open and get it resolved before it grows into something worse. Our members here, there are only 16 of us, care about unity more than our personal needs. Sometimes it is better to be kind than to be right.”
Most experts on church growth agree that the house church movement is gaining momentum at a dramatic pace and will become, as the century progresses, one of the new, popular faces of Christianity.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Fullness of God and Spiritual Formation
L.D. Turner
As Christians, each follower of Christ is not called to a lukewarm, mediocre walk with God. Instead, if we are to be the best version of ourselves, we are to pay close attention to just what it is Christ is calling us to be. At times, when we truly analyze the claim and responsibility placed on us by Jesus, we might think it anything but an easy yoke. This is especially true when we read between the lines of what Paul is telling us is several of his letters.
Taken singularly, it is easy to perhaps miss the magnitude of the goal of Christian spiritual formation. I think this is one of the reasons that many Christians so often become so complacent in their faith. Each week they get dressed, go to church, sing a few hymns, take part in corporate prayer, listen to a sermon that waters down the gospel message, put their envelope in the collection plate, then speed to their favorite eatery before the waiting line gets too long.
To tell you the truth, somehow I think Jesus and Paul had more than this in mind. What Jesus had in mind was spelled out with clarity in the Sermon on the Mount, sort of a compact distillation of the kingdom principles he brought with him when he left the glories of the heavenly court and came a'callin' on earth at that stable in Bethlehem. Let's have a closer look at Paul's take on what happened as a result of Christ's mission.
I am certain you are aware of Paul's idea, repeated in one way or another throughout his correspondence with the fledgling churches, of the relationship between Jesus and God. Paul tells us that all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ, which meant that God and Jesus were in some mysterious way the same being.
In the Jewish culture of his day, Paul was making an incredible claim here. Jews were not supposed to make any image of God and even to speak his name was considered a capital offense. Now, here was Paul echoing Jesus by implying that the great and mighty Jehovah was in essence a loving, cosmic "Daddy" who was not only the Father of Jesus, but was also Jesus himself. And the reverse was true. Jesus was not only a great teacher and a skilled Rabbi; He was not only a great healer and the leader, the Grand Poobah of a band of shady-looking disciples. Jesus, according to Paul, was Jehovah Himself.
Standing alone, that sort of statement was enough to give the High Priest a prize-winning wedgie. Paul, however, wasn't finished. In fact, he was just getting started. If you take a look at Ephesians 3:19, the Apostle tells the early church members that he prays "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (NSRV) Here Paul was pulling no punches; instead, he went straight for the knockout. Paul basically was saying that he prayed that, as Christians, the new believers were expected to become like Jesus.
No wonder the religious establishment saw Paul as a dangerous, if not demented, man. Equating Jesus with God was a reach. Saying that a human being could become like Jesus was beyond the pale of acceptability.
In case his readers missed his point, the Apostle repeats this theme in the fourth chapter of Ephesians. In verse 13 he equates Christian maturity with the achieving "the measure of the full stature of Christ." He then drives home the point two verses later by stating:
Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15 NRSV).
In case you might be thinking that this message was somehow only for the believers in Ephesus, think again. Let's wander over to Corinth and take a look at one of Paul's letters to this stressed out church. After briefly covering a few topics, Paul tells the Corinthian believers that we "beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness" (2 Cor. 3:18). Aiming his words in a different direction, Paul tells the Philippians to emulate the same manner of being that Jesus had (Phi. 2:5-8).
By now it should be clear that that Paul felt it essential to get this message across. He believed that in order to function as effective Christ-followers in their world, the members of the early church had to work, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, in securing personal change and continually grow toward the full stature of Christ. This was the goal for the early church and it is our goal for today.
The logical question at this point is: How am I supposed to pull this off?
It is here that we are confronted with one of the many paradoxical conundrums of the spiritual life. The first shall be last - the last shall be first - to save your life you must lose it - etc. For the theme we are discussing, we are confronted with the riddle of Christian spiritual formation. There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves or sanctify ourselves; it is all a free gift of grace and we just have to accept it. Still, Paul tells us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling."
So what gives here?
Some sincere believers will tell you to stay away from spiritual disciplines because they are, at the end of the day, useless. We are powerless to change ourselves; only the Holy Spirit can pull that one off. Some of these Christians will go so far as to tell you that engaging in the classical spiritual disciplines is like sleeping with Satan....all this spiritual formation mumbo jumbo smells like smoke and brimstone.
Other equally sincere Christians will tell you the opposite. Even though personal transformation is a free gift of grace, we have a responsibility as well. We have to place ourselves in a receptive position in order to maximize our potential for change. I confess that I am more in this camp than in the former. I believe that spiritual formation requires a good deal of effort on our parts. God makes it all possible, but we have to appropriate what he has made possible. It's like the great Quaker mystic Rufus Jones often said:
"The grace of God is like the wind blowing across the lake. If you want to get to the other side, you have to raise your sail."
I will discuss the spiritual disciplines more deeply in a separate article.
To be continued…
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
As Christians, each follower of Christ is not called to a lukewarm, mediocre walk with God. Instead, if we are to be the best version of ourselves, we are to pay close attention to just what it is Christ is calling us to be. At times, when we truly analyze the claim and responsibility placed on us by Jesus, we might think it anything but an easy yoke. This is especially true when we read between the lines of what Paul is telling us is several of his letters.
Taken singularly, it is easy to perhaps miss the magnitude of the goal of Christian spiritual formation. I think this is one of the reasons that many Christians so often become so complacent in their faith. Each week they get dressed, go to church, sing a few hymns, take part in corporate prayer, listen to a sermon that waters down the gospel message, put their envelope in the collection plate, then speed to their favorite eatery before the waiting line gets too long.
To tell you the truth, somehow I think Jesus and Paul had more than this in mind. What Jesus had in mind was spelled out with clarity in the Sermon on the Mount, sort of a compact distillation of the kingdom principles he brought with him when he left the glories of the heavenly court and came a'callin' on earth at that stable in Bethlehem. Let's have a closer look at Paul's take on what happened as a result of Christ's mission.
I am certain you are aware of Paul's idea, repeated in one way or another throughout his correspondence with the fledgling churches, of the relationship between Jesus and God. Paul tells us that all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ, which meant that God and Jesus were in some mysterious way the same being.
In the Jewish culture of his day, Paul was making an incredible claim here. Jews were not supposed to make any image of God and even to speak his name was considered a capital offense. Now, here was Paul echoing Jesus by implying that the great and mighty Jehovah was in essence a loving, cosmic "Daddy" who was not only the Father of Jesus, but was also Jesus himself. And the reverse was true. Jesus was not only a great teacher and a skilled Rabbi; He was not only a great healer and the leader, the Grand Poobah of a band of shady-looking disciples. Jesus, according to Paul, was Jehovah Himself.
Standing alone, that sort of statement was enough to give the High Priest a prize-winning wedgie. Paul, however, wasn't finished. In fact, he was just getting started. If you take a look at Ephesians 3:19, the Apostle tells the early church members that he prays "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (NSRV) Here Paul was pulling no punches; instead, he went straight for the knockout. Paul basically was saying that he prayed that, as Christians, the new believers were expected to become like Jesus.
No wonder the religious establishment saw Paul as a dangerous, if not demented, man. Equating Jesus with God was a reach. Saying that a human being could become like Jesus was beyond the pale of acceptability.
In case his readers missed his point, the Apostle repeats this theme in the fourth chapter of Ephesians. In verse 13 he equates Christian maturity with the achieving "the measure of the full stature of Christ." He then drives home the point two verses later by stating:
Speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15 NRSV).
In case you might be thinking that this message was somehow only for the believers in Ephesus, think again. Let's wander over to Corinth and take a look at one of Paul's letters to this stressed out church. After briefly covering a few topics, Paul tells the Corinthian believers that we "beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness" (2 Cor. 3:18). Aiming his words in a different direction, Paul tells the Philippians to emulate the same manner of being that Jesus had (Phi. 2:5-8).
By now it should be clear that that Paul felt it essential to get this message across. He believed that in order to function as effective Christ-followers in their world, the members of the early church had to work, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, in securing personal change and continually grow toward the full stature of Christ. This was the goal for the early church and it is our goal for today.
The logical question at this point is: How am I supposed to pull this off?
It is here that we are confronted with one of the many paradoxical conundrums of the spiritual life. The first shall be last - the last shall be first - to save your life you must lose it - etc. For the theme we are discussing, we are confronted with the riddle of Christian spiritual formation. There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves or sanctify ourselves; it is all a free gift of grace and we just have to accept it. Still, Paul tells us to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling."
So what gives here?
Some sincere believers will tell you to stay away from spiritual disciplines because they are, at the end of the day, useless. We are powerless to change ourselves; only the Holy Spirit can pull that one off. Some of these Christians will go so far as to tell you that engaging in the classical spiritual disciplines is like sleeping with Satan....all this spiritual formation mumbo jumbo smells like smoke and brimstone.
Other equally sincere Christians will tell you the opposite. Even though personal transformation is a free gift of grace, we have a responsibility as well. We have to place ourselves in a receptive position in order to maximize our potential for change. I confess that I am more in this camp than in the former. I believe that spiritual formation requires a good deal of effort on our parts. God makes it all possible, but we have to appropriate what he has made possible. It's like the great Quaker mystic Rufus Jones often said:
"The grace of God is like the wind blowing across the lake. If you want to get to the other side, you have to raise your sail."
I will discuss the spiritual disciplines more deeply in a separate article.
To be continued…
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Thursday, December 4, 2008
You Are Never Disqualified For Service
L. Dwight Turner
One of the greatest gifts of God to each of us is the placing of a divine plan for our lives deep within us. God has his generalized plan for humanity and a personal plan or mission for each of us. You, me, the butcher, baker, and even the candlestick maker have a divine purpose scripted on our hearts by the Creator and it is a plan just for us. More incredible is the fact that God has equipped us to carry that plan out and in so doing, help establish his kingdom right here on earth and bring great glory to his being. What a wonder! What a blessing! What a responsibility!
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you have been, and what you have done. That divine purpose still exists inside you and with a little effort and a lot of faith, you can discover it. Start with prayer, asking God through the Holy Spirit to reveal his divine plan for your life. Be persistent in your asking; be vigilant in waiting for an answer; and be confident that the answer will come.
Also, keep in mind that it is never too late to get started on the dreams God has for you. God created you to accomplish extraordinary things and no matter how old you are, how sinful you have been, or whatever afflictions you may suffer from, God can and will use you because that is one of the primary purposes you were created in the first place. Listen as Jim Graff speaks clearly to this issue:
God uses ordinary people – with all their flaws and problems – to accomplish extraordinary dreams. You and I don’t have to wait until we have it all together, achieve a certain degree of fame, earn a specified amount of money, get a better job, or meet the right person. Instead, we can start today to embrace who we are and how God made us, knowing that he will use us. From this knowledge, wellsprings of confidence water our hearts. That confidence allows us to see our dreams and visions as God’s road maps to significant lives.
A significant life – that is what God created you for. Make a consecrated commitment right now to lead a life of excellence in cooperation and divine partnership with the Holy Spirit. The life of excellence is what Jesus demonstrated for us and it is that same kind of life to which each of us is called. Sure, we may foul up things from time to time, but God is right there with us offering a hand to pick us up, dust us off, and send us on our divinely appointed way.
As said earlier, it matters not where you have been. In fact, your past failures and problems may be part of your qualification for the task God has for you to perform. I worked for many years in the field of addiction prevention and treatment. The most effective professionals ministering to those suffering from addiction were those people who were former addicts themselves. It is this foundational philosophy upon which Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are built.
If you think your past sin(s) prevents you from carrying out your purpose for God, you have been lied to by the Master of Deceit himself. Satan would like nothing more than for you to continue walking around half-alive, depressed, despondent, and spiritually paralyzed. That’s why that little voice tells you time and time again that there is no way God will ever use you. Granted, he may use others but you, you’re a lost cause.
Listen my friend – God saved you and God will use you. The God Christians worship is not a God of wasted effort. God never does anything without a reason, a plan and a purpose. If you are saved, you are to be used. You are destined to be God’s instrument for something special. If you doubt what I am saying, go to Scripture and conduct a detailed study of Paul’s life.
Paul, formerly known as Saul, was there when Stephen was stoned to death. He even held the coats for the men who pelted the first Christian martyr. Saul was the most persistent and ardent persecutor of the early church. By the world’s way of reasoning, you would never expect that God would use Saul to spread the faith across the Mediterranean World. But that’s exactly what God did. God, thankfully, doesn’t necessarily think as the world thinks.
If God can use Paul, he can surely use you.
In China I knew a wonderful believer named Mr. Zhou (not his real name.) Now in his 60’s, Mr. Zhou was a successful businessman and used much of his income to support the efforts of the house churches in his Province and also to support young pastors in training. He also spent most of his free time training Chinese missionaries to live and work in Muslim countries. Mr. Zhou had many business interests in the Middle East and often used his stores for employing young Chinese missionaries.
What makes Mr. Zhou’s story so fascinating is how it is similar to that of Paul. Back in the chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution Mr. Zhou was a young man and a leader in the Red Guards. His specialty, as he put it, was ferreting out Christians and torturing them. He often beat them horribly, put dunce caps on their heads and signs on their backs, and then marched them through the city streets while a gathering mob hurled insults, bricks, and bottles at them.
Later, when in his late 30’s, Mr. Zhou found Christ through the efforts of a pastor he had once tortured. Now Mr. Zhou does God’s work out of a sense of love and service. God used Paul and God used Mr. Zhou.
If God can use Mr. Zhou, He can use you.
Once you finally accept the fact that God can use you, wants to use you, and will use you, it is then time to get to work. Many times sincere believers put themselves in a holding pattern, waiting for specific directions from God as to what their ultimate purpose is. Yes, we do need to discern what our ultimate purpose is and with prayer and patience we will do just that. Yet in the meantime there is plenty that we can do. No matter where you live I am certain of one thing: there are people living there who are in need of something and who are suffering. More than likely there are already groups of Christian servants working to meet some of those needs. Find out about these groups and find a way to get involved. The real question is not so much what you should do. The real question once you know in your heart that God wants to use you as his compassionate servant to a hurting world is, “Are you available?”
Only you can answer that question.
Hopefully, you are, indeed, available. You are gifted for service my friend. And no matter what form that service may take, you can rest assured of one absolute certainty: the Holy Spirit will empower you not only proceed, but succeed. He will make sure you not only survive, you will thrive.
My primary purpose in writing this article is to encourage you to understand and accept the reality that God put a potential and purpose in you before you were born and, further, he still wants that purpose to be realized. Stop looking back at the past and instead, step forward into the service that God has for you. You cannot change the past but know this: whatever happened is history in God’s eyes and in God’s heart. As a Christian you have been forgiven so turn your eyes forward instead of keeping them riveted in your rear view mirror.
Do all that you can to let this truth sink deep into the depths of your heart: where you are going, what is in your future is far more important that what’s behind you. Scripture tells us that with God, all things are possible. So if it seems your dreams have died, let the Lord resurrect those dormant dreams and allow those dreams to drive you and motivate you to be all that you can be for the glory of God and the sake of others.
Our world is a hurting world and there are many areas of need. The dream God placed in your heart is designed to deal with one of those areas. More than anything, the church, the Body of Christ, needs compassionate people of noble character and a heart of service. That’s you, my friend.
© L. D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
One of the greatest gifts of God to each of us is the placing of a divine plan for our lives deep within us. God has his generalized plan for humanity and a personal plan or mission for each of us. You, me, the butcher, baker, and even the candlestick maker have a divine purpose scripted on our hearts by the Creator and it is a plan just for us. More incredible is the fact that God has equipped us to carry that plan out and in so doing, help establish his kingdom right here on earth and bring great glory to his being. What a wonder! What a blessing! What a responsibility!
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you have been, and what you have done. That divine purpose still exists inside you and with a little effort and a lot of faith, you can discover it. Start with prayer, asking God through the Holy Spirit to reveal his divine plan for your life. Be persistent in your asking; be vigilant in waiting for an answer; and be confident that the answer will come.
Also, keep in mind that it is never too late to get started on the dreams God has for you. God created you to accomplish extraordinary things and no matter how old you are, how sinful you have been, or whatever afflictions you may suffer from, God can and will use you because that is one of the primary purposes you were created in the first place. Listen as Jim Graff speaks clearly to this issue:
God uses ordinary people – with all their flaws and problems – to accomplish extraordinary dreams. You and I don’t have to wait until we have it all together, achieve a certain degree of fame, earn a specified amount of money, get a better job, or meet the right person. Instead, we can start today to embrace who we are and how God made us, knowing that he will use us. From this knowledge, wellsprings of confidence water our hearts. That confidence allows us to see our dreams and visions as God’s road maps to significant lives.
A significant life – that is what God created you for. Make a consecrated commitment right now to lead a life of excellence in cooperation and divine partnership with the Holy Spirit. The life of excellence is what Jesus demonstrated for us and it is that same kind of life to which each of us is called. Sure, we may foul up things from time to time, but God is right there with us offering a hand to pick us up, dust us off, and send us on our divinely appointed way.
As said earlier, it matters not where you have been. In fact, your past failures and problems may be part of your qualification for the task God has for you to perform. I worked for many years in the field of addiction prevention and treatment. The most effective professionals ministering to those suffering from addiction were those people who were former addicts themselves. It is this foundational philosophy upon which Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are built.
If you think your past sin(s) prevents you from carrying out your purpose for God, you have been lied to by the Master of Deceit himself. Satan would like nothing more than for you to continue walking around half-alive, depressed, despondent, and spiritually paralyzed. That’s why that little voice tells you time and time again that there is no way God will ever use you. Granted, he may use others but you, you’re a lost cause.
Listen my friend – God saved you and God will use you. The God Christians worship is not a God of wasted effort. God never does anything without a reason, a plan and a purpose. If you are saved, you are to be used. You are destined to be God’s instrument for something special. If you doubt what I am saying, go to Scripture and conduct a detailed study of Paul’s life.
Paul, formerly known as Saul, was there when Stephen was stoned to death. He even held the coats for the men who pelted the first Christian martyr. Saul was the most persistent and ardent persecutor of the early church. By the world’s way of reasoning, you would never expect that God would use Saul to spread the faith across the Mediterranean World. But that’s exactly what God did. God, thankfully, doesn’t necessarily think as the world thinks.
If God can use Paul, he can surely use you.
In China I knew a wonderful believer named Mr. Zhou (not his real name.) Now in his 60’s, Mr. Zhou was a successful businessman and used much of his income to support the efforts of the house churches in his Province and also to support young pastors in training. He also spent most of his free time training Chinese missionaries to live and work in Muslim countries. Mr. Zhou had many business interests in the Middle East and often used his stores for employing young Chinese missionaries.
What makes Mr. Zhou’s story so fascinating is how it is similar to that of Paul. Back in the chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution Mr. Zhou was a young man and a leader in the Red Guards. His specialty, as he put it, was ferreting out Christians and torturing them. He often beat them horribly, put dunce caps on their heads and signs on their backs, and then marched them through the city streets while a gathering mob hurled insults, bricks, and bottles at them.
Later, when in his late 30’s, Mr. Zhou found Christ through the efforts of a pastor he had once tortured. Now Mr. Zhou does God’s work out of a sense of love and service. God used Paul and God used Mr. Zhou.
If God can use Mr. Zhou, He can use you.
Once you finally accept the fact that God can use you, wants to use you, and will use you, it is then time to get to work. Many times sincere believers put themselves in a holding pattern, waiting for specific directions from God as to what their ultimate purpose is. Yes, we do need to discern what our ultimate purpose is and with prayer and patience we will do just that. Yet in the meantime there is plenty that we can do. No matter where you live I am certain of one thing: there are people living there who are in need of something and who are suffering. More than likely there are already groups of Christian servants working to meet some of those needs. Find out about these groups and find a way to get involved. The real question is not so much what you should do. The real question once you know in your heart that God wants to use you as his compassionate servant to a hurting world is, “Are you available?”
Only you can answer that question.
Hopefully, you are, indeed, available. You are gifted for service my friend. And no matter what form that service may take, you can rest assured of one absolute certainty: the Holy Spirit will empower you not only proceed, but succeed. He will make sure you not only survive, you will thrive.
My primary purpose in writing this article is to encourage you to understand and accept the reality that God put a potential and purpose in you before you were born and, further, he still wants that purpose to be realized. Stop looking back at the past and instead, step forward into the service that God has for you. You cannot change the past but know this: whatever happened is history in God’s eyes and in God’s heart. As a Christian you have been forgiven so turn your eyes forward instead of keeping them riveted in your rear view mirror.
Do all that you can to let this truth sink deep into the depths of your heart: where you are going, what is in your future is far more important that what’s behind you. Scripture tells us that with God, all things are possible. So if it seems your dreams have died, let the Lord resurrect those dormant dreams and allow those dreams to drive you and motivate you to be all that you can be for the glory of God and the sake of others.
Our world is a hurting world and there are many areas of need. The dream God placed in your heart is designed to deal with one of those areas. More than anything, the church, the Body of Christ, needs compassionate people of noble character and a heart of service. That’s you, my friend.
© L. D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Saturday, October 25, 2008
A Franciscan Benediction
L. Dwight Turner
I felt led by the Spirit this morning to share with you this "Franciscan Benediction," quoted by Phillip Yancey in his book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? When I find that I drift for days or sometimes weeks without paying attention to Christ's call for us to be compassionate citizens of his Kingdom, I often go back to this prayer, just as a reminder. We are called to be the hands, feet, and especially the embrace of Jesus in our hurting world. This benediction speaks to this reality.
May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen
I don't know about you, but I rarely think to pray for things like discomfort, anger, tears, and foolishness. Yet this sublime prayer truly captures the compassionate heart of Jesus, feeling the pain and suffering of the world and responding to it with healing love. The words of this benediction remind me so much of the scripture read by Jesus in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth and recorded in Luke 4:18-19:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,
That the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come.
I think there is no need to wax eloquent here, nor is there a reason to belabor the point. Jesus' message was crystal clear and so are the words of the Franciscan benediction. Permit me, however, to share one more highly relevant passage of scripture from Isaiah. These verses, Isaiah 58:6-12 speak to the same theme and to the same calling; a calling that goes forth to each of us who claim the title "Christian."
...this is the kind of fasting that I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Then your salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Then when you call, the Lord will answer. "Yes, I am here," he will quickly reply.
Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever flowing spring.
Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. You will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.
The words of this passage hold a special significance for me. Space in this article does not give me room to tell the whole story. Suffice to say that, in 1996, I had major cardiac surgery and an extended period of recovery. While still in the hospital after the operation, these words seemed to leap off the page at me. Over the next few months I prayed for God to reveal to me what he wanted me to do. I vowed that, since I had been given extended life, I would dedicate it to his service. Although I would have never predicted it, I ended up on the mission field in China, where I remained for over five years. These years were, without reservation, the most rewarding years of my life.
I have been home now for five years and God has continued to guide me into areas of service where I can be of use. Further, he has surprised me in some very significant ways, including, in 2004, the birth of my wonderful daughter, Salina. She was both a gift and a miracle. I suppose I should also mention that, at the time of her birth, I was 55-years-old. As I said, the Lord is full of surprises.
I didn't mean to digress, but my point here is that, as Christians, we are to serve God through selfless service to others. Just as Jesus set us an example by washing his disciples’ feet, we have to get our hands dirty as well. But there is a wonderful promise in this. Our wounds, and we all have them, will quickly heal. Further, our light will shine out from us and God will continually guide us.
I know from my own life experience, my testimony if you will, these words ring loudly with truth. If possible, and it probably is, spend some time this week reflecting on the words from this Franciscan benediction, as well as the passage from Luke and the one from Isaiah. Pray about these words and these principles, and wait for God to make his move. A word of caution: Don't be surprised if you are ambushed by the Spirit. I have found that he is a sublime master of the unexpected.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
I felt led by the Spirit this morning to share with you this "Franciscan Benediction," quoted by Phillip Yancey in his book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? When I find that I drift for days or sometimes weeks without paying attention to Christ's call for us to be compassionate citizens of his Kingdom, I often go back to this prayer, just as a reminder. We are called to be the hands, feet, and especially the embrace of Jesus in our hurting world. This benediction speaks to this reality.
May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Amen
I don't know about you, but I rarely think to pray for things like discomfort, anger, tears, and foolishness. Yet this sublime prayer truly captures the compassionate heart of Jesus, feeling the pain and suffering of the world and responding to it with healing love. The words of this benediction remind me so much of the scripture read by Jesus in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth and recorded in Luke 4:18-19:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,
That the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come.
I think there is no need to wax eloquent here, nor is there a reason to belabor the point. Jesus' message was crystal clear and so are the words of the Franciscan benediction. Permit me, however, to share one more highly relevant passage of scripture from Isaiah. These verses, Isaiah 58:6-12 speak to the same theme and to the same calling; a calling that goes forth to each of us who claim the title "Christian."
...this is the kind of fasting that I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
Then your salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
Then when you call, the Lord will answer. "Yes, I am here," he will quickly reply.
Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever flowing spring.
Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. You will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.
The words of this passage hold a special significance for me. Space in this article does not give me room to tell the whole story. Suffice to say that, in 1996, I had major cardiac surgery and an extended period of recovery. While still in the hospital after the operation, these words seemed to leap off the page at me. Over the next few months I prayed for God to reveal to me what he wanted me to do. I vowed that, since I had been given extended life, I would dedicate it to his service. Although I would have never predicted it, I ended up on the mission field in China, where I remained for over five years. These years were, without reservation, the most rewarding years of my life.
I have been home now for five years and God has continued to guide me into areas of service where I can be of use. Further, he has surprised me in some very significant ways, including, in 2004, the birth of my wonderful daughter, Salina. She was both a gift and a miracle. I suppose I should also mention that, at the time of her birth, I was 55-years-old. As I said, the Lord is full of surprises.
I didn't mean to digress, but my point here is that, as Christians, we are to serve God through selfless service to others. Just as Jesus set us an example by washing his disciples’ feet, we have to get our hands dirty as well. But there is a wonderful promise in this. Our wounds, and we all have them, will quickly heal. Further, our light will shine out from us and God will continually guide us.
I know from my own life experience, my testimony if you will, these words ring loudly with truth. If possible, and it probably is, spend some time this week reflecting on the words from this Franciscan benediction, as well as the passage from Luke and the one from Isaiah. Pray about these words and these principles, and wait for God to make his move. A word of caution: Don't be surprised if you are ambushed by the Spirit. I have found that he is a sublime master of the unexpected.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Lazarus Come Forth!
L. Dwight Turner
As the new century begins to unfold, we often hear many so-called and often self-proclaimed “experts” on culture and religion predicting the extinction of Christianity. If one listens closely to these pundits, it would seem the faith is already in its death throes, gasping vainly for its final breath. Are these doomsday prophets correct? Is the ancient and once-vibrant church universal on the cusp of being relegated to the dust bin of sociological irrelevance?
The answer is clear: Yes and no.
If one is speaking of the Church in its traditional form and structure, securely anchored to its dated and increasingly ineffective methodology of encountering the world, then the answer is a resounding yes. The Church of yesterday is rapidly becoming just that – the Church of yesterday. Stubbornly clinging to a Jurassic vision of its mission, function, and structure, the traditional church is incapable of successfully navigating the shifting shoals of the post-modern world. To make matters worse, people outside the Church have an increasingly negative view of Christianity in general and Christians in particular.
There can be little doubt that we are living not only in the post-modern age, but the post-Christian age as well. Some of our more cocooned brothers and sisters may be in denial of this fact, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is true. And now hear this, things are not going to go back to the good old days. As the old saying goes, once it’s a pickle, it ain’t gonna be a cucumber ever again. Don’t just take my word for it, take heed of these statistics, culled from the research of several prominent church historians and sociologists, as well as renowned researcher George Barna.
Historians postulate it took from the beginning of the church to the year 1900 for followers of Jesus to make up 2.5 percent of the world population. In the seventy years beyond that, it more than doubled. By 1970, the number of committed believers in the world expanded to over 6 percent. From 1970 to 1992 the number doubled again. So right now, in the world it is something like 12 or 13 percent. These are flowers of Jesus Christ, people who say, “I am born again.” Here’s what’s really interesting. Seventy percent of this growth happened in the last fifteen years. All of that sounds pretty good, Turner, so why are you waving all these red flags in our faces? Well, here’s why:
Seventy percent of that growth is happening outside the United States.
The trends on our shores are just the opposite. In America today, over 85 percent of the churches are stagnant or dying. And while the appearance is there is an abundance of churches, the truth is most are nearly empty buildings with an average attendance of fewer than seventy-five. Every week more churches close their doors. Even in Nashville, the buckle of the Bible Belt and home to numerous large para-church ministries, churches are being turned into storage buildings, office complexes, and strip joints. Some downtown churches are more famous for the architecture than for the person and purpose they were built to glorify.
“America is fast becoming the land of empty church buildings and hollow religion,” said David Foster, founding pastor of one of Nashville’s largest congregations. “Out of 450,000 Protestant churches, we lost fifty thousand churches in the ‘90’s. I heard a denominational leader say recently roughly 5,000 ministers are leaving the ministry every month. These are obscene and sobering numbers.”
Not such a pretty picture, is it? I live in the heart of the Bible Belt, where people still go to church in large numbers and Christianity remains a strong force in the cultural mix. We have no real shortage of churches and, except for several crisis-driven denominations, few churches are actually closing their doors. Still, the trend of declining numbers is more apparent in the larger cities in the Bible Belt, like Nashville, Memphis, and Atlanta. In other parts of the country, entire denominations seem to have on foot in the morgue and the other on a banana peel.
Denominational leaders and church leaders tend to react in one of four basic ways: outright denial; panic-fueled tail chasing, like a dog running in circles; blaming everyone but themselves; or trying to find new, creative ways to fix the mess. Only Number Four has the proverbial snowball’s chance.
A significant section of the Body of Christ has arisen, showing not only signs of life, but also a freshness of vision, a flexibility of methodology, and a contagious optimism. Often referred to as the “Emerging Church”, this proactive, mission-driven force in the Church is proving that the demise of the Christian faith is, to echo Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated.
In my mind’s eye, I often see Christ standing before the fetid tomb of Mary and Martha’s brother. With a calm, reassuring voice, Jesus spoke:
Lazarus, come forth!
Some of those assembled there initially expressed concern:
But Lord, he has been dead four days. He stinketh.
In spite of the odor, Jesus called his friend back to life and Lazarus responded. Still wrapped in his burial cloths, the once-dead man now walked with new life. As the vision progresses, it is no longer Lazarus who I see resurrected at the Lord’s call, but the contemporary Church. Particularly, I see the revitalization and renewal of the old Mainline denominations, so rich in tradition and resources. These denominations have experienced the greatest loss in terms of numbers and influence, yet it is these very segments of the Church that have the most to offer.
As the Body of Christ finds its way in our post-modern, post-Christian culture, I believe we will see major chances in the way the Church goes about its business. In addition to shifts in organizational structure and a reduced role of the ordained clergy, the churches that survive will be the ones that are innovative, transformative, and incarnational.
If the Church is to reach the growing post-Christian culture in ways that are relevant and effective, several things must be seen with clarity and focus. First, the primary question that must be answered is not, “How can we evangelize these people?” Instead, the relevant question must be, “How can I help you?” It is through this sort of proactive Christian service that the Church’s evangelistic witness can be best fostered. Secondly, the Church must reconsider how it can best present the truths of the faith in new wineskins that are more appropriate than the 19th Century model that is commonly used even today. We must re-introduce people to God, to Christ, to the Scriptures, and to the Church and this must be done in ways that are both practical and palatable, given the parameters of the environment in which the Church is now operating.
One salient and ubiquitous feature of 21st Century America centers on the increased interest in all things spiritual. Increasingly, people are seeking spiritual experience, not just dogma, doctrine, and didactics. Many Americans find themselves encountering the reality that something important is missing from their lives and they are quite active in their search for an answer. It is here that the Church has consistently fallen short of the mark.
Protestant Christianity in particular has long been suspicious, even paranoid, regarding spiritual disciplines and spiritual experience. As a result, the Church as we know it has been narrowly focused on belief and doctrine, ignoring the experiential, subjective side of an individual’s walk of faith. Discipleship programs have traditionally been focused on regimented Bible study and the central aspect of the overwhelming majority of Protestant worship services is the pastor’s sermon. Is it any wonder that many churches see dwindling numbers? The spiritual seeker of today finds the typical church service and discipleship program as unsatisfying and irrelevant. As a result, they turn elsewhere. Spiritual paths such as Buddhism, Yoga, Wicca, and many self-help programs are flourishing, primarily because they are more likely to address the needs of today’s spiritual seeker.
Connected with this lack of deep discipleship on the part of the Church is a general lack of transformative experience among the faithful. According to the majority of sociological and spiritual research done by Gallup, as well as George Barna, the typical believer is not significantly different than the non-believer in terms of worldview. Our pews are filled with sincere people who are, in the words of Thoreau, living lives of quiet desperation. This unfortunate reality accounts for the fact that a tour of any Christian book store will reveal a plethora of books with dust jackets that claim the book will, “change your life.”
Why do so many Christian experience such a desperate quality of life and seek something life-changing? Precisely because the Church has not provided a consistent means for spiritual growth and fulfillment. Let’s get real about this. A few praise songs, a couple of corporate prayers, a didactic Sunday School lesson, and a sermon just doesn’t cut it. If the Church is to thrive in the context of the current culture, it must be transformative.
Finally, the Body of Christ must develop innovative methods of giving flesh to its primary mission: incarnating Christ. The new Church must be mission-driven and willing to get its hands dirty. I believe the 21st Century churches that thrive will increasingly be those that arise out of the culture where a need exists. These types of congregations will be largely unconventional in terms of make up and methodology. Numerous examples already exist and can serve as models upon which new, innovative churches can be built. Congregations like “Mosaic” in Los Angeles, “Solomon’s Porch” in Minneapolis, and “The Rock” in Huntsville, Alabama are but three among many examples to build upon. These churches are thriving because they encounter the surrounding culture and grow within the context of that culture.
If the Body of Christ can incorporate progressive innovation, transformation, and incarnation into its calling and its mission, the consistent answer to the naysayers who are blowing Taps on Christianity will be a resounding, “No!”
The Church faces major challenges as it learns to live within a cultural context in which it finds itself increasingly marginalized. We can either put our heads in the sand and pretend the storm isn’t on the horizon, or, we can come up with creative new wineskins to fulfill our commission being salt and light in our world. Realistically, we can assume some churches will do well, while others will become flavorless seasoning and blown out light bulbs. Some will become, in the words of Paul, a pleasant aroma to the nostrils; while others, unfortunately, will stinketh.
How individual churches choose to respond to the realities of the situation will determine whether they will die, survive, or thrive.
As the new century begins to unfold, we often hear many so-called and often self-proclaimed “experts” on culture and religion predicting the extinction of Christianity. If one listens closely to these pundits, it would seem the faith is already in its death throes, gasping vainly for its final breath. Are these doomsday prophets correct? Is the ancient and once-vibrant church universal on the cusp of being relegated to the dust bin of sociological irrelevance?
The answer is clear: Yes and no.
If one is speaking of the Church in its traditional form and structure, securely anchored to its dated and increasingly ineffective methodology of encountering the world, then the answer is a resounding yes. The Church of yesterday is rapidly becoming just that – the Church of yesterday. Stubbornly clinging to a Jurassic vision of its mission, function, and structure, the traditional church is incapable of successfully navigating the shifting shoals of the post-modern world. To make matters worse, people outside the Church have an increasingly negative view of Christianity in general and Christians in particular.
There can be little doubt that we are living not only in the post-modern age, but the post-Christian age as well. Some of our more cocooned brothers and sisters may be in denial of this fact, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is true. And now hear this, things are not going to go back to the good old days. As the old saying goes, once it’s a pickle, it ain’t gonna be a cucumber ever again. Don’t just take my word for it, take heed of these statistics, culled from the research of several prominent church historians and sociologists, as well as renowned researcher George Barna.
Historians postulate it took from the beginning of the church to the year 1900 for followers of Jesus to make up 2.5 percent of the world population. In the seventy years beyond that, it more than doubled. By 1970, the number of committed believers in the world expanded to over 6 percent. From 1970 to 1992 the number doubled again. So right now, in the world it is something like 12 or 13 percent. These are flowers of Jesus Christ, people who say, “I am born again.” Here’s what’s really interesting. Seventy percent of this growth happened in the last fifteen years. All of that sounds pretty good, Turner, so why are you waving all these red flags in our faces? Well, here’s why:
Seventy percent of that growth is happening outside the United States.
The trends on our shores are just the opposite. In America today, over 85 percent of the churches are stagnant or dying. And while the appearance is there is an abundance of churches, the truth is most are nearly empty buildings with an average attendance of fewer than seventy-five. Every week more churches close their doors. Even in Nashville, the buckle of the Bible Belt and home to numerous large para-church ministries, churches are being turned into storage buildings, office complexes, and strip joints. Some downtown churches are more famous for the architecture than for the person and purpose they were built to glorify.
“America is fast becoming the land of empty church buildings and hollow religion,” said David Foster, founding pastor of one of Nashville’s largest congregations. “Out of 450,000 Protestant churches, we lost fifty thousand churches in the ‘90’s. I heard a denominational leader say recently roughly 5,000 ministers are leaving the ministry every month. These are obscene and sobering numbers.”
Not such a pretty picture, is it? I live in the heart of the Bible Belt, where people still go to church in large numbers and Christianity remains a strong force in the cultural mix. We have no real shortage of churches and, except for several crisis-driven denominations, few churches are actually closing their doors. Still, the trend of declining numbers is more apparent in the larger cities in the Bible Belt, like Nashville, Memphis, and Atlanta. In other parts of the country, entire denominations seem to have on foot in the morgue and the other on a banana peel.
Denominational leaders and church leaders tend to react in one of four basic ways: outright denial; panic-fueled tail chasing, like a dog running in circles; blaming everyone but themselves; or trying to find new, creative ways to fix the mess. Only Number Four has the proverbial snowball’s chance.
A significant section of the Body of Christ has arisen, showing not only signs of life, but also a freshness of vision, a flexibility of methodology, and a contagious optimism. Often referred to as the “Emerging Church”, this proactive, mission-driven force in the Church is proving that the demise of the Christian faith is, to echo Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated.
In my mind’s eye, I often see Christ standing before the fetid tomb of Mary and Martha’s brother. With a calm, reassuring voice, Jesus spoke:
Lazarus, come forth!
Some of those assembled there initially expressed concern:
But Lord, he has been dead four days. He stinketh.
In spite of the odor, Jesus called his friend back to life and Lazarus responded. Still wrapped in his burial cloths, the once-dead man now walked with new life. As the vision progresses, it is no longer Lazarus who I see resurrected at the Lord’s call, but the contemporary Church. Particularly, I see the revitalization and renewal of the old Mainline denominations, so rich in tradition and resources. These denominations have experienced the greatest loss in terms of numbers and influence, yet it is these very segments of the Church that have the most to offer.
As the Body of Christ finds its way in our post-modern, post-Christian culture, I believe we will see major chances in the way the Church goes about its business. In addition to shifts in organizational structure and a reduced role of the ordained clergy, the churches that survive will be the ones that are innovative, transformative, and incarnational.
If the Church is to reach the growing post-Christian culture in ways that are relevant and effective, several things must be seen with clarity and focus. First, the primary question that must be answered is not, “How can we evangelize these people?” Instead, the relevant question must be, “How can I help you?” It is through this sort of proactive Christian service that the Church’s evangelistic witness can be best fostered. Secondly, the Church must reconsider how it can best present the truths of the faith in new wineskins that are more appropriate than the 19th Century model that is commonly used even today. We must re-introduce people to God, to Christ, to the Scriptures, and to the Church and this must be done in ways that are both practical and palatable, given the parameters of the environment in which the Church is now operating.
One salient and ubiquitous feature of 21st Century America centers on the increased interest in all things spiritual. Increasingly, people are seeking spiritual experience, not just dogma, doctrine, and didactics. Many Americans find themselves encountering the reality that something important is missing from their lives and they are quite active in their search for an answer. It is here that the Church has consistently fallen short of the mark.
Protestant Christianity in particular has long been suspicious, even paranoid, regarding spiritual disciplines and spiritual experience. As a result, the Church as we know it has been narrowly focused on belief and doctrine, ignoring the experiential, subjective side of an individual’s walk of faith. Discipleship programs have traditionally been focused on regimented Bible study and the central aspect of the overwhelming majority of Protestant worship services is the pastor’s sermon. Is it any wonder that many churches see dwindling numbers? The spiritual seeker of today finds the typical church service and discipleship program as unsatisfying and irrelevant. As a result, they turn elsewhere. Spiritual paths such as Buddhism, Yoga, Wicca, and many self-help programs are flourishing, primarily because they are more likely to address the needs of today’s spiritual seeker.
Connected with this lack of deep discipleship on the part of the Church is a general lack of transformative experience among the faithful. According to the majority of sociological and spiritual research done by Gallup, as well as George Barna, the typical believer is not significantly different than the non-believer in terms of worldview. Our pews are filled with sincere people who are, in the words of Thoreau, living lives of quiet desperation. This unfortunate reality accounts for the fact that a tour of any Christian book store will reveal a plethora of books with dust jackets that claim the book will, “change your life.”
Why do so many Christian experience such a desperate quality of life and seek something life-changing? Precisely because the Church has not provided a consistent means for spiritual growth and fulfillment. Let’s get real about this. A few praise songs, a couple of corporate prayers, a didactic Sunday School lesson, and a sermon just doesn’t cut it. If the Church is to thrive in the context of the current culture, it must be transformative.
Finally, the Body of Christ must develop innovative methods of giving flesh to its primary mission: incarnating Christ. The new Church must be mission-driven and willing to get its hands dirty. I believe the 21st Century churches that thrive will increasingly be those that arise out of the culture where a need exists. These types of congregations will be largely unconventional in terms of make up and methodology. Numerous examples already exist and can serve as models upon which new, innovative churches can be built. Congregations like “Mosaic” in Los Angeles, “Solomon’s Porch” in Minneapolis, and “The Rock” in Huntsville, Alabama are but three among many examples to build upon. These churches are thriving because they encounter the surrounding culture and grow within the context of that culture.
If the Body of Christ can incorporate progressive innovation, transformation, and incarnation into its calling and its mission, the consistent answer to the naysayers who are blowing Taps on Christianity will be a resounding, “No!”
The Church faces major challenges as it learns to live within a cultural context in which it finds itself increasingly marginalized. We can either put our heads in the sand and pretend the storm isn’t on the horizon, or, we can come up with creative new wineskins to fulfill our commission being salt and light in our world. Realistically, we can assume some churches will do well, while others will become flavorless seasoning and blown out light bulbs. Some will become, in the words of Paul, a pleasant aroma to the nostrils; while others, unfortunately, will stinketh.
How individual churches choose to respond to the realities of the situation will determine whether they will die, survive, or thrive.
The Blessings of the Ascension
L. Dwight Turner
During my formative years growing up in the church as well as my adult years attending church, I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon on Christ’s ascension. I heard countless words about the Lord’s crucifixion, salvation by the blood, and more than a few bombastic diatribes on the evils of sin. I even heard a few sermons on the Resurrection, mostly centered on the importance of the empty tomb and the fact that Christ defeated both death and the Devil. And, of course, there have been countless talks about the Nativity.
Not once, however, did I hear anything about the Ascension. Not one time!
Left to my own devices, I would have most likely never noticed this empty space in the biblical teaching that has come my way over the years. It is only because I am a book addict that I per chance (or maybe by design) discovered that a big hole existed in my celebration of the life of Jesus. I really have no one to blame for this reality except myself. I can’t blame the pastors and preachers I have heard during my life; chances are, they never heard a sermon on Christ’s journey back to heaven and subsequent seating at the right hand of the Father. Like I said, it is only through my habit of voracious reading that I happened upon this issue at all. Now, you’ll have to bear with me because I feel compelled to tell you about it.
Of course, you could just click this page shut and be done with it. I hope, however, you won’t do that. Instead, even if you don’t appreciate me as a writer, at least consider that I might say one thing of value in the time it takes to scroll down the page.
Gary Thomas is one of my favorite authors. Several of his books have been meaningful in my life, most notably Sacred Marriage and Sacred Parenting. The latter, in fact, has been of immense relevance in my life over the past few years. God, in his infinite wisdom and with what I consider his trademark sense of humor, gave me the surprise of my life in 2004. In August, 2003 we discovered that my wife was pregnant. She gave birth to our wonderful little girl, Salina Li, in May, 2004. What makes this event special is the fact that when Salina was born, I was 55-years-old.
Like I said, He does have a sense of humor.
I had planned to drift casually into my golden years devoting my time to my church and to my writing. Parenting was not in the cards, nor was it for Li, my wife. Salina was God’s gift to us and, although she was not in our plans, she was in God’s plans. That’s why I never use the term “unplanned pregnancy.” Although I am not a fanatical pro-lifer, I am pro-life. In my eyes, pregnancy is never unplanned; it is always God-planned. Li and I never considered abortion. Salina has been a blessed addition to our family and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
I apologize for that little digression, but this is a blog. Back to the point, Gary Thomas’ book on parenting has also been a gift to both Li and myself. We have learned much from its pages, particularly how God uses parenting as a way for us to overcome our inbred tendency toward selfishness.
A few months back I purchased Thomas’ most recent book, entitled, The Beautiful Fight. In this book, the author discusses the fact that we have often overlooked the eternal significance of Christ’s ascension and we have done this to our detriment. Reading Thomas’ book gave me pause to reflect on this theme in some detail, to pray about it, and now, to begin to write about it.
After reading the book I came to several pertinent realizations regarding the Ascension. First, by celebrating the event of Christ’s journey back to the spiritual world, we are honoring the fact that, because of the success of Jesus’ mission, we are all now operating under a new set of circumstances. Have you ever really reflected on that?
Christ told his disciples that he was going away and that his departure was necessary. Jesus said flatly, “Unless I go, the Advocate (comforter, counselor) won’t come. If I do go away, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7). If Christ had not returned to his home, the Holy Spirit would have never arrived to live inside of us. The implications of this are obvious. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit along side us and within us, we could never hope to attain to what Paul calls “the fullness of Christ.” Put in stark but realistic terms, we would never be able to live as committed Christians.
A second significant issue surrounding the Ascension has to do with Christ’s reign and his kingdom. Scripture teaches us that Christ not only will rule when he comes again some day, he is ruling right now. This doesn’t mean that Satan is not roaming around, as Peter says, like a roaring lion. What it does mean, however, is that he has been defanged. Granted, Satan may get hold of you, but the best he can do is gum you to death. If Christ did not occupy his honored seat in the spiritual world, Satan would be a more formidable enemy than he now is.
Finally, Christ’s ascension gives us something none of us could live without. The Ascension gives us hope! And one further truth – no longer do we really need to ask, “What would Jesus do?” With the Ascension, as Thomas points out, a more appropriate question is: “What is Jesus doing right now?”
Take just a few minutes and think about these realities. Do you now see the blessings associated with the Ascension?
Allow me to close with a quotation from The Beautiful Fight that speaks directly to the themes discussed above:
Celebrating Christmas gives us faith; it affirms that our beliefs have roots in the historical fact of the incarnation. Celebrating Easter gives us assurance; it affirms that Christ wiped away our sin by his great sacrifice and triumphed over death. Celebrating the ascension gives us hope and points us toward transformation; it affirms that we can become more and more like Jesus is right now….Without the ascension, we might look around and forget that Christ is the ruling Lord of this fallen, broken world….not just that he will reign when he comes again or that he did reign over death, but that he is reigning right now.
• Throughout the article, I have capitalized the word Ascension when it refers to the specific event in Christ’s mission. I do so because I firmly feel that this event deserves the same honor as Christmas and Easter.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
During my formative years growing up in the church as well as my adult years attending church, I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon on Christ’s ascension. I heard countless words about the Lord’s crucifixion, salvation by the blood, and more than a few bombastic diatribes on the evils of sin. I even heard a few sermons on the Resurrection, mostly centered on the importance of the empty tomb and the fact that Christ defeated both death and the Devil. And, of course, there have been countless talks about the Nativity.
Not once, however, did I hear anything about the Ascension. Not one time!
Left to my own devices, I would have most likely never noticed this empty space in the biblical teaching that has come my way over the years. It is only because I am a book addict that I per chance (or maybe by design) discovered that a big hole existed in my celebration of the life of Jesus. I really have no one to blame for this reality except myself. I can’t blame the pastors and preachers I have heard during my life; chances are, they never heard a sermon on Christ’s journey back to heaven and subsequent seating at the right hand of the Father. Like I said, it is only through my habit of voracious reading that I happened upon this issue at all. Now, you’ll have to bear with me because I feel compelled to tell you about it.
Of course, you could just click this page shut and be done with it. I hope, however, you won’t do that. Instead, even if you don’t appreciate me as a writer, at least consider that I might say one thing of value in the time it takes to scroll down the page.
Gary Thomas is one of my favorite authors. Several of his books have been meaningful in my life, most notably Sacred Marriage and Sacred Parenting. The latter, in fact, has been of immense relevance in my life over the past few years. God, in his infinite wisdom and with what I consider his trademark sense of humor, gave me the surprise of my life in 2004. In August, 2003 we discovered that my wife was pregnant. She gave birth to our wonderful little girl, Salina Li, in May, 2004. What makes this event special is the fact that when Salina was born, I was 55-years-old.
Like I said, He does have a sense of humor.
I had planned to drift casually into my golden years devoting my time to my church and to my writing. Parenting was not in the cards, nor was it for Li, my wife. Salina was God’s gift to us and, although she was not in our plans, she was in God’s plans. That’s why I never use the term “unplanned pregnancy.” Although I am not a fanatical pro-lifer, I am pro-life. In my eyes, pregnancy is never unplanned; it is always God-planned. Li and I never considered abortion. Salina has been a blessed addition to our family and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
I apologize for that little digression, but this is a blog. Back to the point, Gary Thomas’ book on parenting has also been a gift to both Li and myself. We have learned much from its pages, particularly how God uses parenting as a way for us to overcome our inbred tendency toward selfishness.
A few months back I purchased Thomas’ most recent book, entitled, The Beautiful Fight. In this book, the author discusses the fact that we have often overlooked the eternal significance of Christ’s ascension and we have done this to our detriment. Reading Thomas’ book gave me pause to reflect on this theme in some detail, to pray about it, and now, to begin to write about it.
After reading the book I came to several pertinent realizations regarding the Ascension. First, by celebrating the event of Christ’s journey back to the spiritual world, we are honoring the fact that, because of the success of Jesus’ mission, we are all now operating under a new set of circumstances. Have you ever really reflected on that?
Christ told his disciples that he was going away and that his departure was necessary. Jesus said flatly, “Unless I go, the Advocate (comforter, counselor) won’t come. If I do go away, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7). If Christ had not returned to his home, the Holy Spirit would have never arrived to live inside of us. The implications of this are obvious. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit along side us and within us, we could never hope to attain to what Paul calls “the fullness of Christ.” Put in stark but realistic terms, we would never be able to live as committed Christians.
A second significant issue surrounding the Ascension has to do with Christ’s reign and his kingdom. Scripture teaches us that Christ not only will rule when he comes again some day, he is ruling right now. This doesn’t mean that Satan is not roaming around, as Peter says, like a roaring lion. What it does mean, however, is that he has been defanged. Granted, Satan may get hold of you, but the best he can do is gum you to death. If Christ did not occupy his honored seat in the spiritual world, Satan would be a more formidable enemy than he now is.
Finally, Christ’s ascension gives us something none of us could live without. The Ascension gives us hope! And one further truth – no longer do we really need to ask, “What would Jesus do?” With the Ascension, as Thomas points out, a more appropriate question is: “What is Jesus doing right now?”
Take just a few minutes and think about these realities. Do you now see the blessings associated with the Ascension?
Allow me to close with a quotation from The Beautiful Fight that speaks directly to the themes discussed above:
Celebrating Christmas gives us faith; it affirms that our beliefs have roots in the historical fact of the incarnation. Celebrating Easter gives us assurance; it affirms that Christ wiped away our sin by his great sacrifice and triumphed over death. Celebrating the ascension gives us hope and points us toward transformation; it affirms that we can become more and more like Jesus is right now….Without the ascension, we might look around and forget that Christ is the ruling Lord of this fallen, broken world….not just that he will reign when he comes again or that he did reign over death, but that he is reigning right now.
• Throughout the article, I have capitalized the word Ascension when it refers to the specific event in Christ’s mission. I do so because I firmly feel that this event deserves the same honor as Christmas and Easter.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Monday, October 20, 2008
Pilgrimage: A Four-Dimensional Model
L. Dwight Turner
On several occasions I have mentioned the need for effective models in which one can gain a deeper understanding of the Christian faith in general and the sometimes complex aspects of the spiritual journey with Christ in particular. In my experience, having a framework through which we can view the process of growing as a Christ-follower makes things clearer and gives me a broader perspective on why certain things are essential and why others things are not.
I recently discovered one such model and I would like to share a bit about it with you. Basically, it is a “Four- Dimensional Model” of the Jesus path to spirituality and is directly modeled on the life of Christ. This model is found in Ken Wilson’s fine book, Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back. Great title, isn’t it?
The map put forth by Wilson is designed to assist individuals and churches move more toward the center, the heart of Jesus’ spiritual path, rather than existing on the periphery. It is divided into four dimensions as follows: active, contemplative, biblical, and communal. In discussing the general principles of the four dimensional approach to “Jesus Brand Spirituality,” Wilson makes clear that these four aspects are interdependent and do not stand alone. He compares them to the four dimensions in the space-time continuum, length, width, height, and time. Again, the author underscores the fact that these four dimensions are interconnected:
We separate them to examine them, but as soon as we’re done, they reconnect. We must resist the temptation to force-fit these into a preordered path: ‘First we take the active step, then the contemplative step,’ and so on. It doesn’t work like that. Depending on where we find ourselves on this pilgrimage, we may be drawn to one dimension or the other first or next. But as we move forward into one dimension of Jesus brand spirituality, our understanding of all the others will be affected because they are four dimensions of one reality.
Wilson is wise to put this caveat out there right at the beginning. From our own experience here at LifeBrook, we have found that it is very common for believers to try to fit new ideas into a pre-ordered program, somewhat like a ladder leading upward one step at a time. In our program The Mirrors of Optimal Living we especially witness this tendency. In our teaching, we always stress that this process is not like climbing a ladder. It is more like a spiral staircase, frequently winding back upon itself. When teaching these issues, I often use the analogy of a bowl of Raisin Jell-o. If you thump one single raisin, all the raisins move.
It is the same with Wilson’s four-dimensional model of Jesus brand spirituality.
Wilson goes on to make the point that these dimensions emerge naturally from studying Jesus’ life and teaching as presented in the New Testament. This was essentially the spiritual path Jesus himself followed.
Stated simply, the active dimension of Jesus’ spirituality occurred because there was a lot going on in First Century Palestine. Jesus and his followers were constantly on the move from one place to another, encountering people, teaching, and engaging in various forms of service such as healing, assisting the poor, and, in the words of Wilson, “mobilizing a movement with an agenda.” For Jesus, all of these ministry activities were a part of his overall spirituality. Throughout his entire mission, teaching was essential. However, the methodology used by Jesus was also action-oriented. According to Wilson:
His training method? Jesus invited curious onlookers to help him do what he was already doing so that his actions would have even greater impact. As we’ll see, his actions were about addressing the pressing problems of his day.
The contemplative dimension of Jesus’ spirituality was also readily apparent to those who were near him over the long haul. Further, this dimension is recorded in the gospels so consistently that it is hard to understand those fundamentalist critics of contemplative practice. Even more directly, Wilson accurately points out that Jesus brand spirituality is, at its core, mystical.
Jesus’ spirituality was also contemplative, because everyone feels there’s more to this world than meets the eye. The world is a mystical playground where, according to the quantum physicists, the most elemental particles – things called quarks and muons and gluons and bosons – pop into and out of existence all the time. No, I don’t understand it, either. But the world is, according to those who can do the math, not as it seems.
For Jesus, this unseen world was very real and he took great pains to make contact with it on a regular basis. I guess it is understandable that he did so. After all, this realm was his home. Even more important, Jesus took what he found when contacting the spiritual realm and brought it to bear on his environment in this world. Wilson continues:
Jesus got up early in the morning and went out to lonely places, and there he prayed (Mark 1:35). When he came back from those times of prayer, you get the impression he must have been making some kind of conscious contact with the divine, because life seemed to blossom wherever he went.
According to Wilson, Jesus brand spirituality is also biblical. After discussing how these days the Bible is often used in either highly selective ways (in order to prove one’s point) or in negative ways (in order to brow beat a lowly sinner into shame and guilt). For Jesus, however, the Bible became something entirely different. Wilson points out that:
…in the hands of Jesus the Bible became a different kind of book. It became a living thing full of the unexpected and the unconventional. It was a book Jesus turned against the browbeaters of his day with one hand, and with the other he comforted and consoled and energized those who had been bludgeoned with it…The Bible in the hands of Jesus tells a story that has a place for us within it. If we could find our way into the Bible through the door that Jesus entered, we might find the storyline of our lives and the world we live in changing for the better as a result.
Finally, for Jesus, the essence of true spirituality was communal. Wilson points out that for Jesus spirituality was about forging connections between people, between people and all living things, and, because God is a living thing, also between people and God.
Wilson has put together an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to the casual reader and the serious student of spiritual formation as well. It is a highly insightful, well-organized work that forces the reader to think outside the box and in so doing, encounter a spirituality that is often a far cry from what we often see in our churches.
© L.D. Turner/All Rights Reserved
On several occasions I have mentioned the need for effective models in which one can gain a deeper understanding of the Christian faith in general and the sometimes complex aspects of the spiritual journey with Christ in particular. In my experience, having a framework through which we can view the process of growing as a Christ-follower makes things clearer and gives me a broader perspective on why certain things are essential and why others things are not.
I recently discovered one such model and I would like to share a bit about it with you. Basically, it is a “Four- Dimensional Model” of the Jesus path to spirituality and is directly modeled on the life of Christ. This model is found in Ken Wilson’s fine book, Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back. Great title, isn’t it?
The map put forth by Wilson is designed to assist individuals and churches move more toward the center, the heart of Jesus’ spiritual path, rather than existing on the periphery. It is divided into four dimensions as follows: active, contemplative, biblical, and communal. In discussing the general principles of the four dimensional approach to “Jesus Brand Spirituality,” Wilson makes clear that these four aspects are interdependent and do not stand alone. He compares them to the four dimensions in the space-time continuum, length, width, height, and time. Again, the author underscores the fact that these four dimensions are interconnected:
We separate them to examine them, but as soon as we’re done, they reconnect. We must resist the temptation to force-fit these into a preordered path: ‘First we take the active step, then the contemplative step,’ and so on. It doesn’t work like that. Depending on where we find ourselves on this pilgrimage, we may be drawn to one dimension or the other first or next. But as we move forward into one dimension of Jesus brand spirituality, our understanding of all the others will be affected because they are four dimensions of one reality.
Wilson is wise to put this caveat out there right at the beginning. From our own experience here at LifeBrook, we have found that it is very common for believers to try to fit new ideas into a pre-ordered program, somewhat like a ladder leading upward one step at a time. In our program The Mirrors of Optimal Living we especially witness this tendency. In our teaching, we always stress that this process is not like climbing a ladder. It is more like a spiral staircase, frequently winding back upon itself. When teaching these issues, I often use the analogy of a bowl of Raisin Jell-o. If you thump one single raisin, all the raisins move.
It is the same with Wilson’s four-dimensional model of Jesus brand spirituality.
Wilson goes on to make the point that these dimensions emerge naturally from studying Jesus’ life and teaching as presented in the New Testament. This was essentially the spiritual path Jesus himself followed.
Stated simply, the active dimension of Jesus’ spirituality occurred because there was a lot going on in First Century Palestine. Jesus and his followers were constantly on the move from one place to another, encountering people, teaching, and engaging in various forms of service such as healing, assisting the poor, and, in the words of Wilson, “mobilizing a movement with an agenda.” For Jesus, all of these ministry activities were a part of his overall spirituality. Throughout his entire mission, teaching was essential. However, the methodology used by Jesus was also action-oriented. According to Wilson:
His training method? Jesus invited curious onlookers to help him do what he was already doing so that his actions would have even greater impact. As we’ll see, his actions were about addressing the pressing problems of his day.
The contemplative dimension of Jesus’ spirituality was also readily apparent to those who were near him over the long haul. Further, this dimension is recorded in the gospels so consistently that it is hard to understand those fundamentalist critics of contemplative practice. Even more directly, Wilson accurately points out that Jesus brand spirituality is, at its core, mystical.
Jesus’ spirituality was also contemplative, because everyone feels there’s more to this world than meets the eye. The world is a mystical playground where, according to the quantum physicists, the most elemental particles – things called quarks and muons and gluons and bosons – pop into and out of existence all the time. No, I don’t understand it, either. But the world is, according to those who can do the math, not as it seems.
For Jesus, this unseen world was very real and he took great pains to make contact with it on a regular basis. I guess it is understandable that he did so. After all, this realm was his home. Even more important, Jesus took what he found when contacting the spiritual realm and brought it to bear on his environment in this world. Wilson continues:
Jesus got up early in the morning and went out to lonely places, and there he prayed (Mark 1:35). When he came back from those times of prayer, you get the impression he must have been making some kind of conscious contact with the divine, because life seemed to blossom wherever he went.
According to Wilson, Jesus brand spirituality is also biblical. After discussing how these days the Bible is often used in either highly selective ways (in order to prove one’s point) or in negative ways (in order to brow beat a lowly sinner into shame and guilt). For Jesus, however, the Bible became something entirely different. Wilson points out that:
…in the hands of Jesus the Bible became a different kind of book. It became a living thing full of the unexpected and the unconventional. It was a book Jesus turned against the browbeaters of his day with one hand, and with the other he comforted and consoled and energized those who had been bludgeoned with it…The Bible in the hands of Jesus tells a story that has a place for us within it. If we could find our way into the Bible through the door that Jesus entered, we might find the storyline of our lives and the world we live in changing for the better as a result.
Finally, for Jesus, the essence of true spirituality was communal. Wilson points out that for Jesus spirituality was about forging connections between people, between people and all living things, and, because God is a living thing, also between people and God.
Wilson has put together an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to the casual reader and the serious student of spiritual formation as well. It is a highly insightful, well-organized work that forces the reader to think outside the box and in so doing, encounter a spirituality that is often a far cry from what we often see in our churches.
© L.D. Turner/All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sacred Silence and the Inner Light
L. Dwight Turner
As we traverse the spiritual landscape that leads us toward increased unity with the Creator, there comes a point where we come to appreciate the value of what can best be called our “inner sanctuary.” It is that special place inside our being that serves as our own personal “Holy of Holies,” a divine chamber where our human spirit comes into more intimate contact with the One True Spirit. This inner temple is where we are first emptied of the limitations of the “little mind,” our lower self, and we are filled with both Light and Life.
This blessed sanctuary is also were we have our first encounter with the “Sacred Silence.” More than just an empty mind, our sacred inner sanctuary is a place of preparation. It is a holy temple where the Spirit of God dwells and it is a place where, if we possess ears to hear, we can be taught those “great and mighty things we have never heard.” This sacred place is not only a place of teaching, but also a great temple of comfort and nurturance.
Paul describes our God as the God of all comfort and no doubt this is a profound truth. It is in the spiritual light of this inner sanctuary where God’s unlimited grace, mercy, and comfort are imparted into the depths of our spirit. In this aspect, our inner sanctuary is a chamber of divine healing and spiritual balancing.
Moreover, it is our holy place where real miracles are conceived.
Noted Quaker writer Thomas Kelly speaks of this inner sanctuary and the benefits accrued from learning to abide there:
Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the face of men. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And He is within us all.
A fundamental spiritual discipline that aids us in our ability to live from our sacred center is the practice of contemplation in general and resting in the “sacred silence” in particular. This is an important goal for each of us, but we will inevitably encounter resistance, coming either from ourselves, the world, or the enemy. Frederick Buechner calls this inner sanctuary our “shimmering self” and he speaks of our general inability to live from the sacred center:
Our original shimmering self gets buried so deep we hardly live out of it at all…rather, we learn to live out of all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather.
The coats and hats Buechner is speaking of are the various roles that we play in our day to day lives – roles like husband, wife, father, mother, employer, employee, friend, and yes, Christian. For all too many of us, even our identity as members of Christ’s family is little more than a role we play. Little wonder we lose contact with our Inner Light.
The practice of contemplation and developing the ability to rest in the Sacred Silence is somewhat of a lost art in the Protestant Church. This is highly unfortunate because it is in this inner sanctuary where we indeed meet our “shimmering self” – our true being manifested as the Inner Light. It is precisely the fear on the part of many believers that somehow Christian meditation is somehow an Eastern practice or even more sinister, a New Age technique spawned in the bowels of Hell.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Many among us desire a deeper spirituality, a deeper awareness of the presence of the Light that dwells in their hearts, a deeper sense of security, assurance, and vitality. A.W. Tozer tells us:
There are those who…are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the ‘piercing sweetness’ of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing…..
For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
Christians have become both complacent and ignorant. Ignorant of the riches that lie at the core of the faith they profess and the treasures promised by the Lord to those who seek and knock. Tozer continues:
Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting Christ’ (a term incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more to seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise……The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture.
Unfortunately, for all too many Christians this leads to a sense of self-righteousness at best and an empty, hollow spirituality at worst.
The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.
Basically, what Tozer is getting at here is that we have to reconnect with the wisdom, love, power, and light that reside at our inner core. We have to realign ourselves so that we are operating as much as possible out of the Spirit and not out of our ego or, as some call it, our lower self. Paul used a term that was popular in his day, the flesh. I prefer to not use “flesh” because over the years it has accumulated much cultural baggage and misinterpretation. Here at LifeBrook we often use the term “little mind” to describe our ego-driven lower self. It is contrasted with another term, Sacred Spirit, which is that part of ourselves we have been talking about – the Inner Light. In fact, we often use the term Sacred Self and Inner Light interchangeably. No matter what you choose to call it, the tried and true methodology of carrying out this realignment and living from our Sacred Self is continual practice of the classical spiritual disciplines, particularly resting in the Sacred Silence or Christian meditation.
If we want to see who God is, we look to Christ. If we want to live as God wants us to live, then it is only obvious that we are to live as Christ lived. How are we to do that? We are to emulate the way he lived his life. It is not enough to imitate his behavior in specific situations, although this is admirable. We are to engage in the overall approach of life that he engaged in. If we emulate these activities, then our being, not just our behavior, will be more like his being. This involves practicing the same spiritual disciplines that Christ practiced. Added to this are the classic traditions proven effective over the centuries by the church as a whole, particularly the early church.
There are numerous disciplines that can help us bring about the needed realignment we have been talking about. However, in the confines of this brief essay I want to discuss the importance of Christian meditation.
Meditation is a word that some Christians have a tendency to shy away from, mostly from misunderstanding or from a misguided perception that by engaging in the practice he or she may fall under the sway of either eastern religion or demonic possession. As stated earlier, nothing could be further from the truth.
Meditative practices have a long history in Christian tradition and have proven their value across the ages. These practices may vary in terms of technique or goal but each and every one of them have an overriding purpose: to deepen our contact with the divine and assist in fostering a proper alignment with the Spirit in order to discern God’s will and be empowered to carry it out.
Contemplation, a form of Christian meditation, has become increasingly popular as a method of realigning with the Inner Light. Sometimes referred to as “Contemplative Prayer, this ancient spiritual practice has many practical benefits as well, such as reduction of stress and fostering a sense of peace in daily life. Yet Christian meditation has at its foundation a spiritual purpose. It is part and parcel, for example, of the renewing of the mind. Henry Drummond exclaims:
There is nothing that will bring us such abundant returns as to take a little time in the quiet each day of our lives. We need this to get the kinks out of our minds, and hence out of our lives. We need this to form better the higher ideals of life. We need this in order to see clearly in mind the things upon which we would concentrate and focus the thought-forces. We need this in order to make continually anew and to keep our conscious connection with the Infinite. We need this in order that the rush and hurry of our everyday life does not keep us away from the conscious realization of the fact that the spirit of Infinite life and power that is back of all, working in and through all, the life of all, is the life of our life, and the source of our power; and that outside of this we have no life and we have no power. To realize this fact fully, and to live in it consciously at all times, is to find the kingdom of God, which is essentially an inner kingdom, and can never be anything else. The kingdom of heaven is to be found only within, and this is done once and for all, and in a manner in which it cannot otherwise be done, when we come into the conscious, living realization of the fact that in our real selves we are essentially one with the Divine life, and open ourselves continually so that this Divine life can speak to and manifest through us.
If you are looking for positive results in your spiritual life it is essential that you stake out time in your day to spend quiet time with God. This will help us get the kinks out of our minds and out of our lives. However, this special time with our Creator must involve more than sitting quietly, reading, and praying. Important as these disciplines are, if we want to taste the true blessings of Sacred Spirit, we must make personal effort to place ourselves in a receptive mode. This involves becoming mentally quiet, increasingly centered, and spiritually alert. Contrary to what you may hear from fear-mongering fundamentalists who have never really taken the time to research the subject fully, Christian meditation does not involve emptying the mind. On the contrary, it involves silencing our internal chatter so that we become a vessel God can then fill with himself.
Time does not allow me to continue this discussion at present, but I will present more over the next couple of days.
To be continued…..
© L.D. Turner 2008 / All Rights Reserved
As we traverse the spiritual landscape that leads us toward increased unity with the Creator, there comes a point where we come to appreciate the value of what can best be called our “inner sanctuary.” It is that special place inside our being that serves as our own personal “Holy of Holies,” a divine chamber where our human spirit comes into more intimate contact with the One True Spirit. This inner temple is where we are first emptied of the limitations of the “little mind,” our lower self, and we are filled with both Light and Life.
This blessed sanctuary is also were we have our first encounter with the “Sacred Silence.” More than just an empty mind, our sacred inner sanctuary is a place of preparation. It is a holy temple where the Spirit of God dwells and it is a place where, if we possess ears to hear, we can be taught those “great and mighty things we have never heard.” This sacred place is not only a place of teaching, but also a great temple of comfort and nurturance.
Paul describes our God as the God of all comfort and no doubt this is a profound truth. It is in the spiritual light of this inner sanctuary where God’s unlimited grace, mercy, and comfort are imparted into the depths of our spirit. In this aspect, our inner sanctuary is a chamber of divine healing and spiritual balancing.
Moreover, it is our holy place where real miracles are conceived.
Noted Quaker writer Thomas Kelly speaks of this inner sanctuary and the benefits accrued from learning to abide there:
Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life. It is a dynamic center, a creative Life that presses to birth within us. It is a Light Within which illumines the face of God and casts new shadows and new glories upon the face of men. It is the Shekinah of the soul, the Presence in the midst. Here is the slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened, to become the soul we clothe in earthly form and action. And He is within us all.
A fundamental spiritual discipline that aids us in our ability to live from our sacred center is the practice of contemplation in general and resting in the “sacred silence” in particular. This is an important goal for each of us, but we will inevitably encounter resistance, coming either from ourselves, the world, or the enemy. Frederick Buechner calls this inner sanctuary our “shimmering self” and he speaks of our general inability to live from the sacred center:
Our original shimmering self gets buried so deep we hardly live out of it at all…rather, we learn to live out of all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather.
The coats and hats Buechner is speaking of are the various roles that we play in our day to day lives – roles like husband, wife, father, mother, employer, employee, friend, and yes, Christian. For all too many of us, even our identity as members of Christ’s family is little more than a role we play. Little wonder we lose contact with our Inner Light.
The practice of contemplation and developing the ability to rest in the Sacred Silence is somewhat of a lost art in the Protestant Church. This is highly unfortunate because it is in this inner sanctuary where we indeed meet our “shimmering self” – our true being manifested as the Inner Light. It is precisely the fear on the part of many believers that somehow Christian meditation is somehow an Eastern practice or even more sinister, a New Age technique spawned in the bowels of Hell.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Many among us desire a deeper spirituality, a deeper awareness of the presence of the Light that dwells in their hearts, a deeper sense of security, assurance, and vitality. A.W. Tozer tells us:
There are those who…are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continued absence of fire. They desire God above all. They are athirst to taste for themselves the ‘piercing sweetness’ of the love of Christ about Whom all the holy prophets did write and the psalmists did sing…..
For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
Christians have become both complacent and ignorant. Ignorant of the riches that lie at the core of the faith they profess and the treasures promised by the Lord to those who seek and knock. Tozer continues:
Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting Christ’ (a term incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more to seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise……The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture.
Unfortunately, for all too many Christians this leads to a sense of self-righteousness at best and an empty, hollow spirituality at worst.
The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.
Basically, what Tozer is getting at here is that we have to reconnect with the wisdom, love, power, and light that reside at our inner core. We have to realign ourselves so that we are operating as much as possible out of the Spirit and not out of our ego or, as some call it, our lower self. Paul used a term that was popular in his day, the flesh. I prefer to not use “flesh” because over the years it has accumulated much cultural baggage and misinterpretation. Here at LifeBrook we often use the term “little mind” to describe our ego-driven lower self. It is contrasted with another term, Sacred Spirit, which is that part of ourselves we have been talking about – the Inner Light. In fact, we often use the term Sacred Self and Inner Light interchangeably. No matter what you choose to call it, the tried and true methodology of carrying out this realignment and living from our Sacred Self is continual practice of the classical spiritual disciplines, particularly resting in the Sacred Silence or Christian meditation.
If we want to see who God is, we look to Christ. If we want to live as God wants us to live, then it is only obvious that we are to live as Christ lived. How are we to do that? We are to emulate the way he lived his life. It is not enough to imitate his behavior in specific situations, although this is admirable. We are to engage in the overall approach of life that he engaged in. If we emulate these activities, then our being, not just our behavior, will be more like his being. This involves practicing the same spiritual disciplines that Christ practiced. Added to this are the classic traditions proven effective over the centuries by the church as a whole, particularly the early church.
There are numerous disciplines that can help us bring about the needed realignment we have been talking about. However, in the confines of this brief essay I want to discuss the importance of Christian meditation.
Meditation is a word that some Christians have a tendency to shy away from, mostly from misunderstanding or from a misguided perception that by engaging in the practice he or she may fall under the sway of either eastern religion or demonic possession. As stated earlier, nothing could be further from the truth.
Meditative practices have a long history in Christian tradition and have proven their value across the ages. These practices may vary in terms of technique or goal but each and every one of them have an overriding purpose: to deepen our contact with the divine and assist in fostering a proper alignment with the Spirit in order to discern God’s will and be empowered to carry it out.
Contemplation, a form of Christian meditation, has become increasingly popular as a method of realigning with the Inner Light. Sometimes referred to as “Contemplative Prayer, this ancient spiritual practice has many practical benefits as well, such as reduction of stress and fostering a sense of peace in daily life. Yet Christian meditation has at its foundation a spiritual purpose. It is part and parcel, for example, of the renewing of the mind. Henry Drummond exclaims:
There is nothing that will bring us such abundant returns as to take a little time in the quiet each day of our lives. We need this to get the kinks out of our minds, and hence out of our lives. We need this to form better the higher ideals of life. We need this in order to see clearly in mind the things upon which we would concentrate and focus the thought-forces. We need this in order to make continually anew and to keep our conscious connection with the Infinite. We need this in order that the rush and hurry of our everyday life does not keep us away from the conscious realization of the fact that the spirit of Infinite life and power that is back of all, working in and through all, the life of all, is the life of our life, and the source of our power; and that outside of this we have no life and we have no power. To realize this fact fully, and to live in it consciously at all times, is to find the kingdom of God, which is essentially an inner kingdom, and can never be anything else. The kingdom of heaven is to be found only within, and this is done once and for all, and in a manner in which it cannot otherwise be done, when we come into the conscious, living realization of the fact that in our real selves we are essentially one with the Divine life, and open ourselves continually so that this Divine life can speak to and manifest through us.
If you are looking for positive results in your spiritual life it is essential that you stake out time in your day to spend quiet time with God. This will help us get the kinks out of our minds and out of our lives. However, this special time with our Creator must involve more than sitting quietly, reading, and praying. Important as these disciplines are, if we want to taste the true blessings of Sacred Spirit, we must make personal effort to place ourselves in a receptive mode. This involves becoming mentally quiet, increasingly centered, and spiritually alert. Contrary to what you may hear from fear-mongering fundamentalists who have never really taken the time to research the subject fully, Christian meditation does not involve emptying the mind. On the contrary, it involves silencing our internal chatter so that we become a vessel God can then fill with himself.
Time does not allow me to continue this discussion at present, but I will present more over the next couple of days.
To be continued…..
© L.D. Turner 2008 / All Rights Reserved
Monday, October 13, 2008
Themes In Faith Formation: Vines and Branches
L. Dwight Turner
Life in our hustle-bustle western culture is mostly outwardly directed. To some extent, this is a necessity given the realities of the myriad responsibilities placed upon us by making ends meet. Yet all this focus on the outer world does not come without a price. By paying so much attention to our outer world we run the risk of dying spiritually. Do you think this too strong a statement? I think not. Scripture repeatedly tells us that, as Children of the Light, we are called to be separate from the world. Our values are not to be the values of the crowd. Instead, we are given a higher and more difficult calling. We are called to be holy. This means we are to be set apart. We are called to be in the world but not of the world.
We are further called to pay more heed to our inner world and find the Kingdom of Heaven which, as Christ so directly stated, is within. Proverbs 4:23 tells us:
Keep watch over your heart, for therein lie the wellsprings of life.
For the Christian, this means that life is to be lived from the inside out. This is something that cannot be reiterated too often. The wellsprings of life flow from within. Christ calls his followers to tap into the divine source of power residing within. We do this by aligning and abiding. Without this vital connection we can do nothing. It is only by realizing that there exists within us a Divine Light that gives us both life and power that we can begin to accomplish any task that Christ has set before us. It should by now be obvious that the core of the Christian life involves connecting with that Divine Source, which is the Mind of Christ, and abiding in its light.
When this awareness finally dawns in our hearts and minds, we can exclaim along with the apostle John:
See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. (1 John 3:1 NAS)
What happens when a person begins to abide more consistently in the Light of the Holy Spirit? What sort of changes is wrought in his or her character and what impact does this have on daily life? Thomas Kelly tells us:
They become a holy sanctuary of adoration and of self-oblation, where we are kept in perfect peace, if our minds be stayed on Him who has found us in the inward springs of our life. And in brief intervals of overpowering visitation we are able to carry the sanctuary frame of mind into the world, into its turmoil and its fitfulness, and in a hyperesthesia of the soul, we see all mankind tinged with deeper shadows, and touched with Galilean glories. Powerfully are the springs of our will moved to an abandon of singing love toward God; powerfully are we moved to a new and overcoming love toward time-blinded men and all creation. In this Center of Creation all things are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. We are owned men, ready to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint.
Kelly’s vision of the person abiding in Christ is astounding but not different from what Jesus prayed to the Father in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Imagine what it would be like to be touched with Galilean Glories, to be owned men…ready to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint. These truly are the blessings of abiding.
When we abide, truly abide, the living and Word of God becomes a concrete reality in our lives, giving us guidance, comfort and peace. The Living Word becomes a tangible reality, not a distance, broken echo.
When we abide, truly abide, our spiritual life becomes a living organism, not a withering garden. We are grafted to the life-giving vine. Kelly says:
To that divine Life we must cling. In that Current we must bathe. In that abiding yet energizing Center we are all made one, behind and despite the surface differences of our forms and cultures. For the heart of the religious life is in commitment and worship, not in reflection and theory.
And when we become deeply engrafted into the Vine, God speaks to us on all levels, giving direction, comfort, strength and assurance. A.W. Tozer says it well:
He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion….
So when we sing, 'Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,' we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.
Isn’t that a wonderful thought? Our intimacy with God deepens and our sense of his presence becomes more consistent and less sporadic. In fostering our ongoing connection with the vine, we come closer and closer to realizing that divine light that shines somewhere in the breast of every believer. Tozer speaks clearly to this theme when he states:
As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)
In his own marvelous and direct way, Steve Brown shares with us the fact that he, like so many Christians, was well educated about the realm of the spirit, even that quiet center that so many have described over the centuries, but had little personal experience of that quiet abiding.
I was only a tourist describing a country I had never visited. I was convinced that the country was there, I had read the travel brochures, I had worked hard at learning the language of that country. I had even met people who lived there and had listened to everything they said about the country. The problem was that I had become an expert on a country that I had never visited.
Richard Foster opens his classic book Celebration of Discipline by stating that what is needed today is not more gifted people or intelligent people. What is needed today is more deep people. And how to we become deep? We become grafted into the Living Vine. We abide.
On a practical level, put aside time in the next few days to get quiet before God and directly ask him what changes you need to make in your life in order to deeply abide in Christ and in the Word. Inquire, with a humble heart, what might be keeping you from abiding and/or what you can do to bring the benefits from abiding out from the sanctuary of your quiet time and into the streets of your daily life.
© L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
Life in our hustle-bustle western culture is mostly outwardly directed. To some extent, this is a necessity given the realities of the myriad responsibilities placed upon us by making ends meet. Yet all this focus on the outer world does not come without a price. By paying so much attention to our outer world we run the risk of dying spiritually. Do you think this too strong a statement? I think not. Scripture repeatedly tells us that, as Children of the Light, we are called to be separate from the world. Our values are not to be the values of the crowd. Instead, we are given a higher and more difficult calling. We are called to be holy. This means we are to be set apart. We are called to be in the world but not of the world.
We are further called to pay more heed to our inner world and find the Kingdom of Heaven which, as Christ so directly stated, is within. Proverbs 4:23 tells us:
Keep watch over your heart, for therein lie the wellsprings of life.
For the Christian, this means that life is to be lived from the inside out. This is something that cannot be reiterated too often. The wellsprings of life flow from within. Christ calls his followers to tap into the divine source of power residing within. We do this by aligning and abiding. Without this vital connection we can do nothing. It is only by realizing that there exists within us a Divine Light that gives us both life and power that we can begin to accomplish any task that Christ has set before us. It should by now be obvious that the core of the Christian life involves connecting with that Divine Source, which is the Mind of Christ, and abiding in its light.
When this awareness finally dawns in our hearts and minds, we can exclaim along with the apostle John:
See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. (1 John 3:1 NAS)
What happens when a person begins to abide more consistently in the Light of the Holy Spirit? What sort of changes is wrought in his or her character and what impact does this have on daily life? Thomas Kelly tells us:
They become a holy sanctuary of adoration and of self-oblation, where we are kept in perfect peace, if our minds be stayed on Him who has found us in the inward springs of our life. And in brief intervals of overpowering visitation we are able to carry the sanctuary frame of mind into the world, into its turmoil and its fitfulness, and in a hyperesthesia of the soul, we see all mankind tinged with deeper shadows, and touched with Galilean glories. Powerfully are the springs of our will moved to an abandon of singing love toward God; powerfully are we moved to a new and overcoming love toward time-blinded men and all creation. In this Center of Creation all things are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. We are owned men, ready to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint.
Kelly’s vision of the person abiding in Christ is astounding but not different from what Jesus prayed to the Father in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Imagine what it would be like to be touched with Galilean Glories, to be owned men…ready to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint. These truly are the blessings of abiding.
When we abide, truly abide, the living and Word of God becomes a concrete reality in our lives, giving us guidance, comfort and peace. The Living Word becomes a tangible reality, not a distance, broken echo.
When we abide, truly abide, our spiritual life becomes a living organism, not a withering garden. We are grafted to the life-giving vine. Kelly says:
To that divine Life we must cling. In that Current we must bathe. In that abiding yet energizing Center we are all made one, behind and despite the surface differences of our forms and cultures. For the heart of the religious life is in commitment and worship, not in reflection and theory.
And when we become deeply engrafted into the Vine, God speaks to us on all levels, giving direction, comfort, strength and assurance. A.W. Tozer says it well:
He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion….
So when we sing, 'Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,' we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.
Isn’t that a wonderful thought? Our intimacy with God deepens and our sense of his presence becomes more consistent and less sporadic. In fostering our ongoing connection with the vine, we come closer and closer to realizing that divine light that shines somewhere in the breast of every believer. Tozer speaks clearly to this theme when he states:
As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)
In his own marvelous and direct way, Steve Brown shares with us the fact that he, like so many Christians, was well educated about the realm of the spirit, even that quiet center that so many have described over the centuries, but had little personal experience of that quiet abiding.
I was only a tourist describing a country I had never visited. I was convinced that the country was there, I had read the travel brochures, I had worked hard at learning the language of that country. I had even met people who lived there and had listened to everything they said about the country. The problem was that I had become an expert on a country that I had never visited.
Richard Foster opens his classic book Celebration of Discipline by stating that what is needed today is not more gifted people or intelligent people. What is needed today is more deep people. And how to we become deep? We become grafted into the Living Vine. We abide.
On a practical level, put aside time in the next few days to get quiet before God and directly ask him what changes you need to make in your life in order to deeply abide in Christ and in the Word. Inquire, with a humble heart, what might be keeping you from abiding and/or what you can do to bring the benefits from abiding out from the sanctuary of your quiet time and into the streets of your daily life.
© L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
Themes In Faith Formation: Align and Abide
L.Dwight Turner
If a person is discerning enough to see beneath the sea of “Sunday smiles” and outward displays of spiritual satisfaction, it would quickly become apparent that many Christians seem to be living, in the words of Thoreau, lives of "quiet desperation.” It is as if many sincere believers are staggering about under a dark cloud of disappointment and, deep in their inner core, asking themselves, “Is this all there is?” Although Jesus came to give abundant life, depression, anxiety, fear, and a host of other negative emotional states ride on the backs of sincere Christians and, to make matters worse, most have no clue as to why.
Even the most superficial scan of scripture will reveal that this is not the way things were intended to be. We are, in fact, promised to "have life more abundantly". So what is the basic issue here? Why are so many within the Body of Christ so beset?
The basic issue here seems to be one of misalignment. Let me explain this in brief. Scripture reveals that we are composed of three aspects, Body, Psyche, and Spirit. Space does not permit a detailed description of this tripartite makeup of our being, but a few words of explanation or in order.
1. Our body is the home of our being while here on earth. God created us primarily as spirit beings, but in order to dwell in the physical world, we need a physical home, thus our physical bodies.
2. Things become a bit more complicated when discussing our mind. The biblical term most often used to describe this aspect of our being is “soul” and the Greek word is “psuche.” It is obvious that our English term “psyche” is derived from this word. Our psyche includes our cognitive life (thoughts), our emotions, our will and our habituated responses to life (our habits). Since the Fall, our Spirit has been inactive and our soul or psyche has been in charge. This was not what God intended and the results of this usurpation of power have been dismal.
3. Our Spirit is the key to living a life in accordance with God’s will and plan. As mentioned, our human spirit became inactive at the Fall, and was dethroned by our psyche. Yet, God intended for our human spirit to be the vehicle whereby the Holy Spirit could communicate with each of us. It is interesting to note that the Greek word for the human “spirit” is “pneuma” and is the same word as the one used in Holy “Spirit.” Obviously, God intended a strong connection between our spirits and the Holy Spirit. Further, it was our human spirit that God intended to be used when we communicated with the spiritual world.
Once our spirit is reactivated through conversion, we are supposed to live a life where the Spirit is in the pilot's seat so to speak, directing the thoughts and actions of the mind and body. But here is the rub. Just because we become Christians, the mind doesn't just go away. The old mind remains strong and active. Here perhaps a better word is psyche. The psyche is composed of our thoughts, feelings, temperament, and affections.
It is important to understand that the psyche has a life of its own and, more importantly, it has its own agenda. All of our life, the psyche has been in charge. The psyche has called the shots and it isn't about to give up this role without a fight. So the fact of the matter is that as soon as we enter the Christian walk, a battle is set up inside between the psyche and the spirit. This battle is basically between our old self and our new self or, as Paul puts it, between our flesh and our spirit.
As Christians, we are called to walk in the Spirit. What does this mean? It means the Spirit is supposed to take precedent in our lives. The Spirit is the presence of God within us. This is our new command center. But, as stated earlier, there is an internal war in progress and the fact is, our enemy in this sense is our psyche. It is our psyche that has to be put under control of the spirit. This process is never easy and we can never accomplish it on our own. But we are not left alone to fight this battle. God has promised to empower us to emerge victorious. He has said in Ezekiel that He will remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh; a new and living heart, controlled and directed by the Holy Spirit.
The problem is most Christians lose this battle on a daily basis because they have not been taught, or if they have been taught, they have resisted, the methodology of how to procure the necessary tools to fight the enemy and ultimately gain victory over their old self.
The solution to this problem is complicated on some levels perhaps, but basically it is quite simple. We have to undergo a realignment whereby our bodies, psyche, and spirit become a functioning whole with a unified purpose. This new alignment is under the direction of the Spirit. As we go through the process of this alignment, we are also told by Christ that we are to abide. "Abide in me.." he tells us. So we can say that what we are called to do is to align and abide. The problem is that most Christians never learn how to do this. There are many reasons for this but space does not allow for a discussion of that here. At its core, this problem I think has resulted from the ongoing faith/works controversy and has placed much of the church in a position of being dis-empowered and paralyzed spiritually. What the church must now do is to rediscover how to align and abide. I say rediscover because the methodology for this process has been around since the beginning of the church.
One other note here. Any discussion of alignment should include the fact that this process has an inner dimension and an outer dimension. Actually, there is no real distinction in essence, but to define it in these terms seems more comprehensive. The inner dimension involves achieving an alignment as follows:
Spirit
Psyche
Body
The outer dimension involves the alignment spoken of by Christ in the Gospel of John when he prays that we are in Him as he is in the Father. So the outer dimension looks like this:
God
Christ
Human
Looked at from this perspective, the inner dimension reflects the reality that the mind, when controlled by the Spirit in proper alignment, is the mediator between the Spirit and the body and thus, the mediator between the Spirit and our actions in the world. That is why we have to "renew our minds" or, again in the words of Paul, "have the mind of Christ". Only by doing so can we then effectively incarnate the Spirit through us and into the world. The outer dimension reflects the reality of the Gospel in its essence. It is only through Christ that we can connect with the Father and this awareness sheds light on Jesus' statement that he who has seen me has seen the Father. It is also scripturally sound in that it reflects the words of Paul that alludes to the fact that there is one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ.
How then are we supposed to bring the needed realignment about? The process is quite simple to understand, but sometimes difficult to apply. What we have to do is:
1. Trust God to do what He says he will do. We have to trust in and rely on the Holy Spirit.
2. We have to look to Christ as our model of how to walk in faith.
3. We have to rediscover the value and the power of "Spiritual Disciplines"
4. We have to directly confront and, with the help of the Spirit, deal with the psyche in all its subtle ramifications and retrain it to be subordinate to and in line with the directions of the Spirit. This is accomplished by following the Spirits lead as it "convicts of sin.” Many times what we call "sin" is a direct result of "misalignment". I think it can also be said that our problem with misalignment began with the Fall, when the original couple tried to “be as god” and wound up putting the soul (psyche) on the throne where Spirit should rule. That is where all behavior that we call sin comes from.
5. At LifeBrook, we often stress what we call “conscious cognition” as a vital part in abiding. Basically, this refers to the process of renewing the mind in general and dealing with our thought life in particular. Conscious Cognition involves directly dealing with our thoughts, taking thoughts captive for Christ, tearing down strongholds, and learning to think in more positive, optimistic, and constructive ways.
6. Perhaps the most significant aspect of establishing a life that is aligned with God and continues to abide in His will is obedience. More than anything else, obedience allows us to abide in God’s will more continuously and to manifest that will in proactive ways.
A misalignment where the psyche is dominant and the Spirit negated, even if it accomplishes much, can accomplish nothing that does not, at least at a subtle level, bear the taint of selfishness. Secondly, in order to accomplish this we must "renew our minds" and I can think of no better way to do this than by actively sowing the seed of the Word of God into our hearts. Remember, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
The sequence is important: first we align, and then we abide. Abiding is nothing more or less than maintaining our connection with the life giving Spirit of Christ. We align by initiating a practice of spiritual disciplines that have been used for centuries in the church; practices such as prayer in its various forms, meditation (sacred silence and listening to God), study of and reflection upon Scripture, submission, service, and any other practice that is biblical, places Christ at the center, and seeks to discern God’s will and carry it out.
Again, proper alignment is central to every aspect of the Christian life. Without proper alignment we are more prone to walking in our own illusions and making mistakes, sometimes big and sometimes small. And what is it we are to align with? The answer is a simple one. We are to align with the Spirit of God that has been placed within us by the loving hand of the Father. At conversion our human spirit again became what it was in Genesis, alive. The Hebrew word for this is chay and the Greek is Zoe. New Testament writers almost always used this word, zoe, to describe life.
As we are able align and abide, our zoe, our very life, becomes more vital and spirit-filled. More importantly, with proper alignment it is spirit-controlled. We then abide and, in the words of Paul, walk in the Spirit.
(c) L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
If a person is discerning enough to see beneath the sea of “Sunday smiles” and outward displays of spiritual satisfaction, it would quickly become apparent that many Christians seem to be living, in the words of Thoreau, lives of "quiet desperation.” It is as if many sincere believers are staggering about under a dark cloud of disappointment and, deep in their inner core, asking themselves, “Is this all there is?” Although Jesus came to give abundant life, depression, anxiety, fear, and a host of other negative emotional states ride on the backs of sincere Christians and, to make matters worse, most have no clue as to why.
Even the most superficial scan of scripture will reveal that this is not the way things were intended to be. We are, in fact, promised to "have life more abundantly". So what is the basic issue here? Why are so many within the Body of Christ so beset?
The basic issue here seems to be one of misalignment. Let me explain this in brief. Scripture reveals that we are composed of three aspects, Body, Psyche, and Spirit. Space does not permit a detailed description of this tripartite makeup of our being, but a few words of explanation or in order.
1. Our body is the home of our being while here on earth. God created us primarily as spirit beings, but in order to dwell in the physical world, we need a physical home, thus our physical bodies.
2. Things become a bit more complicated when discussing our mind. The biblical term most often used to describe this aspect of our being is “soul” and the Greek word is “psuche.” It is obvious that our English term “psyche” is derived from this word. Our psyche includes our cognitive life (thoughts), our emotions, our will and our habituated responses to life (our habits). Since the Fall, our Spirit has been inactive and our soul or psyche has been in charge. This was not what God intended and the results of this usurpation of power have been dismal.
3. Our Spirit is the key to living a life in accordance with God’s will and plan. As mentioned, our human spirit became inactive at the Fall, and was dethroned by our psyche. Yet, God intended for our human spirit to be the vehicle whereby the Holy Spirit could communicate with each of us. It is interesting to note that the Greek word for the human “spirit” is “pneuma” and is the same word as the one used in Holy “Spirit.” Obviously, God intended a strong connection between our spirits and the Holy Spirit. Further, it was our human spirit that God intended to be used when we communicated with the spiritual world.
Once our spirit is reactivated through conversion, we are supposed to live a life where the Spirit is in the pilot's seat so to speak, directing the thoughts and actions of the mind and body. But here is the rub. Just because we become Christians, the mind doesn't just go away. The old mind remains strong and active. Here perhaps a better word is psyche. The psyche is composed of our thoughts, feelings, temperament, and affections.
It is important to understand that the psyche has a life of its own and, more importantly, it has its own agenda. All of our life, the psyche has been in charge. The psyche has called the shots and it isn't about to give up this role without a fight. So the fact of the matter is that as soon as we enter the Christian walk, a battle is set up inside between the psyche and the spirit. This battle is basically between our old self and our new self or, as Paul puts it, between our flesh and our spirit.
As Christians, we are called to walk in the Spirit. What does this mean? It means the Spirit is supposed to take precedent in our lives. The Spirit is the presence of God within us. This is our new command center. But, as stated earlier, there is an internal war in progress and the fact is, our enemy in this sense is our psyche. It is our psyche that has to be put under control of the spirit. This process is never easy and we can never accomplish it on our own. But we are not left alone to fight this battle. God has promised to empower us to emerge victorious. He has said in Ezekiel that He will remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh; a new and living heart, controlled and directed by the Holy Spirit.
The problem is most Christians lose this battle on a daily basis because they have not been taught, or if they have been taught, they have resisted, the methodology of how to procure the necessary tools to fight the enemy and ultimately gain victory over their old self.
The solution to this problem is complicated on some levels perhaps, but basically it is quite simple. We have to undergo a realignment whereby our bodies, psyche, and spirit become a functioning whole with a unified purpose. This new alignment is under the direction of the Spirit. As we go through the process of this alignment, we are also told by Christ that we are to abide. "Abide in me.." he tells us. So we can say that what we are called to do is to align and abide. The problem is that most Christians never learn how to do this. There are many reasons for this but space does not allow for a discussion of that here. At its core, this problem I think has resulted from the ongoing faith/works controversy and has placed much of the church in a position of being dis-empowered and paralyzed spiritually. What the church must now do is to rediscover how to align and abide. I say rediscover because the methodology for this process has been around since the beginning of the church.
One other note here. Any discussion of alignment should include the fact that this process has an inner dimension and an outer dimension. Actually, there is no real distinction in essence, but to define it in these terms seems more comprehensive. The inner dimension involves achieving an alignment as follows:
Spirit
Psyche
Body
The outer dimension involves the alignment spoken of by Christ in the Gospel of John when he prays that we are in Him as he is in the Father. So the outer dimension looks like this:
God
Christ
Human
Looked at from this perspective, the inner dimension reflects the reality that the mind, when controlled by the Spirit in proper alignment, is the mediator between the Spirit and the body and thus, the mediator between the Spirit and our actions in the world. That is why we have to "renew our minds" or, again in the words of Paul, "have the mind of Christ". Only by doing so can we then effectively incarnate the Spirit through us and into the world. The outer dimension reflects the reality of the Gospel in its essence. It is only through Christ that we can connect with the Father and this awareness sheds light on Jesus' statement that he who has seen me has seen the Father. It is also scripturally sound in that it reflects the words of Paul that alludes to the fact that there is one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ.
How then are we supposed to bring the needed realignment about? The process is quite simple to understand, but sometimes difficult to apply. What we have to do is:
1. Trust God to do what He says he will do. We have to trust in and rely on the Holy Spirit.
2. We have to look to Christ as our model of how to walk in faith.
3. We have to rediscover the value and the power of "Spiritual Disciplines"
4. We have to directly confront and, with the help of the Spirit, deal with the psyche in all its subtle ramifications and retrain it to be subordinate to and in line with the directions of the Spirit. This is accomplished by following the Spirits lead as it "convicts of sin.” Many times what we call "sin" is a direct result of "misalignment". I think it can also be said that our problem with misalignment began with the Fall, when the original couple tried to “be as god” and wound up putting the soul (psyche) on the throne where Spirit should rule. That is where all behavior that we call sin comes from.
5. At LifeBrook, we often stress what we call “conscious cognition” as a vital part in abiding. Basically, this refers to the process of renewing the mind in general and dealing with our thought life in particular. Conscious Cognition involves directly dealing with our thoughts, taking thoughts captive for Christ, tearing down strongholds, and learning to think in more positive, optimistic, and constructive ways.
6. Perhaps the most significant aspect of establishing a life that is aligned with God and continues to abide in His will is obedience. More than anything else, obedience allows us to abide in God’s will more continuously and to manifest that will in proactive ways.
A misalignment where the psyche is dominant and the Spirit negated, even if it accomplishes much, can accomplish nothing that does not, at least at a subtle level, bear the taint of selfishness. Secondly, in order to accomplish this we must "renew our minds" and I can think of no better way to do this than by actively sowing the seed of the Word of God into our hearts. Remember, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
The sequence is important: first we align, and then we abide. Abiding is nothing more or less than maintaining our connection with the life giving Spirit of Christ. We align by initiating a practice of spiritual disciplines that have been used for centuries in the church; practices such as prayer in its various forms, meditation (sacred silence and listening to God), study of and reflection upon Scripture, submission, service, and any other practice that is biblical, places Christ at the center, and seeks to discern God’s will and carry it out.
Again, proper alignment is central to every aspect of the Christian life. Without proper alignment we are more prone to walking in our own illusions and making mistakes, sometimes big and sometimes small. And what is it we are to align with? The answer is a simple one. We are to align with the Spirit of God that has been placed within us by the loving hand of the Father. At conversion our human spirit again became what it was in Genesis, alive. The Hebrew word for this is chay and the Greek is Zoe. New Testament writers almost always used this word, zoe, to describe life.
As we are able align and abide, our zoe, our very life, becomes more vital and spirit-filled. More importantly, with proper alignment it is spirit-controlled. We then abide and, in the words of Paul, walk in the Spirit.
(c) L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved
The Church and Change: A Contentious Partnership
L. Dwight Turner
Much has been written of late regarding the demise of the institutional church. As a fresh wind blows across the land, Christians in America are experimenting with a variety of new ways of “doing church,” some holding much promise and others about as fulfilling as an empty Coke bottle. Still, in spite of this recent trend and all the promise it indeed holds, I think we can safely assume that, at least for the foreseeable future, a large portion of our mission of incarnating Christ’s ongoing work on earth will be done in the context of the “traditional” church.
However, as the new century progresses and our culture moves farther and farther away from being a part of “Christendom”, it becomes apparent that the form the church takes in these challenging times will be much different, particularly as it applies to approaching the youth culture. Much of what we have done in past models of the church has been well meaning but quite ineffective. This is a difficult truth for many of us to face, but face it we must. Otherwise, we will continue to do what we have always done and continue to get results that are less than desirable. David Foster, author and pastor of a large church in Nashville, gives a vivid example of what church was like for him in his younger years and his response to the programs of his church.
I was raised in a typical county seat church in the south whose mission centered on fear, guilt, and manipulation. Like most guys my age, I viewed the whole church thing with a jaundiced eye. Church was little more than an obligatory nod to God every seven days. It was a cheap form of fire insurance against burning forever in the fiery flames of a devil’s hell. So I went to church, lied about reading my Bible, made a “decision” for Jesus, endured boring sermons, and got with the program like all the other good little religious robots. After all, acquiescing to the church-thing one hour a week seemed like a small price to pay for an eternity of bliss and happiness in heaven, especially since death seems pretty much unavoidable.
Personally, I can relate to much of what Foster says. My experiences with the church, particularly in my early teenage years, were far from the ideal. When I am brutally honest about it, I must confess that my motivations for regular church attendance were less than that of a spiritual giant. My reasons for sacrificing that greatest of joys were not what you would find in an autobiography of a saint like Francis or Augustine. No, the inner magnet drawing me to first the Baptist Mission in Nokomis, Florida and, a little later, the Nazarene Church in Venice, Florida, was not a holy desire and, unless the Celestial Canine took a very creative disguise, it was not the famed Hound of Heaven. No, my motivations were of a baser nature. My reasons for crawling out of bed on Sunday morning were, in all candor:
Paulette Boatright and Diane Shattuck.
I won’t bore you with the sordid details of my attraction to and subsequent pursuit of these two fine young ladies. It is sufficient at this point to say that Paulette, in all of her pristine, 13-year-old glory, kept me at the Baptist Mission for over six months and, after that pre-adolescent fancy faded into a haze of disappointment and fizzling hormones, Diane appeared. The fact that her family were fundamentalist and, worse still, hanky-waving holiness folks, didn’t matter. What mattered was Diane and I hit it off. I bought a pack of white hankies with my allowance and went with her family to the Nazarene Church for close to a year. So, you can see, just as the Prodigal Son returned to his Father out of less than saintly motives, I, too, returned to God’s house more out of pubescent fire than any flame of the Holy Ghost.
As the Church morphs into something more effective and enlightened in its response to the realities of postmodern culture, we will quickly discover that the newer generations are looking for things of a much different nature and quality than what we Boomers sought and are seeking. And we should not be at all surprised when these younger Christians, sincere but much different than past norms, are quite vocal about what they think they need. David Foster, in his fascinating book Renegades for God, relates the following, which speaks clearly to this issue:
God is too good and life is too short to allow rigid, self-righteous, do-gooders with a religious agenda keep you from Him. So if you’re done worrying about what “they” say or do, then join the club. If you’re weary of the morality police and their cellophane sainthood, then lean in and let’s talk. If you’re repelled by the pointless, prosaic preaching of self-appointed prophets with a Messiah complex, then you, my friend, might just be a closet renegade and today could be your coming out party…I’m calling for the creation of a renegade nation where love is the ethic and freedom is the goal. Declare your independence from lazy legalism, feeble faith, and domesticated religion. If you suspect that deep down inside you lives a vibrant, vital, virtuous soul ready to rid itself of shame-bound religion, then you’re a renegade ready to step forth free and fully engaged in the art of the J-life. You can love God passionately and with deep conviction without becoming an arrogant, self-righteous, know-it-all.
As we encounter postmodern, post-Christian culture, in whatever setting God places us, we may be called upon to challenge, and at times, dismantle religious sacred cows of the past. Not because these relics were bad or ill-conceived, but instead, because they no longer give milk that will sustain our mission of bringing Christ’s message to the world in which we find ourselves. Again, Foster speaks:
An R4G (Renegade for God) dares to question the conventional wisdom and spiritual infallibility of the religious elite. “They” fear your freedom and at the same time display little confidence in the gospel’s power to renovate the human heart, renew the mind, and redirect the renegade spirit within toward the epic, ethical purposes of God. “They” want only mindless, spineless adherents who spout out an endless stream of “praise the Lords” as you pack their pews and fill their offering plates.
Regardless of their motives, their tastes, and other generational inclinations, one fact remains true regarding this emerging horde of younger Christians: The Church belongs to them.
Yes, ultimately the church belongs to Christ, it is, after all, his bride. Still, the fact remains that in terms of earthly ownership, the church belongs to the younger set of Christians. Many of us old codgers don’t want to see this or accept it. I think this resistance, deep down where it is really real, stems from our denial of a very central truth: 25 years from now, most of us 60-year-old pundits probably won’t be around. Some of us might be, but our days of church leadership will have long been over. Instead, we will find ourselves, however subtle or ceremoniously, put out to ecclesiastical pasture.
What I am getting at here is the reality that we older Christians must now deal with. Our greatest challenge is one of “letting go.” Granted, this may seem difficult and it surely will seem unfair to many of the Builder generation and the front end of the Boomers. Unfair as it may seem, it is the major task before us at this time. We have to let go and give the reins of the church to a younger crowd. It is not so much a question of one group being more important than another. It is, however, a question of significance.
The younger generations are going to be around a quarter century from now. For the rest of us, this is an iffy call at best. In this sense, at least in terms of the survival of the church, the responsibility of moving forward rests with those generations behind us.
If you would like more insight into this issue, I would highly recommend reading Gordon MacDonald’s book, Who Stole My Church? MacDonald tackles this thorny issue head on in a creative and attention-holding manner. MacDonald has written the book in a highly readable format, one that lends itself very well to the topic. Rather than writing a standard didactic non-fiction work, the author has arranged the book in a fictional setting in which the pastor of a church is facing significant friction from a cadre of older, active members who are resistant to the changes being brought about by younger congregants with a different focus. In order to gently educate these resistant members to what is going on and why, the pastor forms a “Discovery Group” which meets on Tuesday nights to dig deeply into the matter. The group also serves as a venue where these committed church members can vent their ongoing frustrations about changes in the church. The fact that MacDonald puts the book together this way makes an otherwise difficult subject highly readable and even entertaining.
The book is subtitled, “What to do When the Church You Love Tries To Enter the 21st Century.” MacDonald well understands that the future of the church lies with the younger generation, not with the older folks, no matter how loyal and committed they might be. This view is not to downplay or trivialize the needs of the older members in a church, but instead, to break through the church’s denial system and help us all see that unless the needs of the younger people come to the forefront, the church will go the way of the dinosaur.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Much has been written of late regarding the demise of the institutional church. As a fresh wind blows across the land, Christians in America are experimenting with a variety of new ways of “doing church,” some holding much promise and others about as fulfilling as an empty Coke bottle. Still, in spite of this recent trend and all the promise it indeed holds, I think we can safely assume that, at least for the foreseeable future, a large portion of our mission of incarnating Christ’s ongoing work on earth will be done in the context of the “traditional” church.
However, as the new century progresses and our culture moves farther and farther away from being a part of “Christendom”, it becomes apparent that the form the church takes in these challenging times will be much different, particularly as it applies to approaching the youth culture. Much of what we have done in past models of the church has been well meaning but quite ineffective. This is a difficult truth for many of us to face, but face it we must. Otherwise, we will continue to do what we have always done and continue to get results that are less than desirable. David Foster, author and pastor of a large church in Nashville, gives a vivid example of what church was like for him in his younger years and his response to the programs of his church.
I was raised in a typical county seat church in the south whose mission centered on fear, guilt, and manipulation. Like most guys my age, I viewed the whole church thing with a jaundiced eye. Church was little more than an obligatory nod to God every seven days. It was a cheap form of fire insurance against burning forever in the fiery flames of a devil’s hell. So I went to church, lied about reading my Bible, made a “decision” for Jesus, endured boring sermons, and got with the program like all the other good little religious robots. After all, acquiescing to the church-thing one hour a week seemed like a small price to pay for an eternity of bliss and happiness in heaven, especially since death seems pretty much unavoidable.
Personally, I can relate to much of what Foster says. My experiences with the church, particularly in my early teenage years, were far from the ideal. When I am brutally honest about it, I must confess that my motivations for regular church attendance were less than that of a spiritual giant. My reasons for sacrificing that greatest of joys were not what you would find in an autobiography of a saint like Francis or Augustine. No, the inner magnet drawing me to first the Baptist Mission in Nokomis, Florida and, a little later, the Nazarene Church in Venice, Florida, was not a holy desire and, unless the Celestial Canine took a very creative disguise, it was not the famed Hound of Heaven. No, my motivations were of a baser nature. My reasons for crawling out of bed on Sunday morning were, in all candor:
Paulette Boatright and Diane Shattuck.
I won’t bore you with the sordid details of my attraction to and subsequent pursuit of these two fine young ladies. It is sufficient at this point to say that Paulette, in all of her pristine, 13-year-old glory, kept me at the Baptist Mission for over six months and, after that pre-adolescent fancy faded into a haze of disappointment and fizzling hormones, Diane appeared. The fact that her family were fundamentalist and, worse still, hanky-waving holiness folks, didn’t matter. What mattered was Diane and I hit it off. I bought a pack of white hankies with my allowance and went with her family to the Nazarene Church for close to a year. So, you can see, just as the Prodigal Son returned to his Father out of less than saintly motives, I, too, returned to God’s house more out of pubescent fire than any flame of the Holy Ghost.
As the Church morphs into something more effective and enlightened in its response to the realities of postmodern culture, we will quickly discover that the newer generations are looking for things of a much different nature and quality than what we Boomers sought and are seeking. And we should not be at all surprised when these younger Christians, sincere but much different than past norms, are quite vocal about what they think they need. David Foster, in his fascinating book Renegades for God, relates the following, which speaks clearly to this issue:
God is too good and life is too short to allow rigid, self-righteous, do-gooders with a religious agenda keep you from Him. So if you’re done worrying about what “they” say or do, then join the club. If you’re weary of the morality police and their cellophane sainthood, then lean in and let’s talk. If you’re repelled by the pointless, prosaic preaching of self-appointed prophets with a Messiah complex, then you, my friend, might just be a closet renegade and today could be your coming out party…I’m calling for the creation of a renegade nation where love is the ethic and freedom is the goal. Declare your independence from lazy legalism, feeble faith, and domesticated religion. If you suspect that deep down inside you lives a vibrant, vital, virtuous soul ready to rid itself of shame-bound religion, then you’re a renegade ready to step forth free and fully engaged in the art of the J-life. You can love God passionately and with deep conviction without becoming an arrogant, self-righteous, know-it-all.
As we encounter postmodern, post-Christian culture, in whatever setting God places us, we may be called upon to challenge, and at times, dismantle religious sacred cows of the past. Not because these relics were bad or ill-conceived, but instead, because they no longer give milk that will sustain our mission of bringing Christ’s message to the world in which we find ourselves. Again, Foster speaks:
An R4G (Renegade for God) dares to question the conventional wisdom and spiritual infallibility of the religious elite. “They” fear your freedom and at the same time display little confidence in the gospel’s power to renovate the human heart, renew the mind, and redirect the renegade spirit within toward the epic, ethical purposes of God. “They” want only mindless, spineless adherents who spout out an endless stream of “praise the Lords” as you pack their pews and fill their offering plates.
Regardless of their motives, their tastes, and other generational inclinations, one fact remains true regarding this emerging horde of younger Christians: The Church belongs to them.
Yes, ultimately the church belongs to Christ, it is, after all, his bride. Still, the fact remains that in terms of earthly ownership, the church belongs to the younger set of Christians. Many of us old codgers don’t want to see this or accept it. I think this resistance, deep down where it is really real, stems from our denial of a very central truth: 25 years from now, most of us 60-year-old pundits probably won’t be around. Some of us might be, but our days of church leadership will have long been over. Instead, we will find ourselves, however subtle or ceremoniously, put out to ecclesiastical pasture.
What I am getting at here is the reality that we older Christians must now deal with. Our greatest challenge is one of “letting go.” Granted, this may seem difficult and it surely will seem unfair to many of the Builder generation and the front end of the Boomers. Unfair as it may seem, it is the major task before us at this time. We have to let go and give the reins of the church to a younger crowd. It is not so much a question of one group being more important than another. It is, however, a question of significance.
The younger generations are going to be around a quarter century from now. For the rest of us, this is an iffy call at best. In this sense, at least in terms of the survival of the church, the responsibility of moving forward rests with those generations behind us.
If you would like more insight into this issue, I would highly recommend reading Gordon MacDonald’s book, Who Stole My Church? MacDonald tackles this thorny issue head on in a creative and attention-holding manner. MacDonald has written the book in a highly readable format, one that lends itself very well to the topic. Rather than writing a standard didactic non-fiction work, the author has arranged the book in a fictional setting in which the pastor of a church is facing significant friction from a cadre of older, active members who are resistant to the changes being brought about by younger congregants with a different focus. In order to gently educate these resistant members to what is going on and why, the pastor forms a “Discovery Group” which meets on Tuesday nights to dig deeply into the matter. The group also serves as a venue where these committed church members can vent their ongoing frustrations about changes in the church. The fact that MacDonald puts the book together this way makes an otherwise difficult subject highly readable and even entertaining.
The book is subtitled, “What to do When the Church You Love Tries To Enter the 21st Century.” MacDonald well understands that the future of the church lies with the younger generation, not with the older folks, no matter how loyal and committed they might be. This view is not to downplay or trivialize the needs of the older members in a church, but instead, to break through the church’s denial system and help us all see that unless the needs of the younger people come to the forefront, the church will go the way of the dinosaur.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fresh Wineskins: From Kingdom to the Dance of God
L. Dwight Turner
Many sincere Christians within all denominational groups, as well as those in non-denominational churches, are aware that something significant is missing in their walk with Christ. These Christ-followers have this gnawing and nagging sense that the way in which they have been taught to approach their daily practice of Christianity is in some way lacking. Most of these folks can accurately be described as spiritual seekers – seeking a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus and, at the same time, a clearer sense of ultimate purpose and direction.
Whenever we take the time to truly look at the writings in the Bible in general and in the New Testament in particular, we are confronted with a salient truth: the path of Christianity is intended to be and designed to be a transformational walk of faith. In other words, becoming a Christian should initially change us in some fundamental sense and further, our ongoing path of discipleship should solidify those initial changes and usher in a more profound spiritual transformation.
The dilemma of many Christ-followers as described in the opening paragraph is born out of the fact that, as a whole, this transformational character of the Christian faith appears to have disappeared or, at best, has gone into hiding. The vast majority of Christians, when pressed to engage in honest self-confrontation, will confess that they consistently find themselves asking, “Is this really all there is?”
I am no psychic and I make no claims at having special revelations from God. However, I think I can safely say that this state of affairs in the contemporary church must bring a tear to the eye of Christ. I do believe, however, that change is coming and, in fact, is already here. A few months back I discussed some of these ideas concerning “post-religious” culture on this blog. Since that time, I have become even more convinced that this radical change of the practice of Christianity will congeal and eventually itself come to be the dominant version of Christian community.
These days it is common parlance to state that American culture is now both Post-Modern and Post-Christian. In most ways I suspect this is an accurate statement. Our culture increasingly holds post-modern beliefs as sacred and Christianity, long the bedrock of America’s spiritual life, has receded in terms of status and influence. I would add to these realities a third idea: American culture is increasingly “Post-Religious.”
Even adherents of established religious traditions have realized that small group settings are more conducive of authentic spirituality. Many churches break down their membership into such enclaves; small groups of Buddhist pilgrims, loosely affiliate with a major teaching center in another locale, are springing up all across the country; and an increasing number of Yoga groups are forming to deepen members’ awareness of the philosophy behind the postures and practices they regularly perform.
If we indeed are moving toward a post-religious culture, and I believe that we are, there is an interesting paradox in all of this. The fact is that Americans are becoming far more spiritual while at the same time becoming far less religious. I am aware that the phrase “I’m spiritual but not religious” has been uttered so often it has become trite. Still, hidden behind these frequently repeated words there is a distinct reality: While we are becoming less dependent upon organized religion as a culture, we are becoming an increasingly spiritual nation.
As the next ten years unfold, I believe we will see the ministry of small groups of believers, similar to “house churches,” will increasingly dominate the landscape of Christianity. As this process evolves, these small groups may or may not band themselves together into larger bodies of varying association. One possibility is that over time these small groups will unite to form the equivalent of new denominations within the larger context of the Christian faith. Chances are, however, that the great majority of these groups will come to so cherish their independence in purpose and practice that denominational organization will be unthinkable. From a sociological perspective, this process should be interesting.
I am of the belief that Christianity as it has been known and practiced over the last two to three centuries is waning rapidly. New, vital, and dynamic embodiments of the path of Christ are emerging and this trend will continue. I think one important characteristic of the new wineskins that we see taking shape is the emphasis placed on the Divine Laws of the universe and what these laws mean to our walk of faith. Although it may not be totally accurate, it may be possible to say that we are in the early stages of a new Reformation.
The explosive growth of the Christian faith in the southern hemisphere, in China, and in the former Soviet Union is an example that something new is being birthed by God. Further, the rapid growth of the Word of Faith Movement is also an indicator that Christians and non-believers are both seeking a more experiential and practical faith. Granted, the Faith Movement has its problems. However, if one cuts through much of the hoopla and the bells and whistles used by its leaders, the Faith Movement is based on factual divine laws and these laws, when properly applied, do work. I think these trends point to the fact that whatever form the new spirituality takes, it will have a decidedly metaphysical core. In spite of the fears and objections of traditionalists, conservatives, fundamentalists, and most Evangelicals, I am of the firm conviction that this return to the true metaphysics of the gospel is both empowering and overdue.
There are many divergent perspectives on what the major aspects of the universal purpose of this age. These diverse views have components that are in agreement with one another and, at the same time, also have aspects that are in sharp contrast. No matter what view one holds, several things are certain:
• Change is happening on a global scale and it is occurring at a rapidity never seen before.
• This age in which we live presents humankind with tremendous challenges as well as opportunities.
• Boundaries between people, nations, religions, and races are falling.
• Culture is becoming increasingly global in nature.
• The interdependence of all Creation is becoming more apparent.
• Humans are increasingly becoming less religious and more spiritual.
These are but a small sampling of the themes and issues that are taking place around the globe as the first decade of the new century winds to a close. Of particular interest is the last item mentioned: that humans tend to focus less on religion and more on spirituality. The phrase, “I’m spiritual but not religious” has been uttered so frequently that it has now become trite. Still, these words reflect a growing reality in our world. People everywhere are experiencing a deep spiritual hunger and almost universally find that institutional religion will not satisfy that sublime longing.
Religions, by their very nature, will not get the job done. All religions began as an attempt on the part of humans to formalize and standardize the process of raising consciousness to a level adequate to make experiential contact with the Divine Source, no matter how it is defined. All religions began well but have ended poorly. In this age, humankind will of necessity learn to operate in a post-religious context. Formal religions will continue to exist and serve positive purposes, but will not function as a source of spiritual development beyond a certain point. Over the next ten years or so, we will witness the emergence of numerous new wineskins in which the impartation of spiritual teachings will take place. Some of these new wineskins will be highly positive and will serve the unfolding of God’s divine plan. Others will be less than what they should be and, in fact, may do more harm than good. For the individual seeker, discernment is critical.
Whatever forms the new Christianity may take, I believe it must have at least three primary elements which guide its mission and its practice. First, I see this fresh, new faith as being Creative and Progressive. By these terms I mean that the coming Christianity, while holding firmly to the core truths of its tradition, will, at the same time, find new, creative, and relevant ways in which gospel truths might be transmitted. The Body of Christ, especially in these new wine skins, will remain evangelistic but will be so in a distinctively alternative manner. Put simply, the new faith will attract potential converts through its service and its missional activities. By carrying out its Christ-given mandate to be of service, the faith will increasingly attract new members because of what the church does and what it is, not what it says and what it believes.
Secondly, the fresh, vital forms of the faith will be transformative. As stated at the beginning of this article, many sincere Christians have now sensed that something fundamental and live-giving has been missing from the traditional church for decades. The new faith bodies, small in terms of membership but highly focused in terms of purpose, will be disciple making. Spiritual formation and personal change will be the driving force of these groups of believers. Driven by the inner hunger for more of God that has been divinely placed in every heart, the new Christianity will operate under a growing awareness that God is here, he is there, and he is everywhere. Animated by that truth, the new faith understands that no one need go hungry for God. Instead, disciplines will be taught that assist individuals to become more intimate with God and generally more satisfied in their walk of faith.
Third, the new faith will be incarnational. This simply means that these small groups of consecrated believers will take seriously the Christian call to service – the privilege and the responsibility of being Christ’s hands, feet, and heart here on earth. Put simply, the new faith will have a proactive heart of service and compassion. Given the Lord these groups follow, there could be no other choice.
Taken as a whole, this trio of vital elements will give the new Christianity a solid foundation upon which to operate as the 21st Century unfolds. This fresh approach to the faith should continue to evolve as we, as the Body of Christ, encounter our changing culture in a proactive manner. Being proactive is essential, I think. For too long the Church has been reactive. This is not longer an option. Given the nature and the shifting realties of the rapidly changing world in which we find ourselves, we must proactively anticipate trends before they manifest and thereby be ready to offer the faith to our culture in ways that are consistently relevant.
Christ told us to go into all the nations and make disciples. Further, he showed us by the example of washing his disciples’ feet that we are called to nothing less than the ministry of the towel. We are not leaders, gurus, or swamis. Instead, we are servants. This, my friend, is the incarnational aspect of the disciple making church. In addition, we are now ready to put these realities into new wineskins and get on with the business at hand: helping establish the kingdom on earth.
I feel even the concept of kingdom is somewhat irrelevant and archaic. How many people really understand or relate to kingdoms, anymore? We might try something different.
At LifeBrook, for example, we like to invite people to join in the Dance of God.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
Many sincere Christians within all denominational groups, as well as those in non-denominational churches, are aware that something significant is missing in their walk with Christ. These Christ-followers have this gnawing and nagging sense that the way in which they have been taught to approach their daily practice of Christianity is in some way lacking. Most of these folks can accurately be described as spiritual seekers – seeking a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus and, at the same time, a clearer sense of ultimate purpose and direction.
Whenever we take the time to truly look at the writings in the Bible in general and in the New Testament in particular, we are confronted with a salient truth: the path of Christianity is intended to be and designed to be a transformational walk of faith. In other words, becoming a Christian should initially change us in some fundamental sense and further, our ongoing path of discipleship should solidify those initial changes and usher in a more profound spiritual transformation.
The dilemma of many Christ-followers as described in the opening paragraph is born out of the fact that, as a whole, this transformational character of the Christian faith appears to have disappeared or, at best, has gone into hiding. The vast majority of Christians, when pressed to engage in honest self-confrontation, will confess that they consistently find themselves asking, “Is this really all there is?”
I am no psychic and I make no claims at having special revelations from God. However, I think I can safely say that this state of affairs in the contemporary church must bring a tear to the eye of Christ. I do believe, however, that change is coming and, in fact, is already here. A few months back I discussed some of these ideas concerning “post-religious” culture on this blog. Since that time, I have become even more convinced that this radical change of the practice of Christianity will congeal and eventually itself come to be the dominant version of Christian community.
These days it is common parlance to state that American culture is now both Post-Modern and Post-Christian. In most ways I suspect this is an accurate statement. Our culture increasingly holds post-modern beliefs as sacred and Christianity, long the bedrock of America’s spiritual life, has receded in terms of status and influence. I would add to these realities a third idea: American culture is increasingly “Post-Religious.”
Even adherents of established religious traditions have realized that small group settings are more conducive of authentic spirituality. Many churches break down their membership into such enclaves; small groups of Buddhist pilgrims, loosely affiliate with a major teaching center in another locale, are springing up all across the country; and an increasing number of Yoga groups are forming to deepen members’ awareness of the philosophy behind the postures and practices they regularly perform.
If we indeed are moving toward a post-religious culture, and I believe that we are, there is an interesting paradox in all of this. The fact is that Americans are becoming far more spiritual while at the same time becoming far less religious. I am aware that the phrase “I’m spiritual but not religious” has been uttered so often it has become trite. Still, hidden behind these frequently repeated words there is a distinct reality: While we are becoming less dependent upon organized religion as a culture, we are becoming an increasingly spiritual nation.
As the next ten years unfold, I believe we will see the ministry of small groups of believers, similar to “house churches,” will increasingly dominate the landscape of Christianity. As this process evolves, these small groups may or may not band themselves together into larger bodies of varying association. One possibility is that over time these small groups will unite to form the equivalent of new denominations within the larger context of the Christian faith. Chances are, however, that the great majority of these groups will come to so cherish their independence in purpose and practice that denominational organization will be unthinkable. From a sociological perspective, this process should be interesting.
I am of the belief that Christianity as it has been known and practiced over the last two to three centuries is waning rapidly. New, vital, and dynamic embodiments of the path of Christ are emerging and this trend will continue. I think one important characteristic of the new wineskins that we see taking shape is the emphasis placed on the Divine Laws of the universe and what these laws mean to our walk of faith. Although it may not be totally accurate, it may be possible to say that we are in the early stages of a new Reformation.
The explosive growth of the Christian faith in the southern hemisphere, in China, and in the former Soviet Union is an example that something new is being birthed by God. Further, the rapid growth of the Word of Faith Movement is also an indicator that Christians and non-believers are both seeking a more experiential and practical faith. Granted, the Faith Movement has its problems. However, if one cuts through much of the hoopla and the bells and whistles used by its leaders, the Faith Movement is based on factual divine laws and these laws, when properly applied, do work. I think these trends point to the fact that whatever form the new spirituality takes, it will have a decidedly metaphysical core. In spite of the fears and objections of traditionalists, conservatives, fundamentalists, and most Evangelicals, I am of the firm conviction that this return to the true metaphysics of the gospel is both empowering and overdue.
There are many divergent perspectives on what the major aspects of the universal purpose of this age. These diverse views have components that are in agreement with one another and, at the same time, also have aspects that are in sharp contrast. No matter what view one holds, several things are certain:
• Change is happening on a global scale and it is occurring at a rapidity never seen before.
• This age in which we live presents humankind with tremendous challenges as well as opportunities.
• Boundaries between people, nations, religions, and races are falling.
• Culture is becoming increasingly global in nature.
• The interdependence of all Creation is becoming more apparent.
• Humans are increasingly becoming less religious and more spiritual.
These are but a small sampling of the themes and issues that are taking place around the globe as the first decade of the new century winds to a close. Of particular interest is the last item mentioned: that humans tend to focus less on religion and more on spirituality. The phrase, “I’m spiritual but not religious” has been uttered so frequently that it has now become trite. Still, these words reflect a growing reality in our world. People everywhere are experiencing a deep spiritual hunger and almost universally find that institutional religion will not satisfy that sublime longing.
Religions, by their very nature, will not get the job done. All religions began as an attempt on the part of humans to formalize and standardize the process of raising consciousness to a level adequate to make experiential contact with the Divine Source, no matter how it is defined. All religions began well but have ended poorly. In this age, humankind will of necessity learn to operate in a post-religious context. Formal religions will continue to exist and serve positive purposes, but will not function as a source of spiritual development beyond a certain point. Over the next ten years or so, we will witness the emergence of numerous new wineskins in which the impartation of spiritual teachings will take place. Some of these new wineskins will be highly positive and will serve the unfolding of God’s divine plan. Others will be less than what they should be and, in fact, may do more harm than good. For the individual seeker, discernment is critical.
Whatever forms the new Christianity may take, I believe it must have at least three primary elements which guide its mission and its practice. First, I see this fresh, new faith as being Creative and Progressive. By these terms I mean that the coming Christianity, while holding firmly to the core truths of its tradition, will, at the same time, find new, creative, and relevant ways in which gospel truths might be transmitted. The Body of Christ, especially in these new wine skins, will remain evangelistic but will be so in a distinctively alternative manner. Put simply, the new faith will attract potential converts through its service and its missional activities. By carrying out its Christ-given mandate to be of service, the faith will increasingly attract new members because of what the church does and what it is, not what it says and what it believes.
Secondly, the fresh, vital forms of the faith will be transformative. As stated at the beginning of this article, many sincere Christians have now sensed that something fundamental and live-giving has been missing from the traditional church for decades. The new faith bodies, small in terms of membership but highly focused in terms of purpose, will be disciple making. Spiritual formation and personal change will be the driving force of these groups of believers. Driven by the inner hunger for more of God that has been divinely placed in every heart, the new Christianity will operate under a growing awareness that God is here, he is there, and he is everywhere. Animated by that truth, the new faith understands that no one need go hungry for God. Instead, disciplines will be taught that assist individuals to become more intimate with God and generally more satisfied in their walk of faith.
Third, the new faith will be incarnational. This simply means that these small groups of consecrated believers will take seriously the Christian call to service – the privilege and the responsibility of being Christ’s hands, feet, and heart here on earth. Put simply, the new faith will have a proactive heart of service and compassion. Given the Lord these groups follow, there could be no other choice.
Taken as a whole, this trio of vital elements will give the new Christianity a solid foundation upon which to operate as the 21st Century unfolds. This fresh approach to the faith should continue to evolve as we, as the Body of Christ, encounter our changing culture in a proactive manner. Being proactive is essential, I think. For too long the Church has been reactive. This is not longer an option. Given the nature and the shifting realties of the rapidly changing world in which we find ourselves, we must proactively anticipate trends before they manifest and thereby be ready to offer the faith to our culture in ways that are consistently relevant.
Christ told us to go into all the nations and make disciples. Further, he showed us by the example of washing his disciples’ feet that we are called to nothing less than the ministry of the towel. We are not leaders, gurus, or swamis. Instead, we are servants. This, my friend, is the incarnational aspect of the disciple making church. In addition, we are now ready to put these realities into new wineskins and get on with the business at hand: helping establish the kingdom on earth.
I feel even the concept of kingdom is somewhat irrelevant and archaic. How many people really understand or relate to kingdoms, anymore? We might try something different.
At LifeBrook, for example, we like to invite people to join in the Dance of God.
© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved
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