Rejoicing with the flu

A week ago, I’d had enough!  Five days of a major sore throat and cough led to two days

of pure exhaustion.  I barely had the energy to get out of bed. Frustration mounted, partly because I fely lousy, but more because of my ‘to do’ list.  Last week I had very few appointments on my work calendar, so I’d planned to use the week to push ahead on a zillion projects.  It was the week for me to get everything set up for the year and take care of those niggling tasks which I had been putting off.  Yet instead of energetically charging forward, I lay in bed, coughing and miserable.  In one burst of angst, I railed to my wife Shannon, “I’m so sick of being sick!  I can’t wait for this to get done.  I have things to do!”

A bit ironic to say that to someone who has had cancer (and the accompanying treatments) for over a decade. 

I knew full well that within a matter of days the virus would run its course and go away.   Shannon doesn’t have that luxury.  She lives with aches and exhaustion that comes and goes,but she never knows how long they will last.  Some are temporary.  Some hang around for a long time.  Some come back every time a new treatment begins.  I sought to ‘hurry through’ the bad times to get them over with.  She is much better at living life in the midst of it all.

For years I have told Shannon, “Don’t worry about how much you can get done.  If you feel miserable, go back to bed.  Rest and take care of yourself.  Life is more important that a to do list.”  Last week, it was time for me to listen to my own advice.   Every day comes as a gift from God, even days when we don’t get to do what we want to do.

Thoughts of the myriads of people who would choose my temporary cold over their own debilitating pain and illnessess humbled me.  One verse came to mind:

This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

How could I be glad in a day that felt so miserable?  First of all, I could enjoy the blessings of Day-Quil.  I still felt sore and exhausted, but it helped.  More importantly, I had to let go of my expecations.  My dreams of getting so much work done had to be set aside.  I just didn’t have the energy or focus to pull it off.  So instead of trying to slog through work, I curled up in bed with a cat and good book.   I napped when I felt tired.  I sent my son to pick up fried chicken for supper.  I drank hot chocolate.  I found joy in small things.

I went to bed that night with a sense of calm.  Physically I didn’t feel better, but acceptance my reality allowed room for joy.  I still wanted to get over it and get back to work, but for a moment I could pause and simply rest.  The world would still go around if I didn’t get everything done that day. 

This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I needed that reminder.

Taking the Delorean to 2031 - What will the church look like?

Ah, 1989…the year I drove a 1979 Olds Cutlass Supreme (with vinyl top!)…the year I ran cross country to keep the basketball coach off my back...the year I received my high school diploma…the year my manager at Pamida tried to talk me out of going to college…the year I headed off to Northwestern University to start my journey towards my career as an actuary.  Times have changed!

1989 also brought about Back to the Future II.  Following up on the success of the first movie where Marty McFly headed to the past, this ‘classic’ headed twenty six years into the future, to that far-off year of 2015.  The writers had some playful ideas of the world would look like and in some ways they were surprisingly correct!  Think about what we have now:

1. Holographic/3-D movies – They are now commonplace.

2. ‘Wearable computers’ – In the movie they looked like a clunky version of Google Glass, but let’s face it, the way we use our phones these days we’re pretty much wearing them!

3. Computers that take orders using voice control – Can you say ‘Siri?’

4. News footage recorded by drones – Heck, drones can even deliver beer to ice-fishermen these days!

5. Video Chat – Actually, our version is WAY better that Marty’s!

6. Video games that don’t require controllers – Bring out the Wii!

This isn’t to say they got everything correct.  I’m still waiting for my hovercar and no, the Cubs STILL have not won the World Series.

Fortunately for me, Marty McFly just rang the doorbell.  Why don’t I hop into his Delorean, set the clock to January 9, 2031, and let you know what I find.  Back in a minute with the full report.

Wow, that was amazing!  If you’ve never done time travel, I highly recommend it.

I won’t bore you with the technology advances, other than to say that Star Trek isn’t far off!  As a ‘church guy, ‘ I was most interested to see what Christ’s church will look like around the time that I’m ready to retire.  Here are some highlights.

1. Despite all the pessimism of 2015, Christ’s church will be alive and well – Back in 2015 blogs and articles talked about the many ways that the church was dying.  I found it didn’t die (and with Christ as the head of the church, I doubted it would), but it did look much different.

2. The Christian Church will become a truly counter-cultural movement – By 2031 people will be a part of communities of faith because they choose to do so, not because anyone expects them too.  Frankly, those who make that choice will be seen as a bit ‘odd.’   Christian communities will gain followers, not by preaching on street corners or flooding the air-waves, but by caring for those in need.  Christians will be viewed as servants, not as ‘Bible thumpers.’ 

3. ‘Organized religion’ will have little sway over the political conversations.  The number of elected officials who claim affiliation with a faith tradition will plummet, with church leaders no longer able to dominate the national conversations.  The hot button issues of 2015 (abortion and homosexuality) will be a distant memory as new, secular political leaders come to the fore.     Small, faith based groups will grow increasingly shrill in their discourse, but over time they will become fringe groups and easily ignored.

4. Money collected within the communities of faith will go into serving the community – Members of these Christian communities will get excited about the ways that they make a difference in the lives of the poor, outcast, and hurting. 

5. Very few trained pastors will service an increasing number of communities of faith – With money going to the community and not a local congregation, this shift will become necessary.  The idea that a congregation must have its own pastor will disappear as impractical and expensive.  Most communities of faith will have a local leader with limited training who will not view this as a career but as a calling in the midst of daily life.   The pastor’s role will be to train and equip these local leaders. 

6. Churches will become smaller, more intimate, and meet in people’s homes – With notable exceptions of a few large cathedral style congregations, most communities of faith will no longer have the means (or desire) to meet in church buildings.  They will meet in neighborhoods and community centers.  A community of 50 people will be seen as quite large and may lead to a division into two communities of 25 people each.

7. Local communities will gather out of a need for community, not out of a need for doctrinal purity - People of many different Christian traditions will gather in local communities and will not try to decide which ‘denomination’ they should be.   They will wrestle with hard questions of faith without having to come to a simple resolution.   The need for support and community in the midst of a journey of Christian faith will trump these issues of doctrine.

8.  Denominational affiliations will be quite loose and increasingly irrelevant – The national structures that will be in place will be the ones focused on serving those in need (i.e. Lutheran World Relief).  There will be much more local autonomy, leading to a merging of many denominations into a general ‘Christian Community’ that includes a wide range of Christians traditions and backgrounds.   

The 2031 world I saw looked vastly different from what I’m experiencing in 2015, but the Holy Spirit will still be active and the Gospel will still be proclaimed.  The day of the ‘Christian nation’ will come to an end, but throughout history Christ’s church has thrived when it hasn’t had political or economic clout. 

Bring on the future!  With Christ leading the way, we’ll be just fine!

Oh, and by 2031 the Cubs STILL will not have won the World Series.  Sorry, Cub’s fans…