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…

Advent Hope

The season of Advent is a time of darkness.

• A friend of mine struggles through infertility and the frustration that it brings.
• Larry, another friend of mine, has an adult son with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  A vibrant young man has his energy sapped.  They have traveled the country in search of effective treatments.
• My wife Shannon battles the ovarian cancer that has plagued her for the past eleven years.

As Christians, we’re free to admit the pain of this world.  Sometimes life hurts.  We acknowledge the darkness we experience.

The season of Advent is a time of hope.

• My friend and his wife prayed fervently for a child.  
• Larry and his family begged God for effective treatments.  
• Shannon and I pleaded for a cure.

For the past few weeks my daily Bible readings have spoken of hope to a people in despair.  “God has remembered God’s promises.”  “God has heard your prayer.”  “The Lord will come…”  “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.”

And in this season of hope, against the backdrop of these profound promises:

• My friend and his wife remain without a new child.  Despite much effort, many procedures, and much expense, the reality of not having more children starts to sink in.  They have reached the end of the line.
• Larry’s son did not find successful treatments.  He passed away on Wednesday leaving a grieving family behind. 
• Shannon’s cancer has progressed in the past year, moving beyond the abdomen and into the lining of her lung.

The great promises of Advent can ring hollow in the midst of the pain of the world.  I thought God promised to hear our prayers! 

Perhaps we need to rethink the hope that comes in this Advent season.  We do not hope in a Santa Claus who will bring us what we ask for (if we’ve been good).  We hope in a God who lives among God’s people.  Advent is a season of waiting for God to come to us in Jesus.  This is a time of remembering that we are not alone, no matter what we endure.

• God walks with couples struggling with infertility.
• God wraps God’s loving arms around those grieving death.
• God journeys with those who live a life of chemotherapy.

We look forward to a day when Jesus will come again and bring an end to the suffering and pain we experience, but until then we simply live in hope.  This isn’t hope in a God who will wave a magic wand and ‘make it all better.’  We live in the hope of God with us in the midst of our daily struggles.

The light shines in the darkness.  That darkness seems pretty deep and impenetrable at times, but in a manger in Bethlehem, a little light begins to flicker.  Immanuel.  God with us.

I cling to that hope with my entire being.

White & Male: I've Received the Benefit of the Doubt

In my life I have generally received the benefit of the doubt.

My parents both received college degrees.  There was never a question that I would do the same. 

That’s not the case for a large percentage of the population.  Family history mattered.

In high school I decided one day that it would be fun to bring a cap gun to school (this was before the days of school shootings).  I shot teachers in the middle of class and they chuckled.  I shot other kids in the hall between classes and nobody cared, until a teacher that I didn’t know ‘busted’ me, confiscating the cap gun and sending me to the vice-principal.  I sat in his office waiting for the stern lecture and the consequences, but he just laughed and told me to take it home.  I learned that day that ‘good kids’ can get away with things that would get others in deep trouble.  Reputation mattered.

In seminary I was one of the very few members of my class to have interviewed and received a call to a congregation by the time I graduated.  Many of my female classmates had to wait much longer for a call.  Some were even offered part time positions.  I had the ‘correct’ chromosomes and faced no opposition or suspicion.  Nobody ever referred to me as the ‘male’ pastor, as if I carried the weight of an entire gender.   In the interview process I didn’t receive a single question about when I planned to start a family.  I was immediately accepted by my congregation (and congregations around).  Gender mattered.

Shortly after moving to my first congregation in Illinois I got pulled over for going 20 miles over the speed limit.    It was one of those tricky places at the edge of town where it feels like you’re in the country but the speed limit is still 35.  As soon as the lights went on behind me I knew that I would receive my first ticket.  To my surprise the officer gave me a warning and sent me on my way.  I later learned that the county dispatcher had told him that I was a pastor.  Most people would have received a ticket that day. I drove off with a clean record.  My profession mattered.

Not once have been stopped by the police for ‘suspicious behavior.’  I do not get stopped by the TSA in airports.  Apparently I don’t ‘look dangerous.’  When flying home from a conference in Denver this past summer we had to wait while Pastor Hassanally was pulled aside.  She shrugged it off as ‘they always stop someone with the name Hassanally.’  Having white skin (and a European name) matters. 

When I hear people of color teaching their children to expect the police to stop them…I cringe.  Why should skin color matter?  Apparently it does!  Arrest and incarceration rates among people of color are off the charts.  Just ask the people of Ferguson, MO.  Not everyone gets the benefit of the doubt. 

My female colleagues talk about having to prove themselves to people in their congregations because of their gender.  A powerful male pastor is considered ‘assertive.’  A powerful female pastor is spoken of in much less complimentary ways.  Only in the past couple years have I seen a significant number of women become senior pastors in this area.    Not everyone gets the benefit of the doubt.

All through my life I have worked very hard to succeed.  I view life as a game to win, and I’ve done pretty well, but it’s easier to ‘win’ when the game is set up in your favor.  I’ve lived a life of privilege that a vast number of people in this country (and world) can only dream of. 

We live in a culture of systematic racism and sexism.  While we’re quick to condemn out-right racist or sexist comments, we’re much more comfortable living with a system that gives the benefit of the doubt to some and that forces others to have to prove themselves as worthy.   I’ve always received that benefit of the doubt.

The hard question is not, “Who is a racist?” or “Who discriminates on the basis of gender?”  Well intentioned people can find themselves playing out a societal narrative of discrimination.  The issues run deep, to the core of the fabric of society.

As a white male it can be easy to think that we live in a ‘post-racial’ and ‘post-gender’ society.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  It’s time for an honest conversation about race and gender in our nation.  The protests of recent weeks have displayed the deep pains of huge swaths of our culture.  People’s wounds cannot simply be ignored.  God's children suffer!

I don’t have amazing solutions to these troubles, but I do know that sweeping them under a rug and pretending that all is well is not acceptable.  

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27-28)

Falling Off the Cancer Roller Coaster

In February of 2004 my wife Shannon and I got on the ‘cancer’ roller coaster. The first plunge was deep and terrifying. Things quickly improved and we zoomed up to the heights of the expected remission.  A year later we hurtled down into another valley as the cancer returned.  Since that time the roller coaster ride has settled down a bit.  Some of the ‘ups’ have been great, with short times without any needed treatment.  Some of the ‘downs’ have been challenging, with chemotherapy that made life miserable.  Through it all I’ve remained seated with the lap bar firmly in place.  I’ve sensed God and others walking on this journey with me.  I looked to the future with hope.

Last month, in the midst of some tough news that the cancer had spread to the lining of her lung, we came home from her appointments with great expectations for a new and exciting drug.  This one is gene-targeted, which means it was chosen specifically to counteract a known defect in the DNA of her cancer cells.  This drug would surely zap the new tumors and bring us to a better place!  Again, in the midst of the ride, I remained seated with the lap bar firmly in place.  I’m not a fan of roller coasters, but I can tolerate them if needed.

This past week the lap bar let loose, throwing me from the comfort of the train.  After one month on this new drug her blood tumor count (CA-125) had tripled, bringing the numbers to heights not seen in a decade.  A CT scan revealed tumor growth that had occurred over the past five weeks.  The doctor overseeing this new and experimental drug took her off of it and sent her back to her main team to assess the next steps.  On Tuesday we saw the ovarian cancer folks, anticipating which new drug might show the most promise.  Instead, they put her right back on the same drug, explaining that ‘sometimes it takes a while to show effectiveness.’  Growing tumors…ineffective drugs…for the first time I felt a complete lack of control over the situation.  I didn’t feel that I had anything to grasp onto to bring me hope.  My fear of roller coasters came to fruition. 

This is where being a ‘futuristic’ guy can be pure hell.  I’m wired to plan ahead and dream about the possibilities the future holds (‘Futuristic’ is one of my traits from Strengthfinders…click here for a full description).  It’s what I love and do in my work every day.  Through these years of the roller coaster I’ve always held hope that the cancer would be held at bay indefinitely.  For one brief moment this past week that hope was ripped away.  Shannon holds great hope for this drug.  For a short time I didn’t.  My ‘futuristic’ brain went crazy on the ramifications of growing tumors and ineffective drugs.  While intellectually I knew that God walked with me, I sure didn’t feel it.  I felt alone on this journey, flying from the comfort of the roller coaster to fall to the depths of despair. 

Yet as I fell, hands reached out to pull me back onto the train.  Time and time again I heard, “I’m praying for you.”  I got to talk to my dad (who experienced his own journey when my mom passed away back in 1979).  I received wonderful supportive e-mails from my mom and siblings.  The staff I worked with surrounded me with hope and comfort (and allowed for a few tears).   I even received a ‘text bomb’ from assistants to the bishop from other synods (who were gathering for an annual retreat), with text after text of prayer and support.  I’m not alone.  God’s cloud of witnesses walks with me every step of the way.

This morning I read my daily Bible verses and heard words of hope from Revelation.  I needed those.  Once again (for this moment at least), I am seated with the lap bar firmly in place.  Shannon and I have been through this before.  Experimental drugs hold great promise and she has a history of responding well to them.  

This roller coaster ride is not yet finished.  There will be many more ups and downs on this journey.  I know I will need people’s hands holding me firm when I feel the lap bar breaking loose.  Some days will be filled with great hope.  Others will overflow with tears.  In the midst of it all, I am not alone.   Please help me remember that!

Welcome to Church?

Two weeks ago today I did an amazing job of making people feel welcomed and cared for!  I planned ahead to make sure everything was in place.  I had candy bowl full of Dum Dums to give to kids (research has shown that young children prefer pure sugar to chocolate, so I strove to meet that need).   Lights blazed in the darkness by my front door, welcoming young and old to come and feast on the treats I had to offer.  At first they came one by one, but soon large groups of children flocked up my driveway, receiving a hearty smile, a kind word, and (of course) candy.   They came to me and received a warm welcome.  I had a couple kids come back a second time.  I had candy for kids.  They came and received it.  Apparently I was doing something right!   

This morning I attempted to do the same thing.  Once again, I planned ahead to make sure everything was in place.  This time I have those little candy pumpkins, the ones made 100% from sugar.  I have the lights on, welcoming young and old to come and feast on the treats I have to offer.  To this point the doorbell has remained quiet.  Not a single child has come for my candy.  I’m standing here ready to give them the full welcome treatment, but something seems to have gone wrong.  I have candy for kids.  Nobody is coming.  What am I doing wrong?  Perhaps they like Dum Dums more than candy pumpkins.  Perhaps my outdoor light isn’t bright enough.  Perhaps my grand welcoming from a couple weeks ago wasn’t as great as I had hoped. 

Or…perhaps it’s not Halloween anymore and kids aren’t going to simply show up on my doorstep.  If I want to hand out candy, perhaps I need to step out the front door and find children out in the community who would like candy.  I suspect that the police would track me down if I simply got in the car and drove around, stopping when I saw kids to give them something.   If I’m actually going to give this candy away, I’ll need to go build some relationships of trust so I’m not just ‘the creepy guy with candy.’

In the past couple weeks I have read several poignant blog articles about the ways that congregations are (or are not) welcoming to visitors.  These posts, like this one from Thom S. Rainer, challenge congregations to do a better job of making people feel welcome.  Most congregations call themselves ‘friendly,’ but the experience of visitors often shows a different reality.  Congregation members are friendly to each other based on long standing relationships and assume that  their ‘friendliness’ rubs off on new people walking in the door. Often it doesn't.  People come to worship for the first time and feel brushed aside and ignored.  Many come looking for a loving community and only find a ‘family’ that has no idea what to do with ‘outsiders.’  Many words are written to aid congregations in figuring out helpful ways of making visitors feel welcome and at home.   

I fully agree that congregations need to wrap their minds around the issue of welcome.  We want to do everything in our power to connect people to a community of faith!  I have heard of ‘secret shopper’ type programs where people will visit a congregation for the sole purpose of reporting their experience of welcome.  This helps communities of faith to more effectively look in the mirror and understand how their actions invite (or drive away) those who visit.

But finding ways of welcoming those who walk in the door feels a little like my standing at the front door this morning.  There was a day when visitors flocked to churches.  Whenever someone moved to town they ‘shopped’ around to find a new church home.  It was expected.  It was like Halloween: turn on the lights, open the doors, and people come.  The biggest worry was how to make them feel welcome.

It’s not Halloween anymore!  Fewer and fewer people are actively looking for a congregation.  The reputation of Christian churches has taken a hit over the past few decades.  We can have the most wonderful, welcoming congregation, but nobody will know it if they don’t walk in the front door.  We’re left standing with some tremendous Halloween candy and nobody to give it to.

If we want to invite people to know this wonderful God that we worship, perhaps we need to step out the front door and find people out in the community.  It won’t work to simply get in the car and drive around, proclaiming Jesus whenever we see people walking by.   If we’re actually going to share this faith, we’ll need to go build some relationships of trust so we’re not just ‘the creepy folks with Bibles.’ 

Perhaps the ‘welcome’ doesn’t start at the front door of a church building.  Perhaps the true ‘welcome’ to someone comes in a neighborhood, at work, or at the gym as we build relationships with people.  We show the love of God to the world, not to manipulate people into attending our churches, but out of genuine concern for the other.  As the song goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”   Through these relationships we are then free to be truly welcoming and inviting.  It opens the door to deep conversation, where we not only share our experience of faith, but where we take the time to listen to others’ experiences. 

Perhaps the true ‘welcome’ to someone comes as we provide meals to the hungry, shelter for the homeless, comfort for the grieving, hope to the despairing, or community to those feeling alone.  All these things tend to happen outside church walls.

It’s not Halloween anymore.  How might the Spirit lead you outside the walls of your church building to welcome people where they are?

A Little 'MacGyver' in the Church

If only we had…then we could…

If only our church had a youth director.  Then we could attract families with kids.

If only we had a bigger building.  Then we could expand our ministry.

If only we had more young families.  Then we could have an exciting congregation.

If only we had a better location for our congregation.  Then our congregation would grow.

If only we had committed Sunday School teachers.  Then kids would start coming again.

It’s an easy game to play.  Here are the rules:

·         Look at other ‘successful’ congregations

·         See what they have that your congregation does not

·         Assume that if you had that ‘one thing’ then your congregation would also be ‘successful’

·         Grumble when you can’t find that ‘one thing’

·         Fall into despair

At the heart of this game is a very disturbing assumption: God has not given us enough.  Really?  Do we truly want to believe that the God of the heavens and the earth willingly withholds the ‘one thing’ that can lead to our congregation’s ability to proclaim the Gospel and change the world? 

I’d like to propose a different game based on one of the great heroes of 1980’s television: MacGyver!

MacGyver would never play the ‘If only’ game.  Not once did he give up and say, “If only I had

something, then I’d be OK.”  In episode after episode he used random things laying around to get the job done. 

·         Car won’t start?  Take the spring from a ballpoint pen to replace a spring in the engine…and off you go!

·         Trapped by the bad guys?  Take a soccer ball, newspaper, cotton balls, and olive oil to make a hot air balloon to signal those on the outside.

·         Locked in a freezer room?  Use the light bulb to melt some ice, pour the water into the door lock, and wait for the water to expand while freezing, snapping the lock.

While it never looked like it in the moment, MacGyver ALWAYS had enough.  He had a gift for looking at the things around him and figuring out how to combine them to do really cool things.  MacGyver always had what was needed to help him accomplish what heeded to do. 

The writers of MacGyver ensured that the right things were in the right places so he could bring them together in effective ways.  Do we dare think that God does the same thing? 

One story we see in all four Gospels is the feeding of the 5000.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus asks his disciples, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”  Philip knows the ‘If only’ game well.  “Jesus, six months’ wages would not buy enough for each of them to get a little.”  Philip knows reality.  They don’t have enough.

Andrew, on the other hand, notices what they do have, kind of like MacGyver.  “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.”  This is where things get exciting.  When you take a few loaves and fish and add the power of God you get enough.  In fact, you get more than enough.  They collected twelve baskets of left-overs. 

What if we truly believed that God has already given us enough to do what God calls us to do? What if your congregation played ‘MacGyver’ and not ‘If only?’

·         Not enough kids for a 5^th grade Sunday School class?  Take a grandma rooted in the faith, a local restaurant, and time after school and you get relationship and faith building over ice cream sundaes.

·         No organist?  Take four high school band members and someone with the ability to transpose music and you have accompaniment for worship.

This list could go on and on.  As we look at what we have and creatively (like MacGyver) figure out how they might fit together, all sorts of things can happen.   We will recognize that God has given us enough.

Luther Snow has a different name for the ‘MacGyver’ game.  He calls it ‘Asset Mapping.’  It’s a different way to approach challenges in a congregation.  Asset-based thinking builds on the idea that God has given us everything we need to accomplish what we're called to accomplish.  

With God, there is always enough.  It’s time to play ‘MacGyver.’  It’s an awesome, faith filled game!

When have you seen seemingly random assets come together to do great things?