Bishop David Kendall

Why the Stats Should Stun you, Part 2

A stunning sets of stats: A church goes an entire year and no one is drawn to follow Jesus in the wake of their following, no one has even stumbled on to the truth, no one has developed a curiosity or thirst or hunger.  That is nigh on to unthinkable in light of some basic tenets of God’s redemptive embrace of the cosmos—things which Wesleyan Christ-followers have always affirmed.

I’ve already reminded you that God wants all people to be saved, and wants this so badly that he doesn’t wait for us to realize it or even to do anything.  He’s all the time at work, all around us--24/7 and at every set of coordinates.  A pastor told me the other day that his church often has—his words: “Salvations just drop into our laps”—laps of the church that is.  Exactly!  That’s how committed God is!  And what God wants to do is not half-way or make sift.  As messed up as we humans are, God determines to make it up—talk about extreme make-over, that’s the plan for every person.  Which means, that every way one can have a need is a potential open door or a cracked window, or perhaps a structural weakness in the wall that separates a needy person from the rushing flood of comprehensively healing grace.  All those “opportunities” for us to make connection with all those people all around us, all the time AND a whole year passes and out of them all there isn’t even one!  Unbelievable!

Here’s another thing: all people may know they are saved.  They may have confident awareness that the God of the universe knows their name, loves them beyond words, and seeks their company.  And, they may confidently enjoy that very company.  The God of the universe knows  how to squeeze himself small enough to fit into our little hearts and teach us his name—which is, in Aramaic, Abba—pops or dad.  Is that great or what?  Is that compelling if real or what?  Is that contagious for a person so God-connected and God-loved and God-sure about it all, or what?  How, then, in a world so clouded over with skepticism and cynicism , leaving people longing for something sure, can some of the longing folks rub shoulders with us and not be drawn in?  I don’t get it at all!

Here’s another thing: God loves and wants to restore the whole universe.  He’s not only interested in humans but in all of reality.  He has made humans to join him in loving, caring for, developing, drawing out the potential of just about everything that exists.  What that means, among other things, is that the human urge to know, understand, explore, find out, solve the problems, enjoy the beauty, create some more beauty, just to begin the list, is actually from God, reflective of his character, and moving into areas of his passionate concern.  So, not only the church but all things, all people, all places, all parts of the universe qualifiy as opportunity for God to work his plan.  And, come to find out, that for some groups that call themselves church—a whole year goes by and no place, no person, no time has ever worked out?  Again, as I type, my mouth wants to drop open in stunned shock.

Here’s a final thing to chew on a bit: our best traditions teach us we are all made to be “in the game,” to play a role in God’s grand designs for the universe.  God works lovingly and powerfully in our lives so we will be part of the solution of all that’s gone wrong in his world.  Our destiny is to be gathered up into God’s healing responses to the brokenness of the world.  We were made for this!  How sad that some never get that, never sense they are participating in things that make the difference for others and the cosmos.   What’s stunning to me is that though they are missing the most profound and joyful reason for the hope they claim to have, still they go on.  If God’s compelling love and transforming power manifesting here and there, and all over the place, doesn’t motivate them, then what does?

Why the Stats Should Stun You, Part 1

In my last post I told you about hundreds of FM churches that saw no new followers of Jesus in a year's time. I thought I would follow up over the next while with why these stats should stun us.

To begin, what else are we here for and what else are we doing? Will someone say, "duh" out there? John Wesley, forefather of our branch of the world wide community of Christ-followers, said, "you have nothing to do but to save souls." I know, he meant more than most evangelicals in the U.S. have meant by this. I know that often we have focused on winning "souls" as if it's only important to guarantee a safe transition from this world to the next, especially for the soul-part of us. Most of us know how reductionist that is, how we are whole people, and how ministry must target all dimensions of our humanity.

Most of us know Wesley had much more in mind than the church has sometimes meant. No question Wesley meant more. But that is NOT to say he meant less, that having absolutely zip new followers over the course of a year is anything other than incredibly out of the norm for a people earnest in following Jesus.

Because to follow Jesus earnestly is to join Jesus in inviting, welcoming and encouraging others to join us in following. The two always go together. All of this reminds me of some basic elements of Wesleyan theology that makes my jaw drop in dumbfounded-ness at the thought of a whole year passing in the life of a church with no one new joining them.

Wesleyans believe that all people may be "saved." God created all people, and longs for all people, just the way we do for our children. Out of his longing, God mobilizes numerous efforts to reach toward people who have yet to come home to him. He seeks to woo and win people. He sent Jesus in the first place. He gave his Spirit to his followers. and now he sends the church. All the time he is at work, all around us, with great urgency.

That's why he sent Phillip across the path of the Ethiopian official (Acts 8).  That's also why he sent Peter to the home of a Cornelius (Acts 10). And, that's why most of us could tell stories of times when we were in just the right place at just the right time to assist someone searching for Jesus. It is literally true that Jesus is always afoot, reaching toward people, arranging opportunities, and doing so through his people even without their knowing it. Yet, a whole year goes by and no one even "trips" over Jesus? How can that be?

Wesleyans believe that all people may be saved completely. That is, as much as we humans have messed up and been messed up--God determines to make it up. Where sin abounds and has a Field-Day, grace super-abounds and brings home the prize. Think of all the ways people can be messed up and in need. Think of the church as Jesus calls us to be: Full service providers of just about everything in a sea of people who need just about everything. And still in a whole year, not one new followers! I can hardly believe that!

There is something stunningly wrong with this picture!  More later ...

455 IS WAY TOO MANY!

Recently as I was preparing to give a brief report on things happening in the church I learned that 455 churches reported no new followers of Christ during 2008.  I could hardly believe my eyes.  Could it really be that nearly half our churches did not see even one person begin to follow Jesus throughout the whole of last year?  Surely not!

 

I know that some pastors and probably some non-pastors do not like the question we ask on the annual report form.  It asks about the number of converts, and some object that we are not into a numbers game, and it somehow seems wrong to be fixated on numbers.  And, for that reason, some refuse to answer the question.  Some of the 455 are in this category.  They likely did welcome some to the ranks of followers among them, but do not like our method of reporting.

 

Others are convinced that we do not ask the right questions, at least not all of them.  We ask about the number of people who said a prayer, but seem uninterested in many other people who may not have said the prayer--yet--but made highly significant progress toward their design as bearers of Christ's image in God's world.  What about them?  In frustration of this type, some do not bother answering the question about converts.

 

There may also be some, probably only a few, who have seen multitudes of people converted.  Yet, because they are humble and do not wish to draw attention to themselves or their church, and out of profound conviction that it is all God's doing when even one comes to faith, they therefore refuse to answer the question. 

 

So, there are reasons to believe that the number--455--is not totally accurate.  Perhaps it's only 300!

 

Only 300! Let's suppose that's correct; it's only 300.  Brothers and sisters that is way too many, don't you think?  Can you really believe that nearly a third of our churches did not see anyone new come to faith in a whole year?  Can it be that not even the pastor of those churches won anyone?  Can it be not one Sunday School teacher in any of those churches guided a tender child to give her heart to Jesus?  Can this really be?  Or am I just having a nightmare? 

 

Of course, I do not know how to make sense of this startling number.  But I do know that no church claiming to be a community of Christ-followers should rest content while no one is coming to faith and who knows how many around them are missing the very reason for their creation, some of them ultimately and eternally! 

 

Don't you agree--455, or 300, or even 3 such churches would be way too many?  Don't you agree that if people in such a church prayed earnestly for just one new follower that the Lord would surely answer such a prayer?  Don't you agree that to do so would represent the very reason God called such a church into being in the first place?

 

Don't you agree?

 

Won't you join me in praying, teaching, preaching, sharing until the day comes when the number of such churches is zero?

WHY I'M NOT BOTHERED BY THE SURVEY

Toward the end of Holy Week NEWSWEEK magazine published an article on the declining influence of Christianity in the U.S.  The article was entitled, “The End of Christian America,” and reported the findings of a new poll conducted by NEWSWEEK.  According to this poll, though the percentages of people professing strong religious orientation (even overtly Christian values) remain high, the influence of such an orientation seems on the decline.  At least, that is the sense or the feeling of those surveyed.  Hence, we may be seeing the end of “Christian America.”  Let me tell you why this doesn’t bother me.

First, assuming the full integrity of the survey method and findings, it simply registers the feelings or sense or opinion of respondents.  But consider this: They could be wrong!  It is their opinion!  Even if everyone agreed, that would only demonstrate that they agreed (which may be remarkable in its own right), but not that they have a grip on reality.

Second, whatever value the erstwhile religious orientation or Christian sensibilities had, they were not powerful enough to keep our culture from what many recognize as serious moral and spiritual decline.  Contrast this sober reality with the powerful images Jesus uses for the presence of his followers in the world—salt and light!  Therefore, the loss of this ineffectual orientation may not be much of a loss.  It would seem that the so-called influence didn’t!

Third, we have strong reason to wonder about the way in which America was “Christian” but is not now, the loss of which should be lamented!  Do we really want to “go back” to a way of being and living that has such a track record?  On what basis could we claim the future would be better than the past record?

Fourth, though I personally doubt that our nation and culture was ever “Christian” in the way that Christ calls people to be, I am quite convinced that as long as we focus on reclaiming or reconverting our nation, we will not focus where we should—on ourselves and the way we have (or have not) been authentically the church.  The church is the community of Christ-followers who follow Christ to the cross—that is, give up their very lives in the process, relinquish their claim to call the shots on their own, find freedom from all agenda other than His, and die with Christ—all in order to be enlivened by God’s Spirit to live Jesus’ way.  It was that way that led to such enormous impact on the ancient world.  It was that way that brought great awakenings in the past.  It is that way that will lead us to whatever hope we have of seeing our part of the world showcasing powerfully and beautifully the likeness of Jesus.  To the degree that His followers follow him in that way, we will not need surveys to tell us the difference it makes!

WHEN LUNATICS GET LIBERATED

The people were spooked, so they asked Jesus to leave!  It's not what we expect.  We expect the beauty and loveliness of Jesus to be so alluring and irresistible that the people would be eager for Jesus to stay as long as possible. 

We'd expect the people's eagerness to go exponential in the wake of an awesome act of deliverance.  Here's a crazy lunatic who goes around half-naked, lives in the graveyard, howls at night like a werewolf, scares children on their way home from school, scrounges the trash for food, turns violent whenever anyone tries to help--really more animal than human, not only hopeless but dangerous. 

Wouldn't it be good if the lunatic could be liberated?  Wouldn't everyone want him to stop howling at night and stop scaring the children?  Wouldn't it be great if the torment of that guy's mind and soul went away, if he calmed down, cleaned up, put on some clothes, and rejoined the human family?  I mean, wouldn't it be good for everyone if this one got help?  Of course!

I'll bet that the day before Jesus came to his town everyone would have said, "Of course!"  But when Jesus showed up the next day and the lunatic rushed at him, the lunatic got liberated.  The lunatic got a life.  Not without drama, but everyone likes drama, right?  And not without cost.  Aah, there's the rub perhaps.  A large herd of swine--some were reporting 2,000 or more--represented a huge sum of money, not to mention the jobs they created and the many other benefits they brought to the whole community.  A few swine is one thing, a large herd quite another!

Let's rethink those questions.  Maybe it's not as good as we thought for the lunatic to be delivered.  Sure, it's sad and it's scary, but perhaps it's a small price to pay for the benefits of the status quo.  Of course, we're not superstitious, but if the demons are content with the one, maybe they won't bother the many.  Perhaps after all it's the unpleasant collateral damage of keeping undisturbed the status quo, which seems to work reasonably well for most folks.  I mean, what if all the lunatics or half-lunatics, or the merely loony suddenly got liberated, got a life?  Think about how many pigs that would cost us?

"Whoa Jesus, that's amazing, awesome in fact!  Strange to see the lunatic that way.  And, look at all those pigs floating on the lake!  We've done some quick figuring and at this rate a few more lunatics liberated would lead us to ruin!  Don't misunderstand, Jesus, and please don't be offended, but ...  Would you just leave us alone?"

REALITY CHECK

• Jesus loves the "lunatics" and wants to liberate all of them.
• When he liberates them it disturbs the unholy peace the world makes with the powers of darkness.
• When he liberates it exposes the willingness of most people in most places to sacrifice one to leave the status quo undisturbed.
• The only one Jesus is willing to sacrifice is himself.
• Jesus will liberate every "lunatic" he can, and it will upset most communities' convenient compromises to ignore the hurting, needy and poor.
• Jesus' followers must decide whether they will reject every feature of their status quo that leads to leaving the "lunatics" alone.
• And, they should prepare to lose some pigs.

The Ten Cities

A couple weeks ago I clicked on a link that took me to an article published in BusinessWeek.com entitled, “America’s top 10 Unhappiest Cities.”   The article computed their unhappiness quotient, if you will, on the basis of such things as the incidence of depression, suicide rates, violent crime, and unemployment.  Before I list the cities below and suggest their missional significance for us, please consider that there is no doubt that:

 

* Throughout the Scriptures, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, regards the poor and needy as cherished (do a search sometime of “poor” and “needy” in your Bible software program).

 

* Those whom God cherishes he helps with awesome and cosmic displays of power (recall the plagues that busted Israel out Egypt, the drying up the Sea, the incarnation of God in Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus from the grave).

 

* The poor seemed to be specially targeted by the good news Jesus declared and demonstrated.

 

* The primary way God now chooses to act for the sake of the poor and needy is through his own Spirit-empowered followers who follow his lead, go to where they are, and offer their very lives. Somehow God takes the offering of mobility—their going, and availability—their willingness to be of use, and makes it all work in ways unexpected and even “impossible.”

 

Here they are:

 

1. Portland, Ore.

Overall rank: 1

Depression rank: 1

Suicide rank: 12

Crime (property and violent) rank: 24

Divorce rate rank: 4

Cloudy days: 222

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.8%

 

2. St. Louis

Overall rank: 2

Depression rank: 13

Suicide rank: 22

Crime (property and violent) rank: 1

Divorce rate rank: 18

Cloudy days: 164

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 8.2%

 

3. New Orleans

Overall rank: 3

Depression rank: 25

Suicide rank: 43

Crime (property and violent) rank: 5

Divorce rate rank: 26

Cloudy days: 146

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.9%

 

4. Detroit

Overall rank: 4

Depression rank: 46

Suicide rank: 50

Crime (property and violent) rank: 3

Divorce rate rank: 15

Cloudy days: 185

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 18.6%

 

5. Cleveland

Overall rank: 5

Depression rank: 17

Suicide rank: 27

Crime (property and violent) rank: 11

Divorce rate rank: 2

Cloudy days: 202

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 8.8%

 

6. Jacksonville, Fla.

Overall rank: 6

Depression rank: 2

Suicide rank: 9

Crime (property and violent) rank: 23

Divorce rate rank: 7

Cloudy days: 144

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.6%

 

7. Las Vegas

Overall rank: 7

Depression rank: 42

Suicide rank: 1

Crime (property and violent) rank: 9

Divorce rate rank: 6

Cloudy days: 73

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 9%

 

8. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn.

Overall rank: 8

Depression rank: 4

Suicide rank: 26

Crime (property and violent) rank: 8

Divorce rate rank: 8

Cloudy days: 156

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 6%

 

9. Cincinnati

Overall rank: 9

Depression rank: 7

Suicide rank: 20

Crime (property and violent) rank: 34

Divorce rate rank: 19

Cloudy days: 186

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 6.4%

 

10. Atlanta

Overall rank: 10

Depression rank: 29

Suicide rank: 18

Crime (property and violent) rank: 2

Divorce rate rank: 28

Cloudy days: 149

Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.7%

 

Pasted from <http://realestate.msn.com//slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=18184152&GT1=35000>

 

 

The original mission statement of our church was to uphold the Bible standard of Christianity and to preach the gospel to the poor.  The difference between that statement of mission and the classical mission of the broader American Holiness Movement—to spread Scriptural holiness across the land—the difference is only apparent.  Any holiness that neglects those especially cherished by God is something other than biblical holiness. 

 

Our heritage and the classic mission of a holiness people suggest that cities in general call for focused and strategic response.  And the saddest of cities all the more so!  Given the clear Scriptural data on the heart of our God, the historic special concern we have had for the poor and needy, and the deepening needs of the cities I suggest that America’s saddest cities represent mission fields in our midst whose people cry out to God and to us for help. 

 

I can easily envision these sad places as representative of:

 

* Darkness to which light streams.

* Emptiness to which fullness flows.

* Brokenness that yearns for healing.

* Indifference that Love alone can move.

* Chaos begging for cosmos.

* Creation corrupted into uncreation, but destined for New Creation.

* All of this happening through the people of God in whom dwells the Spirit of God who makes them like the first-fruits of the coming Recreation.

 

Lord, let it be!

What about Them? Reflections on Mark 1 and beyond ... Part 2

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, as Mark tells it, it seems he make a critical decision to leave one place of highly fruitful ministry to go to other places.  This was good news for folks in the other places, but bad news for the people who “missed the ministry of Jesus by a day.”  News had spread about One in whom their hopes might find fullness, one who seemed to bring heaven’s resources to bear on their earthly lives.  But they were a day late.  Jesus moved on.

 

I suggested that they might reasonably wonder, “What about us?”  I  suggest now that Jesus turns Jesus responds to this question by turning to us who follow him, who were there the day before, for whom Jesus has cast out the demons, healed our hurts, restored and reconnected us to God and others—Jesus turns to us and asks, “What about them?”

 

Let me unpack that for a few moments, but before I do, I must tell you that the line of “people not there the day before” has continued to grow.    The numbers of people asking, “what about us?” are multiplying.

 

* Approximately 1.8 billion people today are malnourished, 400 million of which are on the verge of starvation.  Every year there are 15 million hunger related deaths among children under age 5.

 

* 1.3 billion people have no access to safe drinking water, 25 thousand of which die every day directly from dirty water.

 

* Malaria kills up to 5 million people every year.  3 million die from TB.  Up to 3 million die from HIV/AIDS.

 

* 1.5 million have no access to medical care—so aside from disease, even injury from accidents leads to permanent disability or untimely death.

 

* 1.1 billion have inadequate shelter, 100 million have no shelter.

 

* 60 million abandoned children; 50 million exploited by child labor.

 

* Some 32 million have been pressed into the sex-trade or other forms of slavery.

 

You can go on line to find such stats about tragic human conditions the world over that could be addressed or eliminate if the right people had the spiritual and moral will to do so.  (If Christ followers are not the right people who are?)

 

The line of people, not there the day before and not now included in the fullness of kingdom blessing--the line is growing.   If they knew enough they might wonder, what about us?  And Jesus turns to us and asks, “What about them?  Let me explain why I think the Lord Jesus hears their question and directs it to us in this way.

 

I used to think (and this is common among U.S. evangelicals) Jesus was indicating his priority in ministry.  He cared about all people, and the whole of people’s lives.  So, he demonstrated his care through ministries of healing, casting out the demons etc.  BUT, the real and most important work he came to do was to provide for our salvation.  Of course, this is true, so long salvation is properly understood, but there’s the rub.

 

I used to understand this great salvation as essentially a right relationship with God and others, which happens only by trusting Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us in love, his rising from the grave in victory over sin, death, and hell, and his gift of the Holy Spirit which gives us new life. 

 

I believed the most import thing was this message Jesus shared and made possible for us and the world.  We still engage in all kinds of ministry/ service but these are secondary.

 

So much of this reflects the truth, but it doesn’t go far enough or deep enough or wide enough.  In fact, this way of understanding salvation is a kind of reduction of what we see in the story of Jesus and of what he proclaimed and performed.

 

Look at the story again.  Jesus’ ministry is in full swing. He teaches in Capernaum and the folks there are amazed at the authority of his teaching.  In that context, he delivers a man possessed by an unclean spirit.  You will notice that the people are said to be astounded not at what Jesus did, but at Jesus’ new kind of teaching—with authority so that unclean spirits submit and obey.  In other words, the teaching of Jesus that wows the people includes both teaching the truth of Scripture and telling the spirits where to go.

 

Therefore, when Jesus says, “I must go to other towns to proclaim the message there also,” he is saying, I must do in these other towns what I have done here:

 

* Teaching truth and telling spirits where to go. 

* Declaring kingdom reality and demonstrating it. 

* Promising participation in the powers of the kingdom present, and fulfilling that promise for people who are open.

 

Jesus didn’t go to the other towns to tell them what “to do to be saved.”  He went to tell them a kingdom-life is now possible.  God is at work awesomely and savingly—he is reclaiming human beings and their world from the wreckage, restoring them to near original specifications and renewing them with power from on high. 

 

And when the time was right, Jesus would share the message and the ministry of healing and rescue—telling the spirits where to go, creating new life for people—with the students/disciples who were following him.

 

In Mark 3, Jesus names certain followers, twelve of them, Apostles.  Apostles means “sent ones.”  He names them to be with Jesus, sharing life with Jesus, and to send them out to preach and have authority to drive out demons.  In Mark 6, Jesus does just that.  He gave them authority to make the truth of Scripture come alive for people and to tell the demons where to go.  Accordingly, they went out to do a Jesus-like ministry in the towns and villages of Galilee.

 

In the other gospels, we read that Jesus did this with others as well—as many as 70 others.  At the end of all our gospels, Jesus sends the whole of his community to do the same.  He gives them authority, his own authority, to tell the truth in life-giving ways, which includes telling the demons where to go.

 

In John’s gospel, when Jesus says, “As the father has sent me, so I am sending you,” Jesus was live-serious!  When Jesus says, “The works I do are what the father does,” he means for his followers to say, “The works we do are what the Son and the Father do, in fact greater.”

 

Jesus never meant to dismiss those who arrived one day late.  He intended that his followers would follow him and continue the very same kind of ministry he began.

 

Jesus came to declare and demonstrate the way of God’s kingdom which rescues, heals, and restores the whole of creation.  That means our salvation cannot be distinguished from our mission, not in real life.  Conceptually, we can talk about your salvation and mine, and the saving of all those people in the line waiting for Messiah’s ministry. But, in real time, in reality, to be gathered up into God’s loving, gracious, and saving work is to be just that, gathered up.

 

We should accept Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord. That’s the only kind worth having, a personal Lord, who knows you and loves you and wants you to have a life.  We should have God at the center of our lives.  That’s how we were made to live.  But if we have God at the center, God will take us with him as he hears the cries of the needy and the poor, and seeks to raise them up.

 

We will come alive as we join Jesus in calling the dead from their graves.  We experience the freshness of God’s forgiveness, the relief of a restart, as we join Jesus in extending the same privilege to others (whether they ever receive it or not).  We experience freedom from whatever binds us as we bind ourselves to Jesus who is at work to identify and obliterate all forms of bondage.

 

Jesus hears the question, “What about us?” and puts it to us” “What about them?”

THE POWER OF LITTLE

The tragedy is not when Christ followers do little things, but when they do nothing at all!

 

Indeed, I’m marveling over the power of little when committed in faith to God.  A little shepherd boy took five small stones and down came the giant.  A small boy’s little lunch fed a large crowd.  A tiny grain of mustard produces an impressive garden shrub.  And, just a few followers of Jesus moved out of an upper room to change the world.

 

How easy to focus only on the enormous realities around us that dwarf our little!  The giant’s huge size, intimidating weaponry, and bullish taunts make us forget we have a sling.  Large, hungry crowds mock our modest lunches.  Tiny seeds seduce us into small expectations. And, well, what can just a few of us accomplish?

 

Of course, the power of the little does not come from the little.  Little is little.  Period!  And, if we are left to our little of this or little of that—little or nothing is what we can expect.

 

The power of the little comes from the One to whom we commit it, the One we allow to use it.  The power comes from focusing on God, anticipating what he might do, trusting that he will do something, something good and often big.

 

Accordingly, we commit our whole lives to him, but each new day we also commit ourselves, the few hours we have, all the little things that make up our days.  We commit these things knowing he will be at work.  We spend a little time in God’s word and brief interludes throughout the day talking things over with our Lord.  We offer a short greeting, a few words of encouragement, congratulations, thanks.  We wave at passersby.  We stop to listen to a child, affirm a person struggling to believe, offer a handshake or hug.  We write a note to someone we’ve missed seeing lately.  We give the benefit of the doubt and allow others to do us small favors.

 

We do whatever little things we do as an offering of thanks to God.  Only because God is good do we enjoy even a little.  Because God is good the little we have, or give, or spend accomplishes much.

 

Of course, because these are the little things of life, often we cannot see what God is doing with them.  At least not at first, and not for a while.  Then, from time to time, giants fall to the ground dead, huge crowds go home filled, harvest time comes, as we are surprised to realize that the world has changed.

 

He’s doing it even now, with and through the little we confidently offer him!

 

Again, the tragedy is not when Christ followers do little things, but when they do nothing at all!

What about Them? Reflections on Mark 1 and beyond ... Part 1

If you’re going to be in ministry—a person or church joining Jesus in his ongoing mission—you are going to disappoint people from time to time.  You will not—cannot—satisfy all the expectations that people have.

Every time we travel out of the U.S. we have new adventures in disappointing people.  We walk through a marketplace and stop at one place to look at the curios and immediately we are swarmed by people expecting us to visit their shops.  They wonder, what about us?  Or a little child crowds around our legs with a hand held out.  We give them something, almost nothing of value really, and immediately one hundred others come from nowhere with their hands out stretched. They are wondering, what about us?

Jesus had just finished a day of vigorous though exhilarating ministry—just the sort of comprehensive, holistic ministry that warms a Wesleyan’s heart.  He began by proclaiming kingdom come.  The long anticipated time when God—Creator and Redeemer—would at last rule, where his good will, his excellent way would prevail over his people and all people, over Israel and all nations.

And, this good news was taking shape right before the eyes of Simon, Andrew, James and John, and now the people of Capernaum.  He taught them the way and he showed them the way, with authority.  I.e., surprising and stunning power.  He expounded the Scriptures as though the stories and commands were his own,  He did so in a way that invited them into the story, as though it was really also their story.

But he also challenged the powers that threatened people, that if unchecked would destroy people.  Sometimes the powers can even be found in church.  At least it was so in Jesus’ day.  Jesus amazes the people with his teaching.  One could feel hope rising in the room, when all of a sudden, a man screams, “What are you up to Jesus?  You’ve come to destroy us”

It was hell questioning the motives of heaven.  The spirit in that man was half right: Jesus had come to destroy the evil one, unraveling what he’d twisted, mending what he’d broken, reclaiming the captives, restoring them to a kingdom life.  Jesus had come to silence the word and to destroy the works of the devil.  “Shut up!” Jesus said, “Ánd get out!”

The spirit didn’t leave quietly or without protest, but it did leave! And, you’d better believe Jesus had gotten their attention.  Quickly, the news spread. If he banishes the evil one, then think about what he might do for the hurting, the wounded, the outcast, the weak, the vulnerable and poor? 

All over Galilee that question made its rounds and people began to come.  So that evening (v.32) the sick and demon possessed came or were brought, a whole town’s worth.  And Jesus healed them, decisively undoing the havoc and chaos of the evil one in people’s lives.

The news continued to spread and the people continued to come.  You can imagine some walking and carrying their loved-ones for many hours, to bring them to Jesus, to be included in the good news he declared and demonstrated. I can imagine how it could have been.  Late the night before, Jesus and his helpers reach exhaustion.  They call it a day, a long, long day.  They retire for some rest. 

Meanwhile, the people continue to come.   The line forms and lengthens through the night.  At dawn both the sun and their hopes are rising.  Then, imagine, Simon Peter’s panic.  He wakes to the noise of the crowds at the door, but Jesus is nowhere in sight.  None of the others have seen him.  What are they going to do?  What will the crowds do when they find out Jesus is not there?  Where is Jesus?  The people are waiting!

Simon organizes a search party and slips out the back way to look for Jesus.  Finally he discovers him.  “Everyone is looking for you!”  But Jesus doesn’t respond as expected.  He says, in effect, “Our work here is done for now, let’s move on,” (v. 38).

I’m telling you, there were many people disappointed that day, probably some of them angry.  No doubt they wondered, what about us?  Indeed, what about these people?  They were just as tormented, just as ruined, but had missed the ministry of Jesus by a day?  They’re asking, “What about us?”

Have you noticed that very often Jesus answers a question with a question?  Someone once asked, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus answered, “What does the law say, how do you read it?”

I suggest that Jesus responds to this question, “what about us?” by turning to us who follow him, who were there the day before, for whom Jesus has cast out the demons, healed our hurts, restored and reconnected us to God and others—we were there the day before, and Jesus turns to us to  ask, “what about them?”

HOW WE READ THE BIBLE

If I could I would require every Free Methodist (and encourage all other serious followers of Christ) to read Scot McKnight's, The Blue Parakeet.  Let me tell you why.

One of the crises, perhaps near (if not at) the root of all our crises, in the church is the inability to make good on our claim that the Bible is, in fact, God's Word.  We're not even sure what it means to say that.  When I say "we" I'm talking about most of our people and some of our pastoral leaders.  In what sense is this book--The Holy Bible--God's Word?  And, so what? What differencee does that make?  Aren't there as many interpretations as there are interpreters?  Doesn't everyone just support what they already think by finding it somewhere in the Bible?  The list of questions goes on.

Scot McKnight observes that no one applies everything in the Bible and everyone "picks and chooses," or "adapts and adopts."  That is, everyone treats some parts of the Bible as God's Word for today and totally binding, and other parts as not applicable any more, and for various reasons "safe to ignore."  In some cases, totally binding portions are to be found surrounded by numerous portions that most confidently ignore as no longer of consequence for today.  For example, the second command to love neighbor as self is found in the book of Leviticus (see 19:18).  On no less than the authority of Jesus we recognize the claim this command has on any serious Christ-follower, at the same time we ignore most of the specific commands surrounding it in Leviticus.

We all pick and choose--that's a fact we cannot deny.  We all also recognize the principle: "That was then and this is now" when it comes to the application of the Bible.  Though all of us who take Scripture seriously do this, we seldom pay attention to how or why we do it, and we often disagree in our treatment of specific texts in the Bible.

McKnight notes that many people read the Bible primarily as:

• a collection of laws or
• a collection of blessings and promises or
• a Rorschach inkblot onto which we can project our own ideas or
• a giant puzzle that we are to puzzle together or
• orchestrated by one of the authors in the Bible as the Maestro for the others.

The problems with each of these are clear upon reflection:

• The Bible is more than laws, and each law connects to a context.

• The Bible is more than blessings and promises; there are some warnings and threats as well.

• The Bible is something that comes to us from God and not something onto which we can impose our wishes and desires.

• The Bible is a story to be read, not a divinely scattered puzzle to be pieced together into a system that makes sense of it all.

• The Bible is a collection of retellings of the Story (McKnight calls them "wicki-stories of the Story") and each author, each Maestro, is but one voice at the table (see p. 209 for both lists)

In The Blue Parakeet, we have an excellent description of how to read the Bible that makes sense of the whole Bible as God's Word.  He elaborates the themes of Story, Listening, and Discerning as key components for God's people to read the Scriptures with tradition (not through tradition) so that we may faithfully tell the story in our day in our way (i.e., in a way that is appropriate for the current circumstances facing us.  Scot McKnight offers here not only a description of how to read and apply the Bible, but then also shows us how it works in relation to the question of women in ministry.

As I say, if I could I would make it required reading.  But, then, I really can't do that.  And, I'll leave it for you to learn what all of this has to do with blue parakeets!