Tag Archives: faith

Moving from the center toward the margins

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When you (aka along with your social/ethnic/religious/political group) perceive that you are moving (being moved/”forced”) from the center of influence and power, it may feel like marginalization or discrimination simply because you/we/I experience a loss of privilege. When my privilege declines, whatever the reason, I am likely to experience grief and loss. This may translate into fear or anger.
Even when in the intellectual abstract I recognize that no one group should wield disproportionate influence, when my influence decreases I experience a disequilibrium. It may be this feeling is impossible to avoid, even if I chose and initiate the move away from the center.


As a Christian I need to be reminded that our faith is rooted in this move from the center toward the margins. This move is essential to God’s salvific work. The incarnation itself is God moving from power toward weakness (cf Col 1 & Phil 2). To begin his ministry Jesus moves from Jerusalem to Galilee. The penultimate act of God is submission to trial, conviction and crucifixion as a blasphemer and traitor (placed on the margin of society and culture).

Jesus is the embodiment of God moving from the center to the margin. Genesis 1-2, John 1 and Revelation 20-21 tell us that this is where God chooses and prefers to be – here with us.

What does this mean for the church today, in the West, in the US, here in Dallas? Will we follow God in this move toward the margin and release our hold on he centrality of our power and influence? What will such a move cost us? What will it gain us?

During this Lenten season, my desire is to move toward the margins together with the people of Central. One might argue that my arrival as the Senior Pastor of a church on the border of Highland Park is a move toward the center. This can’t be honestly argued against. And yet for me it is a dance – moving toward the center so that together we might move toward the margins. Clinging to past glory or privilege gains us nothing. Jesus never sought favor because of his royal or priestly lineage. Instead, what if we carry the benefit and privilege we have gained at the center, which may simply be our solid sense of self, and what is possible. What if we take this hope and expectation for the future and carry it with us to the margins, offering hope to others? 

Central Christian Church of Dallas, Texas is literally on the margins of multiple largely homogenous communities: #ParkCities, #NorthPark, #Oaklawn, #Uptown. We are in Dallas (and #DallasISD) but look across the street into #HighlandPark. What might it mean for Central to be literally that – to be the center toward which people from all of these communities move. In the process they would be moving from their own community toward the margins, and toward a meeting place with others.

My friend Matthew Russell and his colleagues at Project Curate are doing exactly this in the city of Houston. Matt is also on staff at St Paul’s UMC in Houston.

Missional church is another way to consider this move. Missional calls us to “go out – go deep – go together”. Missional is a move together into deep community for the sake of going out in to the world, toward the margins, where Christ may be found. When we look at the beatitudes of Luke 6 or Jesus call to serving him by serving others (Mt 25) we are being called to the margins.

How can you move toward the margins in your own life? How can you do it not as a visitor and vacationer, but as a pilgrim, a migrant, with all the inherent trust and vulnerability those suggest?

Rediscovering Baptism

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RESPONSIVE READING: Psalm 29

Leader: Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
People: Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendor.
Leader: The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.
People: The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
Men: The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
Women: The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
Choir: The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl, and strips the forest bare; and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
Leader: The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
All: May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!

 SCRIPTURES: Isaiah 42:1-9 & Matthew 3:13-17

REFLECTIONS

Baptism marks the beginning of our Christian journey, and most clearly symbolizes the transformation from our old life to the new. By remembering the baptism of Jesus, and recalling our own, we have the opportunity to rediscover our first enthusiasm for the call of God on our lives.

Paul teaches us that baptism represents our participation by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Romans 6) The transition from not-yet-believer to faithful follower of Jesus is so distinct, so all encompassing, as to parallel the experience of passing from this life to the next through death. If our before-faith and with-faith lives are identical, then something is missing.


Baptism also connects us to the church. Paul likens baptism to circumcision, by which Jewish boys are marked as members of the community of faith and people of God. (Colossians 2:8-15) Baptism is actually our outward enacting of what God alone can do – break down the dividing walls and bridge the chasms that separate humans from one another, from their own lives, from the created world and from a deep and intimate experience of the divine.

The incarnation itself emphasizes that we are physical beings in need of a physical experience that grounds our spiritual reality. What happens to us in the physical world affects us spiritually, and visa versa. There is a reason we gather together for worship and don’t simply stay at home or wherever else we might be and imagine that we are connected spiritually. We need physical connection – both proximity and touch. Baptism roots our spirituality in our embodied experience of the world.

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These are initial planning notes and reflections for my sermon on 1/8/17 at Central Christian Church of Dallas.

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Image credit Sermon Central

More to come…

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                              Sermon Study Thoughts for 100216
Text: 2 Timothy 1:1-14;
Also: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Luke 17:5-10

Even when things in our lives look bleak, we can trust that God is not finished with us.
There is yet a word from God for us and work yet for us to do.
Even a little faith in these promises can move mountains.

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It is easy to become discouraged. Life is hard. Bad things happen, even to good people. Bad people seem to get away. Justice is often left incomplete.

These are of course oversimplifications of complex situations, but the sentiments nonetheless ring true. Life is hard, and frustrations are sure to come. Whether at work, in our personal relationships, or with our community and society on a larger scale, things often don’t go as we think, feel and believe that they should. We imagine that if we were in charge things would be better. (Forgetting in the process the many times we have failed, fallen short, let ourselves and others down.)

On the landscape of our national consciousness several things loom particularly large right now. In particular, the presidential election process between two polarizing candidates, and the long-simmering and now growing and increasingly public tensions between “the police” and “the African-American community”. In both situations, it is easy to become discouraged, even fearful. It is easy to develop growing mistrust and cynicism toward “the other side”. Again, we think if only we were in charge we could make things better. But we are not, and feel that things may not get better.

First a reality check. Things are so much better in almost every conceivable measure of health, wealth and prosperity. The poorest of the poor in the USA enjoy more comforts than working class families of a century ago. Life expectancy has increased. Access to simple necessities and creature comforts has widened dramatically. Racism, oppression and related violence have decreased dramatically from a few generations ago. The conversation has shifted, but perhaps we’ve been lulled into complacency within the majority culture – absence of violence has been mistaken for peace and harmony.

God’s shalom is not simply a cease-fire. It is universal flourishing and a balance of wellbeing rooted in shared rhythms of work and rest. We are a long way from that, however far we have come. By many accounts we are disconnected from our own bodies, from one another, from the earth that provides our nourishment, and from the God who created us, sustains us, and redeems our sufferings.

So we have both reason to give thanks and reason to hope for more. If we focus too much on either our blessings or our challenges the result is a distorted view of reality undergirding ill-fitting and unproductive actions.

As Paul writes to his student Timothy, we do not know the full extent of the circumstances that have prompted the letter. Timothy has become discouraged by some series of events in his life and ministry. He’s gotten distracted perhaps by the headlines, or by the shiny things in the culture around him.

Paul comments Timothy toward several things that are also instructive for us:

  1. Remember the faith of your ancestors – the faith in which you were raised. This is similar to parents calling out toward their children who walk out the door for a night or weekend away, “Remember who you are and where you come from…!” Again, we lack specifics, but it was apparently enough for Timothy simply to recall the faith of his mother and grandmother.
  2. Remember the gifts of God that you have already received and expressed. God has already blessed you and worked through you to bless others. Whatever is going on right now is neither the beginning nor the end of your story. AND, you have the ability and responsibility to stir up that gift, to call it forth and put it to use – to exercise those muscles.
  3. Remember the power of God that was at work in Jesus Christ, that you have seen at work in me, and that is at work in you. The things which have been done are not by your strength alone. Yes, you are a participant, but not a solitary agent acting on the world. You are interdependent with God to fulfill the Gospel call.
  4. Remember that the hardest part is already done! Death has been conquered. There is nothing left to fear. There is nothing of which to be ashamed. No limitation that remains is greater than the love of God that is already at work in you.

Everything Paul suggests here is encapsulated within the brief text from Luke 17:5-10 in which Jesus invites us to exercise faith as small, humble and simple as a mustard seed, trusting that even this much true faith might move mountains in our life and world circumstances. The promise is not that all of our problems will evaporate immediately. “Every valley lifted and every hill made low” is a promise for a future time of kingdom fulfillment (Isaiah 40:4). What seems to be at work here is that “Yes, the struggle is real, but God’s power is greater. Strength and courage are available to you to persevere and overcome the obstacles before you for the sake of the Gospel – so that all people might live in the truth that “our Savior Christ Jesus, … abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…” (2 Timothy 1:10).

In order for others to believe and receive this promise we ourselves must first live and walk in it. This means that we will no longer be held back by fear or shame. We will not cower before things that seem too difficult for us. Perhaps we have tried before and failed. The crucifixion looked like failure in the short term also. But God redeemed the suffering and life conquered death. The promise is that this same power is at work in us by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Whatever has been, and whatever now is, let us rest in the promise of God that there’s more to come.

Pressing forward toward the goal

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As I write this I’m sitting in the office at church trying to recover from participating as the swim leg of a Half Triathlon Relay Team in Kerrville, Texas over the weekend with two of my best friends and fraternity brothers from Texas Tech (git yer guns up!). While the accomplishment pales in comparison to others who completed the full Half Tri on their own, we felt proud to have completed it since this was our first attempt. And the reality is that these events are not about competing with others, but with oneself. The real contest I faced was with my own body, mind and emotions. Deciding to enter was the first struggle, and I almost said no because I was so intimidated. Once I’d committed, I still watched the “final drop date with full refund” to decide whether to follow through. At first I didn’t want to let my friends down, and then I didn’t want to let myself down. By the end of my training season I actively wanted to get up early and go work out (which is really weird and unfamiliar territory for me).

This process has prompted a wide range of reflection and insight. The first thing to note is that I didn’t want to make this journey. At best I “wanted to want to do it.” I did it not for myself but for my friends – because I believe in them and their dreams and they had a dream that we would do this together. They believed in me and in us even if I couldn’t. I didn’t know if I could succeed, and was pretty sure I didn’t want to work that hard to find out. But I went for it out of love for them.

And it was really hard. Training required sacrifice of sleep, other recreation, and even some family time. I was scared to swim a long distance in open water. (“What lurks in the murky darkness?” and “What if I cramp up, run out of breath, or God forbid have a heart attack out in open water?”) But I realize that going toward some things that scare us is really healthy and good. If I didn’t succeed, I would still be better and stronger for having made the journey. Failing to finish would not have let my friends down – failing to try would have let them and me down.

When race day arrived, I had butterflies. Was I ready? Could I do it? I mostly resisted the temptation to compare myself to the other athletes, most of whom looked like they had not been in the same room with carbohydrates in years – me, not so much. I realized that I had trained hard, and eaten well, and prepared mentally, and that I was ready.

Upon entering the water, I felt strong and confident. Within 300 yards that evaporated, and I began to panic. I couldn’t find my rhythm or pace. My swimming form was all off but I could not figure out how to correct it. I could not manage to swim straight, instead zigzagging across the course. I doubted I could finish or even make it half the distance. I was going to let everyone down. But not yet. I would swim as hard and far as I could, even if it didn’t look pretty like all the experienced competitors around me. As Dory says in Finding Nemo “Just keep swimming…” So I did.dory-just-keep-swimming

Another 300 yards along I began to regain my
confidence, to find my stride. I actually finished the race with reserve energy knowing I could have kept going. Throughout this six month process I have discovered that actively choosing to do something difficult, for the sake of others, has transformed me in body, mind and spirit. I’ve become someone who looks forward to working out and feels acute loss when I don’t get to do it. I’m physically healthier than I’ve been since I was in high school. And I find myself asking, “OK, what’s the next challenge? Where do we go from here?”

swimfinishThis same process unfolds for us as individuals and communities and churches when we choose discipline and challenge over the easy path, when we choose to sacrifice now for benefits later, when we choose the needs of the community over our own fear and doubt. As we look toward the future, let us embrace the struggle to become our better selves and cast off the shell of false self that holds us captive. So much of what holds us back from excellence and flourishing is unnecessary limitation imposed from within as a coping mechanism we developed to face life’s difficulties. The time has come to stop coping and start thriving.

Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance!”

Ministry Beyond Our Ability

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* Sermon notes for 082116

Ministry beyond our ability

Jeremiah 1:4-10;  Also: Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56

God calls us to ministry that is beyond our ability, and often beyond our confidence and comfort. At such times we naturally say, “Not me Lord. I / We can’t possibly do that. I / We are not __________ enough. Call someone else.” We may simply doubt the call and think we simply got someone else’s email. When this happens, God promises to bless us with all that we need, in ourselves an in those around us who will accompany us into ministry.

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What obstacles stand in your way of being who you know, down deep, you could be? Even who you are called by God to be? What’s present in your self-talk, your self-understanding, that limits your possibilities and undermines your courage.

Ministry BeyondOur Ability (1)I am not talking about ignoring limitations. Jeremiah was correct in saying that he was young, and that he was not practiced as a compelling public speaker. True and True. The problem that God addresses in the text that Jeremiah is allowing this to hold him back. Scripture does not suggest that any one of us has everything needed to accomplish something great. Rather, that we are called and formed to be one body, where each member contributes particular gifts to the whole. Where one is weak, others are strong. And where we are weak, there God’s power is able to work more fully in and through us in the world.

For me, it is pretty simple. I know my self-talk pretty well and how it limits me.

  • I am an introvert. This has taken multiple colors over the years, from:
    1. being very withdrawn, to
    2. severe insecurity, to
    3. self-doubt, to
    4. “nobody likes me everybody hates me think I’ll eat some worms,” to
    5. “I don’t really like people,” to
    6. “I’m invisible”
    7. And so on…
  • I have not experienced effectiveness at attracting people toward an idea, an event, a community. This is related to all the things above, at least in my head. Which drives the other or how they play on one another I’m not sure. Either way, I have plenty of negative self-talk around this.

SL Trinity Circle Synchronous LifeThese two things have been particularly problematic for me in the last 3+ years as I have attempted to build a business and a non-profit – both focused on individual and organizational vitality. I hold onto mottos like “We are companions for your journey. Wherever your road leads, you don’t have to travel alone.” And, “Don’t just survive, Thrive!” I developed a very solid theory for a coaching approach that addresses the various aspects of human life taken as a whole, not as siloed segments. I have written other really good material for individual and group work and for congregational transformation. What I can’t seem to do is get the word out so that those who would benefit from it can see, hear, understand and engage.

One could call it a failure of marketing and sales, and that would be true.

But there is something deeper going on. I can’t seem to get out of my own way. Perhaps you can relate.

The question is how do you see yourself in the Jeremiah text? What excuses are you giving yourself and God for not fulfilling the dream you have in your heart and mind? For not accomplishing the life giving and life transforming work you imagine?

Complete this sentence for yourself:

“I would do ___________________ for God,

if only I were more ___________________

or less ____________________.”

What stands in your way? What is your self-defeating inner dialogue? What sentences and paragraphs show up in your written journals or prayer diaries, year after year?

It is important also that we try to distinguish between something we would like to do or experience (I want to own a 50+ foot yacht and sail offshore.) and separate that from the seed of a dream that is God’s kingdom work within us.

The latter is that thing which disturbs your heart and mind, and for which you imagine a solution, or at least a response, but you hold back from pursuing it because it seems too big and you feel too small. A mentor friend of mine says,seed2

“The life-transforming dream within you
is a seed of the kingdom of God.
God placed it there, and
with your help and permission
God will bring it to blossom and bear fruit.”

Take a moment and write down a few key words, or draw a picture, that symbolize the dream within you. That passion that troubles your mind and won’t let you rest because “Someone needs to do something…”

  • Is it senior adults who are isolated and alone?
  • Is it children who are abandoned or abused?
  • Is it those with some special physical, mental, emotional or learning need?
  • Is it a particular racial or ethnic group?
  • Is it an issue of gender or sexual orientation or identity?
  • Is it a concern for creation – plants or animals?
  • Is it the lack of meaningful and sustainable employment?
  • Is it a general lack of health and wellness among one or another population?
  • Is it people who live in the midst of violence and civil unrest?
  • Is it people who live without hope?
  • Is it people who live in extreme poverty and some particular aspect of that?

This list could go on and on. There is, I am assuming and hoping, something that burdens you as it burdens God. All of these things and more weigh on God’s heart in a way that is incomprehensible to us. If we attempted to shoulder it all we would no doubt be crushed. So Go in Wisdom gives us one or two things that really stir us, make us want to act, to change or improve the situation in a measurable and meaningful way. Or at least to try.

I’ll say too that when it comes to a church, there are several ways of looking at this question.

  • We could ask, “What is the one issue that as a congregation we want to pursue with great energy and resource?” I’m in relationship with a pastor whose congregation has identified “early childhood education for our city’s poorest and most vulnerable children” as the population and the specific project or program to which they will dedicate themselves. This means their programming and building and budget are being radically reallocated to respond to this need. AND it means they are partnering with the local school district and several nonprofits to bring a collaborative approach to addressing these issues with the families of these children.
  • We could ask, “What is each person’s passion, burden or concern, and how can we as a church undergird and support the development and pursuit of these ministries?”
    I have developed two resources that follow this second approach, and which may also over time result in the emergence of the first.

    1. Ministry Internships – this process supports individuals in an intentional, intense and ongoing action / reflection study of their personal vocations – who and what God is calling and equipping them to be and do.
    2. Dream Discovery Process – this 12 month program walks a congregation through a study of scripture and their community to allow them individually and collectively to see how and where their strengths and the communities needs intersect. Along with how the congregation’s needs and the community’s strengths overlap. You see we are surrounded by people who want their lives to mean something – they want to make a difference and one of the greatest gifts a congregation can give its neighbors is space to explore and develop that dream.

The reality is that these are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary and interdependent. Any large ministry focus of a congregation will require many within the church to see it as their personal calling and to be able to find their place in it. At the same time, many will also long to address things outside that main program focus, and so the congregation will want to address those passions as well.

My entire ministry is really about these two conversations, their intersection, and supporting the clergy and laity who are leading the discussion and providing the resources. I recognize that doing this kind of work is difficult and lonely and frustrating at times, while also being energizing and life-giving.

I love to come alongside leaders who are dreaming something new and discovering how I can support them, and how I can connect them with others on complementary paths. I can’t do it enough. Literally. If I could I would gather every pastor and lay leader together in a room and ask, “What do you need in order to pursue the dreams that God has placed within you and your people?” and then I would set about helping them find and access what they needed, whether it comes from within them, around them, or above them.

What about you? Look again at that piece of paper where you wrote or doodled a few ideas. What is the vision that floats before your eyes?

hand up rock climbing 1Now write briefly what stands in your way or holds you back. (Not the stuff outside of you – no doubt there may be plenty of that.) What is within you – thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, fears, inner dialogue, self-talk – what stops you from doing that which perhaps God has called and will gift you to accomplish.

Notice again what God says to Jeremiah:

“Do not say ‘I am only a youth.’”

  • Stop the negative self-talk. Stop taking what is factually true and using it as an excuse.

“I formed you. I knew you. I consecrated you. I appointed you.”

  • You are qualified and able because of me and who I am, not because of you and who you are. My strength, and your identity in me, will more than overcome any limitations in you.

“You shall go to whom I send you. You shall speak the words I give you.”

  • I am the one who sends you. I will provide what you think you are lacking, if in fact you need it and if in fact it is absent now.

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

  • I know you feel inadequate. I understand, and it will be OK. You are not alone.

Then, God touches Jeremiah and says, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.”

  • There is both a physical and a spiritual experience for Jeremiah – a holistic response from God who recognizes that fear and self-doubt manifest in mind, body and spirit.

“See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

  • Some things that exist now will need to end, to make room for what is next.
  • Some objects, ideas, programs no longer bear fruit – they must go.
  • Some systems hold on to the past too tightly and hinder new growth – they must go.

All the way through God says, “If you will walk forward, I will meet you at your point of need. It is time for the community to be transformed, and the dream I have put within you will work toward that transformation. No, I don’t expect you to do it on your own. You couldn’t even if you wanted to for the very reasons you have said. But I, I will do what I have promised.

AND: “My word which I sent will accomplish the purpose for which it went out, and will not return to me empty.” (Isaiah 55:11)

quadro-decorativo-we-not-me_1God is with us. We are not alone. Allow yourself to dream again, to imagine what God desires to do, what blessing you desire to see in the world around you. And remember that God calls and commissions us for ministry beyond our ability. If we know now how can do it on our own, then it is not from God and is not where we are to be investing our lives anyway.

If we will open ourselves to this hope, then God will provide the resources, the knowledge, the energy, the people, to accomplish that which God dreams for us and through us for the world.

 

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Ministry BeyondOur Ability

Worship Notes for Sunday 8/21/16

Psalm 71 sv

Leader: In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
People: In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
Leader: Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
People: Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
Unison: For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

PoC:  36A

Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10
Title: “Ministry beyond our ability”
Also: Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56

God calls us to ministry that is beyond our ability, and often beyond our confidence and comfort. At such times we naturally say, “Not me Lord. I / We can’t possibly do that. I / We are not __________ enough. Call someone else.” We may simply doubt the call and think we simply got someone else’s email. When this happens, God promises to bless us with all that we need, in ourselves an in those around us who will accompany us into ministry.