Open Mike

Impending Pastor Failure: One Clear Sign and the One Ring

What is the #1 practical indicator of impending pastor failure?

Jeff Jeremiah is the head of our denomination.  As such he spends time with a LOT of pastors of all different sized churches. Back in January, Jeff leaned in with me and a group of EPC pastors gathered in Orlando and said something like, ‘I know the #1 indicator that a pastor is ripe for failure, burnout or not finishing well.’  Us pastor dudes respect him a lot, so we waited quietly for him to complete the thought. ‘Vacation.  I routinely ask pastors how much of their allotted vacation they take. The ones who don’t take their vacation, and haven’t for some time, are the ones dooming themselves and their flock to a bad ending.’ 

So that’s why I’m signing off of work (including blogging) for the next week – I’m taking a week of vacation to visit a son who is studying abroad.  Friends, whether you are a pastor or not, the Sabbath principles of scripture apply to you – take your vacation.  Play and rest are good for your soul. With regularity.

Now let me tell you the two reasons I’m also signing off for a second week away, after the week of vacation (so this blog will chill for a while unless I just post some pictures).  They are, in this order: 1. My version of the One Ring. 2. Something Don Miller wrote about writing a better story with your life.

Reason #1: To know me very well is to know that like Samson’s hair and Frodo’s precious ring, the secret talisman to my spiritual health is a half or full day away for silent prayer (usually accompanied by study) every month.  In the mountains.  During my 20’s several mentors introduced me to the classic Christian giants’ practice of contemplative/silent prayer, meditating on scripture.  And my extroverted, peripatetic soul took to such prayer like a swimmer from the Titanic to a life jacket.  So I’m taking a once-every-few-years 5 day silent prayer retreat immediately after my week of vacation.  I will follow the monastic schedule by ‘praying the hours, ‘ using a few resources, fast during the day, and simply wait and listen for the LORD.

Reason #2: In Don Miller’s book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” he wrote about taking a class on writing movie screenplays, and applying ‘what makes a better story’ in a movie to ‘what makes a better story’ in life.  His USC film school professor taught that a movie scene of a man and a woman getting in an epic argument and then making up, while sitting on their couch, is a fine story.  But a scene with a man and woman getting in an epic argument and then making up, while on top of, say, Mt Everest (or the Empire State Building) – that’s a better story because it’s a more memorable scene.  Since then I have actually prioritized making the scenes of my life more memorable whenever possible.  Because why the heck not? 

So (using a bit of grant money) I am taking this extended prayer retreat in a sequence of Greek Orthodox monasteries in Meteora, Greece.  Here’s a picture of one of them (these are where the ending scenes in the Bond movie ‘For Your Eyes Only’ were filmed in the 80’s):

I go with no particular question or request of the Lord – just to be with him, alone.  And to open my Spirit hospitably to what the Lord may have for me in the liturgy, readings, and people I will find in the chapel of each monastery.  I will stay in a small lodge at the foot of the mountain range, hike to a different Meteora monastery daily, light a candle for Lake Forest Church as I enter each chapel for the day, and pray my little schedule of prayers, readings, and periods of silence. (for more on Meteora http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora )

I invite your prayer for me during this time.  And rest assured I will pray for you.  That you will follow God’s prescription for longevity and fruitfulness in your life by practicing Sabbath-rest weekly and annually.  And I will pray for you to find ways to live a better story in your own life this spring, principally by consciously cultivating and enjoying the personal presence of Christ with you at all times and in all things.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Colossians 1:27

Taste with Complete Satisfaction the Sweetness of God

For my friends continuing the pre Easter fast today, Saturday: I pray joy for you, for keener spiritual insight into parts of your life, and perhaps a sublime glimpse of God in your inner vision.  Here are few more teachings on fasting from some early church Fathers.

"To eat and drink with thanksgiving to God all that is served up or prepared for one is not in any way opposed to the rule of knowledge.  For 'everything is very good' (Genesis 1:31).  But voluntarily to abstain from what is agreeable and abundant is a sign of great discernment and higher knowledge.  We do not readily despise the delights of this life if we do not taste with complete satisfaction the sweetness of God." - Diadochus of Photike

"Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony, 'What ought I to do?' The old man told him, 'Do not put any trust in your righteousness, do not worry about the past, keep a tight rein on your tongue and your belly.'". - Sayings of the Desert Fathers

"If you fast, but fail to keep watch over your mouth so as to refrain from evil speaking and angry words, from lying and perjury; if you slander your neighbor, even if the words come from the mouth of one who is fasting, your fast will be of no avail and will be labor lost.". -Athanasius of Alexandria

"What is the use of keeping a fast for forty days without considering the meaning of it?... So, let us imitate as far as possible Christ's fasting by our practice of the virtues, in order that grace may come upon us through the twofold fasting of body and spirit.". - Maximus of Turin

The Prayer of One Who Fasts is an Eagle in Full Flight

For my friends who are spiritual athletes today, engaging the Easter Fast, here is encouragement and equipment from early church leaders:

"The whole of spiritual practice is symbolized by the FAST, provided that this includes spiritual as well as bodily fasting, as the early church Fathers teach.  In the test made by God of Adam and Eve's freedom and trust, the early Church perceived the commandment of fasting.  Human beings, instead of hurling themselves on the world as on to their prey, ought to have learned to see it as a gift from God and a ladder by which to reach him.  From this point of view sin now appears as exploitation and selfishness, the desire to make use of and consume the world instead of transfiguring it.   Christ, by contrast, fasted for forty days in the desert to show the tempter that 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God' (Matthew 4:4), and the world also is a word which comes from the mouth of God.

Fasting therefore signifies a radical change in our relation with God and with the world.  God-not the self-becomes the Centre, and the world is his creation, a dialogue amongst ourselves and with the Creator.  Fasting prevents us from identifying ourselves with the world in order merely to possess it, and enables us to see the world in a light coming from elsewhere.  Then every creature, every thing, becomes an object of contemplation.  Fasting puts between ourselves and the world a wondering and respectful distance.  It enables us to hunger for God as well, and to welcome our bodily hunger as an echo, the 'sighing' of creation.". -Olivier Clement, The Roots of Christian Mysticism p.140

"Fasting is food for the soul, nourishment of the spirit." - Ambrose of Milan

"[One who fasts] feeds like Moses on familiarity with God and his word.  He experiences the truth of the text, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." - Jerome

"We have the days of Lent devoted to fasting... And the Christian is free to fast at any time, not out of superstition but in voluntary detachment... How could anyone in fact study the Holy Scriptures, or devote himself to knowledge and wisdom, if he were not master of his own mouth and his own belly?  But there is another reason, also spiritual, that some apostles have praised in their letters... Blessed are they that fast for the sake of feeding the poor.". - Origen

"The prayer of one who fasts is an eagle in full flight.  That of the wine-bibber is made heavy with satiety and dragged down to earth." - Evagrius of Pontus

"If the enemy suggests to you an extreme ascesis that risks making your body feeble and useless you must moderate your fasting.". - Athanasius of Alexandria

Friends, I will offer you a few more quotes tomorrow morning.

Prepare Your Spirit with an Easter Fast: Fasting Guide with Prayers Attached

So friends, here we are toward the end of Holy Week.  Some years ago I began taking our church through 'ancient-future' explorations, though the term isn't original to me.  It's simply been a way for a hyper-modern 'low' church like ours to apply humble teachability to the wisdom of Christians from centuries before us.

The most helpful ancient Christian practice we've learned, to me, has been the Easter Fast, and I invite you to join me in it beginning this evening (after you enjoy a full dinner!).  Before practicing Lent and the Easter Fast, I used to arrive at Easter worship as though it were any other Sunday, just a little amped up.  Which isn't entirely bad - every Sunday is a celebration of Resurrection Day.  Every day, for those who follow Jesus, is an opportunity to live out of the resurrection power and values of our Lord.  BUT it is good and right that annually we specifically remember and celebrate this central fact of human history - the bodily resurrection of the God-Man Jesus Christ from the dead, in victory over death, suffering, sin, shame, and human division. 

One member of the LFC tribe wrote me this encouragement just yesterday: "We are so incredibly thankful for the ways that LFC has mentored and taught us how to draw near to the Lord through Lent and fasting corporately over Easter weekend.  Easter has more meaning for us spiritually than any other time of the year because its been such a powerful experience for us the past 3 years."

The Easter Fast prepares my spirit with readiness to worship along with the Holy Spirit in powerful ways each Easter.  It uses a spiritual practice that is best exemplified by Jesus, and the Bible teaches that fasting uniquely reorders the desires of our flesh and hones the attuned-ness of our spirit to God's Spirit.

Attached is an excellent guide for this year's Easter Fast (again, to begin after dinner tonight, Maundy Thursday, and continue to Saturday morning or longer, as you choose).  It has instructions for how to fast, specific prayers during the beginning, end and over each scheduled meal time during the fast.  And a way for you to give the money you would have spent otherwise to feed the hungry if you so choose, in the name of Jesus.  It has been adapted by us with permission, as noted.

Download 2015Easter FastingGuide

I will post some helpful thoughts on fasting from my readings on Friday and Saturday mornings this week.

The only suggestion I will add to the attached guide is this - when I fast, whenever a hunger pang pangs me, I turn it toward God in a prayer of these words of Jesus during two of his fasts:

"Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”. Matthew 4:4

"My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." John 4:34