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

My Seminar Wed 7pm: Why I WANT to Be LEFT BEHIND - And Why You Do Too

Planes piloted by Christians will fall from the sky, driverless cars skid off the highway, and Kirk Cameron's hair still looks awesome - pictures of The Rapture in popular Christian culture.  Is that really how the rapture and the return of Jesus is going to happen?

Join me for a lecture this Wednesday night 10.22.14 7pm @ LFC-Huntersville, and I will walk through the relevant Bible passages and show you why I don't think that's how its going to go down.

We will walk through Jesus' most extended teaching on the end times and his return, the passage that recent theologians mistakenly used to build an unbiblical view of 'the rapture,' and what does it mean for you and I.  We will also learn about the nature of biblical prophecy and get a bit of a grip on how to read it.

At Lake Forest, we have many Discovery Courses studying what the Bible teaches on various subjects, most of which meet weekly for a semester.  We also have some stand alone 'Lake Forest Lectures.'  This is one of them. We want to be learners and lovers of the Bible at LFC.  I'm holding two more mid-week lectures this semester:

Wed Nov 12:  7 pm Is There Hope for Peace in the Holy Land?  A Talk & Visit from the President of Bethlehem Bible College (an evangelical college in the West Bank for Palestinian Christians)

Wed Nov 19:  7 pm How Geography Helps Us Interpret The Bible:  Case Studies from the LFC Trip to Israel

Was Noah's Flood Global or Regional?

Did you see the movie NOAH?  I liked it MUCH more than I expected to.  In particular, they retold the fundamental faith of early Genesis and Noah over and over - a good God who creates, humankind originally good, fallen into sin, and how can they know God again?

In my sermon on Noah this month, I stated that "many Jesus-loving, Bible-believing interpreters (including such an evangelical luminary as Tim Keller) argue that a devastating regional flood may have been all that was necessary for God to destroy all human life, or all life in the area covered by this story and the remarkable wickedness that was proliferating in that pivotal part of the earth, so central to God's redemptive plan."  The sermon ended up being about the covenant of God fulfilled in Jesus, not primarily about the flood.  But I wanted everyone to be okay with asking questions of every text we read in the Bible.

I wonder - did you know there are a few different interpretations of Noah's flood, by those who hold equally to the Bible as the infallible Word of God, like Lake Forest does?  To quote Tim Keller:

"In order to be true to my own principle, I won’t bother you with information about the different views of the flood. Let me just lay out my own assumptions. I believe Noah’s flood happened, but that it was a regional flood, not a world-wide flood. On the one hand, those who insist on it being a world-wide flood seem to ignore too much the scientific evidence that there was no such thing. On the other hand, those who insist that it was a legend seem to ignore too much the trustworthiness of the Scripture. After Genesis 1, the rest of Genesis reads like historical narrative. If, it is asked, ‘what of the Biblical assertions that the flood covered every mountain over the whole earth (Gen.7:19,21), we should remember that the Bible often speaks of the ‘known world’ as the ‘whole world’ — compare Gen. 41:56,57; Acts 2:5,9-11; Col.1:23. (Tim Keller, Genesis: What Were We Put in the World to Do? [New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2006],81)

Compare his comments to that of the BioLogos website, an organization of Bible-believing scientists, Bible scholars, pastors, etc. whose thesis is "Science and faith in Harmony:"

However, a balanced interpretation of Scripture does not force the reader to believe that the Flood was a worldwide phenomenon. The scientific and historical evidence summarized below supports the idea that the flood was indeed catastrophic, but that it was local, recent and limited in scope.

You can access their long article on the flood here How Should We Interpret the Flood of Noah. Their website has many great articles on issues of faith, the Bible, and science.

Something else I said in the sermon: At Lake Forest, our motto is that of our denomination: “In Essentials (of the Christian faith) Unity, in Non-Essentials Liberty, in all things Charity.”  Whether the flood was global or regional is a non-essential interpretation. We would never consider it an essential of the Christian faith whether you interpret Genesis 6-9 as a global or regional flood.  I’m fine with whichever. 

This is an example of the way we are a grace-oriented church, generous toward other Christians and other streams of Christianity.  Its also an example of taking a motto from the Reformation seriously: "Reformed and always reforming."

Bono: Who is Jesus? Did he rise from the dead?

 

Let it Go...Let it Go...For Lent

The movie "Frozen" is helping me prepare for Lent.  I'd like to help you prepare today. Okay, really just the chorus to the mega popular song is helpful to me (angie and I went on a post-Oscars date last night to finally see the movie - it was good, but not 'highest grossing Disney animated film of all time' good IMHO).  To kickoff Lent at Lake Forest Church -Huntersville we will hold 4 Ash Wednesday services on Wed. March 5th, starting at 4,5,6, & 7pm.  In partnership with Church of the Good Shepherd Anglican.

There are a number of Lenten practices that have proved helpful to my walk with Christ as I've learned and participated in this ancient Christian tradition for a number of years now.  Lent is simply a period of 40 days leading up to Easter, in which many Christians choose to prepare to celebrate the resurrection through a season of intentional repentance, prayer, fasting and good deeds done in the name of Jesus. (If you search Lent on my blog's front page, you'll find entries of mine with a more full description of Lent and its history).

The most helpful practices for me have been putting something off and putting something on, detachment and attachment, fasting from one good in order to feast more on another good.  This is in keeping with the New Testament's exhortations to 'put on Christ' and all that belongs to his identity and way of life, and to 'put off' the old self' and its sin, folly and even simple things (not necessarily sins) that hinder the life of Christ emerging more fully in us. I follow these practices during Lent to pursue Christ more fully, and to do so in unity of practice with most Christians for over 1,500 years and today.

So as the queen in 'Frozen' sang "Let it go, let it go!" last night in the Birkdale theatre, I was considering, "Lord, do I feel called to let go of, or give up something for Lent this year?"  Last year I didn't.  I never had clarity about something particular to fast from, and decided to not choose something just for the sake of it.  It helped me to ensure I'm not rehearsing the middle ages and turning Lent into a law that I must measure up to or a good work that makes me more pleasing to God.  Its simply a spiritual practice, a spiritual discipline, another practical tool in the toolshed for cooperating with the Holy Spirit to bring greater Jesus-like order to my garden.  Maybe this year some of you need to fast from fasting during Lent?

So I'm going to give up snacks.  Each time I start to make a move to the pantry between meals or after dinner (multiple times per minute), I will have constructed a sentence prayer that I breathe out, to use my desire for savory satisfaction in the moment to raise my sights to higher satisfaction in the cross and resurrection and person of Jesus Christ.  I haven't yet written that sentence or chosen a sentence in Scripture.  I still don't know what good deed or practice I will 'put on' during this season.  I'm assuming that at some point during the 4 Ash Wednesday services I am co-leading with the pastor of Good Shepherd Anglican Church, it will come clear to me - I will have 4 hours to figure that out!

In closing today, I offer you my friend and mentor Leighton Ford's helpful (and crazy-insightful) reflection on Lent this year, published in the Charlotte Observer on March 1:

A LENTEN TRAPEZE

Years ago the Swiss therapist and spiritual guide Paul Tournier caught my attention with  a dramatic image comparing life to a trapeze performance in a circus.

The trapeze artist grasps the bar of a swing, launches out, swings back and forth, higher and higher, until at the farthest point he or she lets go, trusting  their partner to swing out at just the right time to reach out, clasp arms, and swing them to safety on the other side.

Just imagining such a moment makes my stomach clutch, and my breath catch! It also makes me realize how apt Tournier’s image is for this Lenten season, a time to let go, and reach out.

The Bible is filled with stories of this risky movement. Abraham is called to leave the security of his ancestral home, and to go out by faith to a land he did not know. The disciples of Jesus leave the boats and livelihood and families, saying “We have left all to follow you.”

Jesus himself said, “I have power to lay my life down, and to take it up again.” Notice how his letting go is tied to the certainty of resurrection.

Paul’s sees himself not as a trapeze performer but a runner. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Can you picture yourself, this Lenten season, as the trapeze artist or the runner, “letting go, and reaching out”?

The past year was for me in many ways a year of loss: young leaders I have mentored facing life-threatening illnesses; my brother-in-law Billy reaching his 95^th birthday but growing weaker; the traumatic death of my dog Wrangler, my close companion for nine years.

“I feel that everything is going away,” I told a friend.”  She surprised me by asking, “What time does God’s store close?”

I thought back to my parents’ jewelry store, which closed at 6pm every day except weekends. Then I realized that God’s store does not close! His grace is available 24/7 for every letting go, and every reaching out.

As I look back over my life I remember painful partings, letting go of “attachments” which had seemed absolutely vital, even wondering whether life would be whole again.  But God was calling through loss to gain, letting go of the past to enter into God’s future.

Each of us has certain “attachments”,  habits or people, or even addictions or possessions which we clutch for security. And each of us is again and again called to “detachment” in order to trust God more.

I suggest two questions to ask as you embark on your Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday next week.

What do I need to let go? What unfinished business is there that is holding you back – of hurt, or dreams, or failure, or the normal patterns of the last year? Try holding out your hands, visualize placing those concerns in them, then turn them over and open them, releasing them into God’s care.

To what do I need to reach out? To what new adventure or challenge may God be calling you? Turn your hands upward, open them and lift them, and receive at least a token of God’s grace.

As the Quaker Thomas Kelly wrote,

(God) plucks the world out of our hearts, loosening the chains of attachment. And (God) hurls the world into our hearts, where we and (God) together carry it in infinitely tender love.

So this Lent – let go – reach out – trust God.

Leighton Ford

(From Charlotte Observer column March 1)