We’ve been “strengthening our core” at FUMC, Monroe during this Lenten season in the hopes of becoming Christian to the Core. We’ve been focusing on those “core” practices of discipleship found in Acts 2:42-47–

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Sometimes, I think we forget how important worship is to the core of our discipleship. With the continuing decline in worship attendance across the United States, it’s almost as if worship has become optional, or at the very least “convenient.” Has worship really become like this video:

Worship is important because we are made to give glory to our Maker. I have my phone here. It’s a Nokia Windows phone. I use it every day to make phone calls, text, check my calendar, e-mail, and the weather. I even use it as a GPS when I’m driving. Every time this phone performs as it’s designed to perform, it reflects well on the Nokia employees who made it. That’s what great creations do—they reflect well on their makers. And that’s what worship is: reflecting well, or giving glory to our maker—and at least on occasion, gathering with others to acknowledge our gratitude for being made and provided for.

The Bible’s opening chapter says, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Very good things give glory to the one who made them. They can’t help it.

Perhaps the most challenging verse in the Bible for 21^st Century western culture is found in the book of Hebrews. It’s challenging because it addresses the competing allegiances that vie for our sacred “weekend” time—things like sporting events and weekend getaways.

Hebrews 10:24-25

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The Bible says it’s good for us to meet together so that we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds. That’s why we get together. The second reason worship is important is because it’s God’s will for us to gather weekly. We need to “meet together” because when we’re here, we grow and give God glory. Worship is part of spiritual growth. Worship is part of the “core of the core” that we talked about last week. When we’re not here, we’re missed and everybody else who’s gathered is missing something because one of us isn’t here. We need what meeting can do for us.

Gathering weekly for worship is a primary, foundational habit, because it resets our priorities every week, before the week begins. My DVR freezes up from time to time. The cure for its ailment is to unplug it for 30 seconds (according to the technician on the other end of the phone). I’ve often wondered why 30 seconds? What would happen if I plugged it back in at 29 seconds, or left it unplugged for 31 seconds? Regardless, unplugging the DVR resets it, and it has to be reset occasionally to function properly. Our lives are a non-stop blitz of messages and inputs. We read books and magazines, we watch television shows, we listen to the radio while we’re driving and to our smartphones while we’re exercising or doing whatever. All of these inputs are telling us something about life. “Vote ‘em off the Island” shows communicate a certain way to win. Sit-coms and dramas tell us how they think we should dress and talk and treat others. We may not agree with what they say or how the people on those shows act, but the DVR that is our memory is always running and storing what we see on our mental hard-drive. All these inputs influence us. The average person saw 500 ads per day in the 1970’s. Today, the average person sees 5,000 ads per day. Our brains absorb every message. Many of those messages distort our view of God, other people, and the world around us. Worship is the place to clear up the distortion.

It’s good to be reminded that we’re not the center of the universe, that the one with the most toys doesn’t win, or that the things we buy, try, taste and wear aren’t going to make us happy over the long haul. Worship is a reminder that this is my Father’s world. In worship the songs, the message, and the people remind us that despite how we’ve seen people treated all week, people matter to God and ought to be treated with respect and dignity.

In worship, we’re reminded that we are significant and that God has good plans for us. Worship reminds us that God has a purpose for all of us, and it reminds us that He wants to use us in bringing salvation of His creation. Worship reminds us that character matters and the Lord wants us to act with integrity, honesty, justice, love, joy, peace, and patience. In worship, we get the interior of our soul reset, and our priorities can be repositioned.

The challenge of worship goes beyond these walls, though. Worship is a way of life, too. The Apostle Paul gives us a clue in Romans 12. Eugene Peterson’s The Message says it this way:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

How do I place my “walking around life” before God? I’ll answer that in a minute, but first let me clue you in on something. This “offering” we put before God, many other translations say “your spiritual act of worship.” That word “spiritual” literally translates as “logical.” Paul is saying the most logical thing we can do is worship God because of all that God has done for us.

Back in Paul’s day, the Jews still worshiped God by bringing a bull, a ram, or a lamb, or pigeons or doves to the altar in the Temple; slit its throat; and then placed its body on the altar as a sacrifice. The difference for us is, instead of being a dead sacrifice, our logical response to all that God has done is to become living sacrifices. We are walking-around sacrifices that give God honor all day long. Some people believe worship only takes place in church on Sundays. Sunday worship is incredibly important, but from God’s perspective, worship is more than that. Let’s put it this way–worship is a verb.

Worship is not a noun that describes a person, place, or thing. It’s a verb that describes an action, something we do. Honestly it’s really not something we “do”, it’s part of WHO WE ARE. Like my phone gives Nokia credit by doing what it does well, we give God glory by doing everything we do well. Have you ever worshiped while doing household chores? Our attitude while serving can please or displease God. Tomorrow morning, when we get up, we can give God glory by saying, “Thank you, Lord, that I get to live another day.” When we get in our car, we can give God glory by how we drive to work, and the attitude we maintain toward the drivers around us (I never preach a sermon to someone else until I preach it to myself). When the car next to us cuts us off, we can choose to give God glory…or not. By all means, if you have a Jesus bumper sticker, or a Christian fish on your car, please choose to give God glory.

At work, at school, on the athletic field or social functions, our intensity, our teachability, or attitudes, our openness can all be either acts of worship, or not. Again, the Apostle Paul reminds us in Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if you were working for the Lord and not for a person.” That is worship.

Parents, investing in our children, raising them well, loving them, teaching them to love God is an act of worship. Children and teenagers—how you treat your parents, your attitude when you help with chores, how you treat your brothers and sisters, are all acts of worship.

Listen again to how Peterson translates it in The Message: “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering (an act of worship).” That’s how we worship!

So, let’s worship. We were made to do it, God asks us to do it, and in view of who He is and all that He’s done for us, it’s the least we can do on Sundays at church and during the week in every aspect of our lives.

Worship–it’s at the “core” of who we are!

Until next time, keep looking up…

We’ve been discussing the “core” values of a disciple of Jesus Christ at First United Methodist Church, Monroe, hoping to discover those practices that will strengthen our discipleship and effectiveness in the Kingdom of God. I began the series talking about the core muscles of the human body, and the necessity of strengthening those core muscles. The core muscles serve as the foundation for the rest of the body, enhancing power, stability and balance. I conducted a live interview on Sunday morning with Kristy Rizzo, a member of FUMC, Monroe, as well as a certified professional trainer at Monroe Athletic Center. I brought Kristy in to talk more specifically about the core muscles because we talked about the “core of the core” this morning–spiritual growth. Kristy did a great job, but I challenged the congregation to take some steps, even if they are baby steps, to be intentional in developing a plan for spiritual growth. I promised in the morning message that I’d have some resources posted on my blog for folks to get started on “growing up” in grace. I like to keep my promises.

One of the best resources I’ve found, and that I use daily is entitled Our Daily Bread. It’s a great resource with a daily devotional, a suggested scripture reading, a one-year bible reading plan (if you’re so disposed!), and either a brief prayer or hymn quote. It’s a great way to start each day. You can also subscribe via email, or if you just absolutely need that hard copy in your hand, can order the old fashioned way.

Another excellent resource is The Upper Room. Like Our Daily Bread, The Upper Room is a daily devotional with scripture reading and a brief prayer. Some folks I know use both The Upper Room and Our Daily Bread in their daily routine. Also like ODB, The Upper Room is available in an email subscription form or via snail mail, so the choices are abundant.

Another on-line resource that I use often, both devotionally and in sermon preparation is Bible Gateway. Bible Gateway is an on-line bible with nearly one hundred translations (all the latest ones are available) including Hebrew, Greek, Spanish and a few other languages. A person can do parallel searches, and there are many commentaries linked to the site as well. It’s a great resource for everyone from the beginner to the theological scholar.

If you missed it, or if you’re interested, here’s the major portion of the text from this morning’s message (the entire text is not here because it was an interview with Kristy Rizzo):

”

We continue to talk about developing our “core” as disciples of Jesus Christ. We’ve talked about creating a community of faith, and we’ve talked about living invitationally as we invite others to experience Jesus. I asked Kristy to come today because our third practice of studying devotionally is the “core of the core” if you will. Studying devotionally is about “growing up” in our faith, and as the core of the core, I think this whole body metaphor continues to communicate in a powerful way. It makes it practical for us. I could spend the next twenty minutes unpacking a biblical foundation for intentional spiritual growth, but you’d leave saying, “That’s interesting,” or, “That was boring.” None of us would leave with practical stuff we can put into action today. That’s what I want to spend our time doing, and I think the questions we asked Kristy about the core of the body serves as a great foundation for making the connection spiritually.

We asked about the primary core muscles. What are those “core” spiritual muscles? Community we’ve mentioned. Evangelism we’ve explored. We’ll discover worship, service and generosity in the weeks ahead, but we’re reflecting on spiritual growth today—intentionally doing those things that help us grow in our understanding of discipleship. Growth is all-encompassing. When we grow spiritually every other practice of discipleship is made stronger. We serve more, we give more, we invite more, we create a stronger community, and our worship is more meaningful—it’s all connected.

That also speaks to the value of having a strong core. We literally become better disciples. We all know we should grow spiritually, but life gets in the way and we end up not growing. We hear messages like this one and we start to feel guilty. That makes it worse. So, not only are we not doing it, now we feel bad for not doing it. God must really be mad at us now! That’s where bad theology can mess us up.

When we fail to grow spiritually, God does not love us any less. But, when we grow spiritually, we grow to know Him better. The better we know Him, the more peace we find, the more joy we experience, the more good we accomplish, the more love we know, the more love we show, the abundant life we live. When we grow spiritually, the more like Jesus we become, and that’s the whole purpose of being a disciple. So, there is value in growing. We know it.

We also know the “exercises” that will promote that growth, especially if we’ve been around the church any length of time. If we’re looking for a place to start, though, the best place is the same place the first century disciples started. Acts 2:42 says, “They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s supper and in prayer.” Let’s start where they started:

• Prayer
• Bible study (the first century equivalent was the apostle’s teaching)
  • Both private and corporate
  • Fellowship
  • Worship (you’re here, so you’re already growing—great start!)
    • The Lord’s Supper (John Wesley practiced as often as possible—he saw it as transformative)
    • Other spiritual disciplines (since we’re in the season of Lent)
      • Meditation
      • Fasting
      • Journaling
      • Service

 

Just as there are exercises that strengthen our body, there are exercises that help us grow spiritually, and we have to give ourselves to these practices to achieve that growth.

So, that raises the question “What if I’ve never exercised before?” Well, you’re exercising right now, but I also want to make it clear that growth is hard work. Nothing worth having is ever achieved very easily. I don’t want you to be misled. Growing spiritually is life-changing, but it’ll be hard work.

Our first inclination is to jump head-first and go all-in. We come quickly out of the gates, and being accustomed to speedy results in our microwave culture, when we don’t see immediate results, we get discouraged. We say, “What’s the use?” Alternatively, like when we exercise too much, too quickly, we’ll “strain” something…get tired, rather “burn out,” so we give up and quit. We get stunted in our growth. If we’ve never prayed before, it’s not smart to decide to go into a closet, shut the door and pray for an hour. If we’ve never done that, we’ll drive ourselves crazy! Here’s a better way to start: First thing in the morning, simply recite the Lord’s Prayer. But, do it daily. Actually, here’s your challenge: Pray the Lord’s Prayer every morning for the next 30 days.

Abbot John Chapman gave this advice to those who asked him about ways to grow spiritually. He said, “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.” Each of us is at a different place. We must follow God’s leading in our lives. It’s not so much a question of what we’re doing as much as it is a question of “Are we doing anything?” Maybe our Bible study needs to get deeper. Let me issue another challenge. If you’re not doing a bible study, join me in the fellowship hall on Wednesday as I begin leading a study from the book of Nehemiah. We’ll explore a God-given vision. Perhaps you simply need to join a Sunday school class, or a group like Bible Study fellowship. You guys, how about fellowship? Join us this Tuesday for our first Men at Work Lunch. These are all ways to grow. Have questions? Call the church office. We’ll get you connected.

Kristy talked about some alternative exercises for those who are older, and not as mobile as they used to be. Just as she gave examples of what we can do, so we understand that we NEVER stop growing spiritually. It’s a process that’s never over. It’s like a tree. A tree grows until the moment it dies. We are always growing deeper in our love for and knowledge of Jesus Christ. We may incorporate new techniques and new practices, but we keep growing. We Wesleyans believe that is God’s sanctifying grace at work in our lives.

We want to be successful. We want to see results. What’s the key? Repetition, repetition, repetition. Routine, routine, routine. Discipline, discipline, discipline. There really is a reason they call them “the spiritual disciplines.” Commitment early on is easy. I remember when I started running. I was passionate about it. I felt good. I was seeing results. I worked my way up to running 20-25 miles per week over 5-6 days per week. I was committed to the task. Lost a lot of weight, too. One day, I got a call from the Bishop asking me to serve as the Monroe District Superintendent, and the demands of the job took more time. I was now running 16-20 miles per week over 4-5 days. I soon found myself thinking, “Hey! I’m healthy.” So, I began running 10-15 miles per week over 3-4 days per week. Commitment wanes over time. Yeah, it’s better than most, but still it’s not as strong as I could be.

Just like with our bodies, no one can compel us to grow spiritually. Spiritual health is something we have to desire. I think wanting to want to is a great place to start. Wanting to want to is the Holy Spirit nudging us in His direction. That, too, is the sanctifying grace of God working in us to transform us. After all, that’s the whole point of spiritual growth—to transform us—from what we are to what God wants us to be, and what God wants us to be are disciples who love Him completely and others unashamedly, and who he might use for His glory in the world.”

Until next time, keep looking up…

As part of my devotional routine for the new year, I committed to read through some of E. Stanley Jones’ sermons. For those who don’t know, E. Stanley Jones (1884 – 1973) was a missionary to India, and an evangelist, apostle, author of twenty-nine books, and was elected Bishop in the Methodist Church, but resigned before he was consecrated. He was also friends with both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi. He was perhaps the most well-known evangelist until the rise of Billy Graham.

I was reading this morning from the sermon entitled The Center of the Christian Faith is the Cross, and in the sermon, Bro. Stanley deals with the issue of self-surrender, and I was terribly convicted as I read the text. I thought I might share a few of the brilliant nuggets of truth with you (in the hopes that I might not be alone in my conviction). Here is what Bro. Stanley had to say:

“The biggest place of the nullification of grace is at the place of the un-surrendered self. That nullifies the grace of God more than anything I know, because it moves in and says, ‘I am God. I don’t need to take the grace of God; I’m God, and I’m the center’.”

“Many a man who goes into the ministry gives up everything to be a minister except the minister. Many a missionary goes out across the seas and gives up everything to be a missionary–everything except the missionary. The self is still there, watchful of its position, place and power.” (May I say, “Ouch!”?)

“Peter said, ‘Lord, we have left everything to follow thee what do we get?’ The fact that he asked, ‘what do we get?’ showed he hadn’t left everything. He had left his fishing boats, father, mother, brothers and sisters, occupation–everything except the self…Why did he put that last? ‘Yea and his own self also…’ Because that is the last thing we ever give up–houses and lands, and occupation, mother, father, brother, sister, everything goes. But the un-surrendered self is the last thing we ever give up. And we are constantly tripping over the un-surrendered self.”

“It isn’t a question of if you would rather be crucified or not. You will be crucified. The question is if you will be crucified with Christ; you will have purpose in it, meaning in it, goal in it, resurrection in it and future in it! Or, would you rather be crucified like the impenitent thief upon the cross–a crucifixion that has no meaning except deeper and deeper darkness. So we are all hanging on a cross–some with Christ, some on the cross of their own conflicts and their own inherent unhappiness. So don’t think that you will escape the cross. But here is a cross–which when you take it–has life in it.”

“Everyone of us is a mess outside of Jesus, and inside of Jesus, everyone of us is a message. You then have destiny, meaning, goal.”

Brother Stanley, in quoting the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20, says, “…’the life I now live is not my life, but the life which Christ lives in me’. I am still there and He is living His life in me and through me and we are on a cooperative plan. I supply willingness and He supplies power and we get along wonderfully together. There is no hypocrisy. The self is still there. It is still there but as long as Jesus has that helm and He’s Lord and the self is subservient, it is wonderful.”

“Who loved me? Who loved me? And if He loved me, I can love myself, too. I can love myself for loving Him. I can say, ‘You are a sensible man. You have put your faith in the central place for you have placed it in the Son of God. You are wise in that you chose the highest. You have the only sensible thing that was ever done when you laid yourself at His feet and said, ‘here I am. Take me as I am make me over’.”

“Now just as my fingers are rooted in the palm of my hands, all the sins that we deal with are rooted in the un-surrendered self. Why do we lie? Because the self thinks it will get the advantage. Why are we envious and jealous? Because the self doesn’t want anybody to get ahead of it. Why are we bad tempered? Because of the un-surrendered self. Why are we impure? Because the self things it will get some enjoyment. Why are we gloomy? Because the self is pouting. These things are the fruit; the un-surrendered self is the root. These are the symptoms. The un-surrendered self is the disease. Don’t deal with the symptoms. Go to the root. Go to the un-surrendered self and say, ‘You’ve got me–I’m surrendering now’.”

“I don’t know what you are feeling and you may ask, ‘Is this done (surrendering the self) once and for all or do you have to do it daily?’ It is both. You give yourself once and for all. But there are little ‘alls’ that you have to surrender daily. I believer I gave Him my all, but I find a lot of little alls I have got to let Him have. Whether it is the once and for all–the big all that you have to surrender–or for these little alls, I don’t know but I think you’d like to end this meeting on your knees…Those who want to surrender themselves, would you come and meet me here at this place of prayer and we will have a prayer together and close the meeting on our knees. Will you come?”

I could only say, “Wow!” as I finished reading the sermon. I know I’ll be processing it throughout the day, and I hope I’ll be looking for ways to surrender this un-surrendered self in all those little ways today. I think I’ve got my work cut out for me…but, then there lies part of the problem. I should let the Holy Spirit do the work. It’s not for me to do. That’s part of the surrender I must make. So simply, yet so hard.

Until next time, keep looking up…

I’ve discovered one more reason I’m not the perfect pastor–Sunday dinner. Sunday dinner was a special time growing up. My grandmother almost always had Sunday dinner, and she almost never missed church to cook it. When church was over, we’d all head over to my grandmother’s house and there would generally be a decent crowd gathered to share the meal.

The menu was varied from week to week, with the entree usually being one of three: fried chicken, pot roast or smothered round steak. Occasionally, she would slip in homemade chicken ravioli, and in the wintertime, she would make a pot of homemade vegetable beef soup. One of my personal favorites was homemade chicken spaghetti. We didn’t get chicken spaghetti often, maybe once a year, but I still remember that creamy white cheese sauce that clung so closely to the spaghetti. I remember the first time I ordered chicken and spaghetti at Monjuni’s. It was red! Wrong! But I digress…As good as my grandmother’s chicken spaghetti was, Zelda Johnson’s was better. Dang! My mouth is watering! I’m still digressing…

My grandmother always had an abundance of side dishes that were equally delectable: peas, butter beans, creamed corn, fried okra, fresh tomatoes (seasonally, of course), rice and gravy or mashed potatoes. And, who can forget the corn bread (either baked or fried hot water bread) or the fresh (as in homemade) yeast rolls. We mustn’t forget dessert, either. She always had homemade cakes, pies, brownies or cookies. Nothing was ever out of a can. Everything…and I mean everything, was homemade. It was a veritable feast, and it made the Sunday afternoon nap that much sweeter.

I miss those days. But I’m also blessed to have a wife that comes home after church and prepares Sunday dinner (most Sundays anyway). I suppose my grandmother ruined me for Sunday dinner, which brings me to the reason I’m not the perfect pastor. I dislike (I want to say “hate,” but I’m not sure it’s nice to say “hate”) going “out” to lunch on Sundays. I prefer going home and eating a sandwich to going to restaurants on Sunday. Sundays out at restaurants test my metal as a disciple. First, I’m usually pretty tired. Secondly, I’m hungry. Trust me, preaching three services on Sunday morning is not conducive to grabbing an apple or even a Snickers between services. I arrive at church at 6:30 a.m., on Sunday. It’s a long time between 6:30 and Noon, so though hunger is a relative thing, let’s just say I’m ready to eat. Tired and hungry don’t go well together. I can be cranky (I told you, I’m not the perfect pastor).

Pair tired and hungry with generally large crowds and perhaps even having to wait for a table (and, don’t even get me started on customer service), and it’s a recipe for me being less than personable. I don’t like being less than personable. Vanessa doesn’t like me being less than personable, either. I try to keep Vanessa happy. I fail sometimes. She loves me anyway. I am also reminded of Paul’s admonition, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17), and I think that being less than personable is not a good witness for Christ. I don’t like disappointing Jesus. I do sometimes. He loves me anyway. Seriously, it’s just better for me to avoid restaurants for Sunday dinner.

I’m really glad that my children and grandchildren like coming to my house. I’m really blessed that Vanessa doesn’t mind preparing lunch (most Sundays). I find great comfort in being surrounded with family on Sunday afternoons, sitting around the table, sharing stories, catching up, loving each other. When all the kids were home, many Sunday dinners were spent making fun of the things I said in the sermon, or more likely making fun of the WAY I said some things in the sermon (hey! at least they were listening). It gets loud at times (especially when everyone is here), but it’ll only be loud for a little while. There will come a day when they’ll grow up, have families of their own, and these Sunday dinners will only come sporadically. I don’t long for those days.

Yes, I know. It’s easy to be a disciple, to walk in holiness when we’re surrounded by people that love and encourage us. The greater challenge is to walk in holiness when the enemy is in full frontal assault. But, let’s not discount the wisdom in avoiding those situations in which we know the enemy will confront us. I am also reminded of Paul’s instruction to young Timothy: “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Timothy 2:22-24).

Of course, you do understand that I’m always open to an invitation to someone’s house for Sunday dinner. About the only thing better than coming home after church to Sunday dinner is being invited to experience Sunday dinner at someone else’s house! That way, I don’t have to do the dishes. Yet another reason I’m not the perfect pastor!

Until next time, keep looking up…

I preached from the prophet Micah for the first time in ministry this past Sunday. The reason I preached from Micah this Sunday as opposed to never having preached from Micah in 23+ years of ministry was a very pragmatic one: the lectionary passage for the Gospels was Matthew 5:1-12 (the Beatitudes), and I just preached an entire series on the Beatitudes back in the fall. As I prepared my preaching calendar, I thought to myself, “self, you’ve never preached from Micah.” So, I decided it was time. It was a hard sermon to write!

In the process of writing the sermon, I used a word that I’m uncertain as to whether I’ve ever used it in a sermon before–religiosity. Someone even made the remark after the sermon that they had a new word to add to their vocabulary, and would try to use it in a sentence this week (wonder how that’s going?). I’ve heard the word before (obviously), but I can’t recall ever using it in a sermon. Webster’s Dictionary defines “religiosity” as “the quality of being religious; religious feeling or sentiment; religiousness.” Makes sense, huh? I guess it really boils down to “how religious are you?”

Here’s how I used the word in the my sermon:

It’s interesting how the people answered. “Just what do you expect from us anyway? Is there ever anything we can do to please you? Really, we’re good Jews. We go to the Temple. We make our sacrifices. You want us to give more sacrifices? You want us to give our first-born? Is that what you want?” For them, they thought the “right stuff” was the outward demonstration of some religiosity. The problem was the outward religiosity wasn’t translating into a transformed world. It wasn’t translating into right relationships either with God or with the people around them.

I won’t bother to go into all the details of how I came to employ the word (twice in the same paragraph, mind you!). Suffice it to say, the Hebrews were demonstrating a public religion, but it wasn’t translating into a changed culture (sound familiar?). Imagine my surprise when I log on to the web this week and find an article dealing with “religiosity” in the United States. Coincidence? I don’t think so! The author actually employed the word twice in the same paragraph just like I did (am I sensing a new trend here?).

The article was reporting the findings of a Gallup poll for 2013 gauging the overall religiousness of the nation, and actually gave the rankings for the most and least religious states in the nation. Rankings were gauged on a continuum from being “very religious” to “not religious,” with those falling in the middle as “moderately religious.” You can see the entire article by clicking here. A “very religious” person was one who attends worship every week, or almost every week, and considers religion to be very important in their life. 41% of Americans consider themselves “very religious.” I wonder where those 41% are on most Sunday mornings. A full 29% of respondents considered themselves “not religious” (meaning they don’t attend services and don’t consider religion an important part of daily life), with another 29% classifying themselves as “moderately religious” (falling somewhere between the two extremes).

Honestly, I thought the number of non-religious people would be lower in the United States, and the number falling between the extremes higher, but the Gallup organization stated the numbers are virtually unchanged since they started tracking “religiosity” in 2008. So, the long and short of it is that the United States is a somewhat religious nation, and there are some places where religiosity is higher than others. For once, it was good to see Louisiana at the top of a list instead of the bottom, although it might actually be a dubious distinction, especially in light of the fact that we deal with such a high level of poverty and we find ourselves on the lower end of educational achievement. Perhaps the findings of the survey prove the point of my sermon.

The ten most religious states are:

Mississippi: 61 percent are very religious
Utah: 60 percent
Alabama: 57 percent
Louisiana: 56 percent
South Carolina: 54 percent
Tennessee: 54 percent
Georgia: 52 percent
Arkansas: 51 percent
North Carolina: 50 percent
Oklahoma: 49 percent
Kentucky: 49 percent

Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana (along with Utah–it’s the Mormon’s, you know) top the list, yet all three states struggle with poverty and all its companion social ills. I don’t know whether to find that disturbing, alarming, confusing or infuriating. Perhaps it’s some combination of all of them. I’m simply asking the question “Is our religion making any difference in the transformation of our culture?” That was pretty much the point of my sermon on Sunday. I must admit, though, the egg is on my face. This is not an indictment of everyone else. It’s an indictment of myself. I’m a “religious leader,” and if the people are largely unchanged, is it because I’m largely unchanged? If we’ve failed to transform the culture, is it because we’ve failed to submit ourselves to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit? Have I spent my life simply going through the motions, checking off a list of religious “do’s and don’ts” thinking this is what God wants from me? Dare I ask Him the question: What do you want from me, Lord?

I dare not ask Him that question. He might answer, and if He did, He might say, “It doesn’t matter what you do on Sunday, if you are not walking humbly with me Monday through Saturday.”

I might protest and say, “But Lord, I live in a Christian nation. I’ve spent the better part of my life proclaiming the Gospel to the world.” And He might say, “It doesn’t matter if you post the Ten Commandments on all your public buildings if only certain people get justice. It doesn’t matter that you stand up for prayer in schools, if you fail to pray at home and at work. It doesn’t matter if you are adamantly pro-life, if you refuse to provide the resources to keep them fed, healthy and educated once they’re born. It doesn’t matter that you protest loudly when somebody wants to take ‘In God We Trust’ off your currency, if your whole life is consumed with consuming, with acquiring, with buying the things those dollars can buy.”

I dare not ask Him because that’s exactly what He’s likely to say, and perhaps I don’t want to hear it because I know I might only be “moderately religious.” I might actually discover it’s not my “religiosity” that matters. It’s my relationship with Him. He transforms me, and the long and short of it is that I’ve not allowed Him to do His best work in me. Yet, one more indication of how much I need His grace–of why I’m not the perfect pastor.

Huh? Maybe I’ll just put the word “religiosity” out of my vocabulary. It might make life a lot easier for me.

Until next time, keep looking up…

 

 

I made the commitment not to see the inside of a restaurant for the month of January. I thought on this last day of the month that I’d report back how the month went.

Actually, I’ll confess…I went to four restaurants in January. One trip, Vanessa and I went with two colleagues, and it was a trip that we planned before I made the commitment. I suppose that counts, but it didn’t feel right to cancel on our friends. It WAS Mexican food, though! The other three trips to restaurants came in the span of three days in the middle of the month, and had to do with hosting a guest speaker that was in town. Feeding him around his speaking schedule necessitated restaurants, so I’m not going to beat myself up too much about those trips either. Besides, our guest speaker requested Burger King and KFC. Seriously, do those even count as restaurants?

There were a few benefits that came from not eating out so much in the month of January. First, I’m six pounds lighter now than I was at the beginning of the month. I’d like to think it was because I stepped up my work-outs at the gym, but that wouldn’t be totally truthful. I did meet with a trainer a couple of times and alter my work-out, but I haven’t worked out more. I’m still at my four-five days per week I’ve done since 2007, so I pretty much have to count the weight loss to not eating out so much.

Another benefit has been that our food “envelope” lasted much deeper into the month than usual. It costs a lot to eat out! We’ve saved a ton of money in the month of January on food costs. Vanessa also experimented with some recipes she’d been wanting to try. I suppose not eating out gave her more time to spend on pinterest because that’s where the recipes came from, but we did discover a couple of things we’ll have in the future. One was a chicken casserole that reminded me greatly of my grandmother’s famous chicken pie. If Vanessa hadn’t made that dish, I might be 7-8 pounds lighter this month. It was fantastic, and yes, I ate too much (this is not a blog about gluttony, so save your comments!).

Yet another benefit of the “no restaurant” commitment is that I freed up (as I figure it) about 25 hours to do other things. I read more. I worked more. I watched more TV (no redemption in that, I know). I sat on the couch with Vanessa more. How, you ask, did it free up that much time? You don’t really understand how much we were eating out. And, eating out takes a lot of time (unless you’re eating at Burger King or KFC). I’ve never been the fast food type. Most of it is just not that good. So, I figure it takes, on average, one hour to eat at a nice restaurant, and it was not unusual for me to eat out at least once a day, four or five days per week. If I figure drive time, too, that probably adds up to 25 hours or so. That’s a lot of time!

There was a drawback, though. Living in the church world, so much of what we do centers around food. I declined several invitations to eat with folks simply because it would involve restaurants. It’s not that I didn’t want to eat with them, but I wanted to see if I could keep the commitment. There is so much business that gets done over a meal, and there is a ton of pastoral care that can happen over a lunch meeting. I probably missed a few opportunities to accomplish both. Lunch or dinner is the best time to engage some of my leaders. Everyone’s schedule is so busy, but we all have to eat. It’s so convenient to schedule a lunch date or a dinner date to get some work done, or simply to build a relationship. I have missed that, for sure.

So, I’ve made it to the end of the month. Vanessa told me yesterday that she hasn’t missed the restaurants at all. I can’t say the same thing. There were a few times I wanted to throw in the towel. It’s almost like I was addicted to restaurants. I haven’t had Johnny’s Pizza in a month, I missed El Jaritto (we usually went once a week), and near the end of the month I was really craving some fried catfish. Luckily, my son and his family went to Catfish Charlie’s one evening, then stopped by my house afterwards. They had leftovers. They brought them in. Yes! I ate the leftovers. I got the yearning for catfish out of my system. That one almost made me break my commitment. Vanessa said eating my son’s leftovers counted as breaking the “no restaurant” commitment. I disagreed. I didn’t go to the restaurant, and I didn’t pay for the food. We just had to agree to disagree (and we still enjoyed our time sitting together on the couch).

I’ll also confess that I’ve missed the restaurants. I’ve missed the fellowship around the table. I’ve missed watching the people in the restaurants, and I’ve missed the food. But, I’ve proven that I don’t have to eat out all the time. I’ve proven that it can save us a ton of money, and it can obviously help the waist-line. But, I’ll still head back to the restaurants in February. I’ll probably get my fix by having lunch with church folks and colleagues, and Vanessa and I will probably eat out far less frequently than before (just because we proved we can).

Now, I’m really not sure why I’ve told you all this. Not sure you really care, but this is my blog, and one of the purposes of my blog is personal catharsis. Maybe that’s why I’ve written this morning (that, and I was up at 4 a.m., and didn’t want to work on a sermon). Maybe you can find something useful in my cathartic exercise. Maybe not.

Until next time, keep looking up…(and, wave when you see me in the restaurant!)

I am an early riser, and it’s early as I write this morning. I’m not up early this morning because I choose to be, but because the security company that monitors the church chose for me to be. The alarm (and subsequently my phone) went off at 3 a.m. My first response was “disregard.” I thought I would go back to sleep. I didn’t, which is probably best because the phone rang again at 3:20 a.m., and the word was the motion detector was alarming once again. This time, I asked them to send the police to check things out. They did. My phone rang a third time at 3:32 a.m. They needed me to come to the church. They discovered a door unlocked. That’s why I’m up this early today. Way too early, even for me. No need to let an opportunity pass, though.

Early is when I usually meet the Lord. There’s some biblical evidence that God gets up early, too. I get the sense from reading the Psalmist that God is waiting to meet us:

Psalm 5:3

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

I am a United Methodist, and proudly so, if as a United Methodist and a Christian I am allowed to use the word proud. I have been UM all my life, literally born into a Methodist family. Therefore, I love the United Methodist Church, and I am deeply concerned about its future.

For those who have been living on Mars (or for those who simply live there lives giving themselves to others so as to have no time to worry about such things), the UM Church has fallen on hard times in the past 45 years or so–hard times because the congregations are growing older and smaller, and if the trajectory for both continues, by 2050 (which isn’t that far away) there may actually not be a UM Church. That would be a shame.

Having served as a UM pastor for over 20 years, and having served as a mid-level judicatory official (that’s a District Superintendent!), I’ve been privy to some interesting conversations, and have been charged with reading lots of statistics, numbers and reasons for the continuing decline of the UM Church. I’ve discovered there are a lot of people who have a perspective on what’s wrong, and almost all of them have the recipe for what will fix the problem (or turn around the church, as it were). Some think the problem is theological. Some believe we’re too liberal, and the liberal theology is driving people away. Some think we’re not liberal enough, and if we could just be more open and accepting, more people would respond. Others think we’ve lost the evangelistic zeal that drove John Wesley, Francis Asbury and other early Methodist leaders to share the gospel of Jesus Christ (which is, itself, a theological problem), while still others think we don’t “take” Jesus anywhere (another theological issue).

My point is that the longer I sit in denominational meetings, the more I read commentary on the issue, the more I watch denominational agencies, the more I believe we’re looking for a magic pill. If we could just be more conservative theologically, things would begin to change. If we could just be more liberal theologically, things would begin to change. If we could just reach out to the poor better, things would begin to change. If we were more open to change, things would begin to change. If we could just reach young people, things would begin to change. If we could…you can fill in your own blank. There are a thousand solutions that have been offered to the problem, as if any and all of them are the magic pill that will cure all that ails our beloved denomination.

I bet you’re thinking by now that I am going to offer my own magic pill. That’d be a good guess, but you’d be wrong. I don’t have one. I wish it were that simple, and I really wish I were that smart, but it’s not simple, and I’m not that smart. I think there’s probably some truth in the problems, issues and solutions that have been offered, but no one thing will right a ship that’s been taking on water for 45 + years. To think otherwise is to oversimplify the issue. Now, that’s what I really think. I think the issue of denominational decline (among UM churches and others) is too complex to be boiled down to one issue, or one solution. There is no magic pill.

This point came home to me after spending another day in a denominational meeting, and after listening to, of all things, a TED talk. Are you familiar with TED talks? Here’s what it says on the TED website:

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference and TEDGlobal — TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.
TED conferences bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less). TED Website

The particular TED talk I watched was Benjamin Bratton, associate professor of visual arts at UC-San Diego, whose entire premise was that TED talks were oversimplistic, taking complex problems and offering simple solutions. Imagine using a TED talk to say TED talks are worthless. I wonder if that was over-simplistic? Dr. Bratton did say one thing that struck me, especially as I reflected on the denominational meeting I had just sat through. He said:

“If we really want transformation, we have to slog through the hard stuff (history, economics, philosophy, art, ambiguities, contradictions). Bracketing it off to the side to focus just on technology, or just on innovation, actually prevents transformation. Instead of dumbing-down the future, we need to raise the level of general understanding to the level of complexity of the systems in which we are embedded and which are embedded in us.” 

Bratton, of course, was speaking of technology and innovation, but I believe it applies to transformation of the church, too. The issues surrounding institutional decline are simply too complex (like my play on words?) to be dumbed down to a magic pill. We can start with the lack of trust in the authority of institutions themselves. This lack of trust is reflected not only in the church, but also in our government institutions. No one trusts the church anymore, and no one really trusts the government, either. We can point to the turbulent (some would say “revolutionary”) times of the 1960’s as the time when this lack of trust made an entrance, but I believe it precedes even those years. The Church has done nothing to foster trust among the general population when you consider the television evangelist scandals of the 1980’s and the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in more recent years. The growing lack of trust in society in general has extended its reach into the Church. How do we address that in a simple way? Well, we could start by changing our behavior, but that might seem too simple.

Adding to the complexity of the problem is the idea that people now consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious.” A recent Gallup poll identified as many as 33% of the population now calls themselves “spiritual, but not religious,” meaning they are choosing to live out their spirituality in more independent ways, creating their own “buffet” of beliefs and behaviors that are rooted more in ideas of American individualism and libertarianism than in theological distinctives. They no longer need the institution of the church to help shape them theologically or spiritually. They do it themselves because it’s their faith.

Another layer of complexity is added when we consider that people are discovering community is more and more places than ever before. In the “glory days” of church growth, community was defined by life in the schools and life in the church. Children and their families went to school and they went to church. Those were the primary activities of the community. Now, there are sports leagues, extracurricular activities, social gatherings, work-related communities, on-line communities, and on and on the list could go. A growing number of people, including a growing number of those who identify themselves as Christians are finding community (as in human relationship) outside the Church. The world doesn’t need the Church to form community, and that’s a problem.

Adding yet another layer of complexity is the fact that the Church seems to be living without much of a purpose. For hundreds of years the Church was responsible for building schools, hospitals, clinics, orphanages and other social institutions that helped transform society. There was a focus to the work of the Church, and there was a way to engage the community in helpful and meaningful ways. The government and private enterprise have taken the place of the church in leading social change and transformation, and with almost every increase in taxes on the government’s part has brought a decline in charitable giving to the Church. Why does the church need to do what the government is already doing? That’s a rhetorical question. I know why, but those who are outside the church (and even some within) ask that question. How many hospitals have we United Methodists sold to private enterprise or closed? How many institutions of higher education have we United Methodists closed in recent years? Those are not rhetorical questions, but having to ask seems to indicate that we’ve lost a sense of meaning and purpose. Sure, we buy lots of mosquito nets, but there are lots of parachurch organizations doing that, too. Who needs the church to buy mosquito nets? Don’t answer that. It’s rhetorical.

And, don’t even get me started on the whole faith-based organization/government partnership thing. While I think it might be great in theory, it may be one of the most telling ways the Church has ceded its vision to something outside itself. The reality is if an entity takes government money, the entity must do it the governments way. Not to mention the fact there’s this little thing called sin, and how many news stories have we heard about “churches” that have been closed, or “pastors” who have been arrested for misusing funds. Those partnerships become nothing more than means of enriching the people who ran the programs, and that’s sad.

I could probably add another layer of complexity to the situation of church anemia if I were to write about the explosion of parachurch organizations and other non-profits. There is a non-profit agency or organization for every need in the community (sometimes three or four or more). These agencies do good work, no doubt about it, but many of them are doing work the Church used to do, and they are drawing volunteers away from the Church in the process. This is not a complaint because they are, in fact, (mostly) doing good work, and many Christians are serving in and supporting these organizations, but it is another example of how the vision, focus and resources of the Church are further divided.

I’ve written way too much this morning. All I’ve written probably wouldn’t fit in a TED talk, not that I’d ever be invited to give a TED talk–I haven’t offered any simple solutions or meaningful innovation to the issue at hand. I haven’t offered any because I’m not sure there are any. Sure, we must be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we must continue to proclaim that there is no other name given than by which we might be saved, but even that has become incredibly complex in such a pluralistic world. It’s a hard job, but somebody’s gotta’ do it. I pray I’ll be found faithful to the task when Jesus returns.

Sorry I wrote so much. I probably made something simple more complex than it needed to be. I keep looking for that magic pill that will make everything right, but I’ve yet to find it. I’m sure someone reading this blog will discover what it is and share it with me.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Today is Epiphany.  What does that mean to most people? Not much, at all, but for Orthodox, Catholics, and now, many Protestant Christians, it is the 12th day of Christmas and signifies the “manifestation” or “revealing” of God in human flesh in Jesus Christ. It is also the day that tradition says the “three” (?) wise men (?) visited the baby Jesus.

I put the question marks in the previous sentence because it is questionable the number of persons who visited the Christ child, and if, in fact, “wise men” is the proper designation for those who visited. Forget the suggestion that there is no such thing as a wise man. I recall someone asking the question “What if it had been wise women who visited the baby Jesus?” The answer?

• They would have stopped and asked for directions so they would have arrived on time.
• They would have helped deliver the baby.
• They would have taken the time to clean the stable.
• They would have prepared a casserole.
• And, they would have brought cute little outfits for the baby Jesus to wear home.

I’m not writing to unravel all that tradition and legend tell us about the wise men. Suffice it to say that we know more about them from tradition and legend than from scripture, and that can be perilous if we’re not careful. One thing we know for certain is that these “magi” came bearing gifts, and from them we get our tradition of gift-giving during the Christmas season.

I preached yesterday about gifts. I talked about the various types of gifts that we give and receive. I think it was John Maxwell who first defined three types of gifts: 1) gift for a gift, gift, 2) gift for a favor, gift, and 3) grace gifts. First, there’s the gift for a gift, gift. You get me a gift, so I need to get you a gift, too. Next, there’s the gift for a favor gift. That’s all about spreading around IOU’s. We expect something in return, just not necessarily a gift.

The grace gift is different. It can’t be repaid because it can’t be earned. This was God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus was the first grace gift. It is ironic that the wise men came bearing gifts to He who was the gift himself, and though we talk about the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, the real gift they brought to Jesus was the gift of their worship and adoration–it was ultimately, the gift of themselves.

As those who seek to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, is not the greatest gift we can give the gift of ourselves? While the gift of ourselves seems so intangible, may I suggest there are tangible ways in which this giving may be lived out. First, the gift of ourselves to Christ can be lived out through our worship. Gathering together regularly with the body of Christ as a means of acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus Christ may be the most significant gift we have to offer Jesus. Why? Because it takes our time  and our intentionality, and in a world filled with events and activities clamoring for our attention, we must be intentional in making the commitment to offer our worship, praise and adoration to the One who offered Himself to us. Time is the most precious commodity any of us possess, and to take that precious time to gather together regularly makes an incredible statement to the world, and to ourselves. Corporate worship is a tangible gift we bring to Christ. Prayer, bible study, meditation, and fasting are other tangible ways in which we offer ourselves to Christ. These, too, take a commitment of time and intention on our part, but these are grace gifts that we offer to Christ because He has offered Himself to us.

May I offer one other tangible way we offer ourselves to Christ? Through service. When we offer ourselves to others in service, we are actually offering ourselves to Christ, too. And, there are tangible ways we do this, too. The Perceptions I recorded on Friday, January 3rd, says it this way:

     BUILDING HOMES FOR “HABITAT FOR HUMANITY.” VOLUNTEERING AT A HOSPITAL. VISITING A SHUT-IN OR A NURSING HOME. PARTICIPATING AS A BIG BROTHER OR SISTER. GETTING INVOLVED IN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, HELPING “AT RISK” CHILDREN LEARN TO READ. DONATING BOOKS TO A PUBLIC LIBRARY. WRITING LETTERS OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS. DRIVING FOR “MEALS ON WHEELS.” COACHING A LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL, BASKETBALL, OR FOOTBALL TEAM. SINGING IN A CHOIR. THANKING A PERSON WHO HAS BEEN A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION TO YOU. TELLING A TEENAGER THAT THEY HAVE A LOT TO OFFER. SEWING A WARMING BLANKET FOR A CHEMOTHERAPY PATIENT. GIVING A YOUNG PERSON MUSIC LESSONS.
     NONE OF THESE THINGS COST MONEY, BUT THEY DO TAKE SOME OF OUR TIME. IT IS A NEW YEAR AND A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR SOMEONE ELSE. AND IT’S REALLY TRUE – HELPING OTHERS IS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO HELP OURSELVES. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!

Gift-giving isn’t just for the Christmas season. Generosity should be part and parcel of our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Let’s begin 2014 with a commitment to give ourselves to Jesus and to one another, and let it be a daily offering.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Today begins a new year. But, you know that, and if you don’t, you’ve got bigger issues. I love the New Year’s holiday. I’m not so sure it’s not my favorite holiday next to Easter. No, it has nothing to do with the black-eyed peas and cabbage. It has to do with the inherent grace I find in changing the calendar. Not only is it a new day…it’s a new year! The New Year represents an opportunity to start over, to begin again…it offers us a new beginning. Certainly, much of the previous year goes with us, but there is an equal amount of opportunity ahead of us. It is wonderfully akin to the working of God’s grace in our lives. Certainly, all that was our life pre-Christ still influences us, and even, in some respects defines who we have been, but as God does His transforming work in our lives, all that is past remains in the past, and we are offered new life, new opportunities, and yes, new beginnings. 

I think that’s what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NIV).

Of course, the New Year is also when we reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the new. I’ve stated before I’ve resolved to make no resolutions because I always break them. I do have a few things I want to do better with in my life, so rather than make a resolution, I’m going to make them goals, and I’m even going to write them down here so someone (anyone, please!) can hold me accountable. I’m not very good at holding myself accountable. It’s too easy to make excuses to myself. I really do buy my own lies. I fool myself very easily. I’m not a very good accountability partner for myself. Besides, I heard someone say something that made sense to me this week: “A goal is not a goal until it’s written down. Otherwise, it’s just a dream.” I have lots of dreams. I need a few goals.

So, here are a few of my goals for 2014:

1. I am setting a goal to blog more. Blogging takes time. I’ve fooled myself into believing I don’t have time to blog, but I’m remembering how cathartic it is to journal from time to time. I may not blog every day, but once a week would be a manageable goal.
2. I am setting a goal to be restaurant free for the month of January. Honestly, this may be a much harder goal than the blogging once a week. It’s incredibly easy to meet folks “for lunch” to conduct pastoral visits or tend to administrative matters. Seriously, everyone has to eat, and if you can multi-task in the process, even better. Vanessa and I eat out way too much. It’s easy to walk in the house after a day of ministry and say, “Let’s go get something to eat.” Vanessa has been home most of the day, and she’s usually ready to get out of the house, too, so we load up and head out. I’ll be interested to see how it affects our bottom line and my waist line (which brings me to my third goal).
3. I am setting a goal of losing 40 pounds in 2014. That’s right! I said it! 40 pounds! I’ve been in Monroe for 2.5 years, and in that time I’ve gained 15 pounds. There are a number of reasons I’ve gained that much weight. One, as a District Superintendent, I attended very few meetings where food was not involved. One of the things the Cabinet does best is eat, and we all know that restaurants are not very healthy places to eat. A second reason is we’re back close to Mom and Mom’s cooking. You know how it is, right? You go home. Mom’s taken the time to prepare all this food. You feel guilty for not eating it. After all, she might be offended, and who wants to offend their Mom? Not me! So, I eat. Thirdly, I’m not running nearly as much as I once was. I was averaging 20-25 miles per week for a long time. Now, I’m blessed if I get in 15 miles in a week. It was okay for me to say when I was running 20-25 miles a week that “I run that much so I can eat anything I want.” Not so much when I’m only making 15 miles on a good week, because I’m still eating like I was running 25.

Yeah, I know. I should set some goals around spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation, but I find those a bit more difficult to quantify (that’s probably one of the reasons I’m not the perfect pastor). Yes, I want to read the Bible more, but who doesn’t. Seriously, though. I read the Bible a lot already. Define “a lot”? Well, every day. I read devotionally, and I read for study as I prepare for worship and other related activities. Sometimes, I’ll read whole chapters. A few times I’ll read a whole book. Other times, I’ll read only a few verses. I come to the end of 2013 and I think I haven’t read enough. As I look to 2014, I think I should read more. It’d be a discipline. But I’m not quite sure how to quantify “more.” Can you feel me?

Then, there’s prayer. I should always have a goal of praying more. I should write it down (or did I just do that?), but then again, how do I define “more”? I pray a lot, and even as I say that, I’m thinking I don’t pray enough. I begin each day with a devotional prayer. Sometimes it’s long. Sometimes not. I end each day with a prayer of gratitude and a prayer for grace. Some are long, others are short. I pray with people throughout the day. I say “breath prayers” continuously. Still, I feel like I should pray more, that I should be more disciplined in the ways that I pray. But I’m not quite sure how to quantify it to write it down. Perhaps you have a suggestion for this not-so-perfect pastor.

I could go on, but the clock is ticking, and I’ve got things to do as the New Year kicks off. I’ve got to get busy achieving these goals and I have to do it now (there’s another goal I should have–learning and practicing patience–but HOW could I ever quantify that?). At least I’ve already accomplished one of my goals (to blog more–it’s been a long time since the last post on here!). That was pretty easy. Let’s see how long it lasts.

Until next time, keep looking up…