hope

Not Nearly Enough…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

A friend asked me a question this week. It was a simple question asked in sincerity, but it challenged me in a way I haven’t been challenged since I left full-time ministry.

What was the question? “How common in your career did you see pastors and leaders teaching entire sanctification?”

I had to think real hard the last time I heard a sermon on entire sanctification. Honestly, I couldn’t remember one. Honestly, I had to check my sermon file to see if I had ever preached one. Luckily, I found ONE sermon in my file. Entire sanctification is obviously something that was never high on my list of priorities to preach and teach.

Well, if it was impossible for me to remember if I had preached a sermon on entire sanctification, it was impossible to remember hearing one. I could only answer my friend with, “In The United Methodist Church, rarely!”

Perhaps that is what is wrong with The United Methodist Church (or any other Wesleyan denomination). The doctrine of entire sanctification lies at the heart of Wesleyan theology, and yet we (meaning me) rarely heard it preached (or preached it) from a Wesleyan pulpit.

Sure, we mentioned it (or heard it mentioned) in passing, but we never dug deeply into it or spent too much time on it. Let’s face it. When we pastors and laity went to Annual Conference, we didn’t get deep dives into Wesleyan theology. We got motivational speeches and rah-rah talks about best practices in ministry that we could take back to our congregations.

Same thing when we attended leadership conferences. Seriously, how many preachers (and laity) would ever sign up for a conference entitled “Sanctification Summit?” Nah! Not many. Instead, we’d rather flock to conferences with names like “Refuel,” or “The Global Leadership Summit,” or “Disciple Making Summit,” or the “Orange Conference” (what do oranges have to do with ministry?). After all, we want to grow our churches. I mean, isn’t that the point?

Entire Sanctification

Unless you’re a pastor in the Wesleyan tradition, you’re probably asking yourself, “What does he mean by entire sanctification?” I’m glad you asked.

Rev. John Wesley

Sanctification is a $3 theological word that means “holiness.” Well, if we don’t like the word sanctification, we probably like the word holiness even less. Me? Holy? Never! Yet, holiness is at the heart of John Wesley‘s theology, and we Wesleyans ought to be teaching it! Maybe that’s the key to our church growth? Maybe holiness is what will make the church stand out from the culture?

For most folks, holiness is reserved for monks, missionaries, mystics and martyrs, not everyday Mark and Mary. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was Chuck Colson who said, “Holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. It evidences itself in the decisions we make and things we do, hour by hour, day by day.”

Colson is correct, and his statement echoes the words of the Apostle Paul written to the Church at Thessolinica two thousand years ago. God’s will for our lives is holiness. Paul says so right there in chapter 4, verse 3: God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. The NIV translates it this way: It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. The KJV says it this way: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.

Avoiding Holiness

One reason we shy away from holiness as a way of life is because of the “holier-than-thou” crowd. Actually, “holier-than-thou” is not really holiness at all. In Jesus’ day, the “holier-than-thou” crowd turned out to be the Pharisees—arrogant, prideful and self-righteous. Certainly not the traits Jesus would applaud and want his disciples to emulate. Rather, it was the Pharisees for whom Jesus reserved his most scathing condemnations.     

Another reason we might shy away from the word holiness is the word’s close association with the “holiness” movements of the late-19th century, and the Pentecostal and charismatic movements of the mid-to-late 20th century (which actually had their genesis in the Wesleyan tradition).

The extremes of those movements gave too many people in the church permission to separate themselves from holiness. Use whatever excuse we may to lay claim to our own unholiness, it doesn’t change the fact that God’s will for our lives is for us to be holy.

Perhaps a third reason we shy away from the teaching of holiness (entire sanctification) is because we confuse it with “perfection.” We think we have to be perfect, and after all, no one is perfect (boy! don’t I know that to be true?). How can I teach what I am not? How can I be what is impossible to be? Well, let’s go back to Wesley…

The Heart of John Wesley’s Theology

John Wesley helps us understand better in his A Plain Account of Christian Perfection. Holiness is not sinless perfection. Unconscious sin will always remain. No matter what level of holiness we attain, there will always be more room to grow. This fact helps us live in humility. It’s like Jesus would tell the Pharisees, “Take the log out of your own eye before you complain about the speck in your neighbor’s.” Knowing we have further room to grow keeps us from the holier-than-thou attitude.

Wesley would further say that holiness (or perfection) does not mean freedom from errors or mistakes. We’ll always have inaccurate perceptions, deal with deceptive apperances, have clouded memories and distorted opinions based on faulty information. It does not mean the sin nature has been eradicated. The seed of the sin nature still exists, and abiding outside of God’s grace leads to the sin nature conquering us.

And, Lord help us, holiness is not about freedom from temptations. As a matter of fact, Satan’s attacks will likely increase because he thinks he’s losing control.     

Well, if holiness is not that, what is it? For Wesley, as for the Apostle Paul, it is a heart full of love—love for God and love for neighbor. According to Paul, if we love God and love our neighbor, it changes our conduct. As our love for others increases, God establishes our hearts blameless in holiness. Our holiness is reflected in the way we treat others.

Waiting for Sanctification

Wesley, in his sermon The Scripture Way of Salvation would say it thusly:

“It is thus that we wait for entire sanctification; for a full salvation from all our sins, –from pride, self-will, anger, unbelief; or, as the Apostle expresses it, ‘”‘go unto perfection.'”‘ But what is perfection The word has various senses: here it means perfect love. It is love excluding sin; love filling the heart, taking up the whole capacity of the soul. It is love ‘”‘rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, in everything giving thanks’.”

“…we wait for entire sanctification…”

We wait. Sanctification is not an overnight thing. Sanctification is growing in grace. Sanctification is a moment-by-moment, day-by-day decision on our part. Yes, it is done through the power of the Holy Spirit, by the surrender of our will to His, but surrender is done daily by our choice–that’s called “free will.”

Attaining and Maintaining

Don’t think you can attain holiness (entire sanctification)? Oh, I think you underestimate the power of grace. Also, how uncouth would it be for the Lord to ask something of us that He knew we couldn’t achieve?

John Wesley said it this way: “Christ died to deliver sinners from not only the guilt but also the power of sin.” Our salvation (which is God’s will for our lives) would be an incomplete salvation unless it delivered us from sin’s power as well as sin’s penalty. God never intended the cross to address only the “judicial” matters of our sin. God equally intended the cross to reshape those who believe toward the holiness to which He calls us.

Salvation is the simplest thing to attain, but it is the hardest thing to maintain. It is in the maintaining that we reach what Wesley termed “entire sanctification, for a full salvation from our sins…” Salvation is attained through the simple act of believing. Salvation is maintained through the difficult act of obedience. Believing and obeying both demand surrender.

Full salvation is a long time coming, but salvation is attained and maintained as a child. As a child trusts to attain and as a child obeys to maintain, but maintaining is so much harder than attaining.

So, how often have we taught entire sanctification? Not nearly often enough. How often should we teach entire sanctification? Well, if we’re truly Wesleyan, a whole lot more often than we have.

Well, that just what I think, but I’m not the perfect pastor, which is probably why I haven’t preached and taught full salvation more often. Maybe by His grace, I’ll do better.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Perhaps the Problem is Us…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

Sometimes, I struggle on these Sunday mornings to find something to write. Other times, I have too much that I want to write and have a hard time knowing what to cull. Today is one of the latter times.

There is an abundance of subjects that I have decided opinions on, but I know I can’t write something on all of them. Based on the stats of these blogs, I can discern that most people want short, quick reads. Sorry. Today probably won’t accommodate you. You are forewarned!

Facebook Jail

I’ll begin by saying that Facebook let my wife out of Facebook jail, so I’ll probably remain on the platform. For those of you who may not know, Facebook put my pretty wife in Facebook jail for a second time.

Seriously, she only posts Bible verses, pics of grandchildren and household projects, but some of the Facebook arbiters found them to be against community standards, so they suspended her. After an appeal, she was reinstated. Guess I’ll stay on a while longer.

That’s probably a good thing. Most folks find the blog through Facebook, although a good number do get email alerts when I publish. I suppose I should try to build my subscriber base by encouraging folks to sign up with email, but I’m not trying to “monetize” the blog so it doesn’t much matter.

However, should you want to receive a notification when I publish, you can like and subscribe below and you’ll be able to find me apart from Facebook.

Now, on to other things on my mind…

Politics is Life

Politics is “top of mind” (as the en vogue saying goes) for almost everyone these days, and so it is for me. This year’s election is seventy-one days away and there is both anticipation and anxiety as that day approaches. We go to the polls seeking to change the direction of the nation, or to stay the course because the circumstances of the nation are such that the majority is pleased with the direction the leadership has set.

This year, we will not “stay the course” necessarily, for we will elect a new president. Some people believe electing one particular candidate will, in essence, be staying the course, though that candidate is doing much to draw distinctions between herself and her predecessor. Others believe electing the other candidate will lead the nation in a new, more prosperous direction.

I’m a bit of a political junkie myself. I don’t try to hide that fact. I don’t (well, not often anyways) make my political views known. You won’t see me (often) posting political articles on social media, promoting particular candidates or particular parties. We’re all in this together and part of our problem is not being able, or willing, to put aside our differences in order to overcome the divisiveness our system finds itself in.

This election cycle is an historic time for our nation. As in the election cycle of 2008 when we elected our nation’s first African-American president, we may this cycle, elect our nation’s first female president. Some say, “It’s been a long time coming,” while others say, “This is not the woman we need to elect.”

The anxiety of the moment is heightened by the cultural circumstances we are experiencing as a nation. Consider these circumstances—a stock market, that while reaching new heights, its volatility is shown by the constant swings from one day to the next, a world economy that still languishes mostly in recession, job market volatility and when we factor in the shifts in cultural values over the past few years, there’s no wonder anxiety is up.

My generation is concerned whether Social Security will be around for our retirement. Healthcare costs, in spite of an overhaul of the system, continue to rise. We have 35 trillion dollars of debt as of this past Friday morning. The Middle East is on fire, there is a war in Ukraine and China is threatening Taiwan. Do we believe a new president will change any of these circumstances?

Perhaps that’s not the appropriate question. Perhaps the appropriate question is “Whom or what do we trust?” Is our trust in a political party? Is our trust in a candidate for president or the government? I am reminded of the words of King David (that’s right KING David) writing in Psalm 20:7—

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Ps. 20:7 NIV).

As those who are called to follow Jesus Christ, our hope is in Him and in Him alone. We are citizens of the United States, but we are disciples of Jesus Christ, and if our hope is in the government or a political candidate, it is a misdirected hope.

A Biblical Example

When the nation of Israel left Egyptian bondage and became a nation, Moses and then Joshua was their national leader. They weren’t elected, but rather chosen by God for leadership of the nation. Afterward, God led with a group of judges over the people. There were twelve tribes with different leaders yet they were not united. They had problems working together.

The leadership they did have was corrupt and made poor choices, so the people demanded that God give them a new leader. They wanted a king like all the other nations around them. When things were not going well, the people thought what they needed most was a change in leadership, a new administration, a new structure of government. The people thought: 

“If we just get this new leader everything will be okay. He’ll solve all of our problems. He will protect us from our enemies, he will bring a sense of unity among our divided people (bipartisanship?), he will stabilize our economy, he will provide a new direction, he will provide the change we need.”

Sound familiar? Certainly! Every presidential candidate promises it.

God had a response to the nation in those days. Listen to what God told the prophet Samuel, who was the judge of the nation at the time:

7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights. (1 Samuel 8: 7 – 9 NLT)

God said the reason people put their hope in new leadership to solve their problems is because they rejected God as their leader. They no longer looked to God as their hope. Sounds a lot like us…

I feel relatively certain Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, believe they will do their best to lead our nation through these challenging times. But, both candidates are human beings and that means they’re flawed…just like the rest of us. God told Samuel to make sure the people knew any leader they chose would have flaws. Did they ever!

The Problem as I See It

The problem wasn’t with the leaders. The problem was with the people. As we survey the landscape of our nation, the problem is not the economy or the culture. The problem is not with terrorism or health care, with crime or poverty. The problem is sin.

We can’t lay the problem at the door of the White House, or the state house. We can’t lay the problem at the door of the courthouse or the school house. We must lay the problem at the door of the church house, and at the door of our house. Simply put, the government can’t fix that problem.

Sin works itself out in many ways. Pride comes to mind. The government can’t fix pride.

Self-centeredness comes to mind. The government can’t fix self-centeredness. Almost no one votes against self-interest. We elect representatives to represent OUR interests. We want representatives who will bring home the bacon to our district, never mind that the interests of our district may stand in direct opposition to the interests of a neighboring district. If they don’t bring home the bacon, we get new representatives. 

The government can’t fix greed. We want more and bigger stuff. We mortgage the future to have stuff we want now. As one cliché states it, “We buy stuff we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” The government can’t fix that! Oh, the government can (apparently?) forgive student loan debt, but it can’t change the inner desire for more and bigger and better stuff.

The government can’t fix gluttony. We’re concerned about the escalating costs of health care, yet we continue to overindulge in every guilty pleasure. I’m preaching to myself now. We make poor health choices, fail to exercise and live healthy lives and then want the government to deal with the obesity problem, and heart problems and circulation problems. Don’t shout me down, please! I’m simply pointing out the obvious. 

I love you, but the problem is not with the government. The problem is with us. Our problem is a spiritual problem. Sin comes when we reject God, when we do what is right in our own eyes.

Hope in the Darkness

Perhaps I’ve painted a dark picture with a broad brush, but there is hope. There is a prescription for what ails us. Both political parties talks about the need for change, and promises change, but real change won’t happen with a new leader or new legislation. Real, lasting change will occur when God’s people choose to trust God and turn to Him.

I’m reminded of a most famous Old Testament passage from 2 Chronicles this morning. At the time the passage was written Israel was at its zenith. They had just finished all of King Solomon’s building projects with the high point being the Temple in Jerusalem.

It was a time of great prosperity and peace, and national pride was running high. It was during the dedication of the temple that God gives a warning. God said when the rain doesn’t fall and the locusts eat your crops—in other words—when the nation does into a downturn, this is what needs to happen:

14  “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT)

The prescription for us and our nation is prayer.

The Temple was to be a reminder of God’s sacred presence among the people.

Were we to read all of King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple, we would discover the importance of the practice of prayer in maintaining the nation’s covenant relationship with God. Solomon, and later Isaiah, understood the Temple was “a house of prayer for all nations” (Is. 56:7), and Jesus, himself echoed that sentiment when he drove the moneychangers from the Temple upon his entry into Jerusalem.

Right relationship with God, whether in the Old or New Testament, is rooted in prayer. Understand though, that prayer is not effective because of our righteousness, but because of the power possessed by the One to whom prayer is offered.

What was once true of a building in Jerusalem is now true of a body…the body of Christ, the Church. The Apostle Paul states it this way: 

19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19 – 20 NLT)

We bring glory to God when we pray. We cannot pray without humility. Humility is nothing more than acknowledging our dependence upon God.

F.B. Meyer said, “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above the other, and that the taller we grew in Christian character the easier we could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the other. It is not a question of growing taller, but of stooping down, to get His best gifts.”

Humility brings us to God, and our coming gives Him glory.

There is no effective prayer without devotion. That’s what it means to “seek” God’s face. Worship, generosity and service are tangible ways we show our devotion. It also means seeking God’s will for every area of our lives, and passing the faith to our families and communities.

There also is no effective prayer without repentance. Both the Old and New Testament words for repentance mean “to turn.” It means a change of direction from sin and toward God—an about-face, if you will.

Repentance is a faith response to God’s offer of forgiveness. We believe God will forgive, therefore we turn to him. When we repent of our sin—our pride, our self-centeredness, our greed, our gluttony and our idolatry—then, we’ll see the power of God revealed in Jesus Christ. We’ll find the help for which we search.

Prayer has the power to fix our problems because prayer brings us into the sacred presence of God Almighty, and it is God’s power in Jesus Christ that heals and forgives and reconciles all that is broken…in this nation…in every nation…     

Here’s our challenge: to humble ourselves before God, seek His face and repent of all that separates us from Him and from each other.

Join me as I pray for our nation, for the election and those leaders who have offered themselves to lead us.

That’s as neutral as I can be these days, though I believe the cultural moment demands that the disciple of Jesus Christ be something other than Switzerland.

This post is already too long and I’ve still got too many things I want to write. I’ll just stop now by reiterating: Pray, pray, pray!

The problem really is with us.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Finding the Perfect Church…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

It’s been FIVE years since I stepped away from full-time vocational ministry. For parts of those five years my wife and I were church “homeless.” That’s right! We didn’t have a church home. We became church shoppers…looking for the perfect church.

The sad thing? We haven’t found one. The sadder thing? I uttered a lot of the same excuses I heard other people utter in my 28+ years in vocational ministry.

Making Excuses

Perhaps you’ve heard some of these excuses. Perhaps you’ve made some of these excuses if you’ve ever been church “homeless.” Perhaps you’re saying some of these things right now if you’re currently church “homeless.” What are those excuses?

  • “This church is too small…”
  • “This church is too large…”
  • “There aren’t any children here…”
  • “There are too many children here…”
  • “The youth group is too small…”
  • “The youth group is too large…”
  • “The youth pastor is too (well, there are a lot of things we can say about youth pastors!)…”
  • “There’s no youth group…”
  • “I don’t like contemporary music…”
  • “I don’t like traditional music…”
  • “The music is too loud…”
  • “There are too many old people…”
  • “The pastor’s sermons aren’t good…”
  • “The pastor doesn’t know me…”
  • “I don’t like the pastor…”
  • “I’m not being fed…”

That is certainly not an exhaustive list of excuses I’ve heard through the years. You could add your own. The problem with church shopping is that it betrays an appropriate understanding of what the church is, and it feeds into our consumer mentality–the fact that we have become “consumers” of religion.

Going to church should not be like going shopping. I’m going to church to find what I need and I’ll keep shopping until I find it. Looking for a church that “I” like is one of the most selfish endeavors on the planet. Oh, and it is also one of the most un-biblical, too!

Reasons to “Church Shop”

Actually, there are very few reasons we should be church “homeless.”

One reason is because we’ve moved to a new community. A job or career change takes us to a new community and we’re forced to move away from our current church home.

Another reason is a change in our relationship status, i.e., we got married or divorced or remarried. The change in relationship affords a new opportunity to go to church with the other, or to begin again with the other.

Yet another reason to leave a church is because the church has abandoned orthodoxy. This is the primary reason that Vanessa and I were church homeless. I don’t intend to get into a discussion here about orthodoxy or my former church home. That can be for another time, but suffice it to say we believed (and still believe) that our former church home abandoned the “faith once delivered to all the saints.” We could be wrong (I often am!), but apparently a lot of other people agree with me.

I’ve gone a long way out of the way to say, “Stop looking for the perfect church. You’re not going to find it!” What’s the old saying? If you find the perfect church, don’t go! You’ll mess it up! Actually, that’s not true. You can’t mess up what’s already messed up. There is NO perfect church. Looking for one missed the point entirely.

The Uncomfortable Church

When we look for the perfect church, we usually mean the perfect church for us. We mean we want a church that meets my needs. We want to be with people who generally look like us, who generally act like us, who generally make the same amount of money as we do, who are in the current life stage we are in, etc. What we really mean is we want a church where we can feel comfortable.

Guess what? Church is not about our comfort. Guess what? We’re supposed to be uncomfortable in church! We’re supposed to be uncomfortable with our sin because we are in the presence of a holy God.

We’re supposed to be uncomfortable because there are people in church who aren’t like me. We’re supposed to be uncomfortable in church because the teaching challenges me to be transformed.

We’re supposed to be uncomfortable in church because I’m being asked to surrender myself…my wants…my likes…my dislikes…my desires…all of me…to Jesus and to one another.

Dang! All of that makes me uncomfortable. Welcome to the perfect church!

I kind of think that’s what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote the Ephesian church in its infancy:

12 …remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  (Ephesians 2: 12 – 16 NIV)

Making Us One in Christ

One humanity out of the two. What two? Jews and Gentiles. Let’s face it. In the first century, Jews and Gentiles did not like each other very much (understatement!). Yet, they were called by Christ to be together…to worship together…to serve together…to love God together…and…wait for it…to love one another together. Talk about out of their comfort zone! That’s exactly where Christ is calling us to be and it is exactly what Christ is calling us to do.

Imagine how evangelistic it is for the world to see people who are normally at each other’s throat worshipping and serving together. The world sees it and they wonder, “How can that be?” It is through this imperfect church that the world (and we) see how powerful and amazing His grace is to save a bunch of people who really don’t like each other.

Don’t go looking for a church online. Yeah, I know. We look for the Google reviews when we’re looking for a church home. Why go to a four-star church when you can find a five-star one? Let me remind you that church health can’t be measured by Google reviews.

Yes, I know that when you’re shopping for a new church home that you’ve already watched the sermons online and you’ve perused the church website or Facebook page. It’s what we do.

Do you really want to grow in Christ? Then, how about go to the church that doesn’t have an online presence? Yeah, preacher, you’re really stretching it now!

Do you really want to grow in Christ? Then how about look for the church home that you’ll probably like the least…that is least like you. Perhaps that is where real growth will occur, and maybe…just maybe…that’s because it is as Jesus intended it.

Yeah, I don’t know, either. I’m really just processing my own church homelessness over the past five years. Perhaps my processing it will help others get off the couch and find their new church home and will give them pause while they do. Then again, maybe not.

Finding a new church home is not about “me.” It is about finding Jesus, loving Him and loving one another. THAT is the perfect church.

Until next time, keep looking up…

This Ain’t That…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

Okay, so by now you’re aware that there was an assassination attempt on the life of Donald Trump on July 13, 2024. You’ve probably seen the soon-to-be iconic photograph taken that day at the fairgrounds rally in Butler, PA.

I’ll say with a fair degree of certainty that photograph sealed Joe Biden’s fate as far as the Presidential election is concerned. Regardless of what one thinks of Donald Trump, one must admit it is a compelling picture.

I continue to be amazed how some in the Christian community can try to make something out of current events that there is simply no evidence to support. Donald J. Trump may be a character of biblical proportions, and he may, in fact, be God’s man for God’s time (that remains to be seen), but please, let’s stop trying to tie biblical images to the man. We might just be opening a can of worms that we don’t need to open when we do that.

What do I mean?

Not too long after the assassination attempt, Donald Trump was tied to an obscure passage of scripture in Leviticus noting that Trump was somehow being anointed for God’s service (click here for an example).

The photo on the right also started hitting my Facebook feed shortly after the assassination attempt, and one prosperity preacher, Rev. Jentezen Franklin, made the connection while making remarks before the Faith & Freedom Coalition breakfast during the Republican National Convention. I searched the internet for the video, but it has apparently has been taken down.

Let me just say: This ain’t that!

Here’s the passage in question:

 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 24 Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar.  Leviticus 8:23 – 24 NIV

In its context, Leviticus 8 is clearly Moses’ anointing of Aaron and his sons to the Old Testament Aaronic priesthood. It was a consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests for the nation of Israel. We must read it and understand it as we seek to understand what God was doing with His people in that time. To attempt to make a contemporary application is to open ourselves to several problems.

The Problems

Exegesis

Exegesis simply means the critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture. To take out of the text that there is a connection between the Aaronic priesthood of the Old Testament and Donald Trump is blatantly false. To suggest that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump is God’s anointing of him as some sort of priest or prophet for the United States of America is to have a completely wrong understanding of the Old Testament.

Connecting this passage of scripture, even as allegorical or metaphorical, is to make a very crass interpretation of scripture. We must be careful doing this…or tying any American President (or any person for that matter) to events in the Bible. We must be careful because two can play that game.

Here’s what I mean:

3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.  Revelation 13: 3 NIV

Could Donald Trump be the beast of Revelation? I don’t know! I guess it depends on your interpretation of scripture (or your political party!).

Devil in the Details

Honestly, there are just too many details missing for Leviticus 8 to be in any way associated with Donald Trump. First, the blood applied to Aaron and his sons came from a sacrificial ram. That means something else had to die to provide the blood for the ceremony (think New Testament…think Jesus here). The blood applied to Aaron’s ear (and thumb and toe) was not his own.

Second, the Levitical instructions are specific in what was to be done with the fat and the entrails of the sacrificial animal. As best I recall, there was no fat or entrails (blood and guts) involved in the assassination attempt of former President Trump.

Third, as far as we know, none of the blood made its way to Trump’s big toe. We do know that he lost his shoes when he was tackled by the Secret Service, and he had the presence of mind to want to retrieve his shoes before departing the platform.

I’m going to say, as an aside, that wanting to get your shoes while someone is shooting at you is either the most narcissistic thing in the world, or the bravest thing in the world. There’s probably an element of both involved, but I’ll let you be the judge of it. Maybe they were just expensive shoes!

Lessons Learned

Let me be the first to say that I also think my Christian brothers and sisters who dispute God’s providence in the protection of Donald Trump through that attempt might also be hasty in their response. There is nothing wrong in acknowledging that God could very well have been provident in those circumstances, the fact that someone else was killed notwithstanding. One lesson in all of this is for us not to become extreme either way.

Another lesson to be learned is that the Bible is not a political prop and we shouldn’t seek to use it for political gain. It is the revelation of God the Father designed and given to lead us to repentance in Jesus Christ, the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Shame on us for using it any other way.

One final lesson we can learn is that Jesus Christ is our hope and the Savior of the world. We have so much hope and truth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we have no need of taking an obscure passage of scripture and misapplying it to our current situation to find hope. Jesus is the Savior who forgives sinners, saves them by His grace, invites them into His Kingdom and will one day come again in glory to reign eternally. That’s enough!

I’m telling you…this thing with Donald Trump…it ain’t that!

Until next time, keep looking up…

The Coming Storm…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

I heard some bad news this week that makes me think it really is only the first winds of the storm that is blowing on the horizon for the institutional church, especially as it presents itself in the local congregation.

What was the news? I heard that this past Sunday was a pastor’s last Sunday at one local congregation because the congregation could no longer pay the pastor’s salary. I hated to hear the news, especially for the pastor who was faithful to lead the congregation through the disaffiliation process of the United Methodist Church.

I don’t know all the details of the transition. I know it was, by all United Methodist standards, a successful church plant a decade ago. The departing pastor was not the founding pastor (that might have a little to do with it), but the fact that the local congregation could no longer pay the salary points to a financial reality that many congregations will be facing in the future.

The news got me to thinking about some of the challenges that the institutional church will face in the future…there really is a storm on the horizon.

Challenges on the Horizon

Inflation

Thanks to Covid and bad national economic policy, everything costs more these days. That means people have less money to give to the church, but it also means that utilities, sound equipment, cleaning supplies, office supplies…literally everything costs more.

When people are unable to give to the church because their personal expenses have gone up, the local congregation can’t keep up with its own expenses. Programs have to be cut, personnel costs have to be cut. The model for the local congregation is unsustainable.

Real Estate

What inflation has done to everything else, it’s also done to real estate. I suppose this challenge could have been included in inflation above, but I think it stands on its own. Real estate prices have risen disproportionately to almost everything else, which is good for homeowners, but not really good for anyone else.

Real estate becomes a problem for the institutional church when it comes to the prospect of church planting. How can a “traditional church model” of church plant afford real estate in today’s market? Or, how can a “growing” congregation afford to either build or relocate in today’s real estate environment?

Not to mention building restrictions that many municipalities are placing on property use. Municipalities lose millions of dollars of revenue when property is used for a church. Those municipalities aren’t liking that much anymore and planning and zoning commissions are limiting the number of churches in some areas…because the municipalities need more revenue, too.

Salaries

Salaries will definitely be a challenge for local congregations in the future. Well, the future is now! Thus, the example given above. The local congregation could no longer afford the pastor’s salary. So it will continue to be as inflation takes its toll on the economy.

Even large congregations will find themselves scaling back on personnel in order to sustain the cost of keeping the doors open. Let’s face it, there are a lot of pastors and church staff who weren’t making a living wage anyway. It’s only going to get worse.

Congregations will begin (have begun) the transition to bi-vocational ministers, and pastors will have to transition to bi-vocational because, I know for a fact, that pastors like to eat and live indoors. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that transition. It might even be for the best—it puts the pastor out into the community with an opportunity to meet un-churched, de-churched and un-saved people instead of spending all of their time “tending the sheep” inside the church walls, or sitting eight hours a day in the office because the Church Council demands their “availability” to the congregation.

Honestly, though, when you start cutting church staff, programs suffer and today’s institutional church model is built around attractional programming.

Clergy Shortage

Okay, so even if a congregation can afford to pay a full-time pastor, where are they going to find said pastor? (For more on the clergy shortage, click here and here).

There is no longer a functional ministry pipeline from which to choose trained professional clergy.  Number one, people aren’t going to seminary in the numbers they were in the past. Seriously, they finally figured out that spending all that money for a seminary education wasn’t paying off.

Many people who feel called to ministry have figured out they can fulfill their calling in the non-profit world and get paid more for it. I know it’s not all about the money in ministry, but pastor’s still have to provide for their families.

Additionally, traditional denominations have provided a pipeline and pastors would “rise up through the ranks” to fill pastoral roles. Well, there are no ranks anymore in many denominations. Many denominations find themselves in “warm body syndrome” where they just need someone/anyone to fill a pastoral position. Yeah, the Holy Spirit is really in that process.

Another issue affecting the clergy shortage is the fact that the majority of clergy are near or past retirement age. I know! Retirement is not a biblical concept, but most retired clergy don’t have the energy and don’t really want to invest the time it takes to “grow” a church. Yeah, I’m probably just speaking for myself, but I’ve also heard it from other retired clergy who have been asked about serving full-time or even planting a church.

The clergy shortage makes the traditional institutional church model unsustainable.

Shrinking Attendance

Rev. Max Edwards, General Superintendent of the Evangelical Methodist Church, posted a link to an article in his weekly newsletter that is really eye-opening. Church attendance has been falling for generations and according to the article, shrinking attendance has costs far beyond the ability of a congregation to stay open.

Also, the article states that since the 1990’s, 40 million people have stopped going to church—that’s one in eight Americans, and in 2021, membership in houses of worship fell below the majority for the first time.

Yeah, I know! Covid, right? Covid only accelerated the decline. Most churches haven’t recovered their pre-Covid attendance. Most churches never will. Shrinking attendance makes the traditional model of the institutional unsustainable.

Disciple-Making Process

Okay, as one who served as a full-time pastor, I assume my share of responsibility for this one, but the local congregation has not been very good at making disciples. Most congregations don’t have an intentional disciple-making process.

For generations, it has been about programming for the local church and for the passing on of information as if we can just get enough information we can experience transformation.

Yeah, well it doesn’t work that way. Information does not equal transformation. Only the Holy Spirit can transform a person and I suspect we were so busy planning programming and designing ways to keep people’s attention that we forgot to leave room for the Holy Spirit.

Heck, we didn’t even disciple our children and that’s the very place we should excel most. Young people have left the traditional church in droves and they’re not coming back!

Unless and until a local congregation implements an intentional disciple-making process—a process whereby a person grows up in faith and holiness to engage their own gifts for ministry in service to the Kingdom—the local church/traditional brick-and-mortar model is going to be unsustainable.

The House Church

I think there is a legitimate answer for the challenges facing the local church and the institutional church. I don’t want to talk about a bunch of problems without offering some solutions.

I am evermore convinced that the answer to the “church” problem is to go back to the future—The House Church.

I don’t intend to lay out the Biblical justification for house churches in this blog (for that you can click here, here, here, here and here). But, let me offer some reasons that I believe the house church is the harbor in the storm facing the institutional church.

Here are some reasons I believe this:

No Professionals Needed

You don’t need a “professional” pastor in a house church. All that is required is for a person to exercise his/her gifts for ministry.

There is no need for a salary because it is not a “job” or means of support for anyone who is part of a house church. The ministry pipeline already exists in every house church. The members of the house church are the ministers—each one engaging in the use of their own giftedness supporting the body of Christ.

No need for M.Div’s or theological schools and no student loans to have to pay back. The primary expense of any local congregation is cut in half when no “professional” pastor is needed.

Real Estate

In a house church, real estate is not an issue. You already own it (unless you rent, of course). What’s more, the government can’t shut you down in the next pandemic. The cost of maintaining a place of worship no longer exists because you’re going to live in your house anyway.

It’s More Evangelistic

Trust me, it’s easier to invite someone to your house for a Bible study than it is to invite them to a church building for worship.

With a house church, you can meet in the local coffee shop (a house church doesn’t necessarily limit one to a literal house) for prayer. Someone will see you praying and it will open the door for a conversation with someone present who desires/needs prayer.

Honestly, many existing local congregations, including many who disaffiliated from the UMC, are really Sunday school classes that own property. What if all those “Sunday school classes” transitioned to house churches and sold their property and gave all the money to missions—of course, that would have to mean the local congregation had a focus and passion for missions, but that’s for another blog.

The church becomes infinitely more accessible under a house church model in today’s culture—more accessible than a traditional church ever will be again.

Financially Sustainable

A house church doesn’t need gazillions of dollars to sustain itself. There are no salaries, no church staff, no buildings to maintain, no church vans or buses to pay for. The only need for money comes in the resourcing, and there are abundant resources for house churches whose costs can easily be shared by those attending.

Quickly Scalable

Because house churches are not dependent on large investments of money, and because they are only limited by the real estate that its members already own, it becomes simple to multiply and replicate.

So, your house can only accommodate 20 people? Cool! Start another house church!

Intergenerational

The church was/is meant to be intergenerational. The house church is specifically meant to be so. Yes, everyone stays together. Everyone prays together. Everyone sings together. Everyone studies together.

This is the absolute best example of disciple making for your children. We pray with our children and for our children…and they pray for and with us. That’s the way it is supposed to be.

We were never supposed to send our children to children’s church or our youth to youth services. Worship is meant to be intergenerational.

Tell me, really? Why does the “traditional” church model have “youth ministry” at 5 p.m. on Sunday, yet they don’t have any ministries at the same time for adults…or children…or anyone else?

And, really? We want the church to do for our children and youth what the Bible says parents are supposed to do? The home is now, and has always been, the greatest incubator of faith.

Like Hurricane Beryl in the Gulf of Mexico this past week, all the signs pointed to the storm that was coming. The signs are on the horizon for the local church. How will local congregations (and the institutional church) prepare for the storm ahead?

An Invitation

May I invite you to pray with me? Pray for the many local congregations that are struggling with their future. They have looked toward the horizon and see the storm brewing but are unsure how to prepare. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead them into His future for them…and pray that the congregation will be open to the Holy Spirit.

Also, pray with me about The House Church Movement. The House Church Movement was a vision the Lord gave me back in 2020, but it has been on the back burner (I rather called it “paused”) for a couple of years. I am praying to discern if now is the time to re-launch the Movement.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below, and if you live in the northwest Louisiana area and would be interested in being a part of a re-launch, I’d love to hear that, too. All it takes is two:

20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18: 20 NIV)

Until next time, keep looking up…

A Glimpse Inside a Preacher’s Mind…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

I went to church last Sunday. I heard a good sermon from a good preacher. These former United Methodists, though, they are in uncharted waters. The preacher who was preaching was doing so “in view of a call” to be the church’s pastor. The congregation was handing out ballots so the people could vote. It just seemed all so Baptist to me, but we are living in a new world as former United Methodists, aren’t we?

A Critical Mind

I did what I usually do when I attend worship where I’m not preaching. I critiqued the sermon. Don’t judge me! I suspect it is what most preachers do when they attend worship. They’ll probably tell you otherwise, but only a few (those really holy few) really mean it.

What is there to critique? Well, there is first the choice of text. Unless the preacher is preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary, I wonder why the preacher chose the text he/she chose. Did the preacher spend time in deep prayer and devotion and was moved by the Spirit to preach this text? Or, did the preacher just pull out an old sermon, dust it off, freshen it up and preach it?

Next, I can usually find a reason to critique the points of the sermon. “Well, I don’t know if I would have included that in the message.” “Interesting direction he/she took with that point.” “That application doesn’t really work with that point.” “I think I could have found a better illustration for that point.” And on it could go…

Then, I can usually find a critique of the preacher’s exegesis. Exegesis is one of those three dollar theological words that simply means “read out of.” It is taking the biblical text and bringing out the meaning, rather than reading meaning into the text.

Let me see if I can say it another way: Reading into the text (called eisogesis) would be like saying, “This is what the text means to me.” Reading out of the text would be saying, “This is what the author meant when he wrote the text.” There is a world of difference between the two.

Finally, I can usually find a critique or two on the preacher’s delivery. The preacher’s dress code, the preacher’s cadence, the preacher’s inflection, the preacher’s diction. And, on it could go…

Not to worry, though. I know that when I preach to a congregation that has other preachers in it, I’m probably getting the same treatment. Nonetheless, we preach on in spite of the critique. And, seriously, the guy is a good preacher and he preached a good sermon. That’s what you do when you’re preaching in view of a call (it still sounds strange saying that as a Methodist).

A Thoughtful Mind

How do I know the sermon was a good sermon? Because it was thought-provoking. The notes I made from the message cover the worship folder from the service.

The scripture for the message was Matthew 14: 22 – 33–

22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

So, here’s your opportunity to get a glimpse into how my mind works when I’m listening to someone else preach.

Thinking About Peter

The preacher’s message prompted me to look at the event from Peter’s perspective. My first thought was, “I wonder how many steps Peter took on the water?” Did he take one and then began to sink? Did he take ten before he began sinking? Even if he took one step, what a miracle that is because people don’t walk on water!

Also, Peter was actually willing to get out of the boat. What a risk of faith! Those who are willing to take the risk of faith generally reap the greatest rewards. Seems like there is a sermon in there to me. I’ll come back to this note another day. Yeah, I know, John Ortberg wrote an entire book about it. Nonetheless, I can put my own spin on it.

Peter, even in the midst of great faith, exhibited doubt and fear. No one is perfect…not even Peter…even as great as his faith was. Even the greatest among us can be overcome by doubt and fear…even in the midst of a miracle. Maybe it’s in the midst of a miracle that the devil shows up to do his most deceptive work?

Thinking About the other Disciples

I also think about the disciples who remained in the boat. I first got the impression that the disciples who remained in the boat are like most followers of Jesus. We are unwilling to take the risk of faith. The safest place is in the boat in the middle of the storm.

Interestingly, though, even disciples who aren’t willing to take the risk of faith still reap the benefit from those who do. They witnessed the miracle of Peter walking on water and of Jesus calming the storm. See how much difference one person’s faith can make? Yeah, probably a sermon in there, too. I’ll hold on to this note.

Thinking About Jesus

Of course, this is one of the Gospels, so what is most important is what do we learn about Jesus? First, Jesus is in the storm. That doesn’t mean Jesus causes the storm. It just means He’s there. Probably a sermon in there somewhere, too.

Not only is Jesus in the storm, sometimes He calls us into the storm. Yeah, I could do an entire sermon on our uniquely American name-it-and-claim-it prosperity gospel with this as an example of how we don’t need to avoid the “storms of life.” Jesus is there in the storm and He calls us to join Him there. It is where faith is built and miracles happen.

Jesus also gives us a powerful example of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and solitude. He went away alone (as was often His want) to pray. Jesus’s power was rooted in His relationship with His Father. I’m not so sure that this is not the most important point of the encounter. Jesus was sustained by this relationship, and all He accomplished He accomplished because of His connection to His Father. Exegesis (see above) proves this point well. Yeah, there’s a sermon in there.

One final thought I noted was the simple fact that Jesus is our salvation. Whether we are in the storm or in the boat, it is Jesus who saves us. Jesus saved Peter from the doubt and fear he experienced in the storm (while he was walking on water, I might add), and Jesus saved the other disciples when He calmed the storm once He got into the boat. Perhaps this is the most important point of the encounter–Jesus saves!

A Hopeful Mind

See? I told you it was a good sermon. No, the preacher didn’t make all these points in his sermon (it would be insufferably long if he did!). The sermon was good enough to get me to think all those things. So what if I might have gone a different direction? So what if the preacher’s diction wasn’t the greatest? So what if…? So what?

I left challenged to think more deeply about this event and its implications in my life and the life of the Church. I left asking more questions about Jesus and wanting to find the answers. That’s what good sermons do. I can only pray that my sermons are that good, too.

So now, you’ve had a brief glimpse into how the mind of a preacher works…or, at least how this preacher’s mind works. Please don’t judge me. I am, after all, not the perfect pastor.

Until next time, keep looking up…

“Value-Added” Faith…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

It is always good to be with friends! I met a friend for coffee this week and the course of the conversation soon turned to our common journey of vocational ministry.

My friend mentioned a sermon he recently heard that challenged him. After our conversation, I was challenged, too.

A Moment of Conviction

Well, challenged is not really the correct word. Conviction is more appropriate in this case. The message of the sermon my friend heard, and the subsequent course of our conversation, centered around the nature of the gospel we have preached in our years of ministry.

It basically comes down to asking, “Have we preached a ‘value-added’ faith?” What do I mean?

“Value-added” faith is, in essence, coming to Jesus for what we can get out of it. Need a better marriage? Come to Jesus. He’ll fix your marriage. Want to be a better parent? Come to Jesus. He’ll make you a better parent. Financial problems? No worries! Follow these six biblical principles and soon your financial problems will straighten out. You get the picture.

Get Jesus…and this is the value He will add to your life!

And there was where the conviction came in! I am guilty of preaching a “value-added” faith. I also must confess that I didn’t do it occasionally, I did it often.

Enough with the Excuses

Don’t get me wrong, I have several excellent excuses. First, of course, is my desire to be relevant because if the preacher isn’t relevant, what good is he? How many sermons and sermon series have I designed based on topics rather than scripture? Too many, I’m afraid.

I looked back through my preaching calendars over the years. Here are the titles to a few sermon series I preached:

  • Breaking Bad (Circumstances, Decisions, Attitudes, Relationships)
  • Connected (Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, Twitter [X], Texting)
  • Faith and Politics (Culture, Leadership, Role of Government)
  • Inside Out (Series on mental health)

I also looked back through the files for sermon titles. Again, here is what I found:

  • Learning How to Love
  • Living in Shades of Gray
  • Practical Advice for Surviving the Season
  • Priorities of Life
  • Racing is Life

There are too many others to list here, but you get the gist. They are all designed to speak to the value of having Jesus in one’s life. The routine was choose the topic, find a passage or two of scripture and craft a sermon that would be “relevant” to the congregation.

Another excuse is that I thought (or was taught) that in order to reach people with the gospel, sermons had to address a “felt need” in the listener (congregation). Actually, “felt need” and relevance are close cousins as you can see from the sermon and series titles above.

A “felt need” can be:

  • Financial security
  • Stability
  • Love
  • Peace
  • Stress (worry)
  • Loneliness

Again, the routine was to discover a “felt need”, find a passage or two from scripture and craft a message that would address that “felt need.” Sometimes it worked. Often times, it didn’t.

No matter how many times I sought relevance or addressed a felt need, the congregation always left pretty much like they came–at least time and reflection has proven it to be so. The Church in culture has been on the decline for generations. I’m not so sure that it isn’t because we preachers of the gospel have too often chosen relevance over honesty, felt needs over accountability. Perhaps it is only part of the reason.

I don’t mean to insinuate that my friend does that, or indict any other pastors. I speak purely from my own experience, and the conviction is mine and mine alone. Although, as I’ve conducted a few Google searches I can say there are a lot of sermons on the internet that, based on the title, are seeking the same end.

Having acknowledged my fault and repented of my failures, may I share a commitment for the future?

A Call to Surrender & Sacrifice

I believe what the Church (and the world) needs now more than ever is an honest, simple presentation of the Gospel. The world and the Church need to hear the Truth in a simple, straightforward way. I am reminded of the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our  lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.” (The Cost of Discipleship, 99)

Bonhoeffer only echoes the words of Jesus to the ruler in Luke’s Gospel:

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22).

Or, of what Jesus told His disciples (also in Luke’s Gospel):

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? (Luke 9:23-25).

The call of the Gospel, the call of Jesus Christ, the call to discipleship is a call to die to self, a call to surrender, a call to sacrifice. I fear I have not preached that enough. I fear that I have not lived that enough. I fear that is part of the reason the Church is where it is in culture today. I am heartily sorry for my part in bringing the Church to that place.

The message of the Gospel is self-surrender, not self-help. I’ve yet to see a “self-surrender” section in any local bookstore. Surrender and sacrifice are not popular topics in today’s culture. Perhaps those topics will be a little more relatable if I untuck my shirt and wear skinny jeans while preaching them. Yeah…perhaps not (this body wasn’t made for skinny jeans!).

This blog has gotten way too long, so let me close with my commitment to do better in my preaching. I’ll do my best to “give ’em Jesus.” He’s relevant enough. I’ll trust the Holy Spirit to do His work if I do mine.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Them’s the Breaks…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

Well, when you plan to go see your daughter out of town and you leave work and forget your computer, you take it as a sign the Lord doesn’t want you to write what you were planning on writing. Or, you take it as a sign that you needed the weekend to focus on other things. Either way, there is no meaningful blog this week. Just me rambling about nothing.

So, y’all have a great weekend, and remember what this weekend is all about. A great shout of appreciation to those who gave all for our nation and freedom.

Maybe I’ll write that blog I was planning today next week.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Honoring Mothers: Faithful Women Who Shape Our Lives

/ pastorlynnmalone / 1 Comment

Happy Mother’s Day! Let me take a few lines on this special day to say “Thank you!” to the mothers in my life, and to all mothers everywhere. None of us (and I mean literally none of us) would be who we are without our mothers (for better or worse).

I say “for better or worse,” because I know not everyone has been blessed with incredible examples of motherhood in their lives, and that is truly unfortunate. I, on the other hand, have been blessed beyond measure with those mothers who are shining examples of what it means to be a mother.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I tell folks that I was raised at the foot of a Methodist piano. My mother, Sonda Womack, played piano for three Methodist churches in our home area. She rode the circuit just like the circuit rider preacher every Sunday so that those congregations had the benefit of music in worship. Most Sundays, my brothers and I had to make that circuit with her, and there we would sit, often listening to the same sermon three times (talk about insufferable!) just for the opportunity to make it to the “big” church so we could be with all our friends.

I didn’t necessarily enjoy all that time at the foot of a Methodist piano, but her faithfulness in serving the Lord by serving those congregations gave me an early example of what discipleship and servanthood looks like. Being an accompanist for all those years was ministry for her. I know that because she was never paid a salary by any of those churches. Yes, there were frequent love offerings the congregations shared, but she never “charged” for her services. It was a gift of love to the Lord.

Her faithfulness shaped me and my brothers. Of that, I have no doubt. She was, for much of our early years, a single mom. She worked long, hard hours to insure that we had what we needed…not always what we wanted…but always what we needed. I can remember her working three jobs when we were little. She worked at the local bank. She would leave that job and head to the local post office where she was a part-time flexible worker. And, if you think playing piano at three churches on Sunday morning isn’t work (whether you’re paid or not), well you’ve got another think coming.

Even now, into her 80’s, she continues to serve two congregations through her gift of music. Still riding the circuit after all these years!

She was, and is, an example of faith and faithfulness and love for which I am forever grateful. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

The Heart of Our Family

Let me tell you something else. When I married, I married up. I mean I married way up! My wife, Vanessa, is the most amazing mother I know (my own mother notwithstanding). Vanessa has throughout our lives together demonstrated the sacrificial love of Jesus in the most profound of ways. I honestly believe that she was born to be a mother…and grandmother.

I have spent the last forty years watching her nurture our children and grandchildren. I can tell you that she raised our children while I was off going to school and pastoring churches and chasing dreams. Anything good our children have attained or become can be credited to her love and diligence in caring for them.

Raising our children was never a sacrifice for her. It was her gift. She was, for many years, the nurturer, the care-giver, the chauffeur, the cook, the cleaner, the confidant, the disciplinarian, the encourager, the helper and the friend to all four of our children, and she has quickly become that to our grandchildren, too. I might also add, she is all those things to me as a spouse. She is my best friend, and I’m not so sure our children wouldn’t also call her their best friend, either.

She is amazing and beautiful and funny and sacrificial and loving. Try as I might, there really aren’t words to describe what she is to me and to our family. She is the heart and soul of who we are as a family. Happy Mother’s Day, Vanessa!

An Enduring Legacy of Love

The examples of love and sacrifice goes back beyond our present generation. My grandmothers…well…what can I say about them?

My maternal grandmother, Aline Johnson Roberts, demonstrated for me how to serve your spouse. My Papaw lived with rheumatoid arthritis for as long as I have any memory of him. He was bedridden for most of later years of life. Mamaw never left his side.

Everyday, she busied herself waiting on him hand and foot. I never once heard her complain (and mind you, my brothers and I lived with them for several years) about his illness, or the necessity of her caring for him. She did it out of love. She did it out of compassion. And, that was after raising ten children and dealing with 18 (I think) grandchildren (nine of which either lived with them or next door to them).

She remains an example of self-giving love that demonstrates the heart of motherhood. Happy heavenly Mother’s Day, Mamaw!

My paternal grandmother, Kittie Oxford Malone, is a saint if there ever was one. We called her “Mama Kit.” Mama Kit earned her sainthood by putting up with my grandfather, my dad and my uncle. Don’t misunderstand me. I love all three of those men dearly, but they could be…oh, let’s just say…challenging to live with (that’s all I’ll say about that!).

When Vanessa and I married, we moved into her backyard. There we started raising our family. She was there when all our children were born. She was the go-to babysitter for our children. Every afternoon when the kids would arrive home from school, their first stop was usually her house. She generally had cheese toast or cinnamon toast prepared for them when they arrived.

She would spend countless hours reading to our oldest daughter and as she would read she would gently rub our daughter’s back. Our oldest daughter is her namesake, and I honestly think she still misses those back rubs today.

We discovered when ministry called us to Kentucky for seminary, that the worst part was not having Mama Kit to care for us from our backyard. Yes, we missed all our family, but not in the same way we missed Mama Kit. I only wish my grandchildren would have had the opportunity to know Mama Kit.

Mama Kit gave me an example of perseverance in the face of adversity, of commitment to life-long marriage and of selfless love. I am blessed to have her as part of the legacy of faithful motherhood in my live. Happy heavenly Mother’s Day, Mama Kit.

Thank You Mothers!

There are so many more memories and reflections I could share, but this is a long post already. Thank you for indulging me in this overly personal blog. And, thank you to all the mothers that we celebrate on this Mother’s Day.

If your mother is still with you, give thanks to God for her and make sure she knows how much you appreciate her. If your mother is no longer alive, then simply give thanks to God for the memories of love and faithfulness you have.

If you have no good memories of your own mother, can you at least be grateful to God that she gave you life? That is a gift unto itself and you should be grateful.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers and grandmothers. May God bless you all on this special day.

Until next time, keep looking up…

Meanderings from a Muddled Mind…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 2 Comments

So, motivation is key, right? Well, I’m not motivated to write this morning, but write I do because writing is a discipline and I NEED to be disciplined. That, and I might disappoint the 12 of you who read my writing regularly, and anyone who knows me knows I hate to disappoint anyone (though I so often do).

Writing helps me process things I’ve been thinking about. It helps to bring clarity to certain issues and it keeps me in practice for writing sermons on the (ever more) rare occasions that I’m invited to preach somewhere.

It becomes too easy to pull out an old sermon, dust it off and freshen it up, and preach it again. I don’t like doing that (though I have) because it seems to me that the Lord has something fresh to say, and I would hope (and pray) that He might actually want to say it through me.

Things that Muddle

There are a few things that I need to process, but I won’t process them via this venue. Too many of them are political in nature and doing so would probably alienate half (of the 12) the people who read. Processing them via this venue also might bring no clarity because this election cycle may be hopeless in trying to make sense out of anything that happens.

I really am befuddled that in a nation of over 350 million people that we are stuck with the two choices before us, and that we still have nearly seven months to hear all the foolishness that’s coming our way.

Another issue I’m processing is my increasing impatience with the way people drive. One thing I’ve learned over the past two and half years in the oil business is that people can’t drive. Seriously, people can’t drive! That’s probably one of the reasons insurance rates are so high in Louisiana.

And, drivers are so inconsiderate when they’re driving…but, I’m starting to process, so I’ll move on. I don’t want to come across as an angry curmudgeon, and if I continue that’s exactly what I’ll do. Let me simply say, “Please, drivers, put your phones down and pay attention. Someone’s going to get killed.”

So, moving on…

Heros

I’ve been thinking about biblical heroes and trying to process an understanding of what actually constitutes a hero. When I think about biblical heroes I think about the likes of Moses, David, Paul and (of course) Jesus. Others that come to mind are Joseph, Joshua and Esther. Every one of us could make a list and each list would be different, but surely those names would appear on everyone’s list.

As I’ve pondered the subject, though, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s only one hero in the Bible, and that would be Jesus. Yes, there are many people in the Bible who did heroic things, but all of them (save Jesus) were broken, fallen people. I mean, really, Moses was a murderer. David was a murderer AND an adulterer. Abraham was a liar who was more than ready to put his wife out in front of an on-coming caravan to save his own skin.

I think about the Apostle Paul, without whom we wouldn’t have the New Testament and who is singularly responsible for the growth of the early church, but who was also responsible for jailing (and even killing?) the early followers of Jesus.

It was Paul who wrote “love is not boastful” (1 Corinthians 13: 4), but who also wrote, “I will boast, too…” (2 Corinthians 11: 19ff). The apostle who wrote “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13: 5) was the same apostle who recited a laundry list of wrongs that had been done to him (2 Corinthians 11: 23ff).

Paul came across as arrogant to some. Well, if he came across that way, he probably was that way. Arrogance is so off-putting and would not be at the top of the list of quality characteristics of a follower of Jesus.

I don’t mean to make “anti-heroes” of the biblical characters. I rather think that it means the Lord can make heroes out of us…that He actually wants to make heroes out of us. Our stores are no different than their stories (well, maybe we’re not all murderers?), and just as the Lord used them in His story, so He wants to use us in His story. As I’ve written in other places: It’s not about discovering where Jesus fits into our story, but about discovering where we fit into His story.

It’s His Story

Honestly, I’m still trying to discover where I fit into His story. I once thought I knew, but circumstances beyond my control (and a few within my control) only served to confuse me. But, I’m still searching because I believe He still wants to use me, even as broken, bruised and battered as I am. I might add old to that list, too. That’s okay, though. Moses was old when God used him. Abraham and Sarah were old when God used them. There’s hope for us all–even us old angry curmudgeons.

Sorry if I’ve given you a glimpse into my muddled mind. It only comes as a result of me having nothing to write about, but wanting desperately to keep the discipline of writing. Please don’t hold it against me, and might I ask you to pray that the Lord would give me something to write about next week.

So, what are you processing? Where do you find yourself fitting into His story? Why not share them in the comments with the other eleven people who read my blog?

Until next time, keep looking up…