Methodist

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…

Finding My Way Home…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 3 Comments

Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with the phrase “Life is a journey, not a destination.” It’s a great quote, but it can’t actually be found in any of Emerson’s works. The first place it is found is from a prominent Methodist pastor named Lynn H. Hough. Perhaps Dr. Hough understood the essence of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians so long before—life is a journey…life…this life…is not the destination, but as those who follow Jesus Christ, we believe this life is leading us somewhere. Paul reminded them (and he reminds us): “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior” (Philippians 3: 20 NLT).

Paul only echoes what other early disciples wrote, too. Peter writes:

Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see” (1 Peter 1: 3b – 5 NLT).

Also, the writer to the Hebrews wrote: “For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come” (Hebrews 13:14 NLT).

A Detour

I feel like I’ve been on a detour for the past two years. Well, not so much a detour, but rather lost, and you know how men can be, right? When we’re on a journey and take a wrong turn, we prefer to wander around just knowing we can find our way back on course. That’s what I feel like I’ve been doing the past two years–wandering around looking to get back on course. I felt as though I lost my spiritual home. I was a wanderer. But, that’s okay. Wandering is often part of the journey.

After two years, I finally feel like I’m back on course. Why so? On June 2nd, I met with and was interviewed by the Board of Ministerial Relations of the Evangelical Methodist Church. As a result of that interview I was elected into membership in full connection as an Elder in the Evangelical Methodist Church.

What does that mean? It means that I am ordained clergy once again in a denomination that has it’s roots in John Wesley’s theology, and it’s a place I can feel at home as I continue the journey.

A Journey of Grace

Yes, life is a journey, and the journey we are on through this life is a journey toward salvation—God’s full salvation. I say “full salvation” because we tend to think in terms of salvation as that moment we came to trust Christ, but I remind us that’s just part of the journey as we understand it as those who follow the Wesleyan way.

We don’t like to use the word salvation much anymore. We don’t like to talk about people getting “saved.” It reminds us too much of preachers hitting us over the head with their Bibles and trying to guilt us into the kingdom of God. Salvation is not about any one particular place and time as much as it is about a journey that is made up of many places and many times along the way.

Our journey is a journey of grace. The Wesleyan journey speaks of prevenient grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace and glorifying grace. These are not four different kinds of grace, but rather the singular grace of God as it intersects our lives at different points along the journey. God’s grace comes to us as we are and where we are, and that’s why we are able to speak of it in different terms. But grace is neither imposed nor irresistible; we must respond to it and interact with it—and that’s the journey!

Prevenient grace means that God is working in us even when we are unaware of it and are unable or unwilling to acknowledge his presence. Prevenient grace is one way we encounter God’s salvation. It is God pursuing a continuing love relationship with us.

Then there is that when we experience God’s grace, and we begin to understand who and what it is He is calling us to. In that moment, one person may walk the aisle and make a public profession of faith, or another person may come to be baptized as an adult. It may be that moment when a young person goes through confirmation and embraces the faith of their parents as they are introduced to Jesus Christ through confirmation. It may be that time when the drunken, homeless drug addict realizes that Christ is the only answer, and that person calls out to Jesus to save them from the brokenness and pain of a wasted life, all the while kneeling and trembling in the cold of winter on a deserted street corner. That moment is the “justifying” grace of God, and it, too is an encounter of God’s salvation. It is a very important encounter, but it is not the singular defining experience of salvation.

The journey continues beyond that moment because God still seeks a continuing relationship with Himself for us. We grow in grace as we learn and live in Christ-like ways. This growing to become ever more like Christ we know as God’s “sanctifying” grace at work in our lives.

A Destination

As with every journey, though, this journey is carrying us toward something, a destination. No, the Evangelical Methodist Church is not the destination for me, It’s another part of the journey. All our lives are moving toward something, and for those of us who trust in Jesus Christ, we are moving toward that time when all things will be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

We look forward to that day when these perishable bodies, so broken by sin and disease, will put on bodies that shall never dim or die. It is that time when the fullness of God’s salvation, not only in our lives, but in all His creation will become real. We are moving toward heaven! There’s our destination. As we survey the landscape of our culture today, it sometimes seems like we’re going in the wrong direction, but, like Paul, we go on toward perfection.

We Wesleyans have a term for that, you know? The moment we are fully redeemed in heaven with Christ is a moment of “glorifying” grace. The Apostle John gives us a glimpse of this time in The Revelation:

“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. [4] He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever.”

[5] And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making all things new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” [6] And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life without charge! [7] All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children” (Rev. 21:3-7 NLT).

We don’t talk about heaven too often. When someone dies we turn our thoughts in that direction. I’ve often said when we get to heaven we’ll likely be surprised by two things: One, who we’ll not see there, and two, who we will see there. If I’m honest, I really don’t think those will be the surprises for us, though. I don’t think I’ll be surprised or shocked by the glory of God, or even the splendor of the place. I don’t even think I’ll be shocked or surprised by the fact that I see Jesus. I think the biggest surprise will be the fact that I’m there!

It’s All Grace

I think we’ll be eternally overwhelmed with wonder at the reality of the grace that allows us to be there. We certainly rejoice in the grace of God that calls us, and we rejoice in that grace of God that justifies us. We rejoice, too, in that grace that sanctifies us and gifts us and enables us to serve and grow. But I don’t think our rejoicing in those things even comes close to the rejoicing that we will experience when we see what glorifying grace gives us…and it will be grace. I think the stunning reality of heaven will definitely be that I’m there.

I don’t know how we’ll think in our glorified condition, but if there is any vestige of Lynn Malone from this journey, the first thing is going to be shock and awe with the immediate thought, “How in the world did someone like me ever end up here?” The answer is grace—God’s grace.

Fix our hope completely on God’s grace through Jesus Christ, made real by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is that grace which chose us, that grace which called us, that grace which justified us, that grace which sanctified us, and it is that grace which will glorify us. It is all grace, grace, nothing but grace from eternity past to eternity future in the glorious presence of God. It is grace.

That’s the prize Paul is pressing toward. It’s the prize we’re pressing toward. We look forward to that grace in the future. Our hope looks to that next great explosion, that final culminating grace that will never be improved upon because it is, as Paul says, perfection.

When we know what awaits us at the end of the journey we can live with joy and expectation. It makes life exciting. It makes the journey enjoyable, and it helps us anticipate the end. We can take the journey knowing it’s not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well-preserved body, but we’ll slide in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming, “Wow! What a ride!”

Finding my way home is about finding God’s full salvation. I am grateful for every part of my journey so far, and also grateful there is a new segment. I’m anxious to see how God will continue to work out His salvation through this part of the journey. As with every part of the journey, I will rely upon the Holy Spirit to guide.

Until next time, keep looking up…