• goodbadi

    Options for Our Church

    March 13, 2010

    Our friend and pastor’s unexpected resignation last weekend didn’t surprise me.

    At the end of February, as several families had recently left the church and the more recent additions of our and one other household wouldn’t fill the budget gaps, his position was cut from eighty-five percent of full time to just one quarter. He had sought and found another job, which turned out to be full time–and he has a second child on the way.

    As I told him after the congregational meeting Sunday, “I affirm your pastorship–and your decision.”

    The church, its numbers dwindling (not a problem as far as I’m concerned, but not much fun for the youth group), is now faced with several options:

    1. Hire a new quarter-time pastor and continue what was planned for the coming year: one monthly sermon and a rotation of other Sunday morning service formats. Keep the tithes and offerings coming. Anyone want a job?

    2. Continue a monthly rotation of Sunday morning service formats but without the sermon component and without a salaried person at the helm. Creativity take over! A lot of work for everyone involved.

    3. Dispose of the church building and divide into house church groups. Real connections, in homes. Extra vacuum cleaner filters and dish soap not included.

    4. Disband, with members absorbed into other churches. Can we do without this church? Grab the phone book and randomly point.

    I’ll keep you posted.

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    Contextual Transfiguration

    March 3, 2010

    This past Sunday morning’s “Dwelling in the Word” activity at church focused on Luke 9:23-36. The selection reflects two different aspects of Jesus’ reality: what he taught and his contextualization by his followers.

    In the first section, Jesus presents a message central to his Gospel: Your own good is tied up with the good of everyone. From the NIV,

    23Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

    These verses could go anywhere: Was “taking up his cross daily” a metaphor later added to Jesus’ speech, after the crucifixion? Who was the lucky one not to “taste death before they see the kingdom of God”? And anyway, if the kingdom came before the person died, would he or she have still died?

    The second passage differs drastically. While in the first passage Jesus is teaching, proclaiming part of his message of sacrifice for the greater good, the second passage reflects not what he taught or preached or even did (aside from the ever-important getting away from the crowds for quiet prayer). Instead, the historical/religious framework in which Jesus’ disciples understand him is revealed through what the men with him see and experience:

    28About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30Two men, Moses and Elijah, 31appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

    34While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.

    Again, the verses could go anywhere: Were the disciples too sleepy to think straight? Under the influence of something? How did they know the two men with Jesus were Moses and Elijah?

    These are valid questions, I think, but what jumped out at me Sunday is that this story is more about the disciples’ perspectives than Jesus’ mission. They saw before them not so much the leader in verses 23-27, a prophet messiah whose ethical concerns were tied to no ethnicity or nation, as a Jesus who at least in their minds may as well have been a member of the Moses and Elijah Hall of Fame.

    In fact, much of Luke 9 shows the tension between people fitting Jesus to the messianic bill and Jesus’ own down-to-earth message of miracle-laced redemption.

    Hubbub surrounded Jesus; I imagine vigorous discussion about who he really was. At the same time, he preached a quiet command for sacrifice, a message so difficult to accept and act on that instead of starting the journey of selfless living, we, like Jesus’ contemporaries who apparently so craved a ruling king, often debate the messenger’s divinity.

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    The Day I Joined the Military: A Fictional Account of Something That Never Happened

    January 25, 2010

    It finally got to me, so today I took the first step for making a positive contribution to the world.

    It actually started way back in 1998 when my sister and brother-in-law were in Nicaragua during Hurricane Mitch. They weren’t coastal residents, but their normally fragile communication links were wiped out by the storm, so no one in my family knew for several days how they’d been affected. When we finally heard from them, and that they were fine, they told us that we’d not been the only ones concerned–a U.S. military helicopter had flown over their house, just checking in.

    A military helicopter? I turned to my communal housemates there on our pacifist campus, tears streaming down my face. “It makes me want to enlist,” I said. “After all, the military does have the equipment to help out in these situations.”

    And now the earthquake in Haiti has happened, and again the U.S. military has rushed to the rescue. According to Time last Wednesday, “Some 800 Marines moved ashore Tuesday in Haiti, ferrying supplies on helicopters and Humvees as the U.S. military force there swelled to as many as 11,000. Military officials said troops and supplies were arriving as fast as possible despite daunting logistical hurdles. Army Maj. Gen. Daniel Allyn, the deputy commander for military operations in Haiti, said the military has delivered more than 400,000 bottles of water and 300,000 food rations since last Tuesday’s earthquake.”

    Sign me up! I thought when I read this. Let me be the compassionate arm of the U.S. government! Give me a machine gun or even just a water bottle!

    After a sleepless night during which I told M none of my intentions, today I called up a local recruiter I know. He actually comes to my school and speaks at our pep rallies about valor, courage, and cool weaponry, so he was eager to talk to me.

    “Say, Randy,” I said. “I want to sign up for the Marines. I want to go to Haiti right now.”

    “Sure,” he said. “Let me get your info.” I obligingly answered his questions: I’m straight, I’ve never been convicted of murder, I’m pro-life, winning a Nobel Peace Prize sounds good to me, and yes, Diet Coke heated in the desert probably wouldn’t be too bad for me to stomach, although why would I ever be deployed to a desert somewhere when Haiti’s just around the corner?

    “Do you speak Pashtun?” he asked. “No? Arabic? Korean? No? OK, uh, how about, do you read any of those languages?”

    “Nope,” I said. “But why does that matter? Bottled water and goodwill gestures need no spoken words. Love is the International Language.”

    “Right,” he said. “Now, how much experience do you have with guns?”

    By this time, so in a hurry was I to begin dispensing relief to our needy neighbors, I’d just begun to tell him the answers I thought he wanted to hear. “Lots, since I used to be a rabid hunter. And I shot a tin can on my first try with a .22 revolver.”

    “Good, good,” he said. “You’ll make an excellent Marine. We’ll sign you up for boot camp starting next week.”

    “Next week? Boot camp?” I asked, rather incredulously. “But the Haitians need help now!  I don’t have time to train. I’m a good driver–can’t I drive a big truck without boot camp? Can’t I learn on the job how to operate a walkie-talkie? And handing out supplies doesn’t require that much expertise–just access to the goods and transportation capabilities, which the U.S. military in all its potential radiant glory has!”

    “Uh, right,” Randy said. “But you really do need to know how to shoot straight so you don’t hit one of your 68,000 fellow soldiers on accident. You know, friendly fire never looks good.”

    “68,000? There are already that many soldiers there? That’s, like, a heck of a lot! We must be doing lots of short-term, high-impact, shock-and-awe emergency relief sort of good! But I read in Time this week that they’re expecting ranks to swell to only 11,000 on the ground.”

    “Only 11,000? In Afghanistan?”

    “In Haiti. You know, strictly humanitarian. I want to go to Haiti and other places and use your equipment to reach people who need help fast. Just think of the military’s capabilities! Swoop in, give food, water, help, access to medical attention, and start rebuilding! No other relief agency anywhere can match it!”

    “Oh. Um. Can you call back later?”

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    Holy Snow! and Another Off-the-Cuff Religous Thought

    December 23, 2009

    I’m still enjoying this snow we’ve had, but probably not as much as those holier than I, and so I couldn’t resist linking to this image–even though my sister-in-law beat me to it.

    In the meantime, I’m with the U.K. priest when it comes to okaying certain shoplifting scenarios. I’m also with the commenter who recalled the quote from the priceless O Brother, Where Art Thou?: “Even if that did square with the Lord, the state of Mississippi is a little more hard nosed.” I’m also with the police, who said that people “should turn to charitable organizations and government agencies for help, rather than take matters into their own hands…. To do this would make the downward spiral even more rapid, both on an individual basis and on society as a whole.” But mostly I’m with the priest: “The point I’m making is that when we shut down every socially acceptable avenue for people in need, then the only avenue left is the socially unacceptable one.”

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    Church Nuts

    December 16, 2009

    This morning’s Sunday school hour discussion at our church focused on reducing the (currently 85 percent time) pastor’s hours. We broke into small groups to gather feedback for the leadership team about making the position quarter time, for a salary of $17,000.

    One lady in my group said, “I work full time in the poultry plant and get paid $18,000 a year. My husband is a chicken catcher, and he gets paid that much, too.” (Only later did I think of a semi-suitable response: “Your jobs deserve higher pay.”)

    (Speaking of poultry, the Sunday before, I listened as a local man told a small audience during the coffee break that if you hit a turkey in the back of the head in the summer, it will instantly die, but in the winter you can hit it all you want and it won’t die.)

    From another group came a lone comment encouraging growth: “Maybe we could make fliers and pass them door-to-door inviting people to come to our church. Maybe it could say, ‘Now accepting different beliefs.'”

    Little did the speaker know that my attendance was evidence that variational doctrine had already entered the fold, albeit unannounced. An overview:
    ….The demand for eye-for-an-eye, sacrifice-based justice is a human tendency incorrectly attributed to God when it comes to Jesus’ death. I don’t think God Who Is Love requires–or ever required–bloodshed.
    ….Real “salvation” is what Zaccheus experienced. This pitifully selfish and thoughtless man became enabled not through the Jesus-centered, murderous attempt to quell rebellion but through gracious opportunities to make things right and refocus on that which is life giving and just. After all, according to C.S. Lewis (via Anne Lamott), grace is the only element of Christianity that separates it from all other religions. (By the way, its very presence refutes God’s bloodlust theology.)
    ….The Bible reveals a lot about how people of Judeo-Christian lineage have understood God throughout the years, understandings that I imagine might be flawed and continually developing.

    Doctrine aside, I recently provided my own input to the church, since M and I have decided to attend: “Some things I like to experience in church are study, singing, and support…. The small size of this church is to its advantage: the services and structures can be flexible, intimate, and meaningful–maybe it’s a house church with a building. Here’s something I envision: Sunday morning services of singing, discussion, sharing, meditations/sermons–whatever. I’m all for abandoning traditional expectations and just letting planners decide how the morning can go. I’m also all for weekly potlucks (maybe with some organizational oversight) for after the service. This will allow for further meaningful connection with each other. As things develop, small groups and mission-focused groups could continue or form as people want.”

    Selah and Amen.

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    All Wrapped Up In Christmas

    December 13, 2009

    Most of the free Christmas mp3 downloads from Amazon.com are quite nice (just skip the explicit selections).

    A recent one was, until I listened more carefully to the lyrics, rather prophetic. Tracy Lawrence’s All Wrapped Up In Christmas details what for many people consume this season: Christmas lights, shopping, the tree, Walmart (and “vicious,” in the same two lines), and so on.

    The last line clinched the song for me, though, when I first heard it: “Now don’t get all wrapped up in Christmas,” it said.

    I thought.

    Actually, it says, “Now go get all wrapped up in Christmas.”

    Good grief!

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    The Power of Priorities

    November 20, 2009

    I’m a big fan of Lynn Miller’s Power of Enough book and thoughts. They’re relevant.

    Just the other week I walked a friend through our house, describing the many grandiose dreams I have for the place: a balcony in front that wraps around to patio doors on the east side of our second-story guest room, a second-story hallway spanning a breezeway between the house and a two-car garage with a bedroom or studio above, a relocated kitchen, a compacted downstairs bathroom to make way for a coat closet…and I suppose there was more, too, like painted walls and nice floors.

    But I’m not so sure those things will be done in the near-sighted future. See, while the depressed housing market made it possible for us to purchase this house, it also very unfortunately caused our previous townhouse investment to turn into spongy, cash-absorbing nothingness that is now–thanks to the goodness of note holders willing to take it all back–not ours to worry about anymore. We may be cashlessened, but at least we’re not stressed.

    So I’ve realized something over the past months of projects dreaming: maybe not having cash to make home improvements can be more freeing than frustrating. Many times this summer I relaxed and enjoyed the free projects I could scrounge up–there was no need for my panties getting all in a ball over too little time and too much to do, since I couldn’t do more than freebies.

    And besides, isn’t a small house and simple lifestyle my ideal? Do I really want a huge garage? (Well, okay, yes, I do.) But a garage with an additional bedroom above it? (It would be nice…maybe I should rethink this post.)

    What I’ll do for now is bump the garage and balcony ideas a few more notches down the priorities list, and focus on making more necessary improvements (that’s where the moved kitchen will come into play, eventually).

    After all, tweaking lists doesn’t cost a dime.

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    As God Intended

    November 14, 2009

    Back in December, in a meeting with the previous owners to discuss buying our new house, one of them made an approving comment about our goal of one-income living so that M could stay home with N: “That’s the way God intended it to be.”

    I’ve added two other intentions to God’s list: owning just one car (with a hitch and access to a trailer, in lieu of a having a truck, too), and now owning just one home.

    Indeed, I am relishing our new-found freedom from owning our old townhouse. Our owner-financing lenders did agree to take it back and call it even, in spite of our being under water in what was essentially an act of debt forgiveness, and yesterday was the official day when we could cancel the property insurance and would have thrown away the keys if we hadn’t already mailed them off.

    Now we hope to start saving for remodeling projects around our One and Only Home Sweet Home–a hope not too dampened by a friend’s remark last evening: “We’ve started saving lots of times, but something always comes up!”

    Like a much-needed celebratory trip to my favorite restaurant, where the burgers and fries are as God intended.

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    Forgiving Debts

    September 10, 2009

    On Saturday our tenant, who was scheduled to move out by the end of September, informed us by email that she would not be paying her final month’s rent.

    “The check you received in the mail has already been canceled by the bank,” she wrote. “Please use the security deposit for the rent.”

    No. What about any damage or–more likely–unpaid bills that she might leave behind? And “canceled by the bank?” The bank had no way of even knowing she’d written the check to us; we’d not deposited it yet.

    I tried to reach her by phone, but she wouldn’t return phone messages or emails, and by Monday afternoon we concluded that she was avoiding us, probably knew the legal difficulties of eviction, and had every intention of shirking her financial commitment to us. We decided to follow the recourse as outlined in our rental contract: we gave her a five day “pay or quit” eviction notice.

    It felt rather heartless of us to do this, to evict her, her sister, and her two little children, even though they have close family in the area and already have their next house lined up.

    But being evictors felt even more irreconcilable when we realized the irony of our own private lenders’ concurrent consideration of debt forgiveness. (The townhouse’s market value is now half what we paid for it and we’re firmly under water; the lenders are considering a short sale or some form of friendly repossession so we won’t have the expensive headache of landlordship.)

    Indeed. Remember that story Jesus told? The one about the unforgiving servant who, having been forgiven his debt of 10,000 talents, went out and throttled the fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii?

    I left yet another phone message for our tenant, asking her to please call so that we could discuss options other than eviction. We were fully prepared to work with whatever her needs were, even to the point of forgiving the September rent.

    But we haven’t been able to talk with her. All we’ve received from her are angry emails detailing her Saturday move-out plans.

    We’re still waiting for word of our lenders’ decision, too.

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