Category Archives: Spirituality

The Ongoing Crucifixion of Rob Bell

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I read once that when it comes to issues of faith some folks are ‘pioneers’ and others are ‘settlers’. Some will venture out into new territory theologically and practically, while others are better equipped to protect what is established and to work within what is known.

Rob Bell seems to be a pioneer and one who finds life in places where others where find fear. So for this he gets crucified.

He wrote a book about Hell. He questioned traditional teachings and while he didn’t appear to come down on any one view conclusively he allowed for the possibility of something other than eternal conscious damnation and perhaps what was more disturbing he encouraged people to think about the issue.

Naughty.

He stopped leading his megachurch without a concrete plan of ‘what next’ and he now doesn’t ‘attend’ church in the regular manner. Plenty of us have been there and know that this does not mean we have ‘ditched church’. We have just changed expressions.

But because he was such a high profile figure his choice to move away from the conventional has repercussions and he should be punished.

Then he came out in favour of same sex marriage and gay relationships… But we all knew he was going to do that because he had jumped onto the slippery slope and this was where it leads.

It was strike three for Bell, and rather than respect his theological judgement on this, while choosing to hold different views, this became a point of agreement for those hoping for his downfall. (And it seems plenty were hoping for it.) There was now definitely a common enemy to rally against.

And now we hear he is doing business with Ophrah…

He has his own show – on TV – talking about God. Oh dear. Its come to this. If he hadn’t lost his way before, then now he has completely sold out. He’s hopped in bed with the goddess of relativity and has lost his bearings completely.

Or… maybe as a pioneer he is strong enough to enter territory where the settlers feel at sea? Maybe he is able to move into uncharted territory without a map but with a north point to hold him? We value missionaries who go to unreached people groups, so why not a  culturally capable and theologically astute missionary who has gone into territory very few Christians would ever get invited into.

From discussions with missionaries to unreached people groups in other cultures I know they use methods to communicate the gospel that they do not disclose when they come home because your average evangelical wouldn’t understand and it wouldn’t be worth the hassle because then we would marginalise them as well. So maybe Rob Bell is just bold enough to do his thing in full view. Maybe he has nothing to hide?… Maybe we can’t understand what we see, so its easier to kick him out of the tribe than to trust that God might work in a different way thru this gifted individual.

Perhaps its just plain jealousy?

As I listen to Bell speak I don’t hear him ditching Jesus, but nor do I hear him towing the party line. He often speaks in metaphors and images so he doesn’t please the gatekeepers who would prefer he use more familiar and definable language. In his language there is room for people to imagine and to think, and possibly think wrong things. But given that many do not want to think on these issues or listen to the voices of most preachers perhaps he is tilling the ground to speak of Jesus in a compelling way – as he can do – at a later point.

Then again maybe he is just a heretic and we should stone him to death for daring to be famous, successful, engaging and then to change tack – to walk away from the tangible expressions of a faith that is clearly working and to undermine the credibility of his own creation. Because that is hard to explain…

I understand that some people who were fans of Bell in his original more familiar incarnation may feel a little ripped off now. He was once the person who could say so well what many of us struggled to communicate. He had a way with words and media and theology that was uncanny… and now he is no longer saying the things we would like him to.

Maybe we can get off this guy’s back and trust that God can work in him and through him in ways that many of us would not be capable of.

Perhaps… just perhaps Bell has lost his way and drifted unconsciously into territory that is clearly incorrect and blatantly in opposition to the call of Christ. But perhaps rather than a good ole evangelical lynching, maybe this is the time to get alongside him and help him find his way back.

We do love a lynching though don’t we?…

When You Suck at Being a Christian

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In church we have been working our way thru the book of Nehemiah and chances are if I asked you what its about you’d say what everyone says; ‘a bunch of people building a wall.’

If like me you have always read it to ch 6 or 7 and then shut the book because the lists of names that follow bore you to tears, then chances are you missed out on the utterly disturbing contents of ch 13.

You see Nehemiah and crew build the wall, get it all done despite serious opposition and then when its finished the people gather to hear Ezra read the law and teach. They weep and mourn for the way their lives have been so far from the mark. There is genuine sorrow.

In ch 9 there is a long prayer that begins with worship, confession and repentance and then moves into recounting God’s faithfulness over many years as they have cycled through periods of rebellion, disobedience and punishment, before being rescued by God and then choosing to live in alignment with him again.

In their prayer they describe this cycle several times over before saying ‘NO MORE!  NEVER AGAIN!’

And they then recommit themselves:

  • not to marry foreign women
  • to keep the Sabbath
  • to honour the jubilee year every seven years
  • to keep the temple holy
  • pay first fruits offerings and a bunch of other laws.

Essentially they say we want to do life right again. We want to realign with what you have called us to.

So I’m guessing they get rolling with the new plan, but in Ch 13 we read of Nehemiah going back to his job with the king for a couple of years before returning to Jerusalem to check in on how things are going.

And they are ugly… butt ugly!

In ‘The Message’ Petersen describes the situation well and captures Nehemiah’s rage as essentially the people have lost their way (yet again) and completely gone against everything they said they would do.

How does that happen?…

This is not an encouraging chapter for those of us who lead Christian communities… seriously… As I read this i begin to lose hope. It seems to be saying that despite what we may think of our ability to be faithful, communities cycle through periods of commitment, blessing, rebellion, before finally reaching such a low ebb that return again to God. I’m not sure how this works in an individualistic culture – and I’m not sure it does at all. But for these folks they seem to be caught in a cycle and despite their best intentions they can’t get out.

What I observe is that sometimes people get to the ‘rebellion/disobedience’ stage and this is where they can lose their way. After a few cycles of this you begin to think ‘hey I suck at ‘Christianity.’ I should just give it away and do something I am better at…’ I wonder how many people eventually give up because they just can’t ‘cut it’.

So there are a few ways we can go at this point – either we give up because we can’t do it, or maybe we try harder… or… maybe this is where we get the point.

Maybe this is where we encounter God’s love, grace and forgiveness and get energised in a different way to keep going. If its just down to me steeling myself and white knuckling my way back into it then the game is over. Because sooner or later I fail yet again.

But if we can encounter God at this point and experience grace and forgiveness then maybe we get re-wired away from our best efforts and back into responding to him from love.

Every time we fail we move in a direction according to how we respond. Some – driven by the desire to ‘get it right’ move further out of the orbit of grace, while those who accept their brokenness and God’s healing move further into experiencing the life he has for them.

That’s not to say getting our lives on track isn’t important, but it is to say that if we think its down to our grit and grind then we are probably going to kiss the faith game goodbye because we will certainly suck at it…

Atheism’s Best Advocate?

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Who is the best advocate for atheism in Australia?

No I don’t think its Hitchens or Dawkins…

This week while driving I was doing a bit of listening to Tim Minchin and I would suggest he is possibly one of the most alluring voices for contemporary atheism. His songs are very funny, his lyrics insightful and acidic, even if they are often completely and blatantly offensive. I found myself singing ‘White Wine in The Sun’ this week as I was working, a song that begins ‘I really like Christmas…’ and then goes on to mock the idea of faith and a belief in the divine.

‘Storm’ again delves into the existential/metaphysical but this time from a different perspective as he tells the story of being at a dinner party with an opinionated and naive woman who has some belief in a spiritual (not Christian) realm. The song slowly increases in vehemence and ridicule, but at the same time is wonderfully and wickedly funny.

The good book is a rockabilly style tune that ridicules the possibility of the Bible having anything useful to say to a 21st C world. And so it goes on…

If Minchin wrote of Islam I think he’d likely be dead by now, but seeing as its Christianity (and we can apparently laugh at ourselves) he continues to trot out lyrics that demean and despise.

I’d suggest Minchin is a compelling voice for atheism not necessarily because his arguments are compelling, but moreso because his method of communication is one that sneaks past your defenses and stays with you. Perhaps he won’t unseat many Christians with his virulent tirades, but if you are a ‘default’ secularist / atheist (because you haven’t really delved into questions of faith) in any depth then his songs will affirm what you claim to believe.

Humour and music are a much more potent medium than text and debate and while Minchin does get tiring with his objections, I’d say he has more than likely given plenty of people reason to sign up for a secularist worldview

If I were an atheist I’d pick Minchin as my ‘voice’ rather than the intellectuals as he can be hilarious, disarming and incredibly violent at the same time.

 

Value

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People spend money on what they value and time on what they value.

That’s not rocket science, but its something for those of us who lead churches to consider. When offerings are down or attendances are down people are making a statement as to what they value.

When offerings are down people are saying ‘I see it as better value to put my money into XYZ’, whether that’s a holiday, a new car, some renovations, private school fees or even other mission organisations…  Where we apportion our money is always a value judgement.

Then when numbers are down on Sundays this communicates that people are saying there is more value in me doing XYZ than going to church. So it may be that people feel their valuable time is better spent at the beach, lazing in bed, hanging out with a partner because the rest of the week is so busy, or perhaps taking off for the weekend. But as with money, how we use our time is always a statement of value.

As church leaders we would like people to place high value on contributing to the needs of the community financially, and being part of the community on a Sunday, but what do we do when this is not happening, when funds are low and attendances are down?

I don’t think we berate people. I don’t think we stick it up people and tell them to pull their finger out. That won’t work.

Because it doesn’t change their perception of value.

It just pisses them off and puts them in an awkward place, where they now feel bad, obliged and either forced to conform or in a place where they now worry that they are being frowned upon. Its not a good place to work from.

If telling people to shape up to expectations isn’t the solution then what is?…

Somehow we need to shift their perception of value. It may be that they have got lost in the haze of selfism, narcissism and consumerism that is our society today and they can only see value in what makes them feel better immediately. Following Jesus will be seen as poor ‘value’ for money and time spent. It may be that they need some more intentional discipleship (read ‘teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded’). Possibly in the process of that we will discover that the life Jesus calls us to is inspiring enough to open my wallet for, or that being part of the Christian community is so important and valuable that we will sacrifice other things for that.

The dominant narrative of our culture is a self centred one and it grates against the ‘self denying’ message of discipleship. Our role as leaders is to call people to the compelling and inspiring message of Jesus, to challenge cultural norms and to tell a different story that is more attractive than the one we hear around us.

Is that possible?

If the gospel is really true, if the kingdom of God is our hope and our dream and if we can grasp that reality then I believe we have a story that trumps any overseas holiday, any new car or purely self indulgent fantasy. Reality is its hard to keep the gospel of the kingdom front and central in our imaginations and read junk mail or watch TV… The truth of the biblical message is constantly supplanted with other more immediate sources of hope.

But if its just about coming to church, singing songs, hearing sermons and giving money then I understand why we are pushing uphill. The role of the leader is to help people see the ‘value’ in the kingdom of God – to communicate the message of the gospel and the hope of the kingdom in such a way that to trade it for a thermomix or a sleep in on a Sunday would be the dumbest thing ever.

I just made that sound easy…

On Women

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womenIf ever there were a tough gig it would be leading a Christian church as a woman.  The more I have reflected on this the more I shake my head in both disbelief and admiration of those who do it.

As a bloke looking on it appears to me that the challenges are enormous for women seeking to develop and serve in this way.  Obviously I write this as a man and with a limited perception, so feel free to correct me ladies or add your experience of this conundrum.

The first challenge I observe is obvious – finding a church that is willing to take you on as a leader. Some churches see value in a female ‘associate’ pastor,  but very few in my own tribe (let’s call us ‘evangelical’ ) are willing to take the ‘risk’ on a woman as a team leader/senior pastor or whatever language you prefer to use.

If a woman is willing to be an associate then there is a reasonable scope for finding a role.  It wont be as broad a scope as the roles available for men,  as many churches still don’t accept women in eldership / teaching roles, but if the role is purely pastoral, kids or youth then it might be ok.  She might be called the ‘children’s worker’ rather than pastor but then she ought to just be happy to have a position… right?… To find an associate role is definitely possible and often this is as far as churches are willing to go.

But what of those women genuinely gifted as leaders and communicators? What of those women whose best fit is a senior leadership role? Do they simply have to accept that they will only ever serve in a secondary capacity (or be missionaries?… because the same rules don’t seem to apply cross culturally…)

I say ‘secondary ‘ not to lessen children’s / youth ministry but because to be unable  to be who you are is always going  to see you being in a ‘secondary ‘ space.

Again the biggest challenge is to just get a gig.  How many churches have a theology in place that see women as potential senior leaders?  Not many… not many at all. I’ll guess 20% would accept this theologically, but even fewer would be able to accept it culturally. The ‘leadership is male’ paradigm is too strong to break.

So a woman would firstly need a find a church in her tribe,  (or a neighbouring tribe) looking for a senior leader that is theologically and culturally placed to consider her. Already the field has narrowed considerably.

But the challenge continues.

Most churches are institutions and institutions tend to play it safe.  It’s a safer bet to choose a man. Church leaders are more often seen as men so it would be an easier route for most churches to go. When new faces appear on a Sunday morning, ‘church shopping’, some will likely be ‘put off ‘ if they discover the senior leader is a woman, because they have been used to male leadership. Put bluntly if a church chooses a woman as a their team leader then they risk narrowing the ‘market’ they appeal to. (Yeah – I know that’s crappy language but for the sake of the illustration…)

We have been conditioned in this way so its going to be a while before that changes significantly.  A church that simply wants to get more bums on seats will be ‘smarter’ to go with a man as a team leader because the appeal is more generic. Sad but true I’d suggest. Of course if a church is confident and secure enough in its identity then it won’t care and it will move with its convictions, but those churches are few and far between.

My guess is that women will also be under more scrutiny from those on their teams and those in the congregation. ‘Is she really up to it?…’

That has to be ‘wearing’. To have to prove yourself,  time and again… to know that some may not believe in you because of your gender. That can create a sense of insecurity in a leader if they know they are constantly being evaluated in a way a man wouldn’t be. I imagine it would also be hard not to be in ‘fight’ mode often as a woman leader or not to get gnarly at throwaway lines and flippant gender related comments.

Then there’s the challenge of recruiting other staff.  The same problem applies as when a woman is seeking a role.  Some men will have theological objections to female leadership, while others will simply find it too much of a cultural stretch to have a woman in the lead role.  This inevitably means that the staff possibilities diminish and it can then be hard to develop a strong team and a thriving ministry.  If you can’t easily recruit co-workers then what do you do?

I think we have a long way to go before we will see a significant shift in the landscape and I applaud those women who have cut the path in some very hard ground – who must some days look up and wonder if they have actually got far at all. The reality is that the ground has been broken, the moulds are being re-cast and in time we will see this pioneering work bear fruit in churches that are led by the person who is called to the role irrespective of gender.

At the moment Danelle and I share the leadership role in our church and we are the team leaders. Some days that means my communication, leadership gifts come to the fore and some days it means her prophetic, people gifts come to the fore, but we’re able to discern who is best placed to lead as needed. It isn’t a function of gender but rather a recognition that we are gifted differently and we function best when we allow one another to do what we do best.

I only know of a few women in team leader roles across Australia, and they are all women who are certainly very deserving and highly capable in their roles, but I can only imagine it aint easy.

Thanks for your leadership and courage ladies and for not shying away from the challenge.

The Wrong Question

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There is a question I’ve been asking people for many years now as a way of helping them define their sense of vocation and identity. Its not a new one – I’m sure you’ve heard it… But this morning I started considering that maybe it wasn’t the right question – or even a helpful question.

It is: ‘What would you do if money were no object?’

I was watching this cool vid on Vimeo (yeah – another busy Monday…) and as the narrator used the question, something jarred in me. As I pondered it some more I realised that there were two things that I was feeling uneasy about.

The first was the implication that ‘money is an object’ and the second was that it actually has the potential to lend itself to a quite indulgent, maybe even selfish response.

Perhaps my dreams are too simple these days, but for the most part it isn’t money that holds me back. I would love to take off around Australia again in a caravan and do some travelling combined with some itinerant ministry in the various backwater towns we might end up in. I know its hard for some of those towns to get anybody to come for a short time let alone a long time so some folks offering a hand might be helpful. I imagine the experience would be valuable for all of us.

But the factor holding me back isn’t $$, although we would need to scrape together enough to make it happen. Its a wife who really wouldn’t enjoy that life. Its two kids who would lose their connections while their old man gets to indulge some of his wanderlust. Its a community of people both in our church and locally who we would stop connecting with for a period while I go do my thing. Its my business clients who I like to look after and stay connected with.

So in reality its not money that holds me back. Its the complexity of life. Its the sense of responsibility to others – and I think that is a good thing – as well as the knowledge that my personal dreams are not necessarily shared by the rest of my family.

I think the question has the potential to imply that we are sole entities who function as individuals and it doesn’t pay attention to the wider communal impact of our actions. If we genuinely value one another then we don’t simply ‘follow our dreams’ wherever that leads because we consider how it impacts others.

True?

So I am pondering a better question. It needs to be one that doesn’t restrict dreaming and one that helps a person’s imagination fire up, but I wonder if the $$ question is the wrong way to hit it?…

 

 

 

 

 

To Live is Christ…

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Up until a few years ago I had a tagline at the bottom of my email that was a quote from Helen Keller. It said ‘Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.’

It summed up how I tried to live and the kind of spirit I wanted to bring to whatever I was doing. It was true to who I was at that time and it evoked a kind of an adrenalin charged, full tilt approach to life.  It ended up taking us on various adventures and initiatives that were a lot of fun and often risky.

It fitted really well thru my 20’s to early 40’s, but there came a point in time where I dropped that quote from my emails and to this day I haven’t replaced it with anything else. Although ‘the older I get the better I was’ does seem like a good fit…

I was a bit sad at its departure and I found it hard to understand why I no longer resonated with it like I used to, but I had to be honest and say ‘that’s just not where I am at any more.’ Its not me and I can’t keep sending emails that have this on the bottom.

I actually found my mid 40’s a confusing time as I was no longer driven, ambitious, focused and all those other qualities that seemed to mark my years of ‘achieving’. In my mid 40’s I started to relax a lot more, didn’t care as much if things didn’t work out and I was less obsessive about being successful. I didn’t set goals like I used to, didn’t push other people like I used to and wasn’t continually dreaming about the next mountain to climb. It was seriously dis-orienting to find myself in a ‘room’ that was unfamiliar and yet a room that I couldn’t just seem to power my way out of.

I had a few lame attempts at ‘upping the ante’ and ‘getting focused’, but truth was my heart wasn’t in it. It wasn’t that I didn’t care, but it was that I didn’t care in the same way and for the same things.

At some point along the way I discovered Richard Rohr’s book, ‘Falling Upwards‘ and what a gift that was. Someone who simply articulated the shift I was experiencing from what he described as a ‘first half of life spirituality’ to a ‘second half of life spirituality’. He described my experiences so well it was like he knew me and was giving me some personal counselling. Ambition was being replaced with contentment (and yet also a discontentment because it felt like a part of me had died..). An ability to relax and enjoy life instead of constant productivity and yet a nagging sense that I wasn’t achieving as much… More time and energy for people rather than tasks. It was almost like my identity was inverting in some ways and I couldn’t control it.

I described it to someone once as saying ‘I get less done, but I’m a nicer bloke for it.’ Truth is I think I probably got just as much done, but it happened from an intuitive awareness of what to do next rather than a couple of days of planning and strategic thinking.

So ‘a daring adventure or nothing at all’, no longer describes the energy I bring to life. Yet at the same time I want to be able to live with adventure, faith and risk. I want to follow Jesus wherever that leads. I guess I have become increasingly aware that some of what I have ascribed to ‘Jesus leading’ over the last 20 years was more like my ego needs meshed with some of God’s grace – probably a lot of God’s grace…

Rohr describes it like this:

The phrase “two halves of life” was first popularised by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist. He says that there are two major tasks. In the first half [of life] you’ve got to find your identity, your significance; you create your ego boundaries, your ego structure, what I call “the creating of the container.” But that’s just to get you started. In the second half of life, once you’ve created your ego structure, you finally have the courage to ask: What is this all for? What am I supposed to do with this? Is it just to protect it, to promote it, to defend it, or is there some deeper purpose? The search for meaning is the task of the second half of life

Recently we picked up the book of Philippians in church and I was struck again by Paul’s words ‘To live is Christ. To die is gain.’ These weren’t trite words, or words that sounded good on a business card for a tentmaker apostle. They were words that summed up his life – that actually described the energy he brought to his life and ministry.

I’ve been meditating on those words for several weeks now and I have realised I love those words – I love the simplicity and the focus of what he says and the sweep of what those words mean.

‘To live is Christ – to die is gain’ is an unselfish statement in every way, but more than that its a Jesus centred statement – one that captures the life of faith in a powerful nutshell and one that I would love to say ‘yeah that’s me!…’

Truth is that’s what I hope to be but I think to attach that to an email would be something of a lie. But it is something to aspire to – something to focus on. To live each day as Christ – at work, at the shops, at the beach and so on. And I do think I am getting better at that and it flows more naturally, but I’m also aware (oddly much more aware now) of how dark I am – how much evil lurks inside and how easy it would be to lose my way.

I’ve also noticed that the second half of that statement makes much better sense to me now than it did even five years ago. ‘To die is gain’, just sounds bizarre to someone who has so much to do and so little time! But as life has shifted in its equilibrium and as I have got to know Jesus better I find that it resonates more. I don’t want to die. Not yet at least. But it no longer looms as a ‘gong’ sounding over an incomplete life. It is beginning to feel more like something to anticipate and look forward to with longing. ‘To be with Christ is far better’, Paul says, but perhaps it is a measure of our attachment to this world that those words seem to lack any potency.

Tomorrow I turn 50, something of a landmark I guess and according to Sam I will become ‘the oldest dad in the world’. Nice one buddy!

But I feel like I am out of the woods now when it comes to that sense of disorientation and confusion that Rohr describes as normal for men in mid life. I feel like I have been able to let go of the selfish need to seek adventure and new initiatives, and am now better able to listen to God. It comes with what may appear to be a decreased energy for adventure, but I’m coming to realise that its more about a desire to do what is line with where God is leading us, rather than asking him to put his blessing on another good idea of mine.

So my hope is that those words will define the life I live and will continue to help me stay focused in this second half. That said, you probably won’t see them appear on an email any time soon… but they’d be nice on a tombstone one day hey?

 

Cursing Our Children With Ambition

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So here’s a question for you parents…

What are your hopes and dreams for your children? How do you envision their lives will turn out – if all goes to plan?  What would make you burst with pride as a parent?…

Chances are it will sound something like this :

‘Happiness… It’s the word people gravitate to first – and sure – it’s a generic word that means everything and nothing  – but it is usually followed by a familiar list of items that are intended to equate to that word…  Think a university education, a satisfying well paying job, career advancement, financial security, a nice wife / husband, a home in a good suburb and a generally safe, enjoyable life.

This seems to be the dominant response of most parents whether they are people of faith or not.

I ‘get’ this to some degree for people who do not follow Christ because this is the template our world lays out for young people to fit into. But for those who hope for their kids to be disciples of Jesus my question would be ‘why are your dreams so lame and so dull? Why would you choose to curse your kids with such a deflating and uninspiring vision of the world?’

The list most people rattle off is a description of the end goal of middle class aspirational living. A happy family in a nice suburb with a good career and enough money to do all they want to do. Not necessarily bad… I know…

But I would want to suggest that this is a blind spot for us as Christians – a default setting in our make up that needs challenging and dismantling.

When Paul said ‘to live is Christ – to die is gain.’ I don’t think this was the vision of the world he was embracing! When Jesus chose the path of a servant through to the cross I doubt he was seeing this either. Why is it we can hold up people as heroes of the faith but not actually seek to be like them?…

Seriously…

Why is there such dissonance between our rhetoric and our actual lives?

My guess is that we have been so indoctrinated into this culture of self centredness that we cannot imagine what life looks like outside of these ambitions.  We simply don’t have a stronger more compelling vision to offer our kids. And maybe that’s because we have so fully (and perhaps unintentionally) succumbed to the Australian middle class dream rather than seeking the kingdom.

In my early years of teaching I spent a lot of time encouraging kids to be missionaries, overseas workers and the like with the disclaimer that if God didn’t want you there then maybe you could go to uni, get  a job etc…  It was a primitive, unsophisticated attempt to articulate some of what I am thinking of here – an inversion of popular thinking to try and provoke a different imagination. I don’t think there is any particular merit in full time Christian work, but I have often wondered why it is seen as an exception – as needing a ‘special call’. Does anyone get ‘called’ to be a plumber?

Tonight over dinner we discussed this with my kids and I had the joy of telling them Jackie Pullinger’s story, how as a 19 year old girl she hopped on a boat bound for China because she felt the call of Jesus to be a missionary and she wanted to follow him. I am guessing it wasn’t the direction most people would have imagined a 19 year old girl taking, but what a life she has lived.

For what its worth I think our world needs engineers, teachers lawyers, and all of those other professions and we need Christians to fill those roles as much as people of other faiths. So it’s not the vocational choice that is the issue.

It’s the package.  The predictable trajectory of life that every young person seems cursed to take, unless they are willing to think differently, unless they are willing to resist the societal forces that seek to form them into responsible, productive upwardly mobile clones.

Perhaps rather than telling our kids to study hard, work hard, do the right thing… etc we should teach them to listen to God, teach them the heart of Jesus and encourage them to seek what he wants first.

Maybe that will finish with them getting an engineering degree and a well paying job, but the mindset that accompanies it may well be a very different one.

Is that too idealistic? Am I just being grumpy? Or can we hope to raise children and young adults who will say ‘to live is Christ – to die is gain’, and to live their lives for the sake of others because they have had that idea embedded in their psyche far more powerfully than ‘be rich, be happy?’

Prophets

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Ok before you go any further this post has some very bad language in it. If that’s a problem to you then back out now…

You’re sure you want to keep going?…

Because I don’t want to get comments telling me that it was offensive… If nothing else I’d get annoyed because you missed the point!

Ok, I came across these two pieces this week and I’d suggest they are brilliant prophetic statements. They aren’t Christians (as far as I know) and in fact they are quite confronting in their content, but if you have ears to hear then you will feel what is said.

The first is a bloke in England on a bit of a ‘social experiment’, and the second is Aussie comedian Tim Minchin at the Melbourne Comedy Festival (a fundraiser for Oxfam) really calling people out on their true convictions.

Unpleasant, but then that’s why we need prophets – because they will say the stuff that the rest of us feel offended by or can’t see.

For those who have ears to hear…

Thanks to my bro in law David who pointed me to Minchin. Unfortunately its a catchy song and kinda gets stuck in your head… like it or not…

 

Just Not For Me

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Man Walking Down the Line in the RoadIf I consider what it is that has taken the heaviest toll on me over 24 years of pastoral leadership it might well be those who walk away from faith.

Each one who has given it away is probably not that significant on their own – and I reckon that’d be how they feel about it – but the combined weight of each person’s ‘failed journey’ or whatever you choose to call it can eventually become quite a load.

Maybe you say ‘its not my load to carry’ and that’d be true. And I don’t think I do carry it these days. But I feel it. I feel it in my heart as someone else says ‘I dunno… I just can’t keep going with it…I’m not sure I believe any more… I’m not sure I ever believed…’

And I wonder, ‘what do you say to that?…’ I’m not sure…

In my youth ministry days I think I felt an inappropriate sense of responsibility for the faith journey of those who were in our churches. When they gave it away I felt like I had failed them, or maybe just that I had failed. Maybe I had sometimes.

But young people are known for going thru phases and it appeared that some went thru their ‘church phase’ under our leadership. I never liked to see young people get baptised and then 6 months later say ‘ah, I’m over that now…’, but what’s harder is watching adults lose faith, give faith away or simply choose to let it go.

Usually for adults it starts as ‘giving up on church’ (and sometimes the reasons are even valid) and then moves to disillusionment with God and eventually to disinterest. The convenience of a life removed from God can be pretty attractive if your journey following Jesus has been particularly hard.

I see people give faith up for a whole host of reasons. Boredom with church is a biggie. The struggle to ‘attend’ a service or meet weekly with people with whom there is often little in common can get old quickly. When we make following Jesus primarily about church attendance we are in trouble, but this is the dominant paradigm in our culture so we have to work with it.

For some, life can turn to poo and God is an easy target for the blame. Depending on your theology God may even be the source of your pain. That presents some real theological conundrums. If God isn’t the cause then he is the person who could have done something but didn’t… not the world’s most loving father after all. A broken heart is a danger for some and an impetus for others. Some run from God when the world falls apart and others run to him. My hunch is that more immature Christians run away.

For some a non-Christian partner is like an anchor, a huge weight that means faith is constantly being dragged around and never enjoyed. Sometimes it may be easier to just quietly slip out of a church and not return. What makes that strategy even worse is that many single Christians who have made a huge effort to connect in church may go MIA and no one may notice. The absence of any follow up is a nail in the coffin of a sick faith. The hurt from that experience can leave a person ‘believing in God but not in church’.

Then there are those who just ‘never really got it’ in the first place. Good people who have been part of the church community, have shared the load in every way, but who in their quiet moments will admit to not being even sure if they believe. What do you do there?

I certainly don’t fight God’s battles for him any more. If you don’t want to believe then that’s ok. Go ahead. If you think God is actually evil and has done you wrong then I’m not sure I can change that either. I reckon he can stand up for himself if he needs to.  If you signed up for the wrong gig and just want to get off the squad then I’m not going to stop you.

Sometimes I feel like I am being called on to defend God – to make sense of him in some of life’s most difficult situations. And I can’t do that. I can’t make someone believe. I can’t convince a broken heart that God is good.

I can listen, ask questions, speak of my own experience. I can share what I read in scripture of how God has worked in the past, but what I can’t do is flick a switch in another person’s heart that says ‘ok – I believe,’ or ‘ok I want to believe.’

A couple of conversations lately have sat heavily on me as I have realised people are exiting – leaving faith – and I can’t stop them. Nor do I think it appropriate to try and stop them.

I have been reminded in these times that our clever arguments are not the answer to the wounded, disillusioned or the disbelieving, but that prayer is the hope. Somewhere in the spiritual realm a battle is going on for the heart and its a battle that is only going to be won in the spiritual realm.

But each one that goes leaves a mark – causes pain and grief. I sense what I experience some days is the cumulative weight of that disappointment and of my own inability to fix it, but rather just having to accept that this is the way life is.

That’s how I feel.

I can only imagine how God feels.