On the Road

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Read Luke 24:13-35.

I have a confession to make. I think the church today is broken.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a Christian and believe with my whole heart Christians should gather with other Christians, sharing life, reading GOD’s Word together, serving and worshiping.

But here’s why I think church is broken….while I rarely doubt the presence of God in my life and the world, I often struggle with figuring out what it is to LIVE a Christian way of life. And I think I’m not alone. You see saying I’m a Christian and living as one are two different things.

Let me give you an example to make it clear. I’m from MN…and I love baseball, and am a MN Twins baseball fan. Not only do I enjoy watching baseball, but I love getting to know the stories of the players and following their progress throughout the year. That’s all good, especially when the year is going well. But if you’ve followed baseball these past few years….the MN Twins haven’t had a very good run. And losing 100 games a season means watching lots of games when ‘your’ team comes up short. And believe me, the Twins have figured out all kinds of ways to lose – they can lose close games, be out of the game from the start…and everything in between. And, as the team tries to regroup, things get tough – your favorite players are traded, injured or sent back to the farm team. And all these changes make it hard to stay connected and invested.

Throughout the season I’m given the choice – stay faithful to being a fan or hang it up. So far, with the help of family members, other Twins fans at work or in my community, and continuing to show up and support the team…I’ve found a way to stay a Twins fan in the good moments as well as the bad.

Now I’m passionate about baseball, but baseball…when the day is done…is just a game. But this ‘game’ wants me as a fan…they know I follow them on Twitter, buy tickets to their games on StubHub and buy Twins gear from their store. And through all kinds of ways, both targeted at me personally and within the greater Twin Cities area, they encourage me…inform me…invite me to join both the Twins community and the greater Major League Baseball community.

Now I’m sad to say my church, the Christian church, has not done the same. You see, living a Christian way of life is hard most days, perhaps like being a fan of a struggle sports team. Why? Because being a Christian is complicated today. While many of my neighbors and friends say they are Christian…or at least note a connection to a Christian faith community…many of us don’t know what it means when it comes to living it out in our daily life. Things like parenting our teenagers and college kids, making choices about how we will spend our money, or what impact our faith has on our daily work. And in fact, when we do talk about, our ideas vary and we often don’t know how to find our way forward. This leaves us hiding behind denominational issues or ecclesial practices we might not even understand, so we drop the subject. And church, the weekly worship gatherings and small groups, talk about churchy things, or at least use churchy words, which often remain disconnected from my daily issues. And when I’m gone, or going through a tough spell, they don’t know…don’t connect…or know what to do and It’s easy for me to fall away from the very community that might help me figure these things out.

And, at times, I wish…like my being a baseball fan…I could just walk away and believe it doesn’t matter. But here the deal…I know it does.

Christians around the world just walked through the season of Lent…a season not confined to a religious calendar…but a season which highlights what all humans know and experience – life is frail and broken.  My season of Lent started the day after Christmas as I met a friend and his family at the hospital as their 17 year old son was admitted to the ICU. Three days later he died. I cried. We cried. Asked questions. Challenged God. Prayed. And in a very real way, these days marked the beginning of MY season of lent. And for the past 4 months, grief and loss and disappointment have been very real in all areas of my life. It’s been, or me, a season of Lent.

But, people of God, Lent is not the end. The cross does not have the final word. The tomb is empty, we are Easter people, people who live on the other side, people who have another story to tell.

Walking outside of Jerusalem, to a nearby village, the people who had been following Jesus were talking. They were talking about the events that had taken place…the crazy events of Holy Week and now the discovery that the tomb Jesus was laid in was empty…and they encountered a man on the road. This man, Jesus, joined in, asking questions and listening, and they continued on their journey.

The time for supper came, and the travelers stopped, gathered around a table for a meal and did what came natural…they prayed, gave thanks, and broke bread. And when they did…their eyes were opened. Jesus, God incarnate, was in their midst.

You see post-resurrection, the story changed. Jesus joins us in the breaking of bread, yes. The meal is a reminder that Jesus is alive and GOD’s promises are true. But that’s not all. Jesus is also present with us on the road…in our daily life. And on the road, Jesus didn’t offer them answers or tell them what to do. Rather he reminded them of the Importance of accompanying each other on the journey, of talking about the events of our lives and trying to make sense of them.

People of God, …and you do have the promise of abundant life. Yes, the journey is real, it’s hard, it mysterious, and it’s complicated. Don’t worry so much about the answers, but join each other on the journey and help each other hold on to hope, not the hope of a winning baseball season, but the hope which can only be found in the empty tomb.

Amen

Do we have eyes to see?

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Yes, I’ll serve…but where am I needed? And what is needed?

After listening to numerous people, inside and outside the church, I’m convinced one of the reasons serving collapses into service projects or mission trips is because most of us don’t know enough about the real circumstances of our context. And without an understanding, our vision is limited – and we are blind to the needs of people on the streets we drive each and every day.

Now, there are many ways to discover what the real circumstances are in our communities, but at the core are two things – education and vision.

Education

I’m a geek…I like numbers, not for numbers sake, but because numbers provide a picture of what’s happening. When new census numbers come out – I get excited and I like to look them over, talk with others about them, and share what I think they mean with those around me. Numbers aren’t bias and don’t offer solutions – but numbers report what is and invite us to see the world in particular ways. Looking at numbers can awaken us, and our communities, to the realities and the changes taking place in our midst. Said differently, looking at the “numbers” for one’s community is a way to education us about what’s real.

For example – People in my area don’t think there is much poverty. And in some ways they are right. With regard to poverty, my county is below average at 6% versus the 11% in MN and 14.3% in the US. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/27000.html.) So they are right, right? Yet a deeper look reveals a startling reality. That 6% represents families with children under 18. And for families with children until 5, the number goes up to 7.1%. Stop there and one might think that’s the average across all family units. However, that’s not true. For single parents, the number is higher. For families with a female as the head of household, poverty is 15.4%.  And for those same households with children under 18 it’s 21.2% – for those with children under 5 it’s 34.8%. That’s over 1/3 of households of single mothers with small children. (http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_5YR_DP03) The numbers present a sad reality. Is that OK? What if people in my congregation knew this important, what would they think? What would they do?

(To check out what’s real in your context – see American Fact Finder on the census website – http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml.)

Vision

My experience also reminds me, numbers (or education) rarely are enough to motivate changes in behavior. So there’s got to be something else. Right? That something else is eyes to see – or vision.

Let me explain. My daughter’s elementary school was fortunate enough to have a part-time social worker. In our suburban context, in which many did not believe poverty existed, she was a gift to the school, to students, and the community. The social worker’s role was to come along side students and make their learning experience the most it could be. This included interpersonal issues, personal care plans, and getting students resources they needed. She was there to serve all students, not just some students. One of the needs she discovered was the need for food. So the whole school system went about attending to this issue in many ways. This included involving the students and their families in process. Suddenly the numbers had faces, and the people in my neighborhood had eyes to see! The people going hungry were our neighbors and in our classes, with particular stories and situations.

As we, ministry leaders, seek to ignite service in our communities, let’s embrace our role as educators and vision casters. Let’s help people discover the realities in our midst and the ways it impacts the lives of people in their community.

“Well-being can…

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“Well-being cannot exist just in your own head. Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment.”

This quote should not surprise us, but, as John Tierney states in his New York Times article (2011), Martin Seligman’s work with positive psychology is trying to help us humans figure out what’s deeper than happiness. (See: A New Gauge to See What’s Beyond Happiness by JOHN TIERNEY in New York Times, Published: May 16, 2011 at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/science/17tierney.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0).

Having spent the afternoon with a room full of curious leaders studying their Strengths, it’s amazing to me how leaders not only don’t know how to embrace their unique giftedness, but leaders in ministry are living with such mixed messages that it seems almost impossible to aspire to living “well” (as defined by the above quote.)

Yet, at the heart of ministry, I’d argue, is exactly that – living well, or as John puts it, living abundantly. Abundant life is not about happiness, but about living well.

So, today, heading into the weekend, how might you engage in a practice of living well? And how might you, as a leader in ministry, help those around you do the same?

Terri

Current picture of ELCA by the numbers

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Many of my ELCA peers have wondered about the impact of the churchwide vote on congregations leaving the ELCA. This past June The Lutheran gave a current picture by highlighting some of the numbers. And while numbers don’t tell us everything, they do note some of the changes. Here are some exerpts from the article:

“As of the beginning of April (2012), 915 congregations had taken first votes to leave the ELCA, with 684 passing and 231 failing. On the second vote (required to officially withdraw from the ELCA), 25 failed and 631 passed. Of those, 621 have been officially removed from the ELCA roster.” (bold mine)

Where was the impact?  Minnesota – 70 (6% of all ELCA churches there), Ohio – 53 (9%), Iowa – 53 (11%), Texas – 48 (13%), Pennsylvania – 40 (3%)

“With roughly 200 new starts over the past few years, the ELCA today claims about 9,800  congregations and 4.2 million members.”

“What does this mean? Our church is changing…We are not stuck in the present and neither are we stranded by inaction in pining for some idealized past. We look and move forward with confidence like our forebears, placing our trust in the Lord to guide us.”

For more see: Numbers Tell a Tale of Change – Some up, done – always onward by Daniel Lehmann .The Lutheran, June 2012, access at http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article.cfm?article_id=10713

Creating a Leadership Culture

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Mark Miller, Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness for Chick-fil-a, says…

“What organizations desperately need is not just a point-of-view on leadership, they need a leadership culture. I define a leadership culture as a place in which leaders are routinely and systematically produced. In a leadership culture, it is not unusual when there is a surplus of qualified leadership candidates for an open position.”

Check out his 5 keys to creating a leadership culture.

http://greatleadersserve.org/creating-a-leadership-culture/

The Day After

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Lent has come and gone.
Lenten disciplines expired.
Hallelujah’s returned.
Darkness turned to light.
But what’s changed?

Today marks the first day of April, and the first day after Easter.
We have proclaimed to be Easter people, now what?
Will the pain of mourning subside?
Will the heavy load of transition get lighter?
Will saying good-bye become manageable?

This lent, more so than others, was filled with living in the brokenness of life. And while I don’t like living in brokenness, I did find comfort in being in the season of brokenness with others. It allowed me to name it and not pretend. To hear lament. To dwell in the now, and not rush to the not yet. And now that we are on “the other side,” I’m not sure I’m ready to move on – to let go, to believe the promises, and to focus on the brightness of Easter. I’m not done being angry, grieving, shedding tears…and the future is still so unclear.

Perhaps this was what the disciples where feeling the morning they went fishing. You know the story in John 21. It was after Jesus’ death and resurrection…and what did Jesus’ followers do? They did what they knew – they went fishing. Now I don’t fish, but I do long for some form of normalcy, which I think was what they were trying to find.

In MN the snow is melting, the sun shining, and my running shoes are ready to hit the pavement…puddles and all. It’s still cold and winter lingers in the air, but there are hints of summer and I long for those warm days. Perhaps it’s simple things like this, ordinary things, that move us from focusing on the brokenness to being driven by hope. I want it to be different, to wake up one day and all things are new, just like Easter morning. But that’s not real, at least for me.

The irony here is hope, God’s promise of new life, is the exact thing that got me through lent. And now that it’s here, Im not ready to pack it up and say good bye. It’s not that I live without hope. It’s just I don’t feel the joy…sense the abundance of life which accompanies Easter. Chocolates and new clothes don’t make it real. But maybe this is what it means to be Easter people – we live fully aware of both Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We can’t separate them

Abundant life is bittersweet. It’s melancholy, if you will, as Christians know joy because they know pain and brokenness. So today, I’m moving forward into life post-Easter taking Good Friday with me. Unlike my Christmas decorations, I’m not packing up the lenten disciplines and painful moments of these past days. Rather, I’m holding them in one hand as I also embrace life and hold hope in the other.

Growing into our Easter promises!
Terri