What Church Should Look Like-- A Community for Finding Accountability

            I knew a guy who was involved in a fiery automobile accident many years ago. An ambulance rushed him from the interstate to the nearest hospital. An emergency room diagnosis determined that he needed to be airlifted to another hospital, which specialized in treating burn victims.

            It was at the specialty hospital the guy experienced the greatest trauma of his life—even greater than the crash itself. During the crash, the poor fellow at least went into shock. At the burn unit of the specialized hospital, he did not enjoy this luxury.

            The worst part was submitting to the scrubbing. Portions of damaged flesh, scar tissue, and even good skin were brushed away—an excruciating process that provoked him to wishes of death.

            He screamed appeals to hospital personnel to stop. They never listened. To do so was to risk was to risk infection and even death, whereby the hospital would have been derelict of duty.

            Last I heard, my acquaintance was healthy, happy, and pain free. He is grateful the hospital did not give him what he wanted, and equally grateful they gave him what was needed.

            Too many churches today are the equivalent of negligent hospitals. They welcome people burned by sin, but rather than offer the treatment the victims need for healthy spiritual lives, the spiritual health care ceases at the first cry of pain.

            While the intentions are good, they produce corrosive results. Too many Christians are becoming spiritually infected. Sometimes, this lack of spiritual care leads to spiritual death.

            Transformation into the image of Christ is a terribly difficult process. Discipleship requires accountability.

            Accountability is not a popular word these days. Some of this is understandable. Through the centuries, too many churches have abused this calling. Unfortunately, we delude ourselves if we drift too far to the opposite end of the spectrum.

            Neglect, no matter how noble the intention, is still neglect.

            A significant portion of Paul’s writing reflects healthy spiritual confrontation. We must confront.

            A significant portion of Paul’s writing reflects the importance of church discipline. This is the most difficult part of offering spiritual rehab; yet, when needed, it is essential.

            Yes, Paul channels Jesus’ belief that people are free to choose Christ or reject him. Nonetheless, it is not the responsibility of the church to subsidize the lifestyles of people who choose to reject spiritual care and live outside the boundaries of God’s call for holiness.

            Holiness leads to healing.

            It is never a good thing if the local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous models accountability more effectively than the local church. Speaking of AA, maybe we can learn a thing or two from them.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. How many times have we seen this: a seemingly stronger team unable to put a “weaker” team away. The weaker team plugs away, plugs away, plugs away… and then they win. That is what we saw yesterday when Japan defeated the U. S. in the Women’s World Cup. I am happy for Japan, and I congratulate the U. S. women. They have had a good tournament.

2. Amazingly the Texas Rangers had three shutouts in a row last week, and as of today have one eleven in a row. This is still a streaky team; they have a long way to go.

3. I finished Dick Van Dyke’s new book My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir. It’s a fast read, more fun than enlightening. However, he does provide some interesting details of his battle with alcoholism and his decision to ultimately leave his wife.

            I read with sadness, this former elder in the Presbyterian Church, as he described his relationship with his live-in girlfriend of over thirty years. I write this without irony. (Last week’s blog was on “living together.”)

            I am a huge fan of the DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. I consider it the greatest TV comedy of all time—maybe TV’s greatest show. Nevertheless, Dick Van Dyke is a man of flesh and blood. Sometimes, the choices of those we appreciate disappoint us.

4. Everybody is blaming the Congress, the President, or both for our debt crisis. This is not a “they” problem. This is an “us” problem. I have experienced this before in another country. Unless we change our spiritual outlook and, consequently, our values and habits, things will become much, much worse.

5. Judy, Haleigh, Abby, and I are on hour 18 of Season 1 of “24” on NETFLIX. Abby left yesterday for two weeks at Camp Deer Run. Big question: can Haleigh wait until Abby gets back?

Heavenly CPS

            I want you to imagine a nightmare scenario. Imagine Judy and me adding a baby to our repertoire of four kids! (If you don’t know me, I’m fifty, Judy is … well, Judy is my wife, and we have four kids ranging in age from 8-17.)

            Now, picture Judy and me placing the bulk of our attention on our oldest daughter, who is a high school senior. We dialogue with her constantly, listen to her every whim or complaint. We do all we can to make sure she is happy and doesn’t rebel and leave our family.

            Meanwhile, after the initial excitement over the birth of our baby, we pay less and less attention to it. Even though some attention to our oldest daughter is important (helping her in her transition to college, for example), logically, we should understand she has entered a state of maturity that demands less concentration. Instead, one would think it essential to demonstrate more care and concern for the baby than our oldest—or even our other three children.

            All humor aside, I want you to picture in your mind something truly awful. Let’s say Judy and I neglect our baby so much, the child becomes malnourished or even terribly ill. Unfortunately, since we are so occupied with the desires and concerns of our oldest, we neglect our baby.

            Granted, it is easier to minister to our oldest child in a lot of ways. One would be communication. Our daughter can tell us how she is thinking and feeling. Indeed, she has the confidence to seek us out.

            Babies, as you know, can’t communicate well. Sometimes something can be wrong with them, and the parents have a difficult time diagnosing the problem.

            To society, however, there are no excuses. If Judy and I neglect our baby and the symptoms began to show, CPS will come calling.

            Here is my point—inspired by months of study in the book of REVELATION. Too often in churches, we preachers (and I definitely am including myself), elders, staff, ministry leaders, and members, place the bulk of our attention on the “older children” of the church. I don’t mean senior citizens; I mean those who have been in Christ for a number of years.

            We focus our sermons on the mature Christians. We plan our worship according to what mature Christians are thinking. We listen to mature Christians, who seek us out to give opinions and feedback. We organize our congregational families around the needs, and wants of mature Christians. Meanwhile, too many of us are not paying enough attention to the spiritual babies.

            I am glad there is no Heavenly CPS. Can you imagine? Heavenly case workers taking neglected spiritual babies from one spiritual home and placing them in another—offering someone else a chance to give them the nurturing and care they need. 

            Or, maybe there is. Maybe that is where all the spiritual babies have gone.

            Maybe that is why so many of our churches are spiritually infertile.

            Excuse me, I haven’t heard anything from my spiritual baby in a while; I need to go check and see if everything is okay.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I am ashamed to say I have still not gone out and purchased the new Rob Bell book. I’ve got to do that this week--and read it.

2. Saturday was the day I sprayed the house and yard for bugs—always an ordeal. But I did get to catch the end of the Pittsburgh-Butler game to see who advances to the Sweet 16. What a finish! I’ve never seen a guy foul underneath his own goal, after a free throw, with virtually not time left. I have a feeling we are going to hear the name of Brad Stevens this time every year when major schools are looking to hire a new coach. Butler has 4200 students. Amazing.

3. With Netflix’s growing instant play library, I’m starting to wonder why I keep so many DVDs around. 

4. I finally got around to reading last month's TIME Magazine’s cover story on the young generation of leaders seeking freedom in the Middle East. Maybe this is a time to be truly optimistic about the future there.

5. Congratulations to Diann Preston’s ETCA girls basketball team for yet another honor. My daughter, Haleigh, joined Samantha Phillips in making First Team on the TAPPS All-State Basketball Team. Jenny Munoz was selected to the Second Team. Hayley Robertson was named as an Honorable Mention. Samantha, Jenny, and Hayley Robertson are all juniors and will return next year. If I may indulge in a little parental pride, I have been grateful to see Haleigh named to First Team All-State in both volleyball and basketball this year.

What Church Should Look Like: A Community Where Different Economic Groups Can Come Together

             The publication, OUR DAILY BREAD, several years ago included a story about a plainly dressed man who entered a church service in the Netherlands. He took a seat near the front.

            Shortly thereafter, a woman walked down the aisle, saw the stranger in the place she always sat, and curtly asked him to leave. Quietly, the man stood up and moved to a section reserved for the poor.

            After the assembly, a friend of the woman asked her if she knew the man whom she had ordered out of her seat. "No," she replied.

            Her friend then informed her, "The man you ordered out of your seat was King Oscar of Sweden! He is here visiting the Queen."

            I don’t know if this story is fact or legend. I do like the lesson it conveys. When the saints assemble, humility is an admirable trait for any Christian to carry. Pride and selfishness are not.

            In Luke chapter fourteen, we read the following:

             7 When Jesus noticed how the guests sought out the best seats at the table, he told them a parable. 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding celebration, don’t take your seat in the place of honor. Someone more highly regarded than you could have been invited by your host. 9 The host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give your seat to this other person.’ Embarrassed, you will take your seat in the least important place. 10 Instead, when you receive an invitation, go and sit in the least important place. When your host approaches you, he will say, ‘Friend, move up here to a better seat.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”

             12 Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward. 13 Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. 14 And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected” (Luke 14:7-14.) CEB

            I personally think that, in the United States, the hardest challenge churches face is crossing the economic divide. As much adversity as we face in reconciling the races—and there is a lot of work still to be done—I feel reconciling the economic groups is an even more daunting task.

            I have seen more people fellowship together from different races than I have different economic groups. I have definitely observed more meaningful friendships from between people of different races.

            I am not sure why people from different economic classes have difficulty meshing. I have some ideas, though. One factor is culture. The impoverished have a culture. The lower class lives in a culture. Clearly, one can find in the U. S. a middle-class culture—the list goes on. Crossing cultural divides can be difficult.

            Another issue can be education. Typically, education is tied to economic class. Too often, educated people don’t want to know what an uneducated person is thinking—and vice-versa.

            Real commitment and real imagination must be deployed to discover common elements between folks who have different educational backgrounds. And humility must be practiced for a person to prove willing to learn from another person out of a different economic group.

            None of this is new. Many of the same elements were present in Luke 14 when Jesus addressed religious leaders. Some of these dynamics were also present when James challenged the Christians in James chapter two to show no partiality to the rich.

            Jesus’ repeated call to deny self lays the foundation here. For a church to consist of rich, poor, and middle class, members will essentially have to make an effort to practice self-denying love.

            Whether you are rich or poor, going in the other direction can prove difficult. When I was young, single, in graduate school, and struggling to make ends meet, I cut corners wherever I could. I hung out with a single’s group much more successful than I was. Every Sunday, they wanted to go out to eat after church. I couldn’t afford that, but I wanted their fellowship. So I would go and make excuses to avoid eating—a small taste of what it feels like to be on the lower rung of the economic ladder.

            Most of the time, I have been the one blessed economically. Often, in situations of seeking to relate to the poor, I have found myself moved by their selfless acts.

            One Sunday, shortly after Judy and I had our first child, we had an opportunity to assemble for worship in the home of some friends. We lived in a foreign country, and these friends were extraordinarily poor. 
            The parents had many children and lived, as I recall, in a two-room house. Their house was located across a creek; Judy will never forget me carrying our baby across that creek--balancing myself on a single log. 
            The mother had suffered severely from tooth decay, and already had lost some of her teeth. The couple had little furniture and no chairs. Entering the house, the mother offered Judy one of her prize possessions—an old barrel. She knew Judy was struggling having so recently given birth, and she wanted to offer Judy her best to sit upon. 
             It took all of Judy’s self-discipline to refrain from weeping; she was so-touched by this action of grace. We have never forgotten the gesture.

            The by-product of the pursuit of relationship and community with those from other ends of the economic spectrum is that these attitudes and practices—in time—contribute to the work of God, which in turn help form us into the image of His Son.

            If this is important to us, living out the teachings of Luke 14 should prove a blessing.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Judy and I saw SOMEWHERE IN TIME the other night with our too oldest daughters. That movie always had a soft spot in my heart. Not my girls. They hated the ending.

2. I am finally discovering the treasure trove of TV shows available on instant view in NETFLIX.

3. I complete our pulpit look at the book of Revelation in a couple of weeks. Never have I dreaded preaching a book of scripture so much. Never have I been so rewarded from preaching a book of scripture. I am so gratified with what I have learned from Revelation.

4. Why do I have an uneasy feeling about Egypt, Libya, and the Middle East?

5. Just when a void appeared after football season, along comes March Madness.