What Our Students Are Doing ...

This week 63 of our middle & high school students, along with adult volunteers, are headed to Mt. Union, Pennsylvania for Creation Fest 2010.

Think Woodstock for Jesus.

They'll have four days of camping, concerts, seminars, and community.

Our BigHouse ministry has had unusual momentum in 2010, and this trip is the culmination of a very good spring and summer.

Remember the students. And the volunteers.

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In a short time, we'll hold the funeral I referred to in yesterday's post. Please "pray without ceasing" for the Goshen family.

Top Five Tuesday -- Top Five Things NOT To Say

As our church prepares for a desperately sad funeral on Wednesday, I thought I'd offer some different kind of reflections for this "Top Five Tuesday."

What are some things you simply shouldn't say to families or individuals going through grief?

Because the reality is the most people navigating those first shock-filled days after a death won't remember much of what you say to them . . . unless you say something really dumb.

Here's a list of what to avoid:

1. "He's/She's in a better place now." While that may be true, it's not helpful. For those survivors in the middle of intense grief, the "better place" for that spouse, parent, sibling, or child would be right there next to them, still living and breathing.

2. "Be strong." God has given us grief and emotion for a reason: to help us through times of traumatic loss. Moans, tears, and sighs are all part of the process. We usually encourage people to "be strong" so we'll feel more comfortable around them. And here's the real truth: the strongest people are those who are most honest with their sadness.

3. "Just let me know if I can do anything." What you've just done is put the burden back on the person going through grief. They have to let you know how you can help. Instead, just help. Tell the person when you are coming and what you are bringing.

4. "It's all part of God's plan." Again, what may be true is not always what's helpful. In an effort to explain God in the midst of tragedy we sometimes end up blaming God for tragedy.

5. "God needed another angel."

What should you say? How about "I'm sorry"; "I can tell this hurts"; "I love you."

And let Jesus' words from Matthew 5:4 shape whatever you say and however you act: "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted."

Wrestling In Prayer

Colossians 4:12 says this:

Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

What an interesting phrase: wrestling in prayer.

We usually limit our notions of biblical wrestling to the story of Jacob in Genesis 32. But the practice evidently did not end with the patriarchs.

Epaphras struggled in prayer. He anguished in his prayers. Like Jacob, I sense that he would not let go of God "unless you bless me." (Genesis 32:26)

Yet as interesting as "wrestling in prayer" is to us, the purpose behind the smackdown is even moreso: "for you." Epaphras struggles in prayer for the sake of the Colossian church.

To the extent I wrestle in prayer, it is usually for myself and my needs. But not so with Epaphras. The maturity and assurance of the Colossian church merits his most fervent, difficult prayers.

For whom will you wrestle in prayer today?

(By the way, I noticed these words especially today because I was reading in Colossians . . . out loud.)

Bring Your Cell Phone To Church On Sunday . . .

. . . and leave it on.

And while you're at it, bring some of your best questions about the text of the bible with you.

You'll see how those two elements -- your cell phone and your questions -- mesh together as we wind up the Text Message series with an experience called Txt2Txt.

I'm a bit nervous about it.

But it's a good nervous.

And don't forget the last of our ConTXT Sunday night seminars at 5:30. You can pre-register here.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

Listening To My Own Sermon

If you've heard any of the messages in Text Message, you know I'm big on reading the bible out loud. That's how most of the books in the bible are designed to be experienced: audibly and in community.

Unfortunately, we read most of them silently and in isolation.

Anyway, I have been trying to heed my own advice.

Here are some things you'll discover as you read the bible out loud. Even if you're the only one in the room.

1. You'll hear that Genesis 1 begs you not to read it as a science text book. It is something else altogether . . . and the beauty of that something else becomes as clear as the sound of your voice.

2. You'll hear that Psalm 135 is a resposive reading of the kind you hear in churches with a liturgical tradition.

3. You'll hear that Paul builds his argument in Romans around a series of rhetorical questions and emphatic answers -- May it never be! -- leading some modern scholars to conclude that the early church used multiple readers to play the parts of the different "characters."

4. You'll hear that Revelation is full of stopping, turning, and falling. It's more about spiritual re-orientation than crystal ball gazing.

5. You'll hear that the authors of biblical narrative are masters of understatement. My favorite example is 2 Samuel 11:27 in the aftermath of David's adultery with Bathsheba and his murderous plot against her husband Uriah: "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord." Ya think?!

A Series And A Church

Does a great series make a great church?

I've been wondering that recently.

We put a lot of work into the different Sunday series. We lay it out for titles that pop, visuals that capture, music that moves, and, hopefully, messages that connect.

Some of the ones I feel best about over the last couple of years include Oddballs, Loved, There's An App For That, and The Fight Of Your Life. And I'm delighted with the way that the current Text Message on Sunday mornings has led to ConTXT on Sunday evening.

But does all that effort (and for the music and visuals, at least, all that skill) lead to a stronger, better, more holy congregation? Do folks know the Scriptures better and live them out accordingly? Are they better spouses, parents, children, and neighbors as a result of what happens in our Sunday gathering?

I suppose I'm really wondering this: does what happens on Sunday in our Worship Center really matter?

Some days, I answer all those questions affirmatively.

Other days, not so much.

This day, I'm sort of in the middle.

But I think as we listen ever more for the Spirit's call, the questions are worth asking.

Top Five Tuesday: Top Five Wimbledon Moments

I have never been to Wimbledon. Something about sitting in a cold rain in early July doesn't appeal to me.

And for the last 20 years, I haven't been able to watch a men's final as those matches are played when I'm working. Sunday morning.

Nevertheless, like any tennis serious tennis player and fan, Wimbledon still holds a mystique for me. The 2010 event began yesterday and runs through July 4 -- that's when they'll play the men's final, when I will again be working.

So here are my top five Wimbledon memories, all taken in from afar.

1. Arthur Ashe upsets Jimmy Connors to win in 1975. It's maybe the best "where were you when?" question in the tennis world. Where were you when you heard that Arthur Ashe had beaten a seemingly invincible Jimmy Connors to win it all in 1975? I was playing in the Waco (TX) Open, 14-and-under division, and the announcement came over the louspeakers: Arthur Ashe beat Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. All the players were stunned. I found out later that Ashe abandoned his customary slash-and-burn power tennis to confound Connors with dinks and slices. I own a DVD of the match, pull it out from time to time, and never fail to register a large smile as I watch match point: Ashe slices a nasty serve in the deuce court to Connors' backhand and then puts away the weak reply into the open space. Nice guys can finish first after all.




2. John McEnroe defeats Jimmy Connors in the 1984 finals 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. Julie and I were newly married, I wasn't preaching yet, and so we fixed a breakfast of strawberries and cream and settled down to watch the match. What we saw was simply the best display of tennis I've ever seen anyone play. McEnroe hit upwards of 80% of his first serves in, made only four errors in the three sets, and managed to make Connors look like a beginner. It was utterly, artfully, brilliant.













3. Bjorn Borg defeats Roscoe Tanner in five sets in the 1979 final. This was the first ever live-on-AmericanTV "Breakfast At Wimbledon." As a 17-year-old, I watched it at the T-Bar-M Tennis Center where I practiced every day. I liked Tanner because, like me, he had a good serve and sketchy groundstrokes. He almost pulled the upset off, but Borg was resilient in the end, winning his fourth of five straight.


4. Evonne Goolagong beats both Billie Jean King and Margaret Court to win it all in 1971. This is the first Wimbledon I remember. And Goolagong was a carefree newcomer with a sublime backhand. She beat the two nervous veterans and got on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As a 10 year old, I remember thinking tennis had really arrived.

5. Nadal beats Federer 9-7 in the fifth to win in 2008. Why would the greatest match ever between two of the best players ever only be #5 on my list? Because it's my list and the wrong guy won. Still, as a piece of drama and a display of athletic skill, it was hard to beat. And Jon Wertheim's Strokes Of Genius is a must read.

Pastor Rich Tuttle To Catawba UMC

Since 2006, Rich Tuttle has served as our Pastor of Congregational Care.

In that time, he has demonstrated a rare gift for helping people navigate the most difficult seasons of life: grief, sickness, and family strife.

He excels at what people in the ministry call a "non-anxious presence" in people's lives.

And now, as often happens in the United Methodist Church, he is moving on to assume pastoral leadership of Catawba United Methodist Church, an historic congregation located between Lake Norman and Hickory.

Rich's last day with us was yesterday and his first Sunday of every-week-preaching-responsibility at Catawba will be July 4.

My friend Dennis Sult will take over our visitation ministry on an interim basis as we finalize the long term job description for pastoral care.

Text Message Week 3: RYB

What a goal for a series of messages: that people would READ THE BIBLE.

This week we get intensely practical on what that looks like.

And then we'll bring some surprises as far as what happens when you actually read it. It's not what you'd expect.

I'm so glad we've done this series and that June has been bible saturation month around here.

Check it out. RYB.

Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

Take Your First Step

I truly enjoy teaching First Step, our membership exploration class at Good Shepherd.

It allows me to get to know a group of 20-25 people who are new to the church in an informal, conversational setting.

It gives me a forum to lay out what I believe are the essentials of being a Christian, a United Methodist, and a part of the Good Shepherd community.

It provides people in the church an opportunity to ask questions that they otherwise hold in check.

It's at the heart of Walking Together. We gather as a group on a Friday night and Saturday morning and take our first step into what this church is all about. Together.

Our next First Step is this weekend: Friday, June 18 from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 19 from 8:30 a.m. - 12 noon. Childcare provided. You can sign up here.

A Slice Of Sunday Morning

This past Sunday, my message offered a "grand sweep" of the bible's story.

Informed by some of Andy Stanley's work, it was more of a lecture than a sermon. I hope and believe it helped bible novices and bible experts alike have some "a-ha" moments regarding the structure and design of the bible.

Anyway, the message closed with some random observations about the bible. These reflections are at the heart of my understanding of both Scripture and the inspiration of Scripture, and so I'm going to do something I've never done on this blog before: copy and paste a transcript section below. Enjoy:

1. It’s got flawed heroes. In an age where most kings and authorities wrote (or had written about them) only their successes, only received one-dimensional portrayals, the bible’s characters are fully formed. Noah’s drunkenness, Jacob’s treachery, David’s adultery, Peter’s denials, and Paul’s ailments. We see all of it. It makes the bible more inspired . . . much more. I better see how its story is my story.

2. There’s conversation within the bible. Proverbs tells you repeatedly that if you live right you’ll be blessed. Ecclesiastes, the very next book, almost says, “oh yeah? Live right and you still die! What’s the point?!” And they are written by the same guy! Solomon. Just at vastly different stages of his life . . . when he wrote Proverbs he was on his meds and when he wrote Ecclesiastes he wasn't. But the point is to allow each book stand on its own rather than trying to force them into a false kind of harmony. They say different things and if you truly believe the bible is inspired you'll allow them to do just that. It’s much more interesting – and inspired – that way.

And 3. This might be the most important. People ask me, “do you interpret it literally or symbolically?” The right answer? You interpret it literarily. It’s a library w/ a bunch of different styles of writing. If you interpret some of it literally it’ll make you crazy; like God’s not really a shepherd and I’m not really a sheep. And there is not a man in this room who really takes the bible literally. Why? You all still have both your eyes. To see what I mean, check here. By the same token, there are parts of the bible that are straightforward and literal. For example, when it says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" there is nothing symbolic about it all.

You read different books in different ways according to the kind of literature it uses. That’s why the bible is much better read in community than in isolation. You get wisdom & help of others.

Top Five Tuesday -- Five Reasons I Am Methodist

I am a Christian first of all.

But within that larger confession of faith, I have identified with the particular expression known as Methodism for the last 28 years.

And since I spent a couple of days last week at a uniquely Methodist gathering -- the Western North Carolina Annual Conference meeting -- it got me wondering: why have I identified with this particular expression of the Christian faith? I could have located with the Baptists or the Presbyterians or, more likely, some version of the charismatics.

Why did I land in Methodism and why have I stayed?

So here goes:

1. Free Will. In contrast to our friends in the Reformed/Calvinist tradition, Methodists take I Timothy 2:3-4 at face value: God "desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." In other words, we do not believe that God predestines some to salvation and predestines more to damnation and we essentially live out the script already prepared for us. My very first church experience was in a strongly Calvinistic church and although the people there were smart, loving, and faithful, it nevertheless sent me on a journey in search of people who were also smart, loving, and faithful . . . and believed in free will. John Wesley and the Methodists were and are those people.

2. Prevenient Grace. "Prevenient" is an 18th Century word meaning "to go before." Wesley -- who lived 1703-1791 -- applied the word to the working of God's grace in our lives. According to Wesley and the Methodists, God's grace operates in our lives when we are not aware of it. He is "going before" us, drawing us back to him. I see it in Luke 15, I've experienced it in my own life, and believe it to be biblical truth.

3. Faith AND Works. At its best, Methodism has had a good balance between "faith" and "works." So a saving relationship with Jesus always expresses itself in works of mercy and kindness in the Methodist tradition. Sadly, some within Methodism have so emphasized good works that they neglect to talk about or call for personal conversion. At Good Shepherd, we try to maintain the proper balance.

4. Holy Spirit. Though most people are not aware of it, early American Methodism was among the first of the "holiness" churches. Our Methodist ancestors on this continent had a passion for the power of the Spirit and for holy living. Unfortunately, as the church became more mainstream & mainline in the 20th Century, such enthusiasm was frowned upon. We hope to be agents in the re-filling of the Holy Spirit in the Methodist movement. Our history is why being Methodist and charismatic makes perfect sense to me.

5. Childhood. I have to believe there has always been something subconscious at work drawing me to Methodism. My dad was on the law faculty at SMU -- Southern Methodist University, after all -- and in many ways our lives revolved around that school. For me, it also revolved around supporting the Mustang football and basketball teams -- an exercise long in passion but lacking in satisfaction. Nevertheless, something settled in me from a young age that Methodists were good people to be with.

ConTXT, Week 2

I like the rhythm we have going the last couple of weeks.

Text in the morning. ConTXT at night.

Last night, we moved the ConTXT event into the Worship Center.

The event itself featured a panel discussion moderated by Chris Thayer our Discipleship Intern.

Rich Tuttle, our Pastor of Congregational Care, Ron Dozier, our Pastor of Missions & Community Impact, James-Michael Smith, formerly of the GS Staff and now an itinerate teacher & lecturer, and I made up the panel.

Chris led us through conversations regarding the Prosperity Gospel and Faith Healing and how reading Scripture in context is essential in wrestling with those two particular theologies.

Then there was a time for Q & A.

Whenever we got into a difficult situation, the default response was to turn to James-Michael and ask, "what do you think?"

ConTXT takes Father's Day off and then reconvenes on June 27.

Wednesday's post will feature some of the closing reflections from the Sunday morning message, which was a satellite view survey of the design of the Bible.

Text Message Week Two: 2GTBT

I can't wait for Sunday.

I feel that most weeks, but especially this Sunday, June 13.

I'll be attempting something I've never quite tried before.

To borrow a cliche, it's "outside of my comfort zone."

But I believe it has the potential to be extremely helpful in the lives of people who are discovering that "not reading the bible is a LOT harder than reading it."

To see why I'm so excited, Sunday.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

And then the follow up ConTXT Seminar Panel discussion at 5:30 p.m. You can preregister here.

Left Leaning

I'm leaning left these days.

Politics? On occasion, but not as a matter of course.

Theology and doctrine? Extremely rare.

Behind the steering wheel? No, my car is in excellent alignment.

Instead, I'm leaning left because I've got a nasty case of bicep tendonitis in my right arm. It comes from over-use and over-confidence in my fitness regimen at the YMCA.

The only cure is rest. Complete rest. Because if a bicep tendon ruptures, the muscle literally moves up into the shoulder area in a moment of excruciating pain and in a manner that requires emergency surgery. No thanks.

But as I rest my right arm, I didn't want to give up fitness. That's like giving up breathing. Or mowing the lawn.

So I'm doing all of it now with my left arm only. Using only dumbells, I'm working on shoulder, chest, tricep, bicep, and back on the left side only. It's awkward and weird . . . but it's a lot better than watching TV, snarfing down nachos, and getting a preacher pouch.

I'll let you know when I can balance out all this left wing radical stuff in my life.

Quarter Century Plus One

Today, Julie and I celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary.

I posted my reflections on our 25th here.

Twenty-six obviously doesn't have the same ring of nostalgia and accomplishment behind it as does twenty-five. It's not named after a precious gem and we won't be taking the trip of a lifetime.

But . . . I won't take part in any Wednesday night church activities, either.

We'll instead enjoy a nice dinner together, full of thanks for the life we've been able to carve out together.

Prayer & Touch

We had our monthly healing service on Monday night, and I continue to marvel at the delicate balance between prayer and touch.

The bible contains many references to the "laying on of hands" -- and the practice is typically associated with ordination to ministry, consecration to specific tasks, and prayers for healing.

At each healing service here, people willingly allow themselves to be touched and prayed over by people whom they barely know. I find that remarkable.

On several occasions, I have received this kind of prayer. And that kind of intimacy -- nothing inappropriate, just close -- is unnerving.

But when you get past the anxiety of being touched by people not in your immediate family, it moves from unnerving to inspiring.

Because the people praying represent the hand of God himself bringing support and consolation into your body and your life.

Prayer and touch. Pretty much inseparable.

Text And ConTXT Box Score

This is how I like church to go. In the morning, we launched Text Message, a series about the nature and scope of the bible.

Then to supplement the Sunday morning teaching, we offered the first of our ConTXT seminars on Sunday night.

As Sunday morning rolled around, we had 61 people pre-registered for the ConTXT seminar.

And over 140 showed up.

They crowded into the K-Zone (formerly the Multi-Purpose Room and before that, the Worship Center) to hear James-Michael Smith teach about the importance of reading all the texts of the bible in their historical and literary contexts.

James-Michael is the kind of bible scholar I like: solid in his evangelical commitments and yet willing to challenge some evangelical pre-suppositions. We need more like him as biblical scholarship moves ahead into the 21st Century.

In the meantime, I'm just glad we have him as part of the GS community, helping us to walk together towards greater growth.

Next week's ConTXT features a panel discussion with James-Michael, Rich Tuttle, Ron Dozier, and me.

You can pre-register here.

Text Message & ConTXT

God sent us a text message.

We should probably read it.

How's that for a series goal?

To get people to read the bible.

Not exactly a new concept.

But I'm excited how we are going to go about it.

I'm especially excited about our Sunday night seminars designed to supplement what you get out of Text Message. We're calling the seminars ConTXT and they feature some pretty good biblical minds.

To pre-register for ConTXT, click here.

For Text Message, it's Sunday morning.

8:30. 10. 11:30.

Something That's Worked

A lot of what we try around here doesn't work. I could write a book on all that, I suppose.

But every once in awhile, we stumble on something that does work. Through a combination of a good idea, focused efforts, and the hand of God, some of our ministries really come together.

First Serve is one of those ministries.

It's only a year old, but it's already burned deeply into the DNA of Good Shepherd. It's part of the vocabulary. It's how new friends meet and old ones connect.

And it's how we best live out our serving milestone that's at the heart of Walking Together.

Why has it worked? Some thoughts:

• It's easy. Show up on the first Saturday (hello! First Serve!) of each month, get an assignment, work all morning, and you're done.
• It respects your private/family time. We don't ask you to serve for 12 hours or even eight hours. Only three. Give up a Saturday morning and the rest of the day is yours.
• Speaking of families . . . Many of the serving sites are kid-friendly, so you can build a servant mentality into the youngest ones in your house.
• It's all we do . . . Now, not technically. We have several other serving opportunities, a couple of them quite in depth. But this is the only one we promote on Sunday mornings. We don't clutter your mind with too many options. It's First Serve.
• There's a buzz. When you see 300-400 people together on a Saturday morning and then you worship with them and then you see them all sent out in the community, you can't help but be caught up in the holy momentum.
• It makes a difference. I have found through the years that if we give the people of Good Shepherd a chance to make a difference in the community, they will. More than any other group of people I know, the folks in this community love to serve. That's surely all any pastor could ask for.

To pre-register up for this month's First Serve, check here.

When PastorSpeak Comes Home

During seminary, I received training in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). By placing seminarians in institutional settings -- in my case, the cardiac unit of Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, KY -- CPE prepares clergy to engage in meaningful ministry with people in the midst of life's most uncertain moments.

And there is a whole conversational style that goes along with CPE. It's all part of the training. CPE conversation is heavy on the following:

• Open ended questions;
• Answering questions with . . . another open ended question;
• Re-phrasing what you hear the client/patient say;
• Hesitation to give advice or direction -- instead allow the client/patient to clarify their own feelings and opinions;
• CPE cliches: "tell me about . . ." "it sounds like . . . " and, of course, "how does that feel?"

All in all, CPE training is invaluable for pastoral ministry. I remember thinking that my early years at Mt. Carmel UMC, which were full of home & hospital visitation, were simply an extension of that summer internship in Kentucky.

But here's where the CPE-inspired pastorspeak has become a problem for me: when I use it at home or around the office. It is now such a part of who I am and how I talk that it is hard to break out of it.

Yet there are many times when the staff I work with doesn't need a reflective listener; they need a leader who will make his wishes known with confidence and clarity.

Or when my family asks a question, they want an answer, not an open-ended response that puts the issue back in their lap.

So as I navigate the roles of pastor and boss, of counselor and father, I need to remember which mode of communication best fits the situation.

Top Five Tuesday -- Most Beautiful Shots In Tennis

In honor of The French Open, today's Top Five Tuesday involves tennis.

And since the French Open happens in Paris, I thought it appropriate to focus on the beauty inherent in the game. So: the top five most beautiful shots in tennis.

The list is highly subjective, of course. You'll see my preference for one-handed backhands over two and for serve-and-volleyers over baseliners.

These are also not the best strokes in the game's history. For example, I don't think anyone has ever had a more destructive forehand than Rafael Nadal, but it is a thing of brute force and mind-bending spin rather than athletic beauty.

There's also no Roger Federer on the list, though his could have the category all to himself with every stroke he hits.

Nevertheless, here goes:

1. Stefan Edberg's Backhand. Edberg won two Wimbledons, two US Opens, and two Australian Opens in the late 80s and early 90s. And his backhand was simply breathtaking: a long, fluid motion with a pronounced backswing and gorgeous follow-through, all hit in almost perfect balance. The irony: his forehand was almost as ridiculous as his backhand was sublime.





2. Pete Sampras' Serve. Sampras combined torque, lift, and twist into a thing of unmatched speed and placement. It always seemed as if he hit his serve on the way up. I vividly remember ace after ace after ace in his 1990 US Open victory over Andre Agassi. And did anyone ever have a better second serve?

3.John McEnroe's Volley. McEnroe didn't "punch" the volley like we were taught back in the day. He caressed it. Soft hands and perfect balance made his net play full of "did you see that?" moments.

4. Ivan Lend's Forehand. Lendl's forehand in the mid-to-late 80s had nothing supple about it. But I include it on the list because he was the first to hit the forehand with a pronounced shoulder turn as part of his backswing. If you were his opponent, you would see his left shoulder blade as he hit his forehand. No one had ever done that before. His shoulder turn and hip rotation on the forehand fundamentally changed the sport. Perhaps not beautiful. Definitely influential.

5. Justine Henin's Backhand. How does such a diminutive woman hit such a big backhand? Backswing, follow-through, and balance. The fact that she is the only top female player of the last generation to hit a backhand with one hand makes the shot all the more remarkable.