I found it interesting in Mark 12:34 that Jesus actually told a religious teacher/leader that he was not far from the kingdom of heaven. I've known this passage, but it actually struck me today in a fresh way. Jesus said that to the leader because Jesus realized that the leader actually had understanding. It seems Jesus realized this because the leader confessed it is more important to love God with everything we are and to love our neighbors to the very end than to carry out religious rituals or worship traditions. I am reminded of the conversation I had with a few deacons the other day because it occurs to me that we are all hoping to love God with our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths (not to mention our corporal heart, soul, mind, and strength) and to love one another. Could it be that there is more we can offer to God from our love so it is surrendered for God's use? Could it be that we aren't loving our neighbors as ourselves?
If we were in another person's shoes, I suspect we would want to be loved by being noticed, so we probably need to notice everyone. (I think that happens outside of worship with a multigenerational ministry focus and a visitation to seniors from younger generations that aren't just staff and that aren't just keeping appearances.) If we were in another person's shoes, I suspect we would want to have things our way, but at least for me, if I were off-base or not clicking with God's vision and direction, it would be more important that someone hung in there with me, let me speak my mind, and also patiently communicate the vision until I got it. Then I'd want to be sure I were part of it at least on a small level. I think the deacons are right to offer deacony care, and I am also convinced that every generation here needs to be reminded of God's vision as much as possible and included in it on whatever level over which we actually have the power to include them. Those who get it need to help communicate it unceasingly to those who don't. (Does any of us really get the full monty of God's vision anyway?) We need to involve and include everyone. To love someone as we want to be loved is not to placate, to appease, or even to do what we say in hopes that we can move on from this conversation; it feels condescending when people do that. Loving people as we love ourselves means hanging in their and talking with people who actually want a conversation. For the others, I am reminded of how we tend to deal with family members who speak up without actually wanting dialogue. Of course we listen; we can't do otherwise. But how much of our real attention do these people get? Not much. We can hear them, we can even respond, but at the end of the day, those are the stories about "Crazy Aunt Elma" or "Scroogy Cousin Bob" that we tell but that don't decide the direction of a family. To do that would not be to love our families, nor would it move our families in a forward-moving, healthy direction. Treating the family of God any differently is certainly not love. It is not loving people as we love ourselves. We're missing the boat bigtime if we ignore or listen to much to people who aren't interested in a dialogue. We're missing to boat, too, if we don't engage dialogue with God's people who are out there actually trying to serve God. I suspect our heart isn't God's in this matter, and I'm convinced we're still learning to love one another as we love ourselves.
So, if we want to be close to the kingdom, that may or may not look like specific activities, but it will always look like full, complete, all-in love.
04 August 2010
Clarification on Buying and Selling Spiritual Gifts
Apparently I need to dig into this a little more deeply. First, let me clarify that my status the other day ("My spiritual gifts are not a commodity to be bought and sold.") was not my way of saying that I lack appreciation or self-esteem. I don't feel used or abused by 99.9% of the people I know. I receive more appreciation than I deserve, and I have enough self-esteem for all of my Facebook friends combined. Though I am still learning how to live it out, I generally know who I am, what I have to offer, and how I can support my family, neighborhood, church family, and community.
Since updating my status that day, several people have taken it upon themselves to try and boost me up. That's very kind of you, and I appreciate you. I'll store those things away for days when I need them. THANKS!
That said, let me clarify where I'm coming from. It seems to me that we have turned a corner in North American churches that scares me. While there are exceptions to this rule, many church systems tend to shop for their leaders (paid and unpaid). The early Christians appointed leaders when it was apparent that someone was gifted to lead. A few hundred years later, when people were essentially forced into Christianity because the emperor converted and gave Christians political power that was abused, leaders were chosen by political maneuvering and hierarchy. That lasted an unfortunately long time among the churches that actually made it to the history books. (Those pockets that did it right seemingly weren't drawing attention to themselves - go figure.) In recent history, much more has been made of people's commitment to Christ manifesting fruit and gifts from the Holy Spirit of Christ. In fact, it now seems so en vogue to have people with a certain gift mix at your church that search committees (or whatever) now look only for the "right gifts" for a particular ministry position.
This is all good until we put that within our cultural context. The majority of North Americans from all walks of life live in such a manner that we are able to pick and choose everything we experience. We all pick and choose where to spend our money and time based on what is best for us and our loved ones. The people who give us the materials and experiences we want are called "customer service personnel," specifically chosen because they facilitate us spending money how we want to spend it in ways that will also benefit the service provider. We are so accustomed to this system that it is nearly impossible for us to leave it out of church life and public worship.
You know, public worship, that time when we all get together supposedly because we believe God is good and loving and God has blessed us so much that we cannot contain ourselves - we must share in the love of God with others like us! We must unite our voices together to tell God and to remind ourselves that Jesus is worth everything we have and everything that we are! Or at least, this is the Sunday School answer we give each other when asked why we attend Sunday morning worship.
Oh, but wait. We don't attend Sunday morning worship. We attend "church." "Church" isn't the group of people who exist as Christ's body anymore (thankfully, given some of the things we've done in our churches). "Church" is the place where we go on Sunday mornings. "Church" is the system intended to offer blessing and relief to me. "Church" is the place that gets my time and money when I like what's going on there. "Church" is the place I choose based on which "customer service personnel" offer the best children's program, the best things to keep my teens out of trouble and to help them stop mouthing off at home, a style of music that I can at least tolerate (hopefully like), a talk that says all the right things without making me feel poorly, people friendly enough that I feel welcome without being so friendly that they seem pushy, a place where I can attend and - maybe - participate without feeling embarrassed for spinning my tires. If the personnel can supply the demand that I bring with me to "church," then I'll stick around most Sundays and put my money in the plate. If things get out of line, though, I won't tip...I mean give.
This is a little cynical, admittedly. Part of my wrestling right now is that I'm in a church with some of the best of all people. I regularly see some of the most wonderful, loving, generous, committed, warm people I've ever met. And I love them. Like, really. Love them. What I don't love is that while we have good people and a structure that we could make work if we really wanted to, we have an unwritten system - like almost every church I've ever seen - in which a decision isn't necessarily final if it's questioned by the right people; a person's gifts are attractive in the hiring process but not when the person actually uses their gifts to move us forward; and we spend the time that could be spent in prayer, dreaming, planning, and serving with analyzing, evaluating, retooling, and compromising.*
Our church institution is nothing new. (Now, the people are different, but the system is all too familiar.) People with great gifts are everywhere, and we're even all asking to use our gifts, hoping that we can do what we love to do at church, but until a gift (and/or a person) is approved by the system (nothing formal, of course), we don't go there. We use people whose gifts build up the system we have and contribute to the supply of people's demands. It's too bad, then, that we're doing nothing to supply God's demand, since God is supposedly the One we gather for in the first place. It's too bad that, rather than me being able simply to exercise discernment in planning and song selection, administration is producing a thoughtful flow, worship leadership in congregational singing, teaching and knowledge during the message, I join my sisters and brothers here who still use our gifts while weeding through the myriad voices of the system, trying to sway us from employing our gifts for God's good use into the system of "buying and selling," supply and demand.
*About compromise. I don't believe in it. At all. It's a surefire way for at least two people who disagree not to have to work through it and make the best decision. We call it middle-ground, but it's really the way to end up with no one happy...except anyone who doesn't want you to make a good, healthy, sacrificial decision.
Since updating my status that day, several people have taken it upon themselves to try and boost me up. That's very kind of you, and I appreciate you. I'll store those things away for days when I need them. THANKS!
That said, let me clarify where I'm coming from. It seems to me that we have turned a corner in North American churches that scares me. While there are exceptions to this rule, many church systems tend to shop for their leaders (paid and unpaid). The early Christians appointed leaders when it was apparent that someone was gifted to lead. A few hundred years later, when people were essentially forced into Christianity because the emperor converted and gave Christians political power that was abused, leaders were chosen by political maneuvering and hierarchy. That lasted an unfortunately long time among the churches that actually made it to the history books. (Those pockets that did it right seemingly weren't drawing attention to themselves - go figure.) In recent history, much more has been made of people's commitment to Christ manifesting fruit and gifts from the Holy Spirit of Christ. In fact, it now seems so en vogue to have people with a certain gift mix at your church that search committees (or whatever) now look only for the "right gifts" for a particular ministry position.
This is all good until we put that within our cultural context. The majority of North Americans from all walks of life live in such a manner that we are able to pick and choose everything we experience. We all pick and choose where to spend our money and time based on what is best for us and our loved ones. The people who give us the materials and experiences we want are called "customer service personnel," specifically chosen because they facilitate us spending money how we want to spend it in ways that will also benefit the service provider. We are so accustomed to this system that it is nearly impossible for us to leave it out of church life and public worship.
You know, public worship, that time when we all get together supposedly because we believe God is good and loving and God has blessed us so much that we cannot contain ourselves - we must share in the love of God with others like us! We must unite our voices together to tell God and to remind ourselves that Jesus is worth everything we have and everything that we are! Or at least, this is the Sunday School answer we give each other when asked why we attend Sunday morning worship.
Oh, but wait. We don't attend Sunday morning worship. We attend "church." "Church" isn't the group of people who exist as Christ's body anymore (thankfully, given some of the things we've done in our churches). "Church" is the place where we go on Sunday mornings. "Church" is the system intended to offer blessing and relief to me. "Church" is the place that gets my time and money when I like what's going on there. "Church" is the place I choose based on which "customer service personnel" offer the best children's program, the best things to keep my teens out of trouble and to help them stop mouthing off at home, a style of music that I can at least tolerate (hopefully like), a talk that says all the right things without making me feel poorly, people friendly enough that I feel welcome without being so friendly that they seem pushy, a place where I can attend and - maybe - participate without feeling embarrassed for spinning my tires. If the personnel can supply the demand that I bring with me to "church," then I'll stick around most Sundays and put my money in the plate. If things get out of line, though, I won't tip...I mean give.
This is a little cynical, admittedly. Part of my wrestling right now is that I'm in a church with some of the best of all people. I regularly see some of the most wonderful, loving, generous, committed, warm people I've ever met. And I love them. Like, really. Love them. What I don't love is that while we have good people and a structure that we could make work if we really wanted to, we have an unwritten system - like almost every church I've ever seen - in which a decision isn't necessarily final if it's questioned by the right people; a person's gifts are attractive in the hiring process but not when the person actually uses their gifts to move us forward; and we spend the time that could be spent in prayer, dreaming, planning, and serving with analyzing, evaluating, retooling, and compromising.*
Our church institution is nothing new. (Now, the people are different, but the system is all too familiar.) People with great gifts are everywhere, and we're even all asking to use our gifts, hoping that we can do what we love to do at church, but until a gift (and/or a person) is approved by the system (nothing formal, of course), we don't go there. We use people whose gifts build up the system we have and contribute to the supply of people's demands. It's too bad, then, that we're doing nothing to supply God's demand, since God is supposedly the One we gather for in the first place. It's too bad that, rather than me being able simply to exercise discernment in planning and song selection, administration is producing a thoughtful flow, worship leadership in congregational singing, teaching and knowledge during the message, I join my sisters and brothers here who still use our gifts while weeding through the myriad voices of the system, trying to sway us from employing our gifts for God's good use into the system of "buying and selling," supply and demand.
*About compromise. I don't believe in it. At all. It's a surefire way for at least two people who disagree not to have to work through it and make the best decision. We call it middle-ground, but it's really the way to end up with no one happy...except anyone who doesn't want you to make a good, healthy, sacrificial decision.
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