The Road Less Traveled

A Matter of Perspective

I recently read an article by a professional photographer in PC Photo Magazine where he and his wife took two pictures of the same scene but from different perspectives. Both were stunning. Both were beautiful. Neither one was greater than the other, but because they each saw something different from behind their lens, they came up with two different pictures.

This got me thinking about life, relationships, church and there is a  interesting point to make. How many times do two people or two groups see the same thing, but from different angles, from different viewpoints? Quite often neither is wrong, or maybe neither is right, but because we look at it from behind two different cameras, with different equipment, in different places, the pictures is different. Does that make it bad? Not necessarily.

But consider this, when you enter into the frame our human nature, our sinful human nature, then the  perspective that we have can become clouded, shaded and even misinterpreted. What one person said, or meant, is often taken a different way. Then we stand back and the picture we took for someone else to see looks like some impressionist painting, and we ask, "Where did that come from?"

"That's not what I said." "That's not what I meant." "Where did they get that idea?" And now we find ourselves asking these questions. It happens to all of us. The trick here is to recognize that we are fighting against, as St. Paul says, the old man, whose first impression is negativity. It is also considering our position first, and maybe even looking at the other person with some ulterior motive. This is the sinful self, our human nature, trying to exert itself into a negative attitude or outlook on the other person. It is a struggle, a daily struggle, to fight against this. St Paul says in Romans 7, "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to - this I keep on doing." If it happened to St. Paul, I know that it's gonna be tough on me as well!

This even happens in the church. Maybe more so in the church because it is not a place of "holier than everyone else," but a place where a bunch of sinners gather together. Satan works hard on each person in the church to make sure that the perspective we have, even with each other as Christians,  is tainted and twisted by thoughts and feelings of mistrust, or past hurt feelings, or unforgiven situations.  More than just "thinking" better about the other person, but it is important to remember that while yes, they, and ourselves are sinners, we are also saints, made clean, and righteous because of Christ.

What if, when we have the urge to see someone through our lens in which those tendencies of the old man can easily surface, we place a filter over that lens, that places the cross in front of our view. I believe what this does for us is it reminds us first that Christ lives within us and through His strength, we have the ability to trust and respond to the other person in a Christ like manner. It also helps us to view the other person with an attitude that shares love and concern first, not mistrust and apprehension.

And once we can see people through the lens of the cross of Christ, not only our perspective changes, but so does theirs. My prayer is that same prayer St. Paul had in Romans 12, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." In walks, in our talks, and in our perspectives, may we also honor one another above ourselves, being sincere in our love for each other.

Amazing Faith

Each time I go to visit someone in the hospital, it never ceases to amaze me how God is at work on in person. Often there are different comments or remarks, but frequently many laying in the bed serve to lift my faith, and I came to strengthen theirs. In a recent visit, this person said to me, "You know pastor, I need to remember that we should remember God and seek Him, not only when we are in the hospital, but when we are doing well. I am going to make sure that I spend more time with Him then as well as now." Could not have said it better myself. We prayed together and spent sometime talking about some spiritual things, but also the everyday things of life. Before you know it 45 minutes to an hour goes by.

One may find it strange to say that I often have a sense of joy when I go, or come back from the hospital. This is not always true, but there are those special moments that God grants a pastor, or anyone visiting a friend in need of care, when you find out that in the midst of their pain and suffering, they recognize God's mercy and His call for them to draw near to Him.

If you are going through something, know that God is there beside you. Not just because I am pastor and I would say that, but the testimonials of many, many dear brothers and sisters in Christ who are in much worse condition but understand God's mighty hand in action. May the faith of these saints in the Lord, strengthen us as we deal with life and it's many unknowns.

What is Stewardship?

What do you understanding Stweardship and even Tithing to be? What have you been taught? What do you feel the Bible says? Is it Law? Do you believe you give in response to the Gospel? What do you think?

Please take the time below to comment. I am looking for dialogue about what you think and believe. I am encouraging a conversation on this topic so please take a moment and let the rest of us know.

THANK YOU.

Pastors Meet to Discuss Church Planting

I attended meeting today which included around 25 pastors and lay people from around Michigan to discuss planting churches. There was some great discussion from various people new and experienced in the field of starting new missions. The passion for the Gospel was felt in this room as we come to realize that the population in the United States has grown, but the growth of Christianity has decreased. What can we do on a local level to reach out into the community with the Gospel? How can we reach out to a state that has a high unemployment rate and people loosing houses?

Unfortunately there was no "silver bullet" that answered all the questions, but you could hear the passion in the voices of these men as they made comments like,

"We need to revitalize outreach in our communities."
" We are not reaching the culture of the people where we live."
"Need to do a better job of communicating our faith. These are real people with real lives."

How do we reach out to a Post-Modern - 20 something community with the love of Jesus? How can we find new ways to do this? One of the most interesting statements made on that subject was this, "We found that you can't send a Pastor with a hymnal and an Organist." One new church start-up that worships in a theatre worships almost entirely 18 - 24 year olds. They want to reach this demographic and they are working toward doing it. Praise the Lord and God Speed to their ministry and many others like it.

Michigan Lutheran Pastors Conference Discusses Postmodernism

I just got back from a 3-day conference for the Pastors of the Michigan District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Our main topic of discussion and lecture was, "Ministering in a Postmodern World." Author and Professor Dr. Gene Veith was the keynote speaker. He has authored 17 books including, Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture and Loving God With All Your Mind: Thinking as a Christian in the Postmodern World. After an explanation and discussion on what Post-modernism is and the differences from the Modern Era, he shared that he believes that the Lutheran Church is in a unique place to share the Gospel in the Postmodern world.

William Utech, a professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis spoke about the value of preaching to a postmodern world and how our preaching can reach a wider audience. He started by asking an important question, "What are you willing to do so that someone hears the Gospel?" It is his contention that we need to spend more time thinking about our hearers, their lives, their situations when we prepare our sermons as well as preach them. Professor Utech expressed that we need to get listeners to "experience." It is not just a head thing, with information and knowledge, and not only a heart connection with emotions, but a truly good sermon that is going to reach the congregation in connecting the heart and the head.

Our sermons need to be realistic for our hearers. We need to, "help our people in steps towards their pilgrimage of life and faith." One key point that he made is that our hearers in the Postmodern world are looking for "real" people, not detached theological/doctrinal machines that reproduce Latin and German from ancient texts. (Those are my words that interpreted his point.) People need to see that we are sinners and make mistakes just like everyone else. (I know I make enough of them.)

I also appreciated the discussion on the power of the narrative, using story, in a sermon. Not just some trite illustration, but stories that bring the heart and mind together in a way that drives home the goal or point and leaves people with something more than just a bullet point or teaching, but a story that they remember and can also share.

Overall, there was a lot to "chew on." I pray that I have time to digest it all and I look forward to looking at my own sermon writing and finding ways that I to can to help people toward their faith walk in this life, piece by piece, little by little.

The NEW Spirituality in America

A recent lead article in Newsweek magazine has brought up some disturbing statistics regarding the very fragile nature of “spirituality” in the

United   States

. I use that word very carefully, fragile, because there is a clear division between religion and spirituality in which this article suggests that many believe that religion is only one aspect of spirituality. There is a decided de-emphasis toward religion or even more so, organized religion in the form of different denominations of Christianity in our nation today. In a country that is celebrated for it’s diversity, it seems very strange that we do not recognize the value of different Christian denominations and what they offer to the church as a whole, or even more so we are put down becuase we are to unopen to the tolerant culture where sin is no longer called sin and a thing is not called what a thing is.

Fear or Faith: Sermon Closing remarks

What a great God that we have! We can not even begin to explain or even understand the many wonders that he has done in our lives. I truly believe that a pastor is a steward of the mysteries of God. Why put God in a box and limit the many wonders that he can do in our lives? He sustained Peter so many times in his life. Even though he knew that Peter was going to betray him, he still invited him to partake of His body and blood on that evening before Peter's denial.

He knows that our daily walk with him is going to be hindered by many fears, but he calls out to you, "Take courage. It is I. Do not fear." What a joy that is to know! So if you find yourself sinking in sand this week, or going under the water, call out to Him and He will pull you out. Leave your fears at church and carry the fresh message of the Gospel with you this week.

Meditate on this for the week from 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."