The Season of Contrast

What a story. Dong Yun Yoon asking for help from people who have suffered "more terrible things" pleaded, "Please tell me how to do it, I don't know what to do." The first I heard of this man, he was speaking saying, "They are with God now." He was speaking of his wife, two children and his mother-in-law who had died in a fiery blaze caused by a failed F/A-18D in San Diego.

What incredible insight in the midst of loss.

I wouldn't be so bold as to tell Yoon what to feel or how to react, but his reaction has been no less than supernatural. It is Spirit-filled. The human response would be bitterness and anger and perhaps there will be some of that to come. But then Yoon's story is what Christmas is about. It is about the reality of loss and death and sorrow. And then Christmas is about life and hope and a vision for an eternity to come. The mother of Jesus was told as much by Simeon. When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, Simeon prophesied, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed and a sword will pierce even your own soul--to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." (Luke 2:34b-35) In other words, "Mary, your Son is going die before you do, and heart of mankind will be revealed. Have a nice day."

The soul of Mary was pierced three decades following this event. But the grief was short-lived. There would be a death. There would follow a resurrection. Where there was sorrow, there would be joy. Where there was fear, there would be confidence. Sorrow would return to the human heart and fear would raise its ugly head again, but this time hope would remain and finally rule the day because born in a manger was a baby who would be the Savior of all people.

In a season of excitement and anticipation, Yoon's heart was pierced. What a contrast!

Still, this is a season of contrasts. They are all around. We are outside and it is cold. So we come in and stand next to the heater. Now it is too hot. The sun rises too late in the morning and sets way too soon in the afternoon. There is darkness in our days, but then there are the lights of neighborhood decorations. Gifts are given to some and gifts are never received by others. There is family togetherness and there is individual loneliness.

Then there is a spiritual contrast. Consider the contrast of the Gospel in the world. There is sin and death in the world. In the Gospel there is forgiveness and life. In the world, there is destruction and decay. In the Gospel there is restoration and re-creation. The world offers loneliness and rejection. In the Gospel there is a body of believers in heaven and on earth who, as Hebrews 12:1 reminds us, are so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us."

In this season of contrast, Yoon, I am sure, is experiencing loneliness and will for some time to come. I am broken for him. His soul is pierced at the loss of his family, not to mention his worldly possessions. But I am personally encouraged by his initial response. There is sorrow to be sure, but hope at the end. Merry Christmas.

Suffocating Freedom

I don't know when it happened. Maybe not so quickly. But it has happened. The freedom we have in the gospel of Jesus is suffocating once again. Perhaps it's the human, less truthful side of James 2:10 where James writes, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." Divine leading and application of this passage leads to grace, forgiveness, peace, contentment and finally, freedom. But remove the Spirit, apply it to things human and the principle remains while love is lost. Let me explain.

The LC-MS at one time in its history, confounded not only the world but ecclesiaologists as well. What kind of church body were we? Were we conservative? Certainly. We held (and hold) the historic creeds as ours. Scripture is inerrant and infallible. Jesus is the only source of hope for salvation. Creation took place, relative to the current secular models, only a handful of thousands of years ago. All of that was "conservative." It is still true today.

But the piece that confounds is this. How does one explain the creative missiology of the LC-MS of the 30's, 40's, and 50's? While on the one hand we were warning the culture of the dangers of certain foundational presuppositions as Theadore Graebner did in his book, "God and the Cosmos" and as Alfred Rehwinkel did in his book, "The Flood," on the other hand we were exploring new, different, and creative ways in which the world could learn of Christ. Worship agendas were offered in 1922 by the church as descriptive possibilities and received as such, rather than as prescriptive mandates, the use of which is required to be Lutheran.

The explanation rests in the clarity of God's total, complete and unassailable grace in the context of Man's total and complete inability to offer to God anything of his own salutary righteousness. The consequence of the death and resurrection of Jesus is the removal of condemnation. With that there is the removal of fear and the offer of freedom. In the words of St. Paul, "For freedom Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

The Galatians once knew the Gospel and then set it aside for the approval of people who had come within their fellowship. With that compromise, they lost their freedom. It was being smothered by people who were saying, "If you really want to be Christian, then you will do this and that and the other thing." Paul did not write a nice letter of commendation to them. Rather he came close to condemnation as the church was about to add works to Christ.

That same warning comes to us today. What will you do with the freedom you have? Apart from the Holy Spirit, our life in the freedom of the Gospel confuses the world. (How can anyone understand something naturally when it is supernaturally established i.e.. faith in Christ?) Remove our freedom in Christ and we look like everyone else apart from Christ. Do you really want the world to figure us out?

The Common Ministry

I stepped off the plane and looked for baggage claim. A traveler always hopes the luggage finds arrival at the same time and the same place. So far so good. With the luggage in hand, I waited for the others to arrive. We were spending three days together, traveling in and around the city of New York. In that time we would visit five vastly different ministries in a 22 mile radius. The ministries were LC-MS but the languages were far different than English or German. Hebrew, Liberian, Bengali, Hindi, and English were the languages of choice. Five different ministries in three days. It was a lot to take in. I'm still processing.

We waited for our shuttle and finally met our driver, "Joe." He changed lanes with authority and arrived at the hotel with flair. At an economy motel, our rooms were only 125 a night, such a deal. And crowded? The breakfast area had nine tables in a room 21x15. But, it's New York.

Our first visit was to an established Anglo congregation. The Anglo congregation was aging and declining. The ministry there was transitioning to a mosaic model with Anglo and Hindi. There is health in this move. The Gospel is proclaimed to people who do not know Christ and those who do find comfort in the fellowship that transcends ethnic barriers. There we talked with our guide.

Interestingly, there were parrots nesting on the electric poles in the neighborhood. Not native to the area, they had established themselves five years earlier and survived the winters. Now the various cities are trying to eradicated them.

Initially, it was the antithesis of West Texas. So many people in such a small place. The smells of the street included decaying fish of the markets that were closing for the day. I could not discern much more than that. There was no stock yard smell of West Texas.

Yet, there was a common denominator. Most of the churches were small. Many were declining and the question was, "What do we do?" To an outsider, in the city it seems that it would be easier to grow. There are so many people, why wouldn't there be growth? It isn't so automatic as one might think. In West Texas there are not so many people. Still, there are people who do not know Christ. There are people in whom the Spirit can work through the Word proclaimed, would we trust that.

Christ Assembly is an African Immigrant congregation. Many of their members experienced persecution in their home country because of their faith in Jesus. They have about 250 members. Their pastor is ordained in the LC-MS. They worship with song and dance. Their joy could not be missed. The freedom of the cross combined with their new found freedom to worship revealed a spirit unconstrained. When the offering was announced, a cheer went up in the congregation. There was a second cheer when a second offering was announced. I didn't notice if they had offering envelopes. Worship was scheduled from 11 to 1. We ended worship at 1:30.

Another place we attended was a Messianic Synagogue. Connected with LC-MS and Apple of His Eye ministries, this group used PowerPoint, Yamikas and sang in Hebrew and English. Indeed, I did wear a Yakima. The goal of this ministry was to become more traditional in worship. (If you are thinking that PowerPoint is not traditional you may be correct. But it was not a problem. It simply was the easiest way to communicate the service to the congregants. I certainly appreciated it.) Such Jewish tradition would appeal to their target group, namely traditional Jews of whom there are many in the area. But their evangelism was more post modern by design.

A post modern type of approach to communicating the Gospel takes patience. One does not tell someone what life is all about, at least not until a relationship is established and an acceptance into a community is realized. Until these two are in place, discussion of world view and doctrinal positions is not discussed. In other words, one new to the fellowship earns the right to ask about belief systems.

Parenthetically, there was a study released recently on how people connect with politicians. Belief systems or policies had little if anything at all to do with supporters embracing a candidate. It took a 10th of a second for many to decide for whom they would vote. Others attached simply on the basis of one issue. With such singular agreement the remaining pantheon of issues would be ascended to because of the one common issue.

It is in this post modern, establish relationship and community then we can talk about sin and God's solution to sin that was the context for evangelism and outreach for the Messianic Synagogue.

Following this service, held on Saturday, we were invited to eat with the congregation in fellowship. They served locks and bagels and onions. We discussed doctrine and world views. As brothers in Christ, we are in fellowship and community already. We follow the same Messiah.

On Sunday evening we visited an Anglo congregation that hosts a Bengali congregation. The non-Anglo service followed the traditional Lutheran worship structure, but everything was in Bengali. Traditional dress for men and women was the norm. And such generosity. Following this service, which included celebrating the Lord's Supper together, they served our group by setting a table and giving to us chicken sandwiches. How gracious. This congregation, by the way, is planting a second congregation in the area. Wow. There were about eighty in attendance at this particular service.

The pastor of this congregation has his wife and daughter back in Bengal. For reason, into which I will not go, they cannot come to the USA and join in the ministry. But the pastor stays here to serve people from his country and language.

Finally, we visited with a man named Johnson. He is from India and he has a strong acumen for missions. With an earned Doctorate in missiology he knows the challenge and joy of working with multicultural groups who are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Each of the ministries we observed had the joy of God's grace in Christ. There was energy and intensity, intentionality and frustration, all together. What each did not lack was hope and confidence that the God who placed each of them in their new context, placed them deliberately to proclaim Jesus.

What a foreign context for ministry compared to the ministry in West Texas. Yet, with each of these congregations we are related in Christ. Humanly speaking we are related in not so distant a way as well, but our common confession gives us also a common future and a common goal, to connect people to Jesus.

What A Church Plant Does

On Monday, September 22, Mike Newman and I were installed as Texas District Mission and Ministry Facilitators. The Texas Board of Directors set time aside in their agenda for this. The Texas District staff was in attendance and I am very grateful to all. Rev. Robert Preece was the liturgist and Rev. Ken Hennings installed us. Mike is serving Area C and I am serving Area A. Areas B and D are served by Paul Krentz and Lou Jander respectively.

The sermon text was Jonah. Yes, the book of Jonah. Robert read through the book and commented along the way. I indeed learned some things and saw this event from a different angle. For that I am very grateful.

Rev. Preece also made mention that the Bible is filled with the idea of planting churches.

Well, one thought leads to another and my thinking at that point went like this.

There is a biblical principle of planting churches.
A metaphor that describes a church is a plant.
The church has been described with the biological metaphor of a plant.

What does a plant do?

A plant can be decorative.
A plant, to be healthy, needs to be trimmed.
A plant can provide food.
A plant can provide shade (as in the case of Jonah).
A plant can reproduce (there are those you can't stop like bind weed or "bullheads" which have thorns that hurt like the dickens).

What does a plant need?

A plant needs water.
A plant needs nutrition.

What does a plant give?

In other words, without a human being using a plant for some purpose listed above, what is the function of a plant?
Well, I recall that plants convert (deliberate use) poison (Carbon Dioxide) into oxygen. That is what it does.

The plant may or may not be decorative or healthy or a source of food. It may not provide shade, but one thing it cannot help but do is convert CO2 into Oxygen. In other words, without plants we would die. But plants give life. And for all the other things about plants, this particular contribution is one that most of us take for granted.

But there it is. The purpose of the church. The purpose is to give life to a world that is suffocating. Without the oxygen of the Gospel, people die. And that oxygen is available from plants about which books are written for their size or beauty, all things to celebrate. But that oxygen is also available from plants that are not noticed. Size is not the issue. Beauty is not the issue. Location is not the issue.

As one of my professors pointed out, metaphors break down when it comes to describing the Living, Triune God and so also describing His body, the church. This metaphor is no exception. But I think that we need to recall that what we do in our words and actions, as members of the body of Christ, brings life to the world through Jesus' death and resurrection. Words filled with grace, patience applied, forgiveness extended; these done in joyful response to salvation given from the cross alone are a breath of fresh air full of Life.

Thanks, Robert, for stimulating the thinking. And I did hear what you said.

"Going" to West Texas

I just ordered two books to read in the coming week. One is by Joel Rainey. The title is Planting Churches in the Real World. The subtitle is, "If you are a planter drunk with vision, this will sober you up." I am not sure what Rainey will say about this, but what I know is there is a real tendency in the church to look for the "silver bullet" or "key" to something. It was true with me early in my ministry. I was looking for the "key" to growth. We want to solve the problems of family, employment, finance, retirement, relationships, and growing a congregation in glorious and sweeping ways over a period of time characterized in, oh, say, an instant. We don't know patience as God knows patience, do we?

There is of course only one "key" as it were and the thing is, this "key" is instant and complete and total, without qualification. The "key" is called the Gospel. And the difficulty that human beings have with the Gospel (at least one aspect) is we cannot control how or where or when it does its thing. We know that the Gospel is connected with the Word, the Cross, repentance, forgiveness and that it is ours by God's grace through faith; but that work is God's doing. We, as God's people, have simply been called to go with this message to the world, to the nations, to our neighbors.

Even though we simply go, going is not so simple. How does this look? Does it look like a missionary with a pith helmet? Does it look like a pastor in a pulpit? Does it look like a person in shorts and sandals playing volleyball? How about if it looks like a Sunday School teacher who comes across a young student who wonders if his parents love him because the parents are getting a divorce? It looks like all of this and more to the end of time itself.

In the book of Acts there is a point where one commentator described God's people as "gossiping the gospel." It was like, "Did you hear about Jesus? No? You know they killed Him, right? Well, now He's alive!" Imagine that conversation over the backyard fence. The point is, the conversation was natural and even casual in nature, though the content was profoundly urgent and even unnatural for people.

Well, the picture of planting churches is often presented as grand and glorious. The reality is it is hard work. Rainey will say that the average new church is less than 100 after four years. He is talking about church plants in the city. And while such strategy of planting new churches for building the kingdom of God is certainly worthy of exploration it may not be feasible in some ministry contexts. Still the call to "go" is given and cannot be denied.

In my time on the Navajo Indian Reservation I learned some things about working in isolation. It's hard. It's lonely. Resources are limited. We could not buy whatever came to mind. There was a level of creativity called for in the lack of materials and in the presentation to a people and culture who looked at the world in a manner very different than this American German from Northern Minnesota. What a challenge. On the other hand, it was marvelous. The going with the Gospel called for a reliance on God's spirit to work through the conversations and the actions of ministry, all of which were covered with His grace and patience. Praise God, He did as He said. People did come to faith in those conversations. There would be no book written about it. There would be no seminar developed to find a new way to evangelize from it. But people had a new hope where before they were hopeless.

Parenthetically, I would point out that the rural community embraces values in ways that the urban community can only dream to realize. I am writing about that in my "West Texas Currents." The rural community has access to the awe-filled nature of God in creation, in relationships, in life and death issues, and in communities in measure that is frustrated in the city. I've been in both places. I digress.

As I read Rainey's book, I'll bring comments about it. The second book is by David T. Olson titled The American Church in Crisis. This is a study that developed a database of over 200,000 congregations in this country. In our communities, we have watched Sunday's becoming our second Saturday's. Numbers in the church have been unchanged and have even declined some while the population has exploded in some parts of the country. Olsen will confirm some of our local observations. I am hoping that it will be an interesting read.

Until next time and still working at it,

sjm