Father Ron’s Blog

Love is all we need...but

Imagine the thrill of childbirth within 72 hours being shattered by a disease whose name you had never heard let alone could pronounce.  Imagine finding out the disease was so rare that your family was now one of less than 500 in existence.

Would love be all you needed?

Imagine a day where 10 seizures for your young child is a good day and a day with 9 or less is just short of a miracle. Imagine rather than having a closet full of toys you have a closet full of oxygen tanks.

Would love be all you needed?

Imagine knowing that you would outlive your child.  Not maybe outlive your child but definitely outlive your child.

Would love be all you needed?

Or would you think that you needed something else?

Would you think that you needed forgiveness? Would you think that you needed medication just to make it through another day? Would you think that you needed to run? Would you need a reason, an answer to the question "why?"

What would it take to get to the point in your life that love was all you needed?

One of the interesting things we see about Jesus' encounters with people is that he moved their hearts away from preconceived notions of how life was supposed to be.  He would frequently start conversations with "Now you have heard it said, but I tell you." He would tell stories where the heroes were a surprise to everyone.  He made it clear that in the Kingdom of God things were opposite, "the first will be last and the last will be first."  He would look inot the eyes of the crowd and rip away their preconceived notions of how life was to be.  And then in the void he would place love; "don't retaliate, take a step closer and turn the other cheek," "sureshe could have given that to the poor but pouring it on my feet is beautiful," and ultimately in his own life; "not my will Father but yours."

It seems that in the economy of love you must leave your picture of what life is supposed to be behind.  The question is: "What picture of life do you believe must be there for life to be okay?" Or to put it another way: "What preconceived notino of the "perfect" life is robbing you of the chance to experience and share unconditional love?"

It seems that for love to be all you need you must believe you need nothing.

From www.workofthepeople.com

StClare

"Passion begins with a burden and a split-second moment when you understand something like never before.  That burden is on those who know. Those who don't know are at peace.  Those of us who do know get disturbed and are forced to take action."

--Wangari Maathai, first Nobel Peace Prize winner for environmentalism.  (Discover, May)

The gospel disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed!

101_1130

The picture in this blog was taken a year after hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. It was at one time the living room of someone whose family had lived in this home for generations.

All that the person owned which at one time had meaning and sentiment was now rotten.  And I, along with fellow Episcopalians, had come thousands of miles to do more than just prepare this persons home for mold remediation: we had come to help them have a funeral for their old life.

I wish that I could say that I invented the phrase.  The fact is I'm not sure who did (I assume it was Katie Meers, who runs "Shitbreakers for Christ" a wing of The Episcopal Diocese of Louisianna that restores houses ruined by Katrina) but it works none the less.  I'll never forget the face of the woman who owns this house nor the the tender tears she shed after we gave this "funeral."

Flash forward to 2008 and a family at St. Clare's had their house burn to the ground. The could recover nothing and like the picture about, what once was meaningful, purposful, and sentimental is now rotten.  So, we the congregation are going to do a funeral for their old life, only this time, we are not going to rebuild their house, nor are we doing mold remediation. Rather, we are going to have a worship service for their old life.

It seems the church has done a very good job for people who die, and done nothing for those who lose something as significant as a home and all that is in it.  This St. Clare's family sought closure and so, we are putting together a funeral service that is in line with Episcopal theology of death and ressurection.  Oh, sure, houses don't really have ressurection, however, inanimate things do die. And its purpose is pastoral, and to help this family move on from one phase of their lives to the next.

The funeral is Saturday, May 31, and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.  I trust God will do more through this than we can hope or imagine.

Yours for the reign of God,

Ron

God Squad 1

All this talk about vital churches leaves me with the need to describe the qualities of a healthy, vital congregation.  The following is not my own creation, but rather from Christian Schwartz of the NCD.

Here are eight qualities of healthy, vital congregations:

1. Empowering leadership: The kind that multiplies leaders rather than just attracts followers.
2. Gifted service: people discover their joys, gifts and talents and exercise them in and outside of the life of the congregation.
3. Passionate Spirituality: People are involved out of joy and gratitude rather than just a sense of obiligation or duty.  They are highly motiviated and enthusiastic.
4. Functional Structures: Our structures and organizations work so well that we can be enriched by but not imprisoned in our past.
5. Inspiring worship: worship is an excersie of the heart as well as the mind.  In worship we are moved and enlightened.
6. Small Group Life: Many small groups enrich the spiritual life and growth of congregants.
7. Evangelism: We in the Episcopal Church don't like this word...tough! We should be highly effective at attracting and incorporating the unchurched and young people who have been "outside the fold."
8. Loving Relationships:Our life together is characterized by deep mutual caring and enriched by lots of healthy humor.

In conclusion, this is what I dream and envision for St. Clare's in Pleasanton! 

Church3

I've made no bones about the fact that I love working towards vital congregational health.  One such pathway towards doing so is a movement known as Natural Church Development.  While I've gone into the details of this movement in other blogs, I want very much to prick your conciousness as to why it matters.

Below, you'll find a checklist which comes from Christian Schwartz and his gang from NCD.  You'll note that the focus is on vitality and spirituality, not how many butts end up in the seat.  When we focus on vitality, growth happens as a natural offshoot.  Ponder these few statements and ask yourself: "Is my church like this?"

Here we go!:

• The pastor and those involved in ministry in our church have developed a plan to intensify their personal prayer life? (What does it look like?)
• At least two times a year the pastor spends a whole day to seek God in prayer and listen to His guidance. (When was this done last?)
• The meaning of prayer is often illustrated by practical examples during the sermons. (When did this occur the last time?)
• Church members are encouraged to share personal experiences with God during the worship service and in small groups (When did this last happen?)
• Our leadership team meets regularly for prayer. (When was the last time?)
• 75% of those attending worship are involved in a ministry that corresponds to their spiritual gifts. (How has this been checked?)
• Christians with the gift of prayer are continually supplied with prayer requests of the church. (Who organized this?)
• Together with the leadership team, the pastor has formulated faith goals for our church.  (What do those look like?)
• We constantly further a climate of creativity and experimentation in our church. (How?)
• We have identified some barriers that seem to block the successful implementation of needed practical steps and we have dealt with them in appropriate ways. (Examples)

Francois Fenelon

Francois Fenelon, a 17th century Roman Caotholic Archbishop, said this about communitcating with God in prayer:

"Tell the Lord all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pain, to a dear friend.  Tell him your troubles, that he may comfort you; tell him your joys, that he may temper them; tell him your longings, that he may purify them; tell him your dislikes, that he may help you conquer them; talk to him of your temptations, that he may shield you from them; show him the wounds of your heart, that he may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability.  Tell him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others.

If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say.  You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed.  People who have no secrets fromeach other never want for subject of conversation.  They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say.

They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideratino they say just what they think.  Blessed are they who attain to such familiar unreserved conversation with Jesus Christ the Lord.  Amen"

Nouwen

Henri Nouwen once said in a Leadership journal interview:

"I cannot continuously say no to this or to that, unless there is something ten times more attractive to choose.  Saying no to my lust, my greed, my needs, and the world's powers takes an enormous amount of energy.  The only hope is to find something so obviously real and attractive that I can devote all my energies to saying yes...One such thing I can say yes to is when I come in touch with the fact that I am loved.  Once I have found that in my total brokenness I am still loved, I become free from the compulsion of doing successful things."

Citation: Terry Muck, "Hearing God's Voice and Obyeing His Word," Leadership Journal (Winter 1982), p. 16

Wizard of Oz

In 2002 Mr. Michael Slaughter blew wide many of the mindsets of your average Christian.  While his material is now 6 years old it is still relevant.  The following are a few quotes from his book The Unlearning Church:

1. I don't want to lead a mega church of people who come together to be inspired to live status quo lives peppered with Judeo-Chrisitan values.  I want to empower radical followers of Jesus.
2. I'm unlearning the idea that God works only in places set apart for spiritual purposes, such as church buildings.
3. Trust cannot be disembodied any more. It must be incarnated for people to embrace it.
4. Unlearning churches seat conservatives and liberals next to each other.
5. Unlearning churches think both/and instead of either/or. (i.e. Both Catholic and Evangelical).
6. The Gospel is offensive but we need to put it in a language so that people recognize that they have been offended.
7. Radical Christianity is based on two ancient boundary stones...to live Jesus and to love one another.
8. If what I am connected to is not about compassion, grace and hope then it is not truth.
9. Many people come to Jesus and then expect Jesus to be converted to their worldview.
10. We'll never experience the presence of God if we wait for our minds to understand it.  People are looking for an experience of God more than an explanation of God.
11. Jesus did not say "I came that you may have more stuff" or "I came that you may be elevated to higher positions."
12. Unlearning churches keep the focus on human worth, health and personal relationships.  Life transformation, not church growth, becomes the measure of success.
13. Unlearning churches focus on relationship than ideology.
14. Unlearning churches offer an evironment of trust. They value a climate of safe space where people can ask honest questions.  They don't feel compelled to give all the right answers. They focus on asking the right questions.

For those who wonder, St. Clare's is striving toward being an Unlearning Church.  Join us!

Poor Picture Indeed!

What are the characteristics of a person with mature Christian faith?  Based on interviews with theological scholars and denominiational executives, openended surveys of several hundred adults from six participating denominations, and reviews of the literature in psychology and religion, we posited that a person of mature faith integrates eight core dimensions of faith.  They are:

1. Trusts in God's saving grace and believes firmly in the humanity and divinity of Jesus.
2. Experieness a sense of personal well-being, security, and peace.
3. Intergrates faith and life, seeing work, family, social relationships, and political choices as part of one's religious life.
4. Seeks spiritual growth through study, reflection, prayer, and discussion with others.
5. Seeks to be part of a community of believers in which people give witness to their faith and support and nourish one another.
6. Holds life-affirming values, inclduing commitments to racial and gender equality, affirmation of cultural and religious diversity, and a personal sense of responsibility for the welfare of others.
7. Advocates social and global change to bring about greater social justice.
8. Serves humainty, consistently and passionately, through acts of love and justice.

From Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Six Protestant Congregations, The Search Institute, 122 West Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404, March 1990

Nouwen

The following are a few quotes about transformation as written by the late, great Henry Nouwen in his book In The Name Of Jesus: Reflections On Christian Leadership.  I feel that the church must heed these words of wisdom if it is to keep from being impotent in the world today.  Here are the few quotes:

"Where is this transformation today? More and more of us are leaving our worship centers and sanctuaries without even so much as a mar on our glossy finish.  We are going out the same way we came in.  We may have had an entertainment fix, a self-esteem fix, a self righteous fix or a self help fix but we have not been changed.  Why?  We seek happiness not righteousness.  We want to be fulfilled not filled.  We are interested in satisfaction, not a holy dissatisfaction with all that is wrong." (p. 52)

"It is inot enough for priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time.  All of that is very valuble and important but it is not the heart of Christian leadership.  The central question is, are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, poeple with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty, to touch God's incarnate Word and to taste fully God's infinite goodness."

"God is seeking worshipers.  God desires for the church to fulfill its purpose of making more and better worshippers. But we cannot do that unless (1) we worship in spirit and in truth; (2) like David we make worship our number one  priority, and (3) we cease worshipping ourselves and give honor to the only One who is worthy.  Non worhsippers will never be able to inspire others to worship.  As Charles Colson reminds us, "Being precedes doing!" (p 53)

And as Robert Webber said, "Worship is a verb.  It is not something done to us or for us, but by us."

Yours for the reign of God,

Ron