Wednesday, June 17, 2009

-The Lakers, Stan Van Gundy, and The Church-

Well, they pulled it off. The Lakers managed to secure the franchise's 15th NBA Championship title in just five games relying on excellent play from, among others,  Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, and Kobe Bryant and being commanded by Head Coach, Phil Jackson. This is the 10th time Phil Jackson has coached a team to the title, a new record for ANY of the four major American sports, (Basketball, Football, Baseball and Hockey).

What struck me most about this whole series however was something that Stan Van Gundy, (Head Coach for the Orlando Magic who lost the series to the Lakers), said in a post-game interview after a gut-wrenching loss in game 4. An interviewer asked him to comment on the importance of experience in a Championship series like this, alluding the the fact that several Lakers players have been in Championship contention before but none of Orlando's players had been. He responded by saying the experience had nothing to do with it. He said it was "too chiche" to say it has to do with experience and that this was simply just another basketball game.  I wonder if the fact that this was HIS first time to the NBA Championship Series had anything to do with that opinion. I also wonder if he'll be saying the same thing if he gets there again in the years to come. Something tells me that the more times he coaches a team to the Championship, the more he'll come to realize just how important experience is.

I think many young and new Christians, (especially Christian leaders and professional ministers), have the same problem as Stan Van Gundy though. Right now the Church as a whole is in the middle of a paradigm shift. New voices are starting to be heard and even sought out within the Church. This is a fantastic thing. It happens every few generations and is important to the survival and growth of Christianity. But, as it often happens, many of these "new voices" are blatantly critical of the "old voices." What an remarkable tragedy this is. It is 100% unBiblical, 100% counterproductive, and 100% ignorant. It makes absolutely no sense for someone to criticize and berate those who came before them and claim they didn't do anything right when they, themselves, would not be where they are in their faith had it not been for the very people he or she is criticizing. In other words, If yesterday's Church couldn't do anything right then their wouldn't be a Church today.

Don't get me wrong, I'm am by no means saying there is nothing to improve upon. I believe wholeheartedly that the Church has dropped the ball in many ways and hope we can pick it back up and start making the difference God calls us to make rather than the difference we think we should be making. But we have nothing to gain by pointing fingers at those who came before us. In fact, we should be honoring them and even seeking their council. At the church I am currently serving in there are many who have been loving God and loving people for longer than I have been alive. I have learned to listen when they talk. I have learned to seek out their opinion. I have learned that there is wisdom in experience. I may not follow their advice to the letter. I may not do exactly what they think I should do. Often times I will reinterpret their thoughts to meet the needs of those I mean to minister to.  But there is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom that comes from age and experience, (just read the book of Proverbs if you don't believe me), and I don't want to be like Stan Van Gundy and deny that while I lose. Because the Church losing is just a basketball game. It means people miss out on a life changing message that brings them closer to God now and forever. Please, lets reinvent the church for the emerging generations. Lets see their needs and adjust our methods without adjusting our message. But let us not forsake the experience of those that came before us. Let's take advantage of it. Let's leverage it for the betterment of our endeavors for God. Because experience is wisdom. And we could all use more of that. 

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

-Silencing The Stones-

For a little while now I've been putting a lot of thought and consideration into God's act of creation. And I don't just mean I've been pondering Adam and Eve's story. I've been wrestling and meditating and praying and studying and examining and really investing myself into the creation poem of Genesis. I think that there is so much in the first chapter of the bible that we either miss or simply ignore. As the poem unfolds you can feel that God is going somewhere with this whole creating the universe thing. He creates and creates and then creates things that can create. God saturates our universe with the ability to keep creating itself. To move itself from on level to the next. Because God isn't just creative, He is Creativity itself.

Finally, in His last act of creation, (that we know of), God forms man in His own image and plops us down smack-dab-in-the-middle of all this creative potential. He charges us with helping to continue in the creation of the world. To help bring order and balance and at the same time for humanity to grow and create and learn. It's like God says to man, "I made all this and it's GOOD. But I've given you the ability to take hold of it and make it even better." Now the question is: where do we fit in the grand scheme of creation?

Let's not kid ourselves, mankind is NOT the focal point of creation. I know many of us would like to believe that but it's simply not true. God did not create the universe for man. Why did He create then? Simple. For Him. Creation exists to bring glory to God. Everything that is good and right and true and beautiful in our universe has the singular purpose of crying out to it's Creator in gratitude, admiration and yes, even worship. That means that mankind, as God's most beloved and important creation, has the responsibility to do the same thing. To cry out to God in gratitude, admiration and yes, even worship. Because God is going to get His. But what happens when He doesn't get it from us?  Check this out:

"When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
(Luke 19:37-40 TNIV)


I wonder what that looks like. I wonder what it sounds like. What does it look like when the "stones cry out"? What would we hear? Would we see the molten spews of an erupting volcano? Would we hear the rumbling of an earthquake? Would stars fall from the sky? What does it look like when the "stones cry out"? I wonder if they aren't crying out already. If we have grown so proud and so "wise" that we simply don't stand in awe and terror and wonder and admiration of the Creator of all things. If we for got how to "cry out" in utter amazement of who and what and why He is. Maybe the stones are already crying out. Because God is going to get His. He is supposed to get it from us. But if we "keep quiet, the stones will cry out." And I think it's about time we start silencing the stones.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

-First Name Basis With God-

My son turns two in just a few months here. He's an interesting kid so far. Having a very outgoing and affectionate older sister has made him fairly aggressive and independent. He wants to turn the lights off and on, feed himself and sometimes tries to dress himself as well. If you try to help him, you get yelled at. He LOVES his mommy which, for me, is great to see. "Mommy" is by far the word he uses most with "no" coming in second and "mine" a close third. Other favorites of his are "doggie," "sissy," "thank you" and "bye-bye." Did you notice an important word that is strangely absent from that list?

For whatever reason, my son refuses to call me "daddy." He also won't say "dada," "dad' or even "pop." No, when my son is talking to or about me he calls me "John." That's right, my not even two-year-old son insists on calling me by my first name. And it's not as if he doesn't know to call me "daddy." When he calls me "John" I don't answer him and when my wife hears him she tries to correct him. He'll say, "John!" and she'll tell him, "Daddy," and he'll tell her, "No!" and then proceed to call me "John." The fact that my son thinks we're on a first name basis doesn't bode well for me when he gets older.

Now, I don't think Ian realizes that when he calls me by my first name other than "daddy," he is refusing to acknowledge my relationship to him. He is not properly recognizing me as his father, provider, protector, teacher, caregiver, and giver of life. What he doesn't realize is that by using my first name, he is putting himself on the same level as me. I wonder how often we do this with God. I wonder if we think we're on a first name basis with the Creator of the universe. My son has an excuse in that he is merely a toddler. Do we have an excuse?

As a worship leader I sometimes play a song called "Friend of God" written by Israel Houghton and Michael Gungor. This is a great song that I think really illustrates how amazing it is that the Creator of time and space and everything in it still longs for a relationship with us, His creations. But I think there is a danger when we get TOO caught up seeing God as our friend. Yes He is that but He is so much more. And when we fail to recognize that we are essentially putting ourselves on His level. And that is a tragic mistake.

Look, I'm not saying we shouldn't call God our friend. Jesus himself called His disciples His friends and so it's safe to assume He kinda feels the same way about us today. But what I am saying is that when we focus only on THAT aspect, we run the risk of forgetting that God is also our father, provider, protector, caregiver and giver of life. When we get to comfortable calling God by His first name we lose site of the fact that He is also the one who sustains us. The one who provides the very oxygen we breath. The one who keeps our hearts pumping. The one who in vast enough to imagine and create the infinite universe. When we think of God primarily as our friend, we forget to stand in awe and wonder of who He and what and why He is. Growing up my dad used to tell my brother and I that he wanted to be our friend but that he was our father FIRST. I think we need to see God as our God first, and friend second. It doesn't mean He's not our friend. It just means that He's our God first.