Entertainment Bar Is Rising

Christian psychologist, priest, and spiritual father Henri Nouwen wrote, “When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope for peace by a new war, our desire for a stable government by a constant changing of the guards, and our desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness.”

            I must admit that I dislike the word boredom.  I especially disliked it coming from my children when they were teenagers.  I have observed that what would have excited me to no end when I was a teen can be very boring to today’s teenager.  I remember being thrilled to get a wrecked 1962 Ford Falcon in my senior year in high school!  I fixed it up and it became my pride and joy.  Have you seen the nice cars and trucks in our high school parking lots?

           Nowadays, parents feel pressure to provide lots of experiences for their kids.  There are so many good activities and things from which to choose today!  But in exposing our children to so many options, we may be inadvertently creating a kind of immunity in our kids, thereby raising the level of excitement needed to conquer their boredom.  Today it simply takes more novelty and excitement to keep kids interested.  The entertainment bar keeps going up. 

          How do you think this is affecting the spiritual lives of our children?  I think about the negative effects of our consumeristic, entertainment-driven culture on our children.  Recently a TV ad featured several young people following their dreams to play sports, dance, or sing on a stage.  In every case the passions people followed were about entertaining others.  I guess it is hard to pitch an ad to get people to join the Peace Corps or build a Habitat for Humanity home.

          And this is why the world needs to hear the voice of God through us, the Church!  But this voice must be heard by each would-be-disciple of Jesus and ACTED if the gospel message is going to be welcomed by others. 

          What can you do to keep the entertainment bar from rising in your life? 

Grace Always,
Dave
         

 

 

Online Church?

Last week I attended the Oregon/Idaho annual conference in Boise, Idaho.  I met Sophia Agtarap who is the daughter of Fred Agtarap who served as interim pastor of our Homer UMC this past year.  Sophia works for United Methodist Communications in a new position that resources churches interested in developing online faith communities. 

Some interesting questions arise over how we do church in a virtual internet arena.  How do we "count" people?  We United Methodists are obsessed with counting things!  How are the sacraments celebrated?  Are ordained elders needed to consecrate virtual bread and juice?  What is the nature of Christian community with people who may never meet in person?

I don't know the answers.  But I do know that our churches need to be thinking about ways to engage others via the internet.  So here's what I am going to do.  I plan to lead a book study of an amazing book I am reading now:  "Speaking Christian," by Marcus Borg.  I am aware that many young people are turned off by organized religion and they will not come to our church buildings even if the programs we offer peaks their interest.  So I will plan this study and advertise on Facebook.  I'll ask young people I know to share it with their Facebook friends.  I suspect there may be people from various parts of the country and perhaps the world.

I have this thought that if we Christians are willing to engage young people and their honest questions about God, that real spiritual growth will happen, and perhaps even Christian community.  So I encourage us all to think of ways we can use social media to create new places for new people for Christ.

Grace Always,
Dave

Value of Spiritual Disciplines

I don't always keep up with my daily spiritual disciplines.  What I have learned over the years is that I seem to need variety.  I can't always do the same routine day after day.  This doesn't mean that I don't try to maintain a spiritual discipline routine.  But I can't keep it up for a long period of time before I need a change of some kind.

The problem is that during that change mode I am tempted to abandon or lessen my daily routine.  For the moment there is a freedom that comes with changing my rule of life.  But as with any void something will get sucked into that space...people, things, ideas.  And God gets squeezed out.

The reason why maintaining spiritual disciplines is a good thing is that they mystically place me in the best possible position to listen to the voice of God and receive the grace of God.  I think of the times when I am not centered and in a moment of distraction, temptation, or willfulness, I miss a beautiful God moment.

It is entirely possible that the God moment awaiting us tomorrow may be linked to our decision to place ourselves in a prayerful position today.

Grace Always,
Dave

Family Joy

My heart is full of joy for two reasons today.  I am still feeling the afterglow of the Alaska annual conference.  Celebrations of our leaders, meaningful worship, capable episcopal leadership, sad farewells, truth telling, and the most raucous reading of appointments ever!  I do hope we as an annual conference will become more than the fun we experience together.  I'm talking about the hard work of holding a mirror to our congregations so we can face our current reality.  In doing so we need to not allow the anxiety of our people deter us from our mission of disciple making.

The other reason for my joy is the news that one hour ago at this writing on Monday, June 3, our grandson, Camden Robert Keller, was born to Rob and Lauren Keller in Idaho Falls.  8.5 lb and 20.5".

Engaging People in Our Communities

Whenever we speak about evangelism we inevitably have to talk about how we relate with people.  One of the criticisms of United Methodists today is that we are very nice people who are generally friendly with neighbors, store clerks, and co-workers.  But we have not done a good job of talking with them about our Christian faith.  It is almost as if we are riding the pendulum swing to the other side of "Are you saved?" conversation.  We have a strong distaste for manipulative, Bible thumping questions that will not guide a person towards faith in Christ.  And this is a good thing.

But we live in a time when the pendulum needs to swing back to the center.  And United Methodist Christians need to ponder the kinds of questions we ask the new people we encounter each day.  We are okay with weather questions, natural disasters, sports teams, and construction delays.  But how are we with God questions?

If you tell a neighbor that you are part of Alaska United Methodist Church down the road and that neighbor responds, "I used to go to church, but I don't believe in God anymore," ask them this question.  "Tell me about the God you don't believe in."  Chances are you don't believe in that God either! 

Part of what we are doing in such encounters is honest theology.  People have so many misconceptions about God and the Church.  They have an understanding about Christians that we are all alike and that we draw distinct lines between good and evil.  Some of what we are doing with such honest conversation is helping people know they can trust us with their questions.  And the door is always open for future conversation.  It is possible that such a conversation will be the one that removes the final barrier for another to come to faith in Christ.

Consider this an encouragement to you to think about a couple of God questions you could be prepared to ask someone in your mission field.

Grace Always,
Dave

Devastation in Oklahoma

I do not believe the Bible was intended to be interpreted literally.  If the authority does not lie in the actual, literal words where does it lie?  For me scripture is authoritative when I place myself into the narrative.  When I see my failings, my sin in the story of Moses, or Jonah, or Paul that is precisely when I am ready to hear the word of God speak to my heart.

Yesterday as I watched the horrific scenes of tornado destruction in Oklahoma I began to place myself in the shoes of those who endured the violence.  The outcome of such an exercise?  Compassion.  I searched the UMCOR site to see if they had posted a number for donations, but it had only been an hour since the tornado left the ground.

I am quite sure that my heart cannot make room for all the suffering people in our world.  In our world of instant news technology we can be overwhelmed with human need.  Do you know why some tragic events touch your heart while others to not?  When our world view enlarges we often feel some of the hurt of people wherever it happens on our planet.  God gives us more of God's heart to share the pain of others.  Perhaps we think it is up to us.  Our hearts are simply not big enough to take in all the hurts of the world.  During such moments of human suffering wherever it happens on a large or small scale our role is to imagine the heart of God opening to others and to be the hands and feet of God.

If you feel compassion for the people of Moore, Oklahoma, and want to do something concrete to help please consider a donation to UMCOR at http://www.umcor.org/  The number is 901679.

Grace Always,
Dave

Listen to your Body

I spent an hour with a spiritual director this week to help me discern a decision.  One of the things she said to me was, "Listen to your body.  What is your body telling you about this?"

I appreciated the physicality of her question.  We tend to think of prayer as a mental or still activity.  We all have been told as children to bow our head, close our eyes, and fold our hands.  Be quiet when you pray.

The Alaska ecumenical leaders met recently for a retreat and I was struck by how these bishops and executives and pastors talked about their need to move when they pray.  How do you pray?  And do you need to move when you pray?  And what do you think about the idea of listening to your body during prayerful discernment?

Grace Always,
Dave