Interactive Sermon

Trends Affecting Your Church pt. 2

Check the earlier post on this topic.  Check also the article that prompted my thoughts.  As promised, I've returned to spill some more thoughts. I covered points one and two last time.  How about point three?  Here goes...

Concerning new ways to collaborate, I chuckled as I read Cynthia's sentence, "these connections often morph into movements, networks and alliances, etc (formerly known as denominations)."  There are no more popular buzz-words in church leadership circles these days than movement, network and alliance.  At Christ's Church we've used the word partnering.  Same thing.  The realization that the world, through technological advances, is getting smaller--community has now gone global--changes the way we view sharing the journey with other believers.  So we can very easily build and sustain relationships of distance. 

But what about relationships of difference?  I noted that Cynthia hinted at shared affinities in these new collaborations--but I would suggest that these new avenues also open roads to collaborate more easily with those of difference, too. 

But we have to be careful.  We can become comfortable sharing resources, for instance, with a body of believers who are demographically very different from us as long as we're not gathering under the same roof--and, say, having to endure each other's chosen music styles.  I think we need to use great care that these new ways of collaborating are genuinely embraced and embodied, and cautious that they don't simply become all at arm's-length or virtual.  I liken it a little bit to Facebook.  We call one another "friends" but are we really?  How many of the thousand or so Facebook friends that you have could you call to bail you out of jail?  (Hypothetically, of course.)  Try it.  You'll see how hollow a definition "friends" can be.  Here, this is easier: How many of those "friends" could you actually reach by telephone?  How many of them could you drive to their house without an address and a GPS?  You see where I am going.

One of my observations of the "local church" over 18 years of pastoral ministry is that we all speak highly of true and genuine collaboration--but few of us really live it.  I do agree with Cynthia, however, that if we DID it would radically affect the church in our society.

Your thoughts?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon,Church,Culture,Post-modernity,Ministry trends

How To Get A Christmas Tree

First, you need a great crew.

 

Of course, they need to follow instructions well.

 

They also need to be strong.

 

They need a great leader.  "Carry it up the hill, girls!"

 

That's how it's done.

Tryptophan: The Evidence

Speaks for itself--danced with the bird... roasted her up, moist and delightful... ate more than I should have... ZZZZzzzzz. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Seasons

An old tune that a few of us put together twenty years ago in the aftermath of losing some loved ones was mentioned in comments on a post a couple days ago. I dug out the lyrics and a leadsheet. The song was called Seasons.

I heard the news from a friend of ours; time stood still in those awful hours; I thought I'd crumble without you by my side; I never had a chance to say goodbye.

Down every road I take, I see your face; I close my eyes and recall our last embrace; in a crowded room I still hear your voice and your laugh; how I long for this grief to pass.

I'll try not to let it crush me anymore--you wouldn't want it that way; instead I'll hold on to the promise...

This season will fade away; sweet memories, all that remains; I can see your smile just as clear as yesterday; this season will fade away

They ask me how I am, I say 'you know'; truth is they really don't; but I do believe that there's a difference in the way we grieve; we've a living hope in this faith we've received. 

I wonder if you can hear me right now; there's so much I want to say, but I don't know how; I want you to know I'll be okay; our faith will have it no other way.

This season will fade away; sweet memories, all that remains; I can see your smile just as clear as yesterday; this season will fade away

 

You have to imagine it back in the day with either some David Keenum or Dave Anderson keyboards, and some Charlie Moulter or Mark Ellison guitar licks, and maybe a tear or two from a few of us who "knew," and you had a decent tune.

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon,darin michael shaw,music,grief

What's On My Mind?

Scary, but if you want to know...

Tryptophan ~ It's Thanksgiving time. That means that I have returned to pondering the effects of tryptophan found in turkey.  One camp says that consuming turkey in large amounts is the cause for that desire to collapse into a post-supper nap, while others suggest that it's not the turkey but rather the entire meal that makes one want a siesta. Science is one thing. Experience is another. I'm buying the tryptophan theory--and I'm planning to induce a tryptophan coma for myself come Thursday! In years past, you remember, I've done two turkeys--one traditional roasted turkey and one cajun-deep fried. This year I've decided to do one very large turkey the traditional way, and to add a baked ham as well. A little swine to go with my poultry--a well rounded meal aimed at making me... well... more well round. Have I mentioned that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year? {That's a scientific rendering of tryptophan on the left. Impressive, eh? How many blogs can you go to for such in-depth stuff?}

Traditions ~ One of our family traditions over the years has been to decorate a Christmas tree and the house the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Special plans this year include some special friends in the festivities.  I cannot wait!  Part of that tradition is a weekend filled with the Christmas music of my childhood--the oldies my mom and dad played in the house when we were kids.  I'm dusting off the Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra CDs.  My kids are cringing.

Advent ~ I've outlined the messages for this Advent season, and I'm pretty excited about it.  We'll be considering the Theology of the Incarnation this year--and before you go to sleep on that title, know that what we'll really be considering is how the incarnation impacts each of us.  Good stuff, to be sure.  And music--the World Famous Christ's Church Worship Band is hard at work pulling music--traditional and new arrangements--together to carry us through a great Advent experience as a church family.

Land of Hope and Dreams ~ 3 Chords recently added the Springsteen tune to our setlist.  A few of the lyrics have buoyed my heart the last few days:

From a verse: Leave behind your sorrow, let this day be the last; for tomorrow there will be sunshine, and all this darkness past...

From the various choruses: This train carries the broken hearted; this train, sweet souls departed; this train, dreams will not be thwarted; this train, faith will be rewarded; this train, all aboard!

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 ~ A text that speaks truth to the grieving.  Glorious hope!  I heard a twelve year old read it at her mother's funeral--I'll never be the same.

So, what's on your mind?  Or, what's on your Thanksgiving menu?  Any family traditions?

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What's The Use?

Church: A thing of the past?

I recently had a conversation with a friend who has grown cold in his enthusiasm for church attendance and participation.  He mentioned a few things in particular that discouraged him.  Here's a list in no particular order:

* The church he attends had recently experienced tremendous growth, so as to have changed the feel from small church culture to large church culture for him.

* With that growth there was, for his thinking, a major shift in emphasis where money and giving was concerned. "Every sermon is about giving now," he said.

* He reiterated that he isn't simply discouraged with the church he attends, but church in general--he has no interest in searching for a new church home.

* He's not sure he's been growing in Christ (or has seen his faith grow) for all his participation in church over the years.  He attributes spiritual growth in his life to a handful of relationships he has with other believers in Christ, but outside the parameters of church.

* He personally feels as though he gets body participation more through his years-long involvement in a community bible study (where many of those relationships are)--the kinds of things people say that a church should provide he receives from those he has participated with over the years in the study group.

* Looking back he doesn't see "the benefit" of his years of attending just about every service and participating in just about every ministry the church offered.

Now, let me testify to my friend's having done the church thing to the full, for the many years that I've known him.  Let me assure you that my friend is of sound mind and theology.  He's not back-sliding or wandering to the best of my observations.  He just says he's "over" church.

How would you counsel a friend in such a situation?  Ever have similar thoughts and feelings?

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Trends Affecting Your Church?

Online technologies and strategic church development consultant Cynthia Ware suggests five trends that will affect local expressions of the body of Christ in the coming year.  A quick look through her list (borrowed, she says, from media guru Guy Kawasaki) and I smile--these are things we've been recognizing and embracing at Christ's Church over the last couple of years.  It's interesting to me that these are also the very things that have wound up conversation fodder at the weekly local pastor's meeting these last couple of months. "What's a Facebook?"

Give this article a read.  What do you think? 

The shifting demographics paragraph has been a reality for the better part of the last decade in our little corner of the world, for my thinking.  We tend to be a generationally minded body--and thankfully that has pretty much always been a norm for Christ's Church.  But where the local churches are feeling this now (it seems all of the local congregations are experiencing the same thing in our area) is in an area I've referred to as "season of life" shifts.  Simply, the families that made up the core of children and youth ministry in the past, who attended every church function offered over the last decade--they're now traveling weekends to visit their now grown children at college, or perhaps to go and spend time with their new grandchildren, or even to care for their own aged parents.  In our specific case there are also a number of men and women who have shifted a tremendous amount of their "church time" in the direction of ministries of their own--traveling to minister at a seminar, or lead a conference, or fill a pulpit, or to lead ministry endeavors--new to them over these past few years.  The end result: largely itinerant congregations.  Things we should concern ourselves with: (1) Who is sharing the gospel?  (2) Where are new young adults and young families? (3) How can we better resource a body that is more and more "along the way?"

Under technological advances, social media is the main thrust of Ware's article.  I smiled as I read this--literally each of the last three weeks of our weekly pastor's meetings have spilled into all out discussions (dare I say 'debates') over the place of social media in ministry.  I absolutely love the sentence "We must accept the reality that conversations are going on whether or not we're participating in it."  That is almost word-for-word the sentiment that I've taken to those debates.  A significant (and exponentially growing) number of people in our congregations live in social media streams.  What are you going to do?  It's also interesting to me the fear that is expressed in this article--the perceived threat of opening a back-channel--is exactly the concern expressed in pastor chats.  What if someone pops off?  What if someone spreads lies or heresy?  What if someone does something... wait for it... outside of our control?  One of my all time favorite television lines comes from the show Cheers--bar regular Norm walks in as the bar-tender Sam asks, "How's it going, Norm?"  Norm's classic reply: "It's a dog-eat-dog world out there Sammy, and I'm wearing milk-bone underwear!"  Scary world we minister in!  I've often said, ministry would be great were it not for people.

Those are my (very) initial thoughts on the first couple of trends to stimulate some conversation. I'll come back to points three thru five later.  What do you think?  You seeing any of this in ministries you're connected to?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon,Technology,Social Networking,Social Media,shifting demographics,post-modernity

Death, Grief and... Faith

A couple of weeks ago I posted some thoughts on death and grief in which I reflected a bit on my experience of my father's death back in 1983. You can find that post here.  I mentioned there that a few families near and dear to us are experiencing this right now.  As such, it's a matter weighing heavily on my heart, in my prayers and thoughts constantly--and bringing back many, many memories that I had suppressed for years. 

"No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.  At other times it is like being mildly drunk or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says."

These are the opening words of C.S. Lewis' masterpiece A Grief Observed. I remember those feelings well--and Lewis described it precisely. Death and grief send us reeling. I felt like I was swimming in fudge, gaining no ground; present but not present in my own life in those early days of grief.

"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It's easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you merely using it to tie up a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then, first, discover how much you really trusted it?"

That's another passage from Lewis' book. Another element of the experience I remember clearly. What is it that I believe? Is it trustworthy?  As I mention in that earlier post, I poured into the passages of 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5. Are you real, God?  Is this true? I need to know!

"Where is Dad now?"

I remember that question. I'd hear it in my head and dismiss it, only to have it return--often. I looked at the driveway where his car would have been parked. I looked at "his chair", the place where he ended every day. I looked at his empty seat at the table at each festive gathering in the coming months. I knew where he wasn't... I wanted to know where he was.

"He's with God."

Everybody was telling me that. In one sense that is comforting. In another it is unimaginable. What does that look like? Can he see me? Can he hear me? (Someone told me, "No, he can't see you... he's too busy singing in Jesus' choir." Knowing my dad, that actually made me laugh.)

"I need Dad, not someone that tries to resemble him."

The strongest recollections that occupy my mind these last couple of weeks are those of the adults (that had no relationship with me while my Dad was alive) who showed up trying to help and encourage me in the wake of my father's death. I've boiled it down to this: The adults who showed up with no agenda, were a blessing. But I resented the adults who showed up on a mission to "rescue me." Where were you before? What? Now I'm a charity case? I especially rebelled against the idea that someone was going to become a surrogate/substitute dad for me on their terms. An interesting note: In time, I did find a few men that I would lean on like father-figures (still do).  But that was on my terms, not someone else's.

"Death and grief... and faith--are a process."

More to come...

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Big Buts: The Website

If you haven't bookmarked it yet, what are you waiting for?

Two weeks into www.bigbutsofthebible.com and the regular views are building.  What's going on over there?  Glad you asked.  All things pertaining to the little three letter conjunction that can forever change the way you read the scriptures.  You'll find daily posts that include bible study and devotional thoughts, historical uses, cultural adaptations and other fun and games concerning that all important word--but.  You'll be able to read a But-O-The-Week and a But-i-Ful Quote, as well as link to the official Big Buts Facebook page, all from the Big Buts main site.

I've also got a special Advent series based on buts that appear in Hymns, Carols, Bible texts and holiday writings kicking off the Christmas season at the end of November.

Of course, there will also be news there concerning the Big Buts of the Bible: Gospel of Matthew project as it nears completion.

How can you help?

1) Bookmark the page.  Study along.  Chime in through comments, email, or in conversation over the topics and posts.

2) Tell others about the site.  Link people to www.bigbutsofthebible.com and encourage them to stop in and study the scriptures with us.

3) Become a "fan" of the official Facebook Page.

4) Add fans. Ask everyone you know if they like big buts.  Send them a Facebook recommendation.

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What's On My Mind?

This is my mind. This is my mind on blogs. Any questions?

Two Questions, Actually ~ I've been mulling over two questions Jesus asked. The first is, "Who do you say that I am?" The second is, "Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?" I'm contemplating my answers to those soul-searching questions.

Advent ~ My favorite time of year is closing in once again. I'm amazed how it seems to come faster each year. Wasn't it just a week ago that we put Christmas decorations away? (Well, that may have actually been a week ago at my house.) So, here I go again, preparing my heart to slow down and observe the season in the church year that was set apart to slow us down in preparing to celebrate Jesus' birth. Planning to use the Book of Common Prayer and a hymnal for my own Advent reading this year.

Recollections ~ Life has it that I'm spending time with teenagers who have lost parents these days. I am remembering those adults who showed up in my life when my dad died. I was sixteen at the time. Some of those people very much a blessing, but others seemed more of an intrusion. What can I learn? How can I be a blessing and not an intrusion? Oh, and through it all--I really miss Dad.

Buts ~ It's been a week since the launch of my new Big Buts writing site. What a rush! Thanks to all of you who have been cheering it on. The domain mapping is catching up, and regulars and subscribers are moving over from the old site. The manuscript revisions continue--I confess there are times when it feels there is no end in sight.

Let It Rise ~ No, I'm not kidding! We're playing a few tunes at a men's breakfast at Christ's Church tomorrow. We've been asked to play the old (1997... dude, that is so... 90s) Promise Keeper's tune Let It Rise.  (Enter Elmer Fudd voice... "Lwwet the glwwor-wwy of the wward, wwise among us...") So we practiced it the other night and now I can't get the tune out of my head. Help me, Jesus!    

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