Who am I?

Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "God's Messiah." Luke 9:18-20 TNIV

Last night I had a conversation with my mother. She had been given the opportunity to take an early retirement from a job she has been at for a very long time. As we were talking about the pros and cons of retirement (beyond money and not having to go to work every day) she revealed to me about her fear of loss of identity. My mother has been employed outside the home for the majority of her adult life (she took a few years to work as a stay-at-home mom when my brother and I were in elementary school). She has been at her current place of employment for more than 18 years. Like most of us, when asked what she does, she responds that she is in customer service for a publishing company.

Like many of us, she has found her identity in the vocation in which she is employed. The problem when we do this is that some day there will come a time when we are no longer employed by a company. Retirement is something that so many look forward to but is difficult because we define ourselves by what we "do." We are teachers, farmers, welders, bankers, lawyers, pastors, truck drivers, doctors, etc. We look at these vocations, these forms of employment and allow them to become the source of our identity. But this is not what God has in mind. As Christians, as those who are baptized, we are children of the one and only God. We are all part of the Priesthood of all Believers. It is God's plan that we find our identity in who we are, that we God's children, ones sent by him for a purpose here on earth. The vocations in which we find ourselves employed are the arenas the Lord has placed us in to do His work. We are to find our identity in the one in whose image we were created, the one who has know us from the very beginning, the one who was with us as we were being formed in our mother's womb. Who do you say you are? Are you defined by what you do or who gifted you and sent you with a purpose?

This is the Good News, while we may one day find ourselves unemployed from our vocations, we will never find ourselves unemployed by God. We are His children, gifted and loved and sent with a mission. Let us always find our identity in the one who created us, who loves us and who has a great purpose for each one of us.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!

Blessings,
Chris

National Day of Prayer

Today, Thursday May 7, is the National Day of Prayer. For those of you not familiar with this day, The National Day of Prayer is a day designated by the United States Congress as a day when people are asked to come together and pray, especially for their country. It was created as a floating holiday in 1952 and fixed on the first Thursday in May by Ronald Reagan. A claimed intention of the National Day of Prayer was that it would be a day when members of all faiths could pray together in their own way.

In the spirit of the National Day of Prayer, I invite you to be in prayer this day (or whenever you read this post) for our communities, states and nation. Pray for your pastor and the elected officials in your community. Pray for your local and state senators and representatives. Pray for our state government and our federal government. Pray for your Governor and for our President. Pray for their families and all the people that they represent as they seek to serve the public in the best way they know how. Pray that they be open to the leading of the Lord and listen to him when making difficult and important decisions. Lets also pray for all the men and women who serve our country. Pray for all of those serving overseas defending our freedom. Pray for all of those who are stationed domestically seeking to protect our way of life. Pray for the firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel who have responded to the call to serve and protect all of us. Let us also pray for all of those who dedicate their lives to teaching the next generations, diagnosing and treating illnesses and allowing us to maintain the freedoms and liberties we take for granted.

Let us, above all, give thanks for all that Lord has done for us and continues to do for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

Blessings,
Chris

In Summary

Last week I had the opportunity to be part of discussion that began with a simple and challenging scenario. The situation revolved around you having a conversation with Jesus and in the course of this conversation Jesus asks you to do something. Having discussed the wholeness of His love and after the opportunity to ask all the questions you have of Jesus, he invites you to summarize the Good News into three or four sentences. In these sentences you are to describe the Good News that brings an end to fear, stimulates rejoicing in all who hear it and are so astonished by this Good News that one would be challenged not to believe.

This exercise was interesting, especially given that we were a group of seminary trained pastors who are thoroughly indoctrinated in theology and church-speak. Instead of listing the phrases that we came up with, I am interested in hearing what thoughts you might have and how you might respond to this challenge. After a few thoughts are shared, I will add my summary statements, but I want to hear your thoughts without any influence.

With the season of Easter almost upon us, let us develop ways to share the Good News in such a way that it will be a challenge not to believe.

Blessings,
Chris

An Inspirational Story (Pt. 2)

Last summer I posted a message about the life and lessons taught by Dr. Randy Pausch. Dr. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who died of pancreatic cancer. He gave a lecture, titled "The Last Lecture," that became a hit on YouTube and shortly after he penned a book by the same title. After I learned of his story I decided I wanted to read his book and learn more about his story.

I just finished his book and am as moved and inspired now by his story as I was when I first heard about him. His story is about achieving childhood dreams, overcoming obstacles and living every day to the fullest. He tells stories about those who have inspired him and helped him achieve his dreams and he also tells about those who he has inspired and helped achieve their dreams. He tells about his diagnosis with cancer, learning that his cancer is terminal and how he makes plans for passing on his legacy and love to his children who are too young to remember him.

This book, and his story, are about legacy. He says that the entire reason for his lecture was to leave a message to his kids and all others who might happen to hear it about how to achieve their dreams and live life to the fullest.

I encourage you to read this book if you want to be inspired and to hear a story of a man who had many reasons to be mad and angry and depressed, but who instead decided to live in a way that inspired others.

Blessings,
Chris

The Externally Focused Church

As some of you know, I am participating in a leadership course for pastors. As part of the course, we are to read a different text each month. The book we read for our meeting last week was The Externally Focused Church by Rick Rusaw & Eric Swanson.

The main premise of this text is that for churches to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to truly be the Bride of Christ, they need to focus their attention on those who are not a part of the church already. The authors describe some practices of various churches they have observed, both good and bad, discuss scriptural and theological reasons for why churches should be externally focused and give a few suggestions for where to start.

While reading this book I took some pride that our mission statement is very externally focused and some of our ministries are starting to turn more that direction as well. While having a conversation about the mission statement, I learned that there is some confusion about our use of the word "others." (The statement reads, "The First United Methodist Church of Mt. Vernon exists to invite others to: Believe in Jesus Christ; Become disciples in faith; Belong to the Body of Christ and to Bless others through mission and service.) As I read this statement, what I hear is that this church exists for the sole purpose of spreading the Word to those who are yet to hear it, we exist for those who are not yet a part of any church. There are some who read the word others as anyone who is not them, and this is where the confusion enters.

Jesus makes a statement when confronted by the Pharisees (the religious people) about his spending time with and caring for the tax collectors and sinners that the healthy are not the ones who need a physician. He goes on to say that he came to help the sick, not the healthy. Externally focused churches pick up that mission. We go to those in our society who have been forgotten, those who need help, who need hope, who need Jesus and we give them everything we can. The authors of this book talk about how externally focused church act because they love the world, not because they are looking to grow and get big numbers. But they also say, and this is a beautiful statement, the churches who seek out and serve those who nobody wants will end up attracting the people who everybody wants. If you serve the people who have real need but might not be the most attractive, your love will show through and everyone who loves Christ will want to be a part of what you are doing.

For me it comes down to a line from one of the songs we sing on occasion, "They will know we are Christians by our Love." I invite you to join me as we continue to look for more ways to be externally focused.

Be Blessed,
Chris

The Shack

One of the habits I try and keep is to read at least 2 books a month. Typically, the books I read are focused on professional growth and church leadership or innovation. I typically do not enjoy works of fiction, but from time to time will pick one up if for no other reason than to change things up a bit.

Last week I finished reading the The Shack, by William Paul Young. Like I said, I typically don't read fiction, but this was absolutely worth the read. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but the back cover gives away a fair amount so I will stick with what it describes.

The Shack is about a 3 day encounter a man has with God. He is given the gift of spending 3 days in the physical presence of all three manifestations of God, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). While I can't say that the theology always follows the United Methodist theology, the conversations and events in the book are make it well worth the read. I appreciated a lot of the interactions the author depicted between the members of the Trinity and also the way they each described and displayed the totality of God's love.

If you have had the opportunity to read this book, I am interested in hearing what you thought of it. How did the descriptions and depictions of God match or differ from your beliefs? What questions did this book answer for you? What questions did this book raise for you? What were your reactions to this text and what did you learn?

If you like to read or are looking for a book to add to your list, this is one you should check out. I look forward to hearing how other people are responding to the sometimes brilliant and thought provoking ideas written in this book. If you have already read this and liked it, you might want to read the book Dinner with a Perfect Stranger. It has some similarities.

Blessings,

Chris

Let's try this again

Well, it has been more than 2 months since the last blog post. Every week I think about one thing or another that might make for good blog material, but alas life happens and the blog suffers. The absence of blog activity has gotten me thinking about the necessity of the blog, the nature of the topics discussed on the blog and the one way communicative nature of the blog. Some of the questions I have thought about are: is this the best way to foster communication and community, is the blog helping to empower and encourage the accomplishment of our mission, is the time I spend on the blog really time that helps further the Kingdom of God?

I am curious about your thoughts? What brings you to this site? What are you looking for or hoping for when you read these words? How could this site be better used to help further Kingdom work?

An idea I have and that I am looking into employing in the coming weeks are to include you in some of the reading and learning that I am doing. I have committed myself to reading 1-2 books a month for personal and professional growth and am participating in a leadership course. Throughout the course of these readings and learnings, there are topics and ideas that come up that challenge me, intrigue me and offend me. I look forward to sharing some of those with you and hope to get your perspective and feedback as well.

Please let me know any ideas you might have for better using this tool for our ministry and God's work.

Blessings,
Chris