Monday, December 28, 2015

How We Spent December 25

Due to the big deal about I've been making out of rejecting the Catholic Holy Day Christmas, I think it would be worthwhile to comment on how I spent that day.


Both Evie and I are tired and we both need down time when we can find it. So, we took it easy early in the day.


It has become a family tradition for my brother's family and us to visit mom and dad. We did that beginning at 4:00. Our gathering lasted until nearly 7:00, which made a long day for mom and dad. Interestingly, the time was very Xmasy, not Christmasish, except that mom asked me to pray over the meal. To her, I'll always be a parish priest and I'm fine with that.


The time the family spent together was extremely upbeat, much more so than usual. It was enjoyable but, in the back of my mind, I was thinking that there was something frenetic about it, as if we were trying to have fun because we don't know if the family will be intact next year.


Maybe that feeling was all me. I took a few videos of dad opening Christmas presents, which had the feel of a four year old experiencing Christmas. That was sweet, yet sad.


Anyway, the family time was nice and probably will be very memorable, especially with the aid of the videos.


However, the most precious part of the day came when we returned home. Evelyn took a moment to grab some bread and grape juice and to lead the two of us in the Lord's Supper, focused on remembrance of the incarnation, not the nativity, and of the coming return of Jesus.


I live my life in connection with people who grab, with gusto, the idea that every disciples is a priest and that is a continual blessing.


Holy Day or not, it was a merry Christmas.

Fresh Expression: 12-27-15

It strikes me that, in other settings, after the emotional build up of the Advent season, climaxing in the extravaganza that is the Christmas Eve Show, the Sunday after Christmas would probably be a bit of a let down.
That would not be the case for us.
As I have already said, we don't do Advent, the very notion of a Christmas Eve extravaganza is anathema to us and, as a community of gatherings, we don't acknowledge the Catholic Holy Day Christmas.
So, no let down.
What yesterday was for us, was, really, a hyper-typical gathering.
A key couple didn't participate due to other commitments, which is normal for us because we don't believe that gathering is an act of righteousness.
One of our least of theses, Ward, was having a birthday. We always make a big deal of birthdays of our least of theses because no one else does. So, we did that but that is also within normal range.
Normal, though it was, it was a good time. It was really a normal fresh expression of church.
What was slightly outside the normal range is that I initiated Word time. I did it by reading from Philippians 2, Paul's discussion of how the incarnation should impact the disciple's l life all the time. Of course, I was standing on my "Don't fall for the Christmas Holy Day ruse" schpeel. We truly should not let the Shepherd Mafia turn the reality that God became flesh and tabernacled among us into a worship service or a series of services. It angers me that they do it. It saddens me that so many sincere people fall for the shepherds' shtick. (I didn't say any of that Shepherd Mafia stuff. But, I did emphasize the necessity to live in the world with the same attitude that Jesus had when He gave up heaven to live among us in the flesh.
The Word I shared was well received, which blessed me.
Evie led the taking of the bread and cup. The meal was a wonderful time of fellowship and the celebration of Ward's birthday was pleasant.
All in all, no emotional letdown. A good time in the Lord.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Our Freshest Fresh Expression: 12-24

It was not even our radar to gather on Christmas Eve.


More than anything, we are still committed to living out what early people in our, um, faith tradition called the New Testament plan.


For those people, December 25 was merely a day on the calendar. Those people probably had an awareness that, according to the Roman Catholic church, Christmas was a Holy Day.


For those people, the fact that God became flesh was a big deal but the nativity of Jesus was merely proof of Paul's Gospel's assertion that, "Christ died for our sins ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES."


Search the Scriptures as long as you like for evidence that early disciples celebrated the nativity. Don't worry. I won't be holding my breath for a report of the finding of that evidence.


So, in our community of gatherings there was no Christmas Eve show.


What there is, however, is a year long remembrance of the fact that God became flesh and that Jesus is coming again.


Honestly, I don't know what any others in our gatherings did for Christmas Eve. Some may have actually consumed a Christmas Eve show. Probably no one else in the group is actually offended by them like I am.


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As for me and my house, we traveled to Manheim to my brother's house to have what would best be described as an Xmas party, eating favorite foods and playing a silly game to see which person gets which gag gift. (You choose which definition of gag fits.)


Interestingly, several of us live intentionally as disciples but none, as far as I know, attended a show on December 24.


What makes our Expression of church fresh is that it eschews, even abhors, everything that reeks of Christendom-rooted tradition. The Christmas Eve show, is a very popular, and in its current form, recently evolved tradition in which nearly every attender merely consumes. How purely unNew Testament!


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We just got pics of the kids we bought presents for. They seem to love their new haul. It's a blessing to give them the sort of Christmas kids these days get so excited about. I think the mom and dad enjoyed it as much as the kids.

Monday, December 21, 2015

A General Comment on My Spiritual State as the Year Ends

This has been a significant year for me. I guess that, as a person ages, the years simply become more significant because there are fewer and fewer of them remaining. Nevertheless, this has been a traumatic twelve months. It has also been stressful.


Among the stresses is my parents' situation. I am getting old myself and both of my parents are still living and I do know that that is a blessing, believe me. Still, watching them deteriorate is difficult. Last week, my dad was very distressed. He told us that he and mom were "down in the south" when the Freddie Gray thing happened, that they saw it happen and that it was a terrible thing to witness. He was deeply agitated. Mom was frustrated that her memory is so bad that she couldn't remember it at all. We called her later to assure her that they were not witnesses


It is a helpless feeling to see the emotional component of what's going on in their minds.


More than ever, I don't want to get old.


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Of course, the most traumatic thing that happened to me personally is the decision of ERC mountaintoppers to defrock me, and to do it by so unbiblical a process which, in my heart, leaves me no option other than to refuse to accept it. Who knows how long that drama will take to reach its conclusion?


Not long after I began to embrace the truth that Christ will give APESTs to the church "until we all reach unity in the faith...," that is, until He returns, I began to live in my gifting as a prophet. And, almost from the beginning, I realized that living as a prophet is an extremely emotional way of living.


As a prophet, I tend to experience two emotions strongly, sometimes to the point that I am almost overpowered by them.  The two emotions are anger and sadness. Surprisingly to me, the stronger of the two is sadness.


I believe that I am called to be a prophetic voice to the CGGC. And, these days I am extremely sad for her. I've tried to come up with words to explain why I am sad. But, honestly, I have none that are worthy, other than to say that the sadness is not connected to my credentials.  I believe, though, that it is in the Spirit that I am sad.

Fresh Expression of Church: 12-20-15

In the past, I used this time of year to note how the quality of my ministry had altered/evolved since the same time twelve months ago.


Clearly, over a period of five to ten years it has changed considerably.


It is more difficult to assess the change in this year than it has been in the past. There are a number of reasons for that. One of them is that we are truly on new ground now. There was no plan or vision that guided us in the past year. I have abandoned the human vision paradigm completely. I attempt, as best I can, to live in the Spirit and to be prepared, at any moment, to do what He leads me to do. And, my sense is that others in the gatherings in which we participate have the same desire. I will say that I think I am better at attempting to live in the Spirit than I am in actually living in the Spirit. But my effort is sincere.


Another reason that it is difficult for me to assess change in the past year is that my role in the gatherings is far less central, on the human level, than it has ever been. Not only am I concerned about submitting to the Spirit, I also want to submit to what I see as the Spirit moving in others in a gathering.


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If there has been a change in me in the past year, it is that I no longer believe in celebrating Christmas. Early Christians certainly didn't celebrate it. While I think the nativity of Jesus is a crucial component of the message of the Gospel, (consider the "according to the Scriptures" part of Paul's description of the content of the Gospel at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15). [I may expound on this later in a separate post.], the nativity of Jesus does not seem to have been a big deal in the early church. And, Christ-MAS truly is a high church invention.


I no longer believe in the religious version of Christmas and I won't celebrate it.


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Considering my reduced self-chosen role in the leadership of the content of our gatherings, it stunned me that, during the nearly three hours we met yesterday, there was almost no reference to the religious holiday "Christmas" by anyone at all. The only thing we did that I can think of is sing, GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN."


Our Word time was lengthy and integrated into the an interactive preparation for the taking of Bread and Cup. There were many Scriptures read and discussed. Not one of them was connected to the birth of Jesus.


I participated in that and I was blessed by it and I was amazed by it.


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One other aspect of yesterday's fresh expression came at a moment that the host of the Thursday gathering gave thanks for a blessing, not one he received, but one he was able to perform in the life of a least of these person. His testimony was powerful and touching and blessed me because it is fruit of our goal of spurring each other on to love and good works.


I am humbled to be blessed by this gathering.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Fresh Expression: 12-13-15

We failed to freshly express church for the past three Sundays. And, honestly, I don't miss it when we don't gather. In fact, because I am an introvert, there are some Sundays that we don't gather that I am overjoyed to be spared the necessity of gathering.

Having said that, it was an amazing joy to welcome the other fresh expressers into our home today. I had an extremely blessed time, and the gathering was nothing extraordinary. I think I actually learned to appreciate how precious even a mundane gathering of this group is.

One thing I did realize today is how intimate our fellowship really is. Often when we pray there is no sharing of prayer requests. We say that instead of talking about prayer, we are going just to pray.

Other times, we do share and, when we do, the level of intimacy is something that would be impossible in a typical Christendom congregation. And that level of mutual trust and love is impossible to explain to someone who doesn't experience it.

One of my characteristics of the CGGC brand is MELLOW RELATIONSHIPS OVER TRUTH. When I describe the significance of that trait it is usually to note the fact that it is core to our DNA to avoid challenging truth so we can all just get along.

While that certainly is true, another reality connected to this core truth is that we only seem to want mellow relationships, not the intimate, love one another as I have loved you relationships.

Perhaps the intimacy we share is another feature of who we are that makes our expression fresh.

At any rate, the time in the Word was challenging, the singing of Christmas carols, not my favorite, was adequate and the taking of the Bread and Cup was a blessing, as usual.

The meal was tasty and the fellowship around it, sweet. Basically, a soup and salad bar. A totally vegetation meal, but not by any intention.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Looking Old

Can you believe that it is coming up on six years ago that Evie was diagnosed with cancer?

She approached cancer more positively than anyone I know. One decision she made at the time was to have her head shaved before she began chemo because she didn't want to be waking up to find clumps of hair on her pillow. The day her hair was shaved, I had mine buzzed to the scalp too, as a gesture of support.

Her hair has been back for years. It's different but beautiful.

I, however, have remained bald as a cue ball. In fact, some of my coworkers call me Billiard instead of Bill. I love it.

I have kept my head hairless for many reasons, the most important being that it is a reminder of the battle we went through and that that battle is never really won. (I think something like that nearly every time I look into a mirror.)

Also, though, I enjoy the effect my baldness has on others.

We live in an age in which many people, men included, try to look young and vigorous. Because I still have a goatee, and because that hair is almost all gray, most people think I am much older than I am. And, I still have a decent energy level for a person my age. So, I achieve old and vigorous. The effect fascinates me. Interestingly, one effect my apparent agedness has on people is that the millennials I work with often try to spare me from doing heavy work. I guess I remind them of their great grandfathers.

Watching the slow deterioration of my parents' minds, I've been thinking, lately, that I don't want to live long enough to be what they have become. But I do enjoy, actually, being believed to be old, even older than I am.

So, I go through life an apparent geezer.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Preaching the Word in the World

Yesterday I worked in a part of my job in which I am involved with coworkers doing customer service functions. And for about two hours I was engaged in vigorous and specific conversation about Jesus and the definition of righteousness. This, with the blessings of management.

I noticed several unbelieving coworkers listening with great interest. Numerous customers caught parts of the conversation.

Clearly, I am speaking truth to the people of the world more now than when I was a pastor.

Praise God. I would not want it any other way. I only regret that it took me this long to get here.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Third Straight Sunday without a Fresh Expression: 12-6-15

Two Sundays ago, we didn't meet by mutual agreement. (But we did gather on Saturday at a diner in Ephrata and then Evie and I took three least of theses shopping at WalMart.) Last week we cancelled because Evie was sick. This week we took a brief trip to Virginia Beach to check out some things concerning a timeshare week we own there. It was a long grueling weekend only half of one day was enjoyable, ending with a six hour drive home which concluded, for most of the last hour, on back roads in Lancaster County weaving through about two dozen Amish horse and buggies and driving over what seemed like two tons of horse poop.

I am very glad to be home. We will have a few quiet hours together. The world's greatest church greeter stayed with the family that rescued her from the puppy mill (and then lost their home and her to foreclosure.) She is home and we are all reunited.

I'll say what I have before. Gathering is a joy for me. We love hosting it in our home. But, since we realized that the Lord prefers mercy to religious ritual, I, at least, done fret about missing a gathering or two.

Friday, December 4, 2015

12/3: The Last Fresh Thursday Expression of the Year

Off top, I don't remember the last time the Thursday group met.

It was a while back.

We met last night with the understanding that it would be a brief gathering. (It actually lasted about two hours which, by the way, is an hour briefer than the typical gathering.)

We had an edifying time with a great but brief meditation by Evie on why taking the Lord's Supper is superior to observing Advent (without even mentioning that Jesus commands one and the other is a late human tradition.)

And, we decided that we would not meet again for the rest of the year. That decision was necessitated by the strain on Evie resulting from her job change. The decision came easily because, while gathering is important to us, we understand that gathering is, in no way, an act of righteousness. And, we take righteousness seriously.

The Thursday night people will certainly be in contact but not in the gathering.

I'll miss it. But I understand what really is important.

Not long ago, I remarked in a private exchange with a mountaintopper, that Kingdom focus is subversive to a church way of thinking and doing things. It is, of course, not subversive to church in the way church functioned in the New Testament but it is subversive to the Christendom notion of church that so many aspire to today.

The ease with which we decided not to meet for the rest of the year indicates the subversive nature of kingdom focus to Christendom doing.

In this group, we are all kingdom people, i.e., people striving to live faithfully under the lordship of Jesus. For us, Jesus is so completely the focus that the gathering has no consequence unless it serves our individual submission to Him. For the moment, the gathering would be a complication for us and, so, it will cease to function for the moment.

That is not to say that we will disappear from each others' lives. Certainly, we won't. But the gathering part of our lives, on Thursdays at least, will disappear.

The only important thing that will disappear because we don't gather, is the taking of the Lord's Supper. But, we will do that in other settings.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Based on My Life in the World, the CGGC is doing Worse than Many Others

It's true. The church is losing the culture.  The church's decline can't be denied by anyone who is aware.

In my opinion, because of the general decline of the church, CGGC leaders are getting a bit of a pass. The thinking is, from what I can tell:

Everyone is in decline, our leaders are nice fellows and they seem to really be trying hard, so we can't really hold them accountable, can we?

And, to a large degree, I bought that myself...

...until I began to live in the world.

From where I am now, however, I'm convinced we are doing worse than many.

I work for a company that employs about 300 people. I work in two departments for the company, one of them employs about a fifth of the people who work for the company. I know quite a few of the 300. And, because I see my job as a mission field, I know many of the people reasonably well. Some are Christians, some are not. I talk to many of the Christians about their spiritual life and I observe the fruit they produce.

And, based on what I see and hear, other churches and denominations are doing a better job than the CGGC is.

From my experience on the job, I know many millennials. Quite a few follow Jesus. Some of them very openly, boldly and maturely. And far more than is the case from the typical CGGC ministry. I know many Jesus followers who are closer to my age. They live more like disciples than the typical consumers of religious products and services in the CGGC congregations I've witnessed in my 40 plus years in the CGGC.

From where I live, we're all doing poorly but in the CGGC, we are doing especially bad.

We need to repent...

...more than most.