My sense of this blog lately is that it has been out of focus, at least as a place where I function as a prophet.
And, while I've held that belief about the blog for some time, I was willing to excuse myself for faltering and, though I tried, I was, for the longest time, unable to achieve any degree of focus as a prophet.
I know many of you have been praying for Evie, and for me too. And, I'm so very thankful.
What a year!
HER AORTIC VALVE WAS REMOVED AND A BOVINE REPLACEMENT WAS INSERTED.
The reality of the surgery that was performed on her still eludes my comprehension. It probably always will.
It's hard to describe how great was the spiritual, emotion and physical toll the surgery and the ongoing recovery took on me. You probably can't imagine how it's impacted her.
Since the spring, when Evie's valve began to give out and today, I've been located fairly low on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. And, try as I might, I have been ineffective in articulating prophetic insights and impulses.
And, I have tried.
I've deleted a bunch of posts that simply didn't turn out to be, in print, what they were in my heart. Others are sitting around as drafts which will probably never be published.
One has become a lengthy journal-like reflection on Lance's, "Seeking the Lost," eNews article in which I decided to explore, eventually only for myself, what it means to seek to bring, into the Kingdom, people who have not repented and who do not believe the gospel.
Do I seek the lost? Is what I do in the world in the Name of Jesus, and for the sake of the Kingdom, a seeking of the lost? It's unlikely that anyone but I will ever read those musings.
But, lately, I seem to have achieved a degree of clarity and focus that reminds me of the old days...
...a renewed sense of fury over the hypocrisy of CGGC Talk-ism and the profound sin of CGGC cynicism which results in leadership and the body ignoring each other in a dysfunctional/enabler relationship which has left us spinning our wheels, mindlessly carrying unspiritual traditions, which have been going unblessed from the first day we evolved/devolved them.
Interestingly, to me, while I have been exhausted, I have never been discouraged by the likelihood that my prophecies will be ignored.
The CGGC, as a body, seems petrified in its hard-heartedness.
It seems that we will never, again, connect talk with walk and that we will always choose cynicism over obedience to the "love one another" command of Jesus.
Yet, I know that there are, among us, men and women with ears who hear. And, I can still hope enough to pray that, from them, a remnant will surface.
My rejuvenation comes near the end of a calendar year which gives me occasion to note that 2018 has been same old, same old across the CGGC.
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing us, still.
We haven't changed. We have not turned from the sin that is producing our decline and decay.
We still must repent.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Servanthood is, by Definition, Incarnational, Leadership Ain't
In the CGGC, the people with whom we invest the greatest authority choose to attempt to use that authority to lead us.
That decision is their fatal mistake.
Near the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus noted, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me..."
Jesus used that authority to serve...always.
He, "being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant ..." (Philippians 2)
The essence of the ministry of Jesus was to serve to the extreme.
The fact that He became human was itself an act of servanthood. His entire life on earth was service. He taught servanthood and He lived the life of a servant.
Jesus was always there, among the lost and broken, and, being with people, face to face, He lived as a servant.
------------------
The people of the CGGC hierarchy with whom I'm familiar, walk a different path than Jesus walked in two ways, and we suffer for it.
1. They seek to lead, not serve.
2. Their there isn't among us. Their there is in fancy offices, behind impressive desks, or in tucked away together in staff or committee or commission or conference meetings in headquarters buildings.
Fascinatingly, Jesus lived to serve and people fell over each to follow Him. Our self-proclaimed leaders in the CGGC aren't followed.
If the numerical decline and spiritual decay of the CGGC is to be reversed two, among many things, will have to change.
1. The people who think of themselves as our leaders will have to begin to think of themselves as the slave of all of us. And,
2. They will have to step out from behind their desks, walk outside of their offices, cancel many of their staff and committee, commission and conference meetings, and put themselves in the place where they can look us in the eye...
...and we can look back into theirs.
Servanthood is incarnational. Leadership ain't. Our leaders aren't.
We all must repent but, in this way, the first step will, probably, have to be theirs.
That decision is their fatal mistake.
Near the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus noted, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me..."
Jesus used that authority to serve...always.
He, "being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant ..." (Philippians 2)
The essence of the ministry of Jesus was to serve to the extreme.
The fact that He became human was itself an act of servanthood. His entire life on earth was service. He taught servanthood and He lived the life of a servant.
Jesus was always there, among the lost and broken, and, being with people, face to face, He lived as a servant.
------------------
The people of the CGGC hierarchy with whom I'm familiar, walk a different path than Jesus walked in two ways, and we suffer for it.
1. They seek to lead, not serve.
2. Their there isn't among us. Their there is in fancy offices, behind impressive desks, or in tucked away together in staff or committee or commission or conference meetings in headquarters buildings.
Fascinatingly, Jesus lived to serve and people fell over each to follow Him. Our self-proclaimed leaders in the CGGC aren't followed.
If the numerical decline and spiritual decay of the CGGC is to be reversed two, among many things, will have to change.
1. The people who think of themselves as our leaders will have to begin to think of themselves as the slave of all of us. And,
2. They will have to step out from behind their desks, walk outside of their offices, cancel many of their staff and committee, commission and conference meetings, and put themselves in the place where they can look us in the eye...
...and we can look back into theirs.
Servanthood is incarnational. Leadership ain't. Our leaders aren't.
We all must repent but, in this way, the first step will, probably, have to be theirs.
Friday, December 28, 2018
Xmas with the Sloats
A very recent spin on family tradition is for the whole, small Sloat clan to assemble at our house on a day we agree on, but it's never been on December 25. Our place works because mom can get inside without negotiating steps.
And, as it turns out, it always been on a Sunday in the morning, though there's no definite reason it'd have to be a Sunday. Needless to say, none of us darkened the door of a church.
Matching who we are, it's a silly time.
We play silly games and eat brunch-like food.
Sadly, we've all agreed that this will be the last time we do this.
Evie called the home in the morning to let the nurses know we'd be taking mom away and bringing her back.
The nurse Evie talked to said, "Well, put coal in her stocking. She's been naughty today."
Evie didn't ask for specifics but we're certain that mom was anxious about the disruption in her routine.
It's clear that mom's Alzheimer's is advancing.
When she walked through our door, she looked around and said, "My, this is nice," as if she's never been here before.
She seemed a bit dazed and disoriented and declared that she was ready to leave long before the time we all expected to break up the gathering.
After my brother and his wife took her back to the home, they texted and said that they don't think she should ever be taken from the home again. We'd already been thinking that ourselves.
That's sad.
In some ways, her mind's still good. She reads voraciously, novels by authors I'd read: old John Grishams and Clive Cusslers, Michael Connelly...
But she's never really all there.
Her memory is very poor.
She has osteoporosis that has left her with a broken and a crushed vertebrae from earlier falls.
I'm expecting that some day she'll fall again and break a hip or some ribs and never really recover.
It was a year and two weeks ago that dad died. He went peacefully and sweetly.
Mom could hold on for years, who knows? But, I'm not counting on it.
Sunday was bittersweet.
And, as it turns out, it always been on a Sunday in the morning, though there's no definite reason it'd have to be a Sunday. Needless to say, none of us darkened the door of a church.
Matching who we are, it's a silly time.
We play silly games and eat brunch-like food.
Sadly, we've all agreed that this will be the last time we do this.
Evie called the home in the morning to let the nurses know we'd be taking mom away and bringing her back.
The nurse Evie talked to said, "Well, put coal in her stocking. She's been naughty today."
Evie didn't ask for specifics but we're certain that mom was anxious about the disruption in her routine.
It's clear that mom's Alzheimer's is advancing.
When she walked through our door, she looked around and said, "My, this is nice," as if she's never been here before.
She seemed a bit dazed and disoriented and declared that she was ready to leave long before the time we all expected to break up the gathering.
After my brother and his wife took her back to the home, they texted and said that they don't think she should ever be taken from the home again. We'd already been thinking that ourselves.
That's sad.
In some ways, her mind's still good. She reads voraciously, novels by authors I'd read: old John Grishams and Clive Cusslers, Michael Connelly...
But she's never really all there.
Her memory is very poor.
She has osteoporosis that has left her with a broken and a crushed vertebrae from earlier falls.
I'm expecting that some day she'll fall again and break a hip or some ribs and never really recover.
It was a year and two weeks ago that dad died. He went peacefully and sweetly.
Mom could hold on for years, who knows? But, I'm not counting on it.
Sunday was bittersweet.
One Last Promotion on the Job
When I left the ministry, I took a job as a part-time bagger at the Super Market where I still work. It was the first thing that came a long. I had no idea that I'd make a career out of bagging groceries.
Still, there was some money in the job and, as I began to realize, the position at the store gave me the opportunity to live the life I'd been preaching...and blogging...
...living as an ambassador of the Kingdom, yada, yada, yada.
The work I did at the store was appreciated by management and I really, really liked my coworkers.
Working in customer service gave me a chance to explore the life of servanthood. I think that my first months working in the store was a time of spiritual growth for me.
Then came job promotions. The first was offered to me quickly and out of the blue. I sought the second. The third was offered to me when a position opened up. I was chosen and offered the position before the opening became public knowledge.
Recently, I was told that I'm being elevated to another position. I wasn't asked or offered. It was assumed that in some reorganization, I'd fill a particular spot which I'd really worked my way into already.
And, I'm willing to accept it officially.
But, this is as far as I'm willing to go.
An old "Leadership" idea is known as the Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that people in an organization rise to the level of "incompetence."
I don't think that, with this new position, I've reached my level of incompetence but I may be approaching it. But, I've advanced further than I expected to or desired.
I'm a geezer. And, I'm comfortable with what I will be doing for the most part.
And, most importantly, the new position will allow me to continue to do my ambassadorial work. My work as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God is my real job at the store and it always will be.
I've not forgotten that and it's unlikely that I will.
Interestingly, it's likely that my Kingdom vision about what I do has distinguished me and brought about my advancement. It makes me a better employee than I am a person.
There's not another job that could possibly want to do in the company.
I don't expect more offers for advancement, but I didn't see the last two coming.
But, this is it for me.
Still, there was some money in the job and, as I began to realize, the position at the store gave me the opportunity to live the life I'd been preaching...and blogging...
...living as an ambassador of the Kingdom, yada, yada, yada.
The work I did at the store was appreciated by management and I really, really liked my coworkers.
Working in customer service gave me a chance to explore the life of servanthood. I think that my first months working in the store was a time of spiritual growth for me.
Then came job promotions. The first was offered to me quickly and out of the blue. I sought the second. The third was offered to me when a position opened up. I was chosen and offered the position before the opening became public knowledge.
Recently, I was told that I'm being elevated to another position. I wasn't asked or offered. It was assumed that in some reorganization, I'd fill a particular spot which I'd really worked my way into already.
And, I'm willing to accept it officially.
But, this is as far as I'm willing to go.
An old "Leadership" idea is known as the Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that people in an organization rise to the level of "incompetence."
I don't think that, with this new position, I've reached my level of incompetence but I may be approaching it. But, I've advanced further than I expected to or desired.
I'm a geezer. And, I'm comfortable with what I will be doing for the most part.
And, most importantly, the new position will allow me to continue to do my ambassadorial work. My work as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God is my real job at the store and it always will be.
I've not forgotten that and it's unlikely that I will.
Interestingly, it's likely that my Kingdom vision about what I do has distinguished me and brought about my advancement. It makes me a better employee than I am a person.
There's not another job that could possibly want to do in the company.
I don't expect more offers for advancement, but I didn't see the last two coming.
But, this is it for me.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Losing the Millennial Generation
In preparing to write the post that appears below this one on the blog, I did a moment of research to determine the dividing lines between what we think of as generations. What, I wondered, is considered to be the age range of the people known as millennials?
According to what I found, Millennials are considered to be people born between 1981 and 1996. So, in 2018, the youngest Millennials are 22 years old.
As I saw those numbers, it struck me that the organized American church, for all of its failing and flailing, and all of its focus on Youth Ministry, has now lost another generation.
People between the ages of 22 and 37 are less interested and less involved in the church...
...and less committed to following Jesus, which is the only thing that is important, than the generations older than they.
American Millennials are a lost cause for Jesus.
The losing streak of parish priest dominated, institutionalized, Christianity continues.
When will they ever learn?
We must repent. Oh, we must repent!
According to what I found, Millennials are considered to be people born between 1981 and 1996. So, in 2018, the youngest Millennials are 22 years old.
As I saw those numbers, it struck me that the organized American church, for all of its failing and flailing, and all of its focus on Youth Ministry, has now lost another generation.
People between the ages of 22 and 37 are less interested and less involved in the church...
...and less committed to following Jesus, which is the only thing that is important, than the generations older than they.
American Millennials are a lost cause for Jesus.
The losing streak of parish priest dominated, institutionalized, Christianity continues.
When will they ever learn?
We must repent. Oh, we must repent!
Talking Jesus with Two People of the Post-millennial Generation
I'm a geezer, a member of the Boomer generation, who works as a manager of the Front End of a Super Market.
I actually usually enjoy the work but the job is really the way I've found to live in the world as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God. That way of being an ambassador suits me.
There are about 50 people in my area of the store. My job creates the opportunity for me to work with people of the Silent/Builder generation, (I actually have co-workers as old as age 84.), I have a fair number of Boomer coworkers, some Gen Xers, some Millennials but, as time marches on, the largest portion of the part-timers at the store are now of the Post-millennial generation (people born after 1996).
Yesterday was the day after Christmas and the early part of the day at the store was slow. There were two, uh, kids working. Both are college students who worked at the store as high schoolers. They are permitted to work at the store during summer and holiday breaks while they are in college.
Both of them have become close to me in the 3-ish years we've known each other and, yesterday, I was talking to one of them about my past life...about the fact that I was a "minister." (I never use the word pastor because I hate what it connotes.)
The guy asked me why I left the ministry.
This is the moment I wait for.
It's a gently lobbed soft ball and when it comes my way, I can't wait to swing for the fences. And, I've rarely had a pitch so easy to hit in all of the years of my ambassadorship.
I always start with Jesus.
I said:
I believe in Jesus more than I ever have and I follow His teachings with all of my heart. But, I got to the point that I just didn't believe in organized religion anymore. And, I just couldn't be a part of it any longer.
I explained that Evie understands and agrees. And, that we still meet with a group of people in our home and that we follow Jesus but that we just can't stand organized religion.
What I said was like grabbing the handle of a faucet and opening it all the way.
My young friend obviously has a background as a church kid and is deciding for himself, now that he's creating an identity independent of his parents, that organized religion is a bad thing for him.
It seems that our chat happened at the time that he's working his way to a definite decision about, well, church.
So, there, as he stood at his cash register, he declared his views on the failings of organized religion.
Two comments about what happened next:
1. His greatest objection to the church, is that it doesn't help him live. He's a bright guy, a good guy, and intensely interested in living the right way. And, he told me that he's realized that he can figure out how to live better on his own than with the help of the church.
Translating: His issue is righteousness. And, he's concluded that the church is, at the very best, irrelevant for him as he chooses his path of righteousness.
In my dealings with Millennials and Post-millennials, it's clear to me that, like today's Boomer and Builder geezers, they want to know what is right...and they want to do it.
For this guy, and I suspect many others of his age, the church plays no role in helping him to understand what is right...
...and to do what is right.
And, so, as of this moment, at what? age 18?, 19? he's decided that he can figure out what is right better without organized religion than with it.
And, for the moment, he's very done with church.
2. The other Post-Millennial pesent happened to be running the cash register one over from where we were standing. She asked if she could join in the conversation.
She did.
And, described herself as a girl who went to Sunday School. Her grandmother was even a Sunday School teacher.
But, she said that it seemed to her that all she learned from the Bible in church was, to use her word, "trivia."
At that moment customers arrived and the conversation ended...for the moment, at least. But, she was winding up, I'm certain, to agree.
The organized church never got around to helping her know how to live the right way...to live righteously.
As life moved on for us yesterday, I said that Jesus is important to the way that I live and that I hope they can reconnect with Him, even if it is apart from organized religion.
It's likely that I'll have off and on contact with these two for another two or three years before they move on to full adulthood and their careers. There will be opportunities for the conversation to continue.
At moments like this, I love my job!
I actually usually enjoy the work but the job is really the way I've found to live in the world as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God. That way of being an ambassador suits me.
There are about 50 people in my area of the store. My job creates the opportunity for me to work with people of the Silent/Builder generation, (I actually have co-workers as old as age 84.), I have a fair number of Boomer coworkers, some Gen Xers, some Millennials but, as time marches on, the largest portion of the part-timers at the store are now of the Post-millennial generation (people born after 1996).
Yesterday was the day after Christmas and the early part of the day at the store was slow. There were two, uh, kids working. Both are college students who worked at the store as high schoolers. They are permitted to work at the store during summer and holiday breaks while they are in college.
Both of them have become close to me in the 3-ish years we've known each other and, yesterday, I was talking to one of them about my past life...about the fact that I was a "minister." (I never use the word pastor because I hate what it connotes.)
The guy asked me why I left the ministry.
This is the moment I wait for.
It's a gently lobbed soft ball and when it comes my way, I can't wait to swing for the fences. And, I've rarely had a pitch so easy to hit in all of the years of my ambassadorship.
I always start with Jesus.
I said:
I believe in Jesus more than I ever have and I follow His teachings with all of my heart. But, I got to the point that I just didn't believe in organized religion anymore. And, I just couldn't be a part of it any longer.
I explained that Evie understands and agrees. And, that we still meet with a group of people in our home and that we follow Jesus but that we just can't stand organized religion.
What I said was like grabbing the handle of a faucet and opening it all the way.
My young friend obviously has a background as a church kid and is deciding for himself, now that he's creating an identity independent of his parents, that organized religion is a bad thing for him.
It seems that our chat happened at the time that he's working his way to a definite decision about, well, church.
So, there, as he stood at his cash register, he declared his views on the failings of organized religion.
Two comments about what happened next:
1. His greatest objection to the church, is that it doesn't help him live. He's a bright guy, a good guy, and intensely interested in living the right way. And, he told me that he's realized that he can figure out how to live better on his own than with the help of the church.
Translating: His issue is righteousness. And, he's concluded that the church is, at the very best, irrelevant for him as he chooses his path of righteousness.
In my dealings with Millennials and Post-millennials, it's clear to me that, like today's Boomer and Builder geezers, they want to know what is right...and they want to do it.
For this guy, and I suspect many others of his age, the church plays no role in helping him to understand what is right...
...and to do what is right.
And, so, as of this moment, at what? age 18?, 19? he's decided that he can figure out what is right better without organized religion than with it.
And, for the moment, he's very done with church.
2. The other Post-Millennial pesent happened to be running the cash register one over from where we were standing. She asked if she could join in the conversation.
She did.
And, described herself as a girl who went to Sunday School. Her grandmother was even a Sunday School teacher.
But, she said that it seemed to her that all she learned from the Bible in church was, to use her word, "trivia."
At that moment customers arrived and the conversation ended...for the moment, at least. But, she was winding up, I'm certain, to agree.
The organized church never got around to helping her know how to live the right way...to live righteously.
As life moved on for us yesterday, I said that Jesus is important to the way that I live and that I hope they can reconnect with Him, even if it is apart from organized religion.
It's likely that I'll have off and on contact with these two for another two or three years before they move on to full adulthood and their careers. There will be opportunities for the conversation to continue.
At moments like this, I love my job!
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Doing, uh, Christmas 2018
In the past, I've explained the many reasons I'm not a big fan of Christmas.
For example:
Early disciples understood the significance of the incarnation, as is clear from the, apparent, early hymn quoted by Paul in Philippians 2 but, other than noting it in early chapters of Matthew and Luke, showing that the Christ entered the world in fulfillment of prophecy, early believers didn't celebrate the nativity. There were no Christmas Eve services in the Book of Acts.
Reform and revival movements have never made a big deal of Christmas. They were characterized by hunger and thirst for righteousness, as they understood Jesus' definition of it.
I'm concerned that today's celebrations of the nativity, in the ubiquitous Advent and Christmas Eve services, are sentimental and schmaltzy and don't provoke, as Hebrews 10 implores, disciples to "love and good works," i.e., they don't produce, as John the Baptist commanded the Scribes and Pharisees of his own day, "fruit in keeping with righteousness."
And, the whole Christmas shtick creates a Jesus who may be cuddled and sentimentalized, but not followed as Lord.
We also do the fun part of the season as others do, but we keep Jesus out of that part of it.
For me, at least, that holiday is Xmas. I'm pretty big into Xmas.
But, we do, along side of the frivolity, evoke the power that the incarnation has over our lives. But, I don't call that Christmas.
Along with my brother and his wife, we adopted several needy, down-on-their-luck, families from trustworthy local organizations as we've done in recent years.
----------------
And, last night, Christmas Eve, due almost entirely, to efforts and planning of Evie, we hosted a family of, technically, homeless people.
They are related to us. The parents are an unmarried couple with three kids, ages 9, 7 and 6.
He's employed but they've made a long string of foolish and irresponsible decisions with their money and have had other problems. As a result, their credit rating is terrible. They've been evicted from several apartments and, now, no one will rent to them.
They've ended up, I've learned because I now live among people like this, where people like this do. Not on the street yet, but living in a cheap hotel room, paying weekly. As such, the school district classifies the kids as homeless and provides them with special services.
Evie's a very good cook and she did herself proud. It was a very nice, yet simple, Christmassy dinner. The 7 year old said, "This is the best meal I've ever had." And, it was good but she's accustomed to McDonald's and what her mom can heat up in the nuker in their hotel room.
The 7 year old and the 9 year old vaguely remember us from the past. If fact, when there were just two kids, the family lived with us for a while.
The 7 year old asked Evie if she could come here for a sleepover. Needless to say, that's now in the works.
The family's too broke for the parents to buy gifts for the kids this year, so Evie bought gifts for the parents to give them.
We also gave each of the kids one gift from us.
After dinner, dad and the three kids took our dog, Laddie, for a walk and the mom hid the gifts in the trunk of their car.
It was a nice evening.
The kids are surprisingly polite and well-behaved. And, for all of their other troubles, the parents keep them well-dressed and nicely groomed.
The whole event strikes me as fruit that has developed organically from what Evie and I have come to believe in.
We connected with people, especially the kids, who are worthy of acts of mercy. We did it incarnationally. Face to face.
While you, very likely, were at a Christmas Eve service, celebrating the nativity, we were practicing the incarnation.
As a matter of principle and conscience, I couldn't go to a Christmas Eve service right now. Perhaps next year, if Evie and I have a next year.
This was Evie's idea and her planning and her doing.
And, it fit.
As Charles Wesley wrote in the second stanza of Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, "Mild, he lays his glory by."
A nice way, for us in 2018, to celebrate His incarnation.
For example:
Early disciples understood the significance of the incarnation, as is clear from the, apparent, early hymn quoted by Paul in Philippians 2 but, other than noting it in early chapters of Matthew and Luke, showing that the Christ entered the world in fulfillment of prophecy, early believers didn't celebrate the nativity. There were no Christmas Eve services in the Book of Acts.
Reform and revival movements have never made a big deal of Christmas. They were characterized by hunger and thirst for righteousness, as they understood Jesus' definition of it.
I'm concerned that today's celebrations of the nativity, in the ubiquitous Advent and Christmas Eve services, are sentimental and schmaltzy and don't provoke, as Hebrews 10 implores, disciples to "love and good works," i.e., they don't produce, as John the Baptist commanded the Scribes and Pharisees of his own day, "fruit in keeping with righteousness."
And, the whole Christmas shtick creates a Jesus who may be cuddled and sentimentalized, but not followed as Lord.
We also do the fun part of the season as others do, but we keep Jesus out of that part of it.
For me, at least, that holiday is Xmas. I'm pretty big into Xmas.
But, we do, along side of the frivolity, evoke the power that the incarnation has over our lives. But, I don't call that Christmas.
Along with my brother and his wife, we adopted several needy, down-on-their-luck, families from trustworthy local organizations as we've done in recent years.
----------------
And, last night, Christmas Eve, due almost entirely, to efforts and planning of Evie, we hosted a family of, technically, homeless people.
They are related to us. The parents are an unmarried couple with three kids, ages 9, 7 and 6.
He's employed but they've made a long string of foolish and irresponsible decisions with their money and have had other problems. As a result, their credit rating is terrible. They've been evicted from several apartments and, now, no one will rent to them.
They've ended up, I've learned because I now live among people like this, where people like this do. Not on the street yet, but living in a cheap hotel room, paying weekly. As such, the school district classifies the kids as homeless and provides them with special services.
Evie's a very good cook and she did herself proud. It was a very nice, yet simple, Christmassy dinner. The 7 year old said, "This is the best meal I've ever had." And, it was good but she's accustomed to McDonald's and what her mom can heat up in the nuker in their hotel room.
The 7 year old and the 9 year old vaguely remember us from the past. If fact, when there were just two kids, the family lived with us for a while.
The 7 year old asked Evie if she could come here for a sleepover. Needless to say, that's now in the works.
The family's too broke for the parents to buy gifts for the kids this year, so Evie bought gifts for the parents to give them.
We also gave each of the kids one gift from us.
After dinner, dad and the three kids took our dog, Laddie, for a walk and the mom hid the gifts in the trunk of their car.
It was a nice evening.
The kids are surprisingly polite and well-behaved. And, for all of their other troubles, the parents keep them well-dressed and nicely groomed.
The whole event strikes me as fruit that has developed organically from what Evie and I have come to believe in.
We connected with people, especially the kids, who are worthy of acts of mercy. We did it incarnationally. Face to face.
While you, very likely, were at a Christmas Eve service, celebrating the nativity, we were practicing the incarnation.
As a matter of principle and conscience, I couldn't go to a Christmas Eve service right now. Perhaps next year, if Evie and I have a next year.
This was Evie's idea and her planning and her doing.
And, it fit.
As Charles Wesley wrote in the second stanza of Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, "Mild, he lays his glory by."
A nice way, for us in 2018, to celebrate His incarnation.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Performing a Wedding as an Ambassador of the Kingdom of God...and as a CGGC Pastor
As you know, if you're a regular reader here, I'm employed in a setting that brings me into close contact with a lot of people who are high school and college age.
And, I see myself as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.
By intention, I'm known for my life of faith such as it is, for better or worse.
And, it was known, when I began this ministry, that I had been a pastor prior to taking this position.
Over the years, there've been lighthearted conversations about me performing the marriage ceremony for some of the young'nes.
Recently, one of the guys has been asking more seriously and, at first, I tried to deflect him...
...and, then, it occurred to me that I have an ordination certificate from the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God, General Conference. While I agreed to surrender it if the Conference requested it, rumors and gossip notwithstanding, I've received no such request.
So, why not?!?!?!!!!
Frankly, the part of being a parish priest that I enjoy least is performing marriage ceremonies...but, for someone whom I've known for years and have come to think of as a friend?
Maybe I will.
And, I see myself as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.
By intention, I'm known for my life of faith such as it is, for better or worse.
And, it was known, when I began this ministry, that I had been a pastor prior to taking this position.
Over the years, there've been lighthearted conversations about me performing the marriage ceremony for some of the young'nes.
Recently, one of the guys has been asking more seriously and, at first, I tried to deflect him...
...and, then, it occurred to me that I have an ordination certificate from the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God, General Conference. While I agreed to surrender it if the Conference requested it, rumors and gossip notwithstanding, I've received no such request.
So, why not?!?!?!!!!
Frankly, the part of being a parish priest that I enjoy least is performing marriage ceremonies...but, for someone whom I've known for years and have come to think of as a friend?
Maybe I will.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Who's Missing from the CONTAGIOUS Conversation?
The other day it struck me how deafening is the roar of silence across the CGGC.
Who's Missing from the CGGC Conversation?
Nearly everyone.
And, among those whom we designate as leaders? On the repentance blog?
Absolutely everyone!
If you've even glanced at the new, heavily, in CGGC terms, promoted new CONTAGIOUS blog,...
...have you noticed?
No one with a CGGC or regional leadership title has come down with the contagion. The silence among people in CGGC leadership is thunderous.
Lance sticks his eNewses in a separate category of the blog.
Michael Martin puts what is, essentially, missional CGGC press releases in the Hands and Feet category...which is actually interesting, to me at least.
But, no one...not Lance nor any Regional Director or staff person nor any important General Conference or any important Regional Commission Chair...
...has contributed to the call for, and conversation about...
...repentance.
That is fact.
------------------
What does the fact reveal about the CGGC as 2018 turns into 2019?
I'd love comments that suggest what the fact signifies.
And, I suspect that I'll get some off-the-blog...and, that's fine.
Here are some of my thoughts which fit the facts. Maybe I'm off base:
1. The name of the blog, CONTAGIOUS, is becoming a testimony against us. Against leadership and against the CGGC community. Whatever it is that is contagious in the CGGC world is not a good thing to have.
2. The lack of participation in the blog testifies to the extent of ungodly, unloving cynicism across the CGGC.
3. General Conference leadership is, what?, isolated?, insulated? from the rest of the body.
4. The story of the blog is that there is no community, there is no cooperation, no collaboration among General Conference and Regional leaders.
5. The lack of participation in the blog says to me that there is little to no followership among the people of the CGGC.
Please feel free to correct me where you think I'm off base. Feel free to add to the conversation.
Who's Missing from the CGGC Conversation?
Nearly everyone.
And, among those whom we designate as leaders? On the repentance blog?
Absolutely everyone!
If you've even glanced at the new, heavily, in CGGC terms, promoted new CONTAGIOUS blog,...
...have you noticed?
No one with a CGGC or regional leadership title has come down with the contagion. The silence among people in CGGC leadership is thunderous.
Lance sticks his eNewses in a separate category of the blog.
Michael Martin puts what is, essentially, missional CGGC press releases in the Hands and Feet category...which is actually interesting, to me at least.
But, no one...not Lance nor any Regional Director or staff person nor any important General Conference or any important Regional Commission Chair...
...has contributed to the call for, and conversation about...
...repentance.
That is fact.
------------------
What does the fact reveal about the CGGC as 2018 turns into 2019?
I'd love comments that suggest what the fact signifies.
And, I suspect that I'll get some off-the-blog...and, that's fine.
Here are some of my thoughts which fit the facts. Maybe I'm off base:
1. The name of the blog, CONTAGIOUS, is becoming a testimony against us. Against leadership and against the CGGC community. Whatever it is that is contagious in the CGGC world is not a good thing to have.
2. The lack of participation in the blog testifies to the extent of ungodly, unloving cynicism across the CGGC.
3. General Conference leadership is, what?, isolated?, insulated? from the rest of the body.
4. The story of the blog is that there is no community, there is no cooperation, no collaboration among General Conference and Regional leaders.
5. The lack of participation in the blog says to me that there is little to no followership among the people of the CGGC.
Please feel free to correct me where you think I'm off base. Feel free to add to the conversation.
Dad Died a Year Ago
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my dad's death.
It was a day of mixed emotions for me but, for me, personally, as far as dad is concerned, it was a time to be glad he's been freed from the haze of dementia.
His dementia journey was unusual. He became more pleasant and thankful with each passing day.
Yesterday, for me, was, more than anything, a time to remember the good about him.
As far as mom's concerned, I wasn't able to see her face to face. I called her but she wasn't in her room.
She didn't call me back.
Later in the day, she had someone, a nurses aide presumably, call Evie. But, mom didn't know why she wanted to call.
And, she certainly wasn't aware that it was the anniversary of dad's death.
Her own dementia has advanced far enough to shield her from that sadness.
So far, her dementia has also made her more pleasant and thankful. And, that's a blessing. But, it's a burden for all of us to go through again, so soon after losing dad.
It was a day of mixed emotions for me but, for me, personally, as far as dad is concerned, it was a time to be glad he's been freed from the haze of dementia.
His dementia journey was unusual. He became more pleasant and thankful with each passing day.
Yesterday, for me, was, more than anything, a time to remember the good about him.
As far as mom's concerned, I wasn't able to see her face to face. I called her but she wasn't in her room.
She didn't call me back.
Later in the day, she had someone, a nurses aide presumably, call Evie. But, mom didn't know why she wanted to call.
And, she certainly wasn't aware that it was the anniversary of dad's death.
Her own dementia has advanced far enough to shield her from that sadness.
So far, her dementia has also made her more pleasant and thankful. And, that's a blessing. But, it's a burden for all of us to go through again, so soon after losing dad.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
My Anti-Institutional Church Testimony
Despite what you might, legitimately, take away from the reading of this blog, I don't live my life constantly haranguing against the institutional church.
But, I do think that the most powerful version of my testimony is my explanation of my journey from tradition-bound, consumption-focused churchianity into my current pursuit of the righteousness preached in the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament, by Jesus and the early disciples.
Honestly, my story glazes over the eyes of most church loving people, even many of those people who live for Jesus in spite of their deep live for the institution.
But, for people...and our world is filled with them...who were hurt by the church or who have concluded that church is about things other than Jesus, my story, along with my passionate convictions, not only makes sense but seem to fascinate and, I think, even give hope and spiritual clarity to people who'd love Jesus if they could find a way to do it that didn't feel icky or just wrong.
--------------------
I've been thinking of myself as an APEST prophet for a long time. But, in a sense, I'm an apostle of a simple, Jesus-only, no extraneous, institutional bells and whistles gospel.
I will say that the size of the mission field for the preaching of this gospel is HUGE.
There are many people around who like Jesus but hate the institution that blasts his name through the ether.
------------------
And, it frustrates me and it crushes my heart that the, well, denomination I love insists on foisting church on people, ignoring the huge mission field it helped create by forcing people to take institutionalized Christianity or leave Jesus.
We must repent.
But, I do think that the most powerful version of my testimony is my explanation of my journey from tradition-bound, consumption-focused churchianity into my current pursuit of the righteousness preached in the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament, by Jesus and the early disciples.
Honestly, my story glazes over the eyes of most church loving people, even many of those people who live for Jesus in spite of their deep live for the institution.
But, for people...and our world is filled with them...who were hurt by the church or who have concluded that church is about things other than Jesus, my story, along with my passionate convictions, not only makes sense but seem to fascinate and, I think, even give hope and spiritual clarity to people who'd love Jesus if they could find a way to do it that didn't feel icky or just wrong.
--------------------
I've been thinking of myself as an APEST prophet for a long time. But, in a sense, I'm an apostle of a simple, Jesus-only, no extraneous, institutional bells and whistles gospel.
I will say that the size of the mission field for the preaching of this gospel is HUGE.
There are many people around who like Jesus but hate the institution that blasts his name through the ether.
------------------
And, it frustrates me and it crushes my heart that the, well, denomination I love insists on foisting church on people, ignoring the huge mission field it helped create by forcing people to take institutionalized Christianity or leave Jesus.
We must repent.
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