In the catalog of fads embraced by the CGGC in the last generation please remember Paradigm Change.
Paradigm change is a bandwagon mountaintoppers jumped on during the failed, no disastrous, MORE AND BETTER DISCIPLES: 35,000 in Worship by 2000 campaign.
The truth is, however, that that campaign was not really paradigm change. It was really nothing more than a desperate attempt to tweak Shepherd Mafia flockism. And, it failed.
As far as I can tell, for the last 80 years, the CGGC has been mired in Shepherd Mafia flockism which vests so-called leadership in the parish priest and an increasingly large and authoritative institutional hierarchy.
And, that entire period has been a time of spiritual and, in time, numerical decline.
Let me be clear about something I have said on this blog many times, which few CGGCers, if any, seem to believe:
I love the people who are on the top of the CGGC mountain.
While it's true that I regularly point out the continuing decline of the CGGC and place blame for it on the mountaintoppers, I do love all of the mountaintoppers I know personally and am anxious to find a reason to enthusiastically support them.
I am convinced that they need to throw out the failed paradigm and do it no matter what the cost may be to each of them personally.
It is the paradigm that is killing the CGGC. Our real problem is a values problem. We need to repent of the values upon which Shepherd Mafia leadership is built.
We need to turn to Jesus and to build the CGGC part of His church on the foundation He created.
As I used to say on Brian Miller's blog, our problem is not micro. Part of this means that the problem is not with Lance and his staff and with the Regional E. Ds. and, if they have one, their staf. As I've been saying for years, ours is a macro problem. It is with the system, the structure.
It's true that the members of the hierarchies may lose their jobs if we turn to Jesus' values. But, I call on all of those people to be willing to decrease so that Jesus and His Kingdom and His church may increase.
On the level of values, we must repent.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Oh Come Let Us Adore Him?
Lately, I have been disturbed, almost tortured, by the certain knowledge that people I know will be among the vast throngs who, on the Day, will hear Jesus say, "I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers."
This has been a concern for several years, as is evidenced by the fact that False, Flock-Based Righteousness is listed among my Sixteen Characteristics of the CGGC Brand. But, these days, I am feeling this concern with greater, well despair, than ever.
And, I believe that, because we just experienced the Christmas season, I am particularly aware of how crucial genuine righteousness is in the teachings and way of Jesus.
I work in a retail setting and I had contact with many hundreds of people as they were preparing for Christmas. And, I found myself being sensitive to what Christmas was meaning to them as that day approached.
For many, it's just Xmas with no Jesus. For others, though, Jesus is a part of it, or, at least, attending a church service is.
For many regular church people, Christmas is an end unto itself--celebrating the birth of Jesus is the highlight of the spiritual year and, for many church people, it is an act of righteousness in itself.
Yet, I see nothing in what Jesus taught or did to justify that way of living. And, I fear for the souls of the so-called followers of Jesus who practice that sort of piety.
---------------
Jesus was very clear about the content of the faith that will qualify a man or a woman to be invited into the Kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world.
It is a life of obedience to Him and of servanthood of the least among us, it's a life of mercy, of grace and love of the Lord with all of one's self and of neighbor as self.
It is a faith that produces fruit in self-sacrifice.
Celebrating the nativity may or may not be a part of that life but, if it is a part of that life, it can only be a small part of it.
---------------
However, for most of the people I observe who really groove on Christmas, Christmas is the big act of service and Jesus is a baby to be cuddled and adored, not the Living Word and Suffering Servant who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
This Christmas thing is a dangerous thing.
I fear for the souls of the people who groove on it.
This has been a concern for several years, as is evidenced by the fact that False, Flock-Based Righteousness is listed among my Sixteen Characteristics of the CGGC Brand. But, these days, I am feeling this concern with greater, well despair, than ever.
And, I believe that, because we just experienced the Christmas season, I am particularly aware of how crucial genuine righteousness is in the teachings and way of Jesus.
I work in a retail setting and I had contact with many hundreds of people as they were preparing for Christmas. And, I found myself being sensitive to what Christmas was meaning to them as that day approached.
For many, it's just Xmas with no Jesus. For others, though, Jesus is a part of it, or, at least, attending a church service is.
For many regular church people, Christmas is an end unto itself--celebrating the birth of Jesus is the highlight of the spiritual year and, for many church people, it is an act of righteousness in itself.
Yet, I see nothing in what Jesus taught or did to justify that way of living. And, I fear for the souls of the so-called followers of Jesus who practice that sort of piety.
---------------
Jesus was very clear about the content of the faith that will qualify a man or a woman to be invited into the Kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world.
It is a life of obedience to Him and of servanthood of the least among us, it's a life of mercy, of grace and love of the Lord with all of one's self and of neighbor as self.
It is a faith that produces fruit in self-sacrifice.
Celebrating the nativity may or may not be a part of that life but, if it is a part of that life, it can only be a small part of it.
---------------
However, for most of the people I observe who really groove on Christmas, Christmas is the big act of service and Jesus is a baby to be cuddled and adored, not the Living Word and Suffering Servant who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
This Christmas thing is a dangerous thing.
I fear for the souls of the people who groove on it.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
How to Deal with Christmas Tension
This Christmas thing, for Christians, is an exercise in dealing with intellectual conflict, expecially for "low church" Protestants, which the CGGC was when it grooved before it began to putrify.
The question is, what do you do with the tension between biblical truth that provides no authority for the celebration of the birth of Jesus as a Holy Day, the, originally Catholic, yearning to sacramentalize and liturgize the birth of the Messiah and focus it on the activity of the clergy inside a so-called sanctuary and Xmas as an excuse to engage in excessive materialism.
What many Christians do these days is, I think thoughtlessly, approach these options as if they are choices in a smorgasbord and gorge themselves with as much of what they want to consume as they can until they become ill.
Others attempt to be purists in one way or another.
During my CGGC parish priest days, we had a family leave the church because it displayed a Christmas tree because the tree is pagan fertility symbol. The people of the church just rolled their eyes in disdain, certainly not brotherly love. Their response was, essentially, that they wanted to have the tree. Period. The tree was pretty and, really, who gives a dern if it has no Christian meaning and even has, no pun intended, roots in pagan religion.
And, as I've detailed here, I attempt what I think is a more pure form of purism.
The people who left the church accepted Christmas as a Holy Day. They simply wanted to keep true to the biblical story.
I, in my mind, want to be truly pure. I want to truly be biblical. There was no celebration of the nativity among New Testament disciples. I see no reason to make a Holy Day out of it now. So, I don't.
We love Xmas. But, even then, we Jesusize it. We temper the materialism and almost all of it is devoted to giving to the least of these. (Evie and I had a budget of $10 in spending on each other. )
We met with family doing goofy, Sloat-humor things and eating favorite foods. And we experienced joy. I haven't laughed that hard since, well, last Xmas Eve! Today, we'll take leftovers to mom and dad and eat sandwiches and laugh again and wonder if this will be the last time.
We may pray this time, rejoicing in family, but in not Baby Jesus. And, we will laugh with Xmas joy.
---------------
The problem with the smorgasbord approch is that it is fuzzy, thoughtless and, in the end, worse than meaningless. It teaches nothing.
In fact, it confuses.
Repent.
The question is, what do you do with the tension between biblical truth that provides no authority for the celebration of the birth of Jesus as a Holy Day, the, originally Catholic, yearning to sacramentalize and liturgize the birth of the Messiah and focus it on the activity of the clergy inside a so-called sanctuary and Xmas as an excuse to engage in excessive materialism.
What many Christians do these days is, I think thoughtlessly, approach these options as if they are choices in a smorgasbord and gorge themselves with as much of what they want to consume as they can until they become ill.
Others attempt to be purists in one way or another.
During my CGGC parish priest days, we had a family leave the church because it displayed a Christmas tree because the tree is pagan fertility symbol. The people of the church just rolled their eyes in disdain, certainly not brotherly love. Their response was, essentially, that they wanted to have the tree. Period. The tree was pretty and, really, who gives a dern if it has no Christian meaning and even has, no pun intended, roots in pagan religion.
And, as I've detailed here, I attempt what I think is a more pure form of purism.
The people who left the church accepted Christmas as a Holy Day. They simply wanted to keep true to the biblical story.
I, in my mind, want to be truly pure. I want to truly be biblical. There was no celebration of the nativity among New Testament disciples. I see no reason to make a Holy Day out of it now. So, I don't.
We love Xmas. But, even then, we Jesusize it. We temper the materialism and almost all of it is devoted to giving to the least of these. (Evie and I had a budget of $10 in spending on each other. )
We met with family doing goofy, Sloat-humor things and eating favorite foods. And we experienced joy. I haven't laughed that hard since, well, last Xmas Eve! Today, we'll take leftovers to mom and dad and eat sandwiches and laugh again and wonder if this will be the last time.
We may pray this time, rejoicing in family, but in not Baby Jesus. And, we will laugh with Xmas joy.
---------------
The problem with the smorgasbord approch is that it is fuzzy, thoughtless and, in the end, worse than meaningless. It teaches nothing.
In fact, it confuses.
Repent.
As the Song Says...
"Santa Claus knows we're all God's children,
And, that makes everything right.
So, let's give thanks to the Lord above,
Cuz Santa Claus comes tonight."
Saturday, December 24, 2016
My 2016 Spiritual Assessment--A Third Prophetic Emotion
It has been my habit to use this time to year to assess where I am spiritually compared to a year ago. So, I just finished reading my end of the year assessment for 2015. It was interesting.
I wrote about my parents' mental decline, which continues. Last March, they were both formally diagnosed as having dementia, mom with Alzheimer's and dad with vascular dementia. Dad's is more advanced but less bothersome. Alzheimer's sucks. Yesterday, my brother was visiting mom and dad when Evie stopped in and dad said, "Well, Evelyn! Roger, do you know Evelyn?" He was stunned to hear that they've known each other since Roger was in Jr. Hi.
Also, last year, I was chagrined about the defrocking and the unspiritual way it was done. I pledged to resist it. This year, the unrighteousness of ERC leadership in that matter has reached depths that would have been beyond my imagination, even a year ago. I am attempting to address a particular grievous sin committed against me according to the teachings of Jesus. The person who, I believe, sinned against me is resisting the process. I am determined, however. And, in better days, Ed Rosenberry rightly noted that I am "relentless." This is not the time to be specific in a public way, but I ask for prayers for that other person and for me.
Last year, I also reflected on the emotional nature of my life pursuing my belief that I am gifted to be a prophet. I mentioned two emotions that manifested themselves immediately, i.e., anger and sorrow. In the past year, a third emotion has manifested itself powerfully: fear. Fear for the souls of the church people who miss Jesus in their devotion to the institutional church. I see so little of the life Jesus modeled and commanded in church people and, in particular, in some who see themselves as leaders of the church.
Finally, as I reflect on the state of my spiritual life at the end of 2016, I have to say that I am content, generally, with the state of my mission working at the store. I am now a front end manager and that position increases opportunities to be a presence for the Lord and the Gospel. I would never return to the role of parish priest in the CGGC or in any other setting but I groove on participating in the priesthood of all believers in a way I never enjoyed being a parish priest.
One other note: I have been blessed by the number of people from the CGGC who continue to reach out to me and offer fellowship to me. Most now respond to me as if I am a leper. I am blessed by the more than a few who continue to treat me as a brother.
I wrote about my parents' mental decline, which continues. Last March, they were both formally diagnosed as having dementia, mom with Alzheimer's and dad with vascular dementia. Dad's is more advanced but less bothersome. Alzheimer's sucks. Yesterday, my brother was visiting mom and dad when Evie stopped in and dad said, "Well, Evelyn! Roger, do you know Evelyn?" He was stunned to hear that they've known each other since Roger was in Jr. Hi.
Also, last year, I was chagrined about the defrocking and the unspiritual way it was done. I pledged to resist it. This year, the unrighteousness of ERC leadership in that matter has reached depths that would have been beyond my imagination, even a year ago. I am attempting to address a particular grievous sin committed against me according to the teachings of Jesus. The person who, I believe, sinned against me is resisting the process. I am determined, however. And, in better days, Ed Rosenberry rightly noted that I am "relentless." This is not the time to be specific in a public way, but I ask for prayers for that other person and for me.
Last year, I also reflected on the emotional nature of my life pursuing my belief that I am gifted to be a prophet. I mentioned two emotions that manifested themselves immediately, i.e., anger and sorrow. In the past year, a third emotion has manifested itself powerfully: fear. Fear for the souls of the church people who miss Jesus in their devotion to the institutional church. I see so little of the life Jesus modeled and commanded in church people and, in particular, in some who see themselves as leaders of the church.
Finally, as I reflect on the state of my spiritual life at the end of 2016, I have to say that I am content, generally, with the state of my mission working at the store. I am now a front end manager and that position increases opportunities to be a presence for the Lord and the Gospel. I would never return to the role of parish priest in the CGGC or in any other setting but I groove on participating in the priesthood of all believers in a way I never enjoyed being a parish priest.
One other note: I have been blessed by the number of people from the CGGC who continue to reach out to me and offer fellowship to me. Most now respond to me as if I am a leper. I am blessed by the more than a few who continue to treat me as a brother.
Friday, December 23, 2016
Church-Oriented, Inwardly-Focused
To the degree I am able, I keep my eyes open to note what's taking place in the CGGC world.
I recall the hopeful days when, empowered by Wayne Boyer and facilitated by Brian Miller's blog, a small, passionate core of CGGC people shared visionary dreams among each other.
In those days, we encouraged one another and spurred one another on to love and good works and we challenged and chastised the CGGC establishment for promoting a church, not Kingdom orientation and an inward, not outward focus.
So, where are we ten years later?
As I look around me, here's what I see: CGGC churches focusing, more than ever, on creating an extravagant Christmas Eve show to satisfy the congregation and to draw people into the church building.
My friends, we are backtracking and, don't lose the connection, we are declining.
For a moment I considered putting on Facebook, this note about our work here at Faith:
FAITH COMMUNITY:
No Christmas Eve Service,
No Christmas Day Service.
Serving the least of these 24/7/365.
I didn't enter it because, in the end, I concluded that Facebook wasn't the proper venu for that message.
But, I think the message has value. So, I'm putting it here.
The CGGC decline continues as its churchism and inwardism expands, as far as I can tell, exponentially.
------------------
I just read Lance's eNews. It assumes we will all be engrossed in the special church building-located shows of the Christmas season while, at the same time, Lance reminds us of the incarnation and the fact that we also are sent out.
The focus on the show in the building and the message that we are sent into the world don't fit together.
I wish, rather than taking the extravaganzas as a given, that Lance would have taken a firm but loving shot at them.
The CGGC needs to trash those extravaganzas and be in the world.
Here at Faith, we have no shows for Christmas Eve or Christmas day. We are among the least of these, and serving them, all the time.
I recall the hopeful days when, empowered by Wayne Boyer and facilitated by Brian Miller's blog, a small, passionate core of CGGC people shared visionary dreams among each other.
In those days, we encouraged one another and spurred one another on to love and good works and we challenged and chastised the CGGC establishment for promoting a church, not Kingdom orientation and an inward, not outward focus.
So, where are we ten years later?
As I look around me, here's what I see: CGGC churches focusing, more than ever, on creating an extravagant Christmas Eve show to satisfy the congregation and to draw people into the church building.
My friends, we are backtracking and, don't lose the connection, we are declining.
For a moment I considered putting on Facebook, this note about our work here at Faith:
FAITH COMMUNITY:
No Christmas Eve Service,
No Christmas Day Service.
Serving the least of these 24/7/365.
I didn't enter it because, in the end, I concluded that Facebook wasn't the proper venu for that message.
But, I think the message has value. So, I'm putting it here.
The CGGC decline continues as its churchism and inwardism expands, as far as I can tell, exponentially.
------------------
I just read Lance's eNews. It assumes we will all be engrossed in the special church building-located shows of the Christmas season while, at the same time, Lance reminds us of the incarnation and the fact that we also are sent out.
The focus on the show in the building and the message that we are sent into the world don't fit together.
I wish, rather than taking the extravaganzas as a given, that Lance would have taken a firm but loving shot at them.
The CGGC needs to trash those extravaganzas and be in the world.
Here at Faith, we have no shows for Christmas Eve or Christmas day. We are among the least of these, and serving them, all the time.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Lost Doctrines of the Church
Who, who is reading this, doesn't know that the Western church is in decline?
Yet, Jesus, the One whose Name the church lifts up, is the essence of power, grace, mercy, authority and love.
The church dies as its human leaders and as its people scurry, more feverishly than ever, to save it.
Still, nothing church people attempt reverses the decay.
Each strategy, plan, and program fails more pathetically than the one that came before it.
The rate of the church's decay extends exponentially in the way Stage 4 cancer ravages a body in the final throes of death. Who can avoid the stench?
And, as it putrifies, the church continues, without blessing, to lift up the Name of the One who is all power and grace and mercy and authority and love.
How is this happening?
There are many reasons for the decline but, in my opinion, one of the most basic is that the church is thinking about the wrong things, teaching the wrong things. And, at the same time, thinking about right things in the wrong way.
---------------
From the first days it began chiseling its beliefs into granite in so-called creeds, the church has missed the spirit of the life and teaching of Jesus.
Jesus said that people who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed. From the beginning, He told people curious about Him that unless their righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees they wouldn't see God's Kingdom. He commanded people to seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness. Paul of Tarsus noted that the Kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Yet, the church doesn't even have a category in its vast catalog of doctrines to consider what righteousness is. It has its Christology, its pneumatology, its eschatology and, of course, its ecclesiology...
(...if you don't know what those fancy church words mean, don't even think about looking them up.)
But, the church doesn't have and never has had a word for its teaching and beliefs about righteousness.
---------------
The Greek word for righteous is dikaios. The word for righteousness is dikaiosune.
So, how about digging into what Jesus treasured and taught? Could we turn our hearts toward what Paul considered a thing the Kingdom of God is a matter of?
Righteousness!
If we must have big words, could we at least invent the word dikaiology!
Followers of Jesus today need to live the way Jesus commanded them to live. They need to, as He put it, seek God's Kingdom, not God's church, and His righteousness.
They will be blessed if they hunger and thirst for righteousness. But, the (institutional) church decays. It dies. So many are religious but few are righteous.
---------------
A few quick observations:
Times of what is sometimes called revival were moments when people focused on what it means to follow Jesus by living rightly. Those people stood apart from the religious of their day by turning to Jesus, not church tradition, to define the way they lived. They defied church tradition, and they did it boldy. They turned to the way and teaching of Jesus. They sought God's Kingdom and God's righteousness.
Today's putrifying church defines right living in terms of itself, of the church, not as Jesus lived and taught righteousness.
Hence, in my tradition, to make more and better disciples still means to get people to attend a so-called church worship service.
Jesus almost never even spoke about church.
---------------
We need to turn to Jesus. We need to listen to what He said, to what He COMMANDED. We need to seek to live the way He lived. We need to follow His example.
We need to allow Him to call us to righteousness. We need to live righteously, as He defined right living.
We must repent.
Yet, Jesus, the One whose Name the church lifts up, is the essence of power, grace, mercy, authority and love.
The church dies as its human leaders and as its people scurry, more feverishly than ever, to save it.
Still, nothing church people attempt reverses the decay.
Each strategy, plan, and program fails more pathetically than the one that came before it.
The rate of the church's decay extends exponentially in the way Stage 4 cancer ravages a body in the final throes of death. Who can avoid the stench?
And, as it putrifies, the church continues, without blessing, to lift up the Name of the One who is all power and grace and mercy and authority and love.
How is this happening?
There are many reasons for the decline but, in my opinion, one of the most basic is that the church is thinking about the wrong things, teaching the wrong things. And, at the same time, thinking about right things in the wrong way.
---------------
From the first days it began chiseling its beliefs into granite in so-called creeds, the church has missed the spirit of the life and teaching of Jesus.
Jesus said that people who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed. From the beginning, He told people curious about Him that unless their righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees they wouldn't see God's Kingdom. He commanded people to seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness. Paul of Tarsus noted that the Kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Yet, the church doesn't even have a category in its vast catalog of doctrines to consider what righteousness is. It has its Christology, its pneumatology, its eschatology and, of course, its ecclesiology...
(...if you don't know what those fancy church words mean, don't even think about looking them up.)
But, the church doesn't have and never has had a word for its teaching and beliefs about righteousness.
---------------
The Greek word for righteous is dikaios. The word for righteousness is dikaiosune.
So, how about digging into what Jesus treasured and taught? Could we turn our hearts toward what Paul considered a thing the Kingdom of God is a matter of?
Righteousness!
If we must have big words, could we at least invent the word dikaiology!
Followers of Jesus today need to live the way Jesus commanded them to live. They need to, as He put it, seek God's Kingdom, not God's church, and His righteousness.
They will be blessed if they hunger and thirst for righteousness. But, the (institutional) church decays. It dies. So many are religious but few are righteous.
---------------
A few quick observations:
Times of what is sometimes called revival were moments when people focused on what it means to follow Jesus by living rightly. Those people stood apart from the religious of their day by turning to Jesus, not church tradition, to define the way they lived. They defied church tradition, and they did it boldy. They turned to the way and teaching of Jesus. They sought God's Kingdom and God's righteousness.
Today's putrifying church defines right living in terms of itself, of the church, not as Jesus lived and taught righteousness.
Hence, in my tradition, to make more and better disciples still means to get people to attend a so-called church worship service.
Jesus almost never even spoke about church.
---------------
We need to turn to Jesus. We need to listen to what He said, to what He COMMANDED. We need to seek to live the way He lived. We need to follow His example.
We need to allow Him to call us to righteousness. We need to live righteously, as He defined right living.
We must repent.
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