Badge of Belonging

The pastor in my church is always reminding people to wear their nametags to worship. We have them prominently displayed at the entrances of our church and people are supposed to grab them as they come through the doors. With over 450 members, nametags are a practical way to meet and greet each other in a community where it is impossible to get to know everyone when you are with them for a few hours a week.

Enough Talk. Show Me

The church, ekklesia, means being called out. We are a people called into the world to speak public truth. Here are three key ideas or concepts from The Evangelizing Church, which speak to this reality.

The authors claim, the church is being called out into the world to speak public truth (90). However, the images that the authors use to describe what this calling looks like are striking in one regard…they don’t involve speech.

• Congregations are being called out of their comfort zones. 
• They are being called out to be the people of God for the sake of the world. 
• They are being called to live in, with, and among the world for which Christ died. (90)

This is the Year of the Lord's Favor

In Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV), Jesus' reputation precedes him. When he visits his home synagogue in Nazareth, he is handed the scroll of Isaiah to read. He carefully opens it up, deliberately finds a passage and reads it out loud.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind, 

to let the oppressed go free, 

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

When he is done reading Jesus carefully rolls the scroll back up, hands it to the attendant, and sits down.

Confirmation: Are we taking seriously the promise of baptism?

I'm reading The Evangelizing Church for a course I'm taking in Seminary. One of the things that struck me was a claim by the authors that there should be a stronger relationship between baptism and vocation. 

Baptismal theology is a richer resource for evangelizing than was once imagined. In particular, the role of vocation is reemerging as one of the most central dimensions of how Lutherans grasp a holistic approach to mission and evangelizing in the world (46).

I think that a lot of churches in multiple denominations have a hard time laying claim to baptism as an incredibly powerful evangelizing tool.  I've been making a strong case for the connection between baptism and vocation in my ministry for years. Most intently in my confirmation ministry. 

Readers of my blog will know that I found my faith and was baptized as an adult. In order to become a member of the church I was asked two questions;

• Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? and
• On which committee would you like to serve?

Incarnation

My husband and I shared a chuckle the other night. We ran into some friends who recently had a baby. They looked worked over. Their hair was unkempt, bags under their eyes, shoulders slumped, and their pace slowed. When we asked them how they were doing, their eyes lit up and they responded, “We’re great.”

We chuckled, not to poke fun, but in certain memory. We have two children of our own, ages 6 and 7. They were born a year apart. Overnight, our priorities become so imminently connected to the priorities of those newborns. We gave our bodies in service to the grueling demands of our infants who required utter devotion while they violated countless boundaries (think a third feeding at 4am).

Never once did we consider quitting and not because the work was so rewarding or because we were always joyous (think a third feeding at 4am), but because there was no other choice for us. We were captured and we remained in faithful sacrificial service because we belonged. 

There is no better way to compel us to closeness or to urge us to belong, than to come into our lives as a vulnerable demanding newborn. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, effectively brings us into relationship with our God in the most irrational and humanly way possible. He is born.  

Abba! Father!

I had an extremely happy childhood. Like most Americans I grew up wanting for much but needing nothing.  My family lived on a hobby farm with horses and chickens and dogs and cats…lots of cats. I was raised in an atheist household. My parents never baptized me. I have fond memories of sleeping in on Sunday mornings and waking up to a hot breakfast.

My mother taught me about hard work and perseverance. My father taught me that one could have strong beliefs and convictions and still be nice to other people.

My happy childhood ended a month before my sixteenth birthday when my father passed away.

Leadership Musts

Great insight that match what I'm seeing in my ministry. Ideas Week: Beyond Sizzle. I love how the author leaves the conversation.

So many times we "come to church," we participate in Bible studies or discussion groups, we volunteer for mission projects, and we leave inspired or smarter or gratified.  But what has been the result beyond our own edification?

It's great to have all of these wonderful ideas. Not for their own sake, but for the sake of the one who calls us. 

In anticipation of my sabbath retreat next week, I found great insight from Matt Steen, A Church Leader's Soul and Crisis Management.