Ministry Musings

Discipline

Discipline.

Sounds painful, doesn't it?

Discipline.

You hear experts and successful people talk about discipline and how they have it and you should get it.  You hear them talk about discipline making all the difference in their lives.  You hear them say discipline in your life will change it.

Of course, you never hear them give you specific directions about acheiving discipline or show you what it looks like.  And, the ones that do are so overly disciplined that it scares normal people (like me!) to death.

Discipline.

When I look at that word I see 99% of the word "disciple" in it.  I understand "disciple."  It means "student" or "follower."  To be a disciple is to follow or study something and someone who teaches.

If I want discipline in my life, I need to be a disciple.  Now, I am not smart enough to be my own teacher.  I can certainly participate in my own education and formation, but I am not smart enough to come up with the kind of structure and information I need.  I need help.

Maybe you do too.

God has provided many people in my life to help me grow.  I have spiritual mentors, professional educators, child experts, a physical trainer, detail people, a technological whiz, artists, musicians, mental health professionals, theologians, 12-Step giants, business and finance experts, skeptics (yes, they are especially helpful to dreamers like me) and a whole host of folks who can teach me what I need to know on any given day.  These folks have their own disciplines that I can learn from, lean on and incorporate into my daily life and work.

The key for me is to admit when I need help from these gifts of God and to use their discipline to shape mine.  I do not have to come up with my own rules for living, I can utilize what has already worked for others.  I can seek wisdom and use that wisdom to learn how to live a life worth living.

Discernment is key.  To know to whom I should turn to and when is a key decision.  To make that decision I need to take my time and say plenty of prayers.  I also need to read and listen to the Sacred Text - God's source of much useful discipline.

The real truth for me is that God is always providing the means for my own discipline - the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, people and a myriad of other resources.  God is disciplining me by helping me more and more see that I am not an expert at anything.  I am just another disciple trying "day by day" to "follow more nearly" His path for my life.

Thankfully, that path is full of teachers, guides, mentors - fellow disciples - who are traveling the same path towards God.

I pray that even as I lean on their discipline, they might lean on whatever discipline I have to share and together we would arrive at our Happy Destination where we can give honor and glory to the One whom we've been following all along.

Confusion and Peace

"For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." (1 Corinthians 14:33, ESV)  So writes the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth.

Here is a Christian community (and I use that word loosely!) which should make any modern day church feel okay about its life together.  This church was in a state of disorder.  It was a church in conflict.  It was a church with multiple divisions.  It was a church where the "have's" were separated from the "have not's."  It was a church with multiple tables and table assignments.  It was a church where everyone had the spiritual answer to all the wrong spiritual questions in their individual and corporate life.

No wonder Paul wrote what he did.

This verse is preceded by a litany of instructions for orderly worship. It follows Paul's great teaching on spiritual gifts, the greatest of which is love, and really digs in over the two spiritual gifts that seem to be a source of contentiousness - prophecy and tongues.  Paul's instructions are centered around a core idea that no gift is useful if other people, especially unbelievers or new believers, don't understand or get the point.  Imagine, he encourages, what it would look like to an unbeliever or new believer to see the body all speaking in tongues with no interpretation.  "[W]ill they not say that you are out of your minds?" (vs. 23)

Paul reminds us that people are watching.  Unbelievers and new believers are watching those of us who claim a long journey in following Jesus.  They are watching to see how we live our personal lives.  They are looking at how we make decisions.  They are paying attention to how much time we spend with our families.  They are taking note of that on which we spend our money and moments.  They consider carefully all of those things and more when they look on the whole body of Christ followers.  How we treat one another and take care of one another is important.  How we handle disagreements with one another and make decisions with one another are not lost in their eyes. How we spend our time in program offerings and spend our budget dollars is indicative of the state of our interior lives.

All of which is to ask, do we serve a god of confusion or a God of peace?

"Peace," speaks Jesus to his disciples on the third day after his crucifixion, "be with you."  And then he breathed on them. (John 20:19ff.)

He speaks words of peace and then offers those fear-filled disciples that peace which only he can give.  Jesus offers a peace that only comes from God.  "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  (John 14:27) It is a peace which the world cannot understand.  It is a peace which the world cannot give.

It is a peace that people still seek earnestly in our day. It is a peace that can only come from the one who is Peace and who offers peace to those "who were far off and...to those who were near."  (Ephesians 2:17)  It is a peace that people are looking for in you and in me as we live out our faith and work out our "own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12) everyday of our lives.

Pray for peace.  Pray for peace in your life.  Pray for the peace that others still seek which passes understanding and can change the world.

 

Love and Pain

Each day brings us closer.

In a less than two weeks we will once again walk the way of the Cross with Jesus.  We will walk the way of suffering.

Via Dolorosa.  The way of pain.

On Palm Sunday and Good Friday we will once again be confronted with the story of Jesus' unjust trial and subsequent death sentence.  We will once again be subjected to his savage beating at the hands of soldiers.  We will once again have to endure the betrayal of his friends and the crowd in general.  We will once again hear the awful thud of hammers piercing flesh and blood with nails.  We will hear the awful words of Jesus:  "Why have you forsaken me?"  We will witness the darkness that comes over his world - and our souls - as he let's go of his spirit and dies.

One of the important questions that will be asked by those who are unaccustomed to this story is, "why does Jesus have to suffer?"  To put it another way, "Just what exactly is God doing in the midst of this painful, painful story?"

A friend of mine said that great love leads to great pain.  My friend was not speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus but may as well have been.  For this is the answer to what God is doing in this story.  This is why Jesus embraced all that he embraced that day on that hill so far away.

God's great love for his creation, his people brings pain - to Him.  God desires "not the death of sinners" but rather that they turn around and return to Him.  Out of his great love for his children he sends his Son, Jesus Christ, to embrace the pain of separation and sin, the pain of broken hearts and dreams, the pain of loss and death, that we might accept God's loving embrace in our own lives.

The great pain that Jesus endures is because he loves humanity greatly.  With love comes pain but that pain also leads to great joy.  Joy in the new life that begins to bloom in and through God's people.  Joy in the reconciliation that comes when those who have been separated are reunited.  Joy in the healing of our hearts and dreams.  Joy in knowing that this "life is not ended, but rather it is changed" by the reality of the empty tomb Jesus leaves behind.

Each day brings us closer.  Walk the way.  Feel the love.  Let it bring joy.

By the Lake

It is a beautiful day at Canyon Lake!

It is a bit too cold to go swimming or boating but that is okay.  Anyway, I am here to pray, read and write.  So as I sit at this coffee shop (with  wireless internet access and pretty good coffee) and look out over the lake, I am appreciating why Jesus might want to teach so much around water.

Seems like so many of Jesus' stories that grab me happen around water.  Fishing stories, fish frys on the beach, walking on water and calming storms are all stories that have captured my imagination.  I guess it is those stories that keep attracting me to bodies of water when I need to recharge and renew.

I was born and raised near water.  I spent so much of my early life in the water.  My best memories have usually occured near water.  I love the water.

I am captivated by the life that lies just under the surface of water.  I am aware that just out of my view is a whole new world brimming with life, life that is beyond my own imagining.

Maybe that is why Jesus taught by the water.  He wanted his followers to become aware that just under the surface, just beyond their view, a whole new world was brimming with a promising life that was beyond their imagining.  Jesus wanted his listeners, including you and me, to understand that a new way, a new kingdom, was breaking into the world that could calm the storms of their lives, feed them spiritually and physically, help them accomplish more than the could ask or imagine, and help other people to see the new possibilites God has for them.

Water has power.  Power to open us.  Power to teach.  Power to cleanse.  Power to make us new.

Jesus is inviting us to the water so that we can remember all that God has done to create and re-create his wonderful world and, even more, his wonderful people through and by the water.

Jesus is always inviting us to the water.  Let's go there and find a whole new world that brings us new life today and for eternity.

Of Blinds and Barn Owls

                I was atop a 15 foot bow blind at our ranch in Beeville the other day.  I had seen a big, white barn owl leave that blind a few minutes earlier and wanted to see just how bad a mess that blind was becoming.

The climb up the wobbly stair case and the lack of side rails at the top left me feeling a bit concerned about being surprised by whatever else might be inside the blind.  So, cautiously I put down my bottle of water and was about to push aside the cover to peer inside when a beautiful barn owl face was looking straight at me!

Not really wanting to see how protective the owl would be (after all I was intruding the home of an avid hunter with razor sharp talons and a pretty nasty bite if you are their prey!), I went as quickly as possible down the wobbly stair case hoping I would not fall off onto the prickly brush below.  I was off the blind quickly enough to watch that beautiful bird fly off to a nearby tree to wait until I left so he could go back into his daytime napping.

For my part, I had to settle my breathing and heart down after my pretty quick descent.

It is amazing how the unexpected can get you moving!

One of the truths of God is that His Spirit “blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” (John 3.8)  The Spirit always manifests in unexpected ways and God always does things his way, which often doesn’t match how we would do things.  (Isaiah 55.8)

As this Lenten journey continues, we are invited to pray that we will allow the Spirit to lead us and show us the thoughts and ways of God.  We are invited to pray that we will begin to prepare our hearts to received God’s unexpected Love in Christ Jesus.  We are invited to pray that He who redeems us from our past and present brokenness, hurts, fears, and whatever else leads us to “curve inwardly” on ourselves will place on a future path that leads to fullness of life and joy.

Pray that God’s Spirit will lead you through this wobbly walkway of Lent onto the firm ground of an Easter faith that sees the world as God sees it and responds to God’s call to proclaim this Easter message wherever you are.

Pray for God’s Spirit to surprise you and get you moving towards God’s plan!

Boxing Christmas

It's amazing what I will do to get out of chores at home.

My wife is working very hard at getting all the Christmas decorations off the tree and into the storage boxes.  Man, there is alot of stuff!  In addition to all the lights and ornaments for the tree, there are creche sets galore and all kinds of table top doo-hickeys that say without a doubt that the season is Christmas.

Of course, while she is busy doing all of that I am writing a new post to the blog.  Like I said, I will do just about anything to get out of chores!

But, all the boxing up of Christmas is making me wonder:  Can we really box up Christmas?

I think not.

The Church (at least that part which keeps a liturgical calendar) has in its deep wisdom deemed Christmas a season not a day.  Once the wonder and joy of Christmas morning and the wild excitement of Christmas presents is past the temptation is to move on to the next thing.  But for those of us who follow the liturgical calendar we get to linger for 12 days until the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th.

The truth is that we cannot box up Christmas.  The truth is we should not even try.

Each and every day we have the opportunity say "yes" to Christ being born in our hearts.  Every day we have the chance to allow the "Word" to become enfleshed in and through our lives.

You cannot box up Christmas.  You can only allow it to be made manifest in your life everyday of every year.

So, Merry Christmas.  And Happy New Year.

I guess I better go help with the ornaments and lights.  I cannot get out of chores forever.

Waking up

Seems like a long time since I have been awake.

Not physically, mind you.  The sleep of which I speak is of a creative type.  My alarm clock is my sermon for later this morning to 500 students, parents, faculty and staff.  I have to have something to say but all week has been pretty busy.  I haven't even read the biblical text yet.

I was reminded as I left the fourth children's Christmas program yesterday of the story of Joshua Bell playing violin at the L'Enfant train station in Washington D.C.  It was set up by writers at the Washington Post and it is frankly a pretty sad treatise on the state of our souls.  Read it here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Seems that over 1,000 folks walked right by a brilliant world class violinist who played amazing compositions on his $3.5 million Stradivari violin.  His total take as a street musician that day was under $40 and the total number of people who actually stopped and listened was less than 10.

Seems that everyone else was in a hurry to get to work.  Or to talk on their cell phones.  Or to buy a lottery ticket.  Or to just be content to move from thing to thing and place to place on their to do list.

Seems like everyone was sleep walking.

The premise of the stunt, if you will, was to see if people would stop for something beautiful.  The answer is exceedingly clear.

Nope.

Hard to notice the beauty when we are hard pressed and crazy busy.  Hard to stop and listen to the music or smell the roses or just "stand and stare" (W.H. Davies) when we are not able, or willing, to notice.

The problem exposed is this:  if we get too busy we will miss it.  If we are so head-down, forward-trudging focused we might miss something wonderful and beautiful.  We might miss the world-class musician who is offering us a tremendous gift of joy and peace.

And if we are so busy we miss the muscian in the train station, then how are we ever going to see the Grand Composer making music all around us for our joy and peace?

As I was reading this article in the early morning hours, I heard something I have never heard before.  An owl was hooting in my backyard.  An owl in the middle of town!

I wonder what else I miss in the noisiness of my life?  I wonder what other wonderful music the Master Musician is offering for my enjoyment in the world all around me?

It is nice to be awake again and to have the words flow so smoothly.  The clicking on my keyboard is like music to my ears!

And my sermon is ready.

In the Doghouse

Pretty pathetic.

That is about all I can say about the whole dogfighting thing with fallen-from-grace Atlanta Falcon's quarterback, Michael Vick.  What else can you say when someone who has the world at his fingertips because of God-given talents and abilities throws it all away for something as cruel as dog fighting.

I cannot help but imagine that this is nothing but one big waste after another.

Waste of time.  Waste of talent.  Waste of dogs.  Waste of life.  Waste of opportunities.  Waste of influence.  Waste of potential.

What a waste.

The worst part of this is not that dogs were inhumanely treated.  That is pretty bad.  The worst part is not that Vick is throwing away many a young boys dream job.

The worst part is that Vick has squandered the opportunity to be a role model for young boys.  The worst part is that Vick can no longer use his influence to bring about positive change in the lives of at risk youth.  The worst part is that Vick is now a poster child for what it looks like for someone to throw everything away in an act of selfishness.

I hope that I do not have to answer any questions to my young football charges at practice tomorrow.  What will I say to the question about why a great football player would do such a thing to a dog?  How can I share with these young athletes the need to be careful about who they choose as friends?

Maybe I won't have to answer those questions.  Maybe, just maybe, I can be the kind of adult who models what is like to give of oneself and to share what one has for the betterment of others.  Maybe I can be the kind of adult who will teach these young boys how to discover on their own not to waste own opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others and in the world.

And I thought being a volunteer youth coach was no big deal.

Wrong.  It is definitely NOT a waste.

More Rain

It is hard to complain about the rain.

For so long now we have had to deal with the specter of drought.  Of couse after this summer watering restrictions and parched land seem like so long ago.  Cracked earth and empty watering holes on the ranch are replaced now with new life and an overabundance of growth.  At home I can't keep up with the grass cutting.  Of course, last year at this time, I had no grass to cut.

I have to remind myself that each and everyday has something of value, something which is life giving and life sustaining.  Sometimes life seems like it hasn't gotten a drop of rain in years and sometimes its seems like it won't ever stop raining.

I have begun to accept that sometimes I experience God's grace in the seeming scarcity in my life and in those times of abundance.  Regardless of what is going on around me I am constantly invited to sit still and experience the loving gracefulness of God at all times, when my spirit is receiving life giving rain and when it seems to be eons since the last sprinkle on the dusty earth of my soul.

It is hard to complain about the rain today.  Mostly because it reminds me that God is ready to pour out the abundance of grace if I can sit still long enough to receive it.

Thank God for rain that makes us sit still and receive the grace He seeks to pour out upon us!

Self-Leadership

Leadership, it has been said, is getting people mobilized to follow.  Without people a leader can find no impact and no ability to bring about change.

Leadership, it has been said, is about seeing and unlocking potential in other people.  No plan, General Colin Powell writes, can be accomplished without people.

It might seem that leadership is the art on one getting others to follow.  True enough.  However, there is a significant piece to which every leader must attend.  It is the art of self-leadership.

Before you or I can lead anyone, we might do well to lead ourselves.  We should probably spend a good bit of time in self-reflection and self-examination discerning our strengths and weakness, evaluating our priorities and clarifying our negotiable and non-negotiable values.  We should probably spend a good amount of prayer seeking God's will for our lives by discovering our unique spiritual gifts and talents, our passions, and our frustrations so that they might direct our actions.  We must check the deepest areas of our souls and see where that darkness lies which can catch us unawares and lead us to destructive lies and behaviors.  We must always be disciplined by spiritual principles and practices which are shared with us by trusted and honestly tough spiritual guides.

Self-leadership is the art of tending the precious child of God that we are so that we might become all that God has intended us to become in this life, in His world.

Self-leadership is learning to see, as Fredrick Buechner wrote, where our greatest passion "meets the worlds deepest needs."

Self-leadership is the humble act of offering oneself over to God again and again to be and to do His will each and every moment of each and every day.

Self-leadership is the wisdom of being a follower of the One who, by His sacrifice and death on the Cross, brings life to those who come to Him in a trusting way and seek to embody His life and His purpose in their own everyday lives.

Great Christian leaders are those who allow themselves to be devoted followers of Christ.  We are all called to follow Jesus.  We are all called to lead others to Christ Jesus.

God intends us all to lead wherever we are.

Where can you share in leadership where you are?