Category Archives: Miscellaneous

I was reading an article from the H.E.B. Foundation Magazine Echoes, and I came across a description of a summer retreat led by Adam Neder. The retreat was titled “Faith in the Ruins.” A description of the retreat in the promotional material for it sums it up: “…as challenges multiply, as the church perfects the art of discrediting itself, as friends leave the faith, many Christians are feeling exhausted, disoriented, and discouraged. Some wonder how much longer they can stick with Christianity–or even if they want to.”

That’s where the 10 observations by Neder came in. I looked at them and thought I would do a series of prayer journals on the 10 observations the article mentioned Neder covered during the retreat.

#9. Being a savvy consumer makes it harder to find a Church.

Dear God, I cannot tell if Neder is saying this is a good thing or a bad thing. Is he a proponent of being picky about your church or is he being critical? I’m not sure. So instead of basing what I say on what I think his opinion is, I want to just react to this statement on its own.

I’m going to take the position that this is a negative and we should not try to be a “savvy consumer” when it comes to church. In fact, I think one of the problems with the current church is that we see ourselves as the “consumer” or the “customer.” We think the pastor and staff are there to serve what we expect of them. In other words, I expect them to deliver the sermons, children’s programs, adult Sunday school, etc. that I like. But what if??? What if you intend for the church, in my life, to make me holy more than to make me happy? What if you designed it to be a place for me to offer myself as your living sacrifice? What if you have made it my job to love the pastor as I love myself? And the staff? What if my job on Sunday is to be concerned more with the people for whom you have me there than the people I think are there for me? Yes, there are times when I need to receive, but those times are far fewer than the times I need to give.

I heard a pastor yesterday tell a story about a disenchanted group of people in his church who sent their spokesperson to his office to confront him. There was a lot of judgment in their words to him. They had talked and gotten themselves into a frenzy and now they had taken it upon themselves to do what they perceived to be your bidding. The thing it seems they were missing was love. Compassion. Concern.

I was in a church about 12 years ago that went through a terrible split over a vocal minority who were not exhibiting your love. Well, it wasn’t as much of a split as the pastor, a gentle soul, got reassigned, sweet and good families found another place to worship because of the strife and fallout from the conflicts, and that group eventually ended up moving on anyway.

So back to selecting a church. What if I totally changed how I selected a church? What if I walked into a building and asked myself, “Does this place have needs that I can uniquely fill with what I bring to the body?” Instead of, “How do I like her or his preaching?” “Is the Sunday school good?” “Do they have a good enough youth group and/or children’s program?” “Are they serving the community enough?” What if I simply asked, “Can this place use me?” And not in a spirit of me coming in and “fixing” the church, but me coming alongside and loving others through my service. Maybe a church isn’t that hard to find when I have a different attitude towards my selection criteria.

Father, Holy Spirit, help me to be an encouragement to my friends who are pastors. Help me to be a servant at the church where you have planted me. Help me to be a source of love. Help me to be a channel of your grace. Use me. And help me to do it by exuding you–by exuding your Holy Spirit. By exuding love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, and self control (I might have missed one or two there, but you know what I mean). In short, love the world through my life, and let the flame of your love spread to others, starting with me.

I pray this through the gift of Jesus being my Lord,

Amen

I was reading an article from the H.E.B. Foundation Magazine Echoes, and I came across a description of a summer retreat led by Adam Neder. The retreat was titled “Faith in the Ruins.” A description of the retreat in the promotional material for it sums it up: “…as challenges multiply, as the church perfects the art of discrediting itself, as friends leave the faith, many Christians are feeling exhausted, disoriented, and discouraged. Some wonder how much longer they can stick with Christianity–or even if they want to.”

That’s where the 10 observations by Neder came in. I looked at them and thought I would do a series of prayer journals on the 10 observations the article mentioned Neder covered during the retreat.

#8. The Church’s credibility can only be harmed by the Church.

Dear God, what does a credible Church (capital C) or church (small c) look like? It’s probably easier to start with the small-c church and go from there.

I think a church with credibility starts with love. Loving others. While I think the Mormon church has a lot of theological problems that prevent me from worshipping you with them, I think they are excellent in their credibility. They do the work. They love. They visit. They follow up. They worship you. They serve. As a Church, they also seem to have a decent attitude towards political issues. For example, I was talking about the negotiable and non-negotiable things a few days ago and how most of the Church has made the negotiable things non-negotiable (healthcare, environment, etc.) and the non-negotiable things negotiable (personal discipleship, fruits of the Spirit, etc.). I think the Mormon church does this right. When I was in Utah a year ago, I noticed the Mormon church and the overall Utah society (which is predominantly Mormon) involved in things like easy and free COVID testing and touting environmental programs. They were also taking a stand on the issue of transgender men competing with biological women in athletic events and working against it. But they were doing it with credibility behind them.

Of course, small-c church is made up of individuals who need to have personal credibility. I cannot overlook that. I mentioned a couple of days ago the man who was great on Sunday but completely worldly Monday through Saturday. His lack of credibility reflected not only on his small-c church, but the capital-C Church as well.

So when people see churched individuals failing to meet your standards it impacts the church and the Church. If I talk to my coworkers about you but have no credibility, they will not only be turned off and offended by me, but they will likely think less of the local church and the global Church as well.

Father, Holy Spirit, I suppose that Neder’s observation is correct, but it’s also correct in most areas. People out there can try to tear me down, and it might be easier to do that effectively to an individual, but if there is credibility among a large swath of people who are part of a group, whether it is a religion, a political party, a nation, or even a service organization like Rotary, then it is harder to disparage it. But all of it starts with us as individuals. So help me. Help me to be exactly who you need me to be today so that your will might be done and your kingdom might come into the earth.

I pray this through the power of Jesus,

Amen

I was reading an article from the H.E.B. Foundation Magazine Echoes, and I came across a description of a summer retreat led by Adam Neder. The retreat was titled “Faith in the Ruins.” A description of the retreat in the promotional material for it sums it up: “…as challenges multiply, as the church perfects the art of discrediting itself, as friends leave the faith, many Christians are feeling exhausted, disoriented, and discouraged. Some wonder how much longer they can stick with Christianity–or even if they want to.”

That’s where the 10 observations by Neder came in. I looked at them and thought I would do a series of prayer journals on the 10 observations the article mentioned Neder covered during the retreat.

#7. Theological credibility is inseparable from credibility in other areas.

Dear God, theological credibility is an interesting thing because, frankly, I question my own theology a lot. I don’t trust it. I trust you more than I trust what I think about you or think I know about you. I’ve been listening to a podcast by a Catholic priest who is going through the Bible over the course of the year, reading it cover to cover, including the apocrypha. I agree with most of what he says, but there are times when I don’t. Does that mean he doesn’t have theological credibility with me? Or that I don’t have theological credibility with him? My point is, I think we need to be careful with out much dogma we attach to our own theology because, to a great extent, you and your ways are unknowable to us.

With that said, what gives me credibility with people? Honestly, I think it’s humility. I think it’s being willing to admit mistakes and/or failures. I knew a man who ended up in federal prison in his 20s and then state prison in his 40s. I remember talking to my son about him when my son was young and telling him that this man’s problem was that, when the chips were down, instead of just admitting failure, cutting bait and taking his lumps, he looked for shortcuts that could help him save face and survive. The irony is that the shortcuts ended up being crimes against others that landed him in a worse place than if he had just told the truth.

Credibility starts, I think, with just being genuine. No hidden agendas. No malice. No threats of withholding love, friendship or respect if you don’t agree with me. Come to think of it, I guess it starts with loving others as I love myself–maybe even more.

Father, Holy Spirit, I guess I’ll end with this–and maybe this is where Neder was coming from with his observation. Any credibility I have in sharing my faith in you ends as soon as hypocrisy enters the equation. I see news people do it all of the time–on both sides. I knew a man who was amazing at church, but when people from church would work for him in his business they were floored by how awful he was from Monday through Saturday. His personal conduct killed any theological credibility he might have had. So help me to guard against hypocrisy. Help me to not be a pit of vipers. Help me to love. Help me to offer empathy and patience. That doesn’t mean I should accept any behavior, but, well, help me to see with your eyes and then be your words and actions in this world. Help me to live what I actually believe and let my words reflect what I actually believe. And where my theology is wrong, please correct me.

I pray all of this through the power of you son, Jesus, through whom I am able to be here,

Amen

I was reading an article from the H.E.B. Foundation Magazine Echoes, and I came across a description of a summer retreat led by Adam Neder. The retreat was titled “Faith in the Ruins.” A description of the retreat in the promotional material for it sums it up: “…as challenges multiply, as the church perfects the art of discrediting itself, as friends leave the faith, many Christians are feeling exhausted, disoriented, and discouraged. Some wonder how much longer they can stick with Christianity–or even if they want to.”

That’s where the 10 observations by Neder came in. I looked at them and thought I would do a series of prayer journals on the 10 observations the article mentioned Neder covered during the retreat.

#4. Politically moderate Christianity is disappearing.

Dear God, I guess I have to ask the question: What kind of political activity and perspective do you want me to have as a Christian? I would have been curious to hear more about what Mr. Neder had to say about this topic.

For me, it feels like everyone on both sides is fighting for more political power. It’s interesting to me that Jesus never did. He never seemed to care what Caesar was doing. He helped the centurion and complimented his faith (Matthew 8:5-13). He said to pay your taxes to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17). I never heard him say, “Make Israel great again!” or, “Israel first!” When he was offended by the Samaritans and John and James wanted to cast fire down on them, Jesus rebuked John and James and went the other way (Luke 9:51-56). So what does he, what do you, Father and Holy Spirit, want me to do? I’m sure you don’t want me to be a political zealot. It’s interesting that Jesus spent more time fussing at the church than he did at the government.

I guess I always come back to the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)–the fruit that is born through you living through me. Discernment is not a fruit that Paul listed. In fact, it might be more of a discipline, but it could probably make the list. But the fruits Paul described are more outward expressions of love as opposed to actions of decision making. I just don’t think there is a way to be a politically fringe zealot and exhibit any of the fruits. There are times when I see people who are resolute to speak in absolutes–I must be right about this, that, or the other thing and there is not room for compromise–and wonder if they don’t feel that way because they are terrified they are wrong and therefore cannot allow themselves to consider they are wrong.

Father, Holy Spirit, I need to wrap this up and go to work, but I want to know how you would have me use my own political influence today. In terms of national politics, there isn’t much I can do but vote and, if I see an injustice that I feel you would have me address, partner with others to see if there is a constructive way to a follow-up. On a local level, you have given me relationships and standing in the community to the point where I can work with others to move the needle for the good of others. Help me to know how to do that and how to do it in love. Help me to do it in a way that you are using me to have your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give me the courage to do it even if it might cost me something.

I pray all of this through Jesus, my savior and Lord,

Amen