http://processchurch.org/blog

Imagine with me that you are driving on the interstate and happen upon a horrible crash. Of course your first decision is whether to stop or keep driving. Once you’ve decided to stop you should find out who was at fault. Especially if the crash victim was negligent, you should remind them what they could have done differently to avoid this horrific condition in which they find themselves.

Of course the above scenario is ludicrous. Yet we as Christians have dealt similarly with issues like the AIDS pandemic. Instead of arriving on the scene with reflexes of compassion, we have come with first-responding moral judgements and sermons of correction. Does it matter how people drive? Of course it does… but not at the crash site. When there is injury and harm the only Christian thing to do is to offer assistance.

It seems I remember Jesus telling a story about that very thing. We even have laws protecting people from liability who offer such assistance. How do you see tragedies like AIDS? Be a good Samaritan. Hurt with people. Help in whatever ways you can. Demonstrate what it means to extend the love of Jesus to one in need.

For most of my life it has been this way. I’ve always been drawn to the idea that God gave us Jesus as the greatest gift ever. My early understanding of my role in the story was that I went to a store that I could not usually afford to shop in and purchased a gift that I could not usually afford to purchase. You may say, “That’s it.” Or, “That’s close.” But I say, “That’s not grace.”

Grace does for me what I could never do for myself.

My growing experience is that those who speak little of grace have been left unconvinced of their own need of it.

So how does Christmas speak to me of grace? I see myself as the recipient of the gift not the purchaser. This is not a gift exchange. I don’t bring my faith to Jesus and have Him trade it in for His grace. That’s not grace. That notion suggests that my faith is necessary for His grace to be efficacious. Grace is only grace when it acts alone. Even my faith is given by His grace.

In this way Christmas helps me understand grace.

There is a deep desire to imitate them yet an even deeper resistance that there is no way one person can do everything with as much success as we see them projecting. What’s the truth here?

No one is as versatile as they seem. For every strength there is almost always an opposing weakness. An example from my own life is that many people have recognized in me a gift of discernment. The other side of that is that I have a tough time turning that off and can be overly critical.

No one has it all. So next time you are tempted to be jealous of someone that seems to have all their stuff together… believe the truth… they don’t. Be thankful for what you do well and work to do it better.

I guess I’ve always been a pretty thankful person… generally speaking. OK, I don’t even know what that means… pretty thankful? Generally speaking? Who am I kidding? For most of my life I have struggled giving thanks to anyone for anything. I’m a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I’d like to think that I work hard and that my hard work brings a positive result.

But in my honest moments I know better. I know that even my greatest successes have come as I have stood on the shoulders of others.

This year I have found myself a little less selfish… maybe a little more humble. What’s changed?

God has ways of getting my attention. A little over a year ago He decided to do that (as it relates to this topic) by taking away my salaried ministry position. You may argue that He didn’t take it away… that I actually quit. Humanly speaking that is technically correct. But I did so only as a response to a calling my wife and I felt to start a new church in one of the fastest growing counties of the United States in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

So how has that fostered a spirit of thanksgiving in me? My family and I have had to rely completely on God to meet our needs through the generosity of others. It’s pretty humbling when you have to wait each week to see if there will be enough money in the account for a paycheck. So when the money is there it is with deep gratitude that we realize how it is there. We exist another day to start Process Church because of the faithful generous gifts of people who love us. People who love God and want others to love Him.

Last week I added a page on Facebook asking people to follow God’s steps as Process Church is formed. In just a few days 400 of you have already responded. I sat in my car at lunch one day and prayed for every one of you by name. We are truly thankful.

Contextually this has to be about discipleship. The latter half of Luke 14 has this as its theme. Jesus is explaining what it takes to follow Him. Here’s my take on what it means to be salty and how to stay that way.

I believe the text is talking about flavor or influence. Jesus is teaching us that the best way to represent Him is to be a compelling follower. Is it possible to do this too much or too little?

I love salty snacks. I prefer a bowl of popcorn over a bowl of ice cream any day. You know the saying that you can’t get too much of a good thing? It’s a lie… you can. Several months ago I discovered that my blood pressure had skyrocketed due in large part to my addiction to salt. Similarly I remember a time I made cookies and mistakenly swapped teaspoons of salt for tablespoons. Needless to say, those were nasty cookies.

Have you ever been around a Christian who was too salty? Well meaning… trying to add flavor and influence… but completely unpalatable.

There is also the very real possibility of not being salty enough. I was eating a bag of pretzels the other day. They were supposed to be salted. I think they had 3 or 4 granules of salt per pretzel. Not tasty.

I know Christians like this as well. They say they are following Christ yet nothing about their life is influential in that regard.

So how do we stay salty? Want to. The #1 thing that holds me back from being salty is me. I enjoy chasing things that don’t matter… good things even. I substitute influence for congruence. I try to fit in when what I should be doing is helping those outside of Christ to find freedom by fitting into His plan.

There is no substitute for time with God. Nothing can replace the saltiness gained from spending time allowing God to do His transformative work.

What’s the difference? As I see it hearing is the ear’s ability to process words. Whereas listening is the ability to process the meaning and intention of those words.

For me this extends far beyond listening only to those I agree with. I lived much of my life in a system that seemed threatened by voices that were outside itself. Truth is truth. If something is true it cannot be diminished by aberrant voices. In fact, my opinion is that a willingness to listen to others validates the credibility of my message. Truth is not weakened or threatened by listening.

Finally I think listening demonstrates love. A willingness to be attentive to the positions of others shows them that I respect their history and care for them as a person. For those of us who say we follow Jesus I would suggest that this is exactly what God was up to when He sent Jesus… God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

So go listen to someone today. Face to face is best. But if you’re not ready for that, try reading someone that you know you don’t agree with. Instead of reading to find fault… listen to gain perspective. I dare you.

In fact, it must have been my dad because just last week as we talked on Skype while he is overseas he gave me the same reminder in a different form, “Remember, in the end you only have to give account to one person and that’s God.”

What does it mean to not read your own press? Here’s how I take it. Some of us (and yes, I include myself in the “us”) are people pleasers. We take joy in knowing that someone thinks well of us. There’s nothing wrong with that on the surface I suppose. It becomes dangerous when it becomes my primary motivator for doing good. For example I do good because I want people to think well of me.

Back to the saying… don’t read your own press means not being primarily interested in what others think of me. This goes both ways. I don’t listen to the negative voices that always seem to see the dark side. Neither do I focus on those who seem to always tell me of my greatness. Instead I seek only to please Christ.

Paul got this. Read Philippians 3:3-14. My favorite part of the passage starts in verse 12…

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

This past Wednesday our family decided to take a day trip and hike to the top of Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is the southern version of Mt. Rushmore. A cross between a natural phenomenon and a desire to remember (and some might rightfully accuse, to keep alive) the Civil War. On it’s face are carved the likenesses of three Confederate heroes: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.

Before we left I decided I should hang out with Jesus first so that I would have a better chance of doing my family right when I was hanging with them. I am currently working my way through a little book (as a lectionary of sorts) that has random passages of Scripture for each day. Wednesday’s Scripture just happened to be 1 Peter 2:9 which is actually a quote from an Old Testament prophecy in Isaiah 28 that says, ““I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.”

Paul even declares that Jesus is the Cornerstone of the Church. This is the thought that has kept me thinking for the last few days. At some level I am relatively certain that most if not all churches would say that they are in it for Jesus. But inclusion is not the role of a cornerstone. The cornerstone is not about building materials or content. The cornerstone is all about foundation and structure.

When I was first married I did some grunt work for a general contractor who was building new homes. He taught me that the purpose of the cornerstone was to line up all the other bricks. If the cornerstone was right (in terms of its position), you could be sure that the rest of the structure was straight.

This is the kind of church I want to build. A church that not only claims Jesus but one that lines up all of its practices to the reality of Jesus. I pray that Process Church will ask hard questions about what we do (and don’t do) because we believe that Jesus must be our Cornerstone.

This morning I woke up at 4:30 to take Christina to work. Her van needs some work and the shop is within walking distance of our house. Driving on the usually-busy roads before 5:00 am is quite an experience. Almost all the traffic lights are a beautiful green. In the 2.8 miles between our house and Christina’s work I am pretty sure we passed fewer than a dozen other vehicles. Even the early, worm-getting birds were still sleeping.

In this stillness I was reminded of my grandmother’s favorite verse in all of the Bible… the words of the psalmist in Psalm 46:10…

Be still and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.

This morning in the uncomfortable silence I asked myself a question, “What does it mean to be still?” I already know what you’re thinking… the fact that I’m asking myself questions indicates I am already having some issues. For those of us who attempt to live by the Spirit as the Scriptures say, there may be no better way to hear that quiet voice than to be still. Being still means stopping. Being still means listening. Being still is not about words. Being still is not about action. Being still is about emptying me of me so I can be filled with His peace.

This morning… in new ways… I experienced His tranquility.