1000 Blessings

I was inspired by a list of blessings started by my adopted daughter, Claire, and decided to start a list of my own. I tend to focus far too much on the negative things around me, and it seems like a good exercise, especially for someone like me, to look for blessings in my life. Perhaps I will see less wrong from day to day as I look for those things that are right. One thousand blessings seems like a lot, but as I look at Claire’s list I realize that blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Even things that start as difficulties can turn into blessings with the proper perspective. I have no idea how long it will take to get to one thousand, but in the back of my mind I am hoping that as I practice looking for blessings, I will find them more easily.

With that in mind, I am starting simply, with three blessings that are no-brainers and that I suspect will resurface continually in various forms.

1. My wife, Sandy, who loves me, regardless of my mood, my quirks, my odd and sometimes scary ideas, not to mention my many faults.
2. My son Colby whose passion for his faith is inspiring and challenging and makes me gush with pride and hopeful for the future.
3. My beautiful little girl Calli, (who will always be my little girl) who is not so little anymore, but is still beautiful, inside and out.

Consuming Students in Education Reform

I was recently  reading an article in the New York Times entitled Report Card on Education Reform, not with great expectation, but with a bit of curiosity. Three men were being interviewed about education reform - Arne Duncan, our Secretary of Education, Mitch Daniels, former Indiana Governor and now President of Purdue University and John Engler, former Governor of Michigan who now runs a corporate lobbying group called Business Roundtable. For most of the article there was the standard quoting of national and international statistics which always includes test scores of some sort, and graduation rates, which always leads to the same conclusion - that our education system is in dire need of fixing.

But within the article I found some telling quotes, like this one from John Engler:

“we are the consumer groups here at the table. All the products of K-12 system are either going to go to the university or they are going to the work force.”

Does that bother anyone besides me? As people in power, these men view our students  as products for their consumption! K-12 is nothing more than a factory for spitting out a product that the business world to consume. 

Later he says this:

“I think we need to keep data and academic performance the way we keep it on sports. I mean, we know everything about where we stand in football, but we could be last in the league in mathematics for a decade, and we’d never know it.”

Speaking as a consumer, I can see where that would be frustrating, although if you are really too dense to figure out the product you are consuming is horrible in an area you deem to be important, than I think the problem is in his own ability to evaluate the product, not in the information being provided for him. Speaking as a human, however, this comparison of education to keeping stats in a sporting event sounds like an appalling comparison. Maybe we should throw away teachers the same ways professional sports teams throw away coaches (if only we could do that in politics) - you know every three or four years we just fire all the teachers and hire new ones. All the teachers that got fired from one district can go to another district and start over again, until their is new ownership and they decide to bring in a whole new group and the musical teaching positions game can start all over again. That sounds like a great model for quality, stable education reform.

With all the constant talk of education reform, we (in the education world) are constantly inundated with data and statistics that tell us what a horrible job we are doing and how important it is for our country, that we get better, quickly. But it wasn’t until I read John Engler’s words that I realized what that really means. If you look at the roots of most reform it is driven by business (consumers) who want a product (students) who fit their need for the sake of making money... and more money. In the same article Mitch Daniels refers to other countries as the “competition” and Arne Duncan laments that. “If you look at any international comparison.. on no indicator are we anywhere near where we want to be.” Unfortunately there is no international measure of humanness. One of the most constant complaints about the “product” put out by “high achieving” countries, is the seeming loss of humanness. Awhile back I read an article about high achieving Asian countries exploring reforms to produce creativity that has all but disappeared in the midst of the insatiable pursuit of “academia.” But you don’t hear much about those kinds of stories.

I would be the first to say that there are problems with our education system, but neither the problems nor the solutions can be measured in test scores, data analysis, graduation rates, international competitions or the bottom lines of corporate america that is dissatisfied with the current product. Until our leaders stop looking at our students as facts and figures in a data table, or products spit out of an assembly line for the consumption of our ruling class, or pawns in a global competition of power and wealth, we will never see true, meaningful reform in our education system. When teachers are allowed to... no, EXPECTED to be compassionate, loving, caring, HUMAN, role models for our students, and EXPECTED to teach lessons beyond math, science, reading, writing and cut-throat consumerism, then there will be reform. When integrity is demanded from teachers and administrators alike and when positive relationships with students (beyond knowing their latest assessment score), becomes the norm, rather than the forgotten exception, then we will have reform. When teachers are given permission to be humans caring for humans to develop better humans, and even more, when that becomes the highest priority, then we will have true reform. 

The thought that I am seen as a tool to create a product out of a student, for manipulative utilization by the very people who believe our vary existence is dependent on increased consumption, does very little to motivate me to be a better teacher. But the thought of encouraging a student to be a person of integrity and honor is one of the few things that actually keeps me teaching (and right now I am grasping for anything I can find!)

Here Am I...

There is an often used passage in Isaiah 6 that is referred to as God’s commissioning of  the prophet Isaiah to his ministry. The previous five chapters outline many things that are wrong in the nation of Israel and it is obvious that they have no heart for God and and they have become a stiff-necked, disobedient people. The nation has always had prophets and now God is looking for another prophet to step up to tell the nation the err of their ways. So Isaiah tells the story of how he became God’s prophet. In chapter 6 Isaiah sees God seated on his throne with angels (seraphs) covering their faces. Isaiah realizes the incredible, overwhelming holiness of where he finds himself and cries out:

“Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord God Almighty.” (v. 5)

At this an angel flies to Isaiah with a hot coal held in tongs and touches it to the mouth of Isaiah to take away his guilt and to atone for his sins. It is a powerful, visual portrayal of God’s grace and mercy as well as the humility and repentance of a Godly man. It is a story that draws us in and captivates us while. So it has been used frequently by speakers get the attention of an audience and to build them up for the dramatic calling and response that comes next. 

After the coal has touched his lips, Isaiah records that he hears the voice of God saying:

“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (v. 8)

Then comes Isaiah’s response - the response that many speakers want you to hear and repeat for yourself. It is the response that is the climax of sermons, and rallies and many other events where the speaker wants us to make a bold proclamation of our undeniable loyalty to God. It is the moment that speakers want us to remember.

Isaiah responds to God’s voice by saying:

“Here am I. Send me!” (v.8)

Generally, by this point in a speaker’s message there is an emotional crescendo and, riding the wave of passion, we agree that we want to be used by God in the same way as Isaiah, so we repeat, “Here am I, send me!” But in responding based on an emotional appeal, we too easily neglect to count the cost of our eager response. In our enthusiasm we fail to read the rest of the story to see what God does with Isaiah’s response. It is well and good to emulate Isaiah, but we shouldn’t do so until we read the whole story. 

Based on the building passion of many speakers, we might be inclined to believe that Isaiah was destined to do great things for the nation of Israel and that God would bless Isaiah’s ministry by giving him repeated and continuous success, all the result of his humble submission. And we want to do great things for God as well, just like Isaiah. But we don’t need to read very far to realize that great success, at least by our human standards, is not exactly what God had in mind for Isaiah. God blesses Isaiah, but it is far from what we would expect and certainly not what we most often hope for when we plead to go God to, “send me.” 

If you take the time to read beyond verse 8, you quickly find that God never promises Isaiah success, or a bountiful ministry. In fact it is just the opposite. God promises that no one will listen. God asks Isaiah to preach to people whose hearts will be calloused, whose eyes will remained closed and whose hearts will never understand.  Read it for yourself:

He said, “Go and tell this people:

“Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

   be ever seeing, but never perceiving.

Make the heart of this people calloused;

   make their ears dull

   and close their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes;

   hear with their ears,

   understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.” (v. 9 & 10)

Wow...

Isaiah, at that point, is probably wondering what he just got himself into, so he asks, “For how long, oh Lord?” He gets very little comfort in God’s response. He doesn’t get, “maybe their hearts will be hardened for a few months or maybe a year.” Instead God answers Isaiah’s question with this:

“Until the cities lie ruined,

    and without inhabitant,

until the houses are left deserted

    and the fields ruined and ravaged,

until the Lord has sent everyone far away

    and the land is utterly forsaken.

And though a tenth remains in the land, 

    it will again be laid waste.

But as the terebinth and oak

    leave stumps when they are cut down, 

    so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Ya... not very comforting. If God were promising you the same thing as he promised Isaiah, would you still be to respond to those emotional appeals by saying, “Here am I, send me?”

Basically Isaiah’s entire ministry is to serve people who will never respond. God does not call Isaiah to be the difference maker, he calls Isaiah to a life of perseverance and faithfulness despite the constant lack of encouragement from those around him. He is called to a life that will seem like futility, but God will ask Isaiah to minister and proclaim His message anyway. And Isaiah does.

Matt Chandler, in the Explicit Gospel says it like this;

“The priority God charges him [Isaiah] with is not success, but integrity.”

It is easy for us to get excited about Isaiah 6:8, but can we still be as eager as Isaiah if we are called to Isaiah 6:9-13? Can we say, “Here am I. Send me,” even if we are promised no success? We are often so focussed on results, that we too often neglect the importance of faithful integrity, but God does not. 

I pray that I will someday be the man who can respond like Isaiah.

Relay For Life

Last weekend I was walking around the high school track with Sandy, during the Relay for Life. We were walking slowly, reading the names on the luminaries when it hit me. One month and 13 years ago I spent two weeks in Aurora, Colorado, with most of my family, sitting with my sister who was dying from cancer that had metastasized in her brain. On August 7 of 2000, just a week short of her 49th birthday, she passed away. It seems strange to say, but in many ways those two weeks were amazing. It is not often that we are able to gather around our loved ones before they die. Too often death happens without warning and we are left with regrets - things undone and things unsaid. But we had time to say the things we needed and wanted to say. We had time, as a whole family, to cry together and laugh together and affirm our love for one another. It was powerful, and, strangely, it was a blessing.

In the midst of tragedy, our family bonded together like never before and God was at work in ways that I would have never anticipated. In me I was questioning my faith, in good ways mostly. I prayed in ways I had never prayed before. I remember holding my sister’s hand while she lay unconscious in her bed. On the outside I talked to her, hoping she could hear and understand me, but inside I was talking to God and it was all kind of surreal. I don’t know if my sister found any comfort in that, but I did. God granted me a sort of peace that I had not experienced before, because I never needed it before. From the beginning of the two weeks to the time I came back home, I changed. My faith changed. I can’t say that I understood all the questions why, any better, but the answers didn’t matter so much because I understood that God was in control. For the non-Christians in my family, things were much different when they got home, and they think about that time much different even today. For them there was no peace. There was no forgiveness and no greater purpose. For them there was bitterness and anger and resentment. Several months later, I heard from my brother-in-law - he had given his life to Christ and wanted me to know. For the non-Christians in my family, that brought no comfort and in some ways it seemed to compound the resentment. But for me and for my parents there was rejoicing that God made something beautiful out of something that seemed so painful. For me it affirmed my sense that He was in control all along.

I thought also of my Dad, who lost his battle with cancer seven years ago. Again, we were blessed with the opportunity to gather as a family, to say the things we wanted to say, to cry together and laugh together. And again God taught me about His peace and the way that he was in control. This time he taught me about the church - that it is far more than just a building and a place to worship on Sundays. God taught me that often my judgements about people are misplaced and what I see on the surface is not always a good representation of what He is doing inside of them. The church I grew up in, the church that I had developed a certain distaste for, did amazing things for my dad and my mom and for all of us. They cared for both my mom and dad when my sister and I were not able. They brought food, they ran errands and they came just to make sure there wasn’t anything else that was needed. They spent sleepless nights by my dad’s bedside when my sister and I could not be there, so my mom could rest. They embrace our whole family and extended family and made us part of their church family. They loved us and served us and sacrificed for us without any expectations.

I learned again, that God was in control in ways that were far beyond my understanding.

I remembered my sister, Pam, and my dad as I walked and there was still sadness in my heart, but there was also peace. God reminded me that he is in control - he was then, he is now and he will always be.

the Explicit Gospel

On my bookshelf in the basement I have a section set aside for the books that have had significant, long-lasting impact on my faith and/or how I view or live my life. In the past few months I have added two books to that shelf. 

If you know me at all, or read much of my writing, you know that I have a certain disdain for the often thoughtless language we use in the Christian community (including when I use it). We tend to throw around many words that simply identify us as being part of the group or make us sound “spiritual,” but the way we use them often betrays the true meaning of the words. Often we simply mimic the use of words as we have heard them from others in our Christian group, but we haven’t taken the time or made the effort to understand the implications of what is being said. If we were to look carefully at the “Christian” language that we use, I suspect that we would find our language reflects our ignorance - the direct result of our unwillingness to read, to study, and to seek understanding, or sometimes the more subtle result of understanding our faith through the tainted filter of American culture.

One such word that is often used loosely, is the word “Gospel.” Both the word itself and the implications of the word are frequently misunderstood, even amongst long-time Christians and/or misused in our conversations and statements about our faith. Sometimes this misunderstanding and misuse is out of ignorance, but sometimes it is a reaction of dissatisfaction with the church and how it has traditionally responded (or not) to the gospel. Trying to react in a more appropriate way to the gospel may be well-intentioned, and have a powerful impact on those involved, but the end result sometimes distorts the true meaning of the gospel. The response to the gospel is not the same as the gospel itself.

If we are not careful, all of this can lead to a bit of confusion about the gospel and what, exactly, the gospel message is about. It can cause us to act in well-intentioned ways, but confuse our actions with the true gospel itself. Breaking through the cloudiness of this issue is Matt Chandler’s book, the Explicit Gospel. In a readable, methodical, precise way, Matt Chandler details the message of all scripture which culminates in gospel. Along the way he touches on the dangers of overemphasizing certain aspects and responses to the gospel at the expense of the others and dispels misuses and misunderstandings.

The Explicit Gospel has opened my eyes to my own misunderstandings and has caused me to re-orient my thinking and my response to the gospel. It filters out the catch phrases and the pollution of American culture (which we don’t even realize has so greatly influenced our thinking) to explain what is the very basis of our faith. It confirms in the reader correct belief while surgically removing error. It encourages appropriate response for the right reasons. It reminds us of the reason to have hearts of gratitude. It refreshes a thirst to do what brings glory to God. 

All of this makes the Explicit Gospel one of the most important, must-read books of recent time and it will cause you to read scripture with eyes that are more open to the truth before you.

Teacher Integrity

I just finished a week of training in Ohio for a class I will be teaching this next school year. I joined 17 other teachers under the instruction of two other educators who had extensive experience with curriculum. This post is not at all about the training itself, but one element of the experience that I still find troubling, an issue that has been troubling me all year.

Near the beginning of the last school year I had a blog post voicing some frustration over the near paranoia that schools are experiencing with teachers having contact with students outside of the classroom. In our district we had been directed to disconnect from our students and former students as much as possible. We were told not to initiate phone calls or texts with students (whether past or present). If we responded to a text message to a student we were instructed to include our principal in the exchange. If we answered or returned a phone call from a student, we were told to notify our principal. Of course giving rides to students was forbidden as well. And lastly, we must "unfriend" students on Facebook and deny requests to be their friends.

There is a degree of reasonableness to all of this, I understand. Ultimately, the district is trying to protect teachers, students and itself, from inappropriate associations. I get that. But I changed jobs 8 years ago so I could live in the same community where I taught. I was tired of only seeing my students during the school day and not being able to connect with them outside of class. Living where I teach provides me the opportunity to know my students (and former students) as friends, as neighbors, as participants in the youth group in our church. Living where I teach has allowed me to teach the friends of my children, to see my students in the grocery store and around town at a wide variety of events. It has allowed me to attend sporting events and concerts of students. It has given me the chance to be a part of special events alongside my students and I have even been able to do short term mission trips with my students. In short, living in the same community where I teach allows me to know students and former students outside of the classroom and it allows them to know me.

But here is the problem...

While at training this week, I was reminded of why school administrators may not want students to know their teachers outside of the classroom. Teachers are often different people when they are not in the confines of a school. I was appalled this last week at the language that was deemed acceptable during our training. Vulgarity and profanity were common and only once did I hear an instructor make any attempt to stifle it (and it was a very weak attempt). Instead instructors often found the language humorous and, apparently, appropriate for our situation. Throughout the time there were also references to drinking and inappropriate sexual conduct that received more than a fair share of laughs. While this language did not dominate each day, it was, nonetheless, common and accepted. I can't imagine any of the teachers allowing that to occur in their classrooms with their students, but for some reason, in a class of "adults" the language is allowed to change. I did not participate in evening meals out (I was a late addition to the class and spent my evenings trying to get caught up), but, from conversations about previous evenings, it was clear that drinking was a part of the nightly fare. I can't speak to excessive drinking, but joking comments about getting drunk and being drunk were made. Whether those were completely in jest, or not, I can't say.

My point to all of this is to simply say that after the training was finished, I was sadly reminded of why such seeming paranoia can overcome a district. Do I want my son or daughter to see their teacher drunk or even drinking? Do I want them to hear their teacher tell dirty jokes? Do I want them to view the teachers' filthy language or questionable pictures on Facebook? Do I want my kids to see that teachers have different expectations of their students than they are willing to conform to themselves? Some might not see a problem in all of that, after all, they are just being "real" and students should be okay seeing that. But if being "real" is acceptable out of the classroom, why isn't being "real" acceptable in the classroom?

I got into teaching because I wanted to have a positive influence on the students I taught, but I never believed that the influence should only be isolated to the classroom. I have always wanted my students to see me as a man of integrity (not just a teacher of integrity), both in and out of the classroom. If they see me in the grocery store, I want them to know that what they see in me and what they hear from me, will be consistent with what they see and hear in the classroom. When my son or daughter's friends come to our home, I don't want them to be surprised by what they see and hear, I want them to be reassured that I am still the same. When the neighbors see me in the yard or walking my dog, I want them to see the same person that they would see at my school.

A teacher once told me how nice it was to live out of town from the school where he taught, so he could just be himself without fear of his students observing him. My heart sunk when I heard that said out loud, even though I had actually observed it lived out for many years. I cringe when teachers find such a double life not only acceptable, but normal and even expected. Because of that, districts try to shield students from seeing the truth of teachers' double lives. Because personal integrity (in and out of the classroom) and moral consistency are no longer expectations of teachers, or even in society as a whole, we must put up barriers to shield our students from seeing beyond the school day. What a sad statement about where education has gone.

It is no longer the expectation that a teacher or a coach or an advisor should be a role model for students. Instead we expect that the job of a teacher or a coach, is only about the subject that they teach. It is about communicating the right information, about passing tests and winning games. Sadly, the job of a teacher or a coach no longer has a moral calling, it has become just another job and students must look elsewhere for role models.

Unified Worship

Today a remarkable thing happened. Something that should not have been unusual, but was. Something happened that was beautiful in its simplicity, and exhilarating in its obvious rightness. Today was one of those days where you look at those around you and wonder why it took so long for this to happen.

Today, four area congregations, all with different affiliations, different styles, and different cultures, but who worship the same God, the same Lord and Savior, came together to worship together as one church. 

What a crazy idea...

And it was wonderful!

I kept hearing in the days leading up to this event and even at the service itself, how unusual it was that congregations in the same community would join together for worship on a Sunday morning. Each time I heard it said I found it unsettling. How did we get to this place, where local churches are in competition with one another and refuse to work together, to fellowship together and to worship together? Isn’t it an incredibly sad statement about where we are in the church when it is considered strange to have local congregations join together to do one of the most basic actions of our faith? The more I thought about it, the more astounded I was. But after today, I am also hopeful and I am excited about my hope.

Today the congregations worshipped together and relished the time together. For the first time, for most of us, we joined with Christian neighbors, who just happen to attend services at a different building, and we worshipped with them. When the service was finished, we shared a meal and fellowshipped with them. I have neighbors just six houses away from me, that I saw for the first time in the context of “church.” I have talked with them before and knew of their faith, but in the many years of knowing them, I have never worshipped with them. Doesn’t that seem odd? But that was corrected today and I have no doubt today will not be the last time.

Today was so obviously right. Worshipping with neighbors, with brothers and sisters from other congregations, was an incredible blessing. Seeing our pastors humbly join together was inspirational. Setting aside differences was refreshing. And knowing, beyond any reasonable doubt, that God like what he saw, was satisfying to the soul. It was a touch of how things ought to be. Not that our churches should all merge as one, but that we should welcome opportunities to be together and enjoy our common bond in Christ. 

Today was a greater taste of unity in the church, and I liked it!

Hirelings and Shepherds

Almost as soon as I posted my last blog (The Call to Ministry), I saw this beginning to a different blog, from one of the pastors of a well known mega-church, titled, “It’s Not A Job When It’s Ministry”:

“At the time, I was president of a successful company that was a piece of cake to manage. My life was quiet, comfortable, and easy. I wasn’t looking for a change. Why give up CEO status to be an executive pastor at a church?

For me, the answer was simple (if not easy): God called me out of a job and into ministry.

The difference between job and ministry represents the dividing line between hirelings and shepherds: those who work because they get paid by the church, and those who work because they love the church. A job is a paycheck. Ministry is a calling.”

It was almost immediate affirmation of what I had just posted. The phrase “full-time” is not used, but the associated implication comes through loud and clear - you can’t be in a secular job and do ministry. Even worse, if you are in a secular job you are just an “hireling” and can’t be a shepherd. And, of course, there is the “calling.” Apparently God could not call this man to minister in his secular job, because that is not really possible, so he was called out of his secular job into “ministry,” which of course means he was called to be a pastor (remember in Christian language “minister” and “pastor” are synonymous).

Maybe I am being hypersensitive, but this reeks of holy arrogance. Even the title of the blog post carries the implication that “I am doing something special and really spiritual and if you are not a “minister”, then you’re not.” I am sure that is not the intent, and I would guess that the author of the blog does not even see it because it has become such a commonly accepted way of talking in Christian circles. But I believe words and phrases have subtle ways of shaping the way we think and behave. When we are careless with our words it shapes how people think and respond to us, even when we are not fully aware of it.

I do not deny that some are given special gifts and are called to do special jobs. Ephesians 4:11 says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers...” But it is important to read on to verse 12 and 13 so we understand why Christ gave some to do those jobs, “...to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” That sounds a lot like doing the work that some would call “ministry.” In fact, it could be, and has been argued, that if pastors are simply doing all the ministry, they are not really doing their job. Their job is not to simply “do ministry,” but to train others to do ministry. In fact I have heard some pastors say that, ideally, they should work themselves out of a job by training those in the congregation to do their job. And that is where the disconnect often comes.

How does the author of this blog train another man, who works in a secular job, to do ministry? Does he encourage him to quit his job? Does he tell him to wait for a calling? Does he tell him to go to Bible school? If he does not do  any of those, how can this pastor tell the man to do “works of service” by staying where he is, when the pastor did not see that as an option for himself?  

In fairness, the blog is really about treating the position of a “minister” like it   is just a job, and it is a warning against a lack of understanding that it is about so much more. But I would contend that the same mindset should be true of any job. Although the passages do not directly talk about our jobs, we are quick to apply 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:17 (and rightly so, I believe) to our jobs and and everything else that we do to give them purpose and meaning:

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)

The reality is, that if we can’t apply those concepts to our jobs, then we are truly wasting our time by being in those jobs, because nothing else matters. If my actions, if the things that I do, do not bring glory to God, than those actions are worthless. If I am spending 40 hours a week or more doing something that is completely worthless, then I should quit. God’s glory is far too important for me to spend so much time dishonoring God. So, we must believe that our lives can glorify God in our job and we must also believe that we can carry out the great commission in our jobs, otherwise we are tragically wasting our lives. 

It may seem out of place to quote Rob Bell at this point, but whether you love him or hate him, Bell makes some terrific observations that are worthy of our attention. In Velvet Elvis, Bell says this:

“...it is impossible for a Christian to have a secular job. If you follow Jesus and you are doing what you do in his name, then it is no longer secular work: it is sacred. You are there; God is there. The difference is our awareness.”

On this point Rob Bell is right on the mark - for a Christian there should be no secular job. In fact we should all be ministering and evangelizing and acting as God’s ambassadors in our job, regardless of the line of work, as well as in our neighborhood and most importantly in our church. Doing the work of ministry is not reserved solely for pastors and missionaries. Some are paid to do those things more exclusively, but it is the call of every Christian to do those things, wherever they find themselves. And yes it is a calling. It is not a calling that we need to agonize over, spend time fasting and praying about and/or wait for some sign indicating that this is what we should do. All that is required is a little time in scripture. 

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle: be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Ephesians 4:1-6

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

2 Corinthians 5:17-20

We are all called to be and do many things that fall under the category of “ministry” and it does not require special revelation beyond the scriptures given to us. It is clearly taught to us throughout the New Testament. The idea that we need to be “called” is a topic for another post, but I believe we often use the idea of a “calling” as a way of sounding more spiritual. I do not deny that some have special callings on their lives, but it is a mistake to believe that this is God’s normal way of telling us what to do. A calling is an exception. God communicating to us through the Bible is the norm.

So here is the bottom line to all my ranting and raving. Words and phrases have meaning, both obvious and implied. Words and phrases have subtle and not so subtle ways of influencing the way we believe we should respond and act in given situations. If you don’t believe that, try doing a little study on language and culture. Study linguistics. If you don’t believe there is importance in words and phrases, then stop worrying about the meanings of Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible and variations in different translations. What we say and how we say it, matters, and we should be careful about the messages we send when we use our “Christian” language. If we truly believe that we are all called to serve God in forms of ministry, regardless of our situation in life, then we should stop using language that implies that ministry is only reserved for the chosen few.

The Call to Ministry

I think that when a person becomes a Christian we should encourage them to go to Bible school and study to become a “full-time” minister. If they are a youth and have yet to graduate college we should encourage them to avoid other schools and help them focus solely on going to a Bible school. If they are already in another college, we should encourage them to change schools and change majors, to pursue something better. If a person is older, and already in a career, we should encourage them to quit for the sake of becoming a missionary or a pastor of some sort. If they are retired, we should tell them to go back to school (Bible school) so they can spend their remaining years doing something useful like being a senior’s pastor or a chaplain at a nursing home. I think that’s what we should do, because then we would have more Christians that are really spiritual and we would have more “full-time” workers to advance the kingdom. I think “part-time” ministers are really a drag on the system, so we need to replace them and have more people be “full-time” ministers.

In case you did not pick up on the sarcasm, let me clarify something - I hate the phrase “full-time ministry.” I don’t know where it started and I don’t know why we perpetuate its use, but I find it insulting, subtly deceptive, and borderline arrogant when someone uses it to describe themselves and what they do (I don’t believe it is done intentionally, but that it comes with the phrase itself). At the very heart of the phrase is the implication that if someone is a “full-time” minister, then other people must be “part-time” ministers, or not really ministers at all (maybe “no-time” ministers). If I say, “I am going into full-time ministry,” we (the Christian community that has learned proper language) understand that I am going to become a pastor or missionary of some sort. No one gets the mistaken idea that I am going to study to become an engineer, or an accountant, or a lawyer (that one is really obvious, right?). And no one thinks I am going to start farming, or look for a job as a custodian, or join a fire fighting crew. We understand “full-time” ministry to be synonymous with “pastor” or “missionary.” We don’t talk about other people being “part-time” ministers, but the not so subtle implication is that there is one group of people who do ministry all the time and everyone else does not. 

Of course when pressed on the issue, we will say, “everyone is a full time minister,” but we continue to perpetuate a language and an associated culture that says, “not everyone can be a full-time minister.” Then we wonder why people sit back and want the pastors to do everything. After all, if the pastor is the “full-time” minister and I am not, then the things of ministry must be their job, not mine. To further support this line of thinking is the idea that “full-time” ministers are “called” to the ministry. Pastors and missionaries talk frequently about their calling from God to ministry, but seldom does a “lay" person (maybe there is some subtle meaning in that phrase to) talk about their calling to ministry (unless the call is from the pastor). If the pastor was called and I was not, it follows that the pastor should be doing the ministry work, not me. 

Here, also, is where the unintentional touch of arrogance comes into play. Seldom does someone say, “I am going into full-time ministry,” instead they say, “I have been called into full-time ministry.” Being “called” into full-time ministry sounds so much more spiritual and so much more important. People don’t go around talking about being called to farming. It would have sounded weird if my dad would have talked about his calling to be a furniture salesman. Christians assume that if you are in another job, it wasn’t about a “calling” from God, but rather a lack of calling from God. The implication is, that if you are called by God, you will be called into “full-time” ministry. God wouldn’t waste a cool voice (whether it is a literal voice, or a feeling, or an open door, or a sign, or whatever) to call a bookkeeper, or a mechanic, or a chef, would he? Again, when pressed on the matter, most will say you can be called to those things, but the reality is that not many really give it much credence or thought. In fact some will say that you should not go into “full-time” ministry unless you have received a calling, but they would never say that about most other professions. You would be hard pressed to find someone argue that you should not become a pharmacist unless you have been called by God to be a pharmacist. It is one of those things we don’t talk about, but it is generally understood - a special calling from God is reserved for those in “full-time” ministry.

In my profession as a teacher, there is a definite hierarchy to the education system and people working in offices have all kinds of fancy titles. They will send out emails and give mini-speeches about the importance of teachers in the classroom, but there are subtle and not-so-subtle ways they communicate that teachers are not really quite as important as they are. It is not uncommon to hear a teacher say, “I am just a teacher,” to describe themselves. That is a way of saying, “I have no authority, I have very little power and I am not really that important.” Teachers feel that way despite the praises of those in power above them, because there are ways of communicating the hierarchy of importance without explicitly saying, “I am more important than you.” It is done with decision making, it is done with titles and offices, it is done with specific practices, structures and procedures, and it is done with repeated phrases and language with implied meaning. 

We do similar things in the church. I have already mentioned the language, but there are other things. Have you ever noticed how excited people get when a young man or woman talks about going into “full-time” ministry? How does that excitement compare to the young man or woman talking about going into computer science or into the arts? Do you see the difference? How about church scholarships? How many churches give scholarships to medical students in state universities? How about the way we treat students when they leave and come back? Have you ever heard a young person come back to their home church and report about what God is doing in their job as waiter or waitress? Do we invite college students to talk about how God is revealing Himself through their study of ecology? I haven’t, but I have heard kids talk about Bible school, and about mission trips and about how they hope to be used by God in “full-time” ministry. 

So here is the real blow to the gut - in all those actions, the implied communication is that we really don’t expect God to be at work in our youth (or adults) unless they are in Bible school (or at least a “Christian” school) and they are pursuing “full-time” ministry. We hope and pray for God’s protection while they are in “the world” pursuing “worldly” things, but we really don’t expect God to do much with their pursuit. We hope that when they start their career, they will get connected to a "good" church where they can be involved in part-time in ministry while they do their other job. In fact our prayers for them tend to be defensive, whereas our prayers for Bible school students tend to be offensive, that is we tend to pray more for protection for those outside of Bible school and pray for power for those in Bible school. The same thing happens as adults settle into their jobs and careers. We talk occasionally about ministering in the work place, but overall we don’t really act like we expect much to happen there, because they are not really ministers anyway. Instead we talk more about doing our work with integrity and to honor God through our diligence and our example to others and we try to get them into "ministry" when they are at the church building.

So here is the thing... If we really believe that every Christian is truly called to a life of ministry - full-time ministry (whether paid or not) - shouldn’t we act and talk like that is what we expect. Shouldn’t we be just as excited for the student who wants to serve God in the world of medicine as we are for the student who wants to serve God in a church (it could even be argued that we should be more excited). We have young people from our church, who were a part of our youth group, who are away at school pursuing careers outside the realm of “full-time” ministry. Their explicit intent is to serve God with all their might in those careers and to make a difference for the sake of the kingdom through their work, and yet we seldom hear about them. We do, however, hear much about those away at Bible school (and I am not saying that we shouldn’t). What do you suppose will be the reaction when each of those young men and women get a job? Who will generate more enthusiasm - the “full-time” minister or the nurse?

So, who is called to "full-time" ministry? The correct answer, of course, is that we all are. Whose ministry is most important? The obvious correct answer is that they are all equally important. So we know the right answers, now we just need to back it up with how we act and how we talk.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has a placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” and the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 12: 4-6, 12-27

Soul Refreshing

Shortly after we left for our vacation, I received a text from a good friend:

“Hope you guys have an awesome time! May it be refreshing to your souls. May your time with God during this trip be sweeter, richer, more vibrant. May that be the thing that stands out when the trip is all over.”

It was a wonderful blessing and a great reminder of what a vacation should be. What greater purpose for a vacation than to enrich my time with God? What better result could there be than to come home from vacation and feel closer to God than when I left? It is a great perspective on vacation - one that I don’t always have when I leave. Too often my focus is just on escape - escape the daily grind, escape the worries of the job, even escape the burdens of church leadership. But my friend reminded me of a much better focus.

When I was in high school I worked for a farmer moving irrigation sprinklers. In some fields I would move 30 to 50 sections of 12 foot pipe, trying to connect and lay them in a straight line. As I attached each section it was important to keep the whole line the same distance from its previous location. If the sections varied too much, especially at the end of the line, the water from the sprinklers would not overlap properly. The longer the line, the harder it was to keep it straight, but the farmer gave me one valuable piece of advice - “Keep your sights on where you are going, not on where you have been.” At the opposite end of the field was usually a bright orange jug hanging from the fence that was the target. After each section was laid down I would look down the line of pipe to make sure it was headed for the jug. Of course I didn’t always remember the advice and sometimes I would catch myself looking back at my line, trying to straighten what I had done. It was amazing how that never worked. Invariably I made things worse when I tried to straighten the line behind me. I might make sections of the pipes straighter, but my line would be pointing in the wrong direction, off line from the jug. When I kept my focus on the jug at the other end, the line of pipe might not be perfectly straight, but it always ended up where it needed to be. 

It is a life lesson that I need to be reminded of often, even on vacation. I have a tendency to look at what I am trying to leave behind, instead of what I am trying to move towards. My line my not always be perfectly straight when I keep looking ahead, but at least I end up in the right place. It is such a simple idea, but one that seems so easy to forget. So, on this vacation, I am trying to set my sights on drawing closer to God, because it is always better to focus on who you want to move towards rather than on what are trying to leave behind. 

Thank you, friend, for the reminder!