An Integrated Life

I spent awhile this morning meditating on these words from Henri Nouwen  (The Genesee Diary):

“When God is my only concern, when God is at the center of my interest, when all my prayers, my reading, my studying, my speaking, and writing [let's add: my running of my business, my parenting, my lawyering, my farming, my factory work, my accounting, my store clerking...] serve only to know God better and to make him known better, then there is no basis for anxiety or stage fright… How divided my heart has been and still is!  I want to love God, but also to make a career.  I want to be a good Christian, but also have my successes as a teacher, preacher, or speaker.  I want to be a saint, but also enjoy the sensations of the sinner.  i want to be close to Christ but also popular and liked by many people.  No wonder that living  becomes a tiring enterprise.”

That’s worth chewing on for awhile for those of us who feel called to make the Monday Connection in our lives.   What does it mean to “make him better known” in the way I go about my daily work?  Is there a way to make God better known in the way I run a business?  In the way I parent my children?  In the way I teach?  In the way I manage my office?  In the way I tend the shop? …  You get the idea.  If God is everywhere, if I am called to serve him in all I do, if every job can be a calling, if it is “Christ who lives in me”, if I am “seeking first the kingdom”, then it has to be possible, doesn’t it?  I’m not saying it is easy.  I agree with Nouwen that I am often plagues by a divided heart.  But that must  become my motivation, my resolve, not my excuse. 

Ah, to live a God-centered life from Monday to Saturday….

kb

Challenge for Church Leaders

“Most church structures are concerned with institutional maintenance.  Sometimes participation in these structures is called ministry, but it still has a significant maintenance dimension — maintaining the Sunday school, …the youth group, …all the programs that keep the institution alive and well.  Certainly lives are changed by these programs, and people grow in them, but most programs still focus attention on the church and its ministry, not on disciples and their ministries. The switch from maintenance to ministry is the change needed.”  (Jeffrey Jones, Heart, Mind, and Strength — Theory and Practice for Congregational Leadership.  The Alban Institute, 2008. p 130.)

Jones’ observation resonates in my Reformed bones.  The institutional church is the place where Christ-followers should be encouraged, equipped, and empowered for their ministry in the world on Monday through Saturday.  There is good reason why the Sunday liturgy closes with the “Sending Forth”.  What happens in Sunday worship, as in all the ministries and programs of the church, should propel God’s people back into the world where we follow Christ in “the trenches” of life.  The metaphor of the “huddle” from the world of athletics captures it well for me.  The ministries of the church are where we take a time-out, huddle on the sidelines for a brief rest, encouragement, fresh instructions, and head back into the game.

I’d like to think that our Reformed understanding of Church and Kingdom liberates us from what Jones calls the “concern for institutional maintenance.”  But I suspect we slip into that mode in more ways than we realize.  William Diehl tells the story (in The Monday Connection) of how he was formally recognized and commissioned in his church when he became a Sunday School teacher, but the church never showed interest in him or encouraged him when it came to his ministry as an executive with Bethlehem Steel Corp.

I wonder if there are members in the church I serve who feel the same lack of affirmation when it comes to their daily ministry.  I hope not, but…

“A God-intoxicated Life”

The heading for this post comes from A Testament of Devotion, the spiritual classic written by Quaker missionary Thomas Kelly nearly 70 years ago.  I love that expression and what it suggests about making the Monday Connection in our lives.  I can think of no activity in the life of the Christian (individual or community) that fosters or inspires “God-intoxication” like worship.   When Sunday worship is at its best, or should I say when WE are at our best in worship, we are so caught up by the majesty and worth and beauty of God that we are genuinely “intoxicated” by Him.  I think of the longing of the Psalmist in Ps 84: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”   Isn’t that an expression of “God-intoxication”?

To carry that intoxication into the rest of the week is the challenge we face.  Kelly urges that one way to do that is to learn the practice of “inward prayer.”  He says, “I find this internal continuous prayer life absolutely essential.  It can be carried on day and night, in the thick of business, in home and school.”  He describes is as a simple and repetitive prayer of submission, even a single sentence of phrase that we repeat over and over again through the day.  It could be from a line of scripture in our morning devotions — e.g. the following lines from Psalm 92, which I was reading this morning: ‘You make me glad by your deeds, O Lord.” Or “How great are your works, O Lord.”  “You are exalted forever.”  Or from a song/hymn, e.g. “My God, how wonderful you are!”  The idea is to carry the words with us through the day, even the busyness, repeating them as an “inward prayer”.

What a practical and accessible way to grow in “God-intoxication” throughout the week.  I think I need to be more intentional about practicing this habit in my life.

Discerning God’s Will Together

The title for this posting is the title of a book co-authored by Charles Olsen and Danny Morris.  I want to share and reflect briefly on the insights and observations they offer.   The case they make entails two fundamental points.  First, it should be our passionate and heartfelt desire to seek to know and do God’s will.  This means being in tune with God’s yearning for us.  Remember Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  By the leading and renewing power of the Holy Spirit, God’s redeemed people are able to discern his will.  The book of Acts describes the proceedings of the council of Jerusalem when the early church leaders wrestled with the difficult and contentious issue of whether Gentile converts should be circumcised.  Chapter 15 tells the story of how the apostles and elders came to one mind and heart through a process of discernment.  Listen to the language: “It seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church…” (22).  “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials” (28-29).  This is the language of discernment.  The early church earnestly desired to know what God’s desire was in this important matter, and after struggle, vigorous debate, and prayer, they discerned what God’s will was.

The second point that authors make is that, although it is not easy, there are certain practices that individuals and communities may (should) practice that increase the likelihood of discerning God’s leading.  These are practices related to scripture and prayer.  The bigger or deeper the issue before the body, the more time and patience that may be required.  The group (I’m thinking particularly of the church “council”, but it can by any group of believers) will take the time to reflect on stories or lessons from scripture that seem to relate to the issue before them.  In other words, we would try to frame and issue or question in light of the story of God’s Word.  Does this issue remind us a passage of the Bible?  a story?  a lesson from the ministry of Jesus?  from the teaching of the apostles or the prophets?  Pressing such questions helps us stay rooted in the scriptures.  And of course we would also take time for prayer.  If needs be, much time.  Maybe even times of silent prayer so that each person can refocus and settle him or her-self before God.

The authors proceed to outline and discuss ten “movements” that groups (and individuals) can practice in the process of discernment.  I’m not going to cover all that ground, but all the movements flow out of the group’s commitment to scripture and prayer.

There is another point pressed by Olsen and Morris that I find personally convicting.  It relates to the heart of the discerner. “If the Holy Spirit has not been welcomed into the life of the discerner, practices of discernment will be empty and impotent.  The habit of discernment constitutes a way of being, by which we are steeped in spirituality as a way of life, and spirituality becomes as necessary as the air we breathe” (47).  WHEW!  Which means that I and my fellow elders and deacons are called to encourage and support one another in developing good spiritual habits in our personal lives!  Spiritual discernment is not a matter of plugging in a program of “Ten Steps to Knowing God’s Will”.  It begins and grows out of a yearning in my own heart and life to know and do God’s will.

I have to think it would be an exciting adventure to covenant with fellow council members to grow and develop in such habits in our own lives.  And then bringing that heightened spiritual sensitivity to our work together as a community of spiritual leaders.  How does that sound?

kb

A better way for church councils… (continued)

Let me continue on this subject and highlight some of the practices suggested by Olsen and Morris.   One  is to design a “worship-oriented” agenda.  Rather than simply offer prayers as book ends to the meeting, shape the meeting in an intentionally worshipful way.  Start by Gathering in God’s Name — invoking God’s presence, perhaps singing a hymn (or psalm or spiritual song).  This already sets a worshipful tone to what we are gathered to do.  Include Story Telling – this can be done in a variety of ways.  At each meeting a different elder or deacon might share her or his faith story, reflecting especially the role of this church in shaping faith.  Or instead of reports by teams/committees that focus primarily on goals or strategies, include a personal story from an area of ministry, a more inspirational way to report what God is doing among us.  Include a time for Responding to God’s Word — this might be a time for intercessory prayer.  As Olsen suggests, “intercession is a work to be done.”  Surely it is work appropriate to the gathering of the church’s spiritual leaders!  So take time to identify issues, needs, concerns, etc.  And close with a time for Going in Peace. Take a few moments to reflect on what God has done among us and what we have experienced together.  Are there any lingering sensitivities or anxieties or frustrations within the group that we need to attend to before we part?  Then take the time to do that, close in prayer, sing the Doxology, and “go in peace.”  I suspect that incorporating such practices might leave more council members feeling spiritually enriched by time the meeting is over.

Another feature of doing meetings in a worshipful way is the incorporation of prayers throughout the meeting.  When appropriate, pause and offer a prayer of thanksgiving.  Or perhaps what is needed is a prayer of confession in which we admit our weariness or confusion or failures.  There may be moments when a “time out” needs to be called to spend time in prayer — maybe deliberations have become heated, egos have swelled, and we need time to refocus.  5 minutes of silent prayer could work wonders.

I found this observation by Olsen to be intriguing: “If a board or council can only make a few good decisions in a year, ask, ‘What is the most important decision we have to make this year?”  Thus he proposes creating an “annual agenda”.  “Pick the two to four major decisions and develop a process for consideration that ensures good communication, lead time, and prayer.”  Imagine that.  The community of spiritual leaders discerns the two to four issues/decisions that stand out in the life of the church and map a strategy for resolving them during the course of the season — a process that leaves enough time for prayer, fact-finding, information-gathering, community input, etc.

Fascinating possibilities, don’t you think?  More next time on “discernment practices” — how do we discern God’s will together?

kb

A better way for church councils (boards) to do business

Since we’re exploring the connection between Sunday and Monday (& the rest of the week), I think we need to examine not only how we go about business in the marketplace.  How about in the church?  In my 30+ years of experience participating in, and sometime presiding over, “council” meetings (gatherings of the elders and deacons), it is clear that our model of preference (or default) is one that is marked by a strong Calvinistic sense of order that features a (usually long) printed agenda.  The proceedings are guided  by Robert’s Rules of Order (was Robert an apostle?) and honors the principle of majority rule.  Meetings are ordinarily begun and closed with brief prayers — bookends around the business of the evening.  We trust and pray that the resolutions of the majority represent God’s will for the church.

For many years I have felt a certain restlessness about how we manage the church’s business in our councils.  On Sunday we are reminded that we are the body of  Christ, that he is the Head, that his Word is our final authority, and the his Spirit leads the church.  So how exactly do those foundational truths and characteristics of the church come to expression in the way we do our business?  What does it mean for the elders and deacons to be a community of spiritual leaders in the household of faith?  Are there ways for us to design and conduct council business that better reflect Paul’s Epistles than Robert’s Rules?

Anyway, these are matters that I have been wrestling with these past couple of weeks.  I’ve been helped and stimulated greatly by a couple of books by Charles M. Olsen.  Both are published by the Alban Institute.  One is Transforming Church  Boards into Communities of Spiritual Leaders. The other, co-authored by Danny E. Morris, is Discerning God’s Will Together — A Spiritual Practice for the Church. What Olsen discovered in his research is what I have found to be true throughout my years of ministry — that far too often elders and deacons conclude their terms of service feeling somehow disappointed by the experience.  Says Olsen:

“When personal experience stories comes out, they often are couched in ‘something was missing’ language.  Having come to the board with an expectation that this would be a faith-deepening and faith-enhancing opportunity, new members found a ‘business-as-usual’ board often bogged down in a time-consuming agenda.  What was ‘missing’ for them was a faith orientation” (Transforming, xiii).

By contrast Olsen suggests a new paradigm: “The individual board member is no longer seen as a political representative but as a spiritual leader.  The board or council is no longer seen as a group of corporate managers, but as the people of God in community.  The meeting is no longer seen as s litany of reports and decisions held together by ‘book-end’ prayers but as ‘worshipful work” (Transforming, xii).  “The collective board is not to see itself as a coordinating cabinet or an advisory group…,  but as the body of Christ, with members having varying gifts, wisdom, and functions.  As such the group’s life is formed by scripture, prayer, silent waiting, witnessing, and serving…” (10).

That’s a paradigm I can get excited about.  I’ll come back to this in my next posting and share some of the insights and suggestions offered by Olsen and Morris on how we can move in this new direction (and why it is more old than new!).

kb

Why “Monday Connection”?

A new blog, a new blogger.  Why “Monday Connection”?  The name is borrowed shamelessly from the title of a wonderful book by William Diehl in which he explores how Christ-followers can make the connection from Sunday worship in church to a life of Christian worship (service) in the workplace on Monday (and Tuesday and Wednesday…).  As a pastor I am convinced that one of my greatest challenges and privileges is to encourage. equip and enable  congregants to integrate their faith and work in daily life.

Think of it.  For most adult Christians their workplace is the primary arena for following Christ and participating in his mission in the world.  It’s the world they enter daily.  Assuming a career of 45 years and an average workweek of 50 hours, they will spend over 100,000 hours in the workplace before retirement.  If the church is their spiritual home, the source of their motivation, guidance, and encouragement, then the church better be intentional about helping her members understand and embrace their daily calling in the workplace.

Which leads me to the reason for the MondayConnection Blog.  I’ve been reading and writing about this topic for years.  While on sabbatical I intend to do some more reading and writing.  This will be my forum for Thinking Out Loud about what I’m discovering and wondering about and questioning.  I hope you’ll join me on this journey.  At least check in from time to time.  And feel free to wonder with me by adding your own comments and questions.

Ken Baker

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