We Might Have Been Born This Way But...

A thought-provoking article on Lady Gaga was published at Sojourners blog: The Gospel According to Lady Gaga.

The end point is good but the illustration to get there is rocky. I think he is just trying to justify being a Lady Gaga fan.

This is what I think. I think every Christ-following church should start talking to their youth groups, saying unambiguously: We want you to be a wall of protection for kids like Jamey. Seek out and protect--emotionally and socially--every weird, weak, nerdy, lonely, queer kid at your school. We don't care if they are a goth, or a druggy, or a queer. Doesn't matter. Protect these kids. Churches should train their youth groups to be angels of protection, teaching them to find these kids and say, "Hey, I love you. Jesus loves you. So no one's going to bully you. Not on my watch. Come sit with me at lunch." That's what I think. I think every Christ-following church should start Guardian Angel programs like this, teaching their kids to stick up for kids like Jamey. Not with violence. But with welcome and solidarity. Because it's hard to bully a group. So let's welcome these kids into a halo of protection and friendship.

I couldn't agree more.

But I'm confused. In one paragraph, Richard writes that Gaga's group is so supportive. A few paragraphs before that, he states that one of the people who found comfort in Gaga's support network killed himself. Not a good example of the support network I want to encourage.

As a commenter after the post expressed, Gaga actually encourages remaining a monster rather than being redeemed and transformed. It's the "this is who I am and don't need to change" mentality. Or one could say they were born this way. We might like the beat and the feel of the music, but the message is not one that lifts people up and brings about freedom in Jesus. It gives an endorsement to remain in a state of sin.

To use the story that Richard uses, the support network of Gaga did not give enough support to Jamey. Do I wish the church would have been there to support him? Of course I do. And I bet it was. But many people don't want support or acceptance, they want approval and an endorsement of who they think they are rather than encouragement to become who God destined them to be. We were all born with a sinful nature, but we are each destined for something greater. 

The Moving of Change

After many weeks of packing and preparing, the day of our move finally came. Friends and vehicles assembled, and the sweat began to roll. Trip after trip, clearing out the old house and filling up the new one. Eventually, the excitement of the move dwindled. Generous people had other things to get to, but I still had to finish my move. I packed up one van load alone while waiting for some more friends to arrive to help me finish some of the larger items.

Now, everything is moved, but we are not settled in. Fixing the broken window that a bed post went through. Sewing up the hole that was mysteriously made in the couch. Then the cleaning. Then the unpacking. Followed by the arranging and rearranging. We will notice something that we forgot to take care of and fix it. Changing the place where one lives is never simple. There is a lot to do after the decision to move has been made.

The same is true for a person who has decided to follow Jesus. That initial decision is life-changing and refreshing. But eventually you will find yourself alone. Alone with your thoughts. Alone with who you are. Alone with the struggles and pitfalls that once ensnared you. What will you do when all of the weight of the world seems to come crashing down on you? Will you continue to move on toward Jesus? Or will you go back to the place where you once were?

This is where Church comes in. Moving would be nigh impossible without the help of friends. Living for Jesus is made much easier with the help of friends who are also trying together to live for Jesus. Too often we disregard church because we don’t like something that they do during the one hour that they meet on Sunday mornings. This is a ridiculous and costly mistake. Church is so much more than just an hour on Sunday morning. It’s about a life lived in community with others throughout the week.

Being part of a healthy church is not easy, but it is worth all the sweat. It takes time and effort on everyone’s part. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Like a move, it takes preparation. It takes many meals together. It takes talking with one another and dreaming together. It takes meeting people’s needs together. It even takes the unpopular idea of correcting one another.

The writer of Hebrews wrote: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” [Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)].

Too often, we pretend that church is just singing and studying together, but God intended it to be so much more. Church is to be that place where we are encouraged and challenged. I can listen to a sermon online from one of the nation’s best preachers without interacting with other people. You can sing along with the praise music or hymns of your choice in the comfort of your shower without having to bother with those music styles you dislike. But you can’t encourage one another without getting together. You also can’t encourage one another by just going to a “sacred” building for an hour on Sunday morning where you clock in and clock out to get to eat as soon as possible.

Church can be so much more than we are currently experience. Are you ready to move? I am.

We Gather Together to Sharpen One Another - Iron Sharpens Iron

In 1954, the impossible became possible.  Roger Bannister was the first to run a mile in under four minutes.  Within ten years, a high schooler ran a mile in less than four minutes.  Bannister broke the barrier and everyone else followed.  They learned that it could be done, and those who were able to train with him learned his methods on how to do it.  In 1997, two miles were ran in less than eight minutes.  The impossible keeps becoming possible.  When people believe something can be done and train with one another, what was once thought impossible can be achieved.

The same thing happened with the 100m dash.  It was thought to be impossible to run it in less than ten seconds.  That barrier was broken in 1968; now over 70 people have ran the 100m dash in less than ten seconds.  They learn from one another and break barriers that were previously thought impossible.

Last week, I wrote Why Should I Go to Church?   The point of that post was that we gather together to encourage one another and spur each other on to do loving actions for others.  In this post we are going to change gears a little and focus on how when we gather together, we can do more than we could do by ourselves.  This is the result of sharpening one another.  The writer of Proverbs wrote, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).

What you have accomplished after hard work and struggling can easily be passed on to me if I am humble enough to learn from you and your experience.  Sometimes our greatest enemy is ourselves, our self-sufficiency and self-reliance.  We think we have to blaze our own trail and not follow down the road of those who are on the journey with us.  We become prideful and unteachable, but the key is that others can unlock doors that we can not; we can do the same for them.  Together we can accomplish more than we could as two separate people.

A healthy gathering of believers is one where the people learn from one another, sharpen one another, and encourage each other to do greater things than they would have done if left alone.  There is this saying that one's ceiling can become the next generation's floor.  I think it is true in the narrower context of daily living.  What you learn today, can be my knowledge and actions tomorrow if I am teachable. I can do what you have learned to do through years of hard work in just a short time if you are willing to share and I am willing to learn.  Let us not neglect meeting together because together we can build something greater than we could apart.

Why Should I Go to Church?

You might be like me.  I am very skittish about organized religion.  And yet here I am, a full-time pastor.  I completely gave up on the church when I was a youth minister.  I had become so discouraged with the way the church operated, the politics involved, people who seemed to be seeking out their own interests rather than passionately pursuing whatever God wants no matter what the cost might be.  In the midst of it, I gave up on God, but he did not give up on me.  He kicked me in the bottom, as we say it in our family to the kids.  “Judge me by who I am.” He said.  “Not by those who claim to follow me.  If you think the church needs to change, so do I.” 

According to a recent poll, 72% of Millenials, the generation after Generation X, who were born sometime between the mid 70s to the early 2000s, identify themselves as being spiritual but not religious. 

The writer of Hebrews wrote, "Let us...not neglect to meet together."  It’s true, not because it is in Scripture;  it is in Scripture because it is true.  “You’re supposed to go to church because Hebrews 10:25 says so” is not a good approach if you want to convince someone that they should come to church.

We are able and expected to ask, “Why?”  Have you ever noticed how we’re scared of that question?  “Why?”  Those three letters are scary, terrifying, and too often ignored by those who have not thought through why they do what they do and teach what they teach.  The church seems to hate that question, but we must be willing to seek answers and explain why we believe what we believe and do what we do. 

I was one of those annoying kids that always asked, “Why.”  I pestered my parents with “why”.  I wanted to know why everything needed to be done the way they said it needed to be done, and I wanted to know why things functioned the way they functioned.  I hated any subject in school or college where the answer to why we had to learn it wasn’t laid out.  “Why” might be a scary question, especially when the answers are unknown, but it is one of the greatest questions.   

As Christians we should be able to answer the “why” question for what we do and how we do it.  If you invite someone to church and they ask, “Why should I come to church?”  They might phrase it, not in the form of a question, but in a statement through which they tell you that they don’t need the church to be spiritual and right with God.  And in a way, they are right.  Church is not necessary to be right with God.  But we’re not trying to live a minimal Christianity of just being right with God; we want to live a faith of complete devotion.  We want to be all that God plans for us to be, a group of people that will cause the gates of hell to shudder when we gather together. 

I heard the excuse from a friend that they don’t have to go to church to be right with God when I invited her to church the other week, and to be honest with you, it is a tendency I have.  I struggle with hating the organized church.  I’m ashamed of the atrocities and the violations of justice that have been done through the organized church in the name of God throughout the years and are still being supported.  I’m distraught over institutions of ritual that go through the empty and endless motions of fake devotion and remain in existence long after God has left the building.  I abhor the politics involved; the disagreements and distractions from the mission we have been called to.  I get frustrated at being criticized for doing what I think is best to bring about God’s will here in Antwerp.  I despise people thinking they are right with God because of head knowledge, being baptized, asking Jesus into their heart, or their knowledge of the Scriptures.  Because of all these things, I would long to just go off on my own and do church the way I understand it should be done.  And you might feel that way too.

In the end, the way I feel is very selfish.  It is not a manifestation of the Holy Spirit but of the individualism of our society creeping out.  You could not create a more American religion than one that is self-sufficient and reliant upon the strength of the individual to stay strong without encouragement and accountability from others.  In the framework of spirituality without the church, my spirituality is about myself and myself only.  I get to use my money on what on I want, study only what I am fascinated with, live my life without anyone else questioning anything, and not have to wrestle with thoughts that are different than mine.  In an American era where we can get our news from sources that always agree with us, commentary from friends we agree with, and have the power to ignore people with a click of a button, this idea that I am the supreme ruler of my spiritual life fits right in.  

But Jesus designed us to gather together.  Jesus did not come and create his ministry in isolation. 

In one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs, Given to Fly, Eddie Vedder tells the story of a spiritual man who learns how humanity can unlock the chains that keep us down, chains he sees everywhere.  This spiritual person begins to tell people about what he has learned and how they can be free, but they respond by beating and stabbing him.  It goes on:

He still stands

And he still gives his love, he just gives it away
The love he receives is the love that is saved
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly

A beautiful and inspiring story about individual spirituality, but Jesus was different.  He still sets us free, but he didn’t come as a Lone Ranger.  He surrounded himself with disciples.  Then he charged these disciples to create more disciples.  He established a kingdom, a community, a city of believers under his rule.  We are a body connected one to another.  We are a family.

We should not throw that out because the church all too frequently messes up, because we have been hurt by someone at church, or some other reason.  On the flip side, we should not settle for a church that is wasting time.  We should allow God to use us to shape ourselves and the community we are part of into what God wants us to be.  We should not give up on the church because it is faulty.  God does not give up on us because we are faulty.  We need to be open to God using us to bring about the change He desires.

As the rest of that section from the writer of Hebrews states, "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near" [Heb 10:24-25 (ESV)].

We gather, not for our sake, but to spur each other on toward living lives filled with loving actions and doing good for those around us.  That is not always easy.  It's easy to fall in selfish mode, to get absorbed by our own lives and our own needs.  God knew that we would have this tendency to become self-absorbed, so He came down in the flesh and established His Church.  When we, the Church gather together, we need to be focused on encouraging one another.   Maybe that means we need to rethink what we do and how we do it, but encouraging one another is not something we can do by ourselves.