Author: Matt

Faith and Forgiveness

Just a few days ago, I read about the jet crashing into a home in San Diego.  It turns out that the crash killed four members of a Korean-American family: a grandmother, mother, and two young daughters.  

I just found this article about Yoon Dong-yun, the husband, who was working nearby and rushed home to see the devestation.  Yoon, a United Methodist Christian, has already offered forgiveness to the pilot, and is concerned for his well-being, “Please pray that the pilot will not anguish over the accident. I don’t blame him for it. He is the one who did his best in order to prevent the crash…”

May we all demonstrate that kind of faith and forgiveness in our own lives.

Pick a Preaching Style, Any Style

Lately, I’ve been reading through Brian D. Russell’s work on missiological readings of Scripture.  I can already see how these articles will seriously affect the way I teach and preach in the future.

As I was reading, I found this interesting quote from Erwin McManus.  Brian asked him if there was a particular style of sermon that connected best with others, and this was his enlightening response:

Brian, in a lot of ways, I think what it comes down to is one simple thing: Does the person listening view you as the kind of person that they would like to in some way become? If the answer is no, no new approach of preaching is going to help you. If the answer is yes, it’s amazing how much people will adapt to your style.

Does Complexity Facilitate Vision?

Andy Stanley had an interesting quote at the Catalyst Conference (h/t Mark Beeson),

The more complex your church government, the more that complexity will war against your vision.

That’s a pretty simple statement, and we could qualify and debate it all day long.  However, I just want to pose a question.  Does the complexity of the United Methodist Church facilitate its vision or compete with it?  What about in local churches?  What do you think?


Techno For Granted

During a discussion of my upcoming Doctor of Ministry project, someone reminded me of a helpful distinction. They described the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. My six year old daughter will never remember a time before iPhones. She has known about the internet her entire life. She is a digital native. Even though I consider myself technologically savvy, I remember a time before DVD players and VCRs. I even existed without cable or satellite as a child. We had three channels and you had to go outside to turn the antenna to get a different station.

Even though I’ve learned DSL (digital as a second language – haha), for the most part I’m still fairly fluent in our digital culture. However, sometimes I assume people know things that I take for granted because I’ve been speaking this language for several years.

One of the questions I sometimes am asked is, “How can you keep up with the content on blogs?” It would be exhausting to click through “favorites” from blog to blog to blog. I follow 100 blogs via an RSS feeder that I check about once a day. If you’re a digital immigrant, you would greatly benefit from learning how to do this! Jay Voorhees (at his his technopastor address) pointed to a good summary of RSS in simple language some time back, so I’ll just point you to that.

Click here if you follow blogs but have no idea what RSS is. What you’ll find is basically a quick way to get a ton of information. For me that means I can check 100 blogs in no time at all.  I use Google Reader to manage all of this.

I’d list my top 100, but its constantly changing. I’ve sort of made a point to take one off every time I add a new one, so it stays manageable. So, I hope this helps you digital immigrants out there and gives you yet another shortcut for navigating a whole new world!

How to be a Finisher

One of the real challenges I’ve faced is moving from being the sole staff member, pastor, preacher, leader in two congregations to being a member of a larger team.  As a result, I’ve been on the lookout for great information about how to better function on a team.

Kem Meyer is the author of one of my favorite blogs, and in a recent post she pointed me to this article by her husband Mark Meyer (whose blog I just subscribed to) that really provides some great information on “how to be a finisher.”

  • Look for an opportunity to take an initiative that has been stalling out or hanging incomplete at work. Take it, and in your mind make yourself 100% responsible. Do what it takes to get it done and done well. Want to be normal? Be cynical and roll your eyes at how the project is just another company objective that will never get done…
  • In meetings and conversations, be the best note taker- pay attention and get the details of what needs to be done whether it’s your responsibility or not. Help remind people of the tasks to do, priorities at hand, and assist people by reminding then what needs to get done. Normal is people on your team missing details leaving projects incomplete, clients unhappy, and money uncollected. Fill in the cracks for your team so your team finishes strong.
  • Be willing to make a decision. Everyday there are scores of emails and conversations filled with questions, hurdles, and excuses. Bring clarity and be solution oriented… take those things that are spinning and bring them to a finish line. What’s normal? Add to the confusion, be vague, ask questions that seem really smart but just keep things undone, offer more reasons why something can’t be done and how you don’t have enough information. Hide in the multitudes of 80%.

Great stuff, eh?  I love his thoughts on how to “be normal,” and the way he points to exceptional ministry by avoiding those traps.  I look forward to reading more of Mark’s thoughts in the future.

Bible Study Interests?

One of my ongoing responsibilities in my new position is teaching a fairly in-depth bible study each week.  On Tuesday morning at 6:30, I have been walking through Paul’s letter to the Romans with a group of about 60 men.  Later, at 9:30, I teach about 65 women the same material.

We’re about to come to the end of Romans in the men’s group and that means we’ll be heading on to something new.  I’m not sure what direction I want to go at this point, so I thought I’d enlist your help!  Which of the following books would you most like to study?  This list is selected based on a couple of criteria, primarly what our groups have already covered (Romans and Matthew most recently) and my personal interests.

So, here ya go!  If you’d like to add some comments for your reasons, feel free to do so in the comment section below.  Just as a note, if we choose something like the Psalter it will not be a three year study but instead will focus on some of the theological highlights.

Finding the Jesus You Thought You Had Lost

This is one of the transcripts from the teaching videos I’m doing each Sunday.  This one is based on Luke 2:41-52 and owes a lot to N.T. Wright’s interpretation in his “Luke for Everyone” commentary.

Growing up, I lived on a small country back-road. If you ever drove down it, you might even think it was a back-road off of a back-road. In many ways, my life was something like that of an earlier time. On one side of our property you had my great Aunt and Uncle, the Fitzgeralds, across the street were the Sisks, and on the other side you had the old Reich place. Behind our house there was a little branch called Jackson Creek, and just across our pasture were the Potato Hills. There were so many times when I’d leave the house in the morning and tell my mom goodbye. She would just wave and say, “Make sure you’re home before dark!” We knew everyone up and down that little back-road, so she wasn’t worried. Besides, if I got in trouble, she would know before I got back home!

My kids will grow up in a different world. Even if we lived in that same place, I think I’d be a little more cautious about letting my kids run wild. There’s no way we’re going to let our kids leave the house and not know where they are all day long!

Today’s scripture passage takes place in a world much more like the world I was raised in. Luke tells us that Jesus’ family lived in a tiny village called Nazareth. Everything we know about Nazareth from sources outside the bible and archeologists suggest that it couldn’t have been more than about 500 people. Undoubtedly Mary and Joseph would have had extended families and friends throughout the village. It’s no surprise, then, that they could set off with a large group of travelers making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover without keeping a close eye on Jesus.

Yet after a day’s travel, when they looked around to see if Jesus was there, he was nowhere to be found. Jerusalem was a bustling city of around 70,000 people in pretty tight quarters. It was one thing to let a twelve year old boy run free in Nazareth, but the city was full of dark alleys, strange people, soldiers, and traders. You can almost feel Mary and Joseph’s anxiety and urgency when they run back to Jerusalem to search for their son.

I get paranoid if I lose sight of my kids when we’re out shopping even if they’re in the same store that I’m in. But can you imagine realizing you’d left your child in the big city, when you assumed he was traveling back with your family and friends?

So they rushed back to Jerusalem…and notice something interesting…they didn’t find him in the first place they searched. We read that after three days they found him in the temple. Three long days this couple from Nazareth searched Jerusalem: walking the back alleys, asking merchants, calling out his name as they searched. And finally, they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers. Rabbis didn’t stand at the front of the class when they taught. They sat and their students gathered around. It’s important to notice that twelve-year-old Jesus is sitting among the teachers, listening, asking questions, and amazing everyone with his grasp of the faith. Actually, the Greek word used here is existanto, and you could translate the passage literally, he was shocking them with his understanding and answers.

Mary and Joseph were blown away (explagesan), and Mary reacts as any good mother by saying, “You had us scared half to death, how could you do this to us? Your father and I have been searching for you like crazy!!!” But Jesus reminds us of something extremely important with his response when he says, “Why were you searching?? Didn’t you realize I’d be here in my Father’s house?”

This passage is filled with meaning, and to be honest the only way we can wrap our minds and hearts around it is to treasure it in our hearts in the same way Luke tells us Mary did.

I can relate to this story all too well on several different levels. There have been times in my life when I’ve went my own way, assuming Jesus was with me, taking Jesus for granted, and all of a sudden I look around and he’s not where I expected him to be. Again and again, the times that I have decided to strike out on my own and do it my way, I’ve struggled. Like Mary and Joseph, I’ve at least had enough awareness to search for Jesus. But also like them, I’ve often spent three days looking for him where he can’t be found. And Jesus will say to us, “Didn’t you know where to find me? I’m here going about my Father’s business.”

As Christians from the Methodist Tradition we have a strong belief that God has given us a map of where he can be found. We call this map the “means of grace.” These are the means where God promises to meet us: in worship together as the Church, in prayer, in studying Scripture, baptism, Holy Communion, authentic Christian community, visiting the sick, caring for the poor, giving. Are you looking for Jesus? Believe it or not, you can still find him in his Father’s house. I want to invite and challenge you to return to the tried and true places where God has promised to meet his people. Don’t waste your time looking anywhere else, and you’ll find the Jesus you thought you’d lost.

Joe the Saint

You’ve heard about Joe the Plumber, now hear about Joe the Saint.  This is from a sermon I once preached and an old post here on the blog – just in time for All Saints Sunday!

There is a classic story about one of these saints told by Tony Campolo. There was a man named Joe who was addicted to alcohol. By God’s grace he was converted to the Christian faith at a mission in one of the worst parts of New York City. Before his conversion, Joe was known – at best – as a dirty hopeless wino with no future. Following his conversion, something profound happened. Joe became the most caring person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. He spent his days and nights “happening by” the mission to do whatever needed to be done. There wasn’t a single task that was too lowly for Joe to take on. There was never anything he was asked to do that he considered to be ‘beneath him.’ If a bathroom needed to have vomit mopped up, Joe was the man. If a toilet needed scrubbing, Joe was the man. Joe did anything he was asked with a kind smile and gratitude for getting the chance to help. He could be counted on to feed those feeble men who wandered into the mission off the streets, and to carefully prepare those for bed who were simply too far gone to take care of themselves. One evening, the director of the mission held a worship service and spoke to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads. One man looked up, came down to the altar, knelt to pray, and began to sob. “Oh God, I’m ready to change.” The repentant man kept shouting, “Oh God, make me like Joe! Make me like Joe, dear God! Make me like Joe; make me like Joe!” Finally the director of the mission came, and knelt down beside the man to pray, “Son…I think it might be better if you prayed, ‘Dear God, make me like Jesus.’” The man looked up with tears in his eyes and a puzzled expression on his face. He asked, “Is he anything like Joe?”

That’s what it means to be a saint. We need to be like Joe! When people are around a saint, they know it. Saints are those people who follow Jesus so closely that he starts to rub off. When you look at a saint, there is something joyful and worthwhile about them – they embrace the world with one hand and God with the other. They’re people worth imitating.