Charlie Wear’s Notes

 A Christianity Worth Believing -- Interview with Doug Pagitt: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (297)

On the eve of publication of Doug Pagitt’s new book, A Christianity Worth Believing, Doug and Bob Hyatt sat down at the National Pastors’ Convention for a chat about how Doug thinks of his critics, about pressure from the left and right, that infamous interview with Way of the Master, and what’s next- a career in politics?

They started off talking about tattoos (part of the conversation we’ll save you from…)  but a sun/moon/stars/Psalms tattoo led us to talking about Scriptural cosmology and how some people see/deal with Scripture… and that’s where we jump into the conversation…

Are people really struggling to make connections? Is "authentic" community as big a deal as church leaders make it out to be? My friend Scott Bane is talking about these issues on his blog. These days I have some extra time to think about these quandaries. Just about a year ago I was up to my neck in thinking about how a new church would deal with some of these issues. Now I am observing from 2000 miles away what is happening in that same new church on these same issues.

I think it is basic to say that most people fulfill their need for community in their families. If this is true, then the need for community increases proportionately when family ties are weakened or broken. Likewise, where families are strong, these church-generated "community connections" are less important. For me the most valuable connections have been those I have made "on mission." This is because I am more of a human "doing" than a human "being."

Ah well, it’s Friday and another weekend is just around the corner. Time to spend with the family!

The time changed yesterday and I didn’t even notice it. I used to have alarm clocks, clock radios and such and with every time change I had to figure out how to change the clock. Now, I use my cell phone as my alarm clock, my computer and the satellite TV automatically change time. I suppose when I get in my truck this morning to head for work I will find that the clock needs to be set.

This is just another example of how much my life has changed since I stopped attending "regular" church services. In my days of "church" attendance time changes were important. They meant I had to get up "earlier" or that I got to sleep in "later."

The other time change that seems to be slipping by unnoticed is the difference between the way I live my life now and the way I lived my life ten years ago. Now there is something to contemplate for sure. I’ll have to do it later though because it is time to get ready for work.

One of my favorite mentors used to say something like, "It’s time to get born again, again!" There is something powerful about that idea. The idea that we can choose to turn our lives around, to surrender once again to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, to make a commitment and a decision to once again, follow him.

This is a good time of year to think about these things, with Easter just around the corner. Jesus made the ultimate surrender when he laid his life down. His resurrection can be a sign of the power and hope that can come when we "give it all up."

I like Eugene Peterson’s take on a portion of the message to the church at Laodicea as found in Revelation 3:19:

"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

About face! Yeah, just another way of saying, Repent! Spring is just around the corner. Resurrection is just a repentance away. I think I’ll give it a go and be born again, again!

Ed Stetzer brings it at the Southern Baptist Convention and gives an excellent example of contextualization, preaching with all of the fire and passion that is expected from a Baptist preacher. His message? Get missional. This is really, really good.

I need time management. No, you didn’t read this incorrectly. I didn’t say I need a time management "system." I have had about elebenty-seven of those over the years.What I need to develop is the ability to say no to all of the good things that others expect me to say yes to. And then I need to learn to say yes to all of the best things that will allow me to be happy and effective in my endeavors.

I need to learn to explore the beauty of procrastination. Huh? Yes, I need to learn to put off until tomorrow those urgent and violently important things that I really don’t need to do. If I can become a better procrastinator I won’t have to redouble my efforts when it appears that I am not living up the the expectations of those around me. I fear that implosion is just around the corner unless I can develop this skill.

When the pile gets too big, I simply start to shut down. I begin to fill my time with fun stuff: reaching out by email to old friends, making long phone calls, scheduling appointments that can easily wait for another time, going to the movies, playing hearts or solitaire, you get the idea. Anything but the important stuff that is at hand. I get so bogged down that malaise can easily set in. So here’s my plan today, I am going to be a better procrastinator and put off everything that is keeping me from accomplishing the vitally important tasks that only I can do.

Wouldn’t it be great to be an all-powerful wizard? Someone like the Wizard of Oz? I think it is amazing how we want to believe that our leaders (read pastors, bosses, professors, governors or candidates) are somehow superhuman. [Of course, Californians do have the Terminator as governor, unfortunately he hasn’t been able to prevent the estimated $16 billion dollar budget deficit caused by the housing crunch. Apparently even the Governator is only human.]

I have spent some time in my life working and serving in the "institutional church." You know what I mean. I have seen denominational leadership and mega-church leadership up close. I have been on staff in a large church, and I have been part of the overseeing group in a church network. Here is the good news and the bad news. The good news? All of these leaders are "just ordinary people like you and me." The bad news? All of these leaders are "just ordinary people like you and me."

We want so much more from our leaders. We want their approval and we want them to recognize our contributions to the enterprise. We want them to be kind and calm. We want them to make good decisions and to know what is best for the organization. We want them to place our needs above their own. Unfortunately, like Dorothy, we end up noticing that there is a man behind the curtain pulling the levers that create the image of the larger than life Wizard. And that man behind the curtain usually looks all too much like a run of the mill, life-size human being. He has faults. He has flaws. He is self-centered, and flies off the handle. He misuses his influence and power. He walks all over us, and he doesn’t even know it. He hardly ever encourages us to be all that we can be.

To all of those people who have thought of me as a leader and eventually discovered that I was just a man behind the curtain, I apologize. A leader I admired used to say something like, "I’m just a fat man trying to get to heaven." That seems like a self-deprecating and humble statement. Well I am a lot like that leader, I am just a guy trying to fake it until I can make it like the rest of us, a man behind the curtain.

For the perseverant among my readers, here is the third and final installment of the story of the skate ranch.

Today some more states have an election to choose the nominees for the Presidency. Political junkies are familiar with the film, "Wag the Dog," in which a ‘war’ is staged to avoid scandal in a presidential election. I love the part of the film where a politician announces that the fake war is over, thus ruining the efforts of the political operatives.

It is a shame, at least for the sake of the media, that the polls were wrong in New Hampshire and that Mrs. Clinton won that election. With a commanding lead of about 60 delegates, Mr. Obama will continue his march into inevitability. Soon the media will declare that the nomination process is over. Of course, it wasn’t long ago that Mrs. Clinton was the inevitable nominee.

On the Republican side Mike Huckabee marches on while all of the media talk is about McCain mobilizing the base of the party. The media has already started picking the Vice Presidential candidate.

It will be a shame if the American voting public mess up the prognosticator’s and the pundit’s predictions.

For over a week now I have been under the weather. Nothing serious, just some kind of congestion with a dry cough and some loss of voice. Unfortunately it makes it very hard to work and ply my trade. I can go to work, but I just don’t feel like doing anything. Unfortunately my daily tasks don’t know the difference and they just begin to pile up. Anyone have a gift of healing for colds with post-nasal drip?