Ministry

Change makes everyone angry…Jesus brought change.

/ youthguysteve / Leave a comment

untitled

Change is hard. People don’t like change. People don’t want to change their lives. People don’t want to change their actions. People don’t want to change really anything about themselves. We like to be comfortable and safe. We like things to run just the way they have because we know what to expect. The only time people like change is they are the one making the changes. I had a friend who used to say “I like change as long as I am the one making the changes.”

Change is something we don’t like but is a part of life as a disciple. Thank God it is. I am struck by how when change happens to me I really don’t like it. Change is hard and painful but often necessary. I struggle with change because I am messy. My relationship with Jesus is messy. You see I don’t always like to look in the mirror and see the changes that need to be made. I struggle with the changed life in Jesus. It isn’t a strait line with a definite end point. It has a beginning in baptism, it has and end in Death but the middle is messy. I think it is why we get so angry with our faith because we want everything to be better and easy. Our sinful nature in all of us is a twisty road, and just when we think we get the hang of it we take another turn, we are reminded of more change needed in our lives and the need for Christ’s grace.

This weekend as I sat and participated in Easter services I thought about change. I thought about the changes in my life. I think about people who come in and out of it. I thought about my faith life and how the resurrection of Jesus really impacted me. How Jesus came to change the equation, how He came to change me. You see when I see the cross and empty tomb I think about how Jesus came to forgive me and to change me. To take me from my original place and move me to another place. A place of change. A place where I have to look in a mirror and know I am a broken man, yet I have a risen savior who is changing my life. Not just saving me, but changing my life.

The cross brings change. The resurrection brings change. Many people get angry at Church, Church workers, faithful people, and family because they remind us of our need for Jesus. They point us to a Jesus who didn’t come to keep the status quo in our lives, but to bring change. The cross and resurrection brought about the greatest change. It brought you who were dead into a new life, but the change didn’t stop there. The spirit continues to work on you and me.

Change is a struggle but it is part of being a Disciple of Christ. So when you are feeling that frustration with the change look to the cross and empty tomb, and the change it brought for you. That change from being away from God to being with God in Christ Jesus.

Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:16-25a ESV

The begining of the journey…Hosanna

/ youthguysteve / Leave a comment

WP_20140413_09_41_55_Pro

The beginning of a journey is sometimes the most interesting part. Last Sunday morning we saw a pretty amazing storm run through Big Rapids Michigan. Trees were all over and the power was out for many people.   When I made it to church early Sunday morning we had no power and no heat.  It was going to be an interesting beginning to our journey of holy week.  Yet 56 people came to celebrate Palm Sunday.  I was amazed by the willingness of people who had no power and probably more important for many no coffee, make it to worship.  As a staff we gathered at Church and wondered what we should do.  We felt that when people came we should worship. So we got up there and did it.  The light was shining in for the beginning of the service but mid way through clouds came rolling back in and you could hardly see. Pastor mid sermon had to get a light just to read from the scripture for the message. It has to be the first time I have ever seen anything like it.  It was amazing and probably one of the most profound worship services I have every been to.  (By the way at late service we had power which made doing the songs and screens we had planned for that service much easier.)

Holy week for a church worker is always busy and hectic, however it is one of my favorite times of year.  I love the way our worship service really lasts all week.  It is a continuation of the story.  Palm Sunday is the beginning with our king coming to fulfill what he was meant to do.  He was meant to be the Messiah who has come to save us.  While sitting in the dark I was struck by how amazing it is that we have a God who loved us enough to come in our dark place and be our Messiah.  As we shout hosanna, God save us, I am reminded of our need for that savior Jesus.  For six weeks we have waited.  We have gone through lent and examined the destruction of sin.  We have seen the “storms” come upon us.  Sunday we examined the real reason Jesus came. He came to save us.  He came as a servant who will give himself freely on our behalf.  The one who calmed the storm, cast our demons and raised the dead has come to bring us hope in our storm.

This week as you enjoy the journey.  As you spent time with Jesus on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday may you be reminded of the reason the king came to Jerusalem.  Not to be crowned the great king but to be the great servant king.  May we remember that even in our dark places Jesus has come to save us.  And to that we shout hosanna!! God save us! Enjoy the journey my friends.

Speaking the truth in love. Being right and wrong at the same time.

/ youthguysteve / Leave a comment

classroom
Life and ministry are messy. When your sitting in a class in college it all seems so easy. Everything is black and white, you can always look in a book for answers. I sometimes long for the day when I could sit in a class room and just think about ministry instead of having to get in the trenches and speak truth into peoples lives. Alas, that is not possible. We can’t stay in the classroom forever we are all called by God to get in the trenches. Whether it is ministry or any walk of life you eventually have to get into the real world. That is where it gets messy.

Speaking the truth in love is a very difficult thing. First and formost speaking truth in someone’s life is a struggle because sometimes we can stand up and think we are speaking “The truth” but in reality we are just speaking our truth. You can’t always know the difference, but I would tell you humility and prayer is where you should start. In any conversation about difficult issues you may end up offending someone or hurting someone because what you learned in class is all well and good, but this is someones real life and it can hurt. You need to be careful.

So how do you speak the truth in love? I often tell people that you can be right and wrong all at the same time. You can be speaking the truth but doing it as such a jerk that you get it wrong. You can do great damage and never get that truth to them because you speak in such a poor way. Speaking the truth in love is one of the hardest things in life to do. The second most important part of speaking the truth in love happens before you speak. Before you speak listen, listen, listen. You can’t speak the truth to someone without listening to them. Understand their story so you can speak truth into it. Lastly understand that you can speak all the truth and all the love you want to a person and sometimes they just won’t hear you. Sometimes their heart is hard, or sometimes you aren’t the one who gets to see their lives changed. Truth change happens when

This is hard part about speaking the truth in love. You do it to people, and people are messy. As you and I speak the truth to people. Let us remember to speak it in love.

Are we pointing them to Jesus?

/ youthguysteve / Leave a comment

chapel

This weekend I got to spend time doing something I really enjoy.  I spent time at Concordia University Ann Arbor at an event I spent four years serving and investing in to help students grow in faith.  It was a joy to take students to this event this year, but it was probably more special to me because my daughter was able to attend the event as well. This weekend was definitely the high of the week.

The problem with ministry much like life is that it is filled with far too many lows and not nearly enough highs.  You see the whole week leading up to the event is spent in the mundane of meetings, meetings, reading, meetings…did I mention meetings.  It was a long week.  Thankfully, it was a fulfilling time in life and ministry.

I think I discovered why it was so fulfilling based on the Gospel lesson for last Sunday.  John 3:16 is one of those texts that is very powerful and although it gives me great hope I think the important part of the verse is the story leading up to it, John 3:1-15.  The story brings images of the symbol of us living in darkness and Jesus being our light.  I love how Jesus reminds us of the point of this season in the Church year, His cross.

We, as the Church and disciples of God are called to point His people to the cross.  At Tool Time, I got to experience a group of students leading an event dedicated to leading students to that cross (this is not an altar call moment).  What I mean is these students were constantly showing the students I serve, Jesus.  Whether it was small groups, general session speakers, or time in the chapel for offerings, the goal of the weekend was to show them Jesus’ love.  It wasn’t about awesome bands, or great sets, servant events, or funny skits.  All those things were about pointing kids to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

This week reminded me of something so important in my ministry and my life.  It is how I should judge everything I do with students, with my family, and with those I meet.  I should say to myself did I show them Jesus?  Did I point them to the cross?  No matter how you do this, no matter what vocation God has called you to serve in, remember our call as the people of Christ is to point them to Jesus. I want to point them to His life, death, and resurrection so that we might have that eternal life hear on earth and in the life to come.

Are you making the easy or right choice?

/ youthguysteve / Leave a comment

medium_2795957686_edited

In Harry Potter 5, “The Order of the Phoenix” Albus Dumbledore has a great line that goes like this:  “Soon, we must all make the choice between what is right and what is easy.” I have said something like this for a long time. Often I think in our lives of faith we forget the importance of the tough choices we have to make everyday of our lives.  It is a lesson I have had to learn over and over again. When you live in a fallen world you have to deal with tough choices all the time.

I have made choices in life that seemed so easy. Once in ministry I tried to let students pick an event for the summer.  I tried to have them take the heat for the decision instead of me. It back fired.  I had a true mess on my hands.  I let the students down. I had parents, students and even the Church mad at me. Instead of just standing up and making the decision, God had called me to that place to make, I tried to take the easy way out and avoid the conflict.  Of course the conflict still came.  The conflict never goes away. You can either deal with it head on quickly and take the heat, or you can let it fester and then you have a mess. I have made some good choices in ministry.  I think I am probably still in the ministry because I am willing to make those hard choices, but I fail far to often.  You would think after 11 years I would stand up for what is right, knowing in the long run it is so much easier. Making that choice helps God’s will to be done. Alas I still fall short in this department. I still take the easy way and then pay for it later.

Acts 26 tells an interesting story about Paul before King Agrippa. He makes a bold proclamation.  They even call him crazy. Paul confronts his accusers.  Now some might say after reading the chapter that Paul shouldn’t have been so bold to request Caesar because he could have been let go and enjoyed the easy life.  Paul and for that matter Jesus had a different, and more important plan.  He wanted Paul to reach Rome.  He wanted him to go and share the Gospel there to change and empire and the world.  I am no Paul, and neither are most of us ever going to be put in this type of situation, but I would hope Jesus would give me the strength to make the right and difficult decision so that his will would be done with me involved.

So what in your life of faith are you thinking about standing up for?  What decision do you know you need to make? What person or situation is God calling you to confront so that his will and grace abound in your life and world?