Forgiveness

This past week, our city, state and nation experienced one of the worst examples of domestic terrorism to happen in our country - the worst example of mass shooting -  in US history.  The events which happened on Thursday night, (7/26 - thankfully not a date which will become a memory piece, unlike, for example 9/11) in Aurora, Colorado will never be erased from our thoughts or minds.

Like all pastors who had to speak into this crisis, on Sunday morning, I struggled on the Thursday night before with what to say to people.  Do, I say that "bad things just happen, and we must learn to live with them?"  "No," I thought to myself, that's too glib.  Do I say that we must, "love the victims with a special intentionality?"  "Yes," I thought to myself, but that's not enough.  So, I decided to focus on the subject of "Evil" itself, and of the "Evil One" the one who plants seeds of division and destruction in the minds of vulnerable and broken people.  "But, even that" I told myself, tends to take too much responsibility away from the perpetrator of the event.  Wasn't he (and his name will remain a noticeable vacancy from this blogpost) a culpable, responsible participant in this terrible act of violence?

Most of all I decided not to talk about the topic of Forgiveness.  As I watched the evening news on Sunday, I saw that several churches in and around Aurora chose to focus on the topic of forgiveness - forgiving the perpetrator, forgiving his terrible act, asking people to begin to forgive the act itself.  When I saw these newscasts, I definitely respected the churches that decided to talk about forgiveness on this day, but at the same time I felt that talking about forgiveness in this setting, and on the quick heels of such a terrible disaster, was, perhaps another example of "missing the mark."

Let me insert here a strong proviso.  I definitely believe in forgiveness!!  I believe that forgiveness is at the center of the Christ following faith.  I believe that Jesus' strong endearment to forgive those who do wrong things to us, "forgive them 7 X 77" is at the heart of the gospel.  I believe that Jesus was correct when he said, "if you go to the temple and you have not forgiven your neighbor, you cannot worship God fully."  Forgiveness is a must.  Forgiveness is at the center of our faith.  Forgiveness is a mandatory dynamic of the Christ following experience.

However, I have also come to learn, in my 12 years of ministry, that forgiveness is not ever as simple as a single act of contrition.  Forgiveness is not the waving of a wand over something to make it so.  Forgiveness is not an act of FIAT that can be bequeathed, like a sentence on a criminal.  Forgiveness is a process.  While forgiveness might be an instant absolute on the part of God, it is always an unfolding event for humans.  Forgiveness is almost always a long journey that involves so many important things.

Dr. David Augsburger, one of my favorite all time professors at Fuller Theological Seminary talked in a class I took from him, about the steps involved in a true act of forgiveness.  These include:

*  Coming together by both parties in an open, honest and forthright communication about the act of wrongdoing which has occurred.
*  A mutual recognition of wrongdoing
*  A continued dialog about the wrongdoing
*  Time and a sense of space between the act of wrongdoing itself and the process of forgiveness.
*  A form of compensation or restitution, or restorative justice on the part of both parties

Augsburger once said to our class of D.Min students something I will not soon forget.  He said, "Sometimes the worst thing a pastor can do on a Sunday morning is to stand before his/her parishioners and say, 'We JUST need to forgive those who have done wrong to us."  Augsburger said, "There is just no JUST about it.  Forgiveness is a long process of restitution and justice and mercy and grace."

But we should pray for the process of forgiveness, and we should recognize that all things are possible in Christ - even forgiving despicable acts that are on their own face - completely unforgivable!

All For Now,
GB

But I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...

I used to love to fly fish, back when I lived in Boise, Idaho.  The truth is, what I really loved was the experience of standing in the middle of a river.  I would love to go out, in the middle of the week sometime, when the temperatures were just beginning to soar into the mid-90's, and I would step from a dry dusty bank, into a cool gurgling brook.  And there I would stand, right in the middle.  On the other side of the river was another shore, and yet I didn't really feel I wanted to totally cross.  The other bank was too far, too hard for me to cross into.  Behind me was the shore I had just come from.  Before stepping into the river, I was usually a bit stressed out from school, tired from a long day, burdened by whatever was on my mind.  So, I didn't want to go back, because that would mean the fishing trip would be over, and I would be returning to where I had come from.  But there I was in the middle of the river.  In those days it was almost as if I had;

One Foot in the Wilderness, the Other in the Promised Land.

One of my favorite songs of all time is the rock ballad, by U2, "But I still haven't found what I'm looking for."  The song lyrics reflect mournfully about the strange juxtaposition in this life between having all of the things that we think we want (or ever wanted), and somehow feeling slightly unfulfilled.  The lyrics go; I have climbed highest mountain, I have run through the fields, Only to be with you, Only to be with you, I have run, I have crawled, I have scaled these city walls, These city walls, Only to be with you, But I still haven't found what I'm looking for, But I still haven't found what I'm looking for.  In these lyrics, the singer Bono seems to be recognizing the challenge in this life, of never really getting to the place where you want to be, deep down into your heart.  It is as if Bono is reflecting on the challenge of having,

One Foot in the Wilderness, the Other in the Promised Land.

There are many holidays which I love.  You can't beat the fourth of July for a family BBQ.  Thanksgiving is wonderful when you are in a place that is snowy and cold.  Easter is so pregnant with freshness and newness.  However, truth be told, my favorite holiday in the year is the Christian season of Advent.  Advent are the five weeks which proceed Christmas.  Advent comes from the latin word, Adventus, which means, "to wait for."  The main concept of advent is that we are all waiting for the savior to come into the world, the baby Jesus.  The reason I love advent is because it is not quite Christmas, and it is not Thanksgiving either.  It is somewhere in-between.  Advent is a time where we have;

One Foot in the Wilderness, the Other in the Promised Land.

During the long war years of World War II, in Great Britain, the Medieval English Oxford Don and Professor (and would be theologian)  C.S. Lewis gave great talks to huge crowds about Christianity.  One of C.S. Lewis' main talks, and one which was made into a great movie was, "Shadowlands."  C.S. Lewis' talk on Shadowlands is an explanation of Plato's cave, the shadows which were reflected on the wall of our lives.  Plato was talking about the ineffable existence of life.  C.S. Lewis said, "We live in the Shadowlands.  Over the brow of a hill, around the bend in the road, what we seek after, eludes us.  We have not yet attained it yet."  C.S. Lewis seemed to be referring to the fact that all of us have;

One Foot in the Wilderness, the Other in the Promised Land.

This coming week, I will be preaching on the crossing of the Jordan River by the Israelites.  For 440 years, the Israelites had had hopes and dreams about crossing into the promised land.  And now they were about to do it.  The Lord told the Israelite priests to go before the people and carry the ark of the covenant with them.  As the priests crossed into the river, the Bible tells us that it instantly dried up, by some great miracle, and the people walked on dry ground.  When the priests reached the middle of the river, we are told, that they stopped, they lifted up the ark above their heads.  And then they praised God.  Moments later, they would build an altar in the middle of the river.  And there they worshipped God.  In that moment, the Israelites knew what it was to have;

One Foot in the Wilderness, the Other in the Promised Land

And so do we.  The balance of these two places in our lives is what it means to be human, and what it means to be a Christ follower.  We are not in the wilderness anymore, and we are not in the promised land yet either.

All For Now,
GB

Love People One Person At a Time

About eight years ago, when my brother Jamie and I were about to start a new church development in Paso Robles, California, we were insanely eager to learn from any church that was having success.  To this end we read all of Robert Schuller's church leadership books, we plowed through The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren, we drank in all of Bill Hybels' leadership tomes. We couldn't get enough.  Our basic premise in researching these churches was that; 1.  We loved the Presbyterian Church, 2. We knew it was dying and needed to change, 3.  We were HE - (double hockey stick) bent on doing whatever was necessary to save it.

In the process of this learning binge we also met with many successful large church pastors.  One of whom was a pastor from a suburb of Sacramento, we'll call him Jim, who had started a church that we'll call, "Cyprus Brook," (even though the real name of the church is much better than that).  Cyprus Brook had grown to 6,000 members in just six years.  The truth is that we had waited about a month or two to get on Jim's calendar.  And then, when the vaunted day of meeting was about to occur, his secretary called and cancelled, and we had to wait another month.  So, it was with no uncertain degree of anticipation (and a little agitation) that my brother and I waited for a face to face with Jim.

We drove up to the church that day, and waited in the church coffee shop.  The appointed time for the meeting came and went, the time seeming to drip through the hourglass, like a bad rerun of "Days of our Lives" (has there ever been a good one?)  Finally Jim came.  He was wearing a rumpled shirt, and torn shorts, and flip flops.  He was kind and completely unassuming.  He had a boyish flair, not "Dead Poet's Society," but more, "Easy Rider."  But it didn't matter what Jim's appearance was, or what the differences in our styles of church were, or what the varying flavor of ministry was at that church, Jamie and I were focussed on figuring out what we could from him.  We wanted the recipe to the Gordian knot of church growth, and church success.  And so, we asked him what it was.  This is what he said.  "It's simple, just...

Love People One Person At a Time

Jamie and I furiously wrote those seven words on our pads, clearly expecting that more important, more complex, more nuanced information was yet to emerge from this modern day totem and prophet of all things of clerical success.  "Good," I said, "And what else...."  Jim said, "That's it, let me repeat it...

Love People One Person At a Time!

Jim was clearly a little exasperated that this simple but oh so important dictum was not permeating our grey matter in a more effective way.  So, he clarified.  "Look," there are a lot of things you need to do to grow a church.  You need to have a good name.  You need to go out and hang out at stores and have something that people need, like drug prevention therapy for moms and dads of teens.  You need to hand out Bibles at every service.  You need to have a facility that can facilitate growth.  And a lot of other stuff.  But that stuff all fits into place, if you get this one thing right....and let me repeat,

Love People One Person At a Time!!!

"I've got to go," said Jim.  "Good luck in your new church."  And with that, Jim was gone.

So, I have had the chance to reflect on this sagacious piece of advice for about 8 years now.  And I have come to see the true wisdom in what Jim was offering.  So, this is how I have tried to love people one person at a time in my ministry.  When people are talking to me, I try to be fully present in that conversation, even if it is only for 5 seconds.  When new people come to the church, I try to remember their names, and then I follow up with a phone call soon there after.  When people are hurting in church, I try to lay hands on them right then and there and pray for them.  When I am writing a sermon, I don't write it to the masses, I write it for a handful of people in church, who's names I know, and who's problems I understand.  I have tried to see the Christ following faith as not a group effort, not a mass movement, but an individual exercise in living out the gospel, in unique and REAL ways.  So, I really have tried to;

Love People One Person At a Time.

You Should Too,
All For Now,
GB

Bless This Home

This blog post is being written directly on the heals of the 10 members of the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs (and that number is likely about to climb), and and subsequent to the loss of the 342 (and that number is also likely to climb) homes of the members of the Colorado Springs community that have recently lost their homes in the Waldo Canyon Fires.

The concept of - "Home" is a fundamental human need and concern.  The number of cliche's and pithy aphorisms that surround the medium of "home" are endless.  To list a couple of well worn ones; "home is where the heart is," "home is where you hang your hat," "hearth and home," "home sweet home," "home, home on the range," (maybe that one is a bridge too far).  And yet, even though these concepts have become cliches, we all recognize home as a place of great significance in our lives.  Home is more than a house, it is a place of mooring and hermitage.  Home is more than a place, or a space, it is a dream, and a returning, a memory, and a place to build memories.

The founding fathers of our country, we should hasten to add on this fourth of July weekend, had originally allotted the primary three fundamental freedoms as not, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property."  The basic concept, smelted from the embers of the great enlightenment, were that human beings needed property in order to have a core sense of self.

Jesus also recognized the concept of home.  Jesus' true childhood house (we should distinguish the word house from the word home at this point) was in Nazareth.  But, as the Bible tells us, Nazareth was not a home, as Jesus was very much a prophet "without honor," there - he was not welcome.  Jesus' real home was the tiny little hovel of Peter and Andrew's mother-in-law's house in Capernaum.  Jesus loved that place! He returned to it again and again and again in his life.  He performed one of his first miracles in that home, healing Peter's mother-in-law.  And just after that, Jesus healed hundreds of broken people, well into the night in Capernaum, from that home's front porch.  When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, on the third day, the Bible tells us that Jesus revealed himself to the women in the garden, and then, he bee-lined it to Galilee (I assume to Peter's mother-in-law's house in Capernaum) to be back in his - home.

So, what can we say to those who have lost homes this past week, here in Colorado Springs.  First, that we are very, very sorry that you have to go through this terrible time.  No words will be able to replace or even comfort that lost reality in your life.  Second, God did not cause these fires, and God has not caused your home to burn down because of anything you did in your life.  Terrible occurrences just happen in this life, as Jesus reminds us, when he says, "The sun shines on the just and the unjust and the rain falls on the just and the unjust."  Most important, remember, that home is not a place, or a space, but it is a concept, it is a dream, it is a conscious state of mind.  Though you may have lost a place that functioned as a "home" for you, and I do not want to even begin to dimish the significance of that place, - "home" is actually much bigger than that.

Home is Camelot!  And Camelot is a dream, that is a reality, and yet it is ineffable!

I am praying with you, whatever "home" is for you, and however it may have been singed or burned.  I am praying that God will moor you once again to his real home - which is eternal - and with us in this time and place.

All For Now,

GB

Vision Heals

This is my second blogpost written from my I-Pad. We are still very much in transition between two places; two houses, two churches, two call-settings, two lives. Computers are the new plumbline of civilization, and where there is no computer or wi-fi connection, there is virtually no life.  But, without a computer, I have been thinking about an interesting polarity that I am experiencing in my life right now.

On the one hand we are leaving a place, Highlands Church, that must feel a little shaken, and wounded, by the recent announcemnent that I have just stepped down as their senior pastor.  There must be the need for some healing, at Highlands, to be sure. Yet, at the same time, Highlands is a place that is reaching for new and exciting ministry avenues. There is a vision there about the future. 

Here on the other side of the Rockies, we are entering a place, First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs, that must still be feeling a little shaken and wounded by the news that Jim Singleton is leaving.  Jim is their much beloved and extremely hard working lead pastor who is stepping down to become a full time professor at Gordon Theological Seminary..  And yet, as with Highlands, there is at First Pres. Colorado Springs a profound sense of excitement about where the church is going, what it is about to do, where God is leading it.  There is vision.  And so, in both cases, I have relearned the age old and important life and leadership lesson, that....

Vision Heals!

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit by the bedside of a dying friend. This person has been a Christ follower for many, many years, and has contributed an incredible amount to church and the kingdom. There was a sadness in the room as loved ones cried, and friends held each other's hands, and nurses wafted back and forth through the room, plugging and unplugging machines.. My dying friend was in pain. Not knowing what exactly to say in this situation (even pastors get tounge tied sometimes), I asked my friend, "What do you think heaven will be like?" My friend looked at me, unable to speak, but with an immediate glint of hope in his eye. It was as if the very vision of heaven, in the midst of the tubes and wires and anesthetic, helped him to rise above the pain of the current moment. I learned again that...

Vision Heals!

Just this past week, I prayed with a woman who has a debilitating chronic illness. This woman used to be vital, and strong, and very effective in her work setting. She asked me to pray that she might get her "old job" back again, by some miracle of God. But then she said, "no that will never happen, I will never be THAT well again."  After a moment or two more of conversation with my friend, I said, "Why don't we pray for the future and not the past. Why don't we pray that God will do something new in your life, in the midst of this illness.  Why don't we pray that the future will be just as rewarding as your "old job", but even better in it's own way. We prayed, and once again, a burden seemed to be released, and I witnessed that...

Vision Heals!

What areas of your life need healing? How might God breathe the essence of vision through that area of brokenness to bring life? The Bible says that, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." The corollary to this must be that where there is a strong vision, healing and abundant life overflow.

All for now,
GB

Crowd Surfing!

I should begin by writing that since my laptop and computer are now packed up, ready for the move to Colorado springs, that this will be the first (and maybe last)blogpost I write from my I-pad. Please excuse the editing errors, I will blame them on Apple's spellchecker...

 For the past month or so, I have been contemplating and thinking about what the most important ingredient is in whether a ministry is successful or not. That is, I have been asking myself the question of what the most immortant dynamic in whether a pastor, or spiritual leader, is fruitful, effective, healthy, and happy in a particular call setting. Obviously this question is forefront in my mind as I move from an existing call setting to a new one. What is it that makes a great pastor? And, of course, the answer is - God! But what else? And I have arrived at an answer. A good/great pastor requires a great congregation. A pastor cannot exceed the support, spiritual maturity, effectiveness, faith, prayer life, of his/her church. Being a good pastor (I will refrain from the word "great" since only God is great, and humans are only very occasionally just "good") needs the support of a congregation. Here's the image that keeps coming to me.

 It's like Crowd Surfing!

 Have you ever been to a rock concert, when, at the most exciting moment in the show, the lead vocalist puts down his instrument (I've never seen a woman crowd surf before), and launches himself into the audience, and at the very same moment, a hundred pairs of hands reach up and catch the singer? What usually happens then is that the singer is moved throughout the audience, being held up and volleyed along by the people. If the people drop the singer, the singer falls to the ground, to be badly injured. But if the audience all work together to hold the singer up, he is safe, and actually has an enjoyable ride through the crowd. Being a pastor is like crowd surfing. Every week, from the front of the church, the pastor launches him/herself into the congregation, in the sermon. If the congregation are in prayer, and spiritual health, and have open hearts and minds, ready for the work of the Holy Spirit, the pastor is moved through the crowd, effortlessly, caringy, hopefully, and lovingly. It's actually a fun experience! And God uses this dance, to change lives, and renew hearts and souls.

 So, don't be surprised some Sunday if yours truly launches himself into the congregation, whereever I am speaking -for Crowd Surfing!!

 The question only remains, will catch me? I know you will! And God will be in our midst.

All for now,
GB

Today I Am 40..!?!?!?

So, today's my birthday.  Actually it isn't just any birthday, but it is a significant one.  The odometer on the jalopy of my life just turned another digit on the dashboard - today I turn 40!  My life may now have been described by any worldly metric as, lasting "a long time".  The number 40 in Biblical terms has always been a symbol of "a long time".  Noah sailed his boat on the water for 40 days - or just "a long time."  Moses led the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years, or "a long time." Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days - or "a long time."  So, I have now been around "a long time."  Or as one of my twenty-something staff wrote to me in a birthday card - "Man, you're old."

And, not just old, this year, my birthday is coinciding with so many different and life-changing events.  In two weeks we are moving from Paso Robles to Colorado Springs to take up a new pastoral call and to live in a new place.  This will singly be the most significant spiritual and professional move of my life.  No pastoral call I have had before has meant as much to me as Highlands Church has; no future call will offer more opportunity and sheer Holy Spirit embed possibility as the one in Colorado Springs.  If there was a time to shift proverbial life gears in one's life, 40 might just be one of those moments.  As another pastoral friend observed, a New Church Developer like me in Moorpark, California; "Who knows if you were not born for this time and this place?"

Also, two months from now Star and I will be having our second baby.  This baby coming into our lives by natural means is a miracle upon miracles, the kind that only God Himself could have brought.  A baby of this dimension coming into the lives of an "older couple" (think Abraham and Sarah) is actually the sort of miracle that God would normally have marked with a celestial happening in the sky, like a star or a comet or something.  Come to think of it, there was a momentous lunar eclipse in the sky last week, wasn't there?  Probably no connection to my specific life, but you never know:-).

And, as it happens, my birthday this year also falls upon the exact day of Memorial Day, May 28.  I have always loved the debate about the exact origins of Memorial Day.  For over 100 years there has been an arm wrestling match between two cities in the southern part of America over who actually started the day.  Both cities have the name Columbus (Columbus, Georgia - Columbus, Mississippi) - and both cities flank the great Mississippi river, like proverbial stopping points of Huckleberry Finn.  The story on the beginnings of Memorial Day goes that years after the Civil War, when families were still mourning the loss of their loved ones, women from the town walked from their homes, strewing flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers.  On the first Memorial Day there seems to have been a reminiscence of times gone by, of lives lost, of relationships changed, of things passed away, of being around "a long time", and yet moving beyond that "long time" - to something new, reborn even.

Before I close this meandering blogpost - maybe it is a condition of old age - I want to quickly reflect on what all of this means.  Or, to put it in the terms of the Israelites in the book of Joshua - "What do these stones mean?"  In short, I have no idea.  But this I am sure of - I am grateful that God has been with me for these 40 years, He has blessed me as much as Abraham himself, I am amazed at what He has done through a fallen vessel like me, and flummoxed that He seems to have more in store for my life - and yours, as those who know me, and work with me, journey together, after this elapsing of, "a long time..."

All For Now,
GB