My Thoughts on Millenials

So I, like most of you have been deeply pondering the blog post written by Rachel Held Evans on a recent CNN blog post, entitled, "Why Millenials Are Leaving The Church."  Many church members, and MY blog readers, have asked me to comment on the piece.  If you haven't read the article, it is well worth reading.  I enclose the article here for your perusal:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/

Let me begin with what I agree with Rachel on.  I completely agree with her that "making our churches hipper" should not be the focus of our churches as we move forward, and as we seek to connect with the next generation.  I totally agree with Rachel that our churches should not simply rely on the ephemera of our modern culture (coffee shops, cool bands, tight jeans, and cafe latte's) as we relate to those under 30.  I couldn't agree with her more that what church needs to strive to be is REAL.  I am 100% with Rachel that our churches need to be a place where her (and my) LGBT friends can worship freely without feeling judged.  Rachel is right on the mark on all of the aforementioned.

Where I would disagree with her, respectfully and I hope delicately, is that I don't believe Rachel speaks for ALL Millenials.  And here, I will very carefully wade into an analysis of the entire Millenial generation (I am not one, so this is a hazardous thing to do - I was born in 1972 - Barely Gen. X).  My problem with her blog is that she is only speaking for CHURCH going evangelical Millenials.  Rachel is speaking for those who are inside the tent, rather than outside the tent.  The very title of her well written article, "Why Millenials are LEAVING the Church," suggests that it is written from the standpoint of those who are already in the club.  She is speaking for kids who grew up in big churches, who went to cool youth groups, who sat through endless sermons on stewardship, who gave their life to Christ at awesome youth camps, who then went to college and looked around and said, "Wow the world is a lot bigger than I thought it was...bigger than my hometown megachurch."  Rachel is speaking for CHURCHED Millenials, but my experience leads me to believe that she is not speaking for DE-CHURCHED, or UN-CHURCHED Millenials.

Several years ago (before the current tragic conflagration), I visited the country of Egypt.  Egypt is steeped in Biblical history (the place of Jesus' upbringing, the place of Moses' upbringing, the place where Abraham gave up his wife to Pharaoh in order to get through the country unscathed), and so it was a place that I wanted to visit.  Upon arriving, I encountered a country so different from my own that I was surprisingly thrown off.  Every morning there were Muslim prayer chants, every corner had a spindled Mosque on it, every curio shop had incense burning inside of it.  In short, I knew that the religious world around me was very different than any place that I visited previously.  And at the same time, I was quite homesick.  I was needing something of comfort  and home.  And so, I visited the KFC (Yes, that's Kentucky Fried Chicken).  I ordered a huge bucket of chicken (to assuage my hunger and homesickness).  I found that that place, and that chicken, gave me some sort of comfort in the midst of the religious foreignness I was experiencing.  It was familiar chicken.  It was a comfortable setting.

Cross apply my Egypt KFC experience UN-CHURCHED Millenials.  What are Millenials most needing and wanting?  They want comfort.  They want to feel at home in a world that is a lattice-work of competing sales thrusts.  And I believe that UN-CHURCHED Millenials will need entry points that make sense to them.  What are the entry points for Millenials today?

*  Technology - I-Pads, I-Phones, I-everything
*  A Cause that's worth living for
*  A passionate leader who genuinely cares about people (all people)
*  A worship service that is relevant and helpful
*  Studied earthiness (I don't have enough time to write about this in this post, but there is an extremely studied earthiness about most Millenials.  That thrown together look isn't thrown together after all. Please see pictures of Mark Zuckerberg - that tattered hoody is probably $200).
*  The indefatigable quest for REAL

And the list goes on, because as a generation, Millenials may be the most diverse group of people in the history of generations.

I just want to close by saying again that I feel Rachel's thoughts are helpful in beginning the conversation about Millenials - I just don't feel they are complete,

All For Now,
GB

The Gospel of Michael Jr.

This past weekend I attended some of the Willow Creek, "Global Leadership Summit" in a satellite location here in Colorado Springs.  As usual, the speeches were riveting, and exceptionally helpful.  However, one side act caught my attention almost more than any of the others.  His name was Michael Junior and he was a stand up comedian from Houston area.

In addition to being hilariously funny, Michael told the audience that he had had a major change of heart with regard to his comedy routine, when he discovered one critical and life changing shift in his own performance style.  Michael said that when he began performing his main goal was to GET laughs from an audience (in other words it was about himself, and laughs were something that could be attained through a certain set of routine maneuvers).  Michael said that his big change and big success moment came when he changed his comedic mission to HELP the audience laugh together (in other words, to be the facilitator of the group, who wanted to laugh).

As I have been thinking about it, the same basic principle can be applied to ministry at all levels.  The basic purpose for a preacher is not to GET the congregation to respond to God, the basic purpose for a preacher is to HELP the congregation to discover God in their midst.  The basic purpose for a Sunday school teacher is not to GET the class to know more about a subject matter, the purpose is to HELP the group arrive at wisdom together.  Again, not to belabor the point, but the basic purpose for a good meeting is not to GET the group to arrive at a fixed decision that is pre-determined, the basic purpose is to HELP the group to arrive at truth together.

What was remarkable was to see how utterly relaxed Michael Junior was in his performance.  He really seemed not to care too much whether the audience laughed at him, but he seemed genuinely interested in facilitating a good feeling within the audience that erupted in laughter.  The weight of the performance is not on the speaker, or the comedian, but the audience.  Soren Kierkegaard once said that  on a Sunday morning, the usual idea is that the pastor is the performer, the congregation is the audience, and God is the observer. Instead, Kierkegaard said, it should be that the pastor is the conductor, the congregation is the performer, and God is the audience.

It would seem that Michael Junior and Soren Kierkegaard have a lot in common.  Both men see their main body of work less about self, and more about other...and that's why they're great!

All For Now,
GB

Tea Kettle Theology

Hello again!  My family and I are back from jolly old England and our summer holidays here in the States.  It has been about five weeks since I have written a blog post.  For those of you who have counted on this blog post as a weekly pick-me-up, sorry for it's absence.  I am back, and will begin writing again every Monday morning.

I promise that I won't barrage you with many more minutae and details of C.S. Lewis' life (after my three week course on Lewis in Oxford, England).  I will never forget a professor I once had at Princeton Seminary who began every sentence she spoke with the words, "Dietrich Bonhoeffer always says...."  At the speaking of these words, all of my classmates and I would automatically drift into a realm of numbness and sleep and ignore anything else that came out of her mouth.  I promise I will not do the same with you with Lewis.  However, before the summer passes, I wanted to share one newly gleaned bit of Lewis trivia that you may not have heard before.

C.S. Lewis was an ardent observer of chapel.  He would attend chapel at Magdalen College, Oxford, and then Magdalene College, Cambridge (pronounced Maudelin), twice a day.  The services would always last about twenty minutes, so it wasn't too terribly taxing, nor would it take away from the work functions of the day.  Lewis' offices in Cambridge were just above the chapel.  Chapel services would begin at 8:00AM on the dot.  Lewis' daily routine was that he would put on his academic robes (the same type I wear on Sunday in church) at about 7:55, then he would turn the electric tea kettle on in his office.  Lewis would then run down the stairs and sit in his usual pew in the chapel.  The service would last twenty minutes.  At 8:20 on the dot, the chaplain would recite the benediction ("In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit").  On some days, however, the chaplain would tend to drone on a little longer than usual.  But here's the thing.  Lewis' tea kettle would always begin to whistle at 8:20 on the dot (I guess it took tea kettle's longer to warm up in the old days).  So, if the chaplain was not wrapping up the service in time, Lewis' tea kettle functioned as a kind of alarm clock, to keep everyone on schedule.  The tea kettle kept everyone, including the chaplain, on time.

What's the cross application for our lives?  Well...do we keep regular times of chapel worship in our lives?  Do we read the Bible, pray, do a Bible study with regularity and rhythm in our lives every day?  ( I know that I could do better about this).  But to the point about the tea kettle, are these worship times the same amount of time each day?  (about 20 minutes).  Or do we tend to focus and stay in the scripture longer than we need to.  It is better to have regular rhythmic time with God every day, than to have long drawn out times with God every once in a while.

I once knew a man who won the Mr. Olympiad weight lifting competition.  His name was Larry Scott, and he had arms the size of my waist (well maybe not my waist now after vacation, but my waist before vacation...I digress).  I once asked Larry how he got to be so strong, so big, so muscular.  He said, "Most people go to the gym once a week and they work out really hard.  It's much better to work out every day a little bit."  I have tried Larry's prescription for large arms, but, somehow, not to the same effect.  But his point is a good one.

Oh...Excuse me....I have to go....my tea kettle is going off!!

All For Now,
GB

Stories

Since I arrived here (Oxford, Cambridge and for a day or two Ireland), a week or so ago, I have heard the most incredible stories from people about their lives, about their hopes and about their dreams.  Here are just a few of those stories, in no particular order or organizational grouping:

*  In Northern Wisconsin there was a small Lutheran parish that had a pair of remarkable funerals that took place on exactly the same day.  Sometime last year, a dear woman who was a member of the church for over 50 years died. When she died she was 101 years old.  Her passing was deeply mourned and remembered by the entire community.  On that same day, sadly, a brand new baby who was born to a young couple in the church died.  The baby had only been alive for 1 day before God called the little thing home.  On the same day, the church had two funerals, one for the 101 year old legend, and one for the brand new baby boy who had only been alive for one day.  Both lives were a testament to God's grace and God's provenance.  The local church community gave God thanks for both lives, though one was very short, and the other very long.  They sang the words of the worship song, Blessed be the Name of the Lord, at the funeral: "God gives and takes away, God gives and takes away, my heart will surely say, Blessed be the Name of the Lord."

*  As I was walking along a country road here in Einiskerry, a small city outside of Dublin, I was holding my daughter Haley's hand, and singing an old Irish ditty.  I sang, "In Dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty, I first set my eyes upon Molly Malone....Alive alive ho, alive alive ho, with mussels and cockles....Alive alive ho..."  As I sang this song, an old sheep herder, wearing a tweed stalkers cap said, in a thick Irish accent, "Son, It's cockles and mussels, not mussels and cockles..."  The sheep herder was quite right, I had gotten the tune wrong....

*  In a small town in southern Minnesota, a seven year old little girl was mourning the eminent death of her grandfather, who was about to die of heart disease.  The two had had a wonderful relationship through the years, and the grandfather was deeply sad about the prospect of saying goodbye to his loving grand-daughter.  The grand daughter went to the hospital room to say goodbye to her grandfather for the last time.  "Grandpa, when you get to heaven," said the little girl, "I want you to give this note I have written to God."  The little girl placed a hand written note in her grandfather's hand, which had a single sentence upon it, written in blue crayon, "Dear God, please take care of my Grandpa, I love him!"  At the funeral, which was held at a local crematorium, the family all sat around a tiny urn which was in front of the church.  They had to explain to the little girl, that grandpa was still there, but not in the coffin, but the urn.  The little girl said, "I know, but Grandpa still has the note in his hand...I just know it."  Children see things that we adults will never see.  They know things that we will never know.

*  A college friend of mine who is currently a Barrister in Dublin, told me about a time when he was a student and he was trying to get home for the holidays.  He was a poor college student and didn't have enough money for a cab, or the train or even a bus.  So my friend had to resort to hitch-hiking.  After about three hours, my friend was convinced that nobody would pick him up (as car and truck, one after the other passed him by).  Finally, after about three hours, a very nice car pulled over to give him a ride (I'm not sure what it was, but I imagine a Mazzarati).  My friend opened the door, and who should be sitting behind the wheel, but Bono, the lead singer of the band U2.  Bono said, "Would you like a ride?"  On the way to my friend's house, Bono asked, "So, you are a student, how is it going at Uni right now?  Do you have any challenges?  What's your favorite thing to do when you are not studying."  Bono let my friend out.  Bono gave my friend, the wayward student hitchhiker, a ride home...

All of the aforementioned stories are 100% true and were related to me by very reliable sources, whilst I have been here in the UK and Ireland

All For Now,
GB

Breaking the Four Minute Mile

I'm still in Oxford, and while I had a break from class yesterday, I took a short walk from my college (St. Stephens).  I discovered an historic site - the actual track where Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile.  If you don't remember the story, the four minute mile was a marker that nobody was ever thought to be able to break.  And then, in 1954, Roger Bannister, a lanky runner from England, set out to break it, and then did - he ran the mile in under four minutes.  It was a major achievement, akin to Hillary climbing Everest, or a man landing on the moon.

It occurred to me that C.S. Lewis was a sort of "Four Minute Mile Breaker" in his own way.  Lewis was one of the first Oxford professors of his time to become a Christian, when Christianity was considered "not the thing to do."  More to the point, Lewis carried Christianity off intellectually, in a place where (Oxford), intellectualism is the main mode of experience.  Specifically Lewis offered new inroads to non-Christ followers about how to become a Christian.  There were three main areas or avenues that Lewis took as an evangelist (apologist) of sorts - Lewis' Four Minute Miles:

His first main idea was that all people have a profound and fundamental desire to experience more life, love, enjoyment than this life offers.  "All people have a desire for something more.  Therefore, we reach beyond the shadowlands of this life..." (paraphrased).  This desire is proof that we are, "made for some place other than this, made for heaven."

Second, that all people have fundamental laws or morals.  All cultures have a fundamentally similar understanding of justice, mercy, love, life, goodness, ethics, morals.  These morals are evidence, Lewis said, of God in us, "imago dei".

Finally, Lewis wanted to take on opposing ideas and thinking patterns of his time which were antithetical to Christianity.  The most famous example (and easiest to explain) might be the illustration from The Silver Chair.  "There is no such thing as Aslan, or the sun, or the over world, it's a nice idea, but it's not real, all that there is is what you see, here in the underworld," said the White Witch.  "Well, there may not be all of those things," Puddleglum said, "but I want there to be, and I would rather believe that there is." (paraphrased).  Therefore, choice was a deep part of Lewis' formula.

Now, class begins,
Perhaps I am working on breaking my own "Four Minute Mile"...
All For Now,

GB

New Years in Cairo - A Full Moon in Oxford

I have been in Oxford for a day now, and I hope you will indulge me if I write a bit about the romance of this wonderful place.

There are two memories which will remain with me, I think, until I am called home.  The first is the joy of being in Cairo, Egypt on New Years eve and overlooking the Nile river, in all of it's luminescent glory, at midnight as fire works went off on the opposite side of the city.  I can still remember the reflection of the fireworks on the water, from my hotel room balcony, and marveling at how different this culture of Egypt was from my own.  The second great memory will be seeing a full moon perched over the ancient cathedral ramparts of Oxford, and again, watching a hovering orb reflected in the water of the Thames river.

On both occasions what I think I love the most was the feeling of being in a place that was totally other (Egypt and England), and yet feeling like this place was very much a part of me.  I experienced the joy of having something near me which was so much larger and bigger than me (the Nile, the Thames), and yet somehow absorbing it's beauty at the same time.

I think, in a way, that is what is so exciting about Christianity.  It is the dual experience of knowing a God who is vast in size and scope, and yet feeling a personal connection to that God in Jesus Christ.  It is the polarity of viscerally knowing the "otherness" of God while at the same time knowing the similarity of this God with my basic being (I, like you, am made in the image of God- Imago Dei).

This polarity between connection and distance, vastness and intimacy, beauty and sovereignty is perhaps what David was trying to express in Psalm 42; "As a deer longs for flowing streams (thirst is not a pleasant feeling until it is quenched), so my soul longs for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When shall I come and behold the face of God?  My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, "Where is your God?"

To stand between the moon and a river in Oxford is a kind of in-between place.  To experience the fireworks of Cairo on New Years overlooking the Nile is to be suspended in between two realities.  That suspension is what it is to be human.  That nearness and distance to God is what it is to be a Christ follower.

Or at least, that is my thought on this first day of my C.S. Lewis class.  But I am sure Lewis would agree.  "We live in the Shadowlands, beyond the bend in a road, around the curve of a hill..." (or something like that.

All For Now,
GB

Music and Ministry

Some of the best pastors I know are also musicians.  They are people who understand that the harmonies of music are also the harmonies of the soul, and that those harmonies converge with the harmonies of God.  Here's a short list of people that I know who are musical pastors (alphabetized for harmonic maximization):

*  James Baird (my grandpa), an ordained Presbyterian pastor, was offered a contract with the LA Metropolitan Opera Company to sing Baritone - a great pastor.

*  Bono; OK, I know this is a stretch, but Bono actually probably speaks to more of an audience (or congregation) than any mega church pastor in the world.  Bono regularly gives "sermon-ettes"in the middle of his concerts.

*  King David; the Bible tell us was a harp player, and soothed king Saul with a concert every single night to "calm Saul's nerves".  Though not a pastor per say, David's songs (Psalms) were the best sermons ever preached.

*  Jim Dejarnette; Minister of Music for First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, also regularly makes visits to bedsides of parishioners, and preaches very well.

*  Jack Hayford; one of the great Pentacostal preachers today, plays the piano in church on a regular basis.

*  Bill Hybels; most people don't realize that Bill Hybels, the Lead Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, actually was one of the original worship leaders of the church, playing mostly country western music.

*  Todd Procter; Lead Pastor of Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa, California, a 10,000 member church that attracts a youngish crowd of hipsters, actually began as a nationally renowned worship leader, before becoming a lead pastor.

And the list could go on and on.  What is the connection between music and ministry?  Well first, good preaching is basically "singing."  Far more important than the actual words that a preacher says, are the ways that a preacher intones those words.  Martin Luther King Jr. was famous for his "singing style" of preaching (customary in the African American preaching context).  Just imagine Martin Luther King saying the "I have a Dream" speech, but instead of beginning the talk in the one-toned tenor range that he began at, (I Have a Dream), imagine him starting the speech in a base clef, or in the dreary tones of a financial statement being read.  It wouldn't have had the same effect.

More importantly, musicians are also very "in tune" with the world around them.  Musicians have a hard time talking about things that don't seem relevant to their listeners,or helpful, or harmonic.  Good public speaking is about knowing your audience, but also about being in tune with how they feel, what is going on in their lives, what are their "hopes and griefs that they bear," (there I go quoting a song...What a Friend We Have in Jesus).

Most of all, musicians make great pastors because I believe that God is basically a harmonic being.  C.S. Lewis imagined the beginning of the world to have been like the convergence of a great symphony orchestra.  The sounds were all over the place, but then they were made one and harmonic by the great hand of God.  Jesus said, "Blessed are the Peacemakers (The SHALOM makers)," - but he could have said, "Blessed are those who bring harmony to their surroundings."

So, what to say to those reading this blogpost who are decidedly unmusical?  Can unmusical people be great pastors too?  Of course.  For example, one gets the feeling that the apostle Paul wasn't exactly musical (though he did sing songs to pass the time and boost his spirits while he was imprisoned in Philippi).  But lets just say that unmusical people tend to have different ministries than those who are musical.  They tend to bring cacophony (the opposite of harmony).  But of course, cacophony is a kind of music as well...

All For Now,
GB