more theology from me...

So in thinking more about theology I had to wonder when I finished writing did what I wrote about the greatest commandment really fit the role of theology?  How I think about God...so I looked the word theology up again online. Wikipedia says, “ Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or seminary.”  Systematic and rational!!!! God??? Systematic and rational...the study of God?  I have to confess right here and now, my view of God is hardly one of how systematic and rational He is...how He just makes so much sense. 

So in further looking the word “Theology” comes from the Greek “theologia” which theos, means God, and logia meaning, utterances, sayings, or oracles.  Logia is related to the word logos which means word...are you bored yet?  But we begin to see our theology is about how we talk about God or maybe better yet  the study of God and what it produces in us.  Our theology seasons our conversations and our thought processes. So we see theology when we hear our insurance company tells us something cannot be covered because it was an “act of God.”  Really God dropped that tree on my car...that was not very nice was it?  Notice an “act of God” is never a good thing...it has caused damage and there is no insurance against when God smashes stuff. Hmmm. Need to think about that a bit more I think.  

So where could I possibly be going with this?  Well I have decided to work out my theology, my thoughts about God, through what Jesus has shown me.  Why?  Well He is God and no one knows the Father the way he does...let me show you a couple of things. 

In John He begins to tell the guys He is leaving and they are beginning to panic.  Philip cries out, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”  Now was he expecting Jesus to pull a Polaroid of God out of His pocket and show them what He looks like?  Jesus says, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”  Can you imagine the range of emotions in that room at that moment?  They knew the Old Testament and the Law and yet Jesus said if you had seen Him you had seen the Father...How?  How could that be?  They were looking for a messiah and leader but not for God Himself to show up.  And God seemed much angrier than Jesus, didn’t He?  “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father...”  Really?

Let’s see what Paul has to say; “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Col.1:15  “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” v,19  So it seems to me like Paul is saying the same thing...if you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father.  My favorite is in the firs chapter of Hebrews...

“In the past God spoke to out forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.  THE SON IS THE RADIANCE OF GOD’S GLORY AND THE EXACT REPRESENTATION OF HIS BEING, SUSTAINING ALL THINGS BY HIS POWERFUL WORD.”  Heb.1:1-3  The radiance of God’s glory...not sure how you feel but makes me want to worship!  

The life appeared; and we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” 1Jn:2

So my theology is being shaped and molded as I look to Jesus to see the Father.  I have to admit sometimes it creates more questions as I read the OT and all of the stuff in there.  I am not going to ignore or explain away things I do not understand...really to wonderful for me to grasp...I am going to focus on what I can see and grasp...looking to Jesus to show me the Father.  Trusting the Spirit to illuminate Jesus for me...reading the words of Jesus and acting on them rather than trying explain away what He meant when He said things like, “Love your enemy, blessed are the poor in spirit...pick up your cross and follow me.”  Follow Him to die to myself that He might live.  That the radiance of God’s glory could on occasion flash through my life for others to see...Jesus in me. And when I look at God through Jesus I don’t see limited atonement, limited grace, just for the lucky ones.  I see “For God so loved the WORLD.”  I see with Peter...”He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  

(more to come)

Bill

Yes I love theology...not as much as you I see...

Boy I need to get back in a groove here...and soon! Enjoying the summer, even though it not has been much so far.  I had written a blog to post a week or so ago but not feeling like it is time to let it go out...so I have some other ideas to discuss today.  I have been struggling a bit with my theology I think, which Richard Hooker defines as, “The science of things divine.”  I have heard other definitions and I think theology is “our thoughts on God” and we all have one.

One time I sat in on a class on systematic theology and walked out blown away...they had figured God out!  This is how He works and what He does...simple really.  Really!  You can figure God out...He works in a system.  In this system I heard about things like “limited grace” or “limited atonement.”  Now these might not be the exact terms used but the instructor taught we are predestined and selected so grace only covers those in that category...chosen and called.  So how do we know who is in or out?  If they fall into sin and walk away from God does that really mean they never knew God?  The guy who did the most to point me to Jesus eventually walked away from God and lived a really bad life.  So he never really knew God?  Seemed to me like he did...then if he did know God where did he go when he died?  And he did die...to early.  How did this fit into my systematic theology?  

One group tells me you cannot lose your salvation...another tells me we lose it quite easily and often.  One tells me we are predestined to follow God...another talks about free will...our choice.  There is so much more to this than I am touching on but you get the point.  Theology...how we see God...how we think about God...how we talk about God.  I guess I know we need to have some of this figured out but really can we have God boxed into a systematic theology?  He can be figured out...no surprises?  I guess I wish I had that. But for me so much of God is mysterious...strange...surprising.  When I hear someone speak so certainly about their theology and how they know exactly how God works and it is just the way they believe it to be, I am envious on one hand...and I feel sad for them on the other.  To know God is the most exciting adventure ever for one to be on.  

I think as humans we want to know God and even more we want to know what He knows so badly we work hard to get Him inside some safe guidelines we say the scriptures teach us.  I look in Genesis and the discussion between Eve and the serpent and the promise he makes that if she eats she will, “ be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Knowing what God knows...having Him figured out and being on the same level as Him.  The sad thing is she had all of that and so much more...she knew God...they walked with Him...communed with Him.  What did she gain...the only thing God held back...the knowledge of good and evil...really she already knew good...she knew God.  They were introduced to evil...which God was protecting them from.  I am not at all saying having a theology is evil, I am saying man has always tried to figure God out...to get the inside scoop...to have Him under control.  No mystery allowed...I love mystery...well sometimes.  I have to admit it would be nice to have some pat answers available for life’s hard times.  I just cannot find them or use them...actually I refuse to.  

Sorry I cannot do it.  There are many times I just have to say “I don’t know” when life hurts or does not make sense.  So I put these verses as the foundation of my personal theology...”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your heart.  This is the first and the greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love you neighbor as yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”    

Not sure where this fits in systematic theology...but Jesus said it...and said it was important.  That settles it.  Now my other point is this...until I get this right how can I move on to the other stuff?  What else is there to move on to?  Never said I was deep...

Bill

Crazy God thoughts....

So as a father figure in my church and maybe even to others I am growing more accustomed to sharing my thoughts...out loud too!  I have always been an inside processor and would hardly ever let anyone know what I was processing or thinking about, so it is hard to get much accomplished keeping things to yourself.  So I am going to share one of my pet kingdom peeves right now that I am beginning to hear others catching on to.  I have this philosophy concerning things like church buildings and other stuff.  We started our church over 17 years ago so we know what it is like to look for buildings and such and I have begun to wonder why we, the Church, continue to ask God to pay for the same building over and over...how many times should God and His people pay for the same building?  

I have a friend who is a pastor and they were looking at a building in Oregon, Ohio that a large denomination owned.  This denomination was going to combine three small congregations into one new one and was selling the three buildings they owned.  The building my friend was looking at was old and in need of repair and they could not afford much.  Now in my opinion, and it is “my” opinion for sure, that building had been paid for by God and His people probably more than once and now they were asking another church to pay for it again...and top dollar.  Why?  Oh I know they needed to build another building so they were using the building from the sale to pay for that, but why?  And if they had to sell, why not let the buying church set the price as to what they could afford?  Wouldn’t that make sense?  Well, it does to me and it happens.

Another friend of mine in a small community close by, their church building was on the market.  It is old and works against them on many fronts, so they had an offer, which was really low.  My comment to him was, why are you selling it anyway?  God and His people have paid for that building probably four or five times...how many more times does He have to buy it?  Well he heard me and ran it by their elders and they heard it, kind of.  They did sell it but at the price the other church body could afford!  They sold it for almost half of what they were asking, so they were quite generous I think.  They did not give it away but a close second.  A win/win if you ask me... On another occasion one of the young guys that used to come here and has since moved close to Columbus was looking for some sound equipment for his new church family and located what he needed on ebay. He made a very low offer and the guy on the other end accepted so they made contact with each other.  Turns out the seller goes to a Vineyard Church in Milan, Mi. and David is in a Vineyard in Columbus...small world huh?  So the seller says hey you guys can just have the stuff and they gave the equipment to the other church.  David said something like, “It is like Bill says, God already paid for it why make Him pay for it again?” (I love to hear myself repeated)  Now to top it off this is really like Jesus said where He said to love our enemies...Someone from near Ann Arbor was kind to someone from Columbus!  Sweet! (Kidding)  

Now, just so you know I am not crazy, if Walmart or Krogers came by and wanted the building and property, by all means sell it and get all you can.  That is wisdom...but if another part of the body comes along and you are done with the building or the chairs or the equipment, consider giving it away.  I am sure you did a stewardship campaign to raise funds to make the initial purchase or it was paid for with the tithes and offerings from the church family, so why make someone else do it again for the SAME STUFF?  The building we are in could have been given to us, even thought there was a mortgage on it, and we could have paid the mortgage off.  Instead it was sold to a middle guy and now we and the Y rent it...I won’t complain because we have a wonderful deal but why sell it in the first place, when there are churches out there with needs?  Usually it is because we, as the Church, do not see ourselves as family but as competition or another consumer.  One of the reasons we pray for another church family every week is we want everyone to know who comes to the Vineyard we are but a part of a much larger family that meets all over the city and they are friends and family not competition.  

Another friend of mine (yes I do have friends) has a young church and it was actually sharing a building with an older congregation from the same denomination that needed the help financially.  Well the older church decided to close and without even considering the young church they sold it to a cult like church and the young group had to move!  What?  The same denomination even and they could not work out a deal?  What must God think?  Maybe He really does not care about buildings, I would guess He does not...but He does care about His Church.  

I have a dream...that one day we will stop asking God to pay for the same building over and over...one day we will not look at each other as competition but rather see the family resemblance in all those who call Jesus Lord. See I think God is a very generous God we resemble Him when we ourselves are generous.  this will not be very popular with a lot of leaders but, hey I almost 60, I don’t think I care anymore!!! Barb and I so love the whole church body and desire to see it actually like each other...more to come on this subject.

Bill

limping along and running away!

OK I am back for a moment anyway...since I turned 60 I find I have really slowed down a lot...in one week!  I wrote a few weeks ago (I think it was a few weeks ago...might have been a couple of months) about a friend in the ministry who had fallen and how devastating it was to me.  As a friend...as a pastor...as a follower of Jesus...Frustrated and confused...and I am not even that close to the situation.   Pray for the family and the church family...much closer...much more pain. In the whole thing I can honestly say it did two things to me, maybe more.  One it brings a Holy fear that I am just as capable as anyone in this world to fall so hard...and it makes me angry.  WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE WE (the church) DOING

One morning this week I was sitting and reading and found this in 1 Timothy chapter 6.  Paul is writing a young pastor named Timothy (you already knew that, sorry) and is giving him some tips on leading the church where he was at. In verse 6 he says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”  I think this is worth pausing and rereading if you have a moment...Paul is alluding back to and forward to some words on money and the love of money and he says, having God and being content with Him is really fulfilling...The Message reads this way, “ A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.”  Being yourself before God...not playacting...not pretending...just being yourself with God.  I can only imagine what Adam and Eve had in the beginning...walking with God...talking with God...naked before God...and comfortable and...content.  

Why do we pretend so often?  Why do we pretend do be what we are not?  How do we stand in front of people and pretend...to be holy...to be cool...to be???  Religion does that, I think, not relationship with God...not being myself before God.  No playacting allowed!  Then later Paul give Timothy some great advice, advice we all should heed. Verse 11, “ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.”   Medical studies tell us our brains will, in danger or if we feel like we may be in harms way, send us the signal to either fight or run.  Either dig in to protect or get the heck out of the situation.  Paul is saying in certain situations we need to flee, to run away from whatever it is that is pulling us in the wrong direction.  I wonder why so often we are like the frog in the kettle...you put a frog in a pan of warm water and then you continue raise the heat until he is cooked...and the frog does not realize it until it is too late.  Why don’t we man up or woman up and flee??? Run away as fast as you can and...pursue righteousness, godliness, endurance, faith, love, and gentleness...run after God.  Run after the things of God.  Run away from the things that will drag us away from God.  James says, “ Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed.”  Good words, “dragged away” when we could have run away, to fight again another day...with God, not against Him.

Recently my knee has begun to hurt and I cannot run (not that I really want to) or walk up stairs right and definitely hard to dance with.  The pain reminds me that I walk with a limp, the limp on some days is more noticeable than others...it reminds me I am aging...that is have run races...played games...had fun...it reminds me I am  not God...I am His creation.  It is good, really.  People who become infallible fall...people who have to keep up appearances will forget their lines and be found out...religious people wear out and grow tired and just cannot do it anymore.  Hopefully as they reach the end they find God waiting with His arms wide open, to walk with them, in the garden, naked and not caring...being their self before God.  It has to be better...it has to be the right way...it has to be the only way.

So hear this o man and woman of God...flee, run away from the things that will entangle you and pursue...God...with everything...with wonder and awe...and fear.  As a leader with a noticeable limp please do not read this as one who judges and is feeling pretty righteous but rather as one who weeps for the church and flees for himself, his family, his church family. Knowing what awful things I am capable of.  Leading slowly, reluctantly, and with a great limp.  Thank you Jesus for the limp.  

Bill            

dad is in the house!

I think most of you know this bit of information I am about to share but some of you won’t...do you know I am turning 60 this month?  It is a joke with the staff now I have talked about it so much.  Just this past week end I was talking with someone and Ali, our children’s Pastor overheard me and she asked, “How old are you going to be, Bill?” knowing full well how old I am going to be!  Anyway I am going to be 60 and I am good with that, really good actually...I just wish my knee did  not hurt so much:)

About a year ago a friend of mine in our church family made a comment that is just now beginning to resonate inside of me.  We had been gone for a Sunday and she was kind enough to say her and her husband missed us.  On the following Sunday she and a few others were praying for me before the Sunday service and she something to me like this; “Everything went well last week but with you back here it is like the father of the family is back in the house.”  Now I do not have that in her exact words but that was the idea in what she was trying to tell me.  I heard her but then I think I really did not hear her, if you know what I mean.  

I try so hard to make sure to not make more of myself than I should I sometimes hear things like that and I do not know how to respond...I don’t want to take too much credit for anything or ever get in the way of what God is doing.  But what if that is what God is doing? Or saying?  Could it ever be a bad thing to have a fatherly figure around?  Why shouldn’t I embrace this stage of life and the anointing God has given me to be a father to a wonderful church family?  I loved being a father to my kids, it was a real honor to be their dad.  I have great kids and kids in-law!  I loved being a dad...I can remember as I was just beginning to wrestle with the idea of being a pastor and someone asked a friend of the family if they thought I could be a pastor.  He responded by saying, “Look at his kids...yes he can be a pastor...and a good one.”  

Last week we were in California for some vacation and a conference and I am not sure what happened but during the week it became very apparent to me that this is where I am at in my journey as a leader and a pastor...I am the father of the house.  Grandfather to some!  I like the thought of that to be real honest with you, the thought of having a real affect on many at this stage of my life and it can flow from a part of my life a I so love...being a dad.  We have so many wonderful younger leaders around and I am so excited to be able to hang out with them to watch them succeed and and fail, and to be there to encourage them along their journey.  I recently had one of our younger couples, who are extremely gifted and trained look at me a tell me, “All we ask or want is to be able to hang out with you and be around you, to learn from you.”  Really? Me?  A recovering factory worker?  The really cool thing is this...I want to learn from them also so it is a win/win situation for me.  God has surrounded me with bright and gifted and hungry people and what an honor that is.  Hmmm, I am afraid my white beard and nerdy glasses make me look much smarter than I really am.  

As I finish up this blog I am thinking that what I hope happens is that when we are not there on a Sunday we will be missed but things will not miss a beat because God is so faithful and we do have wonderful people serving all around us.  But then on the Sundays we are there I hope as people see us it will be the feeling of, “ Oh good, mom and dad are in the house today. The family is all together again.”  I may have been a reluctant leader...but I was never a reluctant dad.

Bill                              

Carbon Ribs~Lyrics

Baseball story

 I wonder what it would be like to be a leader who did not have a limp...any scars.  Then I would wonder what planet they came from because they surely could not be from this one, could they?  I would figure that really if they did not have a limp it would not be because they were better than me, just maybe further along in the healing process...I can live with that.  

I love baseball and played it all the time when I was growing up.  I would watch lots of baseball games and one of the things I began to notice as I grew older was that superstar baseball players rarely if ever made good managers.  It seemed odd to me at first...I mean the best players ever, who really knew how to play the game, who made the game look so easy at times.  Not good managers.  In face if you look around the list of managers there are many of them that never made the big leagues or were just fill in players.  Many played years at the minor league level, just struggling along hoping that one day it would be his big day, but that day never came.  

But in all the hard knocks of the game they really learned all the little things that it takes to play the game.  They watched everything that was going on and would ask others lots of questions...they wanted to learn.  

Star players never can relate to the guy who struggles to hit the ball or to field the ball.  Who cannot make the big throw to home plate from the outfield.  Why can’t you just pound the ball over the fence?  It is not that hard.  Why can’t you make that play?  Everyone should be able to make that play...the game is so easy...why do you make it look so hard? 

For me I find much hope and grace with my limp along life.  I am like the life long minor leaguer that had to do a little of everything just to stay on the team..to be a team player...a role player if you would.  Someone needs to work in the nursery...OK.  Someone to work with the youth...we will.  Someone to clean the building...all right then.  Someone to...well you get the idea.  I am not patting myself on the back, I am saying I learned to lead by serving.  I understand I am not the fastest, biggest, smartest, or the strongest.  I understand that in my weakness, He is made strong.  So like Paul, “ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”   It is not that I am glad to be weak but knowing that in my weakness, God comes in and brings strength. 

So like the life long minor leaguer who never made the big show, I am the regular guy that God says “OK, now put into practice all the things you learned behind the scenes.”  I think that is kind of cool...

Bill