The Presence of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 2
May 26, 2024
Acts 11:1-18, 15:1-21

God, who knows people’s deepest thoughts and desires, confirmed this by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, but purified their deepest thoughts and desires through faith. Why then are you now challenging God by placing a burden on the shoulders of these disciples that neither we nor our ancestors could bear?  On the contrary, we believe that we and they are saved in the same way, by the grace of the Lord Jesus.”

 Acts 15:8-11 

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For many today, the idea of finding God in creation is especially appealing.  It breaks God out of the box of our thick-walled sanctuaries and bloated institutional religious structures.  It invites us in some ways to encounter God on God’s own terms, rather than requiring God to meet us within the prescribed times and structures of our religious tradition or community. 

For others, the ability to experience God’s presence outside the church is a dangerous and fearful prospect.  There’s a concern that without religious boundaries, we may very well delude ourselves into making God whatever we want.  There is no accountability or required set of beliefs to determine who can be counted God’s beloved community. 

While there is a beautiful freedom in all of this, we who are more open to meeting God in nature or in other contexts outside the church would do well to take the concerns of the religious community seriously.  That is not to say that we must limit our relationship with the Divine to a particular segment of the church. It is, however, to remind us that God is still God, and we are not.   

Just as God cannot be confined to a church building, a liturgy, or a set of doctrinal standards, neither can God be limited to our favorite hiking spot, mountain, stream, or park bench.  Might we also dare to seek God’s presence in the urban jungle, in a hospital, in a refugee camp; in schools and offices and coffee shops and grocery stores; or even among the rich and powerful on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley or on Capitol Hill.  Yes, despite so much evidence to the contrary, the Wild Goose is present even there.  Perhaps on occasion, we might even still find God in church.

~ excerpt from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit, 24-25

In Acts we see the Holy Spirit showing up in all sorts of unexpected places with people who nobody would expect (a lot like Jesus did).  Every time we think we understand, she shows up somewhere else and  surprises us again.  Perhaps our best bet is to pray like Thomas Merton below, confessing that we have no idea where the Spirit is leading us.  Nonetheless, we will  follow, trusting that we never walk alone.

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your  will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

The Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 1
May 19, 2024
Acts 2:1-4, John 3:4-8

Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?”

Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.  Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’  God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:4-8

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Enemy of Apathy

 by John Bell

She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters,
Hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day;

She sighs and she sings, mothering creation,
Waiting to give birth to all the Word will say.

She wings over earth, resting where she wishes,
Lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies;

She nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder,
Nourishing potential hidden to our eyes.

She dances in fire, startling her spectators,
Waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned;

 She weans and inspires all whose hearts are open,
Nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained.

For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence,
Gifted by the Saviour in eternal love;

She is the key opening the scriptures,
Enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.

From the Iona Community, Wild Goose Publications

The images, symbols, or metaphors for the Holy Spirit are many, (fire, wind, water, breath, dove, etc.) but none can fully capture the mystery that is God’s very presence in us and among us.  For Celtic Christians, the Wild Goose became the dominant image for the wild and untamable wind that blows wherever it wishes.  “You hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8). 

Over the next several weeks we will journey with the Celtic Saints of ancient Ireland and explore what the Wild Goose image has to teach us about the nature of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  In  particular we will look at the presence, the call, the bond and the persistence of the Holy Spirit.  In the end, my prayer is that each of us will deepen our  relationship the Holy Spirit and become more aware of the Spirit’s work and presence in our lives. 

Take a few moments with the poem above and reflect on what images of the Holy Spirit resonate most with you and why? 

Grow in Love

Grow in Love
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 5
May 12, 2024
Matthew 22:36-40, 28:18-20

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands

Matthew 22:36-40, CEB

Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Matthew 28:18-20, CEB

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Last summer at our Annual Conference, Rev. Dr. Martyn Atkins of Great Britain shared the centrality of the two texts above as essential to our Christian faith.  These passages are known as the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Dr. Atkins points out that these two cannot be separated and together they provide the most clear indicator of our spiritual health.  The Great Commandment is the tone by which we undertake the Great Commission and the Great Commission is the means by which we fulfill the Great Commandment.  In other words, we can’t love God and neighbor if we do not bear witness to Christ’s love for them and we cannot bear witness or make disciples unless our efforts and intent are fueled not by our own interests, but by our love of God and neighbor alone.  Evangelism must always be personal, relational, and incarnational, just as Christ modeled for us when he came to dwell among us to show us the depth of God’s love. 

Our intent, Dr. Atkins says, must always be to offer Christ’s love authentically, consistently, and in the same manner as Christ offers himself to us and to others.  “The last thing the world needs,” he proclaims, “is more salespeople of an institution called “church,” but what it does need is many, many more free samples of Jesus Christ.”

Generally speaking, Atkins points out, we like the Great Commandment, “except when we don’t.”  We like the idea of being good, loving people, until we get caught up in our religious and culture wars that tell us who are and are not included among our neighbors.  The problem with both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission is that neither “give us any ammunition to keep anybody out of who Jesus is talking about.”  Atkins continues, “Every generation of Christians has trouble with such scriptures because they give us no help whatsoever in our endless search to find people to exclude from it.”

As we seek to grow in Christian maturity, to grow our roots deeper into Christ, and to grow wider in the scope of our ministry and service to others, we are ultimately growing in love.  Love is not a program for numerical growth, but it creates fertile soil for the Holy Spirit to do what only she can do. 

Love God.  Love Neighbor.  Make Disciples. 

This alone is our task.  

You can view Dr. Atkin's’ full presentation below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sieT_LJ9yno

Grow Wide

Grow Wide
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 4
May 5, 2024
Luke 14:7-24, Matthew 25:34-46, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2, Leviticus 19:34

Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward.  Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.  And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected.”

 Luke 14:12-14

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Have you ever noticed at church events how easy it is to sit only with our own families and friends?  Without even realizing it, we vet people to make sure they are people we would want to be around before we even think about inviting them to join us for a Community meal or even Sunday worship.  The tragic reality is that while churches tend to be generally friendly, they are not verry good at making new friends.  We are rather insulated and friendly only with those we already know well, sometimes excluding even those who have been in our  midst for a long time.  I knew a leader in one church who had been there for over 30 years and she said she still felt like a newbie and an outsider because she wasn’t part of one of the founding families.  How long does it take for us to make someone feel truly at home?

One congregation I served got very uncomfortable when I rearranged the chairs in the classroom to have Bible Study in a circle.  I was told that “we always sit in rows.”  They even sat in rows in the fellowship hall at the Christmas party, facing the tree and watching the kids as they greeted Santa, but talking to nobody outside of their own family.  Almost all of our time in church was spent literally staring at the back of other people’s heads. 

What was even worse was how many people I talked to who struggled with things they were afraid for even their family members to know about, family members who sat next to them on the same pew every week. 

Like most churches, this congregation regularly complained about the lack of growth and the fact that visitors rarely returned.  At one point I had to ask, what is the point of growing when we can’t even talk to the people we already have?  Why do we need more people in the pews just to stare at the back of their heads if we are unwilling to build real, honest and trusting relationships, even within our own families?

In Ephesians 3, Paul says that we are being rooted and grounded in love.  Our growth is an act of pure grace, but roots only grow when the environment supplies nutrients, oxygen, warmth, and water.  There are many lonely people even in the church, whose roots feel dry, thirsty, wounded, or stagnant.  Perhaps the problem is our ecosystem.  Are the other plants / people around you healthy or dying?  As a tree’s roots meet the roots of other trees, they begin to grow or “graft” together into one larger and healthier root system.  This allows the roots to reach out even further, working together to collect water and nutrients and offering mutual benefit to every tree in the network. 

The same principle is necessary for spiritual growth and for church growth.  We are not lone trees, but part of a spiritual ecosystem in which we all reach out through the Spirit and provide nourishment for one another.  We must extend real friendship beyond our comfort zone. 

If we want to grow, we must widen our reach. 

Grow Deep

Grow Deep
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 3
April 28, 2024
Mark 4:1-20, Ephesians 3:14-21, Psalm 1:1-3, Jeremiah 17:7-8

Happy are those who trust in the Lord,
    who rely on the Lord.

They will be like trees planted by the streams,
    whose roots reach down to the water.
They won’t fear drought when it comes;
    their leaves will remain green.
They won’t be stressed in the time of drought
    or fail to bear fruit.

 Jeremiah 17:7-8

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We all like the idea of growth, especially when it comes to our church “growing,” but growth is about a lot more than what we see on the surface.  Just as a tree can be extremely tall while rotting inside and posing a great risk to nearby homes in a storm, so churches of any size can also be rotten inside and pose a great
spiritual risk to their members and their larger  community.

Growth, whether in the church or in our own lives as we seek to grow in Christ, is about a lot more than we see on the surface.  Growth depends primarily on a healthy root system to nourish, to anchor and to connect us with our larger environment.  Jeremiah writes that it is our trust in the Lord which strengthens our roots so that we will not be stressed in time of drought.  Jesus warns us of thorns and rocks and birds that will prevent the seed of God’s word from truly taking root in our lives so that it can produce good fruit.  Paul calls the church to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. (Ephesians 3:17, Colossians 2:7).

There is no question throughout scripture that being deeply rooted in the love of God through Christ is  essential to any kind of growth as individuals or as a community.  Yet tragically we live in a culture that  teaches us how to polish the surface of our lives while hiding the rot on the inside that nobody wants to see.  From small talk to resumes to our social media feeds, we have become experts and presenting highlight reals of our lives.  At the same time we know the pain and  brokenness that is under the surface, and when we compare our brokenness to someone else’s highlight reel, we fall even deeper into our despair. 

Most trees have root systems much longer / taller than the tree we see above ground.  I assumed that the bigger the tree, the deeper the roots, but it turns out the deepest recorded roots are found in a relatively small tree called the “Shepherd’s tree”, native to the Kalahari Desert.  These roots stretch up to 230 feet into the ground to find nourishment.  Other roots hang out of the ground directly over a stream and don’t need to stretch far at all to find the sustenance they need.  Farmers have even found a way to nourish certain roots in the air through hydroponic solutions to increase fruit & vegetable growth where there are less than ideal soil conditions.  Like the numbers we measure on the  surface, the measurement of the root is also not what matters.  Rather, what makes a plant healthy is the way the roots sense the environment and seek out water and nutrients.  Environmental Scientist Ying Fan Reinfelder says that the roots are the smartest part of the plant.  They will always find the perfect depth to reach the  most favorable source of nourishment possible. 

Where do your spiritual roots find nourishment? 

What obstacles keep you from tapping into the source of life? 

If you want to grow, start with the health of your roots.

Grow Up

Grow Up
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 2
April 14, 2024
Ephesians 4:11-16, Hebrews 5:12-14, 1 Peter 2:1-5, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ.  I gave you milk to drink instead of solid food, because you weren’t up to it yet.  Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards?

 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

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Growth is a natural part of life.  It’s been said that if you are not growing, you are dying.  But the question is, what kind of growth are we talking about? 

In the church, growth is often measured by numbers… in particular worship attendance or membership, and financial giving.  That’s it.  But scripture consistently refers to the church as a living organism, as the body of Christ.  I wonder, what would happen if we measured the growth of the human body on those standards alone?  What if growth was only measured by how tall we got and how much weight we gained?

That might be a good starting point for an infant, especially one who may have been pre-mature or underweight at birth, but for an adult, there comes a point when we will not grow any taller and if anything, many of us would rather lose weight than gain it.  If our only measurement for growth is physical size, then we spend the majority of our lives either stagnant or dying because we simply cannot grow anymore.

There are many debates about whether or not a church can grow too big, or what the ideal “weight” or size of a healthy church might be.  Some idealize the multi-thousand member mega church as the expected norm, while others in mid to larger size churches quickly realize that they have become so bloated with programs and buildings that they must streamline in order to make their ministry sustainable.  It has been argued that it is better to do one thing exceptionally well than 20 or 30 things mediocre because your budget and your people are stretched too thin. 

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins identifies what he calls “The Hedgehog Concept”, in most successful companies.  As a leadership model, the hedgehog concept is based on the fact that a hedgehog really only has one natural defense mechanism in nature.  It can roll up in a spiky little ball and become almost impossible for a predator to eat.  It is easy to look at that hedgehog as small, weak, and insignificant compared to more majestic animals like lions and bears, but no one can argue with the effectiveness of the hedgehog’s ability to survive and thrive by warding off predators in such a simple way.  If it tried to fight back or compete with other animals, it would likely lose, but when it does what it was created to do, all is well.

New Testament writers regularly call out the church for essentially getting fat on baby food ( Eph. 4:11-16, Heb. 5:12-14, 1 Pet. 2:1-5, 1 Cor. 3:1-3, etc.)  They are never concerned about numerical growth in the countless small house churches and faith communities sprouting up across the known world.  Rather, they call out the lack of spiritual maturity among those who have been in the faith the longest.  In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul particularly uses their constant jealousy and quarreling as evidence of this lack of spiritual growth and health. 

I wonder how much of our own quarreling and even decline in today’s world stems from our jealousy of larger churches and our own insecurities about size and money? 

What if real growth means simply being the best, healthiest and most mature little hedgehog we can be?

Think Small

Think Small
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 1
April 7, 2024
Luke 13:18-21

Jesus asked, “What is God’s kingdom like? To what can I compare it?  It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in a garden. It grew and developed into a tree and the birds in the sky nested in its branches.”

Again he said, “To what can I compare God’s kingdom?  It’s like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through the whole.”

Luke 13:18-21

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Somewhere along the line, our culture became obsessed with the idea that “bigger is better.”  It is the philosophy that drives our capitalistic, consumer market.  We don’t even have to leave our home to find ourselves inundated with advertising that tries to tell us that we need more… bigger, better, faster… in sum, that we never have enough.  It is not a far stretch to move from the idea that we don’t have enough to the deeply rooted feeling that we are not enough.  The “Bigger is Better” philosophy has created a deep cultural crisis of identity and worth that we have barely begun to realize or admit. 

When applied to the church, we have bought into the lie that only large churches are successful and we have created an endless array of costly programs with the goal of helping to make small churches big.  We have come to believe that if we do not have enough people, money, and space to have personalized programming for every possible demographic like the mega church down the road, that we somehow have less value in God’s Kingdom.  We are easily discouraged by attendance and offering numbers, seemingly forgetting that we follow a savior who transformed the world with only 12 disciples and fed thousands with only 5 loaves of bread and a few fish. 

The Kingdom, Jesus said, is like a mustard seed or  a  pinch of yeast, tiny, unnoticed and seemingly insignificant, but with the power to transform into something amazing.  If such parables are to be taken seriously, we must consider the immense value that small congregations have in the Kingdom on earth.  Small churches offer unique opportunity for deeper intergenerational relationships.  They can more easily adapt and respond to the immediate needs of the community around them as there is less bureaucracy and administrative red tape.  We are able to know everyone and quickly recognize and welcome newcomers when we gather.  Personally, I have found that even kids can feel more included in a small congregation of loving adults than in a large organization where they get lost in a crowd of other children and never even speak to the pastor or other church members aside from a Sunday School teacher or children’s minister. 

Could it be, as Karl Vaters suggests, that 100 congregations of 50 people could be more effective, or at least as effective, at transforming their communities than a single church of 5,000? 

What would it take for small churches to recognize and live into their own significance, to celebrate their strengths and giftedness, and to focus on faithfulness over numerical growth? 

How might our own church and community look different if instead of struggling to grow bigger, we instead focused on growing healthy in Christian maturity, growing deep in our discipleship, growing wide in hospitality and welcome, and growing in love as we live into the Great Commandment and Great Commission of Jesus?

Weak to Be Strong

Weak to be Strong
Finding God at the End of Your Rope - Part 7
Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024
Matthew 27:62-28:15, 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

The next day, which was the day after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate.  They said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will arise.’  Therefore, order the grave to be sealed until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people, ‘He’s been raised from the dead.’ This last deception will be worse than the first.”

Matthew 27:62-64

If the authorities were terrified of a dead savior, who they were convinced could not truly have risen from the grave, how is it that a living savior who we believe is alive in us be so easily ignored by the world?  Could it be that a dead Savior held more power over them than a living savior holds over us? 

In Matthew 28, we find the soldiers spreading the lie that they had fallen asleep and that the disciples indeed did steal the body.  What could possibly drive a Roman Soldier to "admit" that he fell asleep on duty, let alone an entire guard unit?  Such failure carried serious consequences, perhaps even death, which is why they depended on bribes from the Sanhedrin to save their own necks.  

Even though Jesus’ enemies did not believe in the resurrection itself, they absolutely believed in the power of the idea of a resurrection, and it brought them to their knees and left them scrambling to cover up the evidence at any cost.  We believe in the resurrection, or at least we say we do, but somehow, we don’t live as if we believe it has any power or meaning.

For the disciples, this truth had the power to turn their very lives upside down… it gave them the boldness to risk everything and defy the very world which held over them the same power of life and death they had held over Jesus.  Almost every one of them was so absolutely confident in the power of the resurrection, that they preached it even in the face of their own executions.  Like Jesus, the disciples were loved by many who believed, but were very much despised, rejected and hated by the world as a whole.  They suffered imprisonment, abuse of every kind, and even death at the hands of both the religious leaders and Rome itself.  But no matter how badly they were treated, they absolutely could not be ignored, because the power of the Risen Christ lived within them?

The power of the resurrection is easily stripped away by familiarity, as if it were just another good story.  But this year, will we allow ourselves to look deeper into our weakness, deeper into the graves in our lives, and tremble with fear and joy that God has overcome the grave.  If Christ is still dead… then we are still dead in our sins… but if Christ is alive, then the Resurrected King is resurrecting us… unraveling the grave-clothes of sin that have held us in the tomb for so long and sending us forth to declare His victory!

The final question for us…

Does the reality of a Risen Savior affect our lives as much as the mere idea of a Risen Savior affected the authorities of Jesus’ day?

When someone looks at you and the way you live out your faith, would they conclude that Christ is alive or dead?  And would they have any reason to believe that it matters?  We may be loved or we may be hated, but if Christ truly lives within us… we cannot be ignored! 

We cannot simply walk away as if it’s just another good story.  In any age… a “dead man walking” demands a response from everyone who hears. 

How do you respond to the Good News that Christ the Lord is Risen Today?  Perhaps with joy, perhaps with fear… but indifference is simply not an option.  As you walk away from the empty tomb this week, what will you do with the Risen Christ?