Nothing New Under the Sun?

Recently I was having a conversation with a pastor of large church in the Chicago area about the possibility of his writing a book. His response was basically, “What is there to say? Everything that needs to be written has been written.” He apparently buys into the “nothing new under the sun” worldview drawn from the book of Ecclesiastes.

And this is understandable. It’s impossible to think of an issue that hasn’t been addressed, a verse that hasn’t been exposited, a prominent person who hasn’t been biographized (that’s just the verbification of biography), or a story that hasn’t been told.  There isn’t a new subject under the sun, but this isn’t anywhere close to saying that every necessary thing has been said.

There may not be new subjects, but there are new voices and new audiences. New readers are born and developed every day. New writers and content creators are as well. To apply the notion that there is nothing new under the sun is to assume that all previous truth is relevant at all times to all people. Whether or not this should be true, in reality it is not.

Old truths must be expressed by new voices in new ways so that new audiences can learn them. It doesn’t matter how often people decry chronological snobbery; it still exists. The way to combat it is to connect readers and listeners with timeless truths in a new way then point them back the way you came to the source.   

There is no new truth under the sun, but there will always be a need for new ways of saying the old truths.

Authority, Authoritarianism, and the Millennial Generation

Having been born in 1983, I am of the Millennial generation, or Generation Y, so it is interesting to see various statements propagated regarding Millennials. One of these that has struck a dissonant chord with me is this: “Millennials don’t respect authority” (or some variation of that). While I can see why various commentators might say that, I think it is untrue. Maybe my disagreement is a disrespect of their authority, though. Oh well, here goes.

Millenials don’t disrespect authority (some do, sure, but as a whole); we disrespect authoritarianism. What I mean by this is that Millenials value direction, leadership, and the authority that is based in know-how and experience. But we resist the type of authority that originates in a “because I said so” attitude. We want to know why things should be done a certain way. Why does it make more sense to do things one way than another? Why should we keep doing things the way they have always been done? Why does the boss’s opinion matter more than mine even if he isn’t right?

This attitude does have its shortcomings. It does lend itself to contrarianism (guilty) and it must be tempered by the common sense to shut up and just do the work at some point. It can border on disrespect if it is voiced poorly or too often. But it isn’t a bad thing in itself.

It’s a forward-thinking attitude. We want leaders who will take us somewhere not authority figures who will keep us where we have been.  We will follow people of passion, intelligence, and vision. But we won’t follow someone, or their ideas, just because we’re told to. We want authorities over us who will give reason and explanation and direction, not just orders or propositional statements. We might acquiesce outwardly to certain authority figures because that’s what a job or a role calls for, but we follow leaders who are leading not demanding.

Millenials, be humble people who respond well to authority. But don’t stop asking questions and prodding the authorities in your life to lead and reason and think. Shut your mouths when you ought to. Do the grunt work when it’s required. But ask questions. Give ideas. Be the energy in your family, your church, or your organization. Be followers who spur your authorities.

Bosses and superiors, be authority figures but don’t be authoritarian. We won’t follow you because we’re supposed to, but we will follow you to hell and back if you convince us it’s worth it. Don’t tell us “because I said so.” Tell us why something is necessary or valuable.

Pastors and parents, this is just as true for you. You are in a position that is under God and pointing to God, but that’s not enough to truly lead. Your children and your congregation don’t follow a position. They follow a leader. Give them reason to follow.

Congregation vs. Audience

When I receive proposals for books or book ideas from pastors I often get something like this as an accompanying comment: “I am the pastor of a X,000-person church, and based on their response to this message I think there is a large demand for this material.” This seems like a reasonable assertion. 80% of the congregation loved the messages, therefore a large percentage of like-minded Christians will also like the message.  Unfortunately there is almost no correlation between what a pastor’s congregation thinks of his sermons and the audience size when that is turned into a book. 

There are a few reasons for this.

1) Pastors have a relationship with their congregations. There is trust, familiarity, and warmth that allows for a sort of impact that doesn't carry over to a “cold” audience like book readers. An average or unskilled preacher can still be an enormously effective one because he loves and is loved by Christ and his congregation, but a good book requires skill to create.

2) There is often an enormous difference in the dynamism or effectiveness of the spoken word versus the written word. Many Pastors use scant outlines or basic notes to preach powerful sermons. Many pastors are skilled story tellers and can weave a verbal tapestry or paint a verbal picture with ease. Others have the talents of an orator and can use verbal variance to engage an audience. And for others it is the sheer passion and devotion that carries the sermon. Translating that same powerful preaching into powerful literature is no easy feat, and one that many aren’t prepared or equipped to do.

3) Worship services are multi-sensory experiences. The pastor’s sermon is both carried by and carries the worship in song and prayer. It is a cycle of worship experiences that builds itself up. There is no easy separation of song, prayer, scripture, testimony and sermon in the transformation of people’s hearts, nor should there be.  Books are information on a page. Their power is in the words themselves with no other sensory engagement, so to take an effective sermon and publish it might be like taking a fish out of water.

4) Pastors are in a context whether it be denominational, racial, generational, or social. Maybe this means they communicate in a certain style to connect with their congregation. Maybe it means they are addressing particular issues or needs that have arisen in that context. But whatever it means the net effect is that the voice and message are uniquely suited to that context and not necessarily to a broader audience.

I do not write this to say that pastors should refrain from writing books. Rather I want to encourage awareness and research. I also want to express thanks for pastors who have impactful ministry within their contexts.  I encourage pastors to write and to consider how their messages might impact a broader audience, but getting from congregation to audience is not a simple numbers game. 

Why the City?

I love the city. I grew up in the city and find it to be a stimulating, amazing, inspiring place. I don’t just mean the Miracle Mile or Times Square, but also the inner city. I love it all.

It seems that I am not alone. There is a shift going on in portions of the church today toward the city. It exhibits itself in church planting, in missional communities, in conferences, summits, books, and blogs. There is an emphasis on reaching the city for the gospel, and I think this is wonderful.

Reaching the city is effective and pragmatic. It is a highly concentrated place where people from every tribe and tongue can be connected with just by crossing the street or riding a bus. It is cross-cultural without crossing borders. It is highly social, highly connected, and highly populated all of which makes ministering in the city sensible and strategic.

There are also great, obvious needs in the city. There is homelessness, poverty, injustice, and illiteracy (even in the schools). There is crime and brokenness. The allocation of resources, whether it be financial or theological, is heavily in favor of the suburbs. So ministering in the city is essential.

It is easy for someone like me to catch a vision for urban ministry, whether it is to hipsters or the hood. But I live in the suburbs. I am surrounded by homogenous affluence, strong schools, and relative ease. And it makes living there easy, safe, and stable.  There are challenges that my context completely alleviates, and this seems like a really good thing. And it raises some significant questions and seems to create a certain tension.

It seems to me that there is a sense among some (I know I feel it and think it) that ministering in the city is “better” than ministering in the suburbs. But at the same time it cannot be said that the suburbs need Jesus less than the city or that someone seeking to honor God in the suburbs falls short of the honor brought to God by someone in the city. At the same time, though, it can be said that those ministering in cities are meeting the greater need as it pertains to all the issues mentioned previously.

So I see a number of questions and covet your feedback.

How is the suburban church (or individual), with whom lie the majority of the resources, to support and interact with the urban church (or individual, or ministry)?

Is there a sense in which it is better, or more honoring to God, to serve in a place where people have the greater sociological and physical needs?

Can the suburban church or Christian truly be honoring to God while functionally ignoring the needs of the city?

And where the heck do small towns and rural ministries fit into this mess?

Please post answers to any or all of these questions. I don’t have answers. This isn’t a quiz. I am simply trying to understand these questions and challenges.

Unpeaceful Peace Making

Peace. Peaceful. Peacefulness.

Peace is quiet. It is calm. It is serene. It is slow, steady, and unperturbed. Peace is when things are just as they ought to be, set to rights, just so.

In Matthew 5 Jesus says “Blessed are the peace makers for they shall inherit the earth.” Read that again. “Blessed are the peace makers.” This is no blessing for the passive and the calm, it is a blessing for the intentional and the active.

That is because there can be no peace without justice. A peace maker is a justice maker. He is a doer of deeds and a pursuer of a cause, and that cause is the gospel which is the truest peace.

The peace makers will inherit the earth not because they will wait passively and patiently for God’s victory, but because they will further the cause of God’s kingdom. There is no blessing in this verse for the sideline dwellers, the watchers, the waiters, and the water boys.

In fact, being a peacemaker is likely the least peaceful calling. It calls us to the forefront of the advancement of God’s cause. The weak need defending, the poor need serving, the unjust need facing and rebuking, and the gospel needs declaring. And the Bible promises that it is not peace we will get for these actions, but pain and persecution.

And so, “blessed are the peace makers, for they shall inherit the earth.” And they will love it because they sought to make it peaceful.

Your Greatest Fear

What is your greatest fear? At one point or another we’ve probably all been faced with this question. Is it heights? Is it spiders? Is it the flu? Is it death? 

I am not a big fan of any of those, but none of those is my biggest fear. It’s not even close, really. My biggest fear is people, more specifically people’s opinions. I fear what people think.

I don’t believe I am at all uncommon in this. I think most people fear people more than anything. The only reason they don’t admit it is because . . . they fear people. We are motivated, energized, and paralyzed, aggravated, and enervated by others’ perceptions of us. We wear what we wear, write what we write, and say what we say because of what others think. We even think what we think because of other people.

We are slaves to people. Because we are terrified of them. We are all slaves to each other because everyone is afraid.

And in this reality I see some of what it means to fear the Lord. “Fear the Lord” is a challenging phrase to get our heads around because fear isn’t a good or happy thing. Right?

But if we feared God like we feared people we would wear what we wear, write what we write, say what we say, and even think what we think out of God-fear. And that would be a good and happy thing, right? It would be good and happy because, unlike people, God isn’t afraid of us. He has no insecurities with which to respond to ours. He isn’t enslaved by our opinions of him.

So to fear the Lord is to turn our greatest fear toward the one who we can be certain feels no compulsion to respond in a hurtful way. God has no fear of man, and so we can safely fear him. 

R.I.P.?

Being confronted with death, like we all are when someone prominent dies, is often referred to a “wake-up call.” But what are we being awoken to? It seems that many are simply faced with the fact that people die, a fact that few like to dwell on (and those who do are considered morbid). But we ought to be awoken to the realities of heaven and hell. Are the dead resting in peace or not?

I asked a co-worker this morning what his thoughts were on the passing of Steve Jobs, and he said “I wish I had prayed for him.” This co-worker was feeling the weight of eternity, the reality of eternal peace or eternal punishment. I feel it too, and it is heavy.    

It is not for us to determine who is resting with Jesus and who is not, but it is for us to look around and consider who near us will be resting with Jesus when their time comes (and it always, ALWAYS comes too soon). So when we say “R.I.P. Steve Jobs” we should hope that he is (as my friend Mike put it, that “Jesus got him in the end”), and then consider our world to see who has yet to meet Jesus and find that hoped-for rest.

What do we mean when say or write R.I.P.? Have we engaged every avenue to bring that person to perfect rest in Jesus? Or are we simply acknowledging a death while disregarding eternal realties? 

To Conform or Not to Conform?

A commenter on this blog recently observed that I seem like a non-conformist. That idea caught me a little bit off guard, but it makes perfect sense too.  The comment also got me thinking about whether that is a good or a bad thing. Is non-conformity something to which we should aspire?

As I think back over my life it seems that my non-conformist tendencies have done much morphing and changing. I think they have gone from bad to better (hopefully from bad to good, but I’m probably not the best judge of that). The primary reason for the change is that non-conformity needs a significant amount of maturity and humility in order to be fruitful, and those are traits I am only just growing into.  

At various points I have refused to conform in a contrarian way (It’s no good unless it’s my idea) and an anti-authoritarian way (don’t tell me what to do or how to do it). I have grown my hair shaggy, shaved it off, and just about everything in between. I wore pink shirts before metro-sexuals made it cool (or at least not socially anathema). And there were stretches where I did all these at the same time. Not one of these expressions of non-conformity had any value, and some were downright detrimental (or ugly). They were all me-focused and benefited nobody, including myself.

It is when non-conformity is aimed at a purpose that it begins to have value. It cannot be a self-indulgent end in itself.

We ought to pursue the sort of non-conformity that takes our minds outside of conventional thought and examines it with a critical eye. We should engage in non-conformity when it allows us to express a truth in a fresh way that will break the mold of previous expressions. We should consider the value of non-conformity in being a challenge or encouragement for those around us. We should embrace non-conformity when conforming leads us to boredom, uselessness, ineffectiveness, or sin.

I suppose I am a non-conformist, but I hope I am the sort that offers challenges, encouragement, fresh perspectives, and keeps you from being bored.