Ruts—Risk or Reward?

I’ve been on some really muddy roads in some very deep ruts.  In those slippery, muddy situations the ruts can be helpful. When your wheels are tracking in the rut, they protect you from slipping into a ditch—just follow the rut, and eventually you are led to a more drivable section of road.

However, by and large, I’m not a big rut fan.  It seems all of us can fall prey to life ruts.  Some might call them routines, and there is a similarity, but I imagine routines easier to break than escaping from deep ruts.  Life ruts aren’t normally something we chose but something that just happened while we were living life.

It might be the rut of a nice family tradition. That special place the family rendezvous annually. Could be a holiday rut. Or maybe one Sunday morning years ago one of the men in the family was up early and decided to make pancakes for the family.  It was a hit, so a few weeks later it happened again, and then again.  Before anyone realized it, there was this pancakes-fixed-by-one-of-the-guys-on-Sunday rut.  And over time when someone in the family wants something else for Sunday breakfast, or to go out, there is resistance because we find comfort in the rut. After all, it is “our” rut.

Whether we call them ruts or habits, routines or traditions, we’ve all got them.  Even the most avant-garde family member has them, even if they are simply the arguments against having them!

I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t have them, but I am suggesting that we could be healthier, freer, and more engaged with people in our communities if we would intentionally consider our ruts.  Since so many of them just happen while we are doing life, it is probable that some are really worth continuing, even fostering, while we would do well to jump from the deep track of many of our not-so-helpful ruts.

So I suggest that maybe you make list of your routines, habits, traditions, or ruts.  Then, as you have them in front of you, ask yourself these seven questions:

1.     If this wasn’t a rut, would I choose to spend my life this way?

2.     How does this rut make my life more difficult?

3.     And conversely, how does this rut make my life easier, better, richer?

4.     Would I have trouble defending this rut to a close friend or total stranger?

5.     Is this rut so important and valuable that I would invite others to join my rut?

6.     What might be a better option than this rut?

7.     Thinking wisely with good counsel in line with scripture, do I now consciously choose this “rut”—habit, routine, or tradition—as a valuable rut for me?

Since so many of our ruts “just happened” from living life, we have the freedom, the power, and maybe even the responsibility to think about life’s ruts.

A verse comes to mind with which I’ve taken a little liberty in the translation:

“There is rut that seems like the right rut but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

Just seems like a word of advice to all of us whose ruts may have become just a bit too comfortable.

Andy McDonald

Redeeming Jazz in Gospel Ministry

I’ve always had struggles with preaching the gospel. Sometimes I think about others who have done it so well—the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, Paul, St. Patrick, Billy Graham—and I feel overwhelmed. Maybe it’s because of the way Christianity has been villainized in my lifetime.  Maybe it’s how I was raised.  Maybe I don’t believe enough.  Maybe.

           

I started taking our church jazz group to the local community jazz festival a few years ago with the intent of a being a church that uses their talents to join the community where they are. It has been successful to a degree of friendship, but it hasn’t been overtly evangelical.

           

Last year I played a gospel song for the first time with “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” After the concert, my next-door neighbor, who is not a church attender, asked me why I seemed so apologetic when I introduced the song.  He thought it was fantastic. That moment was an epiphany to me.

This year we are playing mostly hymn tunes that are fantastically arranged for this medium. We will sing “He Keeps Me Singing” with the chorus line, “ Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know; fills my every longing; keeps me singing as I go.” It’s quite a bold break from the past, and I’m eager to see what will happen.

           

Music philosopher Harold Best summed it up best for me when he said:

“Serving Christ while participating in culture in an elegant and reforming way can mean a thousand things in as many places. It can mean shoveling muck and bringing clean water to a barrio. It can mean writing a new praise chorus for a storefront congregation. It can mean translating the Scripture one more time for one more faraway tribe. It can mean taking old hymns and old ways and breathing new life into them. It can mean preaching simply yet eloquently, fearingly yet sweetly. It can mean praise songs cavorting with hymns, and drums conversing with organ sounds. It can mean complete freedom in the Lord and stupendous discipline finding common ground. It can mean Bach, blues, Monet, street art, child dance and ballet, homiletics and storytelling, barn raisings and homeless shelters, all found within the normal conversation of the believing church. Elegance, for the Christian, is simply a thousand actions washed in the blood and carrying the sweet savor of Jesus' love. It is, above all, the seamless garment of worship and witness.”

I’ll keep you posted on this journey.  Keep us in your prayers as we explore bold and creative ways to redeem culture for the sake of the kingdom.

Richard Hickam

Greater Than What Divides

This week I hosted a get together for a bunch of church AV techs in the area.  We are all part of a big Facebook group for church sound and media techs around the world, but we get together occasionally at a local church to have fun and get to know each other.  We have people from mega-churches and from small churches, volunteers and paid professionals.  Our backgrounds are different, our churches are different, and our opinions are different, but I've discovered that our similarities are far greater than our differences.

As we get to know one another, we discover that the issues we face are all the same.  We all have failing equipment and diminishing budgets.  We all have grand visions and less-than-grand resources.  We all have a heart that strives to give excellence to our God who is worthy of the best. 

When we really get to know each other, we often discover that we are more alike than we are different.  That doesn't mean the differences don't matter, but it does mean that our differences don't have to divide us.  When we choose to build on our similarities and see issues from a different perspective, we can discover new ideas and new relationships.

I have gained support and encouragement from others who understand the struggle.  I have learned from others’ mistakes and have shared my own.  I have learned more about my faith by talking with others who believe differently.

There is much to be gained from others if we will take the time to get to know them.  There is a real beauty in our diversity.  God never intended for His church to be all hands or all arms; we are a diverse body of different parts that all work together for a common goal.

Chad Hess

The Face of Faith

I wrestle with faith; every follower of Jesus should.  Not because our faith is small, or it’s weak. But because it’s a mystery.

Faith is too often talked about as if it were a personal possession or a character trait.  Your marriage didn’t work because you didn’t have enough faith. Your child died because your faith was weak. Have faith, and everything will be okay.  Then when a spouse leaves the marriage, an innocent chid succoms to an illness or that promotion goes to a less-qualified coworker, the reason seems simple: you didn’t have enough faith.

The solution is equally simple; first beat yourself up for failing God, then grit your teeth and conjure up more faith! We see faith as something that is our responsibility to create, and if we do our job well, God will reward our efforts, “our” faith.

Matt and Bobbye are two of the most faithful Christ followers I’ve ever known.  They love Jesus; they teach Jesus; they live, sleep, eat and breath Jesus; and they exude the peace, love, and joy of those that follow Jesus constantly.  Yet on June 25th, 7000 volts of electricity passed through Matt’s body, nearly killing him. Bobbye was present at the scene to bear witness to the horror.  Matt has endured nearly a dozen surgeries and remains bandaged today, with the prospect of more surgery to come.  He has suffered what has been described as the worst pain a human can endure and literally lives today with his scars on his sleeve for all to see.

Yet the faith of Matt and Bobbye is intact . . . fully intact, flourishing, and growing.  Why? Don’t they understand that if they had more faith this would never have happened? Don’t they know that things like this only happen to those who disappoint God? Shouldn’t they be examining their lives for their shortcomings? If Christianity is based on our personal striving, then the answer to all these questions is, Yes!  If God is capricious, punishing those who fall short and rewarding those who work hard then, Yes! If God measures us, accepting those who earn mercy and punishing those who didn’t do enough, then Yes! They and we should accept our punishment and work hard to do better.

While this might seem a completely reasonably formula, it is is utterly unChristian.

In John 9, Jesus’ disciples asked him an eerily similar question when coming across a blind man on the road. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus answered "Neither this man nor his parents sinned…

Matt and Bobbye spent several hours with our staff last week.  They told story after story of people approaching them, asking what happened, then sharing the hurts of their lives.  The woman who stopped them in the parking lot of the Harley dealer and ended up crying as she confided her pain to this precious young couple, then was comforted and nurtured by Matt and Bobbye!

            ...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The jaded firefighters whose hearts were broken by this call.

            ...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The medical staff who Matt began praying for almost as soon as he regained consciousness.

            ...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The friends and family that have been participating in bible studies and spiritual support groups led by Matt and Bobbye.

...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The church that needs to be reminded of the grandeur of God.

...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The World Wide Wake Boarding community who love Matt without understanding the God he serves.

...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

It would be presumptuous for me to say that this was allowed to happened so that the works of God might be displayed in Matt, so I won’t say it.  But I will tell you that is the Bible passage Matt shared with us last Tuesday.

God does not promise us wealth, or fame, or respect, or accolades, or an escape from pain or hunger or suffering or even death as a reward for our faith or anything else.  In fact, Christ followers can expect all those things and more.  

God, however, offers us the opportunity to share in the work that he has ordained.  He graciously permits us to be his hands and feet to share his love with a hurting woman in the parking lot of a Harley dealership, or the back of an ambulance, or a burn unit . . . or with our neighbors. Faith is the mysterious gift from God that fuels his work.  It flows from God, through us to a world that desperately needs his love, comfort, forgiveness and grace.  And sometimes our pain can give the world a glimpse into God’s grace.

I don’t understand it; I don’t always like it, but I trust the one who is the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Amen

John Monday