Undercover Pastor

OK, so I had an old E*Trade account from my computer industry days.  It still had $126 in it, and E*Trade started charging me a fee of $40/quarter for the privilege of possibly doing business with them in the future.  So I decided to close my account and transfer the money out.  Today, three weeks later, I got my money…  Well, $66 of it.  They charged me $60 to give me my money back!  That’s almost 50% of what I had left.

If you need to open an investing account somewhere, don’t use E*Trade!  They’re e*vil.

Wooooo!

Lately, I’ve been doing a decent job of doing some light weight training on a semi-regular basis (boy, that sentence don’t claim a lot, does it?)  Anyway, every so often, I bump up my weights, and I can really “feel the burn” as my muscles work harder than they’re accustomed to working.  There’s something satisfying about the burn even though it’s really hard, and I’m getting stronger because I’m willing push and increase the weight instead of getting comfortable with my routine.

Well, the last couple of months have been the same way for me as a leader.  I’m “feeling the burn” there.  It’s really hard, but I can tell that I’m growing.  I can see that as the church grows and develops, it requires more from me as a leader.  And the only way to get there is to “work out” as a leader.  I know what’s good for me, and I need to push through it.

The other approach would be to declare it “too hard” or decide that I can’t do it because it doesn’t come easily.  Well, I’m deciding not to do that.  I can choose to see this as “feeling the burn” instead of “stressed out beyond belief.”

That choice of perspective makes a big difference.  I’m even looking forward to my evaluation as a way to grow some more and develop the capacity I need to do my job and to be a more effective disciple of Jesus Christ.

Have you “felt the burn”?  What was it like for you?

 Mark 15:15 says, “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.”

Last spring another pastor said that he had a word for me: ”God has your ministry on hold until you can stop worryign about what other people think.”  OUCH!  Do I really let what other people think affect my actions as a pastor.  Am I a leader swayed by the whims of the crowd?  Well, sure, I listen to others.  We’re supposed to.  After all, those of us in the Reformed family of churches believe that it’s easier to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in groups than in person…

But what about those times when I know that something is right, but I expect it to be unpopular.  Or what about those times when someone sends me an email complaining about what I preached.  Or what about the times when I know that addressing a particular verse in my sermon will set someone off…  Do those things change my course of action?  That’s not right!

Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent:

“‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.” (Mark 5:9-10)

So what did he do?  He allowed Jesus to be crucified to please the people.  That’s not the good kind of listening to the people.  I don’t want to allow myself to be turned away from God’s will in order to avoid conflict…

I don’t want to satisfy the crowd at the price of crucifying Jesus – or even to satisfy the crowd at the price of turning from Jesus’ plan for me and for my church.  The price is just too high.

I’m on my way home from the Presbyterian Church’s Evangelism Conference.  It’s clear to me that evangelism has really changed since the days when you could follow a script or hand people a booklet and they would make a decision to be a Christian.  These days it’s all about having relationships with people and about demonstrating love through treating people well and serving those in need.

Which is why the dinner conversation I had was so surprising.  At one of our meals, I had a conversation with two men from big churches who told me that the most important thing a church can do to attract people is to have a polished worship service.  You need professional-quality musicians, and if you can’t get them, you must do simple music.  “Aunt Millie missing every third note is not OK anymore.”

Yikes!  So the church is just like the rest of the world.  If you’re not sufficiently talented, you can’t serve.  And instead of having something that’s more real than what we find in the rest of the world, we must emulate it…  I just don’t think that’s what people are looking for.  I think they want worship that’s authentic and sincere.  Scratch that.  They need worship that’s authentic and sincere.  It’s not an infomercial for Jesus.  It’s where we have an experience of God’s presence, where we connect with God’s people, where we see a different kind of life demonstrated.  If what we demonstrate in worship is the same message that the wealthy, the beautiful, the talented are worth more than others, we have failed.

Yes, worship should glorify God, but I don’t think that towering spires, perfectly produced music, and seamless transitions between worship elements are the things that please God.

To quote the prophet Micah,

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”  He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6-8)

Shouldn’t worship be about doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God too?

Jesus didn’t mention polish and “quality” when he spoke about worship.  He said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:24)

Let’s not clone the world and adopt its tactics.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God– what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)  Let’s keep demonstrating that we’re different because we know Jesus, making space for God to transform the lives of those who worship, and go out to change the world! 

The Bible’s book of Revelation is a tough nut to crack. To figure out what it meant to its readers, you have to understand all kinds of allusions, several literary genres, and a ton of historical context. I will not be doing that today

Instead I’m looking at a popular interpretation of Revelation 13:16-17

“He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.” – Rev. 13:16-17

A number of people have looked at the idea that people would need the “mark of the beast” to buy or sell and have decided that it looks a lot like a barcode with a unique ID on it, or more recently, an RFID chip (a chip that can be read remotely with a reader) implanted under the person’s skin. Imagine the day when you can’t use a credit card and photo ID because the implanted chip is more secure…

The California State Senate passed a bill making it illegal for an employer to require an employee to “get chipped” as they call it. Check out the LA Times article. You might think that this is ridiculous and couldn’t possibly happen – except that it has already. Reportedly , in early 2006, Citywatcher.com required its data center employees to be implanted for security reasons (an article on it) – they can keep their jobs if they don’t get chipped, but they can’t work in the data center.

Now not everyone agrees that the “mark of the beast” is about the future. Verse 18 says, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.” One creates a person’s “number” in Hebrew by putting together the numbers of the letters of his/her name. So it looks less like everyone being implanted with a unique number and more like everyone being marked with the same number, a number that the reader should be able to match up to a person.

Ragardless of whether “chipping” people is the “Mark of the Beast,” it’s creepy and I’m glad the California Legislature is acting on it. At least people shouldn’t have to be chipped.