27. April 2008 by Pastor John.

Last week Pastor Cynthia Hileman from the Metropolitan Chicago Synod preached.  She talked about how churches were being reinvented, resurrected and thriving.  She also mentioned much about the sacrifice such change can cost.  She closed her sermon with this quote from Annie Dillard’s “Teaching a Stone to Talk.”  I find it exhilirating to think about.
 On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs,
sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what
sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a
word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their
chemistry sets, making up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is
madness to wear ladies hats and straw hats and velvet hats to church; we
should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and
signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake
someday and take offence, or the waking god may draw us out to where we
can never  return.

from Annie Dillard Teaching a Stone to Talk  p40

Posted in Changing Church, Developing a Vision | No Comments »

2. April 2008 by Pastor John.

Jean Lunt, a member at Living Christ Lutheran Church in Hanover Park, spoke at worship last Sunday morning.  She shared the ministry of Living Christ, which is reaching into the community as it is addressing the needs of people in its community, through their Wednesday evening kid’s club, their combined Bible study with the Assemblies of God, through partnership with the schools, village and community groups, and by offering Spanish services through the Salvation Army.  It appears that the willingness to serve and the needs of the community continues to energize the church, and thus to strengthen it, while calling it into partnership with others.

As I have spoken to Pastor Jennie in the past, I have said that I envy the clarity of the mission Living Christ has.  The physical and safety needs of the community seem so evident, and they provide the opportunity for Living Christ to be able to touch people’s lives, and especially their spiritual lives in a meaningful way.  On the other hand, maybe it is not just the need that is presented, but the spiritual energy and commitment of the church to address what is so evident which gives such power to their mission.

As Christ Lutheran  continues to struggle to find God’s purpose, I wonder why we are not so focused.  Certainly our area doesn’t appear to have the financial needs, the safety concerns or the needs of a multi-cultural and impoverished people in our midst.  And yet there is terrible addiction problems all around us, whether it be to alcohol, leagal and illeagal drugs, pornography, gambling and a host of other demons which infests youth and adults alike.  We have a small community, where the police chief had told me several years ago, that they are called out daily to address domestic violence.  We live in a society where our youth have such stress that many develop maladaptive ways of dealing with it. And we live in a community where the privilege of plenty is spiritually choking some of the greatest virtues of the human spirit, causing a “me first” attitude.

So is it that the need is not so evident, or at least acknowledged that confuses CLC about its mission?  Or is the vision of Christ Lutheran less than clear, because we do not have the spiritual focus and energy?  Are we more focused on the survival of our congregation than on how God empowers and calls us to address those around us?  Are we not called into cooperation because we are more worried about our competition having an edge, rather than recognizing that the needs of the community need the combined resources of all that we have?

In mission, which comes first?  The egg of a clear mission or the chicken of an energized people whose spirit is strong and ready and available to God’s call?  Do we need to focus on finding the greatest needs of the community, or should we be focusing on our own spiritual readiness?  I don’t know there is an “either” or an “or”.  What I am sure we need to do is make the dominant culture of those who are at Christ Lutheran one of embedding us in deep spirituality which includes Bible Study, prayer and significant relationships where we enter into one another’s lives in a deeper way, and care for physical and spiritual needs of one another.

Posted in Developing a Vision | 2 Comments »