Pillars are Just Crutches

I’m reading an amazing book by Eugene Peterson entitled, “The Contemplative Pastor”.  I would suggest that anyone even thinking about going into pastoral ministry read this book.  It’s quite thought-provoking and profound.  Here’s a bit that I appreciated about evangelism (page 79).

The witness points, mute, so as not to interfere with the sound of silence … [Witness] is an important biblical word in frequent contemporary use.  It is a modest word saying what is there, honestly testifying to exactly what we see, what we hear.  But when we enlist in a cause, it is almost impossible to do it right: we embellish, we fill in the blanks, we varnish the dull passages, we gild the lily just a little to hold the attention of our auditors … important things are at stake – God, salvation – and we want so much to involve outsiders in these awesome realities that we leave the humble ground of witness and use our words to influence and motivate, to advertise and publicize.  Then we are no longer witnesses, but lawyers arguing the case, not always with scrupulous attention to detail.  After all, life and death issues are before the jury.

Another quote along the lines of quietness and silence is a quote that I have on my Facebook page which is attributed to A.W. Tozer:

Man has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity, and bluster make a man dear to God

I’ve discovered that blogging takes dedication and commitment.  It’s not one of those things that someone does once and has a hope for anyone to read it.  For example, I left my blog for a couple days to go on a little long weekend getaway with my wife and everyone decided to pick-up and leave!!

Crazy!

Anyways, I’m back.  I’m in school, I’m reading books that are interesting and generally in the same thrust as the blog tends to go so hopefully we can continue to have some fun.

Right now I’m reading ‘Planting Missional Churches’ by Ed Stetzer.  Good times.

I just finished a rather powerful book called, In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen.  He shares his insights on leadership that he gained through his move from being a Harvard professor to ministering to mentally handicapped people in Ontario, Canada.  I previously wrote on his section about relevance and now I’ll continue with a look at the next section about popularity.

The second temptation that Nouwen talks about is the temptation to be popular or spectacular.  He talks about how being at Daybreak stripped him of his individuality.  He used to do things alone and could go on his own route, but when he made his transition there was always someone there with him or wondering where he was.  Nouwen comments that we have this feeling that we have to do things solo and that we need to have recognition for the things that we have done.  However, fhis is just the temptation to be popular

.As a remedy to this Nouwen switches tracks to talk about Jesus send his disciples out, not alone, but in pairs.  This works to keep people accountable, as Nouwen notes, “I have found over and over again how hard it is to be truly faithful to Jesus when I am alone” (p.58).  The partner is a vital part of ministry for guidance, accountability and encouragement.

Just earlier I posted about pastors who are using video so they can preach in more than one venue at a time.  I think this is a classic example of not having people in ministry that you can work with.

Nouwen also remarks that confession and forgiveness are the keys to help from falling for the popularity temptation.  I know first hand that confession and forgiveness have had a huge hand in helping curb any temptation and let me know that I will always be in need, not only of the grace and mercy of God, but also of the people around me who are an encouragement and support.

We are left with the realization that ministry cannot be about popularity and any such goal only serves to make a fall that much greater.

Christianity Today has an interesting article that I had a chance to read while I was sitting in the library waiting for a class to begin. It was about the slow decline that Christian bookstores have taken in the last couple years. And personally, I can understand why, I hate having to go into those places! I do it only on necessity, and lately, even when I’ve needed something overtly Christian it hasn’t helped.

A couple months ago I asked my wife what she wanted for her birthday and her reply was, ‘a Bible’. Great! At least that’s something I know something about. So I made the trek to the best place I knew to find a Bible … the Christian Bookstore … I should have known better.

Of course, I’m not looking for just any Bible this is the first birthday we’ve had as husband and wife, if I was going to get any purchase right it was this one.

So, I walk into the door and I’m immediately uncomfortable! I’m greeted with Joel Osteen’s smile and books on how I can live a “better” life. As well as books on obscure Biblical prayers and Christianized romance novels. To my right are religious trinkets, pictures, decorations and so on. None of which I would ever be caught dead with in my possession. To my left is a closed (down?) coffee shop. Everything that I see is overtly Christian and yet none these items actually contain the Gospel message. We’ve tailored our books to aim for the non-Christians and yet the bookstores are virtually sterile and whitewashed to the point that the gospel is whitewashed with it.

I proceed to the back corner of the building to look at the one wall of Bibles they have. Half the wall is either TNIV or NIV (which is ok, i guess … but none of which were wife birthday material) the other half is filled with miscellaneous translations.

Then I see it! It’s an ESV, and the inside formatting is perfect! – The cover however is the cheap, typical black cover that every other Bible has. An older lady tries to help me, but to no avail.

So, off to the internet … the very helpful ESV website shows me all the Bibles of that particular format available and there is one that is gorgeous! Perfect in every way! When I get back to the Christian book store I try to order it, and they can’t. They list off the four they can order. No good. Plus, the prices they give sound like the prices I would have paid if the Canadian dollar was still only .70 cents on the American.

In the end I went to Amazon and nearly saved enough money to buy 2 Bibles for the price of one from the Christian Bookstore.

Ouch.

But price isn’t everything.