Enjoying the Church

I love it when staff members of our church go to meetings with staff members of other churches. They talk with one another about the churches they serve, the challenges and joys of those churches and the pastors with whom they work. Without fail, they come back proclaiming, “I am so glad I work at this church!”

This past week I spent three days with a group of seven pastors I have known for several years. We are working on a project together, so most of our time was spent working on that, but, of course, there was plenty of time to talk about our churches. After hearing their stories of woe, let me say, “I am so glad I am a part of this church.” Let me give just a few reasons for my thankfulness.

First, we are in a dynamic, fast-growing church. Many of my colleagues struggle in churches that are not only declining, their congregations are fighting growth everyway possible. One of my friends told us that it takes him at least a year and a half to make any change at his church. His congregation wants to keep the things at their church exactly like they have been for many years. That really means they want to keep the church for themselves. Any mention of changing something so that they might be more inviting to newcomers is met with a “this is the way we have always done it and we like it that way.” Any wonder why that church has not grown in many years. In contrast, you are always ready to find new ways to meet the needs of those entering our doors. Even if it takes changing something, you are willing to try it out. The thing I love about this church is you think more about others’ experience of the church than you do your own. That sounds pretty much like the Golden Rule, doesn’t it?

Second, this is a church where people are invited to think and ask questions. Too many churches today are telling their congregations what and how to think. If anyone has an opinion that might color a little out of the lines of their doctrine they are reprimanded. The church should be a place where it is safe to ask our questions, no matter how unholy they might sound. It is through our dialogue and debate we begin to discover what we believe; and that initiates a closer relationship with God. Just the other day, a man in our congregation told me, " If it wasn’t for this church, I would not have grown in my faith like I have." We can receive no better complement.

Third, this church really is “the most joyful place on earth.” You want to know why? It is because you are nice people. One of the ministers in my group described a church we were discussing as “a bunch of mean Christians.” I am afraid there are a lot of churches that fight, grumble, gossip and complain. That is not our church. For the most part, we are pretty much a happy family. We certainly have our disagreements, but you handle them in stride and with maturity. You are also "the most joyful place on earth" because you take care of each other. I have said many times this church cares for its members and those outside our walls better than any church I know. Life is not always happy, but when someone helps you walk with Christ during those unhappy times you can be filled with joy.

I could go on, but I really just wanted you to know how thankful I am to be your pastor and how much I appreciate your work in making this church become the vision God has for it. Too often we take that for granted, but we shouldn’t because it is one of God’s blessings. I hope you join me when I say, “I am so glad I am a part of this church.”

New Sermon Series

I wanted you to be the first to know. Evidently there is something special about being the first to know something. When I was growing up, the barker on the TV commercial that broke in on my Saturday morning cartoons would say, “Be the first on your block to get…” then he would go on to name the product he was advertising. To be first had the power to make you feel special. You had something on everyone else in the neighborhood. You had bragging rights. You might not have wanted the product they were selling at all, but you certainly wanted to be first. So, I want you to be the first to know the upcoming sermon series for the Celebration Service, because I want you to feel special. (You Bridgers stay tuned; I’ll also share some upcoming sermon series for The Bridge.)

Every four to six months, I sequester myself for a week and work on sermon ideas. Contrary to popular belief, these series do not come to me by osmosis or from Googling “sermon series ideas” on the internet or from a bolt of lightening sent from above. They come from a discipline of prayerful study. First, I have to get away from the church. There are way too many distractions in a busy church like ours. There is constantly an important question or someone that really needs to see me for “just a minute.” Truth be told, I can’t sit in my office with the door closed without becoming curious as to what is happening just on the other side of my office door. I am way too much an extravert for that. As the church staff would say, I am quite the social butterfly. So, I get away with a stack of twenty books or so and get to work.

My goal is to have several sermon series sketched out for an extended period of time. I want to have a series title, the primary scripture text for each of the sermons in the series, and a title and thesis sentence for each of those sermons. Then I schedule those for specific Sundays and give the schedule to the church worship staff. This gives us the opportunity to look thematically at each week. Buddy and Marla can plan ahead and fit the music with each sermon theme. Every once in awhile someone will come to me following worship and say, “Wow, the words of that song really fit what you said in the sermon." Again, that does not happen by magic. They put a lot of hours and effort into fitting the music with the sermon, so that you can have a meaningful, thought-provoking and spiritually uplifting worship experience. Having the sermons ahead of time gives the worship team time to creatively think of how we can best get the message of the morning across to the congregation. We are always working at least a month ahead.

So, here are some of the fruits of my work. First, David and I will share the first sermon series of the new school year in both The Bridge and Celebration services. We will be preaching on “Open As A Verb”, looking at how we can live out the new United Methodist Church motto of “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors”. After that in the Celebration Service we will have, “Finding the Good News When the Headlines Are Bad”, looking at our faithful responses to terrorism, violence in schools, hunger and natural disasters. We will “Go Beneath the Surface” examining our understandings of God, Jesus, the Bible and ourselves. I also have a series planned in which I will confess to you the things Christians do that drive me crazy. (That one was difficult to keep to just four weeks.) In a series I am calling “BBFF, Biblical Best Friends Forever”, we will discover some of the biblical friendships that can help us through life. At Christmas, we will travel with Mary through her pregnancy. The series will search for the meaning we can find in the anticipation of having a child, Lamaze classes, labor, the euphoria and realities of birth and ending with showing pictures. During Lent and Easter, the sermons will look at Jesus as a defendant in a trial, examining the religious establishment’s investigation of his unorthodox way of teaching the faith. After Easter you are invited to get your popcorn ready to see how the movies can help us understand and feel the power of the resurrection.

In The Bridge, David has sermons scheduled up to Christmas. After “Open as a Verb”, David (and Ed and I on occasion) will preach on “Cross –Training”, how the cross trains us up to be Christian disciples. And “The Holiness Code”; few times will you hear sermons based on the book of Leviticus, but the moral and ethical codes for living presented in the book are ones on which our society has been based.

I really did want you to be the first to know. Not only so you would feel special, but also to help you make worship a holy habit in your life. I do hope it will motivate you to invite others to come worship with you. Because, as you will remember, Jesus said “the first will be last” and that we are called “to be a servant to all”. Helping others find their special place in worship will make you feel special and it will certainly make you a servant of the Lord.