The Drum Major Instinct

Last Saturday our new church plant met under the new name of In Process. We decided on the name first because the church plant needed an identity, a name. Secondly, the name In Process was chosen because we are in the process of discovering how God will use this church. The name was also chosen because aren’t we all in the process of change, transformation into something new?

As we met last Saturday we spent some time reading through Acts 4:1-22. We were drawn to these verses because something new was happening. And as Peter and John were explaining the something new they were doing so in a familiar setting, The Temple. They were not discounting the old, they embraced the old while welcoming in the new.

But we discovered about Peter and John was that they were bold. Verse 13 reads, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” These were ordinary, common men speaking in a way that commanded an audience.

The question asked to the group was, “When does someone qualify for the priesthood? What are the current qualifications?”

In the liturgical calendar this week is an important passage of scripture: Mark 10:35-45. It is the passage where James and John, the sons of Zebedee ask to sit at the powerful positions of Jesus’ left and right.

I was reading a sermon done by Dr Martin Luther King Jr called The Drum Major Instinct where he preaches from this passage.

I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared." (Amen)

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.

I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I'm talking about as I go down the way (Yeah) because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, (Yes, sir) the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. (Amen) Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn't have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. (Yes) He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. (Glory to God) He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. (Amen) One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world. (Lord help him) When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together (Yes) have not affected the life of man on this earth (Amen) as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. (Jesus) But today I can hear them talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, "He's King of Kings." (Yes) And again I can hear somebody saying, "He's Lord of Lords." Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, "In Christ there is no East nor West." (Yes) And then they go on and talk about, "In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world." He didn't have anything. (Amen) He just went around serving and doing good.

So the questions return to me as I consider Dr King’s sermon: “When does someone qualify for the priesthood? What are the current qualifications?”


Dr King finished his sermon with these words: Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say.

Scouting the Divine

Reading the Bible can be hard; rather understanding what the Bible says can be hard. There are so many obstacles to fully comprehending what we are reading. The Bible was translated into English but sometimes translating the words from Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek loses the meaning of the words. The Bible was written at a time when moral and cultural standards of living were vastly different than the ways we live our lives today. And then there is the metaphor. The Bible was written to a group of people that understood the various metaphors used throughout the scriptures. If the Paul would have written his epistles with football or baseball metaphors I would have been able to pick up quicker the message he was trying to communicate. If the parables of Jesus talked about computers or traffic on the freeway I would have had a deeper clarity of the stories.

But the Bible requires us to do a little bit of digging. We get a deeper understanding when we learn what the moral and cultural standards were. We understand more clearly when we know that there were different words for love in Greek but only one word in English. And what does it mean to be a sheep or a shepherd? What does a harvest look like? What is a land of milk and honey? Where does wine come from?

I have just completed Margaret Feinberg’s book “Scouting the Divine.” Margaret explores the language used in the Bible by visiting people who still raise sheep, farm, grow grapes and keep bees. Through her interactions with these people she gets a better comprehension of the stories found in the Bible. Margaret asks great questions and shares some amazing answers.

For me a land of milk and honey would be found in the grocery store that I manage or shop. If the milk box is stocked it is full and all the jars of honey can be found on aisle four.

Margaret shares her encounters in a series of chapters that allow us to listen in on the conversation. It is easy for us to be drawn into the setting and hear the voices and sounds surrounding her. We know what a lamb looks like and are pulled into the compassion she shares as a shepherdess calls her flock. We get a better understanding of a missing lamb. We learn that this a dirty but rewarding profession. Rather for the shepherdess is a way of life.

But Margaret does not just look at the metaphor for clarity she also looks for clarity on the message on how it should shape the ways we live. Even though she gets answers it leaves her, and the reader with more questions. What does it mean to give first fruits? What are my first fruits? Why allow the poor to glean? How should I look at the poor? How does pruning make us more fruitful? Why does it have to hurt?

I appreciate this book and know that it will be a gift that I share with many people.

The Great Banquet

Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach to the congregation. I really enjoy these times up front. I enjoy researching the passages I am preaching from and hopefully teaching something the congregation has never heard or considered. I work hard to not to be the pastor that starts a message with a story from a Chicken Soup book or a quirky joke. I share my personal experiences that relate to the passage or I bring people up front to share their experiences.


Yesterday I spoke on the Great Banquet (Luke 14:15-24). This is a very difficult passage to preach, especially if you share the parallel passage in Matthew 22 or share that there is a similar passage in the Gospel of Thomas. My emphasis was not on those that turned down the invitation, although it was necessary to demonstrate that it appears that everyone turned down the invitation, rather the emphasis was on inviting in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. It was not about inviting the “in crowd but the message is about inviting those that are on the outside.


Before Jesus told the parable he shared this bit of information on who to invite to your parties:

Luke 14:12-15 “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Here is where I think I dropped the ball.

I asked the congregation to look at all the empty chairs in the room and to visually pick a chair. I wanted them to notice that there was plenty of room, and as we gather to celebrate and worship God, who should we be inviting in. (My hope is that they remembered verse 12 and would not just invite friends and family)


I was criticized for presenting a self serving message that was only concerned with filling the place (church) with people. Now I know that I did present the idea that Jesus is relational, and that throughout the Gospel of Luke Jesus enjoys table fellowship with the religious folks and with sinners. I also shared that this same idea is communicated through the Old Testament. But as I am trying to reach people without a relationship with Jesus, let alone other Christians, I am going to have to choose my words more carefully. What got lost in translation?


The servant is told to go out into the streets and make people come in to the party, the word here in Greek is anagkazo or better translated compel. Unfortunately this translation and phrase helped the Inquisition to forcefully compel others into the faith, or risk losing their lives. My hope is that I communicated well that there is a sense of urgency but we must be able to communicate to others, in love, that Jesus desires to invite everyone into a relationship with Him and to enjoy His incredible party.

The Curse of 3?

First let me say that I love Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon and Michael Jackson. I loved Farrah’s poster as a boy in the 70’s. My brother had a poster on his wall that I thought she was pretty HOT! Ed had that great laugh every time Johnny Carson would tell a joke. He was the perfect sidekick. And Michael was pretty cool in the 70’s and 80’s. I even went to a Jackson concert with my wife Monica early on in our relationship.


But the purpose of this quick post is to ponder the Curse of 3. Do celebrities get freaked out when one of their own dies? There is this legend that celebrities die in threes. I personally think this is crazy talk. If that were true who picks which three die? Why were the three chosen, is there a merit system? Did God cause the Angel of Death or the Grim Reaper to swoop down and pluck three celebrities?


What are your thoughts and feelings of the Curse of 3? Is it real or not?

Top 10 Reasons Why Men Shouldn't Be Ordained

My partner in ministry, Tara Healy posted this on her Facebook. As we have been considering planting a church together it is funny, to the point of frustration, how many are against women in ministry. I hope you enjoy the list as much as I did.



I receive this in an email and thought "How darkly funny!" Although this list we may consider absurd, we however do not apply that same absurdity to the list of restrictions to the ordination of women, when often reasons such as this exist as reasons to exclude women from ordination. Perhaps someday the list that is given about the exclusion of women will be just as "darkly funny" as this list. Enjoy and discuss!


Top 10 Reasons Why Men Shouldn't Be Ordained:

10. A man's place is in the army.

9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent.

8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be "unnatural" for them to do other forms of work.

7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments.

5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers.

4. To be ordained pastor is to nurture the congregation. But this is not a traditional male role. Rather, throughout history, women have been considered to be not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more frequently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3. Men are overly prone to violence. No really manly man wants to settle disputes by any means other than by fighting about it. Thus, they would be poor role models, as well as being dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep paths, repair the church roof, change the oil in the church vans, and maybe even lead the singing on Father's Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the Church.

1. In the New Testament account, the person who betrayed Jesus was a man. Thus, his lack of faith and ensuing punishment stands as a symbol of the subordinated position that all men should take.

Kings

I am sure I have mentioned this numerous times but I love TV! Really! I love sitcoms, dramas, reality shows, games shows and even info-commercials. I cannot get enough TV! I thank God for allowing us the ability to create the DVR; my DVR can record four shows at any one time.

A new show was introduced to me last night: Kings. I was unsure what the show was about and really didn’t want to be sucked into another show, I watch too much TV already. I am thinking about seeking medical attention for this disorder. I saw the commercials for the show but didn’t pay much attention, who wants to watch a show about a modern king of a country similar to the USA? Not me!

But then I heard it was based on the Biblical narrative of King David. Really?

King Silas (Saul), whose last name is Benjamin is the current leader of the unified country of Gilboa. King Saul, a Benjamite, was the first king of the unified Israel, before Israel and Judah split.

The capital city of Gilboa is Shiloh. Gilboa is the mountain where Saul and his sons were killed, rather Saul committed suicide and fell on his own sword there.

Shiloh is mentioned throughout Joshua as the meeting and worshiping place of the Israelites. It was at this place where Samuel the prophet was raised.

The religious leader of Gilboa is a Reverend Samuels, think Samuel the prophet.

David Shepherd is the hero of the story, think King David, who was a shepherd. His father’s name is Jesse but he died in the unification war.

Reverend Samuels stopped by David’s family home with car problem. David fixed the problem and Rev. Samuels anointed David’s forehead.

King Silas’ son is Jack Benjamin. I am waiting to see the parallels to Jonathan. David saved Jack Benjamin, who was captured by the army of Gath, by destroying Goliath, a military tank. He used a rocket launcher rather than using a sling.

David didn’t wear his military uniform with the country’s insignia (a butterfly) because he couldn’t run it. This is very similar to David refusing to wear Saul’s armor into battle.

David falls in love with Michelle Benjamin, King Silas’ daughter. King Saul’s daughter’s name was Michal.

The butterfly is the national image of Gilboa. We are told that a group of butterflies encircled King Silas’ head and made a crown, signifying that he was to be king. At the end of last night’s show butterflies encircle David’s head and make a crown as King Silas watches.

Ok I am sucked into another show, I hope I have enough room on my DVR. If you don’t want to know what happens next, don’t read your Bible. But if you want to understand the story better I would suggest you read your Bible.

Lent 2009

Lent started this past Wednesday and as in years past I was contemplating what I should “give up” as I prepared my heart for Easter. In the past I have given up coffee, soda and even TV for the entire period of Lent. These items had a grip on me and it was good to acknowledge the grip they had on me, the problem was I focused on the grip and not on Jesus. As soon as Easter came I was quick to jump back into my old ways, I still drink coffee to excess. I still watch too much TV, is DVR of the devil? So this year I decided to approach Lent from a different angle.


This year for Lent I wanted to give things up but not so radically that I miss the focus: the death and resurrection of Jesus. So my plan is as follows.

During Lent I will be reading through the Gospels. Do you know that more is written in the Gospels about the resurrection of Jesus than His birth? Bible Gateway has a great reading plan that I am using.

On Tuesdays I am fasting. I am not a fan of fasting but I hoping to do some quality research on the benefits of fasting and focusing that day on how God supplies my daily needs. This day will also be a day devoted to a more intense prayer time.

Fridays I am not eating meat of any kind except fish. Now that may sound simple but think of all the ways that meat pops up in your daily life. Last night I enjoyed a grilled swordfish!

I will keep you updated on how I am progressing and what I am learning in the process. I am excited to see how God communicates this Lent. But maybe even more, I am excited to see how well I hear God this Lenten season. What are some things you doing or giving up for Lent?