Bill’s Musings

If you haven’t read the previous posting, I would encourage you to do so. If nothing else, this one may not make sense unless you do…and yes I hear the question “do any of them make sense?”

First, keep in mind with the questions I pose here, that I am asking these on a deep level. It isn’t that I don’t know the common or popular answers to these questions. I do, however, believe that sometimes we need to slip beneath the surface to reacquaint ourselves with the foundations of the Christian faith, and in particular, the foundations of ministry.

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To carry on from the last post…what is it that I bring to the local church? What do I bring as a pastor? What does it mean to be a pastor?

In the later part of the first century, the Apostle John appointed Polycarp the Bishop of Smyrna. Like his teacher, Polycarp took on the battle against Gnosticism in the church.

Polycarp was also a notable leader in the early church who offers pastors today a cautionary word of advice. In a letter to the Church in Philippi (likely written a century after the Apostle Paul’s letter) he wrote, “I am greatly grieved for Valens, who was once a presbyter among you, because he so little understands the place that was given him in the Church” (Polycarp’s letter to the Phillipians 11:1).

What is the place that was given to Valens? What is the place that has been given to me? Valen’s downfall was covetousness. What do I covet? What struggles do I face? What “rights,” expectations and desires must I joyfully set aside for the sake of the Church? Do I understand what it means to be “the pastor”?

These are not trite questions. The place of the pastor is within the church community. It is the place where who the pastor is will speak far louder than what he says. It is the place of being who God intends us to be.

It would seem to me that who I am, being who God intends me to be, is vastly more important than my ability to preach or do the “tasks” of ministry. Not that preaching and other tasks of ministry are not important, they are, but they must grow out of being who God intends me to be.

In other words, my place in the church is one of being who God intends me to be in the community that is the local church. My “place” is that of a shepherd and teacher built on a foundation of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

It seems simple enough, yet God is persistently working on conforming me to the image of Jesus Christ. I’m not a finished work. Sometimes the “working” is not as pleasant as I would like, but I am thankful for it. I find Paul’s words to Phillippians comforting and encouraging.  “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

Yes I will get to my post on lament, but for now another timely comment on life.

Those who know me reasonably well have probably heard me express my suspicion of the way the term “community” is often used in Christian circles–or at least my perception of how the term is used.

My concern is that community is often seen as being about relationship. (For those of you who think I have lost my mind here, please hear me out). The problem as I see it is that “relationship” is an abstract concept. Community, which is also an abstract concept, defined by another abstract concept such as “relationship” is  abstract to the point of meaninglessness.

If you have read my blog you will have picked up that I am very interested in the notion of “being.” In this context, I speak of concrete individuals in the church you are “being” who and what God has intended them to be.

Collectively, they form a local church, a microcosm of the Church. This concrete group of people who are “being” what God intended them to be forms a concrete community of particular people in particular relationships with one another, being what God intended them to be as a community.

“Being” what God intended us to be is founded upon Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There is nothing abstract about “being.” The nature of these relationships is not abstract, for it too is founded upon “being,” thus Jesus Christ. The nature of the specific community is not abstract, since it too is founded upon “being.”

It is this kind of “community” that you can enter into and experience the grace, love, mercy, kindness, wisdom, caring and wholeness of Jesus Christ. I have entered this kind of community.

I have come in as a “pastor” only to find that I am the one who is being ministered to. I have entered a community of “being.” It is both humbling and invigorating. It isn’t about me. It is about Christ in us. It isn’t about what I bring to the church. It is about me “being” who I am in Jesus Christ in communion with others who are “being” who they are in Jesus Christ.

Do I bring something? Yes, I bring what one man in Christ can bring.  Do I receive something? Yes, I receive what many men and women in Christ offer. That is the blessing of fellowship in Jesus Christ.

I continue to reflect on what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ. Is it enough to believe? Are we not called to something far deeper than intellectual assent and righteous behavior? These are in themselves challenging, but I suggest that they are far short of what we are called to be.

 

Allow me to use a musical metaphor. There are many technically good musicians. They understand the theory, can quickly read music, they have a keen sense of pitch and relative harmonic relationships. They are technically competent with their instrument. In short, they can competently execute the task of playing music.

 

Then there are those who truly master their instrument. They have the ability to eek out every last nuance the instrument is capable of. They draw out of the instrument the subtly of the music on the page and the conductors direction.

 

Then there are those who master the music, artists. These are the ones who enter into the music. They become artistic participants with the composer, the orchestra and conductor. They do not play the music; they are the music. The music flows from their being—an extension of who they are.

 

It is not a linear progression from technician to artist. There are those who defy the “rules” and achieve levels of artistry with little or no “technical” training. For most, however, the road is one of symbiotic development of both the technical and the artistic.

 

The problem is that while we can learn the technical knowledge and through diligent practice master an instrument, artistry cannot be taught. Artistry emerges from within. It is a transformation, not an education. At best we can facilitate and encourage artistry. 

 

What does this have to do with being a disciple of Jesus Christ? Everything. To be created in the image of God is to be created for artistry. It is to enter into creation in participation with the Creator, loving what He loves, valuing what He values and embodying this with out reservation or contrary thought. It is truly being made in the image of God. Unfortunately, because of sin we find our selves striving to regain that which was lost, the artistry of being made in the image of God.

 

As the Church, we are reasonably adept at the technical side of discipleship. We learn how to read the music, play the notes and present some semblance of the composers work. What we are not as adept at is becoming artists, participating with Jesus Christ, loving what He loves, valuing what He values and embodying this such that it flows out of our being with out reservation or contrary thought.

 

I am concerned that we see the technical side of the faith as an end. When we are good at ______ (you fill in the blank) then we have arrived. I am increasingly convinced that this is a dangerous deception.

 

No matter how solid we are in our theology, our teaching, yes even our caring ministry, it is merely the foundation that enables true discipleship. The tasks of ministry should never be understood as what it means to be a Christian. Yes, a Christian does these things even as a violinist must expertly handle the bow, but bowing alone does not make music. In the hands of an artist the bow is merely a creative tool used to participate with the composer in creating music.

 

This is not to denigrate in any way the necessity of a quality bow any more than the technical competency needed to handle it well. It is to transcend above the tasks of music to enter into being that which the music flows from.

I have often pondered what it means to “believe” in Jesus or to be a “believer.”

I recently read David Ausburger’s book Dissident Discipleship. Even if you do not agree with all of his strong Anabaptist perspective, it is definitely a thought provoking, worthwhile read. One of the most poignant statements for me was a quote from Clarence Bauman.

Correct belief about Jesus, important as it is, or pietistic experience of believing in Jesus, meaningful as it may be, only point one toward discipleship. Becoming a disciple requires actually believing the Master and slowly coming to believe what the Master believed. [1]

The belief we are called to is far more than just accepting by faith a set of theological propositions about Jesus. We are called to believe the very things that Jesus believed. Belief that Jesus is, is not enough. Agreeing with the teachings of Jesus is far different from believing in them as right and necessary way to live. We are called to embrace the very things Jesus embraced.

To believe in electric light is very different from turning on the lamp to  read in an otherwise dark room. The goal is not to just live as Jesus lived, but to be totally in agreement with Jesus, in belief and act. It is to embody the sermon on the mount. It is to embody the way of the servant. It is to embody grace, mercy and love. It is to reflect what it means to be a reconciled, redeemed and sanctified person.

I am not suggesting that we do not teach about Jesus, but Bauman’s thesis that we must believe what Jesus believed pushes us from an observers seat into radical participation. Being a disciple demands that we do not observe the world with detached piety, rather that we engage the world as Jesus entered into the world.

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[1] Clarence Bauman as cited by David Ausburger, David Augsburger, Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God and Love of Neighbor (Grand Rapids, MI: BrazosPress, 2006), 39.

For some time now I have been thinking about discipleship. I have not been able shake or satisfactorily answer the question “what does a disciple of Jesus Christ actually look like in our contemporary North American context.” In theory, the question is easily answered in Biblical terms. In practice, full schedules and programmatic thinking often relationally impoverish our lives, leaving little time for the kind of life sharing seen in the Gospel narratives. 

 

So what is the answer? Does showing up at church on Sunday define being a disciple? I hope you would agree that it is not enough. Some suggest “Bible Study” or “care” groups are the answer. For others it is evangelism and others social action. I find none of these answers all that satisfactory. I humbly suggest that we need to begin thinking in terms of discipleship communities. 

 

Discipleship communities are groups of people who are committed to the Spiritual growth of one another. These are groups of people who learn together, worship together, pray together and serve together. These groups look inward to love one another and look outward to love their neighbours. They look inward to care, encourage, heal, grow and challenge one another. They look outward to care, encourage, heal, share the Gospel message and thoughtfully challenge their neighbours to consider the deeper eternal things in life. In other words, these groups are outwardly what they are inwardly. 

 

In practice, this is easier said than done. The need to build intimacy must co-exist with open doors. It means risking personal vulnerability while protecting others. It means offering grace and mercy to those who may not offer it in return. It means “breaking bread” with those who may betray us. It means re-evaluating our priorities and stepping out of the ordinary into the life offered to us by Jesus Christ.