Seeking to be relevant or to matter?

This week's meditation comes in the form of a reblog...yes that is allowed. IN thinking about all that goes on in our world and what happens in our faith the question of the future of the church always comes up. One of the blogs that I follow had the following post around what young peole across all denominations want out of faith. Take a read.

"The young adults I talk to are not looking for easy answers, vague spiritualities, dumbed-down theology, slipshod worship, therapeutic relativism, private faith, or a mono-cultural God. They are desperately searching for a Church that offers an encounter with the Holy that transforms, convicts, inspires, and draws them in.

They are searching for a Church that demands their best. Whether it is in mission, worship, theology, or daily life, they want a Church that is relevant not because it tries to tell them only what they want to hear but because it offers them a vision of the Holy and its transforming power. A Church that reaches for and preaches relevance is a Church that makes itself irrelevant. The quest for relevance is the mark of quiescent extinction.

This does not mean we quietly make our way off to the Grey Havens exiled in our own sense of righteous irrelevance as a new age dawns. It means that questing for relevance, as if it is a goal worth achieving in and of itself, is a sad and tired pursuit. It is not relevance that defines a people, that marks transformational leadership, but passion and purpose. It is passion for God that shines through and marks a Church as Holy, as set aside for God’s use, and as deeply and overwhelmingly relevant.

There is a profound difference between a Church that is “relevant” and a Church that matters. We are relevant only insofar as we offer a way for our believers to have their lives formed to the pattern of Christ’s own life. We are relevant only insofar as we offer cruciform living and it is only in offering that transformation that we matter.

Young people are not looking for the easy path in life. They don’t mind a challenge – it is too often us who fear the challenge. They are not looking for the path of least resistance.

Look at the number of young people Occupying across the country or those joining Teach for America, the Peace Corps, the Episcopal Service Corps, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Americorp, Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and the countless other service programs out there that call young people to live sacrificial lives in the service of others. These young people are not trying to find an easy path – they are trying to find a path that makes a difference both to themselves and to others.

The Church must honor that deep desire by offering more – by offering them all that we have ever had to offer – the life-changing encounter with Christ. "

The Rev. Robert Hedrickson

Interesting to say the least. What has your experience of church been? Has it been an attempt to be relevant or to matter in the lives of those who would follow Jesus?

Stressing out on Stress...

"Stop the world…I want to get off." The familiar quote from Anthony Newly comes to mind way too often these days. There are so many things going on in the world that is it is hard to figure out sometimes which way is up.

With economic news changing daily, default concerns in Greece and Italy, earthquakes in Turkey and Japan, poverty rates going up in the United States, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…the list goes on and on. Add to the many things swirling around in the world out there our own personal  crises. It seems sometimes that stopping the world would be a good thing to do.

So what to do when everything seems to be spinning out of control around you? Well for me, when things get stressful and seemingly out of control, creating "sacred space" becomes extremely important. Often in the gospels Jesus "retreats to a quiet place" to escape the demands of his day to day ministry. We are not so much different. If the Son of God needed time away we doubly need time to ourselves.

So a few suggestions on finding or creating your "sacred space".

1. Find a spiritual practice. One of the things that I have done and continue to do is end the day with washing the dishes. I know that that doesn't sound exactly spiritual but trust me it is. Having that quiet time at the end of the day to let my mind go blank and wash the stress of the day way is simply spiritual. It is a time that I can focus on letting go and opening my mind to God's presence. My point is that whether it's washing the dishes or finding a quiet place to meditate, create space in your day to simply be; to commune with your soul and with God.

2. Create something with an end. I have found that doing some activity or project that allows me to see its completion takes me away for a time from stress.  It forces me to focus on one thing and see it to the end. Think of Paul writing all those letters to the baby churches throughout Christendom. Paul knew that the possibility of persecution was around every corner and that he would never see the fruits from the seeds of faith he had planted. How different are we from Paul in our need to see something to its end?

3. Find out what helps you de-stress. When I find myself stressed my house miraculously becomes spotless. Cleaning seems to be a great way for me to let things flow. But find something that allows you to release to God those things over which you have no control.

4. Pray. Need I say more? 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 

A Case for waiting for Christmas...

Since late September retail shops and department stores have been fahlalalalahing towards Christmas. The Christmas trees, the lights, the ornaments seemed to appear much earlier than usual this year. Even the city I live in, Brighton MI, has already put up their holiday décor along the highways and byways of the city. So ready or not here comes Christmas!

But I would make a case why we as people of faith should wait; why we should put the brakes on the mad dash towards Christmas. Yes I know this is not exactly the most popular of ideas, and I know it’s not going to catch on too soon, but I am an avid believer in keeping Advent the season of light, hope but more of all anticipation.

So here is my case for waiting for Christmas…

1. Anticipation is a good thing. Do you remember what it was like to be a child waiting for a birthday or family visit of Christmas? Your heart pounding, you palms sweating, bouncing off the walls waiting for the right moment. There was something exciting in being a child waiting to see what would come. For Christmas to have any real meaning in our lives we need a good dose of that excitement. The birth of Jesus for us should be a looked-for thing not a mad dash of shopping and busy-making. In Jesus’ birth we see the anticipation of Mary, the angels, the shepherds. We are called to join them in the longing and waiting.

2. In an era of instant everything being able to wait is a blessing. We live in an instant society; instant messaging, texting, fast food, and coffee just to name a few. We loathe having to wait on anything, we want it and we want it now! But the birth of any child involves waiting (ask any mom if you doubt me). No matter how anticipated, needed or wanted the Christ Child was Mary still had to be patient throughout the nine months leading up to his birth. Can we in our modern instant culture learn a lesson from first century peasant girl about the value of waiting…if only for a few weeks?

3. We lose something in jumping to quickly into Christmas. Scarcely had the candy been put away from Halloween before “Forsty the snow man” took up residence in department stores this year (actually his eyes of coal and carrot nose were showing up well before Halloween but who am I to judge). I think we lose something in jumping to quickly to Christmas because we tarnish the luster of the season if we run to it too soon. The lights aren’t as sparkly and the tinsel not as tinselly if we put them up in early September. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE Christmas music and the spirit that the season brings but if we point too much and too quickly to that season by the time Christmas rolls around most of us will be Bahumbuging rather than Merry Christmas-ing.

So in the end this year I plan on holding off on Christmas, at least for a little while. I plan on keeping Advent, spending time with Mary and Joseph and the unborn Jesus. I plan on anticipating and waiting and enjoying the journey because I know that in the end Christ will be born once again into our world and I don’t want to be so burnt out on Christmas that I miss him.