Training the Undisciplined Soul

This post comes from a teaching series we started at BCC "Training the Undisciplined Soul".

If you were 7 years old during the Middle Ages your greatest aspiration would likely have been to become a knight for a noble lord and lady. It was one of the highest positions a young boy could aspire toward. To become a knight, however, involved a long process of disciplined training. Here’s a snapshot of what it took;

“Their training is long and careful…At the age of seven his knightly education begins. Usually the boy is sent away from home to the castle of his father's lord, or some famous knight, there to be brought up and trained for knighthood. From the age of seven till he reaches the age of fourteen, the boy is called a page or "varlet," which means "little vassal." There he waits upon the lord and lady of the castle. He serves them at table, and he attends to them when they ride forth to the chase. From them he learns lessons of honor and bravery, of love and chivalry. Above all, he learns how to ride and handle a horse. When the young noble has become a well-grown lad of fourteen or fifteen, he is made a "squire." Now it is his duty to look after his lord's horses and arms. The horses must be carefully groomed every morning, and the squire must see that their shoes are all right. He must also see that his lord's arms and armor are kept bright and free from rust. When the lord goes forth to war, his squire accompanies him, riding on a big strong horse, and carrying his lord's shield and lance. When the lord goes into battle, his squire must stay near, leading a spare steed and ready to hand his master fresh weapons at any moment… After several years of this service, the squire may himself be allowed to use weapons and fight at his lord's side; and sometimes he may even be allowed to ride forth alone in search of adventures…In this manner the squire learns the business of a knight, which is fighting…In this way the squire spends his days until he reaches the age of twenty or twenty-one. He has now proved both his courage and his skill, and at last his lord says that he has "earned his spurs." So the squire is to be made a knight; and this is the occasion for great festivities." (The Story of the Middle Ages: Chapter 13, Life of the Castle)

The induction festivities for knight-hood were something else altogether, but to become a knight, as you just read, requires years and years of focused and intentional discipline. Knights undergo a prolonged period of training where the end product is not just a man who can wield a sword and ride a horse, but a man also who in his very character is honorable and self-controlled and can be trusted to give his life for others.

We also have positions of high esteem today which require years and years of discipline to attain: Professional Athlete, Doctor, CEO, Navy Seal, etc. If we were to take all of these honored positions, including the position of Knight, and chart them on a bar graph of “Discipline Required To Attain” (see below), we would find that however high the bar of discipline rises for any single one of those positions, none of them would ever chart as high as the discipline required to become like Jesus our Lord.

Jesus holds the greatest position of influence in the world. There is no higher goal which mankind can climb towards than to become like Jesus Christ. Jesus is the face of perfection. He is the image of God. He is the One in whom all things in heaven and earth hold together and by whom they all derive their names (see Colossians 1 & 2). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z of things.

That being the case let me ask, “If Jesus Christ is the One we strive to become like in all ways except His Deity, then what process of discipline must we undergo if we expect to be like Him one day?” It ought to be the most intense discipline out there! To become like Jesus ought to require stricter training and discipline than to become a Professional Athlete because the bar of influence is set higher for us.

Now I know that it is not humanly possible to attain to the perfection of Christ and as such we require the blood of Christ Himself to make us acceptable to the Father, but that does not negate the fact that to become like Jesus Christ is still our lifely goal. And if Jesus is our life’s goal, folks, then let us all confess right now that our training in righteousness is not near as disciplined as it needs to be.

Thomas A Kempis said quite condemningly, “O if they would give that diligence to the rooting out of vice and the planting of virtue which they give unto vain questionings: there had not been so many evil doings and stumbling-blocks among the laity, nor such ill living among houses of religion” (Imitation of Christ, Book 1 Chapter 3 Paragraph 5).

I want us to be honest with ourselves that we are not yet as disciplined in our quest for Christ as we have need to be. None of us. All of us give more discipline to the care of our bodies than we do the care of our souls. All of us contemplate more the temporal things of this earth than we do the eternal riches of Christ. All of us devote more hours to the attainment of positions of earthly honor than we do the heavenly honor of Christ. And my question for us in this post it this:

“If the squire undergoes such strict discipline to become a knight why is it Christians have undergone such lazy discipline to become like Christ?”

The Scriptures tell us of the need for strict training, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Cor.9:24-27).

I don’t know about you but I am in great need of further spiritual discipline. I need training. I need to place my body in a more complete subjection to my spirit in order to run this race well. Personally, I have recognized in myself that I think about food a lot. I enjoy eating and I am rather undisciplined in when and what I eat. Because I do not gain weight and work out fairly regularly I have allowed myself to eat just about anything I feel like, whenever I feel like it. But what I am recognizing about myself is that I desire the pleasures of temporal food much more than I desire the pleasure of feasting on God’s Word. In fact I believe I have had things backwards for quite some time. I have feasted on temporal food and nibbled on God’s Word when what I should have been doing is feasting on God’s Word and nibbling on temporal food as needed.

For this reason I am seeking now for the Holy Spirit to train me in this area. I am going be denying myself the urge to eat if it is not meal time. I need to discipline my body in this way. What about you? What do you recognize about yourself? In what ways is your soul undisciplined like mine?

26 Deaths but 1 Birth this Christmas

I do not know what it is like to lose a child. I do not know what war is like. I do not know what the scars of abuse feel like. I do not know the suffering of orphans. I do not know the feelings of hopelessness found behind prison walls and I do not know the loneliness of widowhood. I have been mercifully treated by our Lord and await what responsibilities that may require. But for those of you who have experienced some of the above I do know that if our faith cannot speak to the deepest shades of darkness this side of eternity then no hope remains.

Identifying the proper object of blame is a beginning step to speaking into the darkness- but it never finishes the job. When I visit inmates at our local jail I am able to release some of their pain from my heart by pinning blame on their foolish conduct or, in the sadder situations, on an imperfect justice system. When I counsel people we often talk about the wounds of the past and we identify the causes of present pain, but that road dead ends in no time. Inmates cannot survive incarceration by identifying their problem anymore than counselees can overcome their pain by identifying the source thereof. Victorious living requires we get off the dead end road of blame and onto the Solution.

From time immemorial mankind’s problem has not been weapons or government or poor legislation or crime or mental illness or single parent homes or homosexuality or slavery. Our problem roots deeper than those tangibles and because of this, shallow glancing eyes often miss it. At the root of every “problem” is an underlying “problem”. And although accurately identifying the problem will never solve the problem, it is a necessary start. So let’s start by identifying mankind’s problem.

Place twenty-20 year olds in a school gymnasium armed with fully loaded, semi-automatic assault rifles which they have been trained to use and if no sin resides in their hearts no one dies of gun wounds that day, guaranteed. However, place a butter knife in the hand of one twenty year old who has so let the sins of anger, rage and murderous premeditation flood his weak mind and corrupt his groundless conscience and someone is going to die or be seriously wounded, guaranteed. The problem with the world is not the things we have/don’t have, do/don’t do. It’s not that shallow. The bible makes it clear that mankind’s problem is not violence, but anger, not guns but sin.

Jesus said, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Mt.23:26).

James said, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight“ (James 4:1-2).

The problem with the world, folks, is sin in our hearts and unless we can find a fool-proof solution for it no hope remains.

The good news, no GREAT NEWS, is that Christmas is here once again. The CHRISTmas holy-day brings us back to God’s solution for mankind’s problem. Mankind’s solution involves a birth and a death; a baby lying in a manger and a Savior hanging on a tree. If there was another solution the Lord would have shown it. If there was another way Jesus would have been offered it (see Matthew 26:39, 42). But as it were there was no other way and as it stands today there is no other solution to the darkest shades of evil than the lonely birth and the cruel cross. Jesus is the only Way. He is the only solution to the evil in each of our hearts and unless He washes us clean from the inside out we shall all see the capabilities of human depravity once more.

For Christmas this year I want to challenge us to revisit our need for a Savior. It’s easy to point to others and say, “He needs a savior. How could he do that?” And no doubt Adam did a grave evil and we must comfort the victims with God’s solution and God’s love. But we must not be harder on others than we first are on ourselves. Thomas a’ Kempis said it well in his book Imitation of Christ,
“Even shouldest thou see thy neighbor sin openly or grievously, yet thou oughtest not to reckon thyself better than he, for thou knowest not how long thou shalt keep thine integrity. All of us are weak and frail; hold thou no man more frail than thyself” (Kempis, 1400’s, book I, chapter II).

Folks the world needs a Savior; always has. I need one. You need one. Mother Theresa needed one and we all need the same One. If you are a lover of Jesus Christ today then may this email and this ancient hymn bring you tidings of comfort and joy today as you eagerly wait for our Savior’s return;

 “God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay; remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy.”

“Fear not”, then said the angel, “let nothing you affright, this day is born a Savior of pure Virgin bright, to free all those who trust in Him from Satan’s power and might.” O tidings of comfort and joy.”

 

Merry Christmas to you all,
In Christian love,
Shaun (minister)

Thanksgiving In NJ 2012

New Jersians are mindful this Thanksgiving of the change of lot which can come about in the blink of a storm or the rush of a wave. Many approach tomorrow’s day of thanks having significantly less tangible goods to be thankful for- particularly true of our shore neighbors. At the same time many New Jersians recognize the lack of thanks they once had for the things they no longer have. It’s sort of like not appreciating someone until they are gone, and once they are gone we wish we would have appreciated them more when they were with us. I believe people in New Jersey post-Hurricane Sandy are approaching this day of thanks from one of two perspectives; 1) They have developed a new thankfulness for the things now gone and so more completely appreciate the things which now take their stead, or the opposite 2) They recognize the futility of appreciating anything too highly which can so quickly be removed, and instead have come to value and covet more fully that which cannot be taken at all. It is this latter perspective that I would like to draw our attention towards this Thanksgiving Day 2012.

Thomas a’ Kempis in his Imitation of Christ once said, “It is vanity then to seek after, and to trust in, the riches that shall perish.  It is vanity, too, to covet honours, and to lift up ourselves on high…It is vanity to desire a long life, and to have little care for a good life.  It is vanity to take thought only for the life which now is, and not to look forward to the things which shall be hereafter.  It is vanity to love that which quickly passeth away, and not to hasten where eternal joy abideth” (Ch.4:1).

These olden words from a Christian monk illuminate for us a biblical truth long past in America- “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). We feel the pain of displacement for those in NJ who have lost much. We sympathize with those still without power. We even seek to share the burden of those who have lost their homes altogether and know not if they shall ever rebuild. Relief efforts continue for this reason. But for bringing eternal truths to light in a way no other means could we can only give thanks, for a veil has been lifted.

Luxuries and abundance always cushion our feelings of helplessness before the throne of grace. They ground us to the present. They trick us into complacency. If abundance stays around long enough we will even mistake it as God’s blessing for a righteous life. But for Jesus there was no veil. Jesus knew that the more possessions man possessed the more those possessions possessed the man. He knew the great freedom possible only when we release our holding on worldly goods and so free ourselves to fly to Him. He knew that the more a man desires to be spiritual the more bitter the present life becomes to him and the more eagerly he pursues what is to come.

“Oh foolish and faithless of heart, who lie buried so deep in worldly things, that they relish nothing save the things of the flesh!  Miserable ones! They will too sadly find out at the last, how vile and worthless was that which they loved.”

“The saints of God and all loyal friends of Christ held as nothing the things which pleased the flesh, or those which flourished in this life, but their whole hope and affection aspired to the things which are above.  Their whole desire was borne upwards to everlasting and invisible things, lest they should be drawn downwards by the love of things visible” (Kempis, Imitation of Christ).

 Oh that loss would compel us after those things which can never be lost. Oh that we would not again set all of our energies on rebuilding our little kingdoms on earth, but that we would rekindle our fervor for the kingdom of Heaven. For it may be that possessions have so possessed us in NJ that, have it our way, we might rather live here always than walk with Jesus in the kingdom of Heaven. It may be that we have grounded ourselves so firmly that we no longer know how to fly to Him. Let it not be our desire this Thanksgiving Day to return all of NJ to middle-class-ness, as if that were the goal. Rather let it be our goal to free ourselves from this world such that losses as we have lost no longer seem like loss at all, but blessings in disguise. Let it be our goal the devaluing of perishable things and the exaltation of the eternal Christ. If it be that we regain the things we lost from the storm let us glorify Jesus not by re-possessing them, but by devaluing them altogether. Let us recognize every worldly comfort not as the very substance of life but simply as a shadow of the eternal rest available to those who will deny themselves their worldly comforts and pleasures and follow Jesus.

This Thanksgiving I am eternally thankful. Granted I have not lost but 5 days of inconvenience from the storm. Others have lost their homes. But I am seeking to set in my heart ahead of time the loss of all things temporal. If it be that the Lord allows all things temporal to be taken from me before I die I commit that I shall be ready- for I had let them go before they went. Let us all be ready at the blink of an eye to give up every temporal thing. Let us settle in our hearts today the loss of all of our possessions. Let us make like we do not own them, cannot keep them and do not want them. Only then will we be truly free and ready to fly to Jesus when He returns.

As you surround your table today may you take in the comfort of food, clothing and shelter not as the actual thing but as a shadow of the true comfort, rest and eternal life that will arrive to us when Christ returns.

Getting ready for that day today,

Shaun

Getting Back Our Voice

On my way back home this morning I was listening to NJ talk radio on FM 101.5. This particular talk radio program is beneficial to listen to if you desire to get a feel for how residents of NJ perceive the world. The topic this morning was about the teacher who resigned from her job because it was discovered that she had posted anti-gay information on her facebook page. The host I believe held a fair view of the issue and was advocating for the 1^st Ammendment rights of this teacher. One caller called in and suggested that the issue was really more about an intolerance to white Christians in the Senate than anything else. I am not getting all of the details right in my recollection here but the point I want to make came in the host’s reply to this comment. The host replied,

“It seems to me that Christians don’t stand up for themselves and the voice goes in the opposite direction by default more than anything else. Christians just lie down and let the opposing voice do what they want.”

I was actually grateful to the host for his comment. I thought it was dead on in many respects. But here is what I exited my vehicle to ponder on the rest of the day; How does it happen in society that a minority voice becomes a majority voice? Conversely, how does it happen that a once majority voice becomes a minority voice? It is this question that I would like to talk about today.

There have been various times and various places in history where the Gospel of Jesus Christ had minority status. The easiest place to point to would be those first decades after Christ rose from the dead. The Gospel (good news) of Jesus was spreading fast throughout the then known world. In fact just in Paul’s lifetime the Gospel spread all the way from Jerusalem to Rome. But Christians during this time were still considered a small sect of disruptive people. They were by no means the majority voice in town.

A couple things would be necessary (maybe more) over the next 500 years to bring the teachings of Christ and His transforming Gospel to every Western mind. To begin, each Christian would need to unite together with other Christians in the strong bonds of Christian love. These united bands of people would begin as small home groups and eventually grow through small villages, towns and into the cities. As the glue of the Holy Spirit (love) bound each believer with other believers, strength was gained. Each individual Christian was strengthened by the unity of the whole church such that when persecution arose against one the many entered into prayer and fasting for him/her (see Acts 12:12ff). It is unlikely in any time period that individuals will stick their neck out for an unpopular belief if there is not some assurance that someone, some group, some family of people will be there to back them up if ever they fall. Martin Luther King Jr. would not have had the influence he had if his family and church did not back him. There is strength in numbers. Solomon said, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up… Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Eccl.4:9-12).

However it is not enough to know that there are other Christians in the area who believe what we believe. We must also have some confidence that those fellow believers will cover our backs if ever we fall. My community might be 40% Christian by statistic, but I do not thereby expect those 40% to walk with me down dangerous social roads. To walk down dangerous roads requires I know those people personally. It requires that the ligaments of love be so strong between us that I can be assured of their prayers and their defense if ever in jail as Peter was (see Acts 12).

In the same way, homosexual persons prior to the mid to late 1990’s were hesitant to stand up for what they believed in because they had not yet acquired a substantial “family” of homosexuals who would back them when lash-back came. The tables have turned now and homosexuals are loud and proud primarily because they have more backing.  As the homosexual bonds of (perverted) love increased in America in the 1980’s & 90’s, the bonds of Christian love between followers of Christ continued to weaken and even sever.

During the 1980’s and early 90’s church on TV became an alternative expression of faith. Many justified their lack of involvement in a church family by saying, “I don’t go to church but I still pray, read my Bible and watch TBN”. Furthermore, although mega-churches grew in rapid number in those years, the bonds of Christian love did not. Mega-churches blessed Christian people with encouragement, opportunities to serve and biblical education, but they did not effectively provide Christians with a band of Christian support capable of sustaining them in the face of persecution. Ironically many Christians even today gather with hundreds of other Christians on a weekly basis but would not dare count on those people to back them in social, financial or psychological breakdown. Even though the Gospel of Jesus Christ reached many people in these years, those who were won to Christ rarely risked their necks for their faith because they did not have a strong cord of Christian community to support them if they did. As a result the Christian majority voice became softer and softer as the bonds of Christian brotherhood became weaker and weaker.

A second thing necessary to bring the teachings of Christ and His transforming message to every Western mind was a complete reorientation of life by every Christian. When someone became a Christian in the 1^st Century everything changed for them. They changed the way they thought. They changed who they associated with. They changed what they talked about and what they valued. They may have changed where they lived particularly if their family rejected them for their new beliefs. They even changed why they did what they did. If before they were a Christian they worked in order to make money, now they worked in order to glorify God. If before they used to steal, now they must steal no longer but "work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need" (Eph.4:28).To follow Christ for the 1^st Century Christian required a complete reorientation of life and those who were not willing to make complete changes were encouraged not to follow Christ at all (see Luke 14:25ff).

Sadly the homosexual population has done reorientation well. When a person decides to live his life as a homosexual a complete change occurs. He changes the way he thinks about the world. He changes who he associates with. He changes what he talks about and what he values. He may change where he lives-often moving to where his lifestyle is more accepted. He changes why he does what he does. When his life gets wrapped up in the sin of homosexuality everything in his life begins to revolve around that sin. There is not an aspect of his life that is not affected by it. This is true with any sin that takes hold of us- just look at the alcoholic.

But Christians today do not reorient their entire life around Jesus when they are baptized. They baptize parts of their lives but not every part of their life. Christ does not usually get thrust into the center of every aspect of life when a person chooses Him as their Lord. Rather, He gets thrust in the center of some aspects of life. We go to church but we still center the rest of the week around making money. We go shopping but not in order to have things to give to people who are in need in our family and church. We sit at home at night and watch TV but do not open our home to our homeless neighbor. We setup direct deposit but do not use that money to deduct the debts of our Christian brothers and sisters. We go to work but not to glorify God by it. We do not think about our jobs in this way because we have secularized our jobs to the point where we think Jesus has nothing to do with them. It is terribly hard to center 40-60 hours of my week around Jesus if I think those 40-60 hours have nothing to do with Jesus.

It is my belief that Christians have lost their majority voice in America because,

1. They have been weakened by the lack of support available in the church for each individual Christian. The bonds of love have been loosened in our churches and consequently our collective strength is weakened. And,
2. We have not reoriented our entire lives around our first love- Jesus Christ.

On the other hand the homosexual population has gained such a strong voice in America because,

1. They have been strengthened by the support now available to each individual homosexual in the homosexual community, and
2. They have reoriented their entire lives around their first love- sexual sin.

If we believe Jesus is for all and all are lost without Him; if we truly believe Christ’s voice is the supreme voice; if we truly believe that we are “a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because [we] have in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (Rom.2:19-20), then each of us must fight hard in our churches to strengthen the bonds of genuine Christian love between ourselves and reorient every aspect of our lives around Jesus.

This may require bold steps for some of us. I am pleased to announce that one of our members recently quit her job because she was no longer willing to run after the money. She now spends all of her time helping those who need help both in the church and in the community. As she does this God is financially providing for her through the people she serves.

I envision a day when the voice of Truth again has majority in America. Until then we must work to rebuild our weakened churches. What will you do today to build life around Jesus in your church?

The World We Have Lost...But Must Regain

We are living in a truly unique time in the history of the world. From the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800's to the latest Information Age we hopped into in the 1990's, no other generation has faced quite the same challenges we face today with the exception of modern Europe. In some ways the challenges of past generations may have been more difficult than our own (e.g. no running water, no electricity, persecution, oppressively corrupt governments, devastating plagues, etc.). At the same time previous generations could never have imagined facing the challenges we are facing now. The church today has a particular challenge, I believe, when it comes to making disciples. The former American world 200 years ago and European world 300 years ago enveloped Christians in a way of life where everyone had a role, a support system, a family, an enduring community, a place to belong. Today most would acknowledge the need for an enduring community as such but are at a great loss as to how to actually build it. Let me explain.

England in the late 1600's was a vastly different world than we experience today; that goes without saying. But just how different it was has a huge impact on making disciples for Christ. Laslett (1984) wrote of that world we have lost some 300 years ago now,

To the facts of geography, being together in one place, were added all the bonds which are forged between human beings when they are permanently alongside each other; bonds of intermarriage and of kinship, of common ancestry and common experience and of friendship and co-operation in matters of common concern. To these must be added those created by conditions of living now vanished so entirely that it is no easy matter to imagine what they felt like. The lack of running water in the dwelling brought people, mostly the women of course, into each other's company several times a day at the well, or pool, or brook. The labour of grinding your own corn by hand made frequent visits to the windmill or watermill a convenience for everyone, from the larger houses to the smaller ones. The want of ready supply of credit at the bank made everyone dependent on his friend, his neighbour or his relative at times when he needed ready money.

The world just described is indeed a world we have lost. It is a world that existed in almost eternal monotony generation after generation. Until the Industrial Revolution one generation lived pretty well the same way their ancestors lived 4-5 generations before. There was very little different in village life from one century to the next. That world is hard to imagine and hard to forget. It's over, it's vanished from our common experience, but I do not think it is gone from within us. There is some part of us that longs for the simplicity that enabled community and a part of us that requires it.

Oh for a home, a place, a position in the order of things in which I am needed, wanted, nurtured and loved. A place where I belong and fit. A place that is secure and not going anywhere anytime soon. Sounds boring to some but it sounds essential to me. In fact if we would look at America with an eye toward history we would find that some of the things Americans spend their time doing is done in an effort regain a lost world, in particular...community.

Let's consider athletics for a moment. Why do parents believe athletics are so important to their children's well-being today? Is it because they want their children to get college paid for through athletic scholarships? That is a drive of some for sure. Is it for the confidence it builds in children? That is also a driving force. How about health or sportsmanship or learning teamwork? Are these the root reasons for athletics? Would parents still involve their children in athletics if there was no hope of a scholarship, no obvious effect on their child's self esteem and little value to their physical health? I think so. I think so because the root reason for athletics boils down not to scholarships or confidence or health, but to community.

Why did I always feel a little lonely each time I drove by the droves of people at the Pop-Warner games on Sunday mornings on my way to church? It was because I wanted to be where the people were. I wanted to be a part. I wanted a place among the many. I wanted to be recognized as an important piece of the team puzzle. My greatest takeaway from all my years of athletics was not the coordinated ways I learned to use my body or the relative health I developed, but the deep camaraderie I formed with the other players. As teammates we saw each other everyday through the good semesters and the bad; when coach was even-headed and when he went bonkers. The championships we won meant so much because we won them together. I remember the 3 hour practices, broken bones, and sheer exhaustion on game days...but Oh it felt so good to be needed and to belong! It was all worth it. Parents are concerned today with involving their children in athletics and other extracurricular activities in a large part because they know those are some of the best potential places for their kids to find belonging.

Let's consider school also. Being homeschooling parents my wife and I hear all the time how skittish people are about homeschooling because of the social aspect of it. Parents want their children to socialize well and that is important. School is, for most parents, the place where their children learn the three R's but it is also the place where their children find belonging. Belonging has always been a by-product of groups of students learning together over a period of time but it has never been as important to parents as it is today. Some of our country's greatest leaders were home-schooled and it is doubtful their parents ever worried about their social life. Why? Because community existed outside of school in those days. Where in America today can a person gather with their neighbors 5 days a week, 6-8 hours a day for 12 straight years if not in school? Nowhere! Parents know and have experienced that once their children graduate high school they will never again find the depth of community they found between the ages of 6 and 18. For this reason many parents cannot imagine homeschooling their children even if the public schools imploded. Where else would their children find community?

The communal world has been lost...but it must be regained! I have run into so many people, especially elderly people, who were heavily involved in social organizations in the past but who find themselves without community in their final years. Why? Because in the end an organization is a false and short-lived form of community. Community is not something you go to or sign up for. Community is a way of life. 200 years ago community was a natural part of life. It was a communal world and one could not have escaped from it and lived long any more than one could have escaped from Earth and lived long.

Some see no logic in trying to regain the world we have lost. "We live in the 21st century" they say, "not the 16th". Granted. But what will be the long-term consequences of not regaining that way of life? Not agrarianism per se but communalism. What will be the consequences of prolonged isolation and extreme individualism? I do not believe it is a strong reach to see the connection between a loss of genuine community in early 19th century Europe and the rise of Psychiatry and Psychology as sciences. Is it any wonder that Psychiatry and Psychology first became independently studied sciences during this time? Aristotle didn't study Psychiatry. Roman philosophers did not take courses in Psychology. These sciences are new; as new as the Industrial Revolution. When the world entered the Industrial Revolution it set off such a huge social upheaval in the way people lived that many developed serious mental health problems that could no longer be consoled within the communal community. The communal community was disappearing. I have yet to meet a single individual today whose mental health problems could not be traced back to a breakdown in community at some point. Either the mini-community of the family has broken down or the larger group of families of which it is a part to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation.

My concern in this article is not to point the finger at others for their contribution to an unhealthy way of life, but to point to us, the church, for we are contributing no less to a loss of community in our nation than anyone else. Some churches have of course broken the mold but not many. We have adopted the same way of life as the rest of America even though we still wed before sex, avoid drunkenness, preach about righteousness and go to church regularly. Given all of that we are still just as void of community as anyone else and this creates a huge obstacle when it comes to making disciples.

A disciple of Christ outside of a community of Christ is as unhealthy and long-term detrimental to our faith as that of a baby outside of a family. Life cannot continue in any healthy way for a Christian unless he lives within community. I believe the church must take the lead in regaining the communal world we have lost because making disciples depends on it. Scripture confirms, "Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many...The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (1 Cor.12:14, 21). The church is a body; we need each other.

But how to go about rebuilding genuine Christian community after it has been lost for so long is up for discussion. There is no easy answer. Understanding how we got here is the first part. Moving on to solid solutions is a difficult second. So that's what I would like to do here- contract this conversation out for discussion as to how we as the church can build genuine Christian community again. What do you think?

Day of Service Recap

July 25th was a full day of building life around Jesus in our community. My previous eNews talked about the push-back we were originally getting with this Day of Service both with the North Brunswick Senior Home and Oak Leaf Village Apartments. The actual Day of Service, however, was as if the authorities were pushing us forward not back.

In conjunction with the Cloverdale Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) we spent Wednesday morning cleaning the apartments of 9 senior citizens. Our 6 groups of servants cleaned windows, cleaned appliances, vacuumed, cleaned bathrooms, put together shelves and otherwise showed the love of Christ. Even the young ones served!

Those who finished inside assisted in landscaping outdoors, prepared for lunch or made cool gifts for the residents out of paper and other supplies.

Beginning at 11:30am the first of 65 residents began arriving for the cookout! Those residents who had been served in their homes came with smiles from ear to ear. They were so thankful for the help they had received.

Lunch was served by table and as you can see from the picture above, the young ones put their faith into practice as well. After lunch the kids sang three spiritual songs to the audience followed by a collective chorus of hymns from the adults. I closed with a vision message about our desire to see a whole community built around Jesus Christ again.

As the residents departed to their apartments we them say, "This was the best event we ever did here", "I'm gonna tell all my friends what you all did for us today", and "I am going to have to visit your church sometime". Even the Leasing Manager said to me, "This was really good. Very inspirational." One resident has joined us for church on Sundays for 3 straight weeks now. I have also been back to check on some of the residents we served; they invited me in like I was family.

More Favor From The Township!

On Wednesday of this week I met with Tom from the Township, the Leasing Manager (Jeanne) at the North Brunswick Senior Housing building, the Leasing Agent and the head maintenance guy to discuss the Day of Service we are performing on July 25th. Jeanne had not yet heard about the Day of Service happening in her building in exactly 2 weeks! We probably should have approached her first! For this reason our first order of business was to sell Jeanne on the idea.

At the beginning of the meeting Jeanne was showing an unfavorable-ness to what we were proposing. She mentioned a conflict of schedule with that date, was of the opinion that most residents, because they do not know us, “would not be up for having people in their apartments”, and overall seemed distrusting of our efforts. As I sat there I knew we did not have rapport with her yet and were up for a tough sell.

Noticing this aura of distrust exuding from Jeanne as the meeting pressed on, Tom chimed in with some powerful words that truly changed the course of the conversation. He said (paraphrasing here),

“Now I want you to know that the Brunswick Church of Christ has been an exceptional church in this town. We are not talking about allowing someone into the building whom we do not know. Carl the previous Pastor and now Shaun the current Pastor, and I hope you do not mind me bragging on the church a little Shaun, they have done a great deal for this town. The Oak Leaf Village Apartment complex is the eye sore of our town and for that reason many churches have stayed clear of it. But these guys have intentionally been there week in and week out holding Bible studies, getting to know the residents and baptizing people. What they are wanting to do here could have a ripple effect in that other churches might want to serve the residents here as well. For this reason I am of the opinion that we should give Shaun and the Brunswick Church of Christ our full support in this. I would like to see you guys promoting it to residents in the next 2 weeks to ensure that it is a success. It would be a shame to me if only a few residents took advantage of this Day of Service.”

I was taken back by Tom’s words and flattered for sure.

What happened next was transformational. All of a sudden in the next few minutes the skepticism went away. Jeanne made known her faith and involvement in the Presbyterian church and her church’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity. She began to throw out ideas on how to make this day a big deal for the residents. At one point Jeanne even said with excitement, “I got it; why don’t we call it “A Day of Faith” instead of “A Day of Service”? That’s what it is right; a day of sharing our faith through service?” Jeanne offered to print all the fliers on extra large-colored paper for us, distribute them under each person’s door on Friday, gave us her word that she and her staff would be strong promoters of the Day of Service from now till then and even rescheduled the fire inspections that were supposed to happen in the building that day.

What happened last was perhaps the greatest part of the meeting. As we finished up and were about to depart the room with our specific to do lists I asked, “Would you guys mind if we prayed about this opportunity together?” They agreed without hesitation. So there we were, the Leasing Manager, Leasing Agent, Township zoning authority, head of maintenance at NBSH and myself uniting in prayer about the many senior residents we were planning to serve in Jesus name.

Wow. I felt so taken back as we departed the meeting that I whispered to the Lord while chuckling to myself, “Lord, what just happened in there?” I felt so blessed by God! He had given me and His church so much favor. I believe God is teaching me, through incidents like these, that one of the keys to building Christ’s church in today’s day and time is each congregation’s long-term commitment to the physical and spiritual well-being of their community. It requires building rapport with community leaders over time such that people learn to trust you who once looked down on you with skepticism.

“Thank you Lord for Your continued favor upon us in North Brunswick!”