Preacher of the Month - June

In a new and ongoing effort to highlight the different voices around the United Methodist world that I live in, I would like to introduce you to Rev. Joseph Nader, the Preacher of the Month (June 2015).

I invite you to also spend time to learn more about him in the full write up here.

Rev. Joseph Nader and family

Embracing Irrelevance as the Future of the Church

On May 22nd a blogger wrote this post which connects the fear/anxiety that Main/Old line denominational leaders have over the recent Pew Religious report and deep wisdom from a little Catholic priest named Henri Nouwen. While the recent Pew report shows that over 1/3 of Millennials are religiously "unaffiliated", Henri Nouwen wrote years ago:

The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows them to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success, and to bring the light of Jesus there.

Writer and Millennial herself Amy Peterson wrote that when it comes to church affiliation she wants a, "service that is not sensational, flashy, or particularly “relevant”. I can be entertained anywhere. At church, I do not want to be entertained. I do not want to be the target of anyone's marketing. I want to be asked to participate in the life of an ancient-future community."

The thing about relevancy is that what I think is relevant is relevant - to me but probably not you. I am interested in things that you are not and you are interested in things that I am not. To build a worship service or even a leadership core with the value of "relevancy" chances are our worship service and our leadership will be gimicy , overly stylized, and plastic. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, focusing on relevancy leads to the missing out on what could be.

Not to pull out the cliche, but when Steve Jobs presented the iPhone for the first time there were many people who thought it was a bust - it did not have a keyboard, it did not have stylus, it did not have a protected screen, etc. Needless to say, many people thought it to be irrelevant. 

Steve Jobs did not give a rip. He was set to address problems and a world that few could see coming. And for years the iPhone was the gold standard (and still is among many). Not to equate the two, but Jesus was not in hot pursuit of being relevant. He was a backwater itinerant preacher who made up stories that confounded the people and did not live into a common wish for a military leader or forceful king. When he made it to the heart of Jerusalem he quickly became the center of all hate and venom, and instead of changing his message to relevant he kept his eyes on the cross. 

Chasing relevancy is rooted not in our call to serve Christ but to serve a market we are afraid to loose. Chasing relevancy is a symptom of our fear not an expression of our faithfulness. Chasing relevancy is a lack of trust that the Holy Spirit will translate our works and perfect them to bring about reconciliation, wholeness and the Kingdom of God.

Being A Pest is the Body of Christ

Alan Hirsch has a way of thinking about leadership in the Church which comes from Ephesians 4:11: "The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some shepherds and teachers,"

He calls is APEST. You can learn more about this on this site. 

I have not read the book where Hirsch lays out the APEST ideas of leadership teams. I am sure it is great. I want to focus not so much on the specifics of the acronym but on the whole of idea of being "A PEST". That is, the body of Christ is at it's best when we are A PEST - "an annoying person or thing; a nuisance"

The Body of Christ is not only a body of love and humility and these words make many of us feel that the Body of Christ is a passive body that is imagined by a group of people holding hands singing camp songs while we sway side to side. The fact of the matter things like love, humility, compassion and grace are a pest in many situations because they usually muddy up the issue. 

It is easy to hate the one who hates you. It makes life easier. It makes life easier to think that you have Truth and others are idiots. It makes life easier to "know" that there are people who are not worth it and who are "entitled" and "lazy" and "bums". It makes life easier to join in the chants of kill and bomb and "get justice". 

It is a pest when someone (the Church) says that we are to love the enemy. We are to be humble with our understanding of Truth. We are to be compassionate on those who have not been as lucky as we have been. We are to reconsider justice is never achieved absent of wholeness and reconciliation.

The Church is at it's best when it is a pest.

The Church was a pest when she circled those of other faiths to protect them as they prayed. Or when she worked to bring about civil rights. Or when she prays for ISIS. Or when she forgives the shooter. Or when she embraces the person who is different. Or when she stands against laws that prohibit sharing food with strangers. Or when she listens to the prisoner. Or when she protects creation. Or when she transforms guns into gardening tools. Or when she, well you get the point. 

Go be a pest.