Monday, April 26, 2004
Planning to plan
I'm currently in the middle of a book by famed Methodist postmodern Leonard Sweet. His book, A Cup of Coffee at the Soul Cafe, has been on my shelf waiting to be read since the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix last year.
I've finally picked it up and begun reading through it. It's an easy read and could be described more as a devotional than a deep, theological tome. Len's musings reminded me of something that I've been meaning to get off my chest for awhile.
I have no plan for my life.
There. I've said it. It's out in the open and now I must deal with the consequences.
A man I once greatly respected asked me what my plan for my life was. He was dumbfounded to learn that I didn't really have one. I think he chalked it up to youthful imperfection and decided I was simply being coy. Several years later, he asked me the same and received pretty much the same response. This time though, having had several years to figure out my direction in life, I think he was simply disappointed in me. I left that conversation both perplexed and annoyed.
I believe Junior High was the first time that I was ever presented with the idea that I need a plan for my life. Goals. Mile Markers. A Path to follow. A 5-, 10-, and 15-year plan. Where do I see myself in 20 years? These were/are the things that I was told I must answer to be a success in life.
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree with this logic and would even go almost as far to say that it spits in the face of Biblical mandate.
You see... Because we are so dreadfully afraid of the unknown, we plan our lives as much as we possibly can. We nail out every detail, including back-up plans, in order to assure our success and keep us from ever having to anyone but ourselves. In so doing, we plan God out of our lives. We forget that He is found in the unknowns, and it is in the margins of life where we meet Him.
When looking for God, we will never find Him in the comfort zone of Christianity.
Len says "... change is uncomfortable for most people. Only God knows the future. That means only God offers refuge against infinite possibilities. But God does not think our thoughts. Therefore our efforts to 'think straight' and 'plan ahead' are confounded because God denies human attempts at flat, linear predictions of divine unfolding."
He continues, "God wants to prepare us for something that we cannot possibly understand or predict. Only by accepting 'not-knowing' will we find ultimate fulfillment."
In the words of God through the prophet Jeremiah, 'I alone know the plans I have for you, plans of peace not of disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for!"
I think that says it all. Hold loosely to the plans that we have for ourselves! Of course I have goals in life. Things that I wish to accomplish... jobs that I hope to do... people that I plan to bless... etc... etc.
But I hold to them all VERY loosely. I would never want my own idea of personal success to get in the way of what God's ideas for my life are. And only in fulfilling THOSE plans (instead of my own) will I truly find success in this world, and the next.
posted by Kevin at 4/26/2004 04:06:05 PM
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Monday, April 19, 2004
Nothing in Return
A friend of mine--a good friend whom I've both mentored and been mentored by--posed a question today that stopped me in my tracks.
In relaying information recently gleaned from one of his professors, he said this . . .
________________________
You know, the Christian life isn't about good times and feeling great... it's about growing in Him, no matter what that brings to me, despair or happiness. He talked about Job, and all the pain and suffering that he experienced, then the Prof asked the dreaded question: "Will you be blameless and upright if it means getting nothing in return?"
*ton of bricks*
Will I be blameless and upright if it means getting absolutely nothing in return? That is probably the BEST phrasing of the thesis of the OT's Wisdom Literature that I have EVER seen!
Most of us avoid answering that question until it is way too late. OR, we answer incorrectly and subject ourselves to a life of defeated living. We speak Christianeze very well. We speak of showers of blessings to those who follow Christ. We lampoon the charismatics for their 'health and wealth' version of the gospel, yet we live in much the same way they do....
We live life in a certain way in order to gain from God greater blessing and success (as we define it) and in return only reap misery and pain.
I know a A LOT of people who remind me of Job's wife ... but I know VERY FEW who remind me of Job.
"Will you be blameless and upright if it means getting nothing in return?"
Most of us are lying to ourselves if we answer 'yes' to that question.
posted by Kevin at 4/19/2004 08:51:13 PM
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Thursday, April 15, 2004
Goodbye Neil
I have long meant to write this post, but unfortunately time has gotten away from me.
Neil Postman was an idol of mine. We lost him last October at the age of 72. His obituary was listed in the New York Times. Yet I doubt many, if any, of you have ever heard of him. Such a shame.
Dr. Postman was one of the few voices begging the questions "Why?" and "What consequence?" in a world rushing forward lusting for the promise of Information Technology much like Ponce de Leon seduced by the legendary fountain of youth. As the Chair of the Department of Culture and Communications and professor of media ecology at New York University, Postman wrote nineteen books, including The Disappearance of Childhood (1984), Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992), How to Watch Television News (1994), The End of Education (1996), and Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future (1999).
I was first introduced to Neil Postman while researching my Senior Seminar project at Cedarville in preparation for receiving a degree in religion. I picked up a copy of Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. He blew my mind. He posits that technology is NOT the highest form of human achievement and sets out on a journey to show that we are sadly living in a culture of technopoly: a self-justifying, self-perpetuating system wherein technology of every kind is cheerfully granted sovereignty over social institutions and national life.
Now, instead of merely being a society that uses technology, we are shaped by it. Thus our entire culture has been tragically effected, even our politics, intellect, religion, history--even privacy and truth--have been infiltrated.
Neil Postman dealt with all of this, and more. His writings should be required reading in all disciplines that deal with technology, especially in our religious institutions. Neil provided a view that is getting lost in the roar of culture and he called us to a question that we have intentionally avoided.....
"Can a nation preserve its history, originality, and humanity by submitting itself totally to the sovereignty of a technological thought-world?"
He correctly concludes that "the uncontrolled growth of technology destroys the vital sources of our humanity. It creates a culture without a moral foundation. It undermines certain mental processes and social relations that make human life worth living. Technology, in sum, is both friend and enemy."
I will miss Neil Postman. But more importantly, society has lost one of its most important voices.
posted by Kevin at 4/15/2004 01:13:06 PM
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Wednesday, April 14, 2004
a Treatise for the Creative in all of Us
I have long been aware of the book Addicted to Mediocrity. It was not until I received it as a graduation gift a year ago that I found out it was a book for (and about) creatives in the Christian culture! Franky Schaeffer (son of the great Francis Schaeffer) wrote this easy-read in 1981, showing how Christians have sacrificed the artistic prominence they enjoyed for centuries and have settled instead for mediocrity. He writes, "Whenever Christians, and evangelicals in particular, have attempted to 'reach the world' through the media--TV, film, publishing and so on--the thinking public gets the firm idea that, like soup in a bad restaurant, Christians' brains are best left unstirred."
Franky also writes . . .
... on the idea that its OK to produce something of less quality as long as more people are reached :: "There are no valid excuses for this mediocrity. The excuse that 'sometimes people are saved' is no excuse at all. People have been saved in concentration camps because God can bring good from evil, but this does not justify the evil. . . The excuse that 'many people see this,' and that 'somehow it must do some good' and 'it's better than nothing' is no excuse. Since when has quantity been the deciding factor with God?"
(p.45)
... on the idea that Christians should separate from the secular world :: "all human endeavor is Christian (if it is not sin) and has its roots in God's good grace. Christians can without guilt feelings enjoy, appreciate, express, protest, [and] interrelate with the world around us . . . We do not need to justify our own endeavors by tacking a few Christian slogans at the end to somehow redeem them. Christ redeems what we do. We do not need to redeem our work with slogans. There is no Christian world, no secular world; these are just words. There is only one world--the world God made."
(p. 47)
... on the idea that there are Christian jobs and secular jobs :: "No, each one of us has a responsibility to God to exercise his our own talents in his or her particular area. There is no blueprint for our life. God does not have a 'wonderful plan for your life,' in the sense there is a blueprint he will unroll for you. He deals with each one of us as individuals, where we are. He has given us the talents we have. God is not a dilettante game-player, who gives us one set of talents and then somehow makes us justify our spiritual lives by calling us to give them up. . . Either the whole man is redeemed by Christ or none of him!"
(p. 54)
... on the idea of 'Christian' television programming :: "Most so-called Christian efforts in television can only congratulate themselves for their massive fundraising efforts and subsidiary money-making empires . . . In addition, they boast vast arrays of expensive technical equipment which sometimes rivals secular networks in hardware. Television is the worst and most monolithic example of the mediocrity in Christian media. . . Certain Christian TV shows are merely televised church services which can be judged as such, not on the TV value but the content of the teaching. This may be a waste of TV as a medium, . . ."
(p. 82)
... on the idea that mega- program driven- churches are better than relational- purpose-driven ones :: "It might be a good idea to abandon our frenetic addiction to church activities altogether in favor of more warm and personal human relationships, . . . God in Scripture has left for us an institution to serve a very real and worthwhile purpose. However, the constant activity-oriented nature of the church today, which is more like some combination health club-golfing society-bowling tournament-Sunday school service-inspirational message-fellowship-Jesus advertising machine-growth program all rolled into one, does not seem to have very much to do with the institution we read about in the New Testament."
(p. 86)
... on the idea that there should be a different standard for judging Christian work :: "A large segment of the secular world maintains a higher standard than the Christian arts and media. . . The Christian world has not even a poor standard, because it operates on a double standard principle. It judges its spiritual activities, in which it includes its media and arts efforts, by spiritual standards, unlike the standards it applies for the rest of life. Thus an art work, song, or whatever can be highly acclaimed because of its spiritual content, even if it is a miserable exhibition of lazy addiction to mediocrity.
(p. 92)
_____________________
From Kev...
This book is a MUST read for everyone in the church, especially those of us whom have dedicated our lives to one of the arts. It is an easy (and real quick) read, and you will not be disappointed.
Too often in today's churches, we relegate the artistic endeavors of our staff, congregations, and lay people to lesser positions in the community of faith. O to God that this would end once and for all!
Schaeffer, F. Addicted to Mediocrity: Contemporary Christians and the Arts. Crossway: Wheaton. 1981.
posted by Kevin at 4/14/2004 07:59:23 PM
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Tuesday, April 13, 2004
from Part 3: LEADERSHIP
In his book Church, Professor John G. Stackhouse writes . . .
". . . ask yourself honestly: How is the preaching in your church, how is the administration of your church, how is the leading in your church compared to the quality of care you expect from your lawyer, physician, or financial advisor?
"I fear that in the worst cases we have the pastoral leaders we deserve, and the good pastors we don't deserve too often get crushed by the pincer of too many duties and too little respect.
"We might be tempted defensively to blame our brightest young people for avoiding pastoral occupations out of worldly motives. But let's consider a more provocative possibility. Perhaps our prudent God is just not calling our most intelligent young people to pastor us. Perhaps he is using them elsewhere because the typical North American church would simply waste those gifts."
_____________________
God, help me to be the good pastor that I do not deserve to be and give me to a church that does not deserve me.
Stackhouse, J.G. Church: An Insider's Look at How We Do It. Baker: Grand Rapids. 2003. p 56.
"I fear that in the worst cases we have the pastoral leaders we deserve, and the good pastors we don't deserve too often get crushed by the pincer of too many duties and too little respect.
"We might be tempted defensively to blame our brightest young people for avoiding pastoral occupations out of worldly motives. But let's consider a more provocative possibility. Perhaps our prudent God is just not calling our most intelligent young people to pastor us. Perhaps he is using them elsewhere because the typical North American church would simply waste those gifts."
posted by Kevin at 4/13/2004 10:21:21 PM
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Just visiting.....
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
It's not that its really been a secret, but I haven't necessarily been broadcasting the fact that I am in Florida... visiting a church. Its name and location will be kept confidential.
It has renewed my faith in church and ministry. It has proven to me that the New Testament church is alive and well, and a church does not have to sell it's soul to experience growth or 'success'.
I've spent the week in Florida at a church that truly wants to reach its community, do ministry better, and (most importantly) equip their staff/volunteers/laypeople for ministry.
I've found a church that is more driven by its purpose than by its programming...
I have a found a church that does not seemingly have a dysfunctional staff or paradigm for ministry. Can it be!?!
I do not know if this church will call me, nor do I know if God would have me to accept if they do. It too soon to know that.
But I do know this: As I prepare to leave the Florida sunshine and return to the land of the Alamo... There is at least one church in this world that has it together.
I don't know when I'll be back again
posted by Kevin at 4/13/2004 06:45:57 PM
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Monday, April 12, 2004
Apology
Over the next days you will see several very interesting posts to this blog. The last week, or so, has provided me with an opportunity to do a lot of traveling, reading, introspection, and research. I feel like a new man, in a manner of speaking. I fully intend to begin posting here some of the fruits of my labor. It will cover things such as: the books I have read, the information I found on the 'net (and elsewhere), plus a ton of other info culled through the experiences of the last few days. Stay tuned for a lot of information that will probably speak volumes to those who know my personal journey, and have personal journeys of their own that are caught in transition or turmoil.
God has been recentering me. And you will hopefully begin to see that here.
Before all of that though..... here is the first step on my journey.
I wish to apologize.
I wish to apologize, first to myself and then to those who read this blog as a source of connection, ministry, inspiration, or information.
I NEVER should have taken it down during the fall and winter of last year. I realize that now. I was wrong in doing so, but at the time I could not see that fact. I think I did it out of the right heart, but I feel that I made the decision as much out of worry for my own job and career aspirations as I did out of a heart that wanted to reconnect with God.
I fear that I let myself get so caught up in what might (or might not) be occurring in my vocational ministry at that time, that I lost sight of the gifts, talents, and ministry that God had for me alone.
To those who were readers before I left for sabbatical, I apologize for robbing you of this site for those months. But more than that, I apologize for allowing other people and situations to come between the ministry that God told me to accomplish.
I see this site as an extension of who I am, and the ministry that He has for me. Until that changes and He moves me in a new direction, I will be right here.
Before I go for a day or two, let me say this...... to operate out of a spirit of fear is to operate as if you have a reason to fear. We only live in fear when we cease to live in a healthy relationship with Christ. We are told to 'Fear Not!'
If we are truly trusting God, we have absolutely no reason for fear... Ever.
posted by Kevin at 4/12/2004 11:55:20 PM
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Thursday, April 08, 2004
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Actors whip Easter bunny at church show
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - U.S. Headlines
This is ALMOST unbelievable... it is at the same time both sad and funny.
Link
posted by Kevin at 4/08/2004 10:34:08 AM
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Tuesday, April 06, 2004
A Tale of Two Sons
OK, this is something new for me... a little out of my comfort zone, but for a limited time I am going to post a recent extended sermon of mine available for download thanks to the magic of RealAudio.
I am holding back from posting any comments or disclaimers, so without further discussion....
A TALE of TWO SONS :: Kevin Young : October 11, 2003 : 53 minutes
posted by Kevin at 4/06/2004 05:16:16 PM
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Monday, April 05, 2004
The Art of Not Getting Embarrased at a Baptist Church
TallSkinnyKiwi: The Art of Not Getting Embarrased at a Baptist Church
This blog REALLY made me laugh. Though it does not describe all baptist churches, it does describe many of them... and I think that I've experienced it all at some point or another.
It's worth your time, so take a visit!
Link
posted by Kevin at 4/05/2004 11:06:00 PM
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Looking for prayer
I am hoping that all of you who read this post will offer a quick prayer to the Lord on my behalf today.
As I seek God's face for the next step of my ministry, I am praying that I will continue to have the courage to seek His face and the dedication to follow His call.
. . . Love y'all . . .
posted by Kevin at 4/05/2004 12:18:40 AM
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