“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.  Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”  Luke 14:28

Honest assessment is a good thing.  Clarity protects us from both and tepidness folly.  Jesus asked his would-be disciples to do a bit of assessment before they signed up to follow his way.  “Are you thinking straight?  Do you know where your strengths lie?”  From time to time we need to step back from our emotions and do some simple, honest assessment.  Lent is a good time for that discipline.

As your pastor I’ve been on a subtle, but persistent campaign for the last few years encouraging us to do three things for the sake of our future; be honest about our past, be honest about our present state, and to dream big.

Assessing our past can be difficult because we tend to look back with a kind of attachment; forgetting the struggles we endured, remembering only the best.  Does anyone really want to relive high-school again?  We’ve had many good people and good times to celebrate as a part of our church history.  But among those good memories we need to face the fact that our congregation had been in steady decline for over 20 years.  From 2007-2009 we had done zero baptisms…zero.  Worship attendance and membership were steadily sliding, we reported no measurable mission outreach beyond local initiatives, and we hadn’t made an already unbalanced budget in years.  We’d all like to forget those facts.  This is precisely the reason our doctor doesn’t simply ask us “how we feel” when we visit.  She keeps a record of our vitals, our weight, our medical history; regardless of how we feel, they tell a more complete story.

I’m acutely aware that some of us do not “feel good” about some of the recent changes we’ve endured, and don’t care for the prescriptions we’ve been given for our future.  But honestly assessing our present state may help.  In the last two years alone we have 26 new members to give God thanks for (The vast majority are 30 or 40-somethings with children.)  Our church has celebrated 20 baptisms from 2010 to date…20!  Our worship attendance is growing with new people…for the first time in 20+ years we aren’t declining, but slowly growing.  By next month we will have taken four mission trips beyond our community (two to Iowa, two to Joplin.)  Our financials continue to be a hurdle, but fewer givers are giving more generously and we’re doing more with less, balance is on the horizon.

Add to this good news the exponentially growing numbers of kids in Sunday school and children’s church, the ladies attending Women of Faith, the not-yet members who regularly attend our second service, the improvements we’ve made to our facility (handicapped accessible restrooms, the gathering area, the children’s chapel.)  None of this is to congratulate ourselves, this is for God’s glory alone.  But it’s just as important to acknowledge success as challenge because our “feelings” about transition, good or bad, can be deceptive and we don’t want to short-circuit God’s work among us.

Knowing where we are and where we came from leads us to a time where we’re called to dream BIG.  Every fiber of my being believes that God wants to be made known through our witness of ministry, and that means putting ourselves in a place where we cannot accomplish the task before us.  If that sounds like a contradiction to Jesus’ wisdom in Luke 14, it’s not.  This is part of what makes the church different from any other gathering of good folk.  God wants to do through us a God-sized work that only God can do…part of our assessing is to understand that God is here and that God is able.  This Lent I’m inviting you to join me in prayer and study that we might dream BIG dreams together.  And as dreams become vision, and as faith becomes sight, I believe we’ll be able to better assess who we really are, the power we truly have access to, and the unfathomable potential of God’s greatness among us.

There is a video on YouTube called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” that’s getting some attention right now.  It’s a cool, spoken word presentation by a young guy who lays out his distaste for the hypocrisy of religion for show (link below).  Where I can’t argue with him there, (nobody appreciates false piety, or religion devoid of grace) he seems to want to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater; he “hates” religion.  Furthermore, he claims that Jesus came to “abolish” religion.  Really?  As a unapologetically religious (though very flawed) guy, I have a problem with this.

 Where I like this artist’s sincerity, I think he makes the mistake of speaking out of too much sentiment, and not enough theological reflection.  Don’t forget that Jesus was a practicing (read: religious) Jew.

 To be explicitly clear, religion is not faith, and religion is not grace… we are not saved by, nor locate our hope in religion (Eph 2:8.)  Religion never trumps grace, but it has its place.

I define “religion” as the system that empowers our faith, the doctrine that defines our faith, the order that guides our faith, and most importantly, the practice of our faith.  The way we think about and enact our faith (individually and communally) is the stuff of religion.  To say it another way, the way we go about Connecting Faith to Life is religion.  It’s rooted in faith and driven by the Spirit, yes, but the process by which we make faith real is called…religion.  Others will define the term differently.

So, did Jesus come to abolish that and ask us to throw religion aside for a freewheeling faith of whatever the moment demands?  Or, did Jesus come to help us establish a more grounded, contextual, meaningful, helpful kind of religion?  (Matthew 5:17 anyone?)

I tend to resent any effort people make to categorically demonize any good system for its few faults .   I hear it all the time, “I’m OK with Jesus, I just don’t like organized religion…,” like disorganized religion is a better option?  Seems to me that Jesus organized (apostles, the 70 etc.,) the early church organized,  Jesus taught, and Jesus practiced…he didn’t hate religion and he didn’t come to destroy it.

The better response to bad religion isn’t no religion at all…its better religion.

Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY&feature=g-logo&context=G2ab5d28FOAAAAAAABAA then talk back.

I expected a person or two to show interest and buy the Bible I was suggesting, but I was overwhelmed (happily) when the ten copies we had for purchase flew off the shelf!  I suppose I underestimated people’s hunger for God’s word.

We’re going to try and get more copies of the suggested Bible (a chronological NIV version) for next week, but you can also purchase it at the link below.

I really look forward to what may happen this year as we go about Connecting Faith to Life by wandering around in scripture together.

Buy your NIV, chronological Bible at Amazon here:  http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Bible-International-Devotional-Insights/dp/0736901981/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326051946&sr=1-12

I’m curious; is it harder for you to forgive others or to forgive yourself? Do you have the guts to ask for forgiveness when you’ve hurt someone or do you simply try to act like it never happened? Can you forgive others for hurting you or do you try to bury that pain? Can you forgive when others aren’t
sorry? What are the most challenging aspects of forgiveness in your experience?  What role does un-forgiveness play in your health, relationships and spiritual life?

Talk back here; I’m interested to know what you feel like would be most beneficial to hear.  Here are a few of the scriptures that will guide our messages:

Nov 27 God’s Forgiveness – Psalm 32:1-5,

Dec 4 Forgiveness for Marriages – Colossians 3:12-15,

Dc 11 Forgiveness when we’ve been hurt – 1 Samuel 24:8-22,

Dec 18 Forgiveness for families – Genesis 50:15-21,

Dec 24 (Christmas Eve evening 4 & 7 pm) Welcoming the Forgiver – Matthew 1:18-25

I’m being careful to say that our giving to God through the church is done out of
gratitude, not obligation or guilt or simply to help the church pay bills.

Still, it’s true enough that the church needs to keep the staff paid and the lights on.

Did you know that the average American protestant gives something like 2% back to God through the church.  2%?  It’s no wonder we struggle.  Just think: if we grew to 5%, half of the gratitude and trust God encourages us to show, the church would never have any financial struggles; none.

Imagine what we could do if the people of God practiced the tithe?

What if we intentionally reset our thinking (as we start to prepare for a season where we tend overeat, and overspend and overindulge on ourselves,) what if we took that season to risk and plan and exercise to develop hearts of extravagant gratitude?  How might our thanksgivings
be different?

We really solidified and deepened some relationships and put our faith into action. When you hear me say phrases like “Connecting Faith to Life,” “Genuine Fellowship” and “Tangible Outreach” this is what I’m talkin’ bout.

Despite the obvious pain people are going through God’s goodness is manifest…seems counter-intuitive, but you just have to experience it for yourself

Watch for details to emerge – it looks like we’ll be headed back for a few more days March 25.