The Vision Thing

I was interviewing a man for a staff position at Grace and he asked that great question: "What is your vision of Grace?" I must admit that part of me hates that question. I've been around long enough that I've grown weary with what many call vision. I believe in vision, I think I even have one, but I think the word is over-used.

My first thought when asked that question is to say, "My vision is for Grace to be a church, in the fullest sense of the word." Quite frankly, as I understand the teachings of the Bible, I become increasingly aware of just how much it means to be the body of Christ--and I fear we have a long way to go.

And having worked in marketing, I somehow rebel against using marketing principles too liberally in the life of the church.

But I must admit that we all need to know where our organization is headed. And if that's what vision is, we need one. So in coming blogs, I'll talk about VISION.

Good News/Bad News

One of the most remarkable things about being a pastor is the constant interaction with so many other people's lives. When I first started, I had a hard time managing the sadness of hearing and seeing the pain in others. Life-threatening illness, death, divorce...there always seems to be at least one family or person in the midst of a heart breaking situation. They come to me. I pray with them. Sometimes I have Biblical advice they haven't thought of, but more often than not, all I can really do is listen.

It's easy to forget that there's always good news. There are weddings. New babies are born. Jobs are found. Of course, one reason I forget is people don't always come tell the pastor about the good news. But I think that it's easy to concentrate on the bad and neglect celebrating the good news.

And it seems that the more good news we have, the more we magnify the bad. This week I've read two articles decrying the tendency of the wealthy and the privileged youth both in America and abroad to focus on difficulty rather than blessing. Written by secular authors in secular publications, both found the irony that with so much wealth and prosperity, we can often still feel like we are owed more. It's like we're spoiled.

I think that the more we celebrate the good, the more we can weather the storms of the bad news when it comes. It's a healthier perspective. It's gratitude.

Breaking the Silence

OK, the blog has been MIA. No excuses--I just went silent. It was certainly nothing personal, just a lapse. I promise to do better!

I find that the older I get, the more some things seem to simplify. In the past I may have envisioned complicated solutions for problems or challenges. But now experience has taught me that the solutions are much more simple to articulate, and harder to implement.

And there's the irony: the real solutions can be explained simply, but are much harder to actually live out.

For instance, marriage can be very complicated, but successful marriages are often quite simple: they are characterized by moment-by-moment selflessness. Selflessness is a simple, one-word solution, that is remarkably difficult to live out. But selflessness goes to the heart of our character.

Maybe that's why we try to create these complex solutions. They sound good, and they allow us to avoid the hard reality that the real solutions demand.

Maybe I should have stayed quiet.

Trivialization of Christmas

You hear a lot about how we've made Christmas trivial: how we've lost its true meaning and commercialization has stolen a most sacred holiday. And that's certainly true. It is just very easy to miss the important with so much that is trivial pressing from all sides.

But if we who are called Jesus' followers attempt to place all the blame on the world around us, without accepting our own fault in the matter, we are kidding ourselves.

So much of what we say about Christmas seems to lessen the importance of the incarnation...God becoming man. We speak of brotherly love and peace on earth, which are undeniably good things. But Christmas is about something much more revolutionary. If God truly has become man, as we say we believe, then everything else is secondary.

There is certainly no problem with emphasizing the many good things we associate with Christmas. But there is only one true meaning of Christmas. It is that "The Word became flesh and lived among us." We do the world a disservice if we let than message be choked out--even by good things.

Excellenct Excellence

When the book In Search of Excellence was the rage it immediately began something of a debate in church circles. Initially, I remember many Christians questioning whether excellence was a legitimate goal for the church.

It seems today that the debate is settled. Church services today are typically much better planned and executed than 25 years ago. Even smaller churches give much more attention to small details to ensure that the poor quality does not distract from the message. And personally, I think that's a good thing.... to a point.

The focus of the debate when the book first appeared was whether we should choose excellence over Spirituality; whether excellence was essentially fleshly; whether human effort would replace dependence on the Spirit. The problem was that a false dichotomy was created: Why should dependence on the Spirit detract from a commitment to doing things well?

Ironically, we may need to re-visit the idea. Are we so committed to excellence today that we are willing to compromise spirituality and moral excellence? Do we demand the highest "quality" in our services, and spend so much time pursuing it, that we are no longer dependent on the Spirit? And do we choose human performance over spiritual reality?

The question should not be phrased as either/or. But when there is a choice, the choice is clear.

The Problem with Balance

I'm a little skeptical of "balance" as a virtue. I understand that it has its place. Certain things won't work without balance. But sometimes balance may be a euphemism for mediocrity.

This is what I mean: When something is really important, I don't want balance. Soldier in a battle don't seek balance--it's a life and death struggle, so it take total commitment to survive. I've studied leadership for twenty years, and my experience is that great and exceptional people aren't balanced. In fact, many have fairly extreme personalities. It's the extremes that set them apart.

And when it comes to serving the God of the universe, who sacrificed His Son for our sin, I'm not so sure that we are called to balance. Jesus' commitment to us was extreme. He gave His life so that we can be forgiven. I'm wondering if we should consider more extreme obedience and love in return.

Balance has its place, but when something is really important, there's a place for the extreme.

Changes

Today (Sunday, the 14th) was a day of changes for two good men who have something in common.

We announced that our Associate Pastor, Vic Neufeld, will move to Canada in a few months to become the senior pastor of his home church in Winnipeg. In less than three years, Vic has moved from telecom to senior pastor. His seminary training was vital, but his success in the corporate world was part of his preparation, too. We will miss him.

And Bumper Hidalgo preached. He has moved from software to self-employment and youth ministry. Of course he had done youth ministry before, but he comes now with more mature enthusiasm. Life in the corporate world, coupled with a growing family, has made him uniquely understand the needs of youth and their families.

Both of these men have made significant contributions to our church family because they know and love the church, but also because they have functioned well in the world. The hard knocks and difficult lessons of living in the marketplace have increased their value to others.

Sometimes the average Christian believes that since he or she lives and works in the world they may have nothing to contribute. But ironically, the life lived well in the marketplace and the community can be our greatest contribution to others.

We sometimes forget that we follow a Savior who learned a trade before he proclaimed His gospel.